Crypto

Doctor Profit revised Bitcoin's projected cycle bottom lower, and now expects a final low between $54,000 and $44,000.

Binance just turned its emergency insurance fund into a public, auditable pledge. And it reads like a crisis-repair letter in balance sheet form. The exchange announced Jan. 30 that it will convert SAFU's roughly $1 billion stablecoin reserves into Bitcoin within 30 days, with an explicit promise: if BTC price movements push the fund below […] The post Binance commits to $1B Bitcoin purchase as an implicit apology for October liquidation meltdown appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Both precious metals plunged in the past few trading days.

Crypto assets entered bear market territory over the weekend, and more volatility could be ahead this week.

Nomura's CFO, Hiroyuki Moriuchi, reportedly reaffirmed the company's long-term commitment to digital assets but said it had to manage short-term risks. Japanese banking giant Nomura will reportedly reduce its exposure to crypto, citing the current tough market climate and a dip in profits from overseas in the third quarter. Nomura chief financial officer Hiroyuki Moriuchi said that the firm would look to reduce its risk exposure at its European digital asset subsidiary Laser Digital Holdings, after it posted losses in the quarter ending Dec. 31, Bloomberg Japan reported on Friday. Moriuchi said that while its subsidiary took a hit amid the crypto market turbulence, the firm will manage its stability through stringent position management over the next few months.  Read more

The amount of crypto stolen in January is also a 214% increase from the month before, with a majority of the value lost due to a single phishing incident. The value of cryptocurrency stolen through exploits and scams reached $370.3 million last month, the highest monthly figure in 11 months and a nearly fourfold rise from January 2025.  Crypto security company CertiK said on Saturday that of the 40 exploit and scam incidents over January, the majority of the total value stolen came from one victim that lost around $284 million due to a social engineering scam. A significant portion of the more than $370 million stolen came as a result of phishing scams, which stole $311.3 million over the month. Read more

Following its weekend rout, Bitcoin dropped to $74,600 on Monday, marking a nine-month low for the cryptocurrency. Bitcoin is trading below the average cost basis of US spot Bitcoin ETFs after they recorded their second and third-biggest outflow weeks last month, according to Galaxy’s head of research, Alex Thorn. The total assets under management for US Bitcoin ETF products are approximately $113 billion, according to Coinglass, and they collectively hold around 1.28 million BTC, according to BiTBO, implying an average cost basis of about $87,830 per Bitcoin. Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC) fell about 11% from $84,000 on Saturday to a nine-month low near $74,600 in early trading on Monday. Read more

The protocol warned it may pursue criminal and civil action after identifying addresses tied to a hack of its token transfer system.

Nevada's court ruling against Polymarket comes as prediction markets face global regulatory pressure and bans across multiple jurisdictions.

Vitalik Buterin said the current creator token model favors those already popular and rewards mass content creation over high-quality content. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has proposed a new creator token model that combines decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) with prediction market mechanics to incentivize higher-quality content creation. Creator tokens, or content coins, are blockchain-based assets that can grant fans a slice of ownership, access rights, or even royalties for the content creator’s work, which could be in the form of posts, photos, music, or videos.  However, in a post on X on Sunday, Buterin said existing creator token platforms notably prioritize mass content creation over quality, and that this is now being exacerbated by AI-generated content. Read more

Bitcoin’s weekend plunge opened a rare CME futures gap, as macro and geopolitical pressures drove a broad deleveraging.

A Moscow court has reportedly ordered BitRiver CEO Igor Runets to remain under house arrest as investigators pursue tax evasion charges. The founder and CEO of Russian Bitcoin mining firm BitRiver, Igor Runets, has reportedly been detained and charged with multiple counts of tax evasion.  According to reports from local media outlets such as RBK and Kommersant on Sunday, Runets was detained on Friday and is facing three charges for allegedly concealing assets to evade taxes. The outlets cite court documents from the Zamoskvoretsky Court of Moscow indicating that Runets was charged on Saturday and ordered to be placed under house arrest the same day.  Read more

Bitcoin’s decline is mirroring SaaS stocks, proving that it is unlikely a crypto-specific narrative is driving the recent selloff, one analyst argues. A major market downturn that saw crypto markets lose $250 billion in total capitalization over the weekend is due to a shortage of US liquidity, rather than any crypto-specific problem, argues Raoul Pal, founder and CEO of Global Macro Investor.  “The big narrative is that BTC and crypto are broken. The cycle is over,” Pal said on Sunday, explaining that this can’t be the case because Software as a Service (SaaS) stocks have fallen in tandem.  SaaS stocks and Bitcoin (BTC) have moved in lockstep recently, both dropping significantly, which is notable because both are “long-duration assets,” as their value is based heavily on expected future cash flows and adoption, making them sensitive to liquidity conditions and interest rates, he said. Read more

A foreign investment in a Trump crypto firm reportedly preceded a reversal in U.S. AI chip restrictions, prompting corruption allegations.

The latest crash came after US President Donald Trump nominated Kevin Warsh to replace Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, sending Bitcoin down to $75,892 late on Sunday. Strategy founder Michael Saylor has hinted his firm added to its Bitcoin holdings after the cryptocurrency slid more than 13% over the weekend, briefly pushing the company’s large BTC position into the red.  “More Orange,” the Strategy executive chairman posted to X on Sunday alongside a chart showing his firm’s $55 billion worth of Bitcoin purchases since August 2020. Saylor often posts the chart as a signal that his company has bought or plans to buy Bitcoin. It would mark Strategy’s fifth Bitcoin (BTC) purchase this year, with its largest coming on Jan. 20, when it bought 22,305 Bitcoin. Strategy is by far the largest Bitcoin treasury company, with over 712,647 Bitcoin under management Read more

Standard Chartered warns stablecoins could pull up to $500B from bank deposits in developed markets by 2028.

Crypto bridge CrossCurve has told users to pause interacting with its protocol while it conducts an investigation into a smart contract breach. Update (Feb. 2, 12:20 am UTC): This article has been updated to add a post by CrossCurve CEO Boris Povar. Crypto protocol CrossCurve said its cross-chain bridge has been attacked, with $3 million reportedly stolen across multiple networks. CrossCurve posted to X late on Sunday that its bridge was “under attack, involving the exploitation of a vulnerability in one of the smart contracts used.” Read more

New CryptoQuant data shows how January’s US winter storm disrupted Bitcoin mining as operators curtailed power use amid grid stress. New data is providing a clearer picture of how January’s US winter storm affected Bitcoin mining operations, showing that daily production among publicly traded miners dropped sharply during the disruption. The storm swept across large parts of the continental United States, prompting miners to curtail operations amid grid stress, snow, ice and extreme cold, and highlighting how closely mining activity is now tied to energy market conditions. Daily production among publicly traded miners tracked by CryptoQuant typically averaged between 70 and 90 Bitcoin (BTC) in the weeks leading up to the storm, before falling to roughly 30 to 40 BTC per day at the height of the disruption, according to data shared by CryptoQuant head of research Julio Moreno. Read more

The “Bye America” trade has a habit of returning when markets stop debating whether the US is still the safest house on the block and start debating the price of living in it. Over the past week, that debate has shown up in the dollar. A weaker dollar is rarely a story by itself, but […] The post As global “Bye America” investors ditch US risk, Bitcoin is finally ready to be the macro alternative appeared first on CryptoSlate.

A debate featuring prominent transhumanists and futurists revealed deep divides over whether AGI can be made safe, or will inevitably threaten human survival.