ZachXBT: Hundreds of EVM Wallets Hacked, Approx $100K Stolen, Root Cause of Attack Still Unknown

On January 2nd, on-chain analyst Ai Auntie (@ai_9684xtpa) reported that whale address 0x218 has boosted its ETH short position to 18,875.18 coins over the past 30 minutes—valued at $57.32 million. The whale’s average entry price for the position is $3,011.83. While it currently holds an unrealized loss of $476,000, it has already earned $537,000 in funding fees.

**Hong Kong Influencer Master Chu Charged with 3 Money Laundering Counts in JPEX Fraud Case** Per Hong Kong’s *Wen Wei Po* on January 2, unlicensed virtual asset trading platform JPEX was exposed in a 2023 fraud scandal involving celebrities and influencers, leading to investor losses. In the latest update, Chu Ka-fai—known online as “Master Chu”—has been charged with three counts of money laundering and granted an extension of bail. Reports show that between November 25, 2020, and August 30, 2023, he processed four transactions totaling over HK$18.8 million (roughly US$2.4 million) through accounts at four Hong Kong banks: ZhongAn Bank, Mox Bank, Livi Bank, and WeLab Bank. ### Notes on U.S. language adaptation: 1. **Conciseness**: Short, punchy structure (no unnecessary formality). 2. **Common terminology**: Used *influencer* (U.S. preferred for “internet celebrity”) and *scandal* (clearer than “fraud exposure”). 3. **Contextual clarity**: Added USD conversion (rele

Jan. 2 Per official sources, Binance will update its zero-fee promotion for the BFUSD trading pair on Jan. 9, 2026, at 8:00 AM (UTC+8). Starting at that time, standard trading fees will apply to all users trading the BFUSD pair.

**Binance Alpha to Launch AI Avatar (AIAV) on Jan 2; Airdrop Rules Below** Binance Alpha will roll out AI Avatar (AIAV) on **January 2 at 5:00 PM UTC+8**. Once trading kicks off: - Users holding ≥256 Alpha Points can claim 305 AIAV tokens (first-come, first-served). - The points threshold drops by 5 every 5 minutes while the event is active. - Claiming requires 15 Alpha Points and confirmation on the Alpha event page within 24 hours (unconfirmed claims are forfeited). ### Notes on U.S. language adaptation: - Uses casual, news-friendly phrasing (*roll out, kicks off, forfeited* instead of formal terms). - Adopts U.S. date format (**Jan 2**) and 12-hour time (**5:00 PM**) for familiarity. - Breaks rules into scannable bullet points (standard for U.S. crypto/fin news). - Simplifies jargon where natural (e.g., "≥" for "at least" in quick scans).

Jan 2: U.S. stock index futures climbed; Nasdaq futures up over 1%, S&P 500 futures 0.55% higher, Dow futures +0.23%. (FX678)

On January 2, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong outlined the company’s 2026 priorities, which center on expanding its global financial ecosystem: - Building a full-category trading platform worldwide covering cryptocurrencies, stocks, prediction markets, and commodities, with support for spot, futures, and options trading; - Scaling its stablecoin and payment businesses; - Enabling global users to go on-chain via the Coinbase Developer Platform, Base Chain, and Base App. To advance these goals, Coinbase is significantly ramping up investment in product quality and underlying automation. Its aim is to position Coinbase as the world’s leading financial application.