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Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda Research, was released on Jan. 21 after 440 days of incarceration at a federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut, Cointelegraph reported. Her release comes one month ahead of the originally scheduled date. Ellison was previously sentenced to two years in prison for her role in aiding and abetting the crimes at FTX and had been transferred to a halfway house in mid-January.

An anonymous whale has deposited 2,000 BTC, worth approximately $178.7 million, to Binance, according to on-chain analytics firm Lookonchain. The whale, identified by an address beginning with "bc1q8g," acquired the BTC about three months ago at a price of around $109,759 per coin. A sale at current prices would realize a loss of $40.8 million for the investor.

Cork, a tokenization risk management protocol, has raised $5.5 million in a seed funding round, according to The Block. The round was co-led by Andreessen Horowitz's (a16z) crypto startup accelerator, CSX, and Road Capital, with participation from 432 Ventures, BitGo Ventures, G20 Group, and Gate Labs. Cork plans to build a programmable risk layer in the coming months.

According to CoinNess market monitoring, BTC has risen above $90,000. BTC is trading at $90,000 on the Binance USDT market.

Ondo Finance (ONDO) is launching over 200 tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs on the Solana (SOL) blockchain, CoinDesk reported. The move expands Ondo Global Markets to Solana, adding to its existing presence on Ethereum and BNB Chain.

The three major U.S. stock indices have opened higher. The S&P 500 is up 0.44%, the Nasdaq has gained 0.35%, and the Dow is up 0.33%.

U.S. President Donald Trump stated on Jan. 21 that he hopes to sign a cryptocurrency-related bill soon. Speaking at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, he recalled signing the Genius Act last year, which focused on stablecoins, to gain political support and counter China's lead in the sector. Trump added that the Republican-led Congress is currently drafting the CLARITY Act for crypto market structure and that U.S. policy has helped establish the nation as a global hub for digital assets.

Coinbase announced on Jan. 21 that it will list SKR. Trading will begin if liquidity conditions are met.

Cryptocurrency ETP issuer 21Shares has launched a Stacks (STX) exchange-traded product, ASTX, according to an announcement from Stacks on X. The product is designed to allow institutional investors and brokerage account holders to invest in STX without directly handling on-chain infrastructure. The ETP automatically reinvests staking rewards.

Latin American cryptocurrency exchange Ripio is investing in stablecoins and the tokenization of real-world assets (RWA), predicting significant growth in these sectors over the next 10 years, according to Cointelegraph. Ripio CEO Sebastian Serrano stated that he believes the next decade will be the era of stablecoins. The exchange has launched several related products, including the peso-pegged stablecoin wARS, the Brazilian real stablecoin wBRL, the Mexican peso stablecoin wMXN, the U.S. dollar stablecoin UXD, and a tokenized version of the Argentine government bond AL30.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 21, U.S. President Donald Trump stated that no country other than the United States can secure Greenland. He described the island as necessary for national security and as U.S. territory, adding that the U.S. would not use excessive force to acquire it.

Fabio Panetta, the governor of the Bank of Italy, has predicted that stablecoins will only play an ancillary role in the future monetary system, Cointelegraph reported. He noted that because the stability of stablecoins depends on their peg to traditional currencies, their ability to function independently within the financial system is limited. Panetta assessed that currency issued by central or commercial banks, not stablecoins, will continue to be at the center of the monetary system.

Nasdaq-listed KindlyMD (NAKA), a company that purchases Bitcoin, has changed its name to Nakamoto. The company currently holds $500 million worth of BTC.

U.S. bank Citizens has projected that blockchain technology could accelerate global GDP growth, CoinDesk reported. In a report, Citizens noted that existing markets are adopting the technology to capture new opportunities. The bank analyzed that blockchain will support economic growth by accelerating capital turnover, expanding the range of investable assets through tokenization, and integrating with artificial intelligence (AI) and the digital economy.

