BTC falls below $88,000; Crypto fear index rises to 17

Headline

▌BTC Falls Below $88,000

Market data shows that BTC has fallen below $88,000, currently trading at $87,991.97, a 24-hour drop of 0.08%. Market volatility is high; please manage your risk.

▌Crypto Fear & Greed Index Rises to 17, Market Remains in Extreme Fear

According to Alternative data, today's cryptocurrency fear and greed index is 17, indicating the market remains in extreme fear. Note: The fear index ranges from 0-100 and includes the following indicators: volatility (25%) + market volume (25%) + social media buzz (15%) + market surveys (15%) + Bitcoin's share of the overall market (10%) + Google Trends (10%).

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Market Data

As of press time, according to CoinGecko data:

BBTC price is approximately $88,000, with a 24-hour change of approximately -0.3%;

;

ETH price is approximately $2,965, with a 24-hour change of approximately +0.5%;

BNB price is approximately $848, with a 24-hour change of approximately +1.0%;
SOL price is approximately $125, with a 24-hour change of approximately +0.9 ...SOL price is approximately $125, with a 24-hour change of approximately +0.9%;
SOL price is
DOGE price is approximately $0.130, with a 24-hour change of approximately +0.2%;
XRP price is approximately $1.92, with a 24-hour change of approximately +1.3 ...DOGE price is approximately $0.130, with a 24-hour change of approximately +1.3%;
XRP price is approximately $1.92, with a 24-hour change of approximately +1.3%;
TRX price is approximately $0.282, with a 24-hour change of approximately +0.8%;
WLFI price is approximately $0.133, with a 24-hour change of approximately -0.8%;

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Policy

▌U.S. lawmakers draft new bill to exempt capital gains tax on stablecoin transactions under $200

U.S. Representatives are drafting a cryptocurrency tax bill called the "Digital Asset PARITY Act," which would exempt stablecoin transactions under $200 from capital gains tax, and provide a five-year tax deferral option for staking and mining rewards.

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Blockchain Applications

▌Ethereum's "Glamsterdam" Upgrade Targets 2026 Launch, Reducing MEV Abuse

Following the recent successful Fusaka upgrade and reduced node costs, Ethereum developers have begun to focus on planning the "Glamsterdam" upgrade, aiming for a 2026 launch. The name "Glamsterdam" is a combination of two simultaneous upgrades to Ethereum's two core layers. The execution layer (where transaction rules and smart contracts reside) will undergo the Amsterdam upgrade, while the consensus layer (coordinating validators and finalizing blocks) will undergo the Gloas upgrade. At the heart of this upgrade are the separation of proposer and builder (ePBS) and block-level access control lists, which can reduce opportunities for manipulation and abuse related to Maximum Extractable Value (MEV).

Klarna Partners with Coinbase to Allow Institutional Payments in Stablecoins Swedish digital bank and payment services company Klarna has announced a partnership with Coinbase to raise short-term, stablecoin-denominated funds from institutional investors through Coinbase's digital infrastructure. This will provide Klarna with a new funding channel denominated in the USDC stablecoin, in addition to its existing traditional funding sources, including user deposits, long-term loans, and short-term commercial paper. This approach will help Klarna directly reach more institutional investors and access stable funding sources similar to the US dollar. Klarna stated that this move is a "first step" in exploring how digital assets can synergize with traditional financing channels and will continue to advance its crypto and stablecoin-related business layout for consumers and merchants, with continued progress expected in 2026. Tether's mobile crypto wallet will integrate AI and will only support Bitcoin, USDT, USAT, and XAUT. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino revealed that Tether is developing a mobile cryptocurrency wallet with integrated AI capabilities. It will only support Bitcoin, USDT, its new stablecoin USAT, and the tokenized gold token XAUT, and will integrate a local private AI through QVAC. Yesterday, it was reported that Tether was recruiting a lead software engineer for its mobile crypto wallet. The wallet will be powered by WDK and QVAC. WDK is Tether's open-source wallet development kit, and QVAC is its decentralized AI platform. Cryptocurrency The Ethereum Foundation states that the only acceptable end goal for L1 cryptography is "provable security," not "security based on the assumption that conjecture X holds true." They set a target of 128-bit security to align with mainstream cryptographic standards bodies and academic literature on long-term systems, as well as with real-world recorded computations that demonstrate 128 bits are practically unattainable for attackers. EF highlights specific tools designed to achieve the 128-bit target, less than 300 KB. They emphasize WHIR, a novel Reed-Solomon proximity test and a multilinear polynomial commitment scheme.

