PA Daily Briefing | US Core CPI Annual Rate Falls Short of Expectations; Bitcoin Briefly Reaches $96,500

Arthur Hayes: The core Degen strategy for this quarter is to go long on MSTR and Metaplanet.

BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes announced on the X platform that his latest article, "Frowny Cloud," will be released tomorrow. His core Degen strategy for this quarter is to go long on MSTR and 3350 (Metaplanet), viewing them as leveraged targets to bet on Bitcoin's renewed upward trend.

A whale exchanged 282.1 BTC for 8098 ETH today, and still holds 646.5 BTC.

According to on-chain analyst Ember, a whale/institution is rebalancing its portfolio from BTC to ETH. Today, it exchanged 282.1 BTC (worth $26.33 million) for 8,098 ETH via the cross-chain exchange tool THORChain, at a price of approximately $3,251. It currently holds 646.5 BTC (worth $61.68 million) and is likely to continue such rebalancing operations.

Coinbase will be undergoing system maintenance on January 25th, with an expected downtime of 3 hours.

According to an official announcement, Coinbase International Exchange will undergo system maintenance at approximately 01:00 (UTC+8) on January 25, 2026, during which time services will be temporarily suspended. The maintenance is expected to last for 3 hours. During the maintenance, all trading and transfer functions on Coinbase International Exchange will be unavailable.

Bitmine has staked another 94,400 ETH, worth $314 million.

According to Onchain Lens monitoring, Bitmine has staked an additional 94,400 ETH (worth $314 million). To date, they have staked a total of 1,530,784 ETH, with a total value of $5.1 billion.

According to Reuters, traders increased their bets on Tuesday that the Federal Reserve might not wait until Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's term ends in May to cut interest rates, following a report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics that basic consumer price increases were slightly lower than expected. While traders still believe a June rate cut is the most likely outcome, the latest data projects a 42% probability of a rate cut in April, up from 38% before the data release.

Berachain Foundation: Most of the retail marketing team has been laid off; Lead Developer Alberto will be leaving.

In its year-end 2025 update, the Berachain Foundation disclosed that it had largely disbanded its retail-focused marketing team. The retail-oriented strategy had proven ineffective across the crypto space after October 10th of that year and throughout 2024/2025; resources are being reallocated to focus on fundamentals. Furthermore, one of its lead developers, Alberto, will be leaving the team to co-found a Web2 company with former banking colleagues. Berachain plans to focus its active team's attention on 3-5 high-confidence applications, prioritizing companies with less reliance on the crypto market for foundational and revenue potential, and minimal overlap with the existing Berachain ecosystem. These will receive dedicated PoL emission support and hands-on assistance from the Berachain team.

The "Strategy counterparty" closed out a long position worth $413 million one hour ago, locking in a profit of $14.5 million.

According to Lookonchain monitoring, "Strategy's counterparty" closed out long positions worth $413 million an hour ago, locking in a profit of $14.5 million. The details of the closed positions are as follows: 2,453.62 BTC (worth $234.23 million) – profit of $7.06 million; 31,256 ETH (worth $103.87 million) – profit of $5.4 million; 493,330 SOL (worth $71.75 million) – profit of $1.96 million; 41,916 HYPE (worth $1.07 million) – profit of $67,000; 924,687 XR (worth $2.01 million) – profit of $9,500.

Lighter announces the launch of its mobile app.

According to official news, Lighter has announced the launch of the Lighter Mobile app, which allows users to trade assets including perpetual contracts, spot trading, and real-world assets (RWAs) on iOS (available in over 100 countries and regions) and Android devices.

Cryptocurrency exchange ProBit Global will terminate all services on February 26th, urging users to withdraw their funds as soon as possible.

According to an official announcement, cryptocurrency exchange ProBit Global announced on December 31, 2025, that due to the rapidly changing regulatory environment and strategic business restructuring, all services on the platform will be officially terminated from 08:00 (UTC+8) on February 26, 2026. Spot trading will cease at 08:00 (UTC+8) on January 28, 2026, while standard withdrawal services will remain open until 07:59 (UTC+8) on February 26, 2026. All users are strongly urged to complete withdrawals before this deadline to avoid potential asset loss or administrative fees. The delayed asset return period is from 08:00 (UTC+8) on March 1, 2026 to 07:59 (UTC+8) on April 1, 2026. If users fail to withdraw their assets before the end of the standard withdrawal period, their accounts will be considered inactive, and remaining assets will be subject to maintenance fees to cover infrastructure and custody services. Fees will be charged strictly from 08:00 (UTC+8) on March 1, 2026. According to the Terms of Service, any assets not claimed by 07:59 (UTC+8) on April 1, 2026 will be deemed abandoned and permanently lost.

