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Swiss banking giant UBS is pursuing a "fast follower" tokenization strategy while exploring cryptocurrency access for its private clients, according to CEO Sergio Ermotti. During a conference call, Ermotti said the bank is building core infrastructure and exploring tailored services, ranging from crypto access for private clients to deposit token solutions for businesses. The expansion into digital assets will be phased over three to five years to complement the bank's core wealth management business. CoinNess previously reported that UBS planned to offer crypto trading services to some of its private banking clients.

Another whale or institution sold 41,800 ETH to avoid liquidation and subsequently repaid a loan on Aave, according to the user ai_9684xtpa. This entity has sold a total of 58,117 ETH since Jan. 31. The whale currently has 38,465 ETH staked and has borrowed 40.06 million USDC.

The three major U.S. stock indices opened mixed today. - S&P 500: +0.10% - Nasdaq: -0.16% - Dow Jones: +0.17%

BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes purchased an additional 57,881 HYPE over the past 24 hours after selling his PENDLE, ENA, and LDO holdings, Lookonchain reported. He now holds a total of 131,807 HYPE.

Sui has announced a partnership with blockchain advertising platform Alkimi. Alkimi will use the Sui Stack to conduct real-time ad auctions, delivery, verification, and settlement for advertisers.

Ripple has added Hyperliquid to Ripple Prime, its prime brokerage platform for institutional investors, The Block reported. The platform allows clients to manage positions across different exchanges under a single risk and margin framework, rather than handling them individually on each platform.

According to CoinNess market monitoring, BTC has fallen below $75,000. BTC is trading at $74,928.01 on the Binance USDT market.

Cryptocurrency investors are prioritizing investments in infrastructure, such as custody and payments, over decentralized finance (DeFi) due to liquidity shortages and limitations in market infrastructure, Cointelegraph reported, citing a survey from conference organizer CfC St. Moritz. The survey, conducted in January among 242 key industry decision-makers, found that 85% of respondents identified infrastructure as the top priority for capital allocation. The report added that market participants believe improving infrastructure is a prerequisite for the significant inflow of institutional assets, resulting in an overwhelmingly high preference for investing in related technologies and services.

Bitnomial, a Chicago-based derivatives exchange and clearinghouse, has listed Tezos (XTZ) futures, The Block reported. The outlet noted the move is significant as it marks the first fully regulated listing of its kind in the United States.

Global asset manager ProShares has launched KRYP, an ETF that tracks an index of the top 20 cryptocurrencies, Coindesk reported. The fund follows the CoinDesk 20 Index, which tracks the prices of the included cryptocurrencies. It uses a market-cap-weighted approach but applies caps and quarterly rebalancing to limit concentration risk in any single asset. The CoinDesk index excludes stablecoins, memecoins, privacy cryptocurrencies, and wrapped cryptocurrencies. ProShares currently operates 13 crypto ETFs.

The Bitcoin-focused financial services application Fold (FLD) has launched a unified app that integrates BTC rewards with everyday finance, Walter Bloomberg reported.

Cryptocurrency asset manager CoinShares announced it has submitted an amended Form F-4 registration statement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its proposed merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) and public listing.

U.S. non-farm private sector employment rose by 22,000 in January, falling short of the projected 41,000, according to the National Employment Report from Automatic Data Processing (ADP). The report, released ahead of the official data from the U.S. Department of Labor, is based on payroll data from over 500,000 of ADP's client companies. Unlike the ADP report, the Department of Labor's figures also include government sector employment. The U.S. Federal Reserve considers employment data when making interest rate decisions. Strong figures may lead the Fed to raise or hold rates to prevent economic overheating, while weak data could prompt rate cuts to stimulate growth.

U.S.-listed mining stocks are rallying despite the decline in Bitcoin's price, driven by improved profitability and expectations of a business model shift toward AI data centers, according to a JPMorgan analysis. The bank noted that winter snowstorms in the U.S. have eased mining competition, protecting miners' revenue, while major stocks like Iren (IREN) have also shown strong performance. However, JPMorgan cautioned that many mining stocks are currently trading at valuations approximately three times higher than the average BTC block reward and advised investors to be cautious.

Mercado Bitcoin, Brazil's largest cryptocurrency exchange, has issued more than $20 million in tokenized private credit on the Bitcoin Layer 2 network Rootstock, Cointelegraph reported. The issued assets include accounts receivable and corporate bonds. The exchange aims to reach a cumulative issuance of $100 million by April through a multi-chain strategy that includes Stellar and the XRP Ledger.

Bitcoin is likely to retest the $70,000 level due to slowing spot ETF inflows and regulatory uncertainty, according to a recent report from Citigroup. Citi noted that BTC is trading significantly below the average entry price for spot ETF investors, which stands at $81,600. While ETF fund inflows have slowed, long positions continue to be liquidated in the futures market. The report also highlighted that although Bitcoin exhibits volatility similar to gold, it lacks upward momentum. Gold has rallied amid geopolitical risks, whereas BTC is more sensitive to liquidity conditions and risk-off sentiment. Delays in the passage of a U.S. bill on crypto market structure (CLARITY) and concerns over reduced liquidity from the Federal Reserve's balance sheet reduction are also pressuring the market. Citi explained that the price is approaching the pre-U.S. election level of $70,000, which will be a critical juncture in determining its future direction.

