Cryptopolitan

イーサリアムは現在、強い売りが進行中で、価格は$2,100前後のサポートレベルを試しています。イーサリアムの価格は、現在2022年7月以来最もネガティブな状態にあるイーサリアムコインベースプレミアムの低下も経験しています。これは、米国を拠点とする機関投資家が購入よりも多くのイーサ（ETH）を売却していることを示しています。この状況は、大口資金が市場から退出していることを示しており、価格の下落を引き起こす可能性があります。この期間中、賢明な投資家は、確固たる基盤と成長計画を持つ新しい暗号プロジェクトを探しており、浮上しようとしている既存のコインに固執することはありません。

市場の混乱により、反体制派の投資家に好まれるデジタル通貨は金曜日の朝に約60,000ドルに急落しました。

これは昨年10月に記録的な高値をつけた時から50%の減少であり、1月以来の急激な30%の減少を反映しています。

ドナルド・トランプがホワイトハウスに戻った後、暗号通貨の支持者たちは大きな期待を抱いていましたが、その希望は実現していません。業界の初期の興奮にもかかわらず、時価総額で最も大きいデジタルコインは、すでに選挙日の価値を大きく下回って取引されています。

オンタリオ州警察（OPP）は、容疑者が警察官を装って被害者から多額の現金や暗号を詐取する新たな詐欺トレンドについて警鐘を鳴らしています。

報告によると、詐欺師が被害者に電話で連絡し、OPPのメンバーを名乗っています。各ケースで、容疑者は信用を得るために偽の名前、肩書き、およびバッジ情報を使用しました。

被害者は大金を引き出すよう指示され、資金を暗号プラットフォームを通じて送信するか、現金を直接渡すよう求められました。これらの手口により、被害者が6,000ドルから13,000ドルの間を支払った事例を含む、大きな財務損失が発生しました。

a16zのゼネラルパートナー、クリス・ディクソンは、Xで暗号通貨業界が金融業界に焦点を当てることを批判されるべきではなく、お金と資本は基本的な調整の形であると説明しました。

ディクソンは、業界が現在金融商品に焦点を当てていることがデジタル資産の完全な採用に必要であるという見解を共有しました。

なぜ非金融のブロックチェーンアプリケーションはまだ主流になっていないのですか？

最近の詳細な声明で、a16z cryptoのゼネラルパートナーであるクリス・ディクソンは、暗号通貨の「非金融ユースケース」が「死んでいる」と批判に対抗するために、現在私たちはブロックチェーンの「金融時代」にいると説明しました。そして、インターネットの「読む-書く-所有する」ビジョンは失敗したと。

China is building a humanoid robot industry from scratch at a speed that has Elon Musk worried and the United States scrambling to respond.

More than 140 Chinese companies now make humanoid robots, mostly in Shenzhen and Suzhou. Since late 2024, Beijing, Shenzhen, and other cities have put together investment funds worth over $26 billion, according to Morgan Stanley.

Local governments are giving out free land, slashing office rent, and paying about 10% of each robot’s price to get buyers to try them.

It’s the same playbook China used for electric vehicles. Government subsidies helped brands like BYD take market share from General Motors and Volkswagen in China, Europe, and beyond. Beijing has marked “embodied AI”, AI combined with physical robots, as tech it wants to own over the next five years.

“China is an ass-kicker, next level,” Musk said in January in Tesla’s Q4 earnings call. “To the best of our knowledge, we don’t see any significant [humanoid robot] competitors outside of China.”

$300 million in orders, 100,000 units expected

Chinese companies got orders worth more than $300 million for humanoid robots in the second half of 2025. Shenzhen-based UBTech is selling to Texas Instruments and Airbus. Morgan Stanley thinks up to 100,000 humanoids could ship in 2026, with China buying faster than the U.S.

Government agencies and state firms are early buyers. They’re putting robots in museums, at events, and on streets as robocops directing traffic. These deployments give companies data to make robots better while building a market.

UniX AI in Suzhou has about 100 employees and sells wheeled humanoids starting at $12,600. The company has hundreds deployed in Chinese hotels, doing tasks like adjusting bedsheets, picking up trash, and running laundry machines. Founder Fred Yang studied at University of Michigan and Yale. He said he can get 80% of parts from suppliers within an hour’s drive, which makes changes fast and cheap.

“Policy is one of the decisive reasons that embodied AI is doing so well in China,” Yang said in August, as quoted by WSJ. Some local governments give free land and office space for three years, then half price for three more.

