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Six Senate Democrats are pressing the Justice Department for answers after alleging Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche eased crypto enforcement while holding a sizeable stash of digital assets — potentially creating a conflict of interest. What the senators say In a letter sent Wednesday, Senators Mazie Hirono (D‑HI), Richard Durbin (D‑IL), Elizabeth Warren (D‑MA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D‑RI), Christopher Coons (D‑DE) and Richard Blumenthal (D‑CT) accuse Blanche of running afoul of federal conflict-of-interest law, pointing to financial disclosures showing he held between $158,000 and $470,000 in crypto (principally Bitcoin and Ethereum) around the time he issued a policy memo that scaled back criminal enforcement of the industry. The lawmakers cite 18 U.S.C. § 208(a), which bars executive-branch officials from participating in matters that could affect their personal financial interests. “At the very least, you had a glaring conflict of interest and should have recused yourself,” they wrote. The memo and the divestment questions Last year Blanche authored a memo titled “Ending Regulation by Prosecution,” which disbanded the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team and announced the DOJ would no longer pursue criminal cases against crypto exchanges, mixing services or cold‑wallet holders for “acts of their end users or unwitting violations of regulations.” According to the senators, Blanche held the cryptocurrencies when the memo was issued and promised in February 2025 to divest “as soon as practicable.” Rather than fully liquidating the holdings, the letter alleges Blanche “sold or transferred” the assets to relatives — a move the senators say may not have eliminated potential financial influence. They also pressed Blanche to explain why he waited until May 31 to divest. What the senators are demanding The letter requests a detailed explanation of what was “appropriately flagged, addressed, and cleared in advance,” copies of communications between Blanche and crypto industry representatives between March 5 and April 7, and other records related to the transactions and recusal decisions. The senators set a February 11 deadline for Blanche’s responses. Industry reaction and wider concerns Critics warn the optics are damaging for an already politicized issue. Joshua Chu, co‑chair of the Hong Kong Web3 Association, told Decrypt that while it’s not automatic wrongdoing for an official to hold crypto, it becomes “inherently risky when that same official is personally dialling up or down crypto enforcement while sitting on a sizeable bag.” Chu added an ethics inquiry is the “bare minimum,” and warned of potential blowback ahead of next year’s midterms. The senators also tied the policy shift to public-safety risks. They said in an earlier letter that disbanding the enforcement team and adopting a hands-off posture could enable sanctions evasion, drug trafficking, scams and child exploitation — a point they say was borne out by a January 2026 Chainalysis report showing illicit crypto activity surged 162% last year. A more measured view Not everyone sees an obvious ethics violation. Joe Ciccolo, founder and president of BitAML, told Decrypt that public officials often hold diverse assets and that alleging undue influence requires evidence of a “specific business venture or direct transactional relationship.” He called the broader issue one of transparency and context. Next steps Decrypt has reached out to the DOJ for comment. The department’s response and Blanche’s answers to the senators — due Feb. 11 — will determine whether this becomes a formal ethics probe or a political flashpoint as enforcement policy and crypto markets continue to collide. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

Trump-backed USD1 stablecoin tops $5 billion, fueling growth — and controversy — for Trump family crypto venture Less than a year after launch, the dollar-pegged USD1 stablecoin has surged past a $5 billion market capitalization, becoming the fifth-largest stablecoin globally — a milestone celebrated this week by Donald Trump Jr. Trump Jr., a co‑founder of World Liberty Financial, posted a CoinMarketCap screenshot on X, calling USD1 “built in America” and “adopted by serious institutions.” His brother Eric Trump, also a co‑founder, joined the public praise as USD1 overtook PayPal USD and Ripple USD to climb the rankings. World Liberty Financial has positioned USD1 as the core of its decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem, where the coin is used for lending, borrowing and other on‑chain financial services. The company has also applied for a U.S. national banking license — a move that would let it issue and custody dollar‑backed digital currency at scale and open another potential revenue stream for the Trump family’s expanding crypto operations. USD1’s rapid ascent has not been free of scrutiny. The stablecoin was used to close Abu Dhabi‑based MGX’s reported $2 billion transaction with Binance, prompting questions from Sen. Elizabeth Warren about whether the deal involved improper favors tied to the Trump family and Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao — who was later pardoned by President Donald Trump. Zhao has denied any quid pro quo, saying the USD1 transfer was a payment mechanism rather than an investment in World Liberty Financial. The development underscores two competing narratives: USD1’s fast institutional adoption and the Trump family’s growing footprint in digital assets — and the heightened regulatory and political scrutiny that follows when high‑profile figures intersect with crypto. As stablecoins, DeFi platforms and tokenized finance attract more institutional activity, USD1’s rise will likely keep the project and its backers in the spotlight. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

