Huobi HTX has launched AERGO perpetual contracts and kicked off a contract trading party.

**Crypto Exchange Registration Rules Tightened in India** India’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) rolled out new guidelines on January 12 tightening registration requirements for cryptocurrency platforms. Regulated exchanges will now verify user identities using real-time selfies (which track eye and head movements to block AI deepfakes from bypassing KYC checks) and geotagging. Additional rules mandate Indian exchanges collect geotags, IP addresses and account creation timestamps during account setup. Users must also submit an extra government-issued photo ID, plus verify their email and phone number, to open an account.

On January 12, U.S. federal prosecutors launched an investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell over renovations to the Fed’s headquarters, per The New York Times.

January 12 – Monero (XMR), the privacy-focused cryptocurrency, has surged to $565, notching an over 18.2% 24-hour gain to set an all-time high, per HTX market data. Its market capitalization now stands at $10.3 billion.

January 12 — Per Onchain Lens monitoring, a newly created address (t1cfDD...ou4T9) withdrew 3,956 ZEC from Binance six hours ago, with the transaction valued at $1.55 million.

January 12th – Per HTX market data, the crypto market is holding steady. Bitcoin is currently trading at $90,740, Ethereum at $3,112, Solana (SOL) briefly topped $140 earlier today and now sits at $139.7, while BNB remains around $900. The total crypto market cap is now $3.185 trillion, up 0.4% in the last 24 hours. Momentum in the space is still driven by Chinese meme coins. After seeing some value retracement, key recent trending tokens have stabilized, including: - “I Stepped on the Horse”: Current market cap $30M, 24-hour drop 26.4% - “Daddy”: Current market cap $13M, 24-hour gain 82% - “Life K Line”: Current market cap $21M, 24-hour drop 17.9% - “Binance Life”: Current market cap $150M, 24-hour drop 12.7% - “Hakimi”: Current market cap $37M, 24-hour gain 3.1% Additionally, notable altcoin gainers are leading the upswing, including: - HYPER: Trading at $0.1511, 24-hour gain 22.1% - FXS: Trading at $0.935, 24-hour gain 21.1% - RENDER: Trading at $2.588, 24-hour

January 12: BitMine, the largest Ethereum Decentralized Treasury (DAT) firm, has crossed the 1 million ETH staking milestone, with its treasury now holding over 4 million ETH total. After staking an additional 86,400 ETH yesterday, the company’s total staked ETH stands at 1,080,512—valued at approximately $3.3 billion. Based on the current 2.81% yield, it’s set to generate roughly $94.4 million worth of ETH annually.