Ethena plans to boost USDe adoption through gas-free Ethereum transactions and a 10x reward boost.

According to The Block, the Safe Foundation announced a strategic partnership with USDe issuer Ethena Labs on Tuesday. The partnership aims to reduce gas fees for USDe transactions on the Ethereum mainnet and enhance the reward potential of USDe held in Safe multi-signature wallets. Safe accounts holding USDe will now receive a 10x multiplier of accumulated rewards during the current Ethena Points program. The two companies stated, "This collaboration marks a broader strategic initiative by Safe to drive the stablecoin economy toward a self-custodial model, formally establishing their commitment to positioning the Safe self-custodial wallet ecosystem as the preferred platform for accessing Ethena products."

Garrett Jin, a whale: Ethereum has re-entered the fifth wave of the upward channel that began last April, with a target of $5,413.

Garrett Jin, suspected to be the "1011 insider whale," posted on the X platform: "Ethereum's C-wave decline began on October 10th last year. The overall downward trend was blocked around November 20th last year, and the fifth wave decline failed on December 18th, indicating that the trend momentum was exhausted. We believe that Ethereum has re-entered the fifth wave of the upward channel that began in April last year. The theoretical target is as follows: Target 1: $5413; Aggressive target 2: $7155."

A whale sold 264.8 WBTC, incurring a loss of $5.15 million, but still holds XAUt and PAXG worth $13.49 million.

According to on-chain analyst Ember, a whale who spent $42.42 million betting on both "digital gold" and "real gold" has sold off his "digital gold" holdings after today's BTC price surge. He transferred 264.8 WBTC ($25 million) that he purchased at the end of October for $113,262, a loss of $5.15 million, to Binance. After cutting his losses on BTC, he now holds $13.49 million worth of real gold (XAUt and PAXG), at an average price of $4,239, currently showing a profit of $1.07 million.

French regulators: With the EU license application deadline approaching, some crypto companies have yet to respond.

According to Reuters, French market regulators warned on Tuesday that nearly a third of the approximately 90 registered crypto companies in France without MiCA licenses have yet to disclose their plans to regulators as the transition period for the EU's new crypto regulation, MiCA, is set to end on June 30th. Stephane Pontoizeau, executive director of the AMF's Market Intermediaries and Infrastructure Supervision Department, stated that as of now, 30% of companies have applied for licenses, 40% have decided not to apply, and the remaining 30% have neither disclosed their plans nor responded to inquiries from regulators, a situation that is causing concern. Under the requirements of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), companies without MiCA authorization must implement an "orderly shutdown plan" before the end of the transition period. Previously, Coinbase, Circle, and Revolut, among others, have obtained MiCA licenses.

A WBTC whale that had accumulated a position of nearly $30 million is suspected of liquidating its holdings, with an estimated loss of $5.082 million.

According to on-chain analyst @ai_9684xtpa, a WBTC whale who accumulated nearly $30 million in holdings appears to have liquidated his position. Address 0x8C0…0F364 purchased 264.86 WBTC on-chain between October 22nd and 26th, 2025, at an average price of $113,012.84, during the first rebound after BTC hit a new all-time high. After holding the position for three months, he deposited all his tokens into Binance four hours ago during an upward move at a price of $93,823. Selling the holdings would have resulted in a loss of $5.082 million.

Russian State Duma official: A bill to allow cryptocurrencies to operate outside of special financial regulations is ready.

According to TASS, Anatoly Aksakov, Chairman of the Financial Market Committee of the Russian State Duma, stated that a bill aimed at removing cryptocurrencies from the special financial regulatory framework is ready, making them a common payment tool in the lives of Russian citizens. Aksakov pointed out that the bill would allow non-accredited investors to purchase cryptocurrencies, but with an individual purchase limit of 300,000 rubles; professional financial market participants would be able to operate without restrictions in the market. Furthermore, cryptocurrencies would be usable for international settlements and circulate in other countries' financial markets after their issuance in Russia. He stated that the State Duma will focus on advancing legislation related to digital financial assets and cryptocurrencies at its upcoming spring session.

