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

As U.S. government debt continues to surge, investors are refocusing on scarce assets like Bitcoin and gold as hedges against the declining purchasing power of the U.S. dollar. Data from the U.S. Treasury’s “Debt to the Penny” shows that as of last Friday, U.S. federal debt has hit a record $39.7 trillion. Market observers point out that U.S. government debt is currently increasing by around $70 billion daily, an incremental volume that exceeds most crypto assets when calculated by market capitalization. The founder of LondonCryptoClub stated that the pace of U.S. debt growth is driving so-called “currency devaluation trades,” in which investors buy assets with limited supplies—such as gold and Bitcoin—to hedge against long-term fiat currency depreciation risks. The firm argues that in an environment of “fiscal dominance,” Federal Reserve policy may be influenced by the government’s financing needs, requiring interest rates to stay low and continuous liquidity provision to support debt refinancing. Apollo chief economist Torsten Slok previously warned that U.S. debt as a share of GDP has exceeded 120%, leaving limited fiscal stimulus room in the event of a future economic recession. Additionally, the Federal Reserve will struggle to cut interest rates sharply as it did in the past, as such moves could exacerbate inflation and push down Treasury yields, hampering government financing. Currently, Bitcoin’s price holds above $65,000, supported by easing U.S.-Iran tensions and falling oil prices, which have lifted market risk appetite. Meanwhile, Ethereum has outperformed Bitcoin recently, with the ETH/BTC exchange rate breaking above its 100-day and 200-day moving averages, leading market participants to believe that altcoin momentum may be building. However, analysts note that since its launch in 2010, Bitcoin’s price movements have resembled those of tech stocks more than traditional safe-haven assets, leaving its safe-haven status a subject of debate.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the net worth of Zhu Yiming, CEO of ChangXin Technology, surged nearly 300% to $13.9 billion following the firm’s listing. In the company’s May IPO prospectus, Zhu pledged to transfer 767.9 million shares for an employee incentive program. After ChangXin Technology’s stock jumped 466% on its debut trading day, the value of these shares has reached $5.6 billion, equivalent to roughly 40% of Zhu’s total wealth earmarked for employee bonuses. Meanwhile, Zhu also committed not to sell down his shares over the next 10 years. However, ChangXin Technology’s bonus plan comes with specific conditions, including vesting after three years, a 10-year distribution period, and unclear beneficiary scope. The company had 19,298 employees as of the end of 2025.

A 26-year-old Hong Kong trader is suspected of misappropriating HK$50 million in company funds without authorization as margin, using leveraged financing to purchase the Nan Fung Double Leveraged Long SK Hynix ETF. The trade resulted in a HK$150 million paper loss after the underlying asset plummeted, and he has been arrested by police on suspicion of theft. The trader executed the transactions between January 9 and July 20 this year, leveraging the HK$50 million principal with margin financing to bet on SK Hynix’s price rise. The double leverage of the ETF, when combined with financing, further amplified the risks. Public data shows the Nan Fung Double Leveraged Long SK Hynix ETF climbed to a historical high of HK$193.65 at the end of June, driven by the storage chip rally. However, the semiconductor sector subsequently corrected, and by July 20, the ETF had dropped to HK$52.58, marking a cumulative decline of over 72%. The involved position has not been forcibly liquidated yet, and the final loss may expand amid market fluctuations. The incident has sparked attention in Hong Kong’s Central financial circle, with some clients of related brokerages withdrawing funds for risk aversion. It is understood that the involved firm, Fortune Management Services Limited, is not a licensed institution of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). Fortune Securities, another subsidiary under the same Fortune Group, released a statement noting the suspect is not its employee and the incident has no connection with Fortune Securities.

According to a New York Times report, U.S. President Donald Trump is facing a tough call on Iran policy. In an interview, Trump stated his only constraint is "moral standards," given he commands the world’s most powerful military. The report notes Trump has recently held multiple discussions on the Iran situation with Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. Three main options lie before Trump: expanding military operations, applying pressure via economic sanctions, or declaring "victory" and withdrawing. In the prior week, Trump repeatedly hinted at preparing to resume military action against Iran, but shifted his stance on Friday. Multiple officials disclosed internal U.S. government doubts over whether large-scale bombing, cutting Iran’s power supply, and targeting missile facilities could force Iran back to substantive negotiations. Another option is to continue ramping up economic pressure, including restricting shipping in the Strait of Hormuz to cripple Iran’s oil exports. However, analysts argue Trump’s earlier expectation that "sanctions would collapse Iran’s economy" has not materialized. Since withdrawing from the Iran Nuclear Deal in 2018 and implementing the "maximum pressure" policy, the Iranian regime has remained in power, and external fears persist that Iran may further advance its covert nuclear program. The third option is to declare success and withdraw. Trump has previously said he aims to avoid conflict dragging down the U.S. economy via a ceasefire and talks. But if he withdraws without resolving Iran’s nuclear facilities issue and the Strait of Hormuz remains under Iran’s influence, the U.S. could face new energy market risks. Currently, Trump is seeking a balance between military action, economic pressure, and diplomatic withdrawal, and uncertainty lingers over further escalation of the Iran situation.

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang posted a second tweet on X 20 minutes ago, announcing the launch of the Open Secure AI Alliance, an initiative to unite global tech firms to jointly develop security technologies and tools for protecting AI software and AI Agents. Huang stated that attackers already possess cutting-edge AI capabilities, so defenders need to build a state-of-the-art AI ecosystem driven by the global community, combining the strengths of open and closed-source models to enhance AI security capabilities. He noted that in the recent Hugging Face security incident, closed-source AI limited critical forensics work, while open-weight leading models helped the team contain the breach—this was a key motivation for forming the alliance. According to NVIDIA, the alliance will collaborate with multiple companies and institutions including Adobe, Microsoft, Hugging Face, IBM, NVIDIA, Cloudflare, CrowdStrike, Databricks, Palantir, Red Hat, Salesforce, SAP, ServiceNow, SpaceX, and SK Telecom to develop new AI security technologies and defense tools. Currently, Jensen Huang’s X account has around 940,000 followers and follows just 52 accounts. This tweet is the second AI security-related update he has shared in a series of recent posts.

Solana-based meme project EPIK’s creator Mando posted that the token has a total supply of 1 billion, with nearly 60% of the supply currently out of circulation. Mando revealed he has personally repurchased a total of 356 million EPIK tokens, burning 154 million of them; the project’s liquidity pool (LP) also burned an additional 81 million tokens. Addressing the community’s doubts over his large token holdings, Mando clarified he did not acquire 50% of the tokens via airdrop, but instead invested seven-figure funds over the past three years to continuously repurchase and support the project, holding and controlling more than 50% of the total token supply. Mando noted he created EPIK during an early live stream, and has since long invested funds to sustain the project’s development, stressing his approach differs from that of some KOLs, creators or celebrities who sell tokens immediately after acquiring them. He is now considering distributing some of his held tokens in batches via airdrop to long-term community members and contributors who have supported the project, as a way to give back to early participants. According to GMGN market data, EPIK’s market cap once surged rapidly to around $27 million, with hourly trading volume hitting nearly $6.5 million, before the market cap pulled back to roughly $16 million.