🧨 Powell Pressured, YouTube Crypto Views Fall

Good afternoon,

Precious metals are surging to new highs while Bitcoin struggles for direction ahead of key U.S. inflation data. As political tensions flare around the Fed’s independence, retail interest in crypto continues to slide—reflected in plummeting YouTube viewership.

Check out the rest of today’s news below! 👇

The Briefing Leaders Rely On.

In a landscape flooded with hype and surface-level reporting, The Daily Upside delivers what business leaders actually need: clear, concise, and actionable intelligence on markets, strategy, and business innovation.

Founded by former bankers and veteran business journalists, it's built for decision-makers — not spectators. From macroeconomic shifts to sector-specific trends, The Daily Upside helps executives stay ahead of what’s shaping their industries.

That’s why over 1 million readers, including C-suite executives and senior decision-makers, start their day with it.

No noise. No jargon. Just business insight that drives results.

Subscribe free today.

News Roundup

Artificial Intelligence

• DeepSeek V4 Could Disrupt AI Coding Race (Decrypt)

• Chutes Launches n8n Integration, Claiming 90% Cheaper AI Automations (TAO Daily)

• Apple Pivots to Google’s Gemini After Apple Intelligence Falters (Decrypt)

Decentralized, Centralized, & Traditional Finance

• USDT Deeply Embedded in Venezuela’s Economy (WSJ)

• Russia Approves Tether’s Hadron Tokenization Trademark (DL News)

• Crypto Funds See $454M Weekly Outflows as Rate-Cut Hopes Fade (CoinShares)

• Standard Chartered Readies Crypto Prime Brokerage Push (The Block)

• BitGo Plans to Raise Up to $201M in NYSE IPO (Reuters)

• Trump-Backed World Liberty Enters Crypto Lending as USD1 Surges (The Block)

Exchanges

• Coinbase Threatens to Pull Support as Stablecoin Rewards Face Senate Scrutiny (Bloomberg)

• Binance to List United Stables and Add New Spot Pairs on Jan. 13 (Binance)

• OKX Founder Defends Asset Freeze Over Purchased KYC Accounts (Cointelegraph)

• Binance to List Fogo (FOGO) on Jan. 15 (Binance)

Exchange-Traded Funds

• From Jan. 5–9, U.S. Bitcoin spot ETFs saw net outflows of $681.01 million.

• U.S. Ethereum spot ETFs recorded $68.57 million in net outflows from Jan. 5-9.

• From Jan. 5- 9, U.S. Solana and XRP spot ETFs posted net inflows of $41.08 million and $38.07 million, respectively.

Infrastructure

• Vitalik Buterin Warns Against ‘Corposlop,’ Calls for a Sovereign Web (Vitalik Buterin)

• Iran Internet Blackout Revives Interest in Offline Crypto Tools (Cointelegraph)

• Starknet Explains Brief Mainnet Outage, Commits to Stronger Safeguards (Cointelegraph)

• Robinhood Bets on Ethereum Security for Its Own Layer-2 Network (CoinDesk)

• Decentralized Stablecoins Still Face Core Design Hurdles (Vitalik Buterin)

• Ethereum’s Roadmap Centers on Zero-Knowledge Proofs (CoinDesk)

• Ethereum Must Pass the “Walkaway Test” (Vitalik Buterin)

• Bitcoin Core Adds First New Trusted Keys Maintainer Since 2023 (Protos)

• AlphaTON inks $46M NVIDIA deal to scale Telegram-native Cocoon AI (The Block)

• Polygon CEO Highlights POL Value Accrual as Network Usage Slips (Decrypt)

Markets

• Monero Sets New All-Time High at $596.61 (CoinGecko)

• $1.69B Token Unlock Wave Ahead as Major One-Time and Linear Releases Loom (Tokenomist)

• Whales Tighten Grip on SHIB as Massive Exchange Outflows Drain Liquidity (TKResearch Trading)

• Ukraine Blocks Polymarket Over Unlicensed Gambling Concerns (Forbes)

• Gold and Silver Rally to Records as Bitcoin Stalls Ahead of U.S. Inflation Data (Decrypt)

• Satoshi-Era Bitcoin Whale Moves $180M to Coinbase, Sparking Sell-Off Speculation (Decrypt)

• Bitcoin Tested as Trump–Fed Feud Escalates (DL News)

Meme Coins

• Pump.fun Revamps Creator Fees as Token Launches Rebound (The Block)

Mining

• Bitcoin Mining Turns Majority Green, With Emissions Set to Fall Further (Cointelegraph)

• Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Dips in First 2026 Adjustment (Cointelegraph)

Politics & Regulation

• Anti-DeFi Ads Urge Public Pressure as Senate Crypto Vote Nears (Eleanor Terrett)

• Tennessee Orders Kalshi, Polymarket, Crypto.com to Cease Sports Betting Contracts (CoinDesk)

• Democrats Push Ethics Guardrails in U.S. Crypto Market Structure Bill (Cointelegraph)

• Iran’s IRGC Routed $1B Through UK-Registered Crypto Exchanges to Evade Sanctions(TRM Labs)

• Russia’s Social Fund Rejects Crypto for Pensions, Clarifies Tax Treatment (Rossiyskaya Gazeta)

• UK Lawmakers Accuse Crypto Donations of Undermining Democracy, Pressuring Labour to Act (The Block)

• Powell Says DOJ Subpoenas Aim to Pressure Fed Over Interest-Rate Independence (FRB)

• South Korea Ends Nine-Year Corporate Crypto Ban, Allows Limited Institutional Investment (BeInCrypto)

• India Tightens Crypto KYC With Live Selfies and Location Checks (Cointelegraph)

• Dubai Free Zone Shifts Crypto Token Vetting to Licensed Firms (Cointelegraph)

Token Generation Events

• Trove Markets Token Sale Backlash After Last-Minute Changes Hit Polymarket Traders (The Block)

Treasuries

• Tom Lee’s BitMine Adds 86,400 ETH in Ethereum Staking (Cryptopolitan)

• Strategy Adds 13,627 BTC, Total Holdings Near 687K BTC (Strategy)

• BitMine Says ETH Holdings Top 4.17M as Crypto Treasury Hits $14B (PR Newswire)

• Sharps Technology Partners With Coinbase to Launch Solana Validator (The Block)

Venture Capital

• VelaFi Raises $20M Series B to Scale Stablecoin Payments Globally (CoinDesk)

Other News

• Betterment Warns Users After Fake Crypto Promotion Circulates (Cointelegraph)

• Instagram Data Breach Exposes 17.5M Users’ Personal Info (Engadget)

• X to Launch “Smart Cashtags” for On-Chain Asset Tagging (Nikita Bier)

• Wealthy Crypto Holders Turn to Europe’s Property Market (CoinDesk)

• CryptoQuant Founder Accuses X of Punishing Crypto Users Instead of Tackling Bot Spam (Cointelegraph)

• France Hit by Wave of Crypto-Linked Crimes and Data Leaks (Cryptoast)

• Crypto YouTube Viewership Hits Bear-Market Lows as Retail Interest Fades (Cointelegraph)

Check This Out!

According to Cointelegraph, AI now accounts for roughly 52% of newly published online articles, up from just 5% in 2020, overtaking human-written content across major platforms.

Meme of the Day

Rate Today’s Edition

Share this newsletter, claim your reward! 🎁 

Participate in the On & Off Chain referral program by sharing the newsletter with your friends to claim your reward:

• ✌️2 referrals: A personal shoutout in On & Off Chain

Must be subscribed