News

According to Odaily, the South Korean Financial Services Commission has finalized guidelines permitting listed companies and professional investors to trade cryptocurrencies. This new regulation ends a nine-year prohibition, allowing eligible corporate entities to invest up to 5% of their net assets annually in the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization on South Korea's five major exchanges. The policy shift is expected to grant market access to approximately 3,500 entities, including listed companies and registered professional investment institutions. Regulatory authorities will also require exchanges to implement staggered execution and order size limits. Discussions are ongoing regarding the eligibility of dollar-pegged stablecoins like USDT for investment.

On Jan 12, 2026, 03:14 AM(UTC). According to Binance Market Data, BNB has crossed the 910 USDT benchmark and is now trading at 910.280029 USDT, with a narrowed 0.03% increase in 24 hours.

According to PANews, a prominent crypto whale known as 'Lightning Counter' (address starting with 0x50b3) has been actively adjusting their Bitcoin and Ethereum positions. On January 12, the whale continued to take profits and reduce their BTC long positions. Currently, they are maintaining a long position of 11.8927 BTC with 20x leverage, showing an unrealized profit of $17,000. In contrast, the whale has opened a short position on 11,366.46 ETH with 14x leverage, at an average entry price of $3,073.66. This position is currently experiencing an unrealized loss of $949,000. The strategic adjustments reflect the whale's response to ongoing market dynamics.

According to ChainCatcher, a monitored address that previously sold 255 BTC to short has now established a 10x leveraged long position in 42,498 ZEC, valued at $17.53 million. The total profit for this address has reached $14.69 million. The current holdings of the address include 1,331 BTC worth $122.84 million, 22,828 ETH valued at $72.16 million, 232,187 SOL totaling $33.09 million, 42,498 ZEC at $17.53 million, and 6.63 million XRP amounting to $13.93 million.

According to ChainCatcher, Whale Alert data reveals that on January 11, Tether froze more than $182 million USDT within 24 hours across five Tron chain wallets, with individual amounts ranging from $12 million to $50 million. Despite cryptocurrencies being designed to resist censorship, stablecoins, which make up 60% of the market, are highly centralized. Tether possesses the ability to instantly freeze funds at the smart contract level and frequently collaborates with the U.S. Department of Justice, FBI, and Secret Service for enforcement actions. Chainalysis data indicates that by the end of 2025, stablecoins will account for 84% of all illicit transaction volumes. An AMLBot report highlights that between 2023 and 2025, Tether froze approximately $3.3 billion in assets and blacklisted 7,268 wallet addresses. Nevertheless, the market capitalization of USDT remains at $187 billion, representing 60% of the stablecoin market.

On Jan 12, 2026, 02:45 AM(UTC). According to Binance Market Data, Bitcoin has crossed the 92,000 USDT benchmark and is now trading at 92,000 USDT, with a narrowed 1.44% increase in 24 hours.

According to ChainCatcher, DL News reports that the cryptocurrency market is anticipated to see merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions exceed the record $37 billion set in 2025 by 2026. Data from Architect Partners reveals that publicly disclosed crypto M&A transaction values surged sevenfold in 2025, reaching $37 billion, significantly surpassing analysts' expectations of $30 billion. The number of transactions increased by 74% year-on-year to 356, with 39 deals exceeding $100 million and 17 surpassing $500 million. Karl-Martin Ahrend, co-founder of crypto M&A advisory firm Areta, stated that transaction activity in 2026 will depend on regulatory clarity, interest rates, risk appetite, and valuation attractiveness. Traditional financial institutions are most interested in the stablecoin and payment sectors. The report highlights an expected trend of more traditional companies acquiring crypto capabilities rather than developing them internally.

According to ChainCatcher, U.S. President Donald Trump has denied any involvement with the U.S. Department of Justice in filing a criminal case against Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. Trump stated that the federal court's subpoena to Powell is unrelated to any decisions regarding interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.

According to PANews, Goldman Sachs economists anticipate that the U.S. economy will be bolstered by tax cuts, real wage growth, and rising wealth this year, with inflation expected to remain moderate. The bank's '2026 U.S. Economic Outlook' report, released on January 11, suggests that due to uncertain labor market prospects, the Federal Reserve is likely to implement two 25 basis point rate cuts in June and September. Goldman Sachs forecasts a GDP growth rate of 2.5% year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2026, with an annual rate of 2.8%. By December, the core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) inflation rate is projected to be 2.1% year-over-year, while the core consumer price index (CPI) is expected to slow to 2%. The baseline unemployment rate is predicted to stabilize at 4.5%, although there is a risk of a period of 'no employment growth' as companies seek to leverage artificial intelligence to reduce labor costs. In terms of trade, Goldman Sachs assumes that the upcoming midterm elections will make the cost of living a significant political issue, prompting the White House to avoid any substantial tariff increases.

