Headline
▌US CFTC Establishes Innovation Advisory Committee, Focusing on Crypto Asset and Prediction Market Regulation
Michael Selig, Chairman of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), announced that the former "Technology Advisory Committee" will be renamed the "Innovation Advisory Committee," and plans to introduce a CEO Innovation Committee composed of executives from institutions such as Polymarket, Kalshi, Gemini, and Nasdaq as its initial members. Selig stated that the committee will provide regulatory advice on the impact of technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, and cloud computing on the financial, derivatives, and commodity markets, and promote market structure rules "adapted to the new financial landscape." This move comes as the US Congress discusses expanding the CFTC's regulatory authority over digital assets, and regulators will also address the prediction market issue, which has recently received much attention due to insider trading controversies.
▌BitGo plans to raise approximately $201 million through a US IPO
Cryptocurrency custody company BitGo has filed for a US IPO, planning to issue 11.8 million shares with a price range of $15 to $17 per share, raising up to approximately $201 million. Founded in 2013, BitGo is one of the largest cryptocurrency custody institutions in the US. The IPO will use the ticker symbol "BTGO" and is planned to list on the New York Stock Exchange, with Goldman Sachs and Citigroup as underwriters.
As of press time, according to CoinGecko data: BTC price is $91,133.66, a 24-hour change of +0.6%; ETH price is $3,090.59, a 24-hour change of -0.6%; BNB price is $905.50, a 24-hour change of +0.4%. SOL price is $139.19, up 0.1% in the last 24 hours; DOGE price is $0.1368, down 0.4% in the last 24 hours; XRP price is $2.05, down 0.6% in the last 24 hours; TRX price is $0.2995, up 0.1% in the last 24 hours. WLFI price is $0.169, 24-hour change +1.9%; HYPE price is $23.73, 24-hour change -2.5%. Policy Committee Chairman John Boozman stated that more time is needed to maintain bipartisan support.
▌Bipartisan US lawmakers jointly submit "Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act," pushing for regulatory exemptions for DeFi software developers
On January 12, Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis and Democratic Senator Ron Wyden jointly submitted the "Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act," aiming to clarify that blockchain software developers who do not hold user assets should not be considered "money transmitters" for regulation. This provision was originally part of a broader crypto market structure bill, but it is now presented as a separate bill to emphasize its bipartisan consensus. Meanwhile, a Senate bill covering comprehensive regulation of the crypto market is expected to be released on the evening of January 13 and will enter committee consideration this Thursday. Currently, the two parties still have differences on several issues, including illegal financial regulation, details of DeFi provisions, and stablecoin yield mechanisms, and the final support for the bill remains uncertain.
▌US Republican Lawmakers Support Stronger Oversight of Lawmakers' Stock Trading; Lawmakers Will Be Prohibited from Purchasing New Shares
According to the Wall Street Journal, Wisconsin Republican Representative Bryan Steil, chairman of the House Governance Committee, spearheaded a bill called the "Stop Insider Trading Act," which aims to prohibit members of the House of Representatives and the Senate from purchasing new shares. The bill is scheduled to be formally introduced on Monday. Under the plan, lawmakers would be prohibited from purchasing new shares, but could still buy and sell diversified investment funds; existing shares would not need to be sold, but if a lawmaker planned to sell a particular share, they would have to provide public notice 7 to 14 days in advance; the legislation does not cover other types of investments, such as bonds or commodities.
Blockchain Applications
▌Vitalik: Ethereum Itself Must Pass the "Escape Test"
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin stated in an article on the X platform that Ethereum itself must pass the "escape test." Ethereum is positioned as an ideal habitat for various trustless and minimally trust applications, whether in finance, governance, or other industries. It must support applications that are more like "tools," rather than "services" that become completely unusable once the provider stops maintaining them. Even if some applications do rely on certain functions of a provider, Ethereum should minimize this reliance and protect users to the greatest extent possible when that reliance fails. However, if the underlying protocol itself also relies on continuous updates from a "provider" (even if that "provider" is a collaborative process of all core developers) to remain usable, then building the aforementioned ideal applications is out of the question. The Ethereum blockchain itself must possess the characteristics that we expect its applications to have.
