A certain Binance market maker account was suspected of being hacked, causing a brief early morning surge in the price of BROCCOLI714 of over 1000%, followed by a dump to take profits.

### **CFTC Taps Amir Zaidi as Chief of Staff Amid Digital Asset Regulation Push** January 1: The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced Wednesday that Amir Zaidi— a key policymaker who helped launch regulated Bitcoin futures in the U.S.— has returned after six years to serve as the agency’s Chief of Staff. CFTC Chairman Michael Selig noted that as Congress moves to send digital asset market structure legislation to the President’s desk, Zaidi will bring critical experience and expertise to the CFTC as it develops rules for the rapidly evolving commodity market. Zaidi previously held multiple roles at the CFTC from 2010 to 2019, including serving as Director of the Division of Market Oversight in his final two years there. In that role, he oversaw and fostered the establishment of the U.S.’s regulated Bitcoin futures market. ### Notes on U.S. Language Habits: 1. **Headline first**: Leads with the core news (personnel + context) to grab attention (standar

On January 1st, Glassnode shared data on social media, noting there are currently no signs of new demand in ETF flows—and the 30-day moving average of net inflows for Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs remains in negative territory.

**Crypto Funding Rates: Broad Bearishness on Altcoins, ETH Neutral, BTC Mixed (Jan 1)** Per Coinglass data, mainstream centralized (CEX) and decentralized (DEX) exchanges show broad bearish sentiment toward altcoins—but all ETH funding rates have shifted back to neutral. Only OKX, Bybit, and LBank posted slightly bearish rates for BTC pairs; other platforms have returned to neutral. Funding rates for major coins are detailed in the attached chart. **BlockBeats Note:** Funding rates are set by crypto exchanges to keep contract prices aligned with underlying asset prices—typically for perpetual contracts. They’re a mechanism for transferring funds between long and short traders; exchanges do not collect this fee. The goal is to adjust the cost or profit of traders holding positions, ensuring contract prices stay near underlying asset values. - 0.01% = benchmark rate - >0.01% = bullish market sentiment - <0.005% = bearish market sentiment

January 1st: The Crypto Fear & Greed Index has dropped to 20 today (down from 21 yesterday), deepening the market’s “extreme fear” condition, per alternative data. Note: The index ranges from 0–100 and incorporates these weighted indicators: - Volatility (25%) - Market Trading Volume (25%) - Social Media Hype (15%) - Market Surveys (15%) - Bitcoin Dominance (10%) - Google Trends (10%)

**U.S. Senate Banking Committee to Advance Digital Asset Regulation Bill in Second Week of January** The U.S. Senate Banking Committee is expected to move forward with deliberations on a digital asset market regulation bill during the second week of January, following months of delays. Sources familiar with the matter and recent reports indicate the committee may hold a markup session on the *Responsible Financial Innovation Act* that week. This marks a milestone breakthrough for the legislation, which had stalled amid Democratic lawmakers’ concerns over decentralized finance (DeFi) and the longest government shutdown in federal history. Cody Carbone, CEO of digital asset advocacy group The Digital Chamber, confirmed the Senate will at minimum hold a markup for pending market structure legislation in the second week of January. Separately, the Senate Agriculture Committee is reviewing its own version of a market structure bill, which could later advance to a full Senate vote.

January 1 – Per monitoring from AnChain.AI, Turkish cryptocurrency exchange BtcTurk has been hit by another hack, resulting in a $48 million loss. Stolen funds were transferred across multiple networks including Ethereum, Arbitrum, and Polygon, before being consolidated into a single address. Previously, BlockBeats reported that BtcTurk suffered an approximate $54 million loss in an August 2025 hack.