Market News: NYSE to Launch 24/7 All-Hours Trading for US Stocks

On January 19, iconic U.S. fast-food chain Steak ‘n Shake added $10 million worth of Bitcoin to its corporate treasury. This recent strategic purchase underscores the company’s strong commitment to integrating cryptocurrency as a core component of its financial strategy. Steak ‘n Shake executives view this efficiency gain as a key driver behind expanding its treasury, framing Bitcoin not just as a payment method but also as a long-term store of value. Based on the estimated market price at the time of purchase, the $10 million acquisition equals roughly 105 Bitcoin.

On January 19, official sources confirmed that a proposal to cut the maximum supply of PancakeSwap’s native token CAKE passed with 100% support in the vote. The proposal calls for reducing CAKE’s max supply from 450 million to 400 million. Post-adjustment, there will still be roughly 50 million tokens in buffer between the current circulating supply (around 350 million) and the new 400 million cap.

As of 20:13 UTC on Jan. 19, Paradex’s blockchain state has been fully restored and is operational, per the platform’s official status update. Earlier that day, Paradex suffered a system outage stemming from database maintenance and migration issues—an incident that included abnormal BTC price crashes and widespread forced liquidations. A subsequent official announcement confirmed the blockchain would be rolled back to block 1604710 (restoring pre-outage conditions around 04:27 UTC), with all user accounts reset to their state prior to the maintenance work.

January 19 — Per Coinglass data, the crypto market has pulled back in recent days, briefly dipping below $92,000 this morning. Currently, funding rates across major centralized (CEX) and decentralized (DEX) exchanges show the market has fully shifted to bearish sentiment: Bitcoin and Ethereum are trading at negative funding rates, while bearishness toward altcoins is even stronger. Specific funding rates for leading currencies are available in the attached image. **BlockBeats Note**: Funding rates are set by crypto exchanges to keep contract prices aligned with the underlying asset’s price (typically for perpetual contracts). It’s a fund transfer mechanism between long and short traders—exchanges do not charge this fee. Its purpose is to adjust the cost or profit of traders holding contracts, ensuring contract prices stay close to the underlying asset’s value. **Funding Rate Benchmarks**: - 0.01% = baseline rate - >0.01% = generally bullish market - <0.005% = generally b

Reuters reported Monday, January 19, that India’s central bank—the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)—has proposed linking central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) across BRICS nations to streamline cross-border trade and tourism payments. Two anonymous sources told the outlet the proposal will add CBDC interoperability to the agenda for the 2026 BRICS Summit, which India is set to host. If approved by the Indian government and BRICS partners (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), this would mark the group’s first formal discussion of CBDC interoperability. While the initiative aims to cut friction and costs in cross-border payments, sources emphasized talks are still in early stages—requiring alignment on technology, governance, and settlement frameworks.

January 19 – Nasdaq-listed fintech group Aether Holdings has acquired Coinstack, an institutional-grade cryptocurrency communications and media platform under Alpha Edge Media. The deal aims to expand Aether’s financial content and data business. Coinstack currently boasts over 340,000 subscribers. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Coinstack will continue operating independently under its original brand, while receiving support from Aether’s technological infrastructure, analytical tools, and distribution channels. Founded in December 2020, Coinstack serves a global audience of professional investors—including hedge funds, venture capital firms, family offices, and digital asset market participants—with curated insights on Bitcoin, Ethereum, decentralized finance (DeFi), and broader blockchain market trends. Aether framed the acquisition as adding a highly interactive, institution-focused communication channel to strengthen its growing media and data ec