Odaily News WLFI announced via official channels that with the continuous rise in USD1's market cap and rapid growth in exchange trading volume, an increasing number of Meme projects have chosen USD1 as their foundational liquidity asset. To further advance the USD1 ecosystem, WLFI will activate a portion of its strategic reserves to support developers, creators, and related token projects building within the USD1 ecosystem. These initiatives will receive prioritized showcasing and promotion through community resources. WLFI stated that as the USD1 ecosystem expands, the entire WLFI ecosystem will benefit in tandem.

Odaily News, Garrett Jin, the agent of the "1011 Insider Whale," posted on platform X stating that, as previously analyzed, the prices of gold and silver have peaked. After the U.S. market opened today, funds have begun shifting to the cryptocurrency market. Even as the stock market opened and faced selling pressure, cryptocurrencies continued to rise. The inflow of funds may persist, and the upward momentum could accelerate, potentially triggering a short squeeze without a pullback.

Odaily News According to Lookonchain monitoring, a whale purchased 5,104 ETH 30 minutes ago, valued at $16.09 million. Since December 3rd, this whale has bought a total of 51,374 ETH ($159.76 million) at an average price of $3,110.

Odaily News According to precious metals market data, spot gold turned lower, hitting a low of $4315.28 per ounce. (Jin10)

Odaily News According to Lookonchain monitoring, on January 2nd, US Bitcoin ETFs had a net outflow of 2,061 BTC, with a 7-day net outflow of 2,746 BTC; Ethereum ETFs had a net inflow of 12,930 ETH, with a 7-day net outflow of 12,629 ETH; Solana ETFs had a net inflow of 30,799 SOL, with a 7-day net inflow of 96,181 SOL.

Odaily News Fidelity, a16z, BlackRock, and 11 other industry giants have made predictions for the 2026 crypto market:

1. In its 2026 Global Markets Annual Outlook, BlackRock stated that as stablecoin adoption increases, the proportion of emerging markets using their own currencies may decline, and stablecoins will challenge governments' control over domestic currencies.

2. David Duong, Head of Investment Research at Coinbase, said that due to heightened global awareness of digital surveillance, demand for privacy tokens will surge significantly. Ethereum's privacy initiatives and tokens like Zcash and Monero will gain attention.

3. Fidelity stated that more countries will purchase Bitcoin in 2026. Brazil and Kyrgyzstan have already passed legislation allowing Bitcoin to be included in national reserves.

4. Phong Le, CEO of Strategy, similarly predicts increased national adoption of Bitcoin in 2026.

5. JPMorgan stated in its market outlook that, despite a decline in market value from $4 trillion in 2025, the crypto industry remains well-positioned in 2026 due to more relaxed US regulation. Stablecoins are becoming an independent force, and digital assets are favored as searches for dollar alternatives increase.

6. a16z predicts that in 2026, AI agents will revolutionize internet payments and banking, enabling instant, permissioned payments without invoices or reconciliation. a16z also believes privacy will become the most important moat in the crypto space.

7. DefiLlama stated in a joint report that regulatory clarity has pushed stablecoins into the mainstream. In 2026, other jurisdictions will follow the US Genius Act and the EU's MiCA policy, accelerating the emergence of non-dollar stablecoins.

8. Galaxy Digital predicts that the Bitcoin price will reach $250,000 by the end of 2027, stablecoin transaction volume will surpass the ACH banking system, and the market cap of privacy-related tokens will exceed $100 billion by the end of 2026.

9. Matthew Sigel, Head of Digital Assets Research at VanEck, predicts that 2026 will be a year of consolidation for digital assets rather than a major rally or crash. Bitcoin's four-year cycle remains unchanged, and he advises clients to allocate 1% to 3% of their portfolios to top-tier crypto assets.

10. Katrina Paglia, Chief Legal Officer at Pantera Capital, said US crypto policy will shift from uncertainty to enforcement. The regulatory reset under the Trump administration has clarified the industry's direction. The Genius Act establishes a licensing and regulatory framework for payment stablecoins.

11. Jeff Ren, Co-founder of OKX Ventures, stated that in 2026, more assets will be tokenized on-chain, including gold, stocks, intellectual property, and even GPUs, aiming to package risks in an intuitive format for users to hedge.

12. Silicon Valley Bank analysts Anthony Vassallo and Josh Pherigo believe that venture capitalists will invest more in institutional-grade crypto products from mature companies in 2026, and enterprise adoption of crypto is accelerating market confidence.

