Arthur Hayes: I bet that Bitcoin will surpass $110,000 before retracing to $76,500

**January 26 Flash Update: Onchain Lens Data** A whale using a flash loan strategy to long gold token XAUT has purchased an additional 985.5 XAUT for $4.98 million in USDe over the past 24 hours (per Onchain Lens monitoring). Currently, the whale holds 11,029.5 XAUT total—valued at approximately $55.98 million—with $5.86 million in realized profits.

January 26 — Nikkei Asia reports Japan could list its first cryptocurrency exchange-traded fund (ETF) as early as 2028, giving retail investors easier access to Bitcoin and other digital assets—assets institutional investors already hold in their portfolios. Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) plans to classify cryptocurrencies as eligible assets for ETFs, while proposing stronger investor protection measures. Financial giants like Nomura Holdings and SBI Holdings are expected to launch the country’s first crypto ETFs, which will require Tokyo Stock Exchange listing approval.

On January 26, blockchain outlet The Block reported that Entropy—a decentralized custody startup backed by a16z—has announced it will wind down operations and return remaining funds to investors. Entropy founder and CEO Tux Pacific noted that after four years in operation, multiple business pivots, and two rounds of layoffs, the firm failed to identify a business model that could scale to meet venture capital expectations. The decision to cease operations came after initial market feedback signaled its model wouldn’t work for VC-scale growth. Entropy reportedly raised roughly $27 million total, including a $25 million seed round led by a16z Crypto in June 2022. The firm initially positioned itself as a decentralized alternative to centralized custody providers like Fireblocks and Coinbase, later pivoting to building a crypto automation platform.

January 26 — According to the Seoul Economic Daily, Cha Myung-hoon, major shareholder and chairman of South Korean crypto exchange Coinone, is weighing a partial stake sale. He holds a combined 53.44% of Coinone’s shares via his personal firm The One Group (3.430% ownership) and direct personal holdings (19.14%). Coinone-affiliated sources noted the exchange is in talks with overseas exchanges and domestic financial institutions about equity investment and other partnership opportunities, though specific details remain unconfirmed.

Jan. 26: LookOnChain monitoring indicates the "BTC OG Insider Whale" is not only deep underwater on a $7.79 billion BTC/ETH/SOL long position but is now running a circular leverage trade on ETH. Earlier today, the whale set up a new wallet, withdrew 61,000 ETH (≈$174.3 million) from Binance to deposit into Aave, then borrowed 60 million USDC from Aave and transferred it back to Binance.

January 26th — Per LookOnChain monitoring, a whale address notorious for "buying high, selling low" has panic-sold 5,500 ETH over the past three days at $2,912 each, totaling roughly $16.02 million. Five days prior, the same address purchased 2,000 ETH at $2,984 per token (around $5.97 million). Today, it repeated the classic "buy high, sell low" maneuver.