According to Foresight News, seven Labour MPs who chair parliamentary committees have urged the UK government to prohibit cryptocurrency political donations in the forthcoming Election Bill. The letter, co-signed by Liam Byrne, Chair of the Business and Trade Select Committee, and six colleagues, highlights concerns that crypto donations undermine the transparency, traceability, and regulatory effectiveness of political funding. The MPs argue that cryptocurrencies can obscure the true source of funds, facilitate numerous small donations below disclosure thresholds, and expose UK politics to the risk of foreign interference. The Electoral Commission has warned that current technology makes these risks challenging to manage.

According to ChainCatcher, Indonesia's Financial Services Authority (OJK) has officially approved and issued a license to ICEx, making it the country's second cryptocurrency exchange platform.

According to ChainCatcher, U.S. Republican Senator Thom Tillis has stated that no Federal Reserve nominees, including the chair, will be confirmed until the legal case involving Jerome Powell is resolved.

According to PANews, Michael Saylor, founder and executive chairman of Strategy, shared insights on the X platform regarding the best-performing assets over the past decade. He highlighted digital intelligence, represented by Nvidia (NVDA), digital credit, represented by Strategy (MSTR), and digital capital, represented by Bitcoin (BTC), as the top assets in their respective categories.

According to ChainCatcher, spot silver experienced a notable rise of 4.00% during the day, with the current price reported at $83.14 per ounce.

According to ChainCatcher, the USD/JPY exchange rate briefly rose to 158.19, marking its highest point since January 2025.

According to BlockBeats, on January 12, trader Eugene Ng Ah Sio shared on his personal channel that his trading strategy remains unchanged, as he continues to hold and wait for SOL to rise. Previously, on January 8, Eugene stated that he had re-entered the market with SOL, identifying it as a key asset to focus on during the current rebound. Among the three major cryptocurrencies, SOL has shown the strongest relative strength. From a technical analysis perspective, SOL offers one of the cleanest trading patterns, with the potential to rise to $160 or even $200, provided the current market trend continues and Bitcoin has the opportunity to reach $100,000. Eugene believes that SOL is sufficiently 'contrarian,' as market participants may struggle to find enough reasons to go long, which often presents the best entry point. By the time all reasons are evident, the market trend is usually halfway through. He hopes that Bitcoin can maintain the $90,000 level, viewing the current pullback as the first shakeout before a new upward trend begins.

According to Odaily, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome H. Powell announced that the U.S. Department of Justice issued a grand jury subpoena to the Federal Reserve on Friday. This action is related to potential criminal charges concerning Powell's testimony before the Senate Banking Committee in June of last year. The testimony in question involved a long-term renovation project for the Federal Reserve's office building. However, Powell indicated that the real reason behind the threat of criminal charges is the Federal Reserve's decision to set interest rates based on economic assessments rather than aligning with the preferences of U.S. President Donald Trump. Powell emphasized the importance of the Federal Reserve formulating monetary policy based on evidence and economic conditions, free from political pressure or intimidation. He reaffirmed his commitment to fulfilling the responsibilities confirmed by the Senate, focusing on maintaining price stability and achieving full employment.

According to BlockBeats, Hong Kong's Financial Secretary, Paul Chan, addressed the development of stablecoin policies during a public consultation forum on the 2026 fiscal budget on January 12. Chan stated that Hong Kong's stablecoin policy is progressing well and will continue to advance gradually. In response to suggestions from citizens to peg stablecoins to gold, Chan mentioned that the government would consider this possibility after completing the first phase of the stablecoin framework. He noted that related research is already underway but emphasized the need for careful handling. The forum is part of the Hong Kong government's efforts to gather public input for the new fiscal budget, which is set to be officially released on February 25.

According to ChainCatcher, the Dollar Index (DXY) experienced a short-term decline of 10 points, currently standing at 99.13.

According to ChainCatcher, spot gold surged to $4,550 on Monday, marking a new historical high after two weeks.