Live Feed

Perle Labs, a blockchain-based artificial intelligence (AI) data labeling firm, has officially launched its Season 1 initiative, which aims to build a human-verified dataset for AI training. The platform allows users to earn on-chain reputation and rewards by completing AI training missions based on text, audio, and images. This first season introduces an accuracy-based onboarding process, an on-chain reputation system, and specialized task groups for professional fields such as medicine and law. Perle Labs was founded by former employees of data labeling company Scale AI and has raised $17.5 million from investors including Framework Ventures, CoinFund, and HashKey Capital.

The Reserve Bank of India has proposed a system to link the central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) of BRICS nations, CoinDesk reported. The proposal aims to simplify cross-border payments in trade and tourism and reduce reliance on the U.S. dollar. The central bank has asked the Indian government to place the item on the official agenda for the 2026 BRICS summit.

An Ethereum (ETH) whale address starting with 0x81D just purchased an additional 8,085 ETH, ai_9684xtpa reported. According to data from Arkham, the address has accumulated a total of 50,537 ETH, valued at $162 million, over the past 24 hours.

Digital asset investment products saw a net inflow of $2.17 billion last week, marking a return to positive flows after one week, CoinShares reported in its weekly fund flow analysis. Bitcoin investment products attracted $1.55 billion, while Ethereum products saw inflows of $496 million. By country, the U.S. accounted for the largest share with $2.053 billion in inflows, followed by Germany with $63.9 million, Switzerland with $41.6 million, Canada with $12.3 million, and the Netherlands with $6 million. CoinShares noted that while last week's activity represented the largest weekly inflow since October of last year, investor sentiment has weakened since last Friday due to geopolitical tensions, tariff threats, and policy uncertainty.

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Professionals Association (HKSFPA) has called for the easing of certain regulations within the OECD's Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), according to Cointelegraph. The association stated that while it agrees with the overall direction of CARF and related amendments to the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), including mandatory registration and expanded transaction reporting, it is concerned the rules could impose excessive operational burdens and legal liabilities on financial institutions. CARF is a new international standard for the automatic exchange of tax-related information on crypto-asset users between countries.

Kazakhstan has officially enacted a law that only permits the trading of cryptocurrencies approved by its central bank, Cointelegraph reported. Under the new legislation, the Central Bank of Kazakhstan will exercise key supervisory authority over digital financial assets (DFA), including licensing exchanges, authorizing the circulation of assets, and setting transaction limits.

Cointelegraph has highlighted three key factors to watch in the Bitcoin market this week. These include a threat from U.S. President Donald Trump to impose tariffs on Greenland, the release of key U.S. macroeconomic data such as the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index and third-quarter GDP figures, and a potential recovery in spot BTC demand, which could signal improving investor sentiment.

An address associated with Fenbushi Capital deposited 7,798 ETH, worth $25 million, to Binance approximately 20 minutes ago, Lookonchain reported. The assets had been staked for about two years.

Bybit has announced plans to list spot IMU.

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin stated on his X account that the current structure of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs), centered on token holder voting, is inefficient and repeats the flaws of traditional political systems. He argued that while DAOs were a core inspiration from Ethereum's early days, the current model causes participant fatigue and fails to achieve genuine governance, necessitating a better approach. Buterin identified five key areas for improvement: the limitations of decentralized oracles, on-chain dispute resolution systems, methods for managing common resources, funding mechanisms for short-term projects, and ensuring long-term project sustainability.

U.S. spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs have recorded their largest weekly net inflows in three months. According to CoinDesk, BTC spot ETFs saw total net inflows of $1.42 billion last week, while ETH spot ETFs attracted $479 million, marking the largest weekly volume since early October. The media outlet analyzed the trend as a sign that institutional investors are returning to the market. This suggests a shift away from arbitrage strategies, which involve buying ETFs while selling CME futures, and toward preemptively building positions in anticipation of regulatory changes and macroeconomic variables in the first quarter of this year.

A former Bank of England (BOE) analyst, Helen McCaugh, has written to BOE Governor Andrew Bailey suggesting that the official confirmation of alien life could severely disrupt financial markets and trigger a surge in demand for cryptocurrencies, according to a report from Asia Business Daily. McCaugh explained that such a revelation could lead the public to question the legitimacy of governments, eroding trust in government-backed assets. This loss of confidence, she argued, could drive a significant increase in demand for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, making them an attractive alternative.

South Korean crypto exchange Coinone announced that it will list RIVER (RIVER) for trading against the South Korean won at 3:00 a.m. UTC on Jan. 20.

An anonymous whale with an address beginning in 0x81d0 withdrew 32,000 ETH, valued at $100 million, from Binance a few minutes ago, according to on-chain analytics firm Lookonchain. The move follows earlier activity seven hours prior, when the same address withdrew 10,000 ETH ($33.68 million) from Binance. The whale then staked that ETH on Lido, received stETH, and used it as collateral on Aave to borrow $45 million in USDT. Subsequently, the address purchased 13,000 stETH and deposited it back into Aave. Lookonchain suggested the whale may deposit the latest 32,000 ETH withdrawal into Aave to borrow more USDT for further ETH purchases.

Binance has announced that it will list the BTC/U and LTC/USD1 spot trading pairs on Jan. 20 at 8:00 a.m. UTC.

