On-chain Evening Recap: Whale Whale Manipulation and Hedge in Tandem, Privacy Sector Bears Gather

U.S. stocks opened lower on January 20, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.72%, the S&P 500 falling 1.28%, and the Nasdaq Composite sliding 1.58%. Nvidia (NVDA.O) dropped 2.4% after one of its suppliers previously suspended production of key components for the company’s H200 chip. Crypto-related stocks posted steeper losses: MSTR fell 5.79%, COIN dropped 3.40%, CRCL was down 3.75%, SBET slid 7.27%, and BMNR declined 7.89%.

On January 20, spot gold surged above $4,750 an ounce, hitting a fresh all-time high, according to Bitget market data. It’s up 1.67% on the day, with a cumulative gain of over $400 so far in 2026.

On January 20, Bitmine disclosed that it purchased 35,268 ETH last week—worth roughly $1.087 billion. The firm now holds a total of 4,203,036 ETH, valued at approximately $12.96 billion. Bitmine has staked 1,838,003 ETH, and its MAVAN staking solution remains on track, with a planned launch in Q1 2026. The company currently holds 3.48% of Ethereum’s total circulating supply, having hit nearly 70% of its “5% Alchemy” goal in just six months. Bitmine recently announced a $200 million investment in Beast Industries. Its combined crypto, cash reserves, and “Moonshots” investments total $14.5 billion, including 4.203 million ETH, $9.79 billion in cash, and other crypto holdings.

January 20th: Danish pension fund AkademikerPension plans to sell all its U.S. Treasury holdings by the end of January, citing credit risks linked to former President Trump’s policies. Its chief investment officer, Anders Schelde, said Tuesday: “Overall, the U.S. credit outlook is weak, and the federal government’s long-term fiscal situation is unsustainable.” The fund manages roughly $25 billion in savings for teachers and academics, with about $100 million in U.S. Treasuries as of the end of 2025. Schelde noted the fund previously held Treasuries only for risk management and liquidity needs, but “we’ve decided we can find other alternatives.” Drivers for the decision include Trump’s threatening remarks about Greenland, concerns over U.S. fiscal discipline, and a weak U.S. dollar—all pushing the fund to reduce its exposure to U.S. assets.

On January 20, spot gold staged a short-term rally, surging past $4,740 per ounce to a new high—with Bitget market data showing a 1.48% intraday gain. Earlier, Poland’s central bank greenlit plans to purchase 150 metric tons of gold.

On January 20th, Coinglass data shows that over the past 24 hours, centralized exchanges (CEXs) recorded a total net outflow of 49,300 Ethereum (ETH). The top three exchanges by ETH outflow were: - Binance: 44,000 ETH outflow - Coinbase Pro: 7,617.67 ETH outflow - Bybit: 3,529.40 ETH outflow Additionally, Gate led the inflow list with 10,800 ETH in inflows.