Crypto Market Performance
Mixed signals have been coming from the crypto market, with most sectors experiencing declines while gaming and bridging services saw minor gains. The recent weekend saw another leveraged liquidation flush across the crypto market, resulting in $750 million worth of positions being liquidated. This is largely attributed to the uncertainty surrounding the rising strength of the Japanese Yen and the prospect of a partial U.S. Government shutdown if the Senate doesn’t pass a new funding bill by Friday, January 30.
Biggest Gainer
New bitcoin whale addresses holding 1,000–10,000 BTC have recently increased their share of supply, surpassing older large holders. New whales now hold $130 billion of bitcoin, while “OG” whales hold $126 billion worth of bitcoin. The data suggests a shifting balance of large-scale ownership and renewed confidence among emerging institutional participants.
Bitcoin-Linked Fixed Indexed Annuity
Delaware Life Insurance filed to offer a BlackRock bitcoin-linked fixed indexed annuity, giving policyholders returns tied to bitcoin’s performance with built-in principal protection. The product aims to blend traditional retirement planning with regulated crypto exposure.
Crypto ETF News
Digital asset investment products saw outflows of $1.7 billion due to risk-off sentiment caused by persistent geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty. Solana was the outlier, with $17.1 million of inflows.
Bitwise Proficio Currency Debasement ETF
Bitwise launched a new exchange-traded fund (ETF) this week. The Bitwise Proficio Currency Debasement ETF (BPRO) adjusts exposure to assets based on market conditions. The fund aims to have a minimum 25% stake in gold at all times, plus strategic holdings across palladium, silver, platinum, mining equities and bitcoin.
Tether Gold
Tether Gold (XAUt) now makes up more than half of the gold-backed stablecoin market, with a total value of more than $2.2 billion. Paolo Ardoino, the CEO of Tether, said that the company’s gold holdings are now big enough to compete with some government gold reserves.
Gold Surges to Record Highs
The price of gold has risen to record highs above $5,100 per troy ounce. This shows that investors are moving away from riskier assets and toward safer ones. From Bitcoin’s meltdown in October, the precious metal has gone up more than 20%, and from the beginning of the year, it has gone up about 17%, which is a lot better than the struggling cryptocurrency.