13. 21Shares predicts that the assets under management (AUM) of crypto spot ETFs will exceed $400 billion in 2026, as these instruments have become strategic allocation tools.

14. A TRM Labs report points out that the crypto industry will enter a more mature, strictly regulated phase. Governments will view blockchain networks as national security issues, and the divide between compliant, institutionalized markets and offshore markets will become more pronounced. (DL News)

Odaily News 1confirmation founder Nick Tomaino posted on the X platform, stating that the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies is currently $3.1 trillion (down 14% over the past year), but in 2009 this number was zero. For the crypto industry, 2025 signifies "the end of the easy money era": venture capital pump-and-dumps, meme coins, and DATs have all failed. However, last year marked the first time in crypto industry history that products not reliant on token speculation outperformed others, such as Polymarket and stablecoins. To achieve outsized returns in the future, one must develop and use such products. Three things remain constant in the crypto industry:

1. One must see fraudsters for what they are;

2. The macro trend of declining trust in institutions and the increasing importance of the internet is real, and credible neutral money presents investable opportunities;

3. There are only two cryptocurrencies with credible neutrality: Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH).

Odaily News BlackRock pointed out in its "2026 Global Outlook" that stablecoins will challenge governments' control over fiat currencies. As stablecoin adoption surges, there is a risk of shrinking usage scale for fiat currencies in emerging market countries. Shortly before this prediction was released, UK's Standard Chartered Bank warned in October that the popularity of stablecoins could lead to a loss of over $1 trillion in deposits from bank accounts in emerging markets. Similar challenges also exist in the US banking sector. The landmark stablecoin bill, the "Genius Act," signed into law this July, allows crypto companies to offer yield-like products that traditional banks are prohibited from providing, posing a threat to traditional financial institutions. Samara Cohen, Global Head of Market Development at BlackRock, stated: "Stablecoins are no longer niche products; they are becoming a bridge between traditional finance and digital liquidity." (DL News)

Odaily News Due to domestic regulatory restrictions, South Koreans transferred over 160 trillion won (approximately $110 billion) to foreign cryptocurrency exchanges last year. Analysis points out that the delayed implementation of South Korea's "Digital Asset Basic Act" has created a regulatory vacuum, forcing investors to turn to overseas platforms. Research has found that cryptocurrencies have become a major investment asset in South Korea, with the number of investors increasing to 10 million, and the revenue scale of trading platforms such as Upbit and Bithumb has reached trillions of won. However, the report shows that although South Korean investors continue to actively trade cryptocurrencies and are increasingly turning to overseas platforms like Binance and Bybit, the growth of domestic trading platforms has stagnated. Yet, the regulatory vacuum raises concerns among market participants, who worry that South Korea's domestic centralized cryptocurrency trading platforms are finding it increasingly difficult to compete with overseas platforms offering more sophisticated trading products. (CoinDesk)

According to on-chain analyst Ai Yi's monitoring, the floating loss on the 21,820.69 ETH short position held by address 0x218…B7Da2 has increased to $1.244 million. The average opening price is $3,496.31, and the liquidation price is $3,496.31.

Odaily News According to Coinglass data, over the past hour, the total liquidation across the entire network reached $50.1771 million. Short position liquidations accounted for approximately $35.42 million, while long position liquidations were about $14.75 million. Additionally, ETH liquidations amounted to $22.8 million, and BTC liquidations reached $17.36 million.

Odaily News Spot silver fell by over $1 in the short term, currently trading at $73.24 per ounce, with its intraday gain narrowing to 2.4%. Spot gold fell by over $20 in the short term, currently trading at $4,348.42 per ounce, with its daily gain narrowing to 0.7%. (Jin10)

Odaily News: Ilya Lichtenstein, the hacker involved in the Bitfinex Bitcoin theft case, announced on platform X that he has been released early. He attributed this to the "First Step Act" signed by former US President Trump in 2018, which allows prisoners to earn sentence reductions by participating in rehabilitation programs. It is reported that Lichtenstein was sentenced to 5 years in prison in November 2024 for aiding in the laundering of nearly 120,000 bitcoins (worth approximately $4.5 billion at the time of the crime). His wife, Heather Morgan (online alias Razzlekhan), was sentenced to 18 months for aiding the crime and was released in October 2025.