Circle has minted another 1 billion USDC on Solana in the last 8 hours.

According to Onchain Lens monitoring, Circle has minted another 1 billion USDC on Solana in the past 8 hours. As of now, Circle has minted a total of 4.25 billion USDC on Solana in 2026.

Zama will launch its token sale through CoinList and its own auction app, with a starting price of $55 million for FDV.

According to The Block, the crypto privacy protocol Zama will launch an on-chain token sale with a fully diluted valuation (FDV) floor of $55 million through CoinList and its own auction application. The sale will utilize a sealed-bid Dutch auction structure, allocating 12% of its total token supply of 11 billion tokens. This 12% token sale is divided into three parts. Prior to the main auction, a 2% community token sale will be held this week for Zama NFT holders; from January 21st to January 24th, an 8% sealed-bid Dutch auction will be held in partnership with CoinList; and from January 27th to February 2nd, a final 2% post-auction sale will be held at the auction liquidation price. While CoinList is the issuing partner for this main auction, the sale is not limited to that platform. Participants can also bid through Zama's own auction application. The main auction will be conducted on the Ethereum mainnet in the form of a sealed-bid Dutch auction. Bids will be executed sequentially from highest to lowest, and the minimum price at which tokens are allocated will be the liquidation price paid by all successful bidders. The starting price for this auction was $0.005 per token, resulting in a FDV of $55 million based on the total supply of Zama tokens. CoinList President Scott Keto stated that this Zama sale marks CoinList's first fully on-chain, non-custodial token sale. The Zama auction also serves as a practical application of the protocol's fully homomorphic encryption technology, which allows computation on encrypted data. Zama states that while the auction is executed on-chain, bid quantities remain end-to-end encrypted, preventing participants from seeing each other's positions while preserving on-chain auditability.

Bitpanda plans to IPO in Frankfurt in the first half of 2026, targeting a valuation of 4 billion to 5 billion euros.

According to Bloomberg, sources familiar with the matter revealed that Bitpanda GmbH, a cryptocurrency trading platform backed by billionaire Peter Thiel, is preparing for an initial public offering (IPO) in Frankfurt as early as the first half of this year, seeking a valuation between €4 billion and €5 billion. Bitpanda has hired Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Deutsche Bank to arrange the offering, which is reportedly possible in the first quarter of this year. Sources said that no final decisions have been made, and specific details of the offering, including the timing, are still subject to change. A Bitpanda representative stated that an IPO is one of the options the company is considering for further development but declined to comment further. Representatives from Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Deutsche Bank all declined to comment. Founded in 2014, Bitpanda offers retail trading services for cryptocurrencies, equity derivatives, and commodities. In August 2021, the company raised $263 million from investors including Thiel's Valar Ventures, valuing it at $4.1 billion at the time. The company has 7 million users and is the official cryptocurrency trading partner of Arsenal Football Club.

The "1011 Insider Whale" currently has unrealized profits exceeding $47 million, with total holdings reaching $845 million.

According to OnchainLens monitoring, after experiencing all market fluctuations, the "1011 flash crash short-selling insider whale" currently has floating profits exceeding $47 million. Its current total holdings are worth $845 million: 203,341 ETH (worth $675 million); 1,000 BTC (worth $95 million); and 511,612.85 SOL (worth $74 million).

Coinbase will launch spot trading of Raydium (RAY).

According to an official announcement, Coinbase will launch spot trading of Raydium (RAY). If liquidity conditions are met and the supported trading regions comply with trading requirements, the RAY-USD trading pair will begin trading on or after 01:00 Beijing time on January 15th. Raydium (RAY) will be listed on the coinbase.com website, the Coinbase app, and Coinbase Advanced. Institutional users can directly purchase Raydium (RAY) through the Coinbase exchange. This token supports the Solana network (SPL token).

The U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee has rescheduled its hearings on the encryption bill to January 27.

