加密城市 Crypto City

Super Bowl advertisement boldly challenges, emphasizing 'Claude has no ads'

Generative AI competition has spread to the Super Bowl advertising battlefield. Anthropic has spent heavily for the first time this year to purchase Super Bowl ad space, with the core of the advertisement centered around competitor OpenAI's plan to introduce ads in ChatGPT conversations.

Multiple advertisement clips present exaggerated scenes, where users ask daily questions about sports or family communication, but the responses are suddenly interrupted by pitches for insoles or dating services, dramatically highlighting the discomfort of 'chatting interrupted by ads.' The advertisement concludes with a slogan emphasizing, 'Ads will enter AI, but will not enter Claude,' positioning their assistant Claude as a non-commercial alternative.

Spain's proposed ban on youth social media has drawn criticism from Telegram's founder.

Spanish Prime Minister Sánchez announced this week that Spain will follow in the footsteps of European countries such as the UK to implement online age verification policies and restrict the use of social media platforms by teenagers under the age of 16. He said that social media has become a place that ignores the law and tolerates crime, and the government must take back control in order to protect children from the “digital wilderness.”

In response, Telegram founder Pavel Durov criticized: "The Spanish government is pushing forward dangerous new regulations that threaten people's internet freedom. Under the guise of 'protecting' children, the government is actually attempting to turn Spain into a surveillance state."

The responsible person of Absolute Energy continues to defraud after being granted bail, with the amount involved soaring to 5 billion.

Last year, the Taiwanese prosecution uncovered new developments in the 'Absolute Energy Group' fraud case, where the responsible person Qiu Zhihao was previously sentenced to 18 years in prison for illegal fundraising. However, after the court granted bail, the prosecution discovered another case, revealing that Qiu Zhihao expanded the fundraising scale using virtual currency and lending platforms.

According to reports from (Taipei Times) and (United Daily News), the investigation agency recently launched a large-scale search and took 9 people, including Qiu Zhihao, into custody. After questioning by the prosecutor, it was determined that the defendant was involved in violations of the (Banking Law) and (Fraud Prevention and Control Act), and there was a high risk of collusion and flight, leading the prosecutor to request the court to impose detention and prohibit visits. The Taipei District Court approved this on January 31.

Legislator Ko, Ru-jun, recently attended an event and stated that there are two legislators in Taiwan who have declared Bitcoin as part of their assets, one of whom is himself, while the other is keeping it a mystery. According to the public servant asset declaration records, Ko, Ru-jun's declared virtual assets total approximately 9.62 million New Taiwan Dollars, which includes 30.15 ETH and 1.1141 BTC. Most of it is stored in a cold wallet, valued at approximately 5.99 million New Taiwan Dollars based on the declaration date's prices.

(Chain News) Tracing the leads reveals that the other individual is KMT regional legislator Liao Wei-hsiang, who holds about 2.5 Bitcoins and 20 Ether. Based on the market price at the time of declaration, the total market value is estimated at 7.38 million New Taiwan Dollars. Unlike Ko, Ru-jun, he has chosen to store all his cryptocurrencies on the Binance exchange.

The Financial Supervisory Commission announced an amendment to the Banking Act, listing 14 types as suspicious accounts.

The Financial Supervisory Commission's Banking Bureau announced on February 3 that it will amend the "Management Regulations for Deposit Accounts and Their Suspected Illegal or Obviously Abnormal Transactions," mainly targeting the regulation of "Type II Accounts" that have not yet been confirmed as illegal but have shown abnormal signs.

Currently, suspected illegal accounts are divided into two categories. The first category, such as warning accounts, is subject to the strictest control, while this amendment will significantly expand the identification criteria for the second category of suspicious accounts from the original types to 14 items, expected to be implemented as soon as mid-April.

The new regulations strengthen the connection with investigation and inspection units. If banks determine that an account exhibits significant or urgent illegal circumstances, they can directly report it to the High Prosecutors Office for coordinated case distribution and early intervention. If a bank fails to report as required, the Financial Supervisory Commission may impose a fine of up to NT$50 million for violating internal audit and control regulations.

Taiwanese rapper and cryptocurrency figure 'Brother Ma Ji' Huang Li Cheng has recently been keen on trading coins, but over the past few months, he has frequently encountered losses and liquidations. According to statistics, since October last year, Huang Li Cheng has invested about 13.16 million USD into Hyperliquid, but almost every transaction ended in a loss. Currently, his account only has about 53,000 USD left. This painful trading history has earned him the title of 'King of Liquidation.'

Huang Li Cheng is known for his aggressive leverage trading, eagerly using 25x leverage to go long on Ethereum and Hyperliquid's native token HYPE. However, he has repeatedly failed in the cycle of 'increasing positions > liquidation > recharge,' having set an astonishing record of 71 forced liquidations in a single month, with a total of 252 liquidations to date.

