A 46-year-old woman in Russia fell victim to a cryptocurrency investment scam, selling three properties and taking out loans.

January 13th: Per data from validatorqueue, a Validator Queue tracking site, the current amount of ETH in the Ethereum PoS network’s validator joining queue has continued to climb to 2,170,452 ETH—valued at approximately $6.74 billion—with an estimated activation delay of roughly 37 days and 16 hours. The primary driver is that BitMine recently staked a significant portion of its ETH holdings. Meanwhile, the amount of ETH in the network’s validator exit queue is just 11,063 ETH, valued at roughly $3.435 million, with an exit wait time of approximately 4 hours and 37 minutes.

On January 13, data from HyperInsight monitoring shows that in the past hour, the "20 Million Band Hunter" (address 0x880a) reduced its BTC short position and switched to going long on ZEC. The account currently holds an unrealized profit of $10.06 million. This address has long engaged in high-frequency multi-currency arbitrage trading, using high-leverage short positions to dominate its portfolio. It has consistently generated excess returns in volatile markets, with total profits of approximately $8.7 million over the past week.

On January 13, blockchain analytics platform Whale Alert reported that Tether froze 5 distinct addresses on the Tron network on January 11, totaling 182 million USDT. The affected addresses held between 12 million and 50 million USDT each. This action aligns with Tether’s wallet freeze protocol—rolled out in December 2023—to comply with sanctions requirements from the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). As of mid-2025, Tether has cumulatively frozen over $3 billion in USDT and collaborated with more than 310 law enforcement agencies across 62 countries.

Jan. 13 — Onchain Lens monitoring shows crypto KOL @old (banned account) spent 820,000 USDC in the past four hours to purchase 6.98 million NYC tokens. The account now holds 203,000 USDC and may continue buying. Previously reported: Former New York City Mayor Eric Adams launched the "NYC" token after leaving office. The project aims to raise funds to combat antisemitism, anti-American sentiment, and promote blockchain education for children. Adams introduced the token in Times Square but did not disclose details on collaborators, issuance timeline, fund usage, or specific token mechanisms — only noting regular New Yorkers can participate in the investment.

On January 13, monitoring by The Data Nerd revealed a whale opened 20x leveraged short positions across BTC, ETH, and SOL, totaling $140 million. **Position Breakdown**: - 20x leveraged short on BTC: ~$69.3 million - 20x leveraged short on SOL: ~$50.3 million - 20x leveraged short on ETH: ~$20 million This aligns with U.S. news brief style: concise, direct, and structured for quick scanning (common in crypto/finance alerts). Key terms like "leveraged short positions" and "breakdown" are standard in American financial reporting.

Bitcoin briefly topped $92,000 on Monday, January 13, per Cointelegraph—driven by a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell by U.S. federal prosecutors. Analysts raised questions about whether the Fed’s independence could be compromised, a development some linked to potential benefits for scarce alternative assets like Bitcoin. While the news sparked a short-lived rally, it left traders cautious overall, with sentiment weighed by ongoing Bitcoin ETF outflows and weak demand for long leverage positions. Despite a recent rebound, Bitcoin remains roughly 23% below its October 2025 high, while gold and silver hit all-time highs in 2026. This divergence has traders questioning if the “Bitcoin as a digital store of value” narrative is weakening. Bitcoin futures’ annualized premium (basis) stays around 5%—a neutral-to-bearish level. Typically, a bullish sentiment shift pushes the futures premium to spot to 10% or higher. More critically, Bitcoin spot ETFs post