A whale transferred 1000 ETH to Binance after a year of hibernation

On January 31, Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan noted in an interview that he expects Bitcoin could reach $6.5 million over the next 20 years. Kevin Walsh’s nomination to the Federal Reserve is seen as incrementally positive for markets. A “fake bear market” may materialize in 2025, while Bitcoin is projected to trade in the $75,000-$100,000 range in the first quarter. Additionally, central banks globally could hold more Bitcoin than gold reserves.

Wintermute founder Evgeny Gaevoy took to social media on January 31st with the following: “In fact, I’d prefer public figures speak cautiously. The market volatility on October 10th was clearly not a so-called ‘software glitch’—it was a flash crash in a highly leveraged market, spurred by macro news during a low-liquidity Friday evening. Since we’re on the topic, I also get it: nobody likes a bear market, especially when every asset class except crypto is climbing. While it’s easy to find a scapegoat, pinning the blame on a single trading platform isn’t intellectually honest.”

January 31 — Scam Sniffer reports that 10 hours ago, a victim’s wallet address mistakenly copied the wrong address from a compromised transaction history, leading to a loss of 4,556 ETH (valued at $12.25 million).

On January 31, OKX founder Star said in a social media post that the October 10 market crash stemmed from irresponsible marketing by certain companies—no complex underlying cause, and certainly not random. Hundreds of billions of dollars in funds were liquidated on October 10. As OKX’s CEO, we clearly observed the cryptocurrency market’s microstructure undergo a fundamental shift starting that day. Many industry players believe the damage from this event exceeded that of the FTX collapse. Since then, the market has widely debated the incident’s cause and how to prevent repeats. The root of the problem isn’t hard to pinpoint: - Binance launched a temporary user-acquisition campaign, offering up to 12% annualized yield on USDe. It also allowed USDe to be used as collateral with the same treatment as USDT and USDC, with no effective limits. - USDe is essentially a tokenized hedge fund product—fundamentally different from BlackRock’s BUIDL, a low-risk tokenized money market fund. U

Citigroup said Friday, January 31, that gold investment allocations are supported by intertwined geopolitical and economic risks—but roughly half of these risks may dissipate later this year. The bank noted some core risk factors underpinning gold demand—including U.S. government debt concerns and AI uncertainty—could keep gold prices elevated above historical averages. However, Citigroup estimates most risks currently priced into gold will not materialize by 2026, or if they do, will not persist beyond that year. It added: "We expect the Trump administration to pursue 'American-style gold stability' ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, alongside an end to the Russia-Ukraine conflict and eventual easing of the Iran situation—all signaling lower relative risk than current levels. If Powell’s nomination is confirmed, this will further validate our long-held view that the Fed will maintain its political independence, a separate mid-term headwind for gold prices." (Oriental Wealth)

On January 31, Bloomberg reported that a Nomura Holdings Inc. executive said the digital asset market downturn has caused losses in the firm’s European business, leading the company to strengthen risk management for its cryptocurrency operations. During a quarterly earnings call last week, Hiroyuki Moriuchi—chief financial officer (CFO) of Japan’s largest brokerage—stated: “We’ve tightened position and risk exposure management to mitigate short-term profit fluctuations.” He added the firm has reduced its cryptocurrency holdings but remains committed to the long-term growth of its crypto business.