Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) has taken another oversized step into the crypto treasury race, revealing ethereum holdings that now rival sovereign-scale balance sheets. Bitmine Ramps up Ethereum Accumulation Bitmine said on Monday that its ethereum ( ETH) holdings have climbed to 4.243 million tokens, helping lift total crypto and cash assets to $12.8 billion as […]
Why Digital Identity Systems Are Moving Away from Centralized Data Storage
With the ever-increasing digital interactions in the various industries, the management of personal information of identity is experiencing a significant change. Identity verification has traditionally been based on traditional centralized databases, but growing security risks and privacy concerns are spurring the change. However, nowadays, the digital identity are no longer centralized in terms of data storage but rather decentralized and more secure.
The dangers of Centralized Identity Databases
In centralized identity systems, sensitive personal information is held in large quantities in central location. Although this model has been highly utilized, it has a major vulnerability. One attack has the potential to reveal millions of records resulting in identity theft, financial fraud, and permanent damage to privacy. Centralized storage has proven to be a risky form of data storage, as evidenced by high-profile data breaches that have prompted organizations to rethink their approach to the design and protection of digital identity systems.
Increasing Privacy Requirements by the users
The recent years have seen the heightened rate of public awareness on the issue of data privacy. Users have become more demanding when it comes to the way their personal information is stored and shared with them. The centralized identity systems can be characterized by the lack of visibility of data usage, and thus, it is not easy to control the digital identities of a person. The current digital identity systems are focused on returning the control to the users by minimizing the data collection and decreasing the dependency on the centralized storage.
Compliance Problems and Regulatory Pressure
The global regulations on data protection are increasingly being tough, and more responsibility is being put on the organizations holding the personal information. Storing identity centrally presents a higher risk of non-compliance: companies have to store and handle a large volume of sensitive information. Decentralized digital identity solutions allow users to minimize regulatory exposure, as they allow the data to be stored in minimum amounts and allow it to be selectively revealed. Such a strategy is more in compliance with the modern privacy regulations and the rules of compliance.
Better Decentralization of Security
Decentralized architectures are better at improving security by dispensing identity information instead of storing it at a single location. Cryptography and distributed registers are typically employed in contemporary digital identity systems to authenticate credentials without revealing raw personal data. This has a major effect of minimizing the effect of cyberattacks since hackers have no single point of failure.
User Control and Self-Sovereign Identity
One of the benefits of going beyond centralized storage is the emergence of identity models that are user-controlled. Self-sovereign identity enables people to directly possess and operate their credentials. Digital identity systems constructed on this model allow users to provide the minimum information needed to verify them, and not complete identity profiles. This is selective sharing, which enhances trust and efficiency and privacy.
Scalability and Readiness to Future Infrastructure
The centralized systems are usually unable to keep up with the growth of digital interactions. Decentralized digital identity systems are more flexible and resilient, and can be used in a global scale in various industries including finance, healthcare, and government services. The need to have a flexible identity infrastructure emerges as digital ecosystems grow to be long-term sustainable.
Conclusion
The move towards decentralized data storage is indicative of a larger change in the design of digital identity systems. Decentralized models overcome the inabilities of traditional models by emphasizing security, privacy, and user control. Also, with technology changing and policies still being adapted as it goes, decentralized digital identity systems have a role to play as the cornerstone of secure and trusted digital interactions.
U.S. marshals investigate claim of $40 million crypto theft by son of federal crypto custodian
The U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) is investigating allegations that the son of a Department of Defense and Department of Justice services provider, charged with managing cryptocurrency seized by law enforcement, stole more than $40 million worth of confiscated digital assets.
Blockchain investigator ZachXBT accused John “Lick” Daghita, son of Dean Daghita, president of CMDSS — a firm that says on its website it provides critical services for the Department of Justice and Department of Defense — of stealing the seized digital assets from crypto walltes managed by his father’s company.
ZachXBT, who said he reported John to authorities, stated it remains unclear how John Daghita allegedly obtained access to the wallets, including whether that access came through his father.
