The popular AI framework Virtuals Protocol will host an in-person meet-up in Hong Kong on Friday, January 17.

US officials stated that the U.S. military conducted multiple strikes on missile and air defense systems at several sites around the Strait of Hormuz, as well as small vessels belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) an hour ago. Officials from Iran’s Qeshm Island confirmed that local time on Sunday afternoon, the enemy launched 10 to 11 missiles at Qeshm Island; all targeted military facilities, and no casualties were reported in the attack. Earlier, Iran announced it had launched an attack on a U.S. missile base in Kuwait. The ATACMS missile system facility at the U.S. military base in Kuwait was struck, with smoke rising at the scene. Meanwhile, Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported that Israeli artillery carried out additional shelling in southern Lebanon. Two Israeli shells hit Kafr Tibtin town in Nabatieh District, southern Lebanon. The agency added that the attack originated from Israeli military positions in the occupied border area. In addition, Israel also shelled the town of Zawtar al-Sharqiya near Meifadoun.

According to Iran's Mehr News Agency, Iran launched an attack on a US missile base in Kuwait. The ATACMS missile system facility at the US military base in Kuwait was struck, with smoke rising at the scene. Iran's president also noted: "We are engaged in a complex economic war, and successfully overcoming this phase requires the active participation of citizens." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated: "Trump hopes to reach an agreement with Iran, particularly on the nuclear issue, but if Iran fails to abide by its commitments, he will not hesitate to use military force."

According to OnchainLens monitoring, a crypto whale deposited approximately $107.21 million in assets on the HyperlendX platform and borrowed around $70.94 million using this deposit as collateral. The address currently holds 1.56 million kHYPE as collateral, has borrowed 1.06 million WHYPE, with a health factor of 1.31, indicating relatively prudent operations. Additionally, the whale has staked 12,305 HPL.

Data from prediction market platform Predict.fun shows that top high-frequency sports trader swisstony emerged during the 2026 FIFA World Cup (co-hosted by the U.S., Canada, and Mexico). Since entering the market in July 2025, the whale has generated total profits of $18.648 million, with a single largest profit of $1.2 million, having made a total of 139,304 predictions, and its profit curve has been steadily rising. Its World Cup prediction record is impressive: it excels in contrarian trades when popular odds are overvalued, amassing huge profits through high-frequency, small-margin trades. While average per-trade gains are modest, its stable win rate leads to strong cumulative returns. In June, the whale earned around $9.5 million by contrarian betting on popular teams including England, Spain, and Belgium, briefly becoming the platform’s 5th highest-earning user. Currently, swisstony is focusing on the France vs Spain match on July 14 (local time), placing heavy positions across multiple sub-markets for the game. Its core strategy remains making large volumes of "No" predictions—especially for low-probability exact scores—paired with some handicap and over/under bets. The whale consistently ranks at the top of prediction market monthly profit leaderboards, with a single-day profit exceeding $2 million. Analysts believe swisstony likely uses automated tools or real-time data to assist its trading.

In the Nasdaq 100, 48% of constituent stocks have corrected at least 20% from their respective peaks. This proportion has doubled over the past 12 months, but remains lower than the 60% level recorded before the market bottomed at the end of March, and is still short of the extreme 80% hit during the 2022 bear market. Meanwhile, 64% of constituents are still trading above their 200-day moving average, near the year's highest level — a figure that stood at just 38% before the market bottomed on March 30. The rally in the U.S. stock index is increasingly relying on a small number of stocks for support.

Analyst Darkfost points out that Bitcoin trading below the Short-Term Holder (STH) cost base is a hallmark of every bear market cycle. BTC has remained below this level for over nine months. The STH cost base currently stands at $70,700 and has consistently acted as a resistance level. In May, Bitcoin attempted to test the nearby level of roughly $82,000, only to pull back immediately. Since then, the STH cost base has dropped significantly, signaling that some investors have accumulated positions at lower prices, lowering their average holding cost. However, the price has yet to effectively hold above this key level. The analysis notes that a sustained recovery above the STH cost base will mark the first positive signal. Bitcoin is currently trading in a range of $59,000 to $64,000, a notable distance from the $70,700 resistance level. If BTC can later break through and hold above this level effectively, it will mean the entire short-term holder cohort has exited unrealized losses, and market sentiment could shift from bearish defense to structural recovery. Conversely, if resistance persists, the STH cost base will continue to decline, potentially extending the bear market bottoming cycle.