UAE launches its first central bank–approved stablecoin, setting up a homegrown rival to USDC The UAE has taken a major step into stablecoin territory. Universal Digital Intl Limited on Thursday launched USDU, the country’s first stablecoin registered directly with the Central Bank of the UAE — giving it a regulatory edge over offshore competitors and marking the first authorized issuance of a “Foreign Payment Token” under UAE rules, The Block reports. USDU is fully backed 1:1 by U.S. dollars held at major local banks — including Emirates NBD, Mashreq and Mbank — and is positioned as the only stablecoin with explicit official status for settling digital-asset transactions in the UAE. That settlement standing could make USDU especially attractive to institutions that need clear central-bank-level compliance for treasury, payments and custody workflows. Circle’s USDC is already active in the region: the issuer received a license from Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) in December to operate as a money services provider and expand payments across the UAE and broader Middle East. But that ADGM license does not equate to direct central bank registration. In practice, USDC can operate locally, yet it doesn’t enjoy the same formal settlement status that USDU now holds — a key regulatory distinction for some institutional players. To integrate into the local crypto stack, Universal Digital has partnered with Aquanow, a Dubai infrastructure provider regulated by VARA, which will help plug USDU into trading, custody and payments rails across the emirates. The move aligns with the UAE’s broader strategy to cement itself as a global crypto hub by building domestic infrastructure and attracting institutional flows. The launch comes amid a broader wave of institutional stablecoin activity: Tether has been working on a U.S.-compliant product and Fidelity rolled out its FIDD token, underscoring growing demand for regulated dollar-pegged instruments. With central-bank approval and bank custody backing, USDU could become the default settlement token for regulated entities operating in the UAE — and a test case for how national-level stablecoins compete with established global issuers. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

Headline: Senate Agriculture Committee Advances CLARITY Act in Party-Line Vote, Exposing Deep Divisions Over DeFi, Ethics and Stablecoins The Senate Agriculture Committee voted 12–11 on Jan. 29 to advance its version of the CLARITY Act — officially the Digital Commodity Intermediaries Act — sending the landmark crypto market-structure bill one step further through Congress. All Republicans on the panel supported the measure; all Democrats opposed it. What the bill would do - Give the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) clear authority over “digital commodities,” a major jurisdictional shift for crypto markets. - Carve out treatment for intermediaries and certain DeFi activity, though those carve-outs remain a flashpoint. Why the vote matters - This is the first time a crypto market-structure proposal has moved beyond a Senate committee, marking a milestone for the industry in Washington. - The Agriculture Committee’s advance does not guarantee final passage — the Senate Banking Committee must still clear its own version, and the two chambers will need to reconcile differences before a full Senate vote. Key flashpoints and objections - The vote exposed sharp partisan divisions over ethics provisions and how decentralized finance should be treated. Democrats argued the bill was rushed without bipartisan input and lacks safeguards against conflicts of interest for public officials who hold crypto. - Several Democrats pointed to the Trump administration’s growing ties to blockchain ventures as complicating negotiations. Sen. Cory Booker said those financial links have eroded trust around the bill’s framework. - An amendment to add a new ethics provision failed on a party-line vote. Public Citizen later blasted the bill, dubbing it the “gryfto” bill — a jab at concerns that the rules could enable political self-dealing. Political and industry influence - The vote comes as the crypto industry prepares to pour nearly $200 million into campaign spending ahead of the 2026 midterms. Industry-aligned super PAC Fairshake disclosed $193 million in cash this week, including fresh donations from Coinbase, Ripple and Andreessen Horowitz. - Funding and lobbying have shaped the debate. Earlier this month reported tensions between banks and crypto firms over yield-bearing stablecoins led to a reported withdrawal of support from Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and delayed the Banking Committee’s planned markup. What’s next - The Senate Banking Committee must approve its version of the bill. Major unresolved issues remain, including how yield-bearing stablecoins are regulated and what role banks should play in crypto markets. - The CLARITY Act already passed the House in July, but without Banking Committee approval and bipartisan consensus in the Senate, its path to becoming law is far from assured. Republican reaction - GOP leaders framed the committee vote as progress. House Financial Services Committee Chair French Hill said it brings Congress closer to a market-structure framework, and Agriculture Committee Chair Glenn “GT” Thompson called the markup a key step toward final legislation. Bottom line: The Agriculture Committee’s vote is a significant procedural win for proponents of CFTC-led crypto oversight, but political, regulatory and industry disagreements — especially over ethics, DeFi and stablecoin yields — mean the CLARITY Act still faces an uncertain road through the Senate. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

Bitcoin’s wild ride over the last 24 hours wiped out about $1.68 billion in leveraged crypto positions, CoinGlass data shows — a forced cleanup that knocked roughly 267,370 traders out of the market. The carnage was overwhelmingly long-biased. Long positions accounted for roughly $1.56 billion — nearly 93% of total liquidations — while shorts made up only about $118 million. That lopsided exposure set the stage for a rapid, reflexive unwind once momentum flipped. Bitcoin and Ether bore the brunt of the pain. BTC-related liquidations totaled roughly $780 million and ETH about $414 million, according to liquidation heatmaps. The largest single blow was an $80.57 million BTC-USDT position wiped on HTX, a reminder that even deep liquidity cannot save outsized leverage when the market reverses. Perpetual-heavy venues saw the biggest hits. Hyperliquid led with about $598 million in liquidations — over 94% of that was long exposure — followed by Bybit at $339 million and Binance at $181 million. Across these platforms, long bets dominated the losses. How this plays out is mechanical: when leveraged traders can’t meet margin calls, exchanges forcibly close positions. Forced selling pushes prices down, which triggers more liquidations in a fast-moving feedback loop — the exact dynamic that unfolded this time. For traders and observers, liquidation metrics are useful because they reveal where leverage was crowded and where risk has been purged. Massive long liquidations tend to clear speculative excess, reset funding rates and reduce open interest. That can remove one source of short-term distortion — but it doesn’t automatically signal a market bottom. It simply means a lot of weak hands were flushed out. The broader lesson: this move looked less like a wave of new bearish conviction and more like gravity meeting concentrated leverage. When the market is overwhelmingly long, it doesn’t need a new catalyst to fall — it just needs a trigger to start the unwind. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

