The "30th Time's the Charm" Whale Liquidates Long Position, Suffers $1.31 Million Weekly Loss

January 22 — Per monitoring from Hyperinsight, a whale address starting with 0x61c has closed all its BTC and ETH long positions over the past 2 hours, with liquidation prices near their average opening levels. The long positions were opened at 4 a.m. today: the BTC long totaled ~$23.02 million at an average entry price of $89,570, while the ETH long reached ~$35.90 million at an average entry price of $2,976. Additionally, the whale currently holds a 20x-leveraged short position on the Silver Perpetual Contract (SILVER) worth ~$21.20 million, with an average entry price of $89.64 and an unrealized loss of $950,000.

On January 22nd, ARK Invest highlighted in its latest "Big Ideas 2026" report that Bitcoin, decentralized finance (DeFi), and real-world asset (RWA) tokenization are shifting from a "crypto narrative" to functional components of global capital markets—positioned to lead the industry’s development trajectory post-2026. The report projects the total digital asset market cap could reach $28 trillion by 2030, with Bitcoin accounting for roughly 70% (or $16 trillion). Key drivers include sustained inflows into Bitcoin ETFs and corporations integrating Bitcoin into their balance sheets. Currently, U.S. Bitcoin ETFs and public companies hold around 12% of the total Bitcoin supply—up sharply from early 2025. ARK also notes DeFi’s value is migrating from underlying networks to the application layer. In 2025, DeFi apps generated a combined $3.8 billion in revenue, with some ultra-lightweight protocols matching or outperforming traditional fintech firms in human and asset management efficie

On January 22, Columbia Business School professor Omid Malekan publicly pushed back on the New York Stock Exchange’s (NYSE) latest proposed blockchain tokenization plan, bluntly calling it “vaporware” — noting key implementation details are largely missing. Malekan pointed out the NYSE failed to specify critical specifics: which blockchain the platform will run on, whether it will use a permissioned or permissionless architecture, if a hybrid model is in the cards, and how tokenomics and fee structures will work. Without this core information, he argued the vision comes off as more conceptual marketing than a concrete roadmap. NYSE and parent firm Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) have previously stated the blockchain platform aims to enable 24/7 trading of stocks and ETFs, instant settlement, multi-chain support, and custody services. But Malekan stressed the NYSE’s business model is fundamentally a highly centralized, oligopolistic structure — and crypto technology alone can’t sh

On January 22nd, Upbit announced that HeyElsa (ELSA) will be listed, with support for KRW, BTC, and USDT trading pairs.

Jan. 22 — Macro researcher and FFTT founder Luke Gromen says institutional investors are unlikely to push Bitcoin from its current ~$90k level to $150k this year without major market catalysts. He notes institutions typically take a wait-and-see approach rather than chasing gains without a clear event-driven trigger. Gromen identifies key variables as the U.S. “CLARITY Act” progress and whether the Federal Reserve will cut rates further. In extreme scenarios—such as a full-scale trade war or economic recession—Bitcoin could drop to $60k, triggering forced selling by holding companies. By contrast, CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju says institutional demand remains strong: institutions have accumulated ~577k BTC (roughly $53B) over the past year. Grayscale previously noted institutional participation and regulatory clarity are key drivers for Bitcoin to hit new highs.

On January 22, Layer-1 blockchain protocol Saga paused its Ethereum-compatible SagaEVM chainlet hours after suffering an attack that resulted in roughly $7 million in losses. The incident involved unauthorized funds being transferred cross-chain and swapped for ETH, causing the project’s stablecoin, the Saga Dollar, to depeg—dropping to a low of $0.75. The Saga team noted the chain was paused at block height 6,593,800. Initial investigations indicate the attack involved a series of contract deployments, cross-chain operations, and liquidity withdrawals—but no consensus failures, validator compromises, or key leaks. The mainnet’s overall structure remains secure, per the team. Beyond the Saga Dollar, its stablecoins Colt and Mustang were also impacted. The team has locked the attacker’s fund addresses and is collaborating with exchanges and cross-chain bridges to blacklist them. The chain will stay paused until a full security audit and post-mortem analysis are completed and discl