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

According to Bloomberg, as industry executives gather at the White House and market regulatory optimism builds, Bitcoin broke through a months-long trading range on Wednesday, surging as much as 8% to around $69,500—its largest gain since March and the highest level since early June. Trump is expected to hold meetings with executives from firms including Coinbase, Payward, and Blockchain.com. Axel Rudolph, chief technical analyst at IG, said the rally toward $70,000 was triggered by short covering, signaling a recovery in buyer confidence, though whether the momentum can hold and push to challenge the $75,000 level remains a key test. Bitcoin also reclaimed its 100-day and 200-day moving averages on Wednesday. Data from Coinglass showed the sharp rise triggered over $1 billion in liquidations within an hour, with total liquidations reaching roughly $1.5 billion over the past 24 hours. On the regulatory front, the U.S. SEC this week proposed exempting certain digital asset issuers from securities registration requirements to support early-stage and fundraising-stage companies. Meanwhile, the U.S. Treasury Department announced it would at least double the size of its liquidity-supporting repo operations for 10- to 30-year Treasuries, pushing U.S. Treasury yields and the dollar lower. Joshua Lim, co-head of markets at FalconX, noted that the market has been flooded with sell orders over the past weeks, but Bitcoin held firm in the $60,000 range, which subsequently shifted market sentiment and narratives. Data from Deribit showed Bitcoin options positions are concentrated near $60,000 put options and $70,000 call options.

At the July meeting, three Federal Reserve officials voted against the decision to hold interest rates steady. They argued the Fed should raise rates, as core inflation stood at a high 2.6% at the time, well above the Fed’s 2% target. However, data released in August is undermining their case for further rate hikes. The July CPI report showed core prices, excluding volatile food and energy, rose 2.5% year-over-year, the lowest level since March 2021. Meanwhile, the July jobs report indicated the U.S. lost 23,000 jobs that month. Andrew Hollenhorst, chief U.S. economist at Citi Research, said these figures "will make it hard for the meeting minutes to meaningfully alter the market’s already reduced expectations for a rate hike." Still, the minutes will provide a clearer view of how large the divide was between the Fed’s hawks and doves during the July meeting. The minutes may also reveal how officials will define and assess inflation pressures moving forward. Michael Feroli, chief U.S. economist at JPMorgan, wrote that the minutes "could shed light on how much tolerance other FOMC members have for inflation running above target." (Jinshi)

Grayscale has submitted the fourth amendment to convert its Zcash Trust into an ETF, proposing to rename the fund and list it on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "ZCSH". The filing shows that DCG International Investments Ltd., a subsidiary of its parent company Digital Currency Group (DCG), is in discussions to inject approximately 200,000 ZEC into the fund, valued at around $110 million at current prices. However, this potential transaction is not currently a binding purchase agreement or commitment. The filing notes that potential investors may ultimately buy more, fewer, or even none of the fund’s shares. The document also discloses the Orchard vulnerability that occurred in June this year and the subsequent Ironwood upgrade, which deactivated the affected shielded pools and added protections against counterfeit ZEC. Meanwhile, trading volume for ZEC spot ETFs has dropped significantly from its peak of over $23 million in November 2025, and ZCSH’s daily trading volume has not yet exceeded $5 million since June.

Well-known crypto trader Doctor Profit posted a statement saying Ethereum (ETH) has fully broken through the key resistance zone of the bear market phase and, for the first time since the start of the current bear market, reclaimed the "golden line" (weekly EMA50) he closely tracks. Doctor Profit views this breakout as a significant technical signal for ETH, adding "fasten your seatbelts" while noting that bears will face pressure.

Tim Duy, chief US economist at SGH Macro Advisors, said that it has become more common in recent years for multiple Federal Reserve officials to dissent on interest rate decisions. Especially during periods when the economy faces multiple pressures and the policy path is unclear, sharp disagreements among officials can lead to more dissenting votes. As for the upcoming Federal Reserve meeting minutes, Duy noted that the core focus of the market will be how widespread officials' concerns about inflation are. He pointed out that at the time, inflation appeared significantly above the Fed's target, and policymakers were worried that it would not quickly fall back to the target level. Meanwhile, the labor market was seen as having stabilized, leading some officials to strongly argue that the Fed should raise interest rates to curb inflationary pressures. Therefore, the market will focus on how many Fed officials actually share this view, and whether concerns about inflation have formed a consensus among a broader group of policymakers. The degree of disagreement among officials over the policy path will also serve as an important clue for judging future interest rate trends. (Jin10)

According to monitoring from TradingBeats (formerly Hyperinsight), a whale address starting with 0x66 added 800 BTC to its short position during tonight’s sharp BTC rally, expanding its 40x-leveraged short to 1,200 BTC, making it the largest BTC short seller on Hyperliquid. The address currently holds an unrealized loss of $2.39 million, with an average entry price of $66,891 and a liquidation price of $70,039. Data shows the whale address is tagged as both "High Profit" and "Whale" — meaning its cumulative historical profit and loss exceeds $1 million, and its perpetual contract account net value (excluding spot and staking assets) ranges between $1 million and $5 million. Its win rate on completed historical trades stands at 55%.