BREAKING: $435 million has been liquidated from the cryptocurrency market in the past 12 hours.

January 12 – Per monitoring from HyperInsight (via their Telegram channel @HyperInsight), key whale position adjustments between 10:00 AM and 8:00 PM local time today are below: ### Long Positions (Bullish) - The "Lightning Reversal" whale has continued trimming its BTC long position, retaining a 16.96 BTC long position with 20x leverage. - The "Strategy Counterparty" whale’s long position broke even following a retracement, temporarily cutting its position size by ~$80M. - The "Dual Victory" whale closed a 140 BTC long position, netting a $207,000 profit. ### Short Positions (Bearish) - The "20M Range Hunter" whale expanded short positions across a basket of altcoins (BNB, HYPE, DOGE, XPL, PUMP) and currently holds a $7.43M floating profit. - The whale known for 30 failed long attempts flipped its strategy, opening a BTC short position it quickly rolled over—position size exceeds $9.15M.

On January 12, the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) officially rolled out a major update to its cryptocurrency token regulatory framework—shifting responsibility for token applicability assessments from the regulator to licensed firms operating in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). The revised rules, which took effect this Monday, require financial services firms handling crypto tokens to self-assess whether the tokens they deal in meet the DFSA’s applicability criteria. The DFSA will also stop maintaining or publishing a list of recognized crypto tokens as part of the changes. The update comes after a consultation launched in October 2025, marking a shift in regulatory approach from when crypto token rules were first introduced in 2022. The DFSA noted it has closely tracked market developments and engaged with stakeholders to align with global standards over this period. The DFSA’s updated framework does not explicitly ban any specific category of digit

**January 12th** Sharps Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: STSS) — a U.S.-listed SOL Treasury firm — announced today it’s launching an institutional-grade validation node on the Solana network in partnership with Coinbase Institutional, deepening their existing collaboration. Under the expanded partnership framework, STSS will delegate a portion of its SOL holdings (currently over 2 million SOL) to a newly established validation node operated by Coinbase. This collaboration integrates Coinbase’s institutional-grade infrastructure, security standards, and proven validation node operations capabilities to deliver high availability, strict operational protocols, and long-term reliability.

On January 12, QCP Capital shared on its official channel that Bitcoin, gold, and silver rallied in tandem during early Asian trading as the U.S. dollar tumbled sharply. The moves came on the heels of comments from Powell, who noted a DOJ subpoena to the Federal Reserve and potential criminal charges (framed as retaliation for the Fed’s refusal to align with former President Trump’s preferred interest rate path) rather than tied to Powell’s June congressional testimony. While initial volatility might have suggested markets were again positioning Bitcoin as a hedge against fiat system or institutional risks, the subsequent trend revealed notable weakness. Bitcoin failed to hold above $92,000 on a sustained basis and tumbled sharply once European markets opened—echoing a pattern seen multiple times in Q4 2024. This failure to build on the so-called bullish narrative underscores the structural resistance Bitcoin has faced since October 10, as optimism for a Q1 breakout rally faded.

January 12 — Standard Chartered Bank is planning to launch a crypto trading-focused prime brokerage business, per Bloomberg, a sign global banks are ramping up efforts to compete in digital assets. Anonymous sources say the London-based lender will house the new unit within its wholly owned venture capital arm, SC Ventures. Talks are still in early stages, and a specific launch timeline remains unclear. Standard Chartered has been among the more active global banks in digital assets, with investments in projects including crypto custody firm Zodia Custody and institutional trading platform Zodia Markets. Last July, the bank announced it became the first global systemically important bank (G-SIB) to offer spot crypto trading to institutional clients. An SC Ventures spokesperson declined to comment. In December, SC Ventures shared on LinkedIn that it was developing a digital assets joint venture called “Project37C,” describing it as a “lightweight financing and market platform.”