Brady McCarron, chief of public affairs for the USMS, told CoinDesk that the agency could not comment further on this case because investigations were underway.
“Meet the threat actor John (Lick), who was caught flexing $23M in a wallet address directly tied to $90M+ in suspected thefts from the US Government in 2024 and multiple other unidentified victims from Nov 2025 to Dec 2025,” ZachXBT posted on X last Friday.
ZachXBT identified the individual as John Daghita, claiming CMDSS currently holds an active federal IT contract. The blockchain investigator later said he reported a wallet address holding 12,540 ETH, worth roughly $36.3 million, which he said was controlled by Daghita. ZachXBT added that Daghita sent him 0.6767 ETH, which he said he would forward to a U.S. government seizure address.
“In case you are curious how John Daghita (Lick) was able to steal $40 million plus from U.S. government seizure addresses: John’s dad owns CMDSS, which currently has an active IT government contract in Virginia,” ZachXBT wrote, pointing to a CoinDesk report that CMDSS was awarded a contract to assist the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) in managing and disposing of seized and forfeited crypto assets.
The Department of Defense, ZachXBT, and CMDSS did not immediately respond to a CoinDesk request for comment.
Caught on video
In February 2025, after the White House announced it was considering a national crypto reserve, a source familiar with the matter told CoinDesk the U.S. Marshals Service did not appear to know how much cryptocurrency it held.
The USMS is tasked with managing assets seized by law enforcement during criminal investigations, including real estate, cash, jewelry, antiques and vehicles.
John Daghita drew attention to himself after becoming embroiled in a recorded argument in a Telegram group chat with another individual. The exchange, known in cybercriminal circles as a “band for band,” involved both participants attempting to prove who controlled more cryptocurrency. ZachXBT captured the dispute on video.
“In part 1 of the (video) recording, Dritan (another threat actor) mocks John,” Zach said. “However, John screenshares [a] Exodus Wallet,” showing $2.3 million. In part 2 of the recording, Dritan continued to mock John while another $6.7 million worth of ETH is moved” into a wallet address.
ZachXBT said the full recording shows that Daghita “clearly controls both addresses.” The sleuth then explained he traced the funds to verify their origin, finding that at least $23 million was tied to roughly $90 million in crypto seized by the government in 2024 and 2025.
“Threat actors only continue to showing off stolen funds in leaked recordings rather than simply just staying quiet after an alleged theft from the U.S. government,” criticized Zach, saying they only make it easy for law enforcement to support a case against them.
Bitfinex Analysts: Bitcoin Faces Fragile Standoff as Institutional Demand Cools
Bitcoin’s January rally has lost traction, with the leading cryptocurrency retracing more than 10% from its mid-month peak as institutional demand softens and exchange-traded fund (ETF) flows turn decisively negative. Bitcoin Range Holds as ETF Redemptions Weigh on Market Confidence According to Bitfinex’s latest Alpha report, bitcoin failed to sustain a breakout above the $95,000–$98,000 […]
NEO PAY and Wio Bank Join Forces to Streamline SME Financing in the UAE
NEO PAY, a UAE-based payment solutions provider, has partnered with Wio Bank PJSC, the region’s leading digital financial platform, to launch a new Point-of-Sale (PoS) lending solution tailored for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
The collaboration aims to address a critical pain point for merchants: access to capital. By leveraging sales data directly from PoS terminals, the new facility offers swift access to funds, bypassing the lengthy approval processes and credit checks often associated with traditional banking.
Revenue-based repayments
A key feature of the solution is its repayment model, which links instalments directly to a merchant’s revenue flow. This structure ensures that repayments scale down during slower sales periods, easing financial pressure and fostering greater stability for businesses.
The facility is designed to provide working capital for essential growth activities, including inventory purchases, marketing campaigns, and business expansion.
