Important news from last night and this morning (January 26-January 27)

Vitalik: The extended hierarchical structure of blockchain consists of computation, data, and state.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin outlined the scalability hierarchy in blockchain, namely computation, data, and state. He stated that computation is the easiest to scale, achievable through parallel processing, requiring "hints" from block builders, or directly replacing large amounts of computation with proofs. Data sits in the middle; if availability guarantees are required, this requirement cannot be circumvented, but it can be split using techniques like sharding and erasure coding (such as PeerDAS), allowing for graceful degradation (e.g., a node can still produce a 1/10th-sized block even with only 1/10 of its data capacity). State is the most difficult to scale; to ensure the verifiability of a single transaction, the complete state must be obtained. If the state is replaced with a tree and only the root hash is retained, updating the root still requires the complete state. Although methods for splitting the state exist, these methods typically involve architectural changes and lack generality. Therefore, he concluded that if a solution can replace state with data or data with computation without introducing new centralized risks, it should, in principle, be seriously considered.

Mezo: Phase 1 MEZO token allocations are now available.

Mezo, the Bitcoin scaling network, announced on its X platform that the allocation of MEZO tokens for the first phase is now available. Users can check the official data panel for allocation details. Note: This phase is only for viewing allocation information. Previously, on January 22nd, Mezo launched its native BTC DeFi protocol, introducing the Ve mechanism and opening MEZO airdrop registration.

The "$230 million long whale" partially closed its positions on Hyperliquid and instead used leverage on Aave to go long on ETH.

According to on-chain analyst Yu Jin, the "$230 million long whale" has shifted its focus: closing out some of its long positions on Hyperliquid and instead using leveraged lending on Aave to go long on ETH. On Hyperliquid, it closed out 30,600 ETH and 427 BTC long positions, leaving a remaining long position worth $680 million. The remaining position is primarily ETH, with a liquidation price of $2,158. It borrowed 240 million USDT from Aave through a revolving loan and transferred it to Binance, then withdrew 148,000 ETH ($431 million) from Binance. The liquidation price of this borrowed ETH position is currently around $1,953.

Bitmine's current staked Ethereum assets are expected to generate $164 million in annualized staking yield.

According to Cointelegraph analysis, publicly traded Bitmine currently holds over 4.2 million ETH, representing approximately 3.5% of the circulating supply, with over 2 million already staked. Based on the company's estimated overall Ethereum staking ratio of 2.81%, this staked portion could generate approximately $164 million in annualized staking returns. Bitmine Chairman Tom Lee stated that if all of its ETH were staked, the annual return could reach approximately $374 million based on the current staking ratio. Bitmine is partnering with several staking service providers and plans to launch its own validator infrastructure in 2026 to internalize staking operations.

Santiment: The decline in stablecoin market capitalization indicates that funds are flowing into gold and silver, rather than Bitcoin.

According to Cointelegraph, crypto analytics platform Santiment points out that the total market capitalization of stablecoins has decreased by $2.24 billion in the past 10 days, potentially indicating an outflow of funds from the crypto ecosystem and slowing market recovery. The firm analyzes that these funds appear to have shifted to traditional safe-haven assets such as gold and silver, driving their prices to new highs, while Bitcoin, the overall crypto market, and stablecoin market capitalization have seen pullbacks. Santiment states that the decline in stablecoin market capitalization reflects investors converting to fiat currency rather than preparing to buy on dips, and the increased demand for precious metals indicates a market bias towards safe havens. Historical data shows that a strong recovery in the crypto market often begins with a rebound in stablecoin market capitalization, signifying new capital inflows and restored confidence. Before this, risky assets such as altcoins may continue to be under pressure, and while Bitcoin has been relatively resilient, the shrinking supply of stablecoins will still limit overall upside potential.

Coinbase Derivatives launched copper and platinum futures trading in the early hours of this morning.

According to an official announcement, Coinbase Derivatives, a regulated derivatives trading platform under Coinbase, launched copper and platinum contract trading in the early hours of the morning.

Tom Lee: The surge in gold and silver prices has masked the strengthening fundamentals of cryptocurrencies.

Bitmine Chairman Tom Lee posted on the X platform: "The parabolic surge in gold and silver is masking the continued strengthening of the intrinsic fundamentals of cryptocurrencies (especially Ethereum and Bitcoin). As emphasized at the Davos 2026 forum, financial institutions have clearly identified Ethereum and smart blockchain platforms as the foundation for building their future financial infrastructure. When the fundamentals show an upward trend, it's only a matter of time before prices rise accordingly."

The third investor/team address that unlocked 1.8 million PENDLE tokens three years ago has transferred all tokens to Binance.