The Nevada Gaming Commission takes civil enforcement action against Coinbase.

Nevada's gaming regulator has launched a strong legal offensive against cryptocurrency trading giant Coinbase. On February 3, the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) officially filed a civil enforcement lawsuit in the First District Court for the Southern District of Carson City, accusing Coinbase Financial Markets, Inc. of illegally operating a prediction market for sports events without a state-issued gaming license. The regulator's complaint explicitly requests the court to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) and a preliminary injunction to immediately stop Coinbase from providing trading services for sports event contracts to residents of the state.

The cryptocurrency market has recently faced headwinds, but it is also a golden moment for survival of the fittest. Standard Chartered has released a latest report indicating that as market pressures rise, 'quality protocols' will part ways with 'speculative projects', making now a good time to accumulate at lower prices.

Geoffrey Kendrick, Head of Digital Assets Research at Standard Chartered, stated that he is increasing his investment in digital assets at lower prices and believes that this correction marks the initial stage of 'performance differentiation' in the cryptocurrency industry. After the forced deleveraging and selling pressure have subsided, the market will eventually return to fundamentals for examination.

CEO denies $20 billion fundraising plan, clarifying market 'misunderstanding' rumors

Tether's CEO Paolo Ardoino recently responded positively to the massive fundraising news circulating in the market. According to previous reports from the Financial Times, Tether had planned to seek up to $15 billion to $20 billion in funding at a valuation of $500 billion. In an interview, Ardoino clearly stated that the $20 billion figure is not the company's fundraising target, but rather a 'misunderstanding' amplified by the outside world. He explained that the amount was merely a 'maximum limit' discussed under various extreme hypothetical scenarios, and not an actual execution plan or fundraising target.

CME Group Chairman and CEO Terry Duffy responded during the latest quarterly earnings call to a question from Morgan Stanley analyst Michael Cyprys regarding tokenized collateral, marking the first time he explicitly mentioned in a public setting that CME is not only advancing tokenized cash but is also exploring plans to launch our own coin, which could potentially be deployed on a decentralized network.

Chicago Mercantile Exchange: This year, we will launch tokenized cash in collaboration with Google

Bitcoin keeps falling! A U.S. congressman actually asked if the government would 'step in to support' it.

Recently, the price of Bitcoin has continued to decline, and California Congressman Brad Sherman, who has always been a critic of cryptocurrencies, surprisingly asked the Treasury during yesterday's (2/4) questioning whether it has the authority to 'rescue Bitcoin,' even questioning whether the government would force banks to step in by modifying reserve requirements.

Sherman cited the bailout measures during the 2008 financial crisis at the hearing, questioning U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent: "Does the Treasury or the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) have the authority to rescue Bitcoin?" He further asked whether the Treasury plans to instruct private banks to purchase more Bitcoin or the meme coin related to President Trump, "Trump Coin ($TRUMP)."

Community questions insider selling, Aster's senior management publicly clarifies their position

The decentralized derivatives trading platform Aster has recently faced community doubts regarding 'insider selling' and 'large holder offloading' due to weak token price trends, even directing blame towards Binance and Zhao Changpeng (CZ). In response, Aster's CEO Leonard published a lengthy statement on community platforms, emphasizing that the related accusations 'lack factual basis' and denying any involvement of CZ or Binance in token manipulation or premature offloading.

Leonard stated that the recent claims circulating in the market describing Aster as a specific investor's 'exit from liquidity tools' are incorrect, and these rumors are largely based on emotions and price fluctuations rather than on-chain evidence. He also acknowledged that the team understands holders' dissatisfaction with price performance, but urged the community to refocus on product development and long-term value rather than short-term volatility and unverified conspiracy theories.

Salvador forum震撼發布，Tether轉向去中心化基礎設施

Stablecoin leader Tether officially enters the Bitcoin infrastructure industry, announcing at the Salvador-hosted 2026 Plan ₿ Forum that its Bitcoin mining operating system (Mining Operating System, abbreviated as Mining OS) will be fully open source. This move is seen as a strategic shift for the company, which has a market value of over 120 billion, aimed at breaking the long-standing monopoly of proprietary software in industrial-grade mining operations.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino publicly announced this news yesterday (2/3), emphasizing that the system is open for global mining communities to use, hoping to lower the entry barrier for newcomers through transparency and open-source collaboration. This decision continues Tether's vision proposed in June last year, when the company argued that Bitcoin miners should be able to compete without relying on expensive third-party vendors.

Crossing traditional financial boundaries, MetaMask integrates Ondo to open a new chapter in U.S. stock trading.

The globally leading self-custody wallet MetaMask announced yesterday (2/3) a deep collaboration with the real-world asset (RWA) tokenization protocol Ondo Finance. Through this integration, eligible non-U.S. users will be able to directly trade over 200 types of tokenized U.S. securities including stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and commodities within the MetaMask mobile application.