▌Stablecoin financial infrastructure provider VelaFi completes $20 million Series B funding round
Stablecoin financial infrastructure provider VelaFi announced the completion of a $20 million Series B funding round, led by XVC and Ikuyo, with participation from Planetree, BAI Capital, and Alibaba Investment, among others. Founded in 2020, VelaFi initially built payment infrastructure in Latin America and has since expanded its business to the United States and Asia. Its platform connects local banking systems, cross-border payment networks, and mainstream stablecoin protocols, enabling businesses to transfer funds across markets faster and at a lower cost than traditional systems.
Cryptocurrency ▌CoinShares: $454 Million Outflow from Digital Asset Investment Products Last Week According to CoinShares monitoring, digital asset investment products experienced a $454 million outflow last week. The cumulative outflow of $1.3 billion over the past four days almost completely offset the $1.5 billion inflow in the first two days of the year. This reversal in market sentiment appears to stem primarily from investor concerns about the prospect of a Federal Reserve rate cut in March, which in turn is driven by recent macroeconomic data releases. Bitcoin saw a significant outflow of $405 million last week, while Ethereum experienced a total outflow of $116 million. XRP, Solana, and Sui continued to show positive sentiment, attracting inflows of $45.8 million, $32.8 million, and $7.6 million respectively. Standard Chartered Bank plans to launch a cryptocurrency prime brokerage business through its venture capital arm, SC Ventures. The business will offer services including custody, financing, and market access. It is currently in the early stages of development. This move would help Standard Chartered circumvent Basel III's capital requirement of up to 1250% for permissionless crypto assets. Standard Chartered has previously been involved in crypto projects such as Zodia Custody and Zodia Markets, and in 2025 became the first global systemically important bank to offer spot crypto trading. BlackRock Transfers 3,143 BTC and 7,204 ETH to Coinbase According to Onchain Lens, BlackRock transferred 3,143 BTC (worth approximately $285 million) and 7,204 ETH (worth approximately $22.42 million) to Coinbase. Strategy Currently Has a Unrealized Profit of $10.55 Billion, Bitmine Currently Has an Unrealized Loss of $3.225 Billion According to onchain analyst Ember, Bitcoin treasury company Strategy (MSTR) increased its holdings by 13,627 BTC ($1.25 billion) last week at a price of approximately $91,519. They now hold a total of 687,410 BTC ($62.348 billion), with an average cost of $75,353 and a paper profit of $10.55 billion. Ethereum treasury company Bitmine (BMNR) added 24,266 ETH ($75.76 million) last week at approximately $3,122. They now hold a total of 4,167,768 ETH ($12.878 billion), with an average cost of $3,862 and a paper loss of $3.225 billion.
▌Strategy spent $1.25 billion to purchase 13,627 Bitcoins last week
Strategy purchased 13,627 Bitcoins last week, for a total price of approximately $1.25 billion, at a price of approximately $91,519 per Bitcoin.
As of January 11, 2026, Strategy held 687,410 Bitcoins, with a total value of approximately $51.8 billion and a price per Bitcoin of approximately $75,353. BitMine increased its holdings by approximately 24,200 ETH last week, bringing its total holdings to over 4.16 million ETH. As of January 11, Eastern Time, BitMine's total cryptocurrency, cash, and "Moonshot" holdings totaled $14 billion. BitMine held 4,167,768 ETH (an increase of 24,266 ETH from the previous week), representing 3.45% of the total Ethereum supply (120.7 million ETH). It also held 193 BTC, $23 million worth of shares in Eightco Holdings (NASDAQ: ORBS), and $988 million in uncollateralized cash.
▌RWA Market Cap Excluding Stablecoins Surpasses $20 Billion, Setting a New All-Time High
Securitize, a tokenized digital securities platform, cited data from rwa.xyz on its X platform, stating that the market capitalization of RWA (Real-World Assets), excluding stablecoins, has surpassed $20 billion, setting a new all-time high, demonstrating investors' continued interest in the blockchainization of traditional assets. The tokenized US Treasury market performed particularly well, with a market capitalization exceeding $8.87 billion. Additionally, BlackRock's BUILD fund currently has a market capitalization of $1.73 billion.
▌H100 Group Signs Letter of Intent to Acquire Swiss Bitcoin Treasury Company Future Holdings AG
H100 announced on its X platform that it has signed a letter of intent to acquire the Swiss Bitcoin treasury company Future Holdings AG.
