Insights

Russia has shifted to strict criminal regulation after legalizing mining, with unregistered Bitcoin miners potentially facing criminal charges and hefty fines. The government is attempting to enforce comprehensive industry compliance through legal risks to alleviate energy and tax pressures. After officially legalizing cryptocurrency mining, Russia is preparing to tighten regulations further, imposing severe criminal penalties on unregistered Bitcoin BTC mining activities. The Russian Ministry of Justice recently announced a draft amendment to the Criminal Code, proposing to reclassify multiple illegal cryptocurrency mining behaviors from administrative violations back to criminal offenses. Unregistered Bitcoin miners could face forced labor or even two years of imprisonment, along with fines ranging from 500,000 to 1,500,000 rubles. Only 30% of Russian Bitcoin miners are registered; unreported according to law ---------------------- The background of this legislative proposal stems from Russia's official establishment of cryptocurrency mining regulation in 2024.

114514 coins become the latest wealth creation myth in the crypto market. This meme coin, originating from a Japanese internet meme, surged nearly 50 times in 48 hours, with a market cap surpassing $50 million. On-chain data shows that early buyers accumulated 45.58 million tokens through DEX in multiple batches, achieving a 6800x return when the price skyrocketed to $0.048.

On January 5, 2026, the world's largest digital asset management company Grayscale announced that its Ethereum staking ETF (ETHE) will distribute its first staking yield to shareholders, totaling approximately $9.4 million. This marks the first time that on-chain staking rewards from a U.S.-listed spot cryptocurrency exchange-traded product (ETP) have been converted into "dividends" for traditional financial products, representing a milestone in structural significance. This move not only upgrades a simple price-tracking tool into an income-generating asset but also could trigger a new round of competition among mainstream institutions around "yield," attracting a broader range of traditional income-focused investors into the crypto market.

Global financial giant Morgan Stanley has submitted documents to the US SEC to apply for spot Bitcoin and Solana ETFs. This not only marks the bank managing trillions of dollars in assets officially entering the cryptocurrency fund space but also could inject new vitality into the traditional financial markets. If approved, these products will provide qualified investors with a regulated direct investment channel in digital assets, further promoting the integration of cryptocurrencies into mainstream investment portfolios. This application comes at a time when the US spot cryptocurrency ETF market assets under management have surpassed $150 billion, indicating sustained strong institutional demand.

Coinbase Global Investment Research Director David Duong warns that the pace of quantum computing advancement is exceeding expectations, with about one-third of Bitcoin being vulnerable to quantum attacks due to exposed public keys. BlackRock has already listed quantum computing as a risk in May, and researchers predict that within 4 to 5 years, quantum computers may be able to crack Bitcoin's encryption technology.

The U.S. Supreme Court will rule on January 9 whether Trump's global tariff policy is legal. The policy has generated $200 billion in revenue for federal finances. The court may issue three possible rulings, and the outcome will affect the U.S. president's authority over trade and the global supply chain. If found unconstitutional, the government will face a complex refund process, but it does not rule out the possibility that the executive branch could continue exerting pressure through other means.

Telegram has been hit by a major financial setback after $500 million in funding was frozen as part of Western sanctions targeting Russia. Although the platform now operates globally, its historic ties to Russian capital continue to impact its business. Telegram Bond Frozen Under Sanctions Over the

The main short seller Steve Eisman warns that Bitcoin's weakness indicates funds are shifting to tangible economic stocks. Strategas's Verrone pointed out that sectors like transportation, banking, and chemicals are taking the lead, with Bank of America stock reaching a new high in 2006. Bitcoin is below the 125,000 high point, and Verrone states, "2026 belongs to physical assets."

China's Kimi AI releases 2026 forecast: XRP will reach $8, SOL will break through $400, and Dogecoin will reach $0.45. The forecast is based on catalysts such as ETF launches, institutional adoption, and technological breakthroughs.

The beginning of 2026 has seen a "good start" for US spot Bitcoin ETFs, with a single-day net inflow of up to $6.972 billion on Monday, January 5th, marking a three-month high since October 7, 2025. In the first two trading days of 2026, the net inflow of funds into such products has approached $1.2 billion, coinciding with Bitcoin's price rebounding from around $87,000 to above $94,000. Historical data shows that prolonged ETF outflows often coincide with local market bottoms, and the current shift from negative to positive fund flows, combined with the rebound of the Coinbase premium index, indicates that the market's "capitulation selling" phase may have ended. Institutional reallocation is injecting strong momentum into the market.

Pi Network launches the first multi-signature wallet, marking a major upgrade in ecosystem security. The new wallet requires multiple keys to authorize transactions, eliminating the vulnerability where a single key theft results in total asset loss. Using the ed25519 encryption standard, it supports test transactions within the ecosystem. Developers and enterprises can securely manage shared funds, and community governance will also benefit. The multi-signature mechanism introduces additional authentication points to prevent unauthorized access, ensuring that even if some keys are lost, assets will not be compromised.

François Villeroy de Galhau warns that recent U.S. policy choices are eroding global investor confidence and undermining the dollar's dominance. Criticism of the Federal Reserve, protectionist measures, fiscal discipline issues, and concerns over the weaponization of the USD prompt nations to seek alternative monetary systems.

Tether launches Scudo, creating a one-thousandth ounce measurement unit for tokenized gold XAUT, solving the last mile of gold payments. Tether Gold's market cap has doubled in a few months. Scudo is similar to Bitcoin's Satoshi, allowing users to intuitively price goods, and supports enterprises and AI agents deploying gold, stablecoins, and Bitcoin in self-custody wallets.

Gate YuBiBao will launch the USDT financial management activity in January 2026. After registration, users can receive interest rate coupons and physical rewards, including new users enjoying up to 100% annualized return. The event runs from January 6 to 20. Under risk warnings, users are encouraged to participate rationally.

Author: Yuan Shan Insights Data sources: Farside Investors, SoSoValue, Federal Reserve H.4.1 Report, CryptoQuant On the first trading day of 2026, the BTC ETF saw a net inflow of $471 million in a single day. What does this number mean? In November and December, the total net outflow of spot BTC ETFs was approximately $4.57 billion; among them, December alone saw a net outflow of about $1.09 billion. Many people are frantically cutting losses above 93K, while institutions bought back about one-tenth in just one day on January 2. At the same time, the following events occurred: - The Federal Reserve's balance sheet increased by approximately $59.4 billion week-over-week (WALCL: as of 12/31, it was $6.6406 trillion, an increase of about $59.4 billion since 12/24) - A new giant whale's holdings surpassed 100,000 BTC ($12 billion) - BTC from 8

Flow Foundation has published a post-incident report regarding the protocol vulnerability exploit that occurred on 12/27, which allowed attackers to create counterfeit tokens on the network, causing approximately $3.9 million in damages. The cause stemmed from a bug in the Cadence runtime environment, enabling assets to be duplicated instead of minted.