Bitcoin volatility ripped higher Thursday, marking the biggest jump since November as a sudden sell-off sent traders scrambling for downside protection. Deribit’s bitcoin volatility index (DVOL) climbed sharply from roughly 37 to above 44 — crypto’s closest analog to the VIX. DVOL measures the price action traders expect over the next 30 days based on options pricing; when it rises, options get pricier and market fear is rising. Thursday’s move shows traders were willing to pay up to hedge against bigger swings. Why this matters - Options basics: call options give the right to buy (a bullish bet); put options give the right to sell and are used to protect against price drops. Rising DVOL means demand for those protective puts is increasing. - Broader market stress: the VIX also rose, pointing to a broader risk-off move driven by renewed macro uncertainty — including elevated government shutdown risks and fresh political noise over future Federal Reserve leadership. - Liquidations and forced selling: exchanges saw more than $1.7 billion in liquidations as heavy long positioning was flushed out when prices broke lower, amplifying volatility. But it’s not yet extreme Even with the spike, bitcoin’s implied volatility isn’t at historical highs. Deribit shows an IV Rank of 36, meaning current implied volatility is only modestly above the lowest levels of the past year. IV Percentile sits near 50, indicating volatility has been lower about half the time over the past 12 months. In short: volatility jumped fast, but it isn’t stretched to extremes. What traders are doing Rising DVOL signals that options markets expect larger price swings ahead, even if spot prices stabilize. IV Rank and IV Percentile are key tools traders use to decide whether options are relatively cheap or expensive — which affects hedging, leverage and risk-management strategies. For now, the options market is signaling caution rather than outright panic. Outlook Derivatives markets are sending a clear message: bitcoin’s calm has ended. Traders are bracing for more turbulence, and some are eyeing a return toward the $70,000 level in the coming weeks as positioning adjusts. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

Headline: XRP bulls wiped out $70M as Ripple-linked token tumbles 7%, finds tentative support at $1.74 XRP plunged roughly 7% as a bout of broad crypto weakness sparked a wave of long liquidations — about $70 million worth — amplifying the selling pressure and driving the token below a key support level. After the drop, buyers emerged near $1.74, producing a tentative halt to the downside. The move highlights how market-wide volatility and leveraged positioning can accelerate declines in major altcoins. Liquidations of this scale typically indicate a high concentration of leveraged long bets, which get forcefully closed when prices slip below stop levels, feeding into further price declines. While the bounce at $1.74 offers short-term relief, markets remain fragile amid the wider sell-off. Traders will be watching whether XRP can reclaim the broken support or if further downside is in store while macro trends and crypto-wide momentum remain the primary drivers. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

Headline: DOJ Secures Title to $400M+ in Assets Tied to Helix Crypto Mixer The U.S. Department of Justice has finalized the forfeiture of more than $400 million in assets seized from Larry Dean Harmon, the operator of the darknet crypto-mixing service Helix, the agency said in a Jan. 29 statement. A final court order from Judge Beryl A. Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia transferred legal title of the assets to the government. Helix, a cryptocurrency mixer, was designed to obscure transaction trails by pooling and redistributing funds—functionality that made it attractive to illicit actors. According to the DOJ, between 2014 and 2017 the service routed over $300 million in cryptocurrency as part of efforts to conceal proceeds from darknet markets. Harmon also built the Grams search engine, which integrated with marketplaces such as AlphaBay to streamline large-scale laundering. The DOJ says Harmon kept a cut of transactions as commission. Harmon pleaded guilty in 2021 to operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business and violating the Bank Secrecy Act, and was sentenced in 2024 to three years in prison. The case has had further fallout: Harmon’s brother, Gary James Harmon, was indicted in 2022 over allegations that he used stolen credentials to steal seized crypto assets from an IRS evidence locker. The Helix forfeiture caps one of several high-profile enforcement actions targeting crypto mixers. Regulators and law enforcement worldwide argue that mixers can enable money laundering at scale, while privacy advocates caution that tools enabling private transactions are not inherently criminal. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and others have argued developers shouldn’t be prosecuted solely because their code can be abused. The debate is playing out politically as well: last month, President Donald Trump said he was reviewing a potential pardon for Keonne Rodriguez, the Samourai Wallet co-founder who was sentenced to five years in prison on charges related to money laundering and operating an unlicensed money transmission service. The DOJ’s move underscores ongoing tensions between privacy-centric crypto tools and regulatory efforts to curb illicit finance in the digital-asset space. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