This proposed transaction marks H100's formal expansion into the Swiss market and will further strengthen the company's Bitcoin vault management capabilities and capital market operations.
Important Economic Developments
▌Fed's Williams Hints at No Reason for Rate Cuts in the Short Term
New York Fed President Williams on Monday projected that the U.S. economy will remain healthy in 2026 and hinted that there is no reason for rate cuts in the short term. Williams stated that the FOMC has pushed monetary policy further from a dovish and restrictive stance to a near-neutral level, and that "current monetary policy is well-positioned to support labor market stability and push inflation back to the 2% target." Williams added that it is crucial for the Fed to "avoid creating unnecessary risks to the labor market" while pulling inflation back to the 2% target. He added, "In recent months, downside risks to employment have increased as the labor market has cooled, while upside risks to inflation have diminished." Williams expects GDP growth to be between 2.5% and 2.75% this year, with the unemployment rate stabilizing this year and declining in the following years. Regarding inflation, he expects price pressures to peak between 2.75% and 3% in the first half of this year, averaging down to 2.5% for the year, and returning to 2% in 2027. Goldman Sachs Chief Economist Hatzius: FOMC will continue to make interest rate decisions based on its statutory mandate and economic data. Goldman Sachs Chief Economist Hatzius: The latest news regarding the criminal investigation of Federal Reserve Chairman Powell will exacerbate concerns about the Fed's independence. My expectation is that the FOMC will continue to make interest rate decisions based on its statutory mandate and economic data. According to Fox News, citing US government sources, US President Donald Trump will meet this week with Rick Rieder, BlackRock's chief investment officer for global income, who is a potential candidate for the next Federal Reserve chairman. The interview with Rieder will take place at the White House on Thursday, with attendees including Trump, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Treasury Secretary Cent, and Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino. This will be the fourth and final interview with a candidate for Fed chairman. Besides Rieder, the final shortlist includes former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh, National Economic Council Director Hassett, and Fed Governor Waller. Senate Majority Leader Thune: The federal investigation into Powell should be resolved swiftly to ensure the Fed's independence. Senate Majority Leader Thune stated that the federal investigation into Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell should be resolved swiftly to ensure the Fed's independence. According to CME's FedWatch Tool: The probability of the Fed cutting interest rates by 25 basis points in January is 5.0%, and the probability of keeping rates unchanged is 95.0%. By March, the probability of a cumulative 25 basis point rate cut is 26.0%, the probability of keeping rates unchanged is 72.8%, and the probability of a cumulative 50 basis point rate cut is 1.2%.
Golden Encyclopedia
▌Why do DAT Treasury stocks fall faster than their underlying assets?
DAT Treasury reserve strategies work well during market rallies. Stocks of companies holding large amounts of cryptocurrency assets tend to outperform their holdings, attracting investors who want to invest in cryptocurrencies but don't want to hold them directly. However, this relationship collapses sharply during market downturns. Cryptocurrency Treasury stocks often fall more sharply than the cryptocurrencies they hold. This pattern is not accidental but stems from the interplay between the stock market, corporate balance sheets, and investor behavior. Theoretically, if a company holds a large amount of cryptocurrency, its market capitalization should move in line with the price of that asset. But in reality, history shows otherwise. During market sell-offs, these stocks often underperform the cryptocurrencies they hold.
The reason cryptocurrency treasuries exhibit this trend is that buying these stocks is not the same as buying Bitcoin.
Investors are buying equity in a highly leveraged, market-sentiment-driven company that holds Bitcoin. This distinction becomes crucial when market risk appetite weakens. During an uptrend, crypto treasury stocks typically trade above their net asset value. These expectations vanish when market sentiment shifts. Many investors begin prioritizing downside protection and balance sheet robustness over growth potential. The premium narrows rapidly, often turning into a discount. Therefore, the price decline is not only due to a decrease in the value of the cryptocurrency but also to a shrinking valuation multiple. During periods of heightened risk aversion, funds are more likely to shift from alternative assets like stocks to ETFs, or even withdraw from the cryptocurrency market entirely, accelerating premium compression. This structural shift has resulted in a faster and greater rate of premium compression than in previous cycles.
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