Digital Currencies incl NFT etc. 03; (Mar 23 - Dec 26)

[winston]

Tether says it bought 27 tons of gold in fourth quarter

Tether USDT stablecoin, a digital dollar with $187 billion worth of tokens in circulation and the Tether XAUT gold token, worth $2.7 billion.

Poland's central bank, the most active buyer among central banks reporting their purchases, raised its total reserves by 35 tons in the fourth quarter to 550 tons.

For the Tether gold token, XAUT, accounting for 60% of the global gold-backed stablecoin supply, Tether held 16.2 tons of gold to back it up ‌as of the end of December.

Its third-quarter audit of reserves for Tether dollar stablecoin, USDT, the latest publicly available, showed stocks of gold worth $12.9 billion as of the end of September, which would be equal to about ​104 tons of gold at the market price at that time.

The reserves backing Tether USDT were dominated by the U.S. Treasuries with gold representing only 7% as of the end-September.

Source: The Star

https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-ne ... th-quarter

[behappyalways]

Tether To Become "Gold Central Bank" In Post-Dollar World, CEO Ardoino Says
https://www.zerohedge.com/precious-meta ... doino-says

[behappyalways]

Bitcoin Crashes To Nov 2024 Lows Amid $1.5 Billion In Levered Liquidations
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/bitco ... quidations


UAE Firm Bought 49% Of Trump-Linked Crypto Startup For $500M: WSJ
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/uae ... p-500m-wsj

[winston]

Is Bitcoin About to Get Hit by a Polar Vortex?

by Rich Duprey

They warn of a domino effect to $30,000 or lower, driven by macroeconomic headwinds and reduced institutional interest.

Factors like persistent inflation, geopolitical tensions, and regulatory crackdowns could exacerbate the decline. If Warsh’s policies trigger a recessionary signal, BTC’s correlation with equities might amplify losses.

The past week alone has seen over $2.5 billion in crypto liquidations, with leveraged positions wiped out as BTC tested lows near $75,000 before a fragile rebound.

Source: Money Morning

https://dailytradealert.com/2026/02/03/ ... ar-vortex/

[winston]

Bitcoin sinks after Treasury Secretary Bessent says US government can't tell banks to bail out crypto

by Ines Ferré and Grace O'Donnell

Flow and positioning data, indicated "investors are not yet positioned to buy the dip."

"In the absence of a clear catalyst, there is little urgency to step in."

The firm noted that traders remain focused on deleveraging and unwinding their positions rather than on preparing for a typical snapback rally.

The strategist said the pullback could warrant a "modest" deployment of dry powder but warned that conditions are still trending lower, with an "ample amount of positioning risk in traditional markets that could adversely affect crypto markets."

Source: Yahoo Finance

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bitcoin- ... 04406.html

[winston]

Bitcoin plummets, driving $2 trillion tumble in crypto market value

Roughly US$1 billion in bitcoin positions have been liquidated in the past 24 hours,

The global crypto market has lost US$2 trillion in value since hitting a peak of US$4.379 trillion in early October with some US$800 billion wiped out in the last month alone.

"If previous cycles are anything to go by, this is no longer a short-term correction, but rather a transition from distribution to reset - and these typically take months, not weeks."

U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs witnessed outflows of more than US$3 billion in January, following outflows of about US$2 billion and US$7 billion in December and November respectively.

Source: The Standard

https://www.thestandard.com.hk/market/article/323771/

[winston]

Crypto money-laundering hit US$82 billion in 2025, researchers say

Money launderers received at least US$82 (HK$639.6) billion in cryptocurrencies last year, up sharply from US$10 billion in 2020, driven in part by fast growth among Chinese-speaking groups, blockchain researchers said on Tuesday.

The fastest-growing category has been Chinese-language money-laundering networks, which emerged during the pandemic and processed almost US$40 million worth of crypto per day in 2025, US-based blockchain research company Chainalysis said in a report.

Blockchains create a record of the wallet addresses involved in cryptocurrency transactions, but identifying who is behind the wallets is difficult.

However, Chainalysis said it had identified nearly 1,800 active wallets used by Chinese-language money-laundering networks to process US$16.1 billion worth of crypto in 2025, and that its numbers were likely an underestimate.

Crypto trading is banned in China and digital tokens are not recognised as legal tender or assets there. In 2024, China sued 3,032 people involved in crypto-related money laundering, the country's top procurator has said.

Crypto money-laundering networks' techniques to avoid detection include using "guarantee" platforms, which provide escrow services and allow money launderers to advertise their services, Chainalysis said.

Source: REUTERS

https://www.thestandard.com.hk/wealth-a ... le/322950/

[winston]

Bitcoin whales are buying again as other investors retreat

By Olga Kharif

So-called whale wallets accumulated about 53,000 coins in the past week, their biggest buying spree since November, after weeks of heavy selling.

Wallets holding more than 1,000 bitcoin added more than US$4 billion (RM15.7 billion) worth of the token over the period, interrupting months of divestment that have left bitcoin roughly 40% below its October peak.

Excluding exchange-traded funds and exchanges, large bitcoin-holding players have been net sellers over the past year, with more than 170,000 coins — worth some US$11 billion — leaving these wallets since mid-December.

Source: Bloomberg

https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/792533

[winston]

Crypto rout set to deepen as Standard Chartered warns of further downside risks

As the cryptocurrency market faces mounting pressure, Standard Chartered on Thursday cut its forecast for bitcoin, flagging a further drop to US$50,000 before the world’s largest cryptocurrency stabilises.

The digital currency was trading at around US$66,300 at 1pm Hong Kong time on Friday, a decline of nearly 50 per cent from a historical high of US$126,000 in October.

Ether slid slightly to US$1,940 at 1pm on Friday. The world’s second-largest digital token has lost 60 per cent of its value from a peak of US$4,900 in August.

The current downbeat sentiment contrasts with the momentum late last year, fuelled in part by expectations of a more crypto-friendly stance from the Trump administration.

Source: SCMP

https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/33435 ... pe=section

[behappyalways]

Bitcoin Advances Toward Quantum Resistance With Proposed Update
https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/bitcoi ... sed-update


Brazil Proposes National Bitcoin Reserve, Targets 1 Million BTC Over Five Years
https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/brazil ... five-years