Circle minted 250 million USDC on the Solana network 6 hours ago

On February 3, DLNews reported that French police have arrested three men in their 20s charged with kidnapping and torturing a 74-year-old man in an attempt to extort $3.5 million worth of cryptocurrency from his son. Officials told reporters the victim endured nearly 16 hours of abuse at the group’s hands. French outlet Actu 17 noted police said the three men kidnapped the unnamed elderly man from his Valence, Isère (southeastern France) home in the early hours of January 25. They forced him into a car and took him to a backroom of a bar in Valence, where the attackers allegedly filmed themselves torturing him. The group then sent the torture video to the man’s son via encrypted messages, demanding an unspecified amount of crypto as ransom. When they learned the son was not the crypto millionaire they’d mistakenly believed—just a web developer with little crypto—they released the victim at 11 p.m. the same day, pushing him out of the car on the roadside. Crypto-related kidnappin

February 3: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics will not release the January jobs report on schedule due to a partial U.S. government shutdown.

Feb. 3 — On-chain data shows Circle has just minted an extra 7.5 billion USDC on the Solana network.

On Monday, February 3, Tom Lee told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” in an interview that selling pressure in the crypto market may be losing steam. “All the pieces are in place, and the crypto market could be in the process of bottoming out now,” Lee said. He added that he believes the crypto industry’s fundamentals remain solid, noting in particular that activity on the Ethereum network has grown more active. “If that holds, crypto prices should rise in turn,” Lee noted.

Feb. 3 — Official sources confirm Sky Protocol (formerly MakerDAO) repurchased 130 million SKY tokens in January, spending 8.5 million USDS. Since its buyback program launched in February 2025, total USDS spent on repurchases has exceeded $106 million.

On February 3, analyst James Van Straten cited Glassnode data showing that amid Bitcoin’s price drop, mega-investors holding more than 10,000 BTC—known as “whales”—are the only group still buying, while all other holder size cohorts are selling. Glassnode’s “Wallet Entity Balance Distribution” data indicates the largest whales are in a “light accumulation” phase: since Bitcoin fell to $80,000 in late November 2024, their balances have held neutral to slightly growing, even as BTC traded mostly between $80,000 and $97,000 through late January. By contrast, all smaller holder groups are net sellers—especially retail investors with <10 BTC, who have been selling for over a month. This reflects small-to-mid investors’ bearish outlook on the market and ongoing risk aversion. Meanwhile, the number of unique entities holding at least 1,000 BTC has risen from 1,207 in October 2024 to 1,303. Since Bitcoin hit an all-time high in October 2024, this group’s growth signals larger holders