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South Korea has specified its valuation standards for virtual assets subject to inheritance and gift taxes, Money Today reported. The new rules state that the value of a crypto asset will be determined by its average market price over the two-month period spanning one month before and one month after the date of transfer. This approach excludes professional appraisals, reflecting the nature of assets traded on public markets. The government explained that this change applies the existing tax law principle—valuing assets with verifiable transaction prices at market value—to virtual assets. Additionally, the valuation method for corporate crypto transactions will shift from the first-in, first-out (FIFO) method to the total average method, a change made to account for the high frequency of corporate trading. South Korea's Ministry of Economy and Finance announced these measures on Jan. 16 in a revised enforcement decree following the 2025 tax reform. The ministry plans to promulgate the decree at the end of February.

The team behind Kaito, an AI-based Web3 information platform, is facing allegations from multiple crypto communities of dumping KAITO tokens using inside information. The accusations center on claims that the team had advance knowledge of X's policy change to ban "InfoFi apps" and the subsequent shutdown of its own "Yapping" service, which rewarded users with tokens for posting about the project on X. Crypto influencer vasucrypto, who has approximately 29,000 followers on X, claimed that a Kaito team-affiliated address beginning with 0x049 deposited five million KAITO to Binance seven days ago, likely for the purpose of selling. The influencer also noted that 1.1 million KAITO, the largest single amount ever, is scheduled to be unstaked tomorrow. Given that the unstaking process takes seven days, vasucrypto suggested the team may have initiated the withdrawal after learning about the X policy change and the impending shutdown of its reward service. Further fueling the speculation, the South Korean crypto-focused Telegram channel "Dopamine Research Institute" pointed out that other InfoFi platforms also appeared to have prior knowledge. The channel stated that another platform, Pulse, reportedly received a policy violation notice from the X team on Dec. 3 of last year, and that platforms like COOKIE issued announcements immediately following X's API policy change. Kaito officially announced the termination of its "Yaps" service early yesterday, after which the KAITO token's price fell by approximately 20%.

Whale Alert reported that 260,741,570 USDC has been transferred from an unknown wallet to Coinbase. The transaction is valued at about $261 million.

U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs recorded a net inflow of $164.32 million on Jan. 15, marking the fourth consecutive day of positive flows, according to data from TraderT. No individual fund experienced a net outflow. BlackRock's ETHA led the inflows with $149.11 million, followed by Grayscale's Mini ETH with $15.21 million.

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a net inflow of $104.08 million on Jan. 15, marking the fourth consecutive day of positive flows, according to data compiled by TraderT. BlackRock's IBIT led with an inflow of $319.7 million, while Grayscale's Mini BTC and Valkyrie's BRRR saw smaller inflows of $6.74 million and $2.96 million, respectively. These were partially offset by outflows from Fidelity's FBTC, which lost $188.89 million, and Grayscale's GBTC, which saw $36.43 million exit the fund.

A Utah man has been sentenced to three years in prison for defrauding investors of $3 million by operating an unlicensed cryptocurrency exchange, Decrypt reported. He was found to have lured investors by misrepresenting his educational background and professional experience while promising high rates of return. In addition to the prison sentence, the court ordered him to pay $3.8 million in restitution.

Over the past 24 hours, the cryptocurrency perpetual futures market saw significant forced liquidations, predominantly affecting long positions. Bitcoin (BTC) liquidations totaled $78.47 million, with longs making up 79.25% of that figure. Ethereum (ETH) followed with $51.71 million in liquidations, of which 70.32% were long positions. Solana (SOL) experienced $15 million in liquidations, with an overwhelming 92.35% coming from longs.

Texas-based construction firm Megatel Homes plans to issue a token for cryptocurrency payments and rewards, Reuters reported. Users will be able to make payments with the token via digital wallets and cards. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) previously issued a no-action letter to Megatel, effectively approving the initiative.

Russia's central bank (CBR) is pursuing a plan that would require commercial banks to submit detailed reports on their customers' cryptocurrency-related transactions, Cryptopolitan reported, citing local media. The proposed amendment would mandate that banks report information such as sender and receiver details, transaction methods, intermediaries, fees, and the source of funds. The reporting requirement would also extend to transactions involving NFTs and tokenized real-world assets.

While expectations are growing that Bitcoin could test the $100,000 level in the short term, recent analysis suggests any such move would likely be a temporary, technically driven rebound rather than a structural uptrend. According to crypto market maker and ETF liquidity provider Flowdesk, the recent price increase has been primarily driven by strong short covering and an influx of call option purchases, with over $800 million in recent ETF inflows also bolstering buy-side liquidity. Similarly, Enflux noted that Bitcoin's push past $97,000 was the result of internal market liquidity rather than macroeconomic factors, concluding that the current market is better suited for strategic positioning than for entering a new trend.

An address presumed to belong to crypto ETP issuer 21Shares transferred 6,520 AAVE ($1.11 million) to crypto market maker Flow Traders four hours ago in a likely move to sell the assets, The Data Nerd reported. This follows a pattern over the past three weeks in which the firm has transferred a total of 35,700 AAVE ($5.74 million) to exchanges and Flow Traders for sale.

Crypto lender Nexo has been fined $500,000 by California's Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI) for unlicensed lending and violating consumer protection laws, Cointelegraph reported. The DFPI stated that from July 2018 to November 2022, Nexo issued 5,456 consumer and commercial loans to state residents without a license. The agency also noted that the company failed to assess borrowers' financial status, including their ability to repay, existing debts, and credit history, before providing the loans.