Shenzhen has a “Robot Valley” with around 15 robotics firms. The city set up a $1.4 billion fund for AI and robotics and another $640 million fund for AI models. Beijing put together $14 billion in funds for the same thing.

EV bubble risk looms over robot boom

China’s approach worked for EVs, but it also created problems. Hundreds of brands fought for customers, prices crashed, and many companies lost money. The same could happen with robots. China’s government is writing technical standards to push out weak companies and speed up adoption. Financial regulators are watching robotics companies that want to go public to avoid a bubble.

The U.S. still leads in the AI models that run robot brains. Tesla, Boston Dynamics, and Agility Robotics use tech from Nvidia and Google. But American firms have a problem: they need China’s supply chain. Tesla’s Optimus robot will use Chinese suppliers for parts like roller screws for joints and motors for hands when it ramps up production, according to people familiar with the matter.

“Although we’ve heard of American robot companies, they’re not in the market,” said Jonathan Beh from an industrial park in Singapore, looking at humanoid robots. “Chinese companies have great products, and they’re the only available option.”

The White House is working on an executive order to help American robotics, people familiar with the matter said. But China’s head start in manufacturing, plus government money, gives it an advantage that won’t be easy to beat.

This fits China’s bigger plan to lead in new tech, like its push to control AI chip manufacturing despite U.S. export controls and its spending on quantum computing over the past two years.

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Ethereum’s holder data shows OG whales are moving Ether to self-custody. Among the whales, two whale addresses have withdrawn a combined 29,079 ETH worth $60 million from OKX and Binance to accumulate today.

One of the whales withdrew a whopping 19,503 ETH, worth approximately $40 million, from OKX, while the other withdrew 9,576 ETH, worth approximately $19.78 million, from Binance.

Whales are accumulating $ETH.

0x46DB withdrew 19,503 $ETH($40M) from #OKX over the past 13 hours.

0x28eF withdrew 9,576 $ETH($19.78M) from #Binance over the past 8 hours.https://t.co/FQe95DLQZphttps://t.co/yVi2hnhq9l pic.twitter.com/u0cq8RHqTv

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) February 7, 2026

On Friday, another whale resumed operations after a full two-year hiatus. This new entity withdrew a staggering 10,000 ETH worth approximately $19.24 million from Binance. At the same time, another whale sprang back to life following one year of dormancy. This particular trader secured 1,892 ETH from Binance, worth around $3.75 million. 

Ether supply becomes more concentrated among whales 

According to on-chain data, the second-largest coin has shown signs of recovery from under the $2K level. Also, according to analysts, ETH’s MVRV ratio sits near 0.96, staying above the 0.80 level.

According to Glassnode data shared by Ali Charts, periods where the MVRV ratio dipped under 0.80 during deep drawdowns, followed by later price recoveries. Those were the times when the market value was lower than the actual value recorded on the blockchain.

Current data, on the other hand, show that the ratio is hovering near the neutral band, not in the very low area seen at previous cycle lows.

As a result, on-chain positioning indicates that the market has not reached the same level of valuation stress as during previous bottoming phases. Even though the price has dropped from its previous highs, the MVRV ratio is still higher than it was at earlier troughs on the chart. This means the measure has not yet entered the area previously associated with widespread selling.

Another analyst also hinted at a shift where the whales added, yet balances with the two mid-tier groups decreased.

In August 2025, wallets with balances between 100 to 1,000 ETH had 9.79 million ETH. Those with balances between 1,000 to 10,000 ETH had 14.51 million ETH.

At the same time, the 10,000-100,000 ETH group owned 17.18 million ETH, and those with 100,000+ owned 2.75 million ETH. By Wednesday, the 100-1,000 ETH group reduced its total amount owned to 8.32 million ETH. On the other hand, the 1,000-10,000 ETH group reduced its total amount owned to 12.26 million ETH. This drop implies the two groups have reduced their ETH balance by 3.72 million since August 18.

On the other hand, those holding wallets with between 10,000 and 100,000 ETH recorded an increase in the balances to 19.77 million ETH. In addition, the number of those with balances of 100,000+ ETH rose to 3.68 million ETH. This top group added 3.52 million ETH.

In the past, the level of OG crypto whales’ holding has been higher at times of low price action, with valuation metrics leveling off above capitulation levels.

Ethereum up 6% but volatility remains high

Ethereum has been one of the worst-performing assets in the present market crash. The coin has recovered now, changing hands for over $2K at press time. Ethereum may consolidate in a range between $1,900 and $2,200 as the market stabilizes. Analysts set a $2,300-$2,400 as a new price target.