According to on-chain analyst Yu Jin, in recent days, a third investor/team address that unlocked 1.8 million PENDLE tokens three years ago has transferred those 1.8 million PENDLE tokens ($3.53 million) to Binance. On January 23, the address 0x6b4...CF0 transferred 1.8 million PENDLE tokens unlocked three years ago to Bybit. On January 25, the address 0xf82...aeb transferred 1.8 million PENDLE tokens unlocked three years ago to Bybit. On January 27, the address 0x65f...ac9 transferred 1.8 million PENDLE tokens unlocked three years ago to Binance.

The U.S. Marshals Service is investigating a case involving the son of a government contractor suspected of stealing $40 million in seized cryptocurrency.

According to CoinDesk, the U.S. Marshals Service is investigating a theft of over $40 million in seized cryptocurrency. Blockchain investigator ZachXBT alleges that John “Lick” Daghita, son of the president of CMDSS, a service provider for the Department of Defense and the Department of Justice, stole these assets from a government crypto wallet managed by his father's company. ZachXBT stated that he has confirmed at least $23 million in funds related to approximately $90 million in cryptocurrency seized by the government in 2024 and 2025, and reported the matter to authorities last week. The suspect inadvertently revealed the wallet address he controlled by recording a video in a Telegram group chat to flaunt his wealth, and ZachXBT confirmed the connection through on-chain tracking. Brady McCarron, the U.S. Marshals Service's director of public affairs, stated that he could not comment further due to the ongoing investigation. Previous reports indicated that the U.S. Marshals Service may not be fully aware of the exact amount of crypto assets it controls, and this incident has once again raised concerns about the transparency of government oversight of cryptocurrency holdings.

Bitwise launched an on-chain vault through Morpho, aiming to provide USDC with yields of up to 6%.

According to The Block, crypto asset management firm Bitwise has officially entered the DeFi market by launching its first on-chain vault strategy through the decentralized lending protocol Morpho. This initial vault aims to achieve yields of up to 6% on the USDC stablecoin by deploying funds in Morpho's "overcollateralized" lending market. Bitwise handles strategy design and real-time risk management, while user funds remain on-chain and in a non-custodial manner. The head of Bitwise's multi-strategy solutions stated that this move aims to allow investors to access on-chain yields without having to manage complex risk parameters themselves. Future support may include other major stablecoins, crypto assets, and a wider range of DeFi strategies, including real-world asset tokenization, DEX liquidity provision, and yield mining.

A dormant ETH whale, after nine years of holdings, has completed its liquidation, transferring its remaining 85,000 ETH to Gemini.

According to on-chain analyst Ember, a dormant ETH whale address completed its liquidation early this morning, transferring its remaining 85,000 ETH ($248 million) to the Gemini exchange. This represents a profit of $381 million (32 times) over nine years. Nine years ago (2017), the address withdrew and accumulated 135,000 ETH through Bitfinex at $90, worth $12.17 million at the time. Now, nine years later, in just one and a half days, it transferred all 135,000 ETH to Gemini at $2,908, now worth $393 million.

Senate Agriculture Committee talks on encrypted legislation have taken a turn for the better, with Democrats expressing their willingness to return to negotiations.

According to The Block, the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee, originally scheduled to deliberate and vote on comprehensive cryptocurrency legislation this Tuesday, has postponed it to Thursday due to weather. A Democratic aide familiar with the negotiations stated that although Republicans unilaterally drafted a new version of the bill in early January without consulting Democrats and planned to push it to a vote, hindering bipartisan cooperation, a group of Democratic senators is still willing to return to the negotiating table with the committee chairman, Republican Senator John Boozman's team, to strive for bipartisan consensus before the vote. The aide pointed out that from November to the end of last year, the two parties held intensive bilateral consultations and stakeholder meetings on the draft bill, and progress was good. However, after the New Year, the Republicans unilaterally changed their plans. A spokesperson for the Agriculture Committee stated that the bipartisan meetings over the past few months have been extensive, the current version reflects most of the negotiated content, and the remaining issues have reached the stage where a vote is necessary. Patrick Witt, executive director of the White House Digital Assets Advisory Council, recently publicly called for the market structure bill to be passed as soon as possible while the government's friendly attitude towards the crypto industry is in place. Analysis suggests that if the bill fails to pass, the US crypto industry may continue to face a "structural risk premium," which will suppress its development potential.

SlowMist: Clawdbot gateway exposed to risks; hundreds of API keys and private chat logs vulnerable to attack.

SlowMist's Chief Information Security Officer, 23pds, issued a warning stating that the Clawdbot gateway is exposed to risks, with hundreds of API keys and private chat logs vulnerable to attack, unauthenticated instances exposed online, and multiple code flaws that could lead to credential theft and remote code execution.

BlackRock plans to generate returns on Bitcoin investments through the "iShares Bitcoin Premium Income ETF".

