Ethereum Price Falls Below $3200

On January 20, Pump.fun announced the launch of Pump Fund—its new investment arm focused on fueling early-stage projects in its ecosystem through long-term partnerships. The fund’s debut initiative is a $3 million BiP Hackathon: it will invest $250,000 in 12 projects each (at a combined $10 million valuation) and provide selected teams with guidance from Pump.fun’s founding team plus additional support.

Jan 20th: Per alternative data sources, the cryptocurrency Fear & Greed Index fell to 32 today—down from 44 yesterday—while the weekly average stands at 26, signaling the market remains in "Fear" territory. Note: The Fear & Greed Index ranges from 0 to 100, incorporating the following metrics: Volatility (25%), Market Trading Volume (25%), Social Media Hype (15%), Market Sentiment (15%), Bitcoin Dominance (10%), and Google Trends Analysis (10%).

Tuesday, January 20 – Japan’s 40-year government bond yield rose 5.5 basis points to 4%, hitting a new high since its 2007 issuance and marking the country’s first time above that level in over three decades. The yield last crossed 4% in December 1995, when the 20-year bond yield reached the same threshold. The jump reflects a broader sell-off in Japanese bonds. Investors fear the government’s proposed food sales tax cut could widen a fiscal gap, deepening the market downturn. The Center Reform Alliance—comprising Japan’s largest opposition party and former ruling coalition members—has also proposed setting up a new government-linked fund to raise funds needed to slash the food sales tax to zero.

On January 20, monitoring by Emmett Gallic showed an address tied to Bhutan’s sovereign wealth fund Druk Holdings is running a leveraged long position on ETH: it withdrew 42,000 ETH and $54 million in USDT from Binance, swapped the USDT for ETH, deposited the ETH into Aave, and borrowed $275 million in USDT to buy more ETH. The current leveraged position holds ~117,000 ETH, worth roughly $459 million.

**January 20 – Citigroup Japan’s head of market business Akira Hoshino stated the Bank of Japan (BOJ) may raise interest rates three times this year if the yen remains weak, doubling its current rate level.** **If the USD/JPY exchange rate breaks 160, the BOJ could hike its unsecured overnight call rate by 25 basis points to 1% in April, Hoshino said in an interview.** **He noted a second 25bp rate hike is possible in July if the yen stays low, with a third hike potentially coming before year-end.** **“Negative real interest rates are driving the yen’s weakness,” Hoshino explained. “The BOJ has no choice but to address this if it wants to reverse the currency’s trend.”** **He currently forecasts the yen will trade in a range slightly below 150 to 165 this year. (Source: FXStreet)**

Trove’s TROVE token launched trading on its Perp DEX at 4 a.m. ET on January 20—opening with a $20 million fully diluted valuation (FDV) that’s now plummeted to roughly $950,000. Last week, the project raised $11.5 million via an ICO, announcing it would retain $9,397,403 to build its Solana-based Perp DEX. That move sparked fierce community backlash: ICO participants are facing steep losses and accusing the team of a rug pull. The Block founder Mike Dudas weighed in: “After raising funds from the public on false pretenses, Trove still holds $9.4 million in ICO proceeds. Any service providers, advisors, KOLs, or other parties who received funds from this scam should be exposed and condemned.” Trove has faced prior controversy, too: The community has flagged claims that the project paid KOLs for promotion (with funds flowing to an entertainment platform’s deposit address) and repeatedly changed its ICO deadline. Additionally, the team abruptly scrapped its Hyperliquid integrati