The Crypto Minute

⤵️ Today’s Agenda:

• Why $BTC ETF holders are still holding despite heavy drawdowns. What flows say about conviction versus panic?

• The $500M UAE deal tied to Trump-linked World Liberty Financial, plus why it is drawing scrutiny and headlines.

• Tom Lee’s BitMine got hit with a massive $ETH paper drawdown, and we look at what that says about crypto treasury strategies in thin liquidity.

• US regulators are suddenly coordinating again! The SEC and CFTC are signaling a softer, more “structured” approach as stablecoin yield becomes the key fight.

• BTCFi and Bitcoin L2s as the next $BTC utility narrative, plus the fake “official claim” scam pattern that keeps draining wallets.

• And more…

📰 News Recap (Jan 26–Feb 14)

Bitcoin ETF Holders Are Still Holding Through the Pain 📉

🧊 Spot $BTC ETFs are “hanging in there” even after a four-month slide, according to ETF analyst James Seyffart. 👉 Conviction looks sturdier than the price chart.

The situation is dire, though. 😧

Holders are sitting on the biggest paper losses since the January 2024 launch, with $BTC spending time below $73K and some estimates putting ETF cohorts roughly 24% underwater. 😬

Flows tell the same story. Net inflows peaked around $62.11B pre-drawdown and are now closer to ~$55B, which is ugly, but not a full-blown panic exit. 🧾

📌 How to cope? Just zoom out, touch some grass. Some ETF watchers point out $BTC is still up 400%+ since 2022, so a lot of “comeback narratives” are really just short-term pain on top of a massive run.

Thinking about buying the dip? In our Alpha Leak segment, we break down Bitcoin use cases via L2s. 🧠

UAE Drops $500M Into Trump-Linked World Liberty Financial 🏦

Huge drama at the White House! 😱 The Wall Street Journal says an Abu Dhabi-backed vehicle quietly agreed to buy 49% of World Liberty Financial for $500M, right before Trump returned to the White House. 👀

👉 About half was paid upfront, and $187M reportedly flowed into Trump family-controlled entities, with more money going to co-founders and related parties. 💸

The paperwork was reportedly signed by Eric Trump, and the deal apparently was not publicly disclosed at the time, even as World Liberty later said the Trump family stake dropped sharply. 🧾

Zoom out and it gets spicier. The buyer is linked to Sheikh Tahnoon, a major power player in the UAE’s AI push, and WSJ also ties this orbit to big moves like using World Liberty’s stablecoin in a $2B Binance investment. 🤖

🔎 There are already calls for US scrutiny too, with senators pointing at claims that token buyers included wallets linked to sanctioned actors, while World Liberty and the White House deny any wrongdoing or policy influence. ⚖️

Tom Lee’s BitMine Is Eating a $6B ETH Drawdown 📉

Feeling under the weather from the market? 🤒 You are not alone! BitMine Immersion, the public “crypto treasury” shop linked to Tom Lee, is getting smoked on $ETH as the sell-off keeps digging. 😬

They added another 40,302 $ETH last week and now sit on over 4.24M $ETH, but at current prices that stack is worth about $9.6B, down from roughly $13.9B at the October peak. 🪦

That puts their unrealized loss above $6B on paper, a reminder that “treasury strategy” is just leverage with better branding when liquidity gets thin. 🧠

Commentators are blaming choppy liquidity plus crowded leverage for creating ugly “air pockets” where price drops fast and bids disappear. 🕳️

Tom Lee is already framing early 2026 as painful before any rebound, and market makers like Wintermute say a real recovery needs stronger $BTC and $ETH momentum plus wider ETF participation and retail returning. 🔄 We will keep you updated.

SEC and CFTC Are Suddenly Playing Nice Ahead of a White House Crypto Sit-Down 🏛️

SEC Chair Paul Atkins and CFTC Chair Mike Selig went on CNBC and basically did the “we’re coordinating” routine ahead of a White House-hosted crypto meeting. 🤝

The CLARITY Act is still stuck in Senate committee land, and the spiciest fight is stablecoin yield, because banks hate it and crypