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Yoon Do-yeon, the son-in-law of SK Chairman Chey Tae-won and former CEO of Moreh, has entered the virtual asset investment market, leveraging his experience in the semiconductor and artificial intelligence sectors, according to an exclusive report from the Seoul Economic Daily. The report states that Yoon has launched full-scale investment activities through Hedron, a firm he co-founded with crypto investment specialists. While Hedron is incorporated in Singapore, most of its personnel are based in South Korea, focusing on technology development and investment. Key figures at the firm include Chief Investment Officer Kim Han-bit, formerly of the South Korean crypto investment firm Uprise, and Head of Development Jeong Min-seong.

South Korean financial authorities have proposed creating a joint fund for cryptocurrency exchanges to finance social contribution activities, Herald Business reported exclusively. The initiative is part of a broader effort to improve governance and address the oligopoly in the virtual asset market. According to the report, the proposal is still in the conceptual stage with no concrete plans finalized. The report also suggested that the fund might only target the top market operators, as the two largest of the five won-denominated exchanges—Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, and Gopax—control over 90% of the market.

OKX has launched a card in Europe that supports stablecoin payments, Cointelegraph reported. The OKX Card operates on the Mastercard network and can be used at merchants worldwide. It is available to OKX users in Europe who have completed Know Your Customer (KYC) verification. The card currently supports payments with USDC and USDG.

South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) has once again postponed its final decision on licensing operators for over-the-counter (OTC) exchanges for security tokens, the Korea Economic Daily reported. According to financial authorities, the commission did not deliberate on the preliminary approval applications during its regular meeting on Jan. 28. The delay comes after the FSC had completed its review process and was preparing to make a final selection. The FSC's Securities and Futures Commission had previously shortlisted two consortia for preliminary approval: one led by the Korea Exchange (KRX) and another by Nextrade (NXT). However, the process has drawn criticism over fairness after a consortium led by Lucentblock was excluded from the list of candidates.

SOON, a high-performance SVM rollup, has launched its perpetual futures prediction market, 100xSOON. The platform operates on the Base network and the x402 protocol, allowing users to predict the price movements of BTC and tokenized U.S. stocks in 30-second intervals. Positions are automatically settled on-chain at expiration, eliminating the need for manual management or liquidation. Additional features include up to 10,000x leverage, zero slippage and funding fees, and support for participation by AI agents.

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin said in an interview with Foresight News that he hopes developers will build more decentralized social (DeSoc) applications. He added that he also anticipates the emergence of smart DAOs with more sophisticated structures. Buterin explained these developments are necessary for three reasons: to prevent the crypto industry from becoming a purely speculative market, to ensure the continuous improvement of Ethereum's technology, and to avert a future dominated by centralized AI.

The following are the long/short position ratios for BTC perpetual futures over the last 24 hours on the world's top three crypto futures exchanges by open interest: Overall: 49.58% long, 50.42% short 1. Binance: 50.1% long, 49.9% short 2. OKX: 50.1% long, 49.9% short 3. Bybit: 50.49% long, 49.51% short

The following shows estimated liquidation volumes and position ratios for major crypto perpetual futures over the past 24 hours: - ETH: $91.32 million liquidated (82.31% shorts) - BTC: $79.06 million liquidated (80.19% shorts) - HYPE: $25.13 million liquidated (93.59% shorts)

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin invested approximately $440,000 on the prediction market platform Polymarket last year, earning a profit of $70,000, Wu Blockchain reported. Buterin explained that his strategy involves identifying moments of what he considers irrational market frenzy and betting against them, based on the premise that absurd outcomes are unlikely to occur.

BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes has suggested that Bitcoin could experience a significant rally if the U.S. Federal Reserve prints money to support the Japanese bond market. Hayes explained that Japan is currently facing a dual crisis: a weakening yen and simultaneously rising government bond yields, a combination that is eroding market confidence. This situation could also affect the United States, he noted, as Japanese investors might sell their U.S. Treasury holdings to purchase domestic bonds offering higher yields. He argued that deepening instability in the yen and the Japanese government bond market could necessitate a liquidity intervention from the Bank of Japan or the Fed. Hayes emphasized that a large-scale currency issuance is required for Bitcoin to break out of its current sluggish trend. He speculated that the Fed could collaborate with major financial institutions like JPMorgan to supply U.S. dollar liquidity, which would then be exchanged for yen to purchase Japanese government bonds. Hayes described such an intervention as a necessary measure to prolong what he called a rotten fiat currency system. He added that he will not increase his exposure to risk assets until there is confirmation that the Fed is actively printing money to intervene in the yen and Japanese bond markets.

The UK's Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned a series of advertisements from Coinbase, Cointelegraph reported. The regulator determined the ads could misrepresent investment risks by suggesting the crypto exchange was a solution to rising living costs. Under current rules, crypto advertisements are required to include clear warnings about investment risks.

The Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF is now available for trading on E*Trade, Morgan Stanley's online brokerage platform, Crypto Briefing reported. The listing provides Grayscale with access to a network of financial advisors who manage over $7.4 trillion in assets. This allows investors to gain spot Bitcoin exposure directly through their standard brokerage accounts.