According to CoinDesk, the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee plans to release its cryptocurrency market structure bill on January 21 and hold a crucial hearing on the text of the bill on January 27. The hearing, originally scheduled for January 15 (postponed Monday), will begin at 3 p.m. The bill amendment hearing is a key step in advancing the legislative process, allowing senators to debate amendments, vote on whether to include them in the base text, and then vote on whether to submit the entire bill to the full Senate for consideration. The Senate Banking Committee will hold its own bill amendment hearing this Thursday on its version of the bill. The Banking Committee's draft bill was released around midnight Monday, but senators are expected to propose amendments before the hearing. The Agriculture Committee has not released the draft text of its bill since the initial draft for discussion was released. Outstanding issues include ethics provisions (concerning the connections between President Trump and his family with several crypto companies) and quorum rules (requiring bipartisan leadership of regulatory agencies such as the SEC and CFTC). Currently, both agencies have only Republican members. Sources indicate that the Banking Committee's bill text also lacks provisions on ethics or quorum, so the current version may not receive bipartisan support.

Bitmine has staked another 92,160 ETH, worth $293 million.

According to Onchain Lens monitoring, Bitmine has staked an additional 92,160 ETH (worth $293.27 million). To date, they have staked a total of 1,436,384 ETH, with a total value of $4.77 billion.

BTC broke through $96,000, with a daily increase of 2.72%.

According to OKX market data, BTC has just broken through $96,000 and is currently trading at $96,000.00 per coin, a daily increase of 2.72%.

BTC broke through $95,000, up 1.95% on the day; ETH broke through $3,300, up 4.09% on the day.

According to OKX market data, BTC has just broken through $95,000 and is currently trading at $95,276.50 per coin, a daily increase of 1.95%. ETH has just broken through $3,300 and is currently trading at $3,314.51 per coin, a daily increase of 4.09%.

Crypto-friendly bank Old Glory plans to list via SPAC, valued at $250 million.

According to Bloomberg, Oklahoma-based crypto-friendly bank Old Glory will go public through a SPAC deal with Digital Asset Acquisition Corp., valuing the company at $250 million. This includes $176 million in SPAC funding and at least $50 million in private investment. Old Glory aims to fully integrate crypto assets into traditional banking services and plans to list on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol "OGB".

Coinbase allows New York State users to trade Jupiter (JUPITER) tokens

According to a Coinbase Markets announcement, Jupiter (JUPITER) is now open for trading to New York State residents. Users can buy, sell, convert, store, and transfer funds through the official website and mobile app. Coinbase holds a virtual currency business license issued by the New York State Department of Financial Services.

CoinGecko is seeking a sale at a valuation of approximately $500 million and has hired Moelis as an advisor.

According to a CoinDesk report citing sources familiar with the matter, crypto data platform CoinGecko is exploring a sale and has hired investment bank Moelis to handle the process, with a target valuation of approximately $500 million. This move comes amid accelerating M&A activity in the crypto industry, with disclosed M&A totals reaching $8.6 billion and a record high of 133 deals by 2025. Founded in 2014, CoinGecko is considered a mainstream data platform alongside CoinMarketCap.

SharpLink staking yielded 500 ETH last week, bringing its total staking yield to over 11,000 ETH.

According to SharpLink's official disclosure, it received a reward of 500 ETH through Ethereum staking last week, and has accumulated 11,157 ETH in staking rewards since the vault was established.

YO Protocol suffered an abnormal swap transaction, with approximately $3.84 million worth of stkGHO being exchanged for only $122,000 worth of USDC.

According to BlockSec, the DeFi protocol YO Protocol experienced an abnormal swap event on Ethereum, where users exchanged approximately $3.84 million worth of stkGHO for only about $122,000 worth of USDC. Analysis suggests the incident was caused by a combination of factors: 1) the initiator submitted an incorrect estimated output value, rendering slippage protection ineffective; 2) an abnormal transaction path configuration, passing through a high-fee, low-liquidity pool, resulting in significant fee extraction and price fluctuations. The team has since purchased GHO and re-deposited it into stkGHO in an attempt to mitigate the damage.

YZi Labs invests tens of millions of dollars in Genius Trading; CZ joins as an advisor.

According to The Block, YZi Labs, founded by Binance co-founders Changpeng Zhao (CZ) and He Yi, has invested "tens of millions of dollars" in Genius Trading, with CZ also joining the project as an advisor. Genius aims to build a privacy-first on-chain trading platform offering spot, perpetual contracts, and copy trading, with the goal of becoming a decentralized version of Binance. The platform has already processed over $60 million in trading volume during its testing phase and plans to launch a public privacy protocol test in Q2 2026.