David Sacks, the White House's head of AI and cryptocurrency, predicted that banks will make a full-scale entry into the virtual asset market if the Cryptocurrency Market Structure Act (CLARITY) passes, SolidIntel reported.

Bitwise Chief Investment Officer (CIO) Matt Hougan has described Chainlink (LINK) as one of the most undervalued cryptocurrencies, CoinDesk reported. In a blog post, Hougan explained that Chainlink enables isolated systems like blockchains to interact with markets, institutions, and other blockchains. He highlighted that stablecoins rely on Chainlink for price feeds, Proof of Reserves (PoR), and cross-chain transfers, while tokenized stocks and bonds require it for regulatory compliance and settlement logic. Hougan added that DeFi applications, prediction markets, and on-chain derivatives also depend on the technology. He emphasized that numerous institutions, including SWIFT, the DTCC, JPMorgan, Visa, Mastercard, and Fidelity, are utilizing Chainlink's technology.

Binance Wallet announced it will airdrop Spacecoin (SPACE) to eligible Binance Alpha traders on Jan. 23.

The Solana Policy Institute, a non-profit organization focused on blockchain policy, is calling for stronger legal protections for software developers, The Block reported. The institute emphasized that the case of Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm is not an isolated incident but a crucial test of whether the U.S. will continue to support innovation or drive developers out of the system. In August 2023, Storm was indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice on charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and was convicted of operating an unlicensed money transmitter.

An investor known as 'pension-usdt.eth' has closed a 10x leveraged BTC long position, realizing a loss of $4.09 million, according to Onchainlens. The investor subsequently opened a 3x leveraged short position on ETH for 25,000 ETH, valued at $73.54 million. The position's entry price is $2,927.33, with a liquidation price of $3,990.63.

European cryptocurrency exchange Bitpanda is now offering trading services for 10,000 stocks and ETFs, Cointelegraph reported. The exchange stated that the move is part of its expansion into a universal exchange that supports trading in both cryptocurrencies and traditional financial products.

According to CoinNess market monitoring, BTC has fallen below $89,000. BTC is trading at $88,976.84 on the Binance USDT market.

The Winklevoss brothers, co-founders of the cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, have donated $1.2 million to Zcash (ZEC), The Block reported. The donation of 3,221 ZEC was sent to Shielded Labs, an independent development organization that includes Zcash founder Zooko Wilcox. These funds are slated for protocol initiatives aimed at improving the security and scalability of the Zcash network.

Younger and older generations in the United States show sharply contrasting levels of trust in cryptocurrency, Cointelegraph reported, citing a survey by OKX. The poll of 1,000 Americans found that 40% of Millennial and Gen Z respondents (ages 12-45) rated their trust in virtual asset platforms at seven or higher on a 10-point scale. In contrast, only 9% of Baby Boomers (late 50s to late 70s) gave a similar score. The survey also revealed divergent views on traditional finance. While 74% of Baby Boomers showed high trust in banks, 20% of the younger generations reported low trust in them. OKX analyzed that these results likely stem from different generational definitions of trust. The exchange suggested that Baby Boomers tend to link financial trust with institutional approval and regulatory oversight, whereas younger generations place greater value on verifiability and transparency.

Binance has announced it will list ACU/USDT and 我踏马来了/USDT perpetual futures today. The ACU contract will launch at 12:45 p.m. UTC with up to 10x leverage, while the 我踏马来了 contract will go live at 2:30 p.m. UTC with up to 20x leverage.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) crypto task force has received two conflicting comment letters regarding the proposed crypto market structure legislation, the CLARITY Act, Cointelegraph reported. One letter, submitted by DK Willard on behalf of individual users in Louisiana, argued that the bill must maintain strong requirements for transparency and the prevention of fraud and manipulation to protect consumers. The other letter, from the Blockchain Association, contended that companies trading tokenized stocks and DeFi assets should not be considered dealers requiring registration under the Securities Exchange Act.