According to The Block, BlackRock has filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the iShares BTC Premium Income ETF, aiming to provide yield generation for Bitcoin investments. The fund will directly hold Bitcoin to track the spot price while generating returns through an actively managed covered call option strategy. Its investment advisors will actively sell call options—primarily against BlackRock's own IBIT shares, and sometimes against other Bitcoin-tracking ETP indices—and receive the option premiums as income. If approved, this product will provide Bitcoin ETF investors with a yield mechanism similar to Ethereum or SOL funds, where returns are generated through staking.

Trump: Raise retaliatory tariffs on South Korea from 15% to 25%

According to Jinshi News, US President Trump stated on social media: "The South Korean National Assembly has not fulfilled the agreement reached with the United States. President Lee Jae-myung and I reached a mutually beneficial agreement on July 30, 2025, and reaffirmed those terms during my visit to South Korea on October 29, 2025. Why has the South Korean National Assembly not yet ratified the agreement? Because the South Korean National Assembly has not yet ratified our historic trade agreement, which is within their power, I hereby announce an increase in equitable tariffs on South Korean automobiles, timber, pharmaceuticals, and all other goods from 15% to 25%."

The "1011 insider whale" has accumulated 148,000 ETH from CEXs since yesterday, and its long positions in contracts have decreased to $680 million.

According to on-chain analyst @ai_9684xtpa, the "whale that shorted after the 1011 flash crash" (address 0xcA0…b2998) withdrew another 30,000 ETH (US$87.81 million) from Binance three hours ago. Since yesterday, it has accumulated 148,000 ETH from exchanges, with a total value of US$427 million. As of now, it has borrowed US$240 million in stablecoins on Aave for cyclical long positions, with a health score of 1.49 and a liquidation price of US$1953.09. Furthermore, this whale appears to be gradually reducing its long positions and converting them to spot trading. Its actions on Hyperliquid since last night include: reducing its ETH holdings by 14,000, resulting in a loss of US$3.624 million; and reducing its BTC holdings by 427.28, resulting in a loss of US$1.612 million. It has now reduced its long positions to US$680 million, with a floating loss of US$47.97 million.

Bitmine purchased 20,000 ETH from FalconX and then pledged nearly 185,000 ETH again.

According to Onchain Lens monitoring, Bitmine purchased 20,000 ETH (worth $58.22 million) from FalconX and further staked 184,960 ETH (worth $538 million). To date, they have staked a total of 2,128,160 ETH, with a total value of $6.22 billion.

Spot silver prices have increased tenfold in 5 years.

Spot silver prices have repeatedly hit new highs, briefly reaching a record high of $112.39 per ounce tonight, roughly 10 times the 2020 low of $11.23 per ounce. Spot silver is currently trading at $112.27 per ounce.

The SEC and CFTC meeting on "Regulatory Coordination in the Crypto Era" has been rescheduled to January 29.

According to an announcement from the SEC, its joint public meeting with the CFTC, "U.S. Financial Leadership in the Crypto Age: Regulatory Coordination," has been rescheduled to Thursday, January 29, 2026, at 2:00 PM ET (3:00 AM Beijing Time on January 30). SEC Chairman Paul Atkins and CFTC Chairman Michael Selig will engage in a fireside chat to discuss coordinated efforts between the two regulatory bodies in the crypto space. The event will be streamed live on the SEC website, and public registration will be open on-site.

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has added "Ju[.]com" to its list of suspicious virtual asset trading platforms.

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) announced today that it has added "Ju[.]com" to its list of suspicious virtual asset trading platforms. The SFC stated that the entity claims to operate a virtual asset trading platform and is suspected of engaging in unlicensed activities.

The U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee will consider the Crypto Market Structure Act on January 29.

According to Eleanor Terrett, the U.S. Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee has rescheduled its review of the Crypto Markets Structure Act for Thursday, January 29, 2026, at 10:30 a.m. (local time) in Room 328A of the Russell Building in the Capitol. The committee, which oversees the CFTC, was originally scheduled to review the bill on Tuesday afternoon.

Morgan Stanley: Gold prices could rise to $5,700

Morgan Stanley predicts that gold prices could rise to $5,700 per ounce in the second half of the year, driven by geopolitical uncertainty, continued central bank gold purchases, and strong ETF demand. The report notes that central banks worldwide (such as Poland) are increasing their gold reserves despite high prices. A rate cut by the Federal Reserve in 2026 could further support strong physical gold demand.

Zerohash is in talks to raise $250 million at a valuation of $1.5 billion.