El Salvador’s central bank quietly bought $50 million in gold this week — a move that adds another layer to the country’s unconventional reserve strategy as it continues to accumulate bitcoin. What happened - The central bank announced on X (formerly Twitter) that it purchased 9,298 troy ounces of gold for $50 million. That brings El Salvador’s reported gold holdings to 67,403 ounces, valued at roughly $360 million at current prices. - President Nayib Bukele amplified the announcement by reposting it with the one-liner, “We just bought the other dip.” It wasn’t clear whether he was referring to the gold purchase or to the government’s ongoing bitcoin buys — likely both. Bitcoin buys continue - Blockchain analytics from Arkham showed El Salvador added one bitcoin on the same day, consistent with Bukele’s repeated pledge to buy one BTC per day. - According to Arkham, the government now holds 7,547 bitcoin, worth about $635 million at bitcoin’s price just above $84,000. Why it matters - El Salvador — the first country to adopt bitcoin as legal tender — appears to be diversifying reserves across both a traditional safe-haven (gold) and a high-volatility crypto asset (bitcoin). - Combined, the reported gold and bitcoin holdings are roughly on the order of $1 billion, underscoring how a small nation has used a mix of assets to build its reserve profile and generate headlines. The gold buy and the daily bitcoin accumulation highlight Bukele’s idiosyncratic approach to national finance: a blend of social-media announcements, public-market timing, and a clear appetite for crypto exposure. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

Securitize, the tokenization specialist, has taken a major step toward becoming a public company — and its latest financials give a clear reason why. The firm filed a public registration statement with the SEC on Wednesday as it advances a merger with Cantor Fitzgerald–backed SPAC Cantor Equity Partners II (CEPT). In the filing, Securitize disclosed $55.6 million in revenue for the first nine months of 2025, an eye‑catching 841% jump from the same period in 2024. For context, Securitize posted $18.8 million in revenue for the full year 2024, more than double the prior year’s haul. The market took notice: while many crypto-linked names fell 5%–10% amid a selloff in bitcoin and tech stocks on Thursday, CEPT shares were up about 4.4% late in the session. What Securitize does is straightforward but increasingly relevant: it builds the infrastructure to turn traditional assets — U.S. Treasuries, funds, or equity — into blockchain-based tokens that can be issued, traded and managed more efficiently. The proposed merger still requires shareholder and regulatory sign-off; if approved, the combined company would list on Nasdaq under the ticker SECZ. The timing comes as tokenization gains momentum across traditional finance. Major banks and asset managers, including JPMorgan and BlackRock, are incorporating tokenized products into their offerings, and a Boston Consulting Group and Ripple report projects the tokenized asset market could swell to as much as $18.9 trillion by 2033. Securitize’s rapid revenue growth and a SPAC route to the public markets put it at the center of that trend — but investors will be watching the regulatory approvals and execution as the company moves toward a Nasdaq debut. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

Why Kevin Warsh’s potential Fed nomination rattled bitcoin markets President Donald Trump said Thursday he will announce his pick to replace Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve chair when Powell’s term ends in May. Media reports say the administration is preparing to nominate Kevin Warsh, a former Fed governor (2006–2011). The mere prospect sent volatility through crypto markets: bitcoin (BTC) slid from roughly $82,463 to near $81,000 late Thursday as Warsh’s odds rose on betting sites. Why the market sees Warsh as bearish for bitcoin On the surface, Warsh has at times spoken positively about cryptocurrencies. But many traders and analysts view a return of his influence at the Fed as a negative for risk assets, including bitcoin. Markus Thielen, founder of 10x Research, told CoinDesk that markets “generally view a resurgence of Warsh’s influence as bearish for Bitcoin,” because his emphasis on monetary discipline, higher real rates and reduced liquidity would recast crypto as “speculative excess” that suffers when easy money is withdrawn. A quick primer: higher real interest rates — the cost of borrowing after accounting for inflation — make riskier, non-yielding assets less attractive. When real rates rise and central banks drain liquidity, investors tend to cut exposure to assets like bitcoin. Warsh’s hawkish record during the financial crisis Part of the concern is Warsh’s record during the global financial crisis (GFC). Even as the economy teetered and deflation risk loomed, Warsh repeatedly warned about inflation. In September 2008, the month Lehman collapsed, he said, “I'm still not ready to relinquish my concerns on the inflation front.” Seven months later, with the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge at just 0.8% and unemployment near 9%, he said, “I continue to be more worried about upside risks to inflation than downside risks.” Critics argue that stance—seen as excessively hawkish at a time when policy pivot toward stimulus was arguably needed—would have prolonged pain in labor markets and slowed recovery. Thielen says that perspective feeds the view Warsh’s approach would be contractionary for risk assets. Political irony and market implications Warsh’s potential nomination would be politically ironic. President Trump has publicly pressured the Fed for rapid rate cuts, repeatedly criticizing Powell for keeping rates elevated and urging rates as low as 1% from the current federal funds range of roughly 3.5%–3.7%. Observers say Warsh’s hawkish history doesn’t line up with Trump’s reflationary, pro-risk-asset agenda. Renaissance Macro Research warned on X that “Kevin Warsh has been a monetary policy hawk his entire career… His dovishness today stems from convenience. The President risks getting duped.” Bloomberg’s chief U.S. economist Ana Wong added that Warsh’s GFC-era FOMC quotes “scared” her. A single chair can’t set policy alone It’s important to remember that even a Fed chair cannot unilaterally set rates; policy is determined collectively by the Federal Open Market Committee, and the Fed Board’s votes dilute any single voice. Still, markets react quickly to the tone and likely policy direction signaled by a chair pick. What to watch next The nomination isn’t official yet. But insofar as Warsh’s reputation signals tighter policy and higher real rates, his candidacy could continue to weigh on bitcoin and other risk assets while supporting the dollar in the near term. Crypto traders will be watching confirmation developments, FOMC composition and any shifts in market-implied rate expectations closely. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

