CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index Lost 2.63% to $93928.80 — Data Talk

Crypto markets slumped for a second day as the US dollar Index (DXY) chased new highs amid rising treasury yields and investors’ concerns over the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy plan.

Although the DXY started the week with a 0.92% decline, which was followed by an abrupt rally to $102,000 by Bitcoin (BTC), the index reversed course, reaching 109.37, hitting levels not seen since November 2022.

Markets also reacted negatively to a surge in US Treasury yields, where the 10-yr note topped 4.7%, and the yield on the 30-year note rose to 4.93%. While the catalysts for the increases are multiple and complex, they essentially reflect market participants’ concern that inflation will remain elevated as President-elect Donald Trump’s economic policies are likely to expand deficits.

Simply put, the market is beginning to price in the potential for an increase in longer-dated US debt, and the incoming Trump administration’s policies are expected to send inflation higher, even if they boost growth.

Par for the course, Bitcoin price reacted negatively to DXY strength, and analysts fear that yield curve controls will become a common talking point again.

Avraham “Avi” Eisenberg, the individual convicted of fraud and market manipulation related to an exploit of the Mango Markets decentralized exchange, will be sentenced on April 10.

In a Jan. 8 filing in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), Judge Arun Subramanian adjourned Eisenberg’s sentencing hearing to April 10 after a request from his lawyers. He was initially scheduled to be sentenced in a Dec. 12 hearing, which was later postponed to Feb. 11 following an April 2024 conviction.

The Mango Markets exploiter’s legal team requested a delay on Jan. 7 due to “the factual record of the case and the complexity of some of the sentencing issues.” The US prosecutor’s office did not object to the change.

Whale Alert, a prominent crypto and blockchain tracking platform, has spotted a massive DOGE deposit amid the Dogecoin price crash. This enormous deposit, involving over 70 million DOGE tokens, was moved by an anonymous whale to Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange. Moreover, the lofty Dogecoin transaction comes on the heels of a recent10% price crash in the meme coin.

Whales Move Over 70 Million Dogecoin To Binance

The recent Dogecoin price crash may have triggered fear among investors, as DOGE whales are suddenly selling off their holdings. With analysts and traders expressing hopes of an imminent Dogecoin price breakout, many are voicing frustration and concern over the ongoing DOGE sell-offs, fearing further delays in the market’s momentum.

Notably, Whale Alert spotted a substantial Dogecoin transfer on January 7. The cryptocurrency tracker reported that approximately 70,081,124 DOGE tokens were moved by an anonymous whale to Binance. This massive deposit, worth over $27.6 million, has caught the attention of the crypto market, as most large-scale whale transactions often do.

Typically, when an asset is transferred from a wallet to a crypto exchange, it indicates the potential for a sell-off. This is because investors often move their holdings to crypto platforms like Binance when they plan to liquidate their positions.

The recent 70 million DOGE transfer is a large-scale market movement that could lead to increased volatility, potentially triggering more downturn for Dogecoin. At the time of writing, CoinMarketCap’s data shows that the Dogecoin price has declined by more than 11.2% in the past 24 hours. Considering the meme coin’s susceptibility to slight changes in market trends, additional sell-offs could exacerbate fears of further declines, potentially placing even more downward pressure on Dogecoin.

Notably, crypto analyst Ali Martinez has reported on X (formerly Twitter) that Dogecoin’s TD sequential is presenting a sell signal on its daily chart. Given this development, Martinez states that a Dogecoin price correction should be expected, as widespread liquidations often lead to a downtrend.

Analyst Cautions Against Selling DOGE

After breaking out of this Ascending Triangle, Dogecoin appears to have returned to the apex, testing it as a new support zone and aiming to bounce off this level to continue its upward trend. Crypto analyst Trader Tardigrade shared a chart on X, highlighting that the apex of the Ascending Triangle could serve as a launchpad for a Dogecoin price rally, with the potential to reach a new ATH of $0.95.

Consequently, Dogecoin investors are being urged to stay on course as the meme coin undergoes this critical phase in its price action. Trader Tardigrade has emphasized that now is not the time to sell off prematurely or short DOGE, as doing so could result in missing the projected price surge to a new ATH.

Bitcoin erased all its early-2025 rise on Wednesday as macro jitters and the global bond rout accelerated the sell-off in crypto prices.

The largest crypto slipped to a session low of $92,600 during U.S. trading hours, shedding nearly 10% in two days from its Monday peak above $102,000. It has recovered some of the losses and recently traded at $94,300, still down 2.5% over the past 24 hours.

Cardano's ADA, Render's RNDR and Aptos' APT led losses in the broad-market benchmark CoinDesk 20 Index, which slipped over 3% over the same period.

The violent two-day plunge liquidated nearly $1 billion worth of leveraged derivatives positions across crypto assets, predominantly longs betting on higher prices, CoinGlass data shows. The slide also pushed BTC temporarily below where it started the year. At the recent price, it was up 1% from its Jan. 1 opening.

Crypto-related stocks weren't spared. Several bitcoin miners, including TeraWulf (WULF), Bit Digital (BTBT), Bitdeer (BTDR), IREN (IREN) and Hut 8 (HUT) endured 5%-8% declines. Medical devices producer Semler Scientific, which adopted a BTC treasury strategy following MicroStrategy's M footsteps, was down nearly 10% through the day and is now down more than 15% for the week and roughly 40% from its late December high. MSTR was down 2.2% on Wednesday.

