「ETH HODL for Four Years Swapped for WBTC」 Whale Once Again Converts 4013 ETH to WBTC

January 5 – Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said the central bank will keep raising its benchmark interest rate if its economic forecast holds. Briefly addressing a New Year’s conference hosted by the Japanese Bankers Association, Kuroda noted that a proper adjustment to its monetary easing policy would support stable inflation and sustained long-term economic growth. (Sina Finance)

On January 5, privacy computing project Zama Protocol announced that its Zama OG NFT claim portal will launch on January 5, 2026.

January 5, 2026 — Philadelphia Fed President Anna Paulson, a newly appointed Federal Reserve voting member, said a modest additional rate cut may be appropriate later in 2026 if economic conditions stay benign. “I anticipate inflation will moderate, the labor market will stabilize, and economic growth this year will be around 2%,” she stated. “If these all come to pass, a modest further adjustment to the federal funds rate later this year would likely be appropriate.” Paulson also noted significant risks remain in the labor market: labor demand has slowed faster than the contraction in supply driven by the Trump administration’s immigration policies. “Though the labor market is clearly under pressure, it hasn’t collapsed,” she added.

As of January 5, on-chain analyst Whale Auntie (@ai_9684xtpa) reports that a crypto whale who previously bought 3,000 Bitcoin call options with a $100,000 strike price (expiring January 30 on Deribit) is now sitting on a $2.463 million profit. The whale paid a total of $2.86 million in premiums for the options. If the whale holds until expiration, they’ll lose their entire $2.86 million premium if Bitcoin trades below $100,953.67 on January 30. Alternatively, they can lock in profits at any time if Bitcoin’s price rises.

**January 5** Per monitoring from HyperInsight (https://t.me/HyperInsight), Huang Licheng has gradually taken profits on ETH in the $3140–$3200 range over the past 4 hours, cutting his position by approximately $3.1 million. His current ETH position totals ~$23.58 million, with an unrealized gain of $1.11 million and an average entry price of $3037. Additionally, he has reallocated capital to boost his long position in HYPE, with the current position size at $5.38 million and an average entry price of $25.8. Since December 17, the address has maintained a long ETH position, executing multiple sell-high, buy-low, and rolling strategies. Its prior ETH position stood at ~$13.2 million, generating nearly $2 million in profits over the past 7 days.

Nine hours ago on January 5th, Bitcoin mining firm MARA Holdings transferred 288 BTC (valued at roughly $26.3 million) to Wintermute, per LookOnChain monitoring.