Headline: Plunge in Metals Triggers $120M Liquidation Wave in Tokenized Gold, Silver and Copper A sudden slide in base and precious metals prices rippled straight into crypto markets Friday, wiping out roughly $120 million in leveraged positions tied to blockchain-based metals products. The rout underscored how tightly crypto venues are now woven into traditional macro trading flows. What happened in the metals market - Three-month copper futures on the London Metal Exchange, which had been buoyed by Chinese demand and energy-transition optimism, dropped sharply after technical disruptions at the LME and a significant re‑positioning by Chinese traders. Copper fell from a recent peak above $14,500 a ton toward nearer $13,000. - Gold and silver also cooled off, falling about 4% and 5.9% respectively as the U.S. dollar strengthened on speculation that the Trump administration may nominate Kevin Warsh as the next Federal Reserve chair. - The dollar’s move pressured dollar-priced commodities across the board, hitting gold, silver, crude oil and iron ore. How crypto felt the shock - Tokenized metals — blockchain-native products that track spot metal prices — saw unusually large losses as their underlying spot markets retreated. - Across exchanges, spot-style products and derivatives linked to copper, gold and silver recorded about $120 million in combined liquidations over 24 hours. - Silver-linked contracts accounted for the largest share, roughly $32 million in liquidations, followed by gold- and copper-linked futures. - Tokenized bullion tickers such as XAU and XAUT plunged more than 7%. Why this matters for crypto traders - Crypto venues are increasingly being used as fast, 24/7 rails for macro trades where traders seek speed, leverage and continuous access. When metals were surging earlier in the week, traders leaned on crypto-native contracts; when prices reversed, those same markets amplified the unwind. - The episode highlights crypto’s evolving role: not just a separate asset class but a parallel market where global macro bets are executed and re‑priced in real time. The bigger picture - Despite the pullback, metals remain one of the strongest themes so far this year. Copper still looks set for a robust weekly gain after rallies driven by supply constraints and electrification demand. Gold continues to attract flows as investors hedge political and fiscal uncertainty. - Expect more volatility as traditional macro drivers — dollar strength, Fed-related news and Chinese positioning — continue to feed through into tokenized commodity markets and the leveraged products that sit atop them. Bottom line: As traditional commodities and crypto markets grow more interconnected, sudden moves in underlying spot markets can produce outsized, fast-moving liquidations across blockchain-based products. Traders and platforms will need to factor that cross-market risk into their strategies and risk controls. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

Ethereum is moving deeper into AI — and it’s doing it on-chain. Developers behind Ethereum are preparing a major, AI-focused upgrade that would let autonomous AI agents find, select and transact with one another directly on the blockchain. The proposal, ERC-8004, aims to enable “open-need” agent economies where systems from different organizations can collaborate without pre-existing trust or centralized intermediaries. What’s coming - ERC-8004 is expected to go live on mainnet soon: the team announced the deployment is imminent, with development frozen as they prepare for a likely launch at around 9:00 AM ET on Thursday, January 30. - The proposal was first submitted in August 2025 and has since gone through multiple rounds of community review and revision. Early adopters have already been testing the standard to prototype autonomous AI agent use cases. How ERC-8004 works - Identity: Each on-chain AI agent will receive a unique ERC-721 NFT as its identity — effectively an on-chain passport. The standard also supports human-readable ENS domains and secure delegation of control when required. - Reputation & validation: ERC-8004 builds on-chain mechanisms for reputation, feedback and task validation so agents can record performance and outcomes. This allows other agents and users to verify interactions and build trust from recorded, tamper-evident history. - Interoperability: By design, the protocol lets agents discover and transact with counterparts across organizational boundaries, opening the door to decentralized AI-to-AI marketplaces and coordination layers. Who’s behind it Marco De Rossi — a primary author of ERC-8004 and the AI lead at MetaMask — confirmed the protocol’s development has been frozen as the team prepares mainnet deployment. An AI lead at the Ethereum Foundation also described Ethereum as uniquely positioned to “secure and settle AI-to-AI interactions,” highlighting the network’s long-running push to be a coordination and settlement layer for autonomous systems. Context and implications ERC-8004 is not Ethereum’s first move into AI. The Ethereum Foundation has previously established a dAI Team focused on building infrastructure for blockchain-native AI coordination. If adopted widely, ERC-8004 could accelerate decentralized AI applications by giving autonomous systems on-chain identities, verifiable reputations and a standard way to prove work — reducing reliance on centralized platforms. That said, bringing AI workflows on-chain raises practical questions around cost, privacy and how reputation systems will be defended against manipulation — issues developers and the community will need to tackle as real-world usage grows. Bottom line With ERC-8004 poised for mainnet deployment, Ethereum is betting on a future where AI agents operate, transact and verify one another on-chain. The standard’s rollout will be an important litmus test for decentralized AI coordination and could mark a significant step in blending blockchain infrastructure with autonomous systems. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

