Chainalysis: Illegal Cryptocurrency Transactions Hit $154 Billion Last Year, Sanctioned Entity Funds Flow Surge 694%

January 9th: Amber Group transferred 5,800 ETH (valued at roughly $18.06 million) to Copper 4 hours prior, per monitoring data from The Data Nerd.

**January 9 – Per Coinbob Popular Address Monitor, the "Strategy Whales" address (0x94d) temporarily closed 4 long positions and continued to sharply cut its BTC and ETH long positions amid BTC’s brief drop below $90,000. As of now, the address has liquidated over $170 million in positions within 1 hour, with total position size falling from $352 million to $180 million.** **Key position shifts: - 15x BTC Longs: Size dropped from $137M to $31.27M, average entry price $90,100; - 15x ETH Longs: Size decreased from $137M to $100M, average entry price $3,092.** **The address started building positions in December 2023 with an initial account balance of ~$20 million, later adding short positions on mainstream coins like BTC and ETH. Since its trading direction is opposite to publicly traded MicroStrategy (which has consistently bought BTC), the market sees this address as its clear "on-chain counterpart."**

**January 9th Update** As reported by Cointelegraph, the Supreme Court of Korea ruled on December 11, 2025, that Bitcoin held on centralized exchanges qualifies as a seizable asset under the country’s criminal procedure law. The court upheld the seizure of 55.6 Bitcoins belonging to a money laundering suspect, recognizing Bitcoin’s independent management capability, tradability, and economic value. This decision means Korean users holding Bitcoin on platforms like Upbit and Bithumb face clearer legal risks: cryptocurrencies tied to criminal activity can be directly frozen and seized on exchanges. Exchanges are now under pressure to promptly comply with search warrants, enforce strict Know Your Customer (KYC) protocols, and implement robust tracking systems.

On January 9, an institutional analysis noted that U.S. December employment growth may slow as companies grow cautious about hiring amid import tariffs and rising artificial intelligence (AI) investment. However, the unemployment rate is expected to drop to 4.5%, which could reinforce market expectations the Federal Reserve will hold interest rates steady this month. Tonight’s nonfarm payrolls report is forecast to show the U.S. labor market remains stuck in the "no hiring, no firing" pattern described by economists and policymakers. This would also confirm the economy is in a phase of no job expansion. Last quarter, economic growth and worker productivity surged—partly driven by a sharp jump in AI spending. Sal Guatieri, senior economist at BMO Capital Markets, said: "This isn’t entirely due to weak demand (economic performance doesn’t look poor)—but companies are very cautious about hiring. This could tie to cost-control efforts, possibly from tariff pressure, or the belief AI-

On January 9th, per the Coinbob Popular Address Monitor (https://t.me/Coinbob_track_CN), the address tagged “20 Million Band Hunter” (0x880a) has gradually covered its short positions in HYPE and XPL over the past 6 hours. Currently, its remaining HYPE short position totals ~$38.2 million, with an average entry price of $31.3 and a liquidation price of $42.7—making it the largest bear whale in HYPE on the Hyperliquid exchange. Previously, this address held highly concentrated short positions in ETH and HYPE (accounting for 98.6% of its total positions). Recently, it has diversified funds into short positions in BTC, SOL, kPEPE, and other tokens, with its total account size growing from $111 million 10 days ago to $149 million today. Key holding details: - 12x leveraged ETH long: ~$62.89 million held, avg entry $3,108, floating profit ~$400k; - 5x leveraged HYPE long: ~$37.6 million held, avg entry $31.3, floating profit ~$8.33 million; - 11x leveraged BTC long: ~$14.76 m

On January 9th, Bitcoin dropped below $90k, with a 0.4% decline over the past 24 hours, per HTX market data.