Several analysts warned crypto traders of a treacherous January, with potential macro headwinds for risk assets lying ahead, including a hawkish Federal Reserve, rapidly surging long-term government bond yields, sticky inflation readings and the possibility of a U.S. government shutdown. What appeared to kickstart the pullback across all assets was Tuesday's strong U.S. economic data prints that had investors pare back their rate cut expectations for the year.

Notably, Fed governor Christopher J. Waller came out on Wednesday in support of further interest rate cuts through the year and allay fears of inflation from potential tariffs enacted by incoming President Dinald Trump. However, that didn't change investors' interest rate outlook much, as the CME FedWatch showed.

Released Wednesday afternoon during U.S. hours, minutes from the Fed's most recent policy meeting showed most believing the upside risks to inflation had increased and also evidenced some worry that Trump's tariff policy could have more effect on price levels than previously assumed.

Bitcoin bounce incoming?

With Wednesday's drop, bitcoin returned to the lower bound of its range it has been trading since late November. BTC will likely see a bounce from the lows in the coming days, but prices could stay consolidating rangebound and possibly pull back to lower levels before setting new all-time highs, according to well-followed cross-asset trader Bob Loukas, founder of Station3 NYC.

"Doesn't have to be uber bearish, but we might need to fiddle around in a range and get more comfortable with $100k prints before we can really leave this area behind," he said in an X post.

Friday's U.S. non-farm payrolls data report and the Fed meeting later this month will influence BTC's trajectory, hedge fund QCP noted in a Telegram broadcast, forecasting a bounce as Trump's inauguration on January 20 nears.

"With market anticipation building, we believe bitcoin's pullback is merely a pause, setting the stage for a bullish rally as Trump's inauguration fuels optimism," QCP analysts said.

NEW YORK, NY — Terraform Labs co-founder and former CEO Do Kwon’s criminal fraud trial in the U.S. has been tentatively scheduled for next January, allowing prosecutors and Kwon’s defense attorneys adequate time to review the “massive” six-terabyte trove of data expected to be produced during the discovery process.

During an initial hearing in Manhattan on Wednesday, lead prosecutor Jared Lenow told the court that the government expected to face additional delays due to challenges accessing encrypted information and unlocking four cell phones provided by Montenegrin authorities when they extradited Kwon to the U.S. on Dec. 31st. Lenow added that the government must also translate extracted material from Kwon’s native Korean.

“Sounds like we’re going to be backing up a U-Haul to the Southern District,” District Judge Paul Engelmayer of the Southern District of New York (SDNY) quipped on Wednesday.

Engelmayer said that scheduling the start date of a trial for over a year from the initial conference was "unprecedented" in his career as a judge. He told Kwon’s lead attorney, Michael Ferrara of Hecker Fink LLP, to ask his client — currently being held without bail in a local correctional facility after spending 22 months in custody in Montenegro – if he would rather have an earlier trial. Engelmayer gave the defense one week to request an earlier date in 2025.

Last week, Kwon pleaded not guilty to a nine-count indictment charging him with securities fraud, wire fraud, commodities fraud and money laundering conspiracy stemming from the $40 billion implosion of the Terra/LUNA ecosystem in 2022.

Kwon and his company were charged with civil fraud by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 2023, and were subsequently found guilty by a New York jury. Together, they were ordered to pay $4.5 billion in penalties and disgorgement, with Kwon himself contributing $200 million. Terraform Labs has since filed for bankruptcy.

The next status conference in the case is scheduled for March 6 at 11 a.m. eastern time.

In this week’s newsletter, read how non-fungible tokens (NFTs) remained a hot topic as Pudgy Penguins’ PENGU token saw a drop of over 50% in NFT sales, check out why PUBG creator Brendan Green rejected NFT integration in his upcoming metaverse and find out why the Eden Gallery filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit from NFT holders.

On Jan. 5, Pudgy Penguins’ native token, PENGU, surged 13% to become one of the top performers in the crypto market, trading at $0.040 at the time — up 250% from its launch on Dec. 17, 2024.

While the token debuted at $2.8 billion, some large holders seized the rally to cash out, and the token has since dipped to $2.3 billion as the project’s NFT sales slumped over 50% in seven days, according to CryptoSlam data.

Still, the community lead at Pudgy Penguins said on Jan. 3 that in just the “first few days of 2025,” the project continued to see public interest thanks in part to its viral GIF and sticker strategy that garnered over 1.1 billion views in the first five days of January.

PUBG creator rejects the idea of NFT incorporation

On Jan. 4, Brendan Greene, the creator of online battle royale shooter PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG), released plans to create a gameplay-focused metaverse called Artemis.

Despite the intention to create a metaverse, Greene told gaming website IGN that he was “not even thinking about” incorporating NFTs in the project.

While the crypto industry continues to champion NFTs as the ideal method of securing intellectual property and in-game assets across different gaming ecosystems, Greene doesn’t seem to agree.

Art gallery looks to dismiss NFT holder class-action lawsuit

The Eden Gallery Group has argued in a motion to dismiss a class-action lawsuit from a group of NFT holders that purchased “Meta Eagle Club” NFTs from the art gallery in October 2024.

The gallery filed the motion to dismiss in a New York federal court on Jan. 7, arguing that it isn’t responsible for losses due to “general market decline” in NFTs.

The 36 individuals who filed the class-action lawsuit alleged they were victims of fraud and unjust enrichment, describing Eden Galley and artist Gal Yosef’s project as “a rug pull.”