▌Strong Demand for US Treasuries Leads to Weak Bitcoin Demand

According to the CME FedWatch tool, the probability of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates at its January 28 Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting fell to 22% on Friday from 24% the previous week. More importantly, demand for US Treasuries remained strong, with the 10-year Treasury yield holding steady at 4.15% on Friday after briefly dipping below 4% at the end of November. This movement indicates increasing risk aversion among traders, which also contributed to weak Bitcoin demand.

▌Uniswap has begun the final governance vote on the Unification proposal. At the heart of this vote is a comprehensive governance proposal called "Unification," whose name reflects its goal of integrating Uniswap's economic incentives, governance structure, and development efforts into a unified framework. If approved, the proposal will implement protocol fees in Uniswap v2 and part of the v3 liquidity pools and channel these fees into a programmatic mechanism for burning UNI tokens. The proposal also includes a retroactive burn of 100 million UNI from the treasury, designed to simulate the amount of UNI that might have been burned if Uniswap had enabled the protocol fee mechanism from its early stages. A whale has accumulated $2.55 million worth of PENGU in the past two weeks. According to Onchain Lens monitoring, a whale withdrew 272,201,182 PENGU from Binance, valued at $2.52 million. In the past two weeks, this whale has accumulated a total of 273.08 million PENGU (worth $2.55 million) and 405.84 TRUMP (worth $2,240). Etherealize co-founder: Crypto industry needs to demonstrate practical use before Trump leaves office. Etherealize co-founder Danny Ryan stated that the crypto industry needs to "prove its worth" before Trump leaves office to avoid policy reversals after a change of government. He pointed out that while the US government has promoted legislation and regulatory improvements supporting crypto, this environment will not last forever. Therefore, the industry should expedite the implementation of regulations and integration with capital markets. Ryan stated that if crypto fails to demonstrate practical applications during the current administration's term, future political forces may re-evaluate these policy supports. He emphasized that now is the industry's "window of opportunity" to integrate crypto into the financial system, rather than waiting for political changes to bring uncertainty. On the 20th local time, the World Trade Organization released the "World Trade Report 2025," which indicates that, with supporting policies in place, artificial intelligence is expected to increase cross-border trade in goods and services by 34% to 37% and global GDP growth by 12% to 13% by 2040 by improving productivity and reducing trade costs. The report emphasizes the need to bridge the digital infrastructure gap, strengthen skills training, and maintain an open and predictable trade environment to ensure more inclusive growth. WTO Director-General Iweala stated that trade can play a crucial role in enabling artificial intelligence to "benefit all economies." (CCTV News)

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Golden Encyclopedia

▌How Prediction Markets Exacerbate Insider Trading and Credit Risk

Prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket are booming, with trading volumes reaching billions of dollars. However, observers are concerned about the ethical issues and potential credit risks posed by large prediction betting platforms. In recent weeks, concerns about false reporting and insider trading have intensified, with some analysts believing this is further exacerbating credit risk. Prediction markets open up a wide range of possibilities for betting events, from specific aspects of sports competitions to the outcome of wars. In some cases, this has led to insiders manipulating the market for specific purposes. Allegations of market manipulation are not limited to insider trading. A report released in November by researchers at Columbia Business School showed that fictitious trading—that is, "buying and selling securities to artificially inflate trading volume without holding actual net positions"—had rebounded to nearly 20% of total trading volume by October 2025, and averaged 25% of all trading volume on Polymarket. This year, prediction platforms have received several significant regulatory approvals. Others argue that this could pose risks to the financial and credit system. These risks could put pressure on credit quality, and the online gambling market "presents a new kind of risk to lenders that they have never encountered before, and underwriting models may need to be adjusted." In addition to lacking proper gambling licenses, these platforms also pose "serious risks" to consumers, who may not realize that betting on these illegal platforms does not guarantee the safety of their funds or information.