Still, resistance levels are high above $2,200, and ETH will need to show increasing volumes into any trend that attempts to rise. Of course, should selling pressure resume, ETH may fall to $1,800 or $1,750, which is now established as a key support level.

A breakdown below $1,750 would likely encourage further panic selling and open up doors to potentially larger declines. Meanwhile, the coin is up 6% in the last 24 hours, now trading at $2,037.

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Apple’s latest iPhone lineup, which features a brightly orange colored premium model, has taken the Chinese market by storm and helped reverse the tech company’s prolonged sales downturn.

China is bulk-buying the iPhone 17 vivid orange variant, a design overhaul said to have made the devices more visually distinctive compared to the launch version released last autumn. Consumers have nicknamed the handset “Hermès orange,” a reference to the signature tone of Hermès handbags. 

“It’s eye-catching,” said David Qiu, who replaced an older iPhone with the new orange version. “It’s the newest colour.”

Even though Apple markets the shade internally as “cosmic orange,” the luxury bag color comparison has stuck with buyers and influencers. The model is being flashed around Chinese social media platforms through unboxing videos and lifestyle clips. Thousands of users have shared posts featuring the device since its release.

“It sounds simple, but it’s the external obvious changes to design, which include the introduction of a shout-out orange colour, that pulled out early upgraders,” said Nabila Popal, senior research director at IDC.

A model using the stage name Xiao Mei posted a video featuring the device as a fashion accessory. “I was instantly drawn to the colour because it felt very special. Who doesn’t like Hermès orange? The more I look at it, the more I love it,” she said.

Chinese iPhone sales reverse a multi-year Asian market slump

Between 2024 and early 2025, Apple’s China revenue fell for 18 consecutive months. The contraction came as home-based brands such as Huawei, Vivo, and Xiaomi pulled ahead in the competition with feature-rich flagship devices.

Moreover, Apple has been in the middle of the strained relations between Beijing and Washington. Some public-sector workers in China were actually directed to phase out iPhones. A year later, Chief Executive Tim Cook boasted of a turnaround during a recent earnings call, citing record iPhone sales in China in the fourth quarter. 

According to Cook, sales revenue from the country rose 38% year on year to $26 billion, accounting for nearly one-fifth of Apple’s total sales.

Apple has the standard iPhone 17 to thank for its impressive performance during the quarter. In previous editions, Chinese buyers upgrading immediately after launch chose the Pro and Pro Max versions. But in this cycle, the base iPhone 17 had a more noticeable leap over the iPhone 16 than in previous generations.

The handset was positioned just below the ceiling for a nationwide consumer subsidy scheme introduced by Beijing last year to boost spending. The government had allocated about $43 billion in 2025 to support purchases of electronics, home appliances, and vehicles. 

Under the program, smartphones priced under 6,000 yuan qualified for discounts of up to 15%, while Apple set the iPhone 17 price in China at 5,999 yuan. 

China has also introduced consumer subsidies for lower-priced smartphones to spur domestic spending. Buyers can receive subsidies of up to RMB500, or about $72, on devices priced below RMB6,000. Since Apple’s base iPhone 17 model falls within that range, it appeals to Chinese consumers who can’t afford the premium versions.

While advanced software features like AI are under regulatory review, hardware aesthetics seem enough to get the market looking Apple’s way.

“I’m not too sure how somebody like Oppo or Vivo or Xiaomi can break that kind of stranglehold,” said global tech firm Counterpoint researcher Gerrit Schneemann.

Apple’s record quarter results in China surprise analysts

Cook told analysts that Apple set a record for iPhone upgrades among Chinese customers. The company also recorded double-digit growth in users switching from rival operating systems to iOS. “Overall, a great quarter in China. We could not be happier with it,” Cook said on the earnings call.

Apple had ceded share in recent years as domestic brands offered competitive cameras, foldable screens, and locally tailored features. The rebound has provided relief for investors after a year of tariff uncertainty and setbacks in AI.

A strong global iPhone demand has lifted Apple’s shares about 7% over the past week, according to Google Finance data.

Bank of America analyst Wamsi Mohan said Apple’s China revenue had contracted in eight of the previous nine quarters and had not delivered consistent growth since 2022.