Blockchain prediction market platform Opinion Labs has raised $20 million in a Series A funding round, CoinDesk reported. The round saw participation from Hack VC, Jump Crypto, Primitive Ventures, and Decasonic. Unlike Kalshi, Opinion settles its prediction market processes on-chain. The funds are slated for global expansion.

Short-term holders, defined as those holding XRP for one week to one month, have accumulated 1.8 billion XRP, worth $2.88 billion, in just two days, CryptoMagic reported, citing data from Glassnode. As a result, this cohort's share of the total XRP supply has increased to 5.272% from a previous 2.52%, and their total holdings have risen to 5.266 billion XRP. The outlet added that while this buying pressure could signal a short-term price floor, the rapid shifts in buying and selling typical of short-term holders make it difficult to guarantee a long-term trend reversal.

Bitcoin is lingering in a vulnerable range with historically low trading volume, heightening the risk of further price correction, Coindesk reported, citing Glassnode data. The analysis notes that BTC has spent only about 35 days at its current price level, an insufficient period to build a solid support or resistance line. Historically, the asset has passed through this range very quickly. An analysis of the on-chain URPD supply indicator reveals that the supply between $70,000 and $80,000 is structurally thin. This price level saw little accumulation from large institutions, with the notable exception of MicroStrategy's (MSTR) purchase of 27,200 BTC at an average price of $74,463 in November 2024. The report concludes that a price rebound is unlikely from the current level due to a lack of sufficient buy positions, suggesting that BTC will either move sideways to form a support base or retest lower price zones with stronger support.

Global investment bank Canaccord Genuity has significantly lowered its price target for MicroStrategy (MSTR) to $185 from $474, while maintaining its Buy rating, according to Walter Bloomberg.

Technical indicators suggest a high probability of further decline for BTC. Cointelegraph reported that a classic bearish head and shoulders pattern has been identified on BTC's weekly chart. Following a break below the $82,000 support level, the medium-term price target is set at $60,000. Cryptocurrency analyst Bitcoinhabebe echoed this sentiment, explaining that a drop to the $60,000 target seems evident due to various macroeconomic headwinds.

The on-chain supply of Bitcoin in profit is converging with the supply held at a loss, a phenomenon often observed at market bottoms, CoinDesk reported, citing Glassnode data. Currently, 11.1 million BTC are in a profitable position, while 8.9 million BTC are at a loss, with the gap between the two narrowing amid price declines. The outlet noted that this same pattern occurred in November 2022, March 2020, January 2019, and 2015. It added that the price point at which the profitable and loss-making supplies would equalize is around $60,000.

Major Layer 2 projects are pushing back against comments from Ethereum (ETH) founder Vitalik Buterin suggesting a redefinition of their role in the ecosystem, Cointelegraph reported. Buterin had argued that many L2s depend on security-vulnerable multi-signature bridges while the Ethereum mainnet is simultaneously boosting its own processing capabilities. He asserted that L2s must provide unique value beyond simply serving as a scaling solution. - Karl Floersch, founder of Optimism (OP): While building L2 stacks is welcome, there are practical obstacles such as a lack of tools for cross-chain applications. - Steven Goldfeder, founder of Offchain Labs, the developer of Arbitrum (ARB): The core value of L2s is scalability, and it would be difficult for the ETH mainnet to replace the traffic they handle. - Jesse Pollak, core developer at Base: L2s should not simply be cheaper versions of ETH and must introduce differentiated features like account abstraction.

Bitmine (BMNR) Chairman Tom Lee has pushed back against claims that the company's over $6.6 billion in unrealized losses from accumulating Ethereum (ETH) will negatively impact the asset's price, stating that such scenarios were anticipated. According to The Block, Lee posted on X that unrealized losses in a bear market are a "feature, not a bug" of the company's accumulation strategy. He explained that a decline in asset value is an expected part of the market cycle and that Bitmine's model is designed to outperform ETH's price gains over an entire cycle. Lee stressed that short-term volatility does not undermine the long-term thesis that "ETH is the future of finance." Bitmine is estimated to hold 4,285,000 ETH at an average price of around $3,883, with an unrealized loss of over $6.6 billion. The company has continued its aggressive strategy by accumulating more ETH and increasing its staking activity during the recent market downturn.

Binance ranked first among major cryptocurrency exchanges in assets held as of last month with a total of $155.64 billion, Wu Blockchain reported, citing data from CoinMarketCap. Of this amount, $47.47 billion was in stablecoins and $49.84 billion was in BTC. The rankings for other major exchanges are as follows: - OKX: $31.29 billion - Bybit: $14.17 billion - Gate.io: $7.86 billion - HTX: $6.92 billion