According to CoinDesk, blockchain infrastructure company Zerohash is in talks to raise $250 million at a $1.5 billion valuation. This follows its withdrawal from multi-billion dollar acquisition talks with Mastercard, deciding to remain independent. Mastercard may still participate in this round as a strategic investor. Zerohash completed a $100 million Series D-2 funding round last October, with investors including Morgan Stanley, Jump Crypto, and SoFi. Its clients include Interactive Brokers, Stripe, and BlackRock's BUIDL fund.

BlackRock files S-1 document for Bitcoin premium yield ETF

Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas tweeted that BlackRock has filed its official S-1 prospectus for its proposed iShares Bitcoin Premium Income ETF, but the fee and trading code have not yet been announced. The ETF's strategy aims to track Bitcoin's price performance while generating premium returns through actively managed short call options (primarily for IBIT shares and some ETP indices).

Bitmine increased its holdings by 40,302 ETH last week, bringing its total holdings to over 4.24 million ETH.

According to a Bitmine announcement, as of January 25th, the company held 4,243,338 ETH, representing approximately 3.52% of the total Ethereum supply, of which 2,009,267 were staked. The company added 40,302 ETH last week. Bitmine's total investments in crypto assets, cash, and "Moonshot" amount to $12.8 billion, with ETH being its primary reserve asset. Its self-developed staking infrastructure, "MAVAN," is expected to launch in Q1 2026 for large-scale ETH staking deployment.

Zama's first cryptocurrency ICO has been completed, with total bidding reaching $118 million.

Open-source cryptography company Zama announced that its first cryptographic ICO (Zama Public Auction) on Ethereum concluded on January 24, 2026, raising $118.5 million. This Dutch auction used fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) to protect bid privacy, enabling decentralized and confidential bidding. It attracted over 11,000 unique users who submitted nearly 24,700 bids, with a final settlement price of $0.05. Total demand was oversubscribed by 318%.

Strategy added 2,932 bitcoins last week, bringing its total holdings to 712,647 bitcoins.

According to Strategy's 8-K filing with the SEC, the company purchased 2,932 BTC between January 20 and 25 at an average price of approximately $90,000 per BTC, for a total expenditure of $264.1 million, funded by proceeds from the sale of ATM stock. As of January 25, the company held a total of 712,647 BTC, with a cumulative purchase amount of $54.19 billion and an average cost of $76,037.

Two ETH staking wallets withdrew a total of 13,000 ETH from Binance.

According to Onchain Lens on-chain monitoring, two addresses withdrew a total of 13,000 ETH (approximately $37.64 million) from Binance: • Address "0xd4f" withdrew 8,000 ETH, approximately $23.16 million • Address "0xA75" withdrew 5,000 ETH, approximately $14.48 million

BlackRock deposited 1814.76 BTC and 15,112 ETH into Coinbase.

According to Onchain Lens monitoring, BlackRock-related addresses have deposited approximately 1,814.76 BTC (approximately $159.46 million) and 15,112 ETH (approximately $43.75 million) into the Coinbase platform, and may continue to deposit additional amounts.

One address bought 11,000 ETH from Binance and then leveraged it to buy more ETH.

According to Onchain Lens monitoring, a newly created wallet address, 0xA75, purchased 11,000 ETH (approximately $31.78 million) from Binance and used it as collateral on Aave V3. It then borrowed the equivalent of $30 million in USDC and returned the money to Binance to purchase more ETH. Currently, this address holds approximately 72,000 ETH (approximately $208.5 million).

Binance will list Tesla perpetual equity contract TSL AUSDT.

According to a Binance announcement, Binance Futures will launch USDⓈ-based TSLAUSDT equity perpetual contracts on January 28, 2026 at 22:30 (UTC+8), with the underlying asset being Tesla Inc. common stock (NASDAQ: TSLA), supporting up to 5x leverage.

SXP has been designated a trading alert item by Upbit and deposit services have been suspended.

According to an Upbit announcement, due to issues with the project's substance and sustainability, SXP (Solar) has been designated as a project under trading watch at 20:00 (local time) on January 26, 2026, and deposit services will be suspended simultaneously. This measure was jointly decided by DAXA Association members to protect users. Affected trading pairs include SXP/KRW and SXP/BTC, and a decision will be made later regarding whether to extend the watch period or terminate trading support.

There is nearly an 80% chance that the US government will experience another shutdown before the end of this month.

Market forecasts indicate that there is nearly an 80% chance of a new US government shutdown before January 31.

SBI Japan plans to apply for a dual-asset ETF for Bitcoin and XRP.

According to CoinDesk, Japanese financial group SBI Holdings has submitted an application to the Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA) for a cryptocurrency exchange-traded fund (ETF), proposing to launch a dual-asset ETF that tracks the performance of both Bitcoin (BTC) and Ripple (XRP). If approved, this product would allow investors to gain exposure to both Bitcoin and XRP through a single regulated instrument, potentially becoming the first such ETF in the Japanese market.