Vibhor Mundhada, CEO of NEO PAY, commented on the launch: “We’re thrilled to collaborate with Wio Bank to launch a groundbreaking PoS lending solution, designed to empower merchants with quick and easy access to the capital they need for growth. This partnership is a step forward in making financial support more accessible and impactful for merchants and reflects NEO PAY’s commitment to merchants at every stage of their journey.”
Jayesh Patel, CEO of Wio Bank PJSC, highlighted the strategic importance of the sector: “SMEs are at the heart of the UAE’s economy, and at Wio Bank, our priority has always been to make banking work better for them. Through our partnership with NEO PAY, we’re helping merchants access timely capital and real-time insights to manage cash flow more smoothly and grow their businesses with confidence.”
Wio Bank, headquartered in Abu Dhabi and backed by investors including ADQ and First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), continues to expand its footprint in the embedded finance space. Meanwhile, NEO PAY, with an annual processed payment volume of over $30billion, reinforces its position as a key enabler of digital payments in the region.
Jefferies sees market structure bill as tokenization inflection point, despite rocky path ahead
Jefferies, a Wall Street investment bank, said maturing blockchain infrastructure and incremental regulatory progress are laying the groundwork for a new wave of tokenization by institutions in traditional finance (TradFi). Broad adoption, however, depends on having clear U.S. market structure rules, it said.
The bank pointed to the draft Digital Asset Market Clarity Act as the most detailed blueprint yet for how blockchain-based financial infrastructure could develop, even though hurdles remain in its path.
“Although passage remains uncertain, implications across FIs, blockchain-natives, and tokens may emerge sooner than anticipated,” wrote analysts led by Andrew Moss, in the Sunday report.
Tokenization is the process by which real-world assets are converted into blockchain-based tokens.
The Senate Agriculture Committee postponed its crypto market structure markup hearing from Tuesday to Thursday, citing the winter storm that hit much of the U.S. over the weekend.
The analysts noted that the Senate Banking Committee released its version of the CLARITY Act on Jan. 12, building on the House bill passed last July. Industry reaction has been largely positive, the report said, but political headwinds remain after a planned markup was postponed amid industry pushback.
A separate Senate Agriculture Committee bill must still be reconciled, and final approval requires a full Senate vote and presidential sign-off. The report highlighted that on prediction market Polymarket the odds for passage in 2026 have dropped sharply.
According to the bank’s analysts, the bill would mark a break from “regulation through enforcement,” aiming instead to harmonize agency oversight through a technology-neutral framework covering asset classification, regulatory jurisdiction, financial institution activities, decentralized finance (DeFi) oversight, tokenization and consumer protections.
Stablecoins have drawn outsized attention. The analysts said the Senate draft would close the so-called “stablecoin yield loophole” by banning rewards paid solely for holding stablecoins, while still allowing transaction-based incentives.
Jefferies argued the bigger impact of CLARITY would be unlocking broader participation by regulated financial institutions. Tokenization efforts are already accelerating, it said, citing initiatives from NYSE, Nasdaq, DTCC and Swift.
Clear market-structure rules could accelerate blockchain-based trading, lending and custody, shift capital toward TradFi-led projects, and strengthen regulatory moats for compliant crypto-native firms, it said.
Many of these initiatives will rely on specific blockchains for settlement, creating potential upside for tokens tied to revenue-generating network activity, the report added.
Benchmark, a broker, said the absence of legislation would postpone, rather than undermine, crypto’s maturation, constraining the U.S. market as capital flows toward bitcoin-linked exposure, balance-sheet strength and cash-flowing infrastructure, and away from regulatory-sensitive segments including exchanges, DeFi and altcoins.