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暗号通貨市場は、ビットコインの価格がほぼ15%下落したため、大きなショックを受けました。現在、価格は$60,000のあたりで取引されています。下落の主な原因は、ビットコインマイナーからの売却の増加、上場投資信託からの大規模な流出、そして発生した大規模な清算です。ビットコインがまだ自らの立場を見つけるのに苦労している間、多くの専門家は現在、投資家に価格投機以上のものを提供する新しく、根本的に強いプロジェクトに焦点を移しています。このような時期には、投資家に最高の成長可能性と明確な使用事例を提供する安価な暗号通貨に投資する方が常に良いです。

The debate about the eligibility of cryptocurrencies for the American retirement system has once again been reignited after Bitcoin suffered a massive collapse in its price. The digital asset witnessed a 50% drop from its October peak, erasing about $2 trillion in market value.

That single act has once again reignited the debate over the fiduciary math of the American retirement system. As investors struggle to ascertain the drivers of the latest market crash, market participants and observers are asking if volatile assets have any business being in a $12.5 trillion 401(k) market designed for stability. This comes amid a previous Cryptopolitan report where United States President Donald Trump signed an executive order to allow crypto, private equity, and real estate investments in 401(k) plans.

Crypto eligibility for 401(k) questioned after market rout

The move was also defended by Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan, who claimed that Bitcoin is just another digital asset. He claimed that despite the asset being risky, it is less volatile than some stocks. However, some market participants do not agree. Lee Reiners, a lecturing fellow at the Duke Financial Economics Center and co-host of the Coffee & Crypto podcast, said that investors are free to speculate on crypto on their own.

He added that 401(k)s exist to help people save to secure retirement, not to gamble on speculative assets with no intrinsic value. Riding on the executive order signed by Trump in August 2025, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman Paul Atkins mentioned last week, before the latest brutal crypto selloff, that the time was right to open up the retirement market to crypto. However, it is expected that the recent market rout might just discourage fund managers from doing so.

Reiners mentioned that several large crypto firms, such as Coinbase, are already included in major indices, which means many 401(k) plans already have indirect exposure to crypto, which is enough. “Unless Congress changes the law, plan sponsors are unlikely to include crypto or ETFs as plan options because they don’t want to be sued by their employees. For any employers that were considering it, I’m sure recent events have them reconsidering,” Reiners said.

Analysts debate the future of pensions

One problem in putting people’s life savings into crypto is the fact that the industry is still relatively young and extremely volatile, and pension funds are for stable growth. Buying and holding can work for assets like the S&P 500, which sees huge volatility swings during Black Swan events such as the 2008 financial crisis or COVID-19 uncertainties. However, due to the size of the traditional markets, governments often step in to stop the bleeding, and regulations exist to protect people’s investments.

For digital assets, much of their activity is based on speculation, which means prices can see extreme swings over a weekend or a week. This leads to loss of billions with no regulatory oversight over the market moves. It makes it riskier for investors to put their life savings in it. In context, many firms were blindsided by the sudden crash in Bitcoin and crypto prices in the past few days. Block Trust IRA, an AI-powered retirement fund that added $70 million in IRA funds in the past year, was caught in the bloodbath.

According to analysts, there is a need to look into actual blockchain technology for retirement savings, instead of putting money into different tokens. Robert Crossley, the global head of industry and digital advisory at Franklin Templeton, believes that the retirement industry, which is moving slowly, would be revolutionized by on-chain wallets holding tokenized assets. “And by doing so, an individual’s digital wealth will be much more aligned with the rest of their lives,” Crossley said.

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China’s top market regulator has fined several firms for impersonating ChatGPT and DeepSeek services, as Beijing tightens oversight in the country’s artificial intelligence sector.

The State Administration for Market Regulation said Friday it punished several companies for unfair competition, falsely imitating and advertising AI services from other brands. 

According to the South China Morning Post, one of the fined companies is Shanghai Shangyun Internet Technology, which was found running a sham ChatGPT service through Tencent’s WeChat platform. The regulator fined the company 62,692.70 yuan, equivalent to about $9,034.

The agency claimed the service had been advertising itself as the “official Chinese version of OpenAI’s ChatGPT,” and charged users for AI conversations, a conduct that breached the country’s Anti-Unfair Competition Law.

“The company was fully aware of the industry status and influence of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. They deliberately created a false impression that they are providing the official service to mislead users into making purchases,” it said during a press briefing on Friday.

AI companies fined for imitating ChatGPT and DeepSeek

According to the AI Market Regulation government arm, a wave of DeepSeek mini-programmes and websites imitating the original platform appeared in early 2025. The watchdog penalized the services for trademark violations and for trying to deceive the public through falsified promotional language.

“This investigation served as a deterrent to illegal operators … and guided the AI market towards a standardised and orderly path of development,” the agency said.