Binance said Friday it will convert the stablecoin holdings of its $1 billion emergency user protection fund into bitcoin over the next 30 days, a move the exchange is making amid a broader market rout. The fund in question is the Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU), Binance’s insurance-style reserve set up to cover customer losses from unforeseen events such as hacks. Binance said the conversion will be carried out gradually over 30 days and that the company will conduct regular audits as it moves the assets. To guard against bitcoin’s price volatility reducing the fund too far, Binance pledged a backstop: if the SAFU’s value falls below $800 million after the switch, the exchange will top it up back to $1 billion. In a translated post on X, Binance framed the decision as part of “long-term industry-building efforts,” and said it will continue to update the community on progress. For scale, Binance’s 2025 proof-of-reserves report shows users hold roughly $163 billion in crypto on the platform. Stablecoins — digital tokens pegged to assets like the U.S. dollar — are being swapped out in favor of bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency with a market value above $1.6 trillion. The move shifts the SAFU from relatively stable, dollar-pegged assets into a more volatile but liquid crypto with upside potential, and Binance has emphasized ongoing transparency through audits and updates as the conversion proceeds. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

After fending off concerns about a potential MSCI index exclusion, Strategy (the company formerly known as MicroStrategy) — the most prominent corporate holder of Bitcoin — is once again under scrutiny. This time the community is asking whether the firm truly controls all the BTC on its balance sheet or if some of it might be “paper” Bitcoin: derivatives or rehypothecated coins held and reused by custodians. What Strategy says - Michael Saylor, Strategy’s founder and chairman, pushed back hard on the rumors: “We buy real Bitcoin. We audit our custodians. We don’t rehypothecate. You shouldn’t either.” - Saylor has not publicly posted additional proofs for the portions of the holdings that are currently difficult to trace. What the numbers show - Strategy’s reported treasury: 712,000 BTC. - Major purchases: roughly $20 billion in BTC in 2024, $23 billion in 2025, and nearly $4 billion so far in 2026 — adding over 40,000 BTC this year. - Strategy’s 2026 purchases outstripped newly mined supply this year (about 11,700 BTC), prompting some analysts to argue this should create a supply squeeze and fuel a rally. Why some remain skeptical - Security researcher Jameson Lopp questioned whether the company can verify that custodians aren’t rehypothecating its coins: “Your thesis is sensible (BTC rallying as Strategy buys more)… under the assumption that he’s buying real bitcoin,” he wrote, adding that he’s skeptical unless Strategy can prove custodial exclusivity. - On-chain analysts report that roughly 420,000 BTC of Strategy’s stash is traceable at custodians that use segregated addresses (Coinbase and Anchorage), and Arkham Intelligence tracks about 415,000 BTC there. - Around 183,000 BTC was reportedly sent to Fidelity’s custody, but Fidelity does not appear to separate wallets in a way that makes those coins easily trackable on-chain. - That leaves more than 110,000 BTC across custodians that analysts say cannot be individually traced — the core of the controversy and the basis for critics’ doubts. Analyst Sani highlighted this unaccounted-for portion. Market reaction and context - Despite Strategy’s aggressive buying, BTC’s price reaction has been muted; MSTR stock dipped around 2% to $157.45 at press time, following a roughly 1.5% BTC pullback after the FOMC meeting. - Strategy’s purchases remain significant relative to supply, which is why the debate over whether the company’s coins are fully isolated on-chain matters for market dynamics and confidence. Bottom line Strategy insists its BTC is real and fully audited with non-rehypothecated custody. On-chain trackers confirm large, segregated holdings at some custodians, but a meaningful tranche — roughly 110K BTC by current estimates — is hard to trace, leaving room for legitimate questions about custody practices. That transparency gap, rather than the headline size of the treasury, is fueling today’s FUD. Disclaimer: This summary is informational and not investment advice. Cryptocurrency markets are high risk; readers should do their own research before making decisions. Sources cited in reporting include CryptoQuant and Arkham. © 2026 AMBCrypto Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

Headline: Memecoin Frenzy Puts Solana Through a Live Stress Test — and It’s Passing Solana’s recent memecoin wave looks chaotic on the surface, but the surge is revealing something important: the network’s execution layer is holding up under real-world stress. Rather than buckling during spikes in activity, Solana has demonstrated consistent throughput, fast recovery after busy periods, and measurable economic output — signs of production-grade scalability, not one-off performance bursts. What the data shows - Sustained TPS: Since 2023 Solana’s transaction throughput has largely stayed between ~2,000 and ~5,000 TPS, with the latest readings around 3,200 TPS, even through memecoin launch waves (Source: Token Terminal). - Rapid normalization: Activity spikes tied to speculative launches did not cause lasting degradation — throughput normalized quickly, indicating resilience under live demand. - Market share: On weekly averages Solana captures roughly 40% of L1 transaction throughput, second only to Internet Computer (ICP), which sits near 4,100 TPS (Source: Token Terminal). By contrast, TRON, BNB Chain and Ethereum typically run well below 150 TPS. - Token launches and deployments: Daily token deployments climbed above 40,000 — an 11‑month high — while TPS remained in the 3,000–5,000 range through peak launch periods (Source: X). Why this matters Solana’s edge comes from parallelized execution, low fees and optimized networking. High transaction volumes become additive rather than destabilizing: the network’s architecture lets more activity coexist without the typical congestion or long-tail degradation seen on some other chains. Over the past 18 months Solana recovered from mid‑2024 lows (~2,000 TPS) and scaled back into 2025, suggesting growth-driven throughput rather than episodic stress events. Speculation turning into real economic value Memecoin cycles haven’t just produced volume — they’ve generated revenue and sustained trading activity: - DEX activity: Over the past 30 days DEX volume on Solana topped $110 billion, more than twice Ethereum’s ~$47 billion in the same window (Source: DeFiLlama). - App revenue: Solana captured roughly $145 million in application revenue over that period, outpacing peers and signaling that fees are being monetized even during a memecoin-driven cycle (Source: DeFiLlama). As activity grows, base and priority fees plus MEV extraction compound revenue opportunities. That indicates the throughput isn’t hollow traffic — usage is producing economic value, validating fee capture and monetization at scale. Launchpad diversity rising alongside deployment counts also points to a broader, decentralized developer and speculator base rather than a single concentrated source of activity. Bottom line The memecoin surge has effectively served as a real-time stress test for Solana: high TPS, quick recovery from spikes, sustained token deployment rates, and strong app revenue together argue that Solana’s execution layer is production-ready for high-volume cycles. For traders, builders and observers, this is evidence that Solana’s low-friction environment is not only encouraging experimentation but also converting that activity into tangible economic outcomes. Disclaimer: This content is informational only and should not be taken as investment advice. Cryptocurrency trading is high-risk; do your own research before making decisions. © 2026 AMBCrypto Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