Read more: Market structure bill delay seen capping U.S. crypto valuations, Benchmark says
Macro Shocks Hit Crypto as Liquidations Top $550 Million
Crypto markets came under pressure amid mounting macroeconomic risks, triggering over $550 million in liquidations as investors shifted toward safe-haven assets and defensive positioning. Crypto Slides as Tariff Fears Spark Risk-Off Mood Cryptocurrency markets weakened at the start of the week after a quiet weekend, as more than $550 million in leveraged long positions were […]
Bitcoin miners Cleanspark, IREN, and TeraWulf among those lower after NVDA/CRWV deal
As if continuing declines in the bitcoin price weren’t enough, shares of bitcoin miners who have shifted their business plan to focus on AI infrastructure were mostly sharply lower Monday following Nvidia’s $2 billion investment in CoreWeave.
While the investment underscores growing demand for high-performance computing as AI applications expand, it also highlights the challenges for independent miners trying to reposition themselves as infrastructure providers in the space.
Cipher Mining (CIFR), CleanSpark (CLSK), IREN (IREN), and TeraWulf (WULF) were among names 5%-9% lower following the news.
The drop reflects investor concern that CoreWeave’s growing lead in the AI infrastructure market could limit the upside for other players.
“The declines across the AI and HPC segment tied to bitcoin miners today signal a commitment between NVIDIA and CoreWeave, with GPU allocation increasingly prioritized toward that partnership,” said James Van Straten, senior bitcoin analyst at CoinDesk. “This could potentially diminish funding prospects for independent miners seeking to pivot into AI infrastructure. The $2 billion capital injection is set to materially expand AI compute capacity for CoreWeave, which would intensify competition and squeeze both margins and market share for smaller players.”
Van Straten also noted that CoreWeave’s $53 billion market cap is already half the peak valuation of the entire bitcoin-AI mining sector in October.
“As with any maturing industry, consolidation now appears increasingly inevitable,” he said.
In addition, Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets at VanEck says CLSK fell about 9% as markets priced in perceived outage risk tied to its Tennessee exposure after state level power headlines, despite its sites being in grid green zones. The drop was compounded by a proxy filing that quantified a roughly $45 million CEO pay package for 2025, raising governance concerns as the firm pivots toward AI, according to Sigel.
The only name showing a sizable gain on Monday is Core Scientific (CORZ). Although CoreWeave tried and failed to acquire CORZ in 2025, the two still continue to have a multi-year data center deal. Shares are higher by just shy of 2% in late-morning trade.
Also outperforming is Hut 8 (HUT), another miner that has diversified into AI hosting and high-performance computing. Along with Core Scientific, HUT also offers infrastructure tailored to large-scale AI applications, giving it a competitive edge as demand for compute surges. HUT shares are higher by 0.2%.
The shift toward AI isn’t new. Bitcoin miners, once singularly focused on validating blockchain transactions, have been repurposing their data centers for more profitable workloads, particularly as mining rewards shrink and power costs rise.
Nvidia’s latest move, however, suggests those resources may increasingly flow to larger, more tightly integrated players like CoreWeave, forcing smaller firms to adapt or consolidate.
Meta Pauses Teen Access to its AI Chatbot Characters
Meta is no longer letting teenagers interact with its AI chatbot characters. The social media giant said on Jan. 23 that it is working on new versions of characters to provide users with “an improved experience”.
An update to a blog focused on safety, originally published last October, said: “While we focus on developing this new version, we’re temporarily pausing teens’ access to existing AI characters globally.”
While Meta is working on new software, concerns about the safety of AI chatbots continue to grow.
In October, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) revealed that it was investigating how seven companies – including Meta — measured and assessed the adverse effects of their bots on young people.
In December, a coalition of U.S. state attorneys general wrote to 13 major AI players, including Meta, suggesting they need to do more to prevent harmful conversations with children, citing cases of murder, suicide and domestic violence apparently influenced by AI outputs.
And in New Mexico, Meta is facing a lawsuit, due to start in February, alleging that it allowed child exploitation on its various platforms. While the case is not focused on AI bots specifically, reports suggest that the company has sought to prevent any reference to them during proceedings — an indication of Meta’s sensitivity to criticism in this area.
Amid these developments, it is perhaps not surprising that Meta has decided to deny access to the AI characters, a move it characterized as “prioritizing teens’ safety.”