Another firm, Hangzhou Boheng Culture Media, was fined 30,000 yuan for running an unauthorized website that allegedly offered “DeepSeek local deployment.” The regulator said the site copied fonts, icons, and layout from DeepSeek’s official platform and tricked users into paying for the service.

In the regulator’s campaign roundup, an engineer was slapped with a 360,000 yuan penalty for illegally accessing company servers that held confidential code and algorithm data. 

Furthermore, a Shanghai firm received a 200,000 yuan penalty for building AI phone-call software used by loan agencies to carry out scams. A Beijing-based company was also fined 5,000 yuan for “freeriding” on DeepSeek’s name to promote its own local deployment software.

Chinese race for top AI model heats up

China’s innovation regulators have been trying to balance out the growth of AI companies and fair competition in a market where developers are aggressively competing to topple American entities. 

Just over a year ago, DeepSeek became the talk of the globe after it launched a chatbot with lower user fees and development costs compared to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The launch took DeepSeek to the top of Apple Store downloads for almost a week.

Beijing-based startup Moonshot AI introduced an update, Kimi K2.5, at the end of last month. The company said the model features video generation and agent-style capabilities that outperform three leading US systems. 

In the same week, Alibaba debuted a new generative model capable of producing text, images, and video from user prompts. The company said its Qwen3-Max-Thinking system was ahead of US competitors ChatGPT and Grok in a benchmark known as “Humanity’s Last Exam.”

On January 19, Z.ai rolled out a free version of its GLM 4.7 model, but had to restrict new sign-ups for the coding tool after demand strained its computing capacity. Many Chinese-developed models are open-sourced, allowing users to modify code and build customized applications.

“The hope is countries apart from China will use these models to ensure large amounts of applications are built on these Chinese models,” said Alex Lu, founder of LSY Consulting. “That’s one way for Chinese companies to penetrate the market.”

Alibaba updated its Qwen app in early January so users can shop, order food, and pay within the chatbot interface through connections to platforms such as Taobao. On Friday, the online marketplace added bubble tea to its beverage list, which lifted the app from 10th place to the top spot in China’s Apple App Store, overtaking Tencent’s Yuanbao within hours.

The Qwen team said more than 10 million free orders worth 250 million yuan, or about $36 million, were placed within nine hours using vouchers capped at 25 yuan. The rush briefly overwhelmed shops, according to posts from store owners on WeChat.

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In a recent RWA.XYZ analysis, a leading data platform for tokenized RWAs, has published its recent tokenization data analysis, where it has added a new asset class, real estate. The UAE is leading in the number of tokenized real estate, while the USA leads in terms of the value of tokenized real estate assets.

In its analysis, the platform showcases that tokenized real estate, including direct ownership interests, funds, REITs, and real estate-backed debt, is now worth $356.2 million (past 30 days), where more than 10,000 holders own 57 assets tokenized across 10 countries.

In terms of countries that have tokenized real estate projects, they are Canada, Mexico, the USA, Romania, Italy, Spain, Greece, and the UAE.

However, it is the UAE and the USA that stand out. The UAE has tokenized 23 assets valued at $129 million, while the USA has tokenized 10 assets valued at $145 million, showcasing the UAE’s lead in terms of the number of tokenized real estate assets.

UAE-regulated Mantra Chain has tokenized the most real estate assets

In terms of blockchain networks, Mantra Chain, the regulated tokenization network out of the UAE, has the lion’s share in terms of networks. Mantra Chain tokenized $117.7 million of real estate assets, followed by Base at $81.5 million worth, and Stellar at $71.7 million.

Meanwhile, the Ctrl Alt tokenization platform led in terms of the most real estate tokenized assets, with $124 million in total value.

Source: RWA.XYZ

In terms of tokenized properties, World Islands in the UAE tokenized the most properties, with the DAMAC City tower being tokenized as well as the Dubai Marina Hotel, which was tokenized on XRP Ledger by Ctrl Alt. Other UAE properties included Kensington Waters and Sobha Creeks.

Real estate tokenization market size is still small

While the real estate tokenization market size is still small compared to other tokenized assets such as stablecoins, which are at $293 billion, or U.S. Treasuries, which are at $10 billion, it is catching up to stocks, which are currently $942 million in terms of total market value.

In terms of future outlook, industry analyses, including forecasts from Deloitte, suggest the market for tokenized real estate could grow from less than $300 billion in 2024 to over $4 trillion by 2035, driven by a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 27%.

Tokenized real estate debt securities are projected to represent the highest share of the market, potentially hitting $2.39 trillion by 2035, followed by private real estate funds at $1 trillion.