Binance has announced that it will suspend deposit and withdrawal services for ARB, 1INCH, KITE, 0G, and TURBO on specific networks, effective Jan. 22 at 8:00 a.m. UTC. The affected assets and networks are ARB and 0G on the Ethereum network, 1INCH on the BNB Smart Chain, KITE on the AVAX-C Chain, and TURBO on the Solana network.

The Ethereum-based messaging platform Status (SNT) announced it has entered the final stage of its pre-deposit campaign. Early participants can earn rewards by depositing SNT, LINEA, ETH, USDT, USDC, and USDS. The reward pool consists of 15 million SNT and 20 million LINEA. In addition, participants will receive Karma tokens, which provide governance voting rights and priority access to gas-free transaction processing. Status also stated that it plans to launch a secure, gas-free mainnet in the first quarter of this year. A tutorial for the campaign is available on the Status blog for Korean participants.

Cryptocurrency market maker Cumberland withdrew 1,900 ETH, worth approximately $6.29 million, from Binance about two hours ago, according to The Data Nerd. At the same time, the firm deposited around 1.7 million AVN, valued at approximately $507,000, to Bybit and Binance.

While the markup for the U.S. crypto market structure bill, the CLARITY Act, has been postponed, discussions could advance if a bipartisan agreement on stablecoin interest payments is reached in the near future, according to Eleanor Terrett, host of "Crypto in America." Terrett reported that after speaking with industry insiders and aides from the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, the prevailing view is that there is still hope for the bill. Concerns previously raised by Coinbase, such as a de facto ban on tokenized stocks and the weakening of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC) authority relative to the SEC, are reportedly not considered major obstacles. She explained that some tokenization firms believe Coinbase may have misinterpreted the bill, and there is optimism as discussions are underway to either significantly revise or completely remove the contentious provisions.

Iran's cryptocurrency economy was valued at approximately $7.8 billion last year, Decrypt reported, citing a study by Chainalysis. The report found that BTC withdrawals from exchanges surged following large-scale anti-government protests and internet shutdowns late last year. Citizens reportedly used BTC as a safe-haven asset to protect against censorship, asset seizures, and the collapse of the national currency's value. In contrast, stablecoins were primarily used for remittances and daily payments. The study also noted that addresses believed to be associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) accounted for over 50% of cryptocurrency inflows into Iran during the fourth quarter of the same year.

Samsung's financial affiliates are considering acquiring a portion of Dunamu shares held by Kakao Investment, according to the Korea Economic Daily. The potential deal, which would involve the purchase of existing shares from Dunamu's third-largest shareholder, is projected to be a major transaction valued at over one trillion won ($725 million). In response to the report, an official from Samsung Life Insurance stated that the company is not currently in discussions with Kakao Investment regarding the purchase of Dunamu shares. A representative from Kakao also commented that nothing has been decided at this time.

Uniswap (UNI) has launched on X Layer, the Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain developed by OKX, CoinDesk reported. The integration allows X Layer users to access Uniswap for major token swaps and liquidity pool transactions. OKX launched the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible blockchain in 2024.

An early Ethereum holder whose address had been dormant for eight years has deposited a total of 13,083 ETH, worth $43.35 million, to the Gemini exchange over the past two days, according to a report from Lookonchain. The address, which begins with 0xB3E8, currently retains a balance of 34,616 ETH, valued at $115 million. Deposits to exchanges are typically interpreted as a potential precursor to selling.

CoinMarketCap's Altcoin Season Index has dropped three points from yesterday to 26. The index determines whether it is an "altcoin season" by comparing the price performance of the top 100 coins by market capitalization, excluding stablecoins and wrapped tokens, against Bitcoin. An altcoin season is declared when 75% of these top coins outperform Bitcoin over the past 90 days. A score closer to 100 indicates a stronger altcoin season, while a lower score suggests a "Bitcoin season."

World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a DeFi project associated with the Trump family, has established a new subsidiary called World Liberty Trust, Bloomberg reported. The move follows WLFI's previous application for a U.S. banking license. If approved, World Liberty Trust will be able to function as a bank in specific areas, including asset custody. WLFI CEO Zach Witkoff, son of President Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, is set to chair the new company's board. The firm also plans to fill its currently vacant Chief Financial Officer (CFO) position soon.

According to data from crypto options exchange Deribit, Bitcoin options with a notional value of $2.4 billion are set to expire at 8:00 a.m. UTC on Jan. 16. The contracts have a put/call ratio of 1.25 and a max pain price of $92,000. Additionally, Ethereum options worth $430 million will expire at the same time, featuring a put/call ratio of 0.98 and a max pain price of $3,200.

The Crypto Fear & Greed Index has dropped 12 points from yesterday to 49, shifting market sentiment from a state of greed to neutral, according to data from Alternative. The index measures investor sentiment on a scale where 0 indicates extreme fear and 100 represents extreme optimism. The score is calculated based on volatility (25%), trading volume (25%), social media mentions (15%), surveys (15%), Bitcoin's market dominance (10%), and Google search volume (10%).

Democratic members of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee have sent a letter to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Paul Atkins, urging the agency to resume its lawsuit against Tron (TRX) founder Justin Sun. The lawmakers accused the SEC of lax oversight and selective application of securities laws to cryptocurrency firms, particularly urging a restart of the case against Sun, who they noted is presumed to have ties to China. According to Decrypt, the lawmakers suggested that the SEC's shift from a hardline stance to abandoning lawsuits against crypto firms appears to be based on political judgment rather than legal grounds. They emphasized that if the SEC is an institution for the American people, it must resume the case against Sun. The SEC initially sued Justin Sun and Tron in March 2023 on charges of fraud and selling unregistered securities. Following a change in leadership, the commission requested a temporary halt to the lawsuit in February 2025.