Lee Eok-won, chairman of South Korea's Financial Services Commission (FSC), has proposed shifting the country's crypto exchanges to a formal licensing system as part of a broader policy to enhance the attractiveness of its capital markets, Financial News reported on Jan. 28. The chairman officially raised the proposal during a regular press briefing, suggesting the change from the current registration-based model be included in the Digital Asset Basic Act, widely known as the second phase of the crypto legislation. Under existing law, crypto exchanges must renew their business registration every three years. The proposed licensing system is intended to strengthen the status, role, and responsibilities of these trading platforms.

Two teenage males have been arrested in Seoul for allegedly stealing 28 million won (about $20,700) from a buyer under the pretext of an in-person cryptocurrency transaction, MBC News reported. The suspects are accused of meeting the victim in an apartment parking lot in the Cheongdam-dong neighborhood of Gangnam-gu at around 10:00 a.m. UTC on Jan. 27, taking the cash, and then fleeing the scene. The Seoul Gangnam Police Station is currently investigating the case.

Coinbase has begun pilot testing a service to help businesses issue their own stablecoins, Cointelegraph reported. The service, called Coinbase Custom Stablecoins, was first announced in December 2023 and is designed to help companies earn rewards and transfer funds freely across different blockchains. The first test involves USDF, a stablecoin under development by crypto infrastructure platform Flipcash, which will serve as the native stablecoin for the Flipcash app upon its launch. Coinbase explained that USDF has been activated on its exchange for backend testing but is not yet available for trading, deposits, or withdrawals.

The potential for a Bitcoin rally has grown after the U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) temporarily fell below 96 for the first time since early 2022, BeInCrypto reported. The outlet noted that historically, BTC has often seen significant price increases when the DXY has traded below that level.

Bitwise has registered an entity for a Uniswap (UNI) exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the U.S. state of Delaware, Decrypt reported. The move is considered a preliminary step before a formal ETF application is filed with regulators. Delaware is a popular jurisdiction for financial and investment funds to incorporate due to its business-friendly environment, which includes tax advantages and flexible corporate structures.

U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs recorded $63.85 million in net outflows on Jan. 27, reversing to outflows after just one trading day, according to data from TraderT. The data shows that BlackRock's ETHA led the withdrawals with $59.29 million in outflows, followed by Grayscale's ETHE with $14.55 million in outflows. In contrast, Grayscale's Mini ETH fund saw inflows of $9.99 million.

The number of cryptocurrency traders in South Korea has increased by approximately 70% over the past three years, Asia Business Daily reported on Jan. 28. The report cited data submitted by South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service to Lee Heon-seung, a lawmaker with the People Power Party. According to the data, the number of trading participants on the country's five largest exchanges—Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Streami, and Korbit—grew steadily from 5.82 million in 2023 to 8.91 million in 2024 and 9.91 million in 2025. The figure for last year marks a 70.3% increase from 2023. Meanwhile, combined trading volume on these exchanges surged from 1,122.22 trillion won ($801.6 billion) in 2023 to 2,411.32 trillion won ($1.8 trillion) in 2024, before entering a correction phase and settling at 2,139.89 trillion won ($1.6 trillion) last year.

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a total net outflow of $146.05 million on Jan. 27, reversing course after a single day of net inflows, according to data compiled by TraderT. Among the funds, BlackRock's IBIT saw an outflow of $101.49 million, and Fidelity's FBTC experienced an outflow of $44.56 million.

The new Ethereum standard, ERC-8004, is expected to launch on the mainnet this week, Cointelegraph reported. Marco De Rossi, the AI lead at MetaMask, stated in a protocol developer Telegram channel that the development of ERC-8004 is complete and that a mainnet launch is likely for early Thursday. The official Ethereum X account also confirmed that the standard will be introduced soon. ERC-8004 is designed to allow autonomous artificial intelligence (AI) agents to identify each other, transact, and build reputations on-chain without intermediaries.

South Korea's ruling Democratic Party has failed to reach an internal consensus on key provisions of its planned Digital Asset Basic Act, its digital asset task force announced on Jan. 28. According to a report from Edaily, sensitive issues, including the scope of the Bank of Korea's authority and restrictions on major shareholders of crypto exchanges, will be finalized after further coordination. Task force chairman Lee Jeong-moon stated that opinions are sharply divided on a proposal to grant issuance rights for won-denominated stablecoins only to consortiums where banks hold a stake of over 51%. He noted that a compromise plan sent to the Bank of Korea and the Financial Services Commission has not yet been agreed upon. A separate proposal to cap any major shareholder's stake in an exchange at 15% was deferred, with Lee citing concerns over legislative strategy despite a general consensus on the measure's intent. The party plans to introduce its version of the bill before the Lunar New Year holiday next month following further internal and government discussions.

Whale Alert reported that 866,006,205 USDT has been transferred from OKX to an unknown wallet. The transaction is valued at about $865 million.

AINFT, a Web3 and artificial intelligence (AI) service platform built on the Tron blockchain, has released a white paper compliant with the European Union's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation. According to AINFT, the release aims to establish a sustainable, decentralized AI ecosystem on the Tron blockchain under a standardized and transparent compliance framework. The move follows AINFT's earlier announcement of the full launch of its platform, which integrates multiple generative AI models, including ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, to provide a multi-model AI conversation system. The platform also offers an API interface for developers and supports one-click login and on-chain payments through integration with the TronLink wallet.

Whale Alert reported that 825,447,871 USDT has been transferred from an unknown wallet to OKX. The transaction is valued at about $825 million.