In MENA, the UAE is currently leading on this front, but with Saudi Arabia’s recent foray into real estate tokenization, it soon might also become a leading player in the sector. The Real Estate Registry Authority, part of REGA in KSA, has developed a tokenized registry for Saudi properties, built by SettleMint, with nine Proptechs currently building applications in its sandbox.

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Two California high school students have been arrested in a plot to steal a cryptocurrency stash. According to reports, the California high schoolers were arrested in Scottsdale, Arizona, after they allegedly posed as deliverymen to get into an apartment where they had been told $66 million in digital assets was stashed.

According to court documents, the California duo claimed they had never seen each other before, and that unknown people on the Signal app extorted them into participating in the burglary plot.

The police claimed that they were able to foil the home invasion after they received emergency reports around 10:45 AM Saturday, January 31. The responding officers claimed they heard a woman screaming and claimed they saw a man struggling with a youth when they got on site.

The officers claimed the duo left the house when they realized the police had come in from the front door.

California high schoolers arrested in home invasion plot

The police said they were able to chase the suspects, who drove off in a blue Subaru after fleeing through the back door of the house. The pursuit ended when the boys were boxed in at a dead-end, the police statement said.

The police were able to identify the first culprit as a 17-year-old from San Luis Obispo, who attended the San Luis Obispo High School, while the second was a 16-year-old from Morro Bay, who attended Pacific Beach High School in the same area.

The California high schoolers claimed they were sent $1,000 to buy disguises and restraining devices. They were also given the address of the home in Scottsdale’s Sweetwater Ranch neighborhood, 600 miles from where they live.

The California students claimed that their contact on the Signal encrypted messaging app, whom they only identified as 8 and Red, instructed them to get into the house and force the residents to hand over their digital assets to them, the duo said.

The police said they found UPS-style clothing, zip ties, duct tape, and a 3D-printed gun left behind at the scene after the attackers fled.

The mother of one of the teens also reportedly contacted police in California after accessing phone messages concerning the plot, but the Scottsdale police said they didn’t receive the information until after the break-in was carried out. The boys were booked into a Maricopa County juvenile detention facility on several charges.

Police confirm charges as search continues for Nancy Guthrie

According to the police, the duo will be charged with crimes including aggravated assault, kidnapping, and second-degree burglary. They have since been released on $50,000 bail with ankle monitors fitted to monitor their movements.

The police didn’t report whether the homeowners suffered any injuries during the invasion. They claimed that their adult son had been in the home with them when the invasion occurred and was able to call 911 while hiding from the intruders.

The home invasion took place in Scottsdale, about two hours north of Tucson, where investigators are still trying to piece together what happened to Nancy Guthrie, the mother of host Savannah Guthrie.

Nancy Guthrie was last seen at home around 9:30 PM on January 31, according to the Pima County Sheriff’s Department. Investigators believe Nancy was abducted. Her blood was found on her porch during the investigation, authorities said on Thursday.

In addition to her disappearance, TMZ reported receiving a possible ransom note that millions of dollars in digital assets be sent to a specific Bitcoin address. The wallet address was confirmed to be functional.

According to authorities, the note also contained a deadline, with TMZ also reportedly receiving an element of or else. The note lists two deadlines, with TMZ noting that the latter is more serious. The FBI confirmed that the first deadline was 5 PM on Thursday, while the second deadline is on Monday.

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21Shares has revised details of its US exchange-traded fund filing tracking ONDO, the native token of the real-world asset tokenization platform. The crypto ETP company filed the amended S-1 document with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday.

In a reaction post on social platform X, Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas mentioned the development late Friday, joking that the product’s name sounded “like a planet in Star Wars.”

21Shares filing for an Ondo ETF. Never heard of this one, sounds like the name of a planet in Star Wars. pic.twitter.com/qtXql94nfO

— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) February 6, 2026

The S-1/A submission is a follow-up on 21Shares’ first filing for a “21Shares Ondo Trust,” which the SEC posted on its website on July 22, 2025. The issuer has now rebranded the so-called trust as the “21Shares Ondo ETF” and specified Nasdaq as the intended listing destination, pending regulatory approval.

21Shares is the first asset management firm to seek to wrap ONDO exposure into a traditional brokerage product.

21Shares revises ONDO ETF proposal

According to the original S-1 document, 21Shares had indicated in their note that the trust would be a passive fund. It would hold ONDO and use a third-party benchmark to track the dollar price of ONDO.

The first submission outlined shares would be created and redeemed through large blocks called “Baskets,” handled by broker-dealers. But the revised proposal designates basket size to blocks of 10,000 shares per basket. The basket size affects how market makers arbitrage premiums and discounts in the secondary market.

