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

USDT issuer Tether announced it has completed a full independent audit of its 2025 fiscal year financial statements by KPMG U.S., receiving an unqualified audit opinion—the most positive outcome an independent auditor can issue. Dubbed "the largest first-time financial audit in history", the engagement saw KPMG conduct comprehensive substantive testing on Tether’s balance sheet, reserve asset composition, outstanding token liabilities, income statement, changes in equity, and cash flow statement. Critically, instead of relying solely on custodian reports, KPMG physically counted every gold bar held by Tether to verify their existence and identifying details. The audit confirmed Tether’s reserves exceeded its liabilities by $6.814 billion as of December 31, 2025. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino stated: "Critics have for years claimed Tether could not complete an audit, and we have once again proven them wrong. An unqualified opinion means Tether has secured a clean audit." CFO Simon McWilliams called the milestone "a landmark in Tether’s commitment to transparency", noting the firm has wrapped up a historic project with the Big Four accounting firms and will continue to elevate standards moving forward. Tether has long published independent reserve attestation reports; this full financial statement audit marks a jump in its financial reporting regime from the attestation level to the full audit tier.

BTC and ETH options are set to expire this Friday, with open interest concentrated around several key strike prices. BTC’s nominal open interest stands at roughly $1.28 billion, with its max pain point at $64,000. The highest concentration of call options is at $68,000, followed by $70,000 to $72,000. ETH’s nominal open interest is approximately $161 million, with its max pain point at $1,900. The highest concentration of call options is at $1,950 and $2,000. BTC’s put/call open interest ratio is 0.85, while ETH’s is 0.94.

Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan stated that people evaluating current decentralized finance (DeFi) applications are making two overlapping mistakes: regarding market size, they believe they are targeting the $2 trillion cryptocurrency market, but in reality, they are targeting the $500 trillion asset market; regarding value capture, they think they have maximized fee revenue, but have only scratched the surface. Projects such as Hyperliquid, Uniswap, Aave, Morpho, Aerodrome, Lighter, Pump and others have a larger TAM (total addressable market) and stronger pricing power than commonly perceived.

Last week, 75% of stocks in the S&P 500 Tech sector closed above their 200-day moving average (DMA), marking the first time this threshold has been hit since October 2024, ending a 219-trading-day stretch of prolonged weakness. This is the 9th-longest downturn on record, with the longest such stretch in history lasting 759 trading days, ending after the dot-com bubble burst on April 22, 2003. Historical data shows that after the end of such prolonged downturns, the tech sector posts an average gain of 2.5% in the following month, 7.3% in three months, 15.5% in six months, and a whopping 33.4% in 12 months. Meanwhile, 69% of stocks in the Nasdaq 100 index are now above their 200-day moving average, near the highest level since July 2025. This notable improvement in the breadth indicator signals that the tech stock rally is expanding beyond a handful of heavyweight stocks to the broader sector, as market momentum builds. The tech sector had previously faced multiple headwinds including memory chip sell-offs, deleveraging of leveraged ETFs, and concerns over AI capital expenditures; this technical repair provides positive support for future market performance.

According to HTX market data, Bitcoin has dropped below $63,000, with a 24-hour decline of 1.03%.

U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Michael S. Selig has released the agenda for the inaugural meeting of the Innovation Advisory Committee (IAC). The meeting is scheduled to be held in Washington on Thursday, August 20, and will focus on topics including crypto asset regulation, artificial intelligence, and prediction markets. Selig said: "The United States has long been a global hub for financial innovation. I look forward to meeting with entrepreneurs, thinkers, and builders of the CFTC Innovation Advisory Committee to explore how emerging technologies and financial products can shape our markets in the new financial frontier." The public may submit relevant comments by August 27, and all received submissions will be published publicly. The meeting agenda may be adjusted based on other priorities of the IAC; the full agenda is available on the CFTC’s official website. The CFTC also emphasized that the views and opinions expressed by the advisory committee represent only the committee itself and do not reflect the positions of the CFTC, its staff, or the U.S. government.