This collaboration brings shares of top Wall Street companies such as Apple, Tesla, NVIDIA, Microsoft, and Amazon onto the blockchain. Users can also access tokenized products that track gold (IAU), silver (SLV), and the Nasdaq 100 index (QQQ). MetaMask states that this signifies the first time a large self-custody wallet has natively integrated U.S. stocks and ETFs into its interface, showcasing the trend of further integration between tokenized assets and traditional financial infrastructure.

At the recent 2026 Grammy Awards, host Trevor Noah made a 'potato' joke on stage, bringing the prediction market Polymarket into the spotlight, and sparking discussions about market manipulation and insider trading. However, behind this paid promotion or improvisational humor lies the expansion of the prediction market's influence, rapidly moving from the crypto field to the entertainment and sports stage.

'Potato' joke on the Grammy stage makes Polymarket the focus.

At the 2026 Grammy Awards ceremony, host Trevor Noah joked during the intermission that if someone bet on him at Polymarket to say the word 'potato', they would make a fortune:

National Taiwan University top student drug lord Lin Ruixiang, sentenced to 30 years by the U.S.

The U.S. Department of Justice issued a press release yesterday (2/3), with Southern District of New York Attorney Jay Clayton announcing that 24-year-old National Taiwan University graduate Lin Ruixiang was sentenced to 30 years in prison for operating the dark web drug market 'Incognito Market'; he admitted to charges of conspiracy to distribute drugs, money laundering, and selling counterfeit drugs last year.

Prosecutor Jay Clayton pointed out that Lin Ruixiang utilized the Incognito Market to sell over 105 million USD worth of illegal drugs globally, exacerbating the opioid crisis and resulting in at least one death, causing suffering for over 470,000 users and their families.

Musk's SpaceX and xAI merge, creating the world's most valuable private company.

Elon Musk's space exploration company SpaceX officially announced the acquisition of AI startup xAI yesterday (2/3). Now, Musk's two major ventures have merged, creating the highest valued private enterprise in the world.

Although the specific terms of the acquisition deal have not been made public, (BBC) quoted sources familiar with the matter revealing that the transaction values xAI at $125 billion, while SpaceX's valuation reaches $1 trillion.

According to (CNN) citing data from market research firm PitchBook, SpaceX's valuation reached $800 billion in a secondary market stock sale in December 2025; while xAI's latest funding round in January this year valued it at $230 billion.

Traditional finance connects with digital assets, ING Germany launches retail crypto investment services

Germany's financial market welcomed a significant breakthrough at the beginning of 2026, with ING Germany, the third-largest bank in Germany, announcing a strategic partnership with global asset management giant VanEck to officially provide its retail customers with access to cryptocurrency-related investment products. This collaboration symbolizes an important step taken by mainstream financial institutions in promoting the popularization of cryptocurrencies.

According to the agreement signed by both parties, starting from February 2026, retail customers of ING Germany will be able to trade a series of cryptocurrency exchange-traded notes (ETNs) under VanEck directly through their existing Direct Depot brokerage accounts. The core purpose of this service is to eliminate the technical barriers for traditional investors entering the digital asset market. Through existing banking infrastructure, investors avoid the cumbersome registration process of third-party cryptocurrency exchanges and do not need to manage private keys or digital wallets.

Led by 'Wall Street Oracle' Tom Lee, Bitmine Immersion Technologies (stock code: BMNR) continues to strengthen its long-term bet on Ethereum. According to a statement released on Monday, Bitmine has purchased an additional 41,788 Ethereum in the past week, bringing its total holdings to 4.285 million Ethereum.

Bitmine stated that the average purchase cost for this batch of Ethereum was approximately $2,317 per coin. As of February 1, the value of the Ethereum position held by the company is about $9.9 billion, with current paper losses exceeding $6.5 billion.

In addition to the continued expansion of its Ethereum position, Bitmine also revealed that the total amount of cryptocurrencies, cash, and so-called 'Moonshot (Ethereum ecosystem investment)' investments it currently holds amounts to $10.7 billion, which includes $586 million in cash, as well as positions in Bitcoin, strategic investments in private companies, and potential projects.

The Big Short prototype: The recent trend of Bitcoin is one of the reasons for the drop in gold and silver prices.

The Big Short's protagonist, renowned investor Michael Burry, warned in a Substack post that if Bitcoin ($BTC) continues to decline, it could trigger serious ripple effects. He believes that part of the reason for the sharp drop in gold and silver prices last weekend is due to the decline of Bitcoin.

Burry explained that futures contracts for precious metals are similar to tokenized assets, often lacking physical asset backing, which causes the two to be closely linked in the financial system.

When institutional investors or corporate finance departments face cryptocurrency losses, they are forced to sell profitable positions in precious metals to deleverage or raise funds. It is estimated that by the end of January, positions in precious metals worth up to 1 billion dollars have been liquidated due to the decline in cryptocurrency prices.