The amendment also says brokers can create shares by depositing cash with the fund’s cash custodian. The sponsor then automatically instructs a third party to buy the ONDO needed for that order and deliver the tokens into the fund’s custody accounts.

When an authorized participant redeems for cash, the sponsor directs a custodian to transfer ONDO to a designated counterparty, which sells the tokens and deposits cash proceeds back into the fund’s cash account for settlement. The prospectus states that any slippage or trading costs associated with cash creations or redemptions are borne by the Authorized Participant, not the trust or the sponsor.

While last July’s filing said the trust would custody ONDO at a single regulated third-party custodian, Coinbase, the amendment changes that to a dual-custodian model by adding BitGo Bank & Trust, N.A.

BitGo is a federally chartered national trust bank and received a national bank charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in December last year.

The S-1/A prospectus also introduces “Vault Balance” and distinguishes “Cold Vault Balance” from “Hot Vault Balance.” It says the sponsor expects assets and keys to be held in cold storage on an ongoing basis, with hot wallets used at times for settlement.

There are three review paths after the amendment, owing to the SEC’s new formal process for approving exchange-traded funds. The best-case scenario will see ONDO ETF’s registration go live 20 to 75 days after the amendment, putting the earliest window between late February and mid-April 2026.

Ondo Finance RWA footprint and WLF ties

ONDO has appeared in political headlines through World Liberty Financial, the DeFi project affiliated with President Donald Trump’s family. Last year, WLF bought $500,000 worth of the token for a multi-asset treasury.

In other related news, Consensys’ MetaMask has tapped Ondo Finance to offer tokenized securities. Per a press statement released by the wallet service provider on Tuesday, eligible MetaMask users in non-US countries now have access to 200 tokenized US stocks, ETFs, and commodities, including gold and silver, on Ethereum.

Users acquire the tokenized exposure through MetaMask Swaps by swapping Circle’s USDC stablecoin into Ondo Global Markets tokens. However, the product is not available for users in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and several jurisdictions in the European Economic Area.

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トランプ大統領の政府は、暗号産業をサポートするテクノロジー企業が国家銀行として運営することを正式に認可しました。

ワシントンでデジタル資産を連邦システムに統合することについての議論が続いている中、この決定はOCCがより「革新に優しい」銀行法への移行を示唆する中で下されました。エレボール銀行は金曜日に連邦銀行当局によって全国での営業を開始することが認可されました。

通貨監査官事務所は、最初に提出されてから8か月未満で申請を承認し、連邦規制当局による比較的迅速な反応を示しています、とアナリストは述べています。

暗号通貨投資家は、今投資するためのトップ暗号を探しています。市場が成長し変化し続ける中で、2026年のトップ暗号が革新的で有用なものを提供することが明らかになっています。カルダノ（ADA）は、そのスマートコントラクト機能とコミュニティのために長い間称賛されてきましたが、他の暗号通貨がそれを上回ることが明らかになりつつあります。今投資するためのトップ暗号を探している方のために、ムチュームファイナンス（MUTM）が注目を集めています。

カルダノ：安定した一時停止

研究者たちは、悪意のある行為者がdYdXを標的にし、ユーザーボレットを空にするために悪意のあるパッケージを使用していることを明らかにしました。報告によると、npmおよびPyPiリポジトリに公開された一部のオープンソースパッケージには、dYdXの開発者やバックエンドシステムからウォレットの認証情報を盗むコードが仕込まれていました。

dYdXは、数百の市場での永続的な取引をサポートする分散型デリバティブ取引所です。報告書では、セキュリティ会社Socketの研究者が、危険にさらされたnpmバージョンを使用しているすべてのアプリケーションがリスクにさらされていると述べています。彼らは、攻撃の直接的な影響には完全なウォレットの侵害と暗号の盗難が含まれていると主張しました。攻撃の範囲には、侵害されたバージョンに依存するすべてのアプリケーションが含まれ、実際の認証情報を使用した開発者のテストと生産環境のエンドユーザーの両方が含まれます。

インド国籍の男性が、テレグラム上でのビットコイン詐欺師の最新の犠牲者となり、約70ラフ（77,300ドル）の損失を被った。被害者は、民間企業で働く50歳で、テレグラムというメッセージングプラットフォームで偶然出会った女性によって偽のビットコイン投資に誘われたと主張した。