Spot gold has climbed above $4,620 per ounce, while spot silver has risen more than 3.00% intraday.

Spot gold rose above $4,620 per ounce, up 0.51% on the day. Spot silver rose more than 3.00% on the day, currently trading at $87.71 per ounce.

Robinhood launches DOT

According to its official website, Robinhood has launched spot trading of DOT (Polkadot).

Polygon Labs acquires Coinme and Sequence for over $250 million.

According to Fortune, Polygon Labs announced the acquisition of two crypto startups, Coinme and Sequence, for over $250 million to strengthen its stablecoin payment network. Coinme holds remittance licenses in multiple US states and focuses on crypto ATM infrastructure; Sequence provides wallet and on-chain infrastructure services. Polygon stated that this move is a "reverse alignment" with Stripe's stablecoin strategy, aiming to build a complete on-chain payment stack.

The US December unadjusted CPI rose 2.7% year-on-year, while the core CPI rose 2.6% year-on-year.

The US December unadjusted CPI annual rate was 2.7%, in line with expectations and unchanged from the previous month. The US December unadjusted core CPI annual rate was 2.6%, also in line with expectations and unchanged from the previous month.

Spot silver rose more than 2% on the day, currently trading at $86.85 per ounce.

Spot silver rose more than 2.00% on the day, currently trading at $86.85 per ounce. New York silver futures climbed above $87 per ounce, up 2.24% on the day.

Binance Alpha has listed "Laozi" and "Dark Horse".

The app page shows that Binance Alpha has listed the "Laozi" and "Dema" tokens.

BlackRock transferred 3290 BTC and 5692 ETH to a Coinbase address.

According to Onchain Lens, BlackRock transferred 3,290 BTC (approximately $303 million) and 5,692 ETH (approximately $17.82 million) to a Coinbase address.

Huobi HTX condemns the Flow project team for unilaterally and forcibly transferring FLOW assets: This infringes upon users' legitimate rights and violates the spirit of decentralization.

Huobi HTX issued a statement regarding the unilateral asset transfer by the Flow (FLOW) project team. Huobi HTX stated that on December 27, 2025, a protocol-layer vulnerability in the Flow network led to the illegal minting of a large amount of FLOW. Following the incident, the platform proactively verified the situation with the project team to confirm the existence of any anomalies and actively cooperated with risk management and on-chain tracing efforts. Simultaneously, the risk control and monitoring system continuously tracked suspicious fund flows and took restrictive measures against identifiable hacker-related assets, making every effort to prevent further inflow into the market and protect the overall interests of token holders. However, without sufficient communication with exchanges and users, the Flow project team unilaterally initiated the "Isolated Recovery" scheme, forcibly transferring FLOW assets from centralized exchange addresses, including Huobi HTX, through protocol-layer permissions, with plans to burn them on January 30, 2026. Huobi HTX emphasizes that the assets forcibly transferred and slated for destruction include a large amount of FLOW obtained by ordinary users through real market transactions. The actions of the Flow project team severely deviate from the principles of decentralization and clear property rights, setting a bad example for the industry's asset security boundaries and seriously damaging the legitimate asset rights of the platform and its users. Huobi HTX calls on the Flow project team to adhere to the spirit of decentralization, respect the legitimate rights and interests of users and exchanges, clearly distinguish between illegal minting and legitimate holdings, publish a complete and auditable post-event analysis, and resolve outstanding issues through active negotiation rather than unilateral technical means.

Binance Alpha will launch Sight and OWL airdrops.

Binance Alpha will launch the Empire of Sight (Sight) airdrop on January 14th and the Owlto Finance (OWL) airdrop on January 15th. Eligible users can claim the airdrop using Binance Alpha Points on the Alpha event page after trading on Alpha opens. Further details will be announced separately.

Polygon has burned over 12.5 million POL tokens since the beginning of the year, with Polymarket being the main driver of increased transaction fees.

According to Castle Labs, Polygon has generated over $1.7 million in transaction fees since the beginning of 2026 and burned over 12.5 million POL tokens (approximately $1.5 million). The surge in fees is primarily due to Polymarket enabling fees for its 15-minute prediction markets, generating over $100,000 in revenue for Polygon daily. Following the Dandeli hard fork, chain throughput increased to 20 mgas/s, effectively alleviating gas pressure.