U.S. SEC Chair: Will Discuss Cryptocurrency Regulation Coordination with CFTC Next Week, Will Also Live Stream the Event

Jan. 23 — Elon Musk is reopening his wallet and launching his political machinery as he preps for the 2026 midterm elections. The world’s richest man has already donated $10 million to a Republican Senate candidate this year, and his once frosty relationship with former President Donald Trump has thawed. Insiders familiar with the plans said Musk’s political team has met with several potential service providers in recent weeks for the upcoming midterms, focusing on digital and SMS marketing experts. These sources noted Chris Young, Musk’s chief political strategist, is leading the efforts and has met with vendors, some political candidates, and their teams. Sources revealed Musk’s 2026 midterm goal: convert Trump supporters—some of whom only voted for the former president in general elections—into participants in midterm and local races. Analysts point out the reconciliation signals an emerging pragmatic alliance: Trump will regain Musk’s financial and technological infrastruc

Cointelegraph reported on January 23 that the U.S. Department of Justice will not re-examine the insider trading case against Nathaniel Chastain, former manager of NFT platform OpenSea. A notice filed with Manhattan federal court on Wednesday confirmed a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with Chastain, with the case set to be dismissed in one month. Chastain was convicted in 2023 of wire fraud and money laundering for using his position to purchase NFTs set to be featured on OpenSea’s homepage, then selling them for a profit after their prices rose. However, a federal appeals court overturned the ruling in July this year, finding the jury received incorrect instructions and that OpenSea homepage NFT data lacked commercial value—failing to meet the “property” definition under federal wire fraud law. Manhattan U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton noted the decision not to re-prosecute stems from Chastain having already served three months in prison and agreeing not to contest the forfei

On January 23, monitoring from HyperInsight (via https://t.me/HyperInsight) shows that at 12:31, the "Lightning Backhand" whale (address 0x50b30) shorted 211.71 BTC with 20x leverage, entering at an average price of $89,845. The position is currently slightly underwater. This address frequently switches between long and short positions, opening large new positions in the opposite direction right after closing its existing positions.

On January 23, Farside Investors reported the following U.S. crypto spot ETF flows from the prior day: - U.S. Bitcoin spot ETFs saw a combined net outflow of $32.2 million, with BlackRock’s IBIT accounting for $22.4 million of the outflows. - Ethereum spot ETFs posted a net outflow of $42 million, while the ETHA ETF recorded $44.4 million in net outflows. - Solana (SOL) spot ETFs registered a net inflow of $1.7 million.

On January 23rd, Castle Island Ventures partner Nic Carter took to X (formerly Twitter) to share: "X is now algorithm-driven, and the platform has traded off between boosting user engagement and preserving stable creator-fan connections. Right now, it’s prioritizing the former—hurting creators’ ability to consistently reach their existing audience, making it less predictable for users to reliably get content from their favorite creators, and rippling through niche communities like Crypto Twitter (a filter bubble)." Carter predicts future discussions and demands will center on "digital property," with a focus on algorithm transparency, creators’ right to reach their followers, and users’ right to receive content from the accounts they follow.

January 23rd: Per monitoring from HyperInsight (https://t.me/HyperInsight), trader 0x61cee opened a 20x leveraged short position on 226,100 xyz:SILVER (a silver-pegged token) at an average entry price of $89.72. The position currently has an unrealized loss of $2.026 million, with a liquidation price of $112.79.