被害者が提出した苦情によると、彼と女性との最初の接触は2025年11月30日だった。東ベンガルールのコディハリに住む彼は、女性がプリヤ・アガーワルと名乗り、ラフルという人物に連絡を試みていると主張したが、代わりに彼に連絡を取ったと言った。メッセージを無視するのではなく、被害者は会話を続けることにした。しかし、彼には知られていなかったが、彼が実際のターゲットであり、問題の女性は彼の資金を盗む詐欺師だった。

韓国の金融当局は、プロモーションイベント中にユーザーに2,000ビットコインを配布したシステムの故障を受けて、暗号通貨取引所Bithumbに対して緊急調査を開始しました。

Bithumbは「ランダムボックス」プロモーション中に入力エラーを起こし、広告されていた2,000ウォンの代わりに大量のビットコインが誤って転送されたとCryptopolitanが昨日報じました。この誤った資産報酬は、取引所の注文書において異常なBTC価格の下落を引き起こしました。

韓国の金融監督院（FSS）は、失敗がどのように発生したか、そして取引所が金融規制に違反したかどうかを判断するために現地調査を開始しました。 当局はまた、どれだけのデジタル資産が回収可能かを検討します。

The golden statue of United States President Donald Trump, dubbed ‘Don Colossus,’ has remained uninstalled since its creation. According to reports, the 15-foot-tall gold-leafed statue of the president is presently lying on its back at a sculpture studio in Ohio due to an outstanding balance in payments.

The massive bronze figure, which is expected to stand about two stories tall once installed on a 6,000-pound base, shows a defiant Trump raising his fist in the air moments after he survived an assassination attempt during a rally in July 2024. Commissioned by cryptocurrency entrepreneurs and other backers of then-candidate Trump, the $360,000 statue has waited more than a year to be erected. And this is partially because the sculptor Alan Cottrill has yet to be paid the remainder of his fees.

Why is the Trump golden statue uninstalled?

According to Cottrill, he would simply not sign off on the statue’s erection without payment being made. The 73-year-old Cottrill claims he is not a fool to install it without getting his balance, noting that he is still owed about $92,000. The fate of the golden Trump statue reveals the volatile nature of deals in the crypto industry. While the statue is being dreamt up as a work of art showing the crypto industry’s support for the president, it has been consigned to financial purgatory.

Cottrill alleges that after he was contracted to make the sculpture, the backers went behind his back to start using the art to promote a new digital asset called $PATRIOT. $PATRIOT is a meme coin that has no intrinsic value but capitalized on a cultural moment to build its price through market speculation and the building of a big community. The token went on sale in November 2024, garnering interest among Trump fans as he swept the United States presidential election.

Trump’s close ties to the crypto sector have also sparked accusations of massive conflicts of interest. According to a report from Bloomberg News, the Trump family fortune grew to about $1.4 billion last year, thanks to digital assets alone. The election momentum led to Trump launching his token $TRUMP days before his inauguration in January, which came amid the planned unveiling of the ‘Don Colossus’ associated with $PATRIOT. However, it was mixed fortunes for both memecoins, as the value of TRUMP rose, while the value of PATRIOT tanked.

Although $PATRIOT has continued to trade, the token has lost more than 95% of its value. The backers of the token include Dustin Stockton, a Republican strategist who was investigated by federal agents in connection with his work on “We Build The Wall.” The case led to key Trump advisor Steve Bannon pleading guilty to defrauding investors. Meanwhile, in his studio in Zanesville, Ohio, Cottrill speaks proudly of the work he has done regarding the statue.

Cottrill recounts experience working with crypto backers

In his statement, Cottrill claimed he has made at least 17 US presidents, as well as a statue of Thomas Edison that is currently at the US Capitol. He claimed he was excited about the scale of the Trump project. “When they said 15-feet tall, they were starting to get to the scale of my ego,” he said, laughing. Cottrill said it took him about a month to make the life-sized figure, and another three months to scale it, cast it in bronze, and have his team polish the outer surface.

Cottrill said the project was very big and sometimes looked overpowering. He claimed that he encountered an issue with the backers of the project after he sculpted the president’s neck, but they claimed they wanted a less realistic look. Another challenge was creating his signature hairstyle. “The hardest thing was sculpting his hair. Holy shmoly! Oi yoi yoi!” he exclaims. “You can’t sculpt and cast something that is…” he paused, trying to find the right word, “wispy.”

While the project has been completed, the next step remains the payment of the balance and an unveiling date, which remains elusive. When he was asked about his impression of dealing with the cryptocurrency world, Cottrill was expressive with his response. He claimed he might never take a job in the industry again. However, it remains to be seen what would come about the golden statue in the coming days.

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