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

On January 7, Barclays made its first investment in a stablecoin-focused firm—Ubyx, a U.S.-based stablecoin clearing platform—though the exact size of the investment wasn’t disclosed. Ryan Hayward, Head of Digital Assets and Strategic Investments at Barclays, noted: “As tokens, blockchain and wallets keep evolving, specialized technology will be critical to delivering connectivity and infrastructure that helps regulated financial institutions interact seamlessly. This investment aligns with Barclays’ exploration of opportunities tied to new digital currencies like stablecoins.” (Cointelegraph)

**Per Coinglass data (Jan. 7):** If Bitcoin falls below $91,000, cumulative long liquidation intensity across major centralized exchanges (CEXs) will hit $508 million. Conversely, if Bitcoin rises above $93,000, cumulative short liquidation intensity will reach $256 million. **BlockBeats Note:** Liquidation charts do not show the exact number or value of contracts at risk of liquidation. Instead, bars represent the relative importance of each liquidation cluster compared to neighboring clusters—this is defined as "intensity." As such, the chart reflects how strongly a price level will react if reached. A taller liquidation bar signals a more intense market response (from a liquidity cascade) once that price is hit.

On January 7, Binance Alpha launched ZTC, per information from the relevant webpage. The token has a current market cap of $37.87 million and a fully diluted valuation (FDV) of $151 million.

Jan 7 — According to HTX market data, Ethereum (ETH) briefly fell below $3,200 and is now trading at $3,202.5, marking a 24-hour drop of 0.73%.

January 7th — Per HyperInsight monitoring, the "Diehard Bull" whale (address 0x10a3c) liquidated its $93.82 million BTC short position via a stop-loss order 20 minutes ago, incurring a $1.689 million loss. Currently, the whale holds high-leverage long positions in a floating loss state, with: - 10x leveraged long in 5 billion PUMP: average entry price $0.0025, floating loss $299,000 - 10x leveraged long in 30 million FARTCOIN: average entry price $0.4542, floating loss $776,000

On January 7, crypto KOL Wimar.X (@DefiWimar) said this Friday (January 10) could be the "worst day of the year" for markets—because the U.S. Supreme Court may rule Trump-era tariffs illegal, with Polymarket putting the probability at 78% right now. That could send U.S. stocks, crypto, and bonds plunging. Wimar.X argues historical cases show an "illegal tariff ruling" would spark a massive tariff refund—he claims up to $600 billion max—but the process would take years of case-by-case litigation, so the cash flow hit won’t be immediate. Notably, community members think the refund figure in the post is overblown, and the volatility then will be viewed as a trading opportunity, not a crash. Tom Lee retweeted the post and chimed in: "This could be a contrarian signal."