The vendor stated: “Starting in the coming weeks, teens will no longer be able to access AI characters across our apps until the updated experience is ready. This will apply to anyone who has given us a teen birthday, as well as people who claim to be adults, but who we suspect are teens based on our age prediction technology.”
The move is an escalation of measures unveiled in October, when Meta introduced controls that enabled parents to see how their children were interacting with AI and to block chats completely.
This had followed a Reuters report about a leaked internal Meta policy document that showed the company had been tolerating responses from AI bots that many parents would have considered inappropriate.
Meta’s move mirrored that of OpenAI, which also brought in parental controls and the rerouting of sensitive conversations following a wrongful death lawsuit from the family of a teen ChatGPT user who committed suicide.
While it has pulled access to Meta’s character AI bots, the company said teens can still use its AI assistant for “educational opportunities and helpful information”.
Bitcoin Follows the US Dollar Downward as History Repeats
Bitcoin (BTC) recovered through $88,000 after Monday’s Wall Street open as analysis called core demand “intact.”
Key points:
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Bitcoin attempts to maintain a bounce after hitting new 2026 lows of $86,000.
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Traders see downside resuming as markets grapple with uncertainty across the board.
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Research still says that Bitcoin has a solid demand base.
BTC price seen following dollar downhill
Data from TradingView showed BTC price action continuing to bounce from new 2026 lows seen at the weekly close.
After a disappointing weekly candle sparked warnings of further downside in crypto analytics circles, traders had little faith in Monday’s rebound lasting.
“I believe the maximum extension is likely around 89–91K before further downside,” trader Killa wrote in his latest post on X.
Fellow trader BitBull eyed declining US dollar strength as a cue for BTC/USD to put in a characteristic long-term low.
“This is a very crucial chart for $BTC holders,” he told X followers alongside a chart of the US dollar index (DXY).
“Whenever DXY has dropped below 96 in the past, Bitcoin has bottomed. Even the 2 biggest rallies in BTC happened when DXY went below 96. And now, the DXY crash seems imminent. We all know what that means.”
Dollar weakness formed just one of many macroeconomic hurdles for risk-asset traders on the day, with Japan, US trade tariffs and the Federal Reserve interest-rate meeting all on the radar.
A further problem came in the form of a potential US government shutdown taking effect from Jan. 30.
“The situation bears resemblance to last autumn’s protracted fiscal standoff, which coincided with a sharp drawdown in crypto markets,” trading outfit QCP Capital wrote in its latest “Asia Color” market update.
QCP forecast that crypto markets were “likely to chop around in the near term, pending greater clarity, particularly around the risk of a U.S. government shutdown.”
IG: Bitcoin avoiding structural “breakdown”
On a more optimistic note, however, new research released by CFD and forex provider IG on the day retained belief in Bitcoin’s underlying strength.
Related: BTC price ‘bottoming phase’ ends: Five things to know in Bitcoin this week
Notwithstanding the various macro risks and poor performance versus stocks and other assets, BTC still enjoyed a demand base, IG argued.
“Despite the sharp decline, the Monday’s recovery suggests that underlying demand remains intact,” the research stated.
“Longer-term investors appear more willing to absorb supply at lower levels, viewing the move as a correction driven by positioning and macro shocks rather than a breakdown in Bitcoin’s structural outlook. This helped prices stabilise and rebound, even if the recovery has so far been measured rather than decisive.”
IG gave resistance areas around $94,000 and $100,000 as longer-term targets, with $86,000 still important to avoid in the event of a fresh dip.
“Looking ahead, Bitcoin’s near-term trajectory will likely depend on whether broader market conditions stabilise and whether buyers can build on the recovery without renewed selling pressure,” it added.
“For now, the sharp sell-off and subsequent minor rebound serve as a reminder that even in a more mature phase of the cycle, Bitcoin remains highly responsive to shifts in sentiment, liquidity and risk appetite.”
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