Naver has stated that promotional content for unregistered Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) could violate South Korea's Specific Financial Information Act and is restricting such posts on its blog platform, Digital Asset reported. A company official said on Jan. 19 that because unregistered VASPs face criminal penalties under the act, any related advertising is also potentially illegal. Naver clarified that its policy restricts all illegal content and is not limited to promotions for unregistered crypto businesses.

Binance has announced it will delist 23 spot trading pairs at 8:00 a.m. UTC on Jan. 20. The affected pairs are 0G/BNB, 1MBABYDOGE/FDUSD, ADX/ETH, AGLD/BTC, ALT/FDUSD, ARKM/BTC, ATOM/ETH, BTC/ZAR, ENS/BTC, ETH/ZAR, HOLO/BNB, HOLO/FDUSD, MOVR/BTC, NEWT/FDUSD, OP/ETH, ORDI/BTC, OXT/BTC, POLYX/BTC, SLP/ETH, SSV/BTC, STO/FDUSD, STORJ/BTC, and TRB/BTC.

Whale Alert reported that 707,876,279 USDC has been transferred from Binance to an unknown wallet. The transaction is valued at about $708 million.

An employee at a publishing house in China's Fujian province has been sentenced to prison after embezzling company funds to invest in cryptocurrency and losing the entire amount, according to an announcement from prosecutors in the city of Xiamen. The employee, identified by his surname Guo, misappropriated 1.53 million yuan (around $214,000) by swapping the company's payment QR code with his personal WeChat QR code. After losing all the money in crypto investments, Guo turned himself in. A court sentenced him to two years and three months in prison and imposed a fine. Xiamen prosecutors said the case serves as a cautionary tale.

South Korea's banking sector has consolidated its position to advocate for the issuance of a won-backed stablecoin led by banks, on the condition that they are permitted to pay interest on it, the Electronic Times reported exclusively. According to financial industry sources on Jan. 19, the Korea Federation of Banks (KFB) held a private briefing on Jan. 15 for its members, including major commercial banks, to coordinate a response on the matter. Discussions reportedly focused on a single, bank-centric stablecoin issuance model and the proposal to allow interest payments under that framework. The meeting was part of an interim review of a research project on won-backed stablecoins commissioned by the KFB from McKinsey & Company. The move is interpreted as a strategic effort by the banking industry to secure influence from the initial stages of regulatory design, as the South Korean government's enactment of the Digital Asset Basic Act approaches.

Asian Web3 research and consulting firm Tiger Research has projected a first-quarter price target of $185,500 for BTC, according to its "Tiger Valuation Methodology (TVM)" report. The firm stated that while the macroeconomic environment is favorable, citing U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate cuts and an increase in the global M2 money supply, short-term momentum has been weakened by spot ETF outflows. On-chain analysis indicates support at $84,000 and resistance at $98,000, with key indicators like the MVRV-Z score having moved from an undervalued range to a state of equilibrium. Tiger Research added that the passage of the CLARITY Act could expand participation from the traditional finance sector. The report's TVM methodology calculated a neutral value of $145,000 for BTC, arriving at the $185,500 target after applying a +25% macro correction factor.

Over the last 24 hours, the BTC perpetual futures long/short ratios on the top three exchanges by open interest show a slight lean toward short positions. The aggregate ratio is 49.13% long to 50.87% short. By exchange, the ratios are: Binance (49.31% long / 50.69% short), OKX (48.38% long / 51.62% short), and Bybit (49.55% long / 50.45% short).

The Bitcoin network's hashrate has dropped below 1000 EH/s (1 ZH/s) for the first time in four months, Cointelegraph reported. According to data from the Hashrate Index, the network's seven-day average hashrate is currently 993 EH/s. This figure marks a 15% decrease from the peak of 1157 EH/s recorded on Oct. 19 of last year. Analysts suggest the decline is likely due to BTC miners reallocating power to artificial intelligence (AI) investments in pursuit of higher returns.

Trading volume on the decentralized perpetual futures exchange (PerpDEX) Lighter has plummeted since its recent airdrop, blockchain analysis platform Cryptorank.io reported via X. The platform's weekly trading volume has fallen by nearly three times from its peak. As a result of the decline, Hyperliquid (HYPE) has reclaimed its position as the leading PerpDEX by trading volume. Cryptorank also highlighted Variational as another noteworthy platform, with daily trading volumes around the $1 billion level.

Bitcoin's price has fallen sharply following U.S. President Donald Trump's threat to impose new tariffs on eight European nations as part of his administration's efforts to purchase Greenland, according to Cointelegraph. The move triggered a sell-off in cryptocurrencies while traditional safe-haven assets like gold and silver rallied. President Trump announced on Saturday that a 10% tariff would be applied to imports from countries including Denmark, France, Germany, and the UK, effective Feb. 1. He warned the rate could rise to 25% by June if a deal for Greenland is not reached. The resulting trade war fears appear to have spurred risk-off sentiment, leading to the liquidation of $860 million in BTC long positions over the past 24 hours. Analysts cited by the report suggest that Bitcoin is behaving like a tech stock, sensitive to macroeconomic shocks, and has decoupled from traditional safe havens.