The SEC has doubled down: tokenized stocks are still securities—and U.S. securities laws apply whether those shares live on a blockchain or in a traditional ledger. In fresh guidance, the regulator made clear that “regardless of its format, the Securities Act requires that every offer and sale of a security must be registered with the Commission unless an exemption from registration is available,” and that stock is an “equity security” under both the Securities Act and the Exchange Act no matter how it’s issued. The agency also split tokenized stocks into two types: issuer‑sponsored tokens that carry the issuer’s rights and protections, and third‑party sponsored on‑chain stocks, which can offer a range of ownership rights and safeguards. Market reaction has been mixed. Tokenization firm Securitize praised the clarity, calling it “key to responsibly scaling tokenization.” But the announcement follows a high‑profile meeting between the SEC and major Wall Street firms—including representatives from Citadel, JPMorgan Chase, law firm Cahill Gordon & Reindel, and SIFMA—who pushed back against creating broad exemptions for on‑chain stock trading. Those TradFi voices warned that sweeping carve‑outs could weaken investor protections and spark market instability, pointing to events like the October flash crash and the Stream Finance collapse as cautionary examples. Citadel Securities has argued for comparable regulation of DeFi platforms that deal in tokenized securities, saying they should face similar rules to traditional venues. On the other side, many DeFi proponents insist that decentralized, disintermediated platforms deserve tailored legal treatment—or exemptions—because their operational models differ from centralized intermediaries. SIFMA and other TradFi members have also proposed a new classification for tokenized securities to enable more targeted oversight. The SEC’s recent statement reflects several TradFi concerns but notably sidesteps broader questions about DeFi operations—likely because those issues are still being hashed out in the CLARITY Act. DeFi participants have strongly rejected some TradFi arguments as “baseless” and “flawed,” and the industry is expected to press for exemptions or special rules as legislative negotiations continue. Meanwhile, the market for tokenized securities is expanding quickly. Holders of tokenized securities are approaching 300,000—up about 100% in January alone—and the total value traded in on‑chain stocks is closing in on $1 billion. Where this ends up remains unclear: regulators, Wall Street and DeFi advocates continue to jockey for a framework that balances innovation, market integrity and investor protection. Expect the CLARITY Act and ongoing SEC guidance to be key battlegrounds in the months ahead. Disclaimer: AMBCrypto’s content is informational only and not investment advice. Cryptocurrency trading is high risk; do your own research before making any investment decisions. © 2026 AMBCrypto Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

Headline: Scammers Harness AI to Build More Convincing Crypto Cons — TRM Labs Warns of Fivefold Jump in LLM Use Scammers have stepped up their game by adopting AI tools that make frauds more believable, scalable, and multilingual, according to new findings from blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs. In 2025, the use of large language models (LLMs) in scams increased fivefold, enabling fraudsters to churn out credible messages, manage many conversations at once, and target victims in multiple languages. Lower-cost deepfakes and synthetic personas Beyond chatbots, fraud rings are using AI-generated images, voice cloning, and deepfakes to create lifelike fake identities at much lower cost. These synthetic personas let attackers build rapport with targets—often through romance narratives—before converting trust into money extraction schemes such as fake investment pitches or bogus tax demands. That staged approach has lengthened campaigns and increased per-victim losses, with criminals able to squeeze more value from fewer targets. Professionalized fraud operations TRM’s reporting shows many campaigns are the work of organized groups that operate like small companies: hiring staff, selling tools, and reusing scripts to run coordinated campaigns across jurisdictions. Some vendors openly market phishing kits and “AI-as-a-service” platforms that automate message generation and replies, lowering the technical barrier for newcomers and accelerating the spread of copycat scams. AI-fueled social engineering and malware deployment Security researchers have also documented AI-enabled social-engineering attacks against crypto workers. In several incidents, victims were invited to what appeared to be routine video calls only to see AI-generated faces on the screen. When a bogus “patch” or tech problem was raised, attendees were encouraged to install software that turned out to be malware. Some of these tactics have been linked to groups connected to North Korea and were flagged by researchers last year. Market backdrop and shifting crime metrics The rise in these AI-driven scams coincides with an active crypto market. Bitcoin traded between roughly $88,000 and $90,000 in late January 2026 as investors navigated macroeconomic news and policy updates—a backdrop that can make frauds appear more urgent and believable. TRM’s data also shows changes across the broader illicit crypto landscape. Improved monitoring helped surface a record $158 billion in illicit inflows to crypto assets. At the same time, proceeds tied specifically to scam-related wallets dipped slightly to about $35 billion in 2025 from $38 billion the year prior. Overall criminal volume, however, rose substantially; the share attributable to scams increased only marginally as criminal activity diversified and grew. What this means for defenses Detection tools are improving, but scams are evolving faster. As threat actors leverage advanced AI to craft more authentic-sounding lures, generic warnings become less effective. The industry will need more sophisticated detection, better public awareness, and targeted interventions to stay ahead of AI-enabled fraud. Featured image: Unsplash. Chart: TradingView. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

