Huang Renxun has left Beijing, and NVIDIA has not disclosed whether Huang Renxun met with the DeepSeek founder.

January 19 — The Federal Reserve is facing its biggest independence test in over a century, with the case going before the U.S. Supreme Court this week. The core question: will justices uphold Congress’s intent to shield the world’s most powerful central bank from political influence, or let President Trump "clean house" at will? The case centers on Trump’s attempt to fire Fed Governor Cook over alleged mortgage fraud (dating to before her Fed tenure). An extreme ruling could erode the Fed’s long-protected independence; even a narrower decision could set the first "playbook" for a president to remove officials from the historically insulated institution. Oral arguments are scheduled for January 21, 2026 — this Wednesday. The provision at issue is untested in court. Analysts note that if enforced rigorously, it could solidify Fed independence — but it also creates a potential target for a government acting in bad faith. Trump’s team argues the "good reason" for dismissal is wha

January 19th – Per HyperInsight monitoring, key whale position repositioning moves between 10:00 AM and 8:00 PM ET today are as follows: ### Bull Camp - A DeFi whale withdrew 32,395 ETH from Binance again, worth over $100 million. - The "On-Chain Gold Maximalist Bull" trader placed a long order for a silver contract at a limit price of $84, with a position size of 100,000 ounces. - One whale closed a 65-day 5,000 ETH long position, netting $581,000; it also closed a 41-day 95,000 SOL long position, earning $293,000. ### Bear Camp - The "Lightning Reversal" whale closed a 10,800 ETH short position, pocketing $1.085 million. - The "Shanzhai Air Force Front" took partial profits on LTC and ASTER short positions, now holding the largest ASTER short position on Hyperliquid.

On January 19, Garrett Jin—agent for the "BTC OG Whale Insider"—shared a lengthy post on social media. He noted that some analysts have recently drawn parallels between Bitcoin’s current price trend and the 2022 bear market, citing potential short-term pattern similarities. But long-term, he argued, this comparison is “completely absurd.” Jin explained the current macro backdrop is night-and-day different from 2022. Back then, capital’s top priority was risk aversion, and Bitcoin was in a distribution pattern at cycle highs amid a monetary tightening cycle. Now, the U.S. liquidity index has broken above both its short- and long-term downtrend lines—signaling a new uptrend is underway. Additionally, Bitcoin formed a weekly “M-top” pattern between 2021-2022—typically a sign of a long-term cycle top that suppresses prices for extended periods. Right now, though, it’s broken out of its weekly uptrend channel. Probability-wise, this looks more like a bear trap before a return to the c

On January 19, CryptoSlate reported that Bitcoin options’ total open interest (OI) climbed to roughly $74.1 billion in mid-January—marking the first time it has exceeded Bitcoin futures’ OI of about $65.22 billion. Analysts note that when options OI outpaces futures, it typically signals a shift from unstructured directional leverage to more structured risk exposures, including hedging, yield strategies, and volatility positions. Per Checkonchain data, options OI dropped sharply at the end of December 2023 before rebounding in early January—matching the market’s post-major expiry risk profile rebuild. Futures OI, by contrast, remained more stable over the same period.

**CryptoQuant Analyst Axel: Bitcoin Fear & Greed Index Plunges to 44.9% Post-Extreme Greed** CryptoQuant analyst Axel tweeted on January 19 that the Bitcoin Fear & Greed Index hit ~80% (extreme greed territory) between January 13–15, aligning with prices approaching a local high near $97,000. Today, the index has plunged to 44.9%, breaking below the 50% neutral threshold. Axel noted the index’s composite measure includes volume-weighted average price, net active exchange deposits, open interest delta, and long/short volume differentials. Breaking the neutral line signals a shift in market structure and deteriorating risk profile. Reclaiming 50%+ and holding steady would be the first sign of stabilization; a further slide into the 20% extreme fear zone could trigger deeper correction risks. During this morning’s drop, hourly liquidations topped $205 million. The spot oscillator surged to +97.96%, meaning liquidations were almost entirely long positions. The scale indicates forc

Per FinanceWire, AKEDO—a game and content creation engine and publishing platform—closed a $5 million seed round on January 19th. The round was led by Karatage, with participation from Sfermion, Collab + Currency, MARBLEX, Seed Club, The Open Platform, TON Ventures, Gagra Ventures, Kenetic Capital, and Metalabs Ventures, among others. The funding will accelerate development of its AI-native content creation engine and Launchpad, aiming to significantly boost game and content development efficiency via a coordinated AI agent.