Bitcoin is struggling to clear the $88,000 mark as market uncertainty grows and precious metals rally sharply — but on-chain data suggests this weakness reflects hesitation, not a mass exodus into gold. CryptoQuant’s latest report challenges the popular narrative that Bitcoin sell-offs are directly funding the surge in gold and other safe havens. Instead, the report points to a pause in liquidity: capital is largely sitting in stablecoins rather than being redeployed into other assets. Stablecoin Supply Ratio (SSR) explains the picture - The SSR measures stablecoin purchasing power relative to Bitcoin’s market cap and helps signal whether liquidity is deployed into BTC or waiting on the sidelines. - Structural thresholds: SSR above ~15–16 implies low stablecoin buying power (liquidity largely deployed into BTC); 10–15 is a neutral/consolidation zone; below ~10–11 means high latent buying power that has historically preceded bullish moves. - Current SSR: 12.57 — down from recent highs of 18–19. That shift suggests a move from fully deployed liquidity toward capital sitting in stablecoins, indicating caution rather than outright flight from crypto. Why gold’s rally isn’t necessarily BTC-funded Large allocators typically rebalance across diversified portfolios (equities, metals, crypto, stablecoins). CryptoQuant argues the gold rally is driven by defensive positioning, but on-chain signals don’t show a one-to-one rotation from Bitcoin into metals. The lower SSR supports the view that capital remains available to re-enter crypto once conditions clarify. Technical and market structure: hesitant, not broken - Price action: BTC has slipped back toward the $87,500–$88,000 area after failing to hold gains above short-term moving averages. - Moving averages: BTC trades decisively below the 50-day and 100-day MAs (both sloping down and acting as resistance), while the 200-day MA still sits above $100,000, reflecting a longer-term shift from expansion to consolidation/correction. - Market behavior since November: a wide range characterized by lower highs and choppy rebounds — reactive buying rather than sustained demand. A recent bounce into the mid-$90,000s was rejected at the descending moving average cluster. - Volume profile: sell-offs generate the largest volume spikes, while recovery attempts occur on muted volume, signaling limited buyer conviction. Key levels and near-term outlook - Immediate demand zone: $86,000–$87,000. A clean break below this would expose deeper structural support. - As long as BTC remains below the 50- and 100-day averages, the chart favors caution over a clear trend reversal. - The on-chain picture (SSR around 12.6) implies liquidity is ready but waiting — so a decisive catalyst, rather than continued metal strength alone, may be needed to bring buyers back in. Bottom line: Bitcoin’s current weakness reads as hesitation and liquidity pausing on the sidelines, not a wholesale rotation into gold. Traders should watch SSR and the short-/mid-term moving averages for signs that buyers are ready to move off the sidelines. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

US regulators signalled a shift from planning to action on crypto oversight on Thursday, Jan. 29, as senior officials from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) outlined coordinated rulemaking steps they plan to take under existing authority. At a rescheduled SEC–CFTC harmonization meeting, CFTC Commissioner Michael S. Selig said the agency will begin exercising more direct oversight of crypto markets now — without waiting for Congress to finish market-structure legislation. Selig described the moment as a move from coordination to implementation, with staff instructed to draft rules and revisit earlier proposals that have contributed to regulatory uncertainty. Key themes from the meeting - Joint rulemaking: The SEC and CFTC intend to advance "Project Crypto," a collaborative framework to harmonize oversight, create a shared crypto asset taxonomy, and clarify jurisdictional lines so firms face fewer overlapping compliance burdens. - Asset classification: Selig agreed with Paul S. Atkins that most crypto assets trading today are not securities — a stance that, if codified, would mark a notable shift away from years of ambiguity. - Practical harmonization: Both agencies framed their work as aligning requirements and enabling substituted compliance where appropriate, not as blurring statutory boundaries between regulators. Planned CFTC rulemaking priorities - Tokenised collateral: Rules to support the use of tokenised assets as collateral. - Onshore perpetual derivatives: Creating pathways for domestic perpetual crypto derivatives markets. - Retail trading: Clarifying treatment for leveraged and margined retail crypto trading. - Event contracts and prediction markets: Withdrawing earlier proposals that restricted certain event contracts and launching new rulemaking on prediction markets. - DeFi considerations: Exploring innovation exemptions or safe harbours for software developers and non-custodial systems in decentralized finance. While Congress continues to work on broader legislation, regulators emphasised they will use existing statutory authority to modernise oversight and reduce duplication now, aiming to spare market participants from prolonged uncertainty. Disclaimer: AMBCrypto's content is meant to be informational in nature and should not be interpreted as investment advice. Trading, buying or selling cryptocurrencies should be considered a high-risk investment and every reader is advised to do their own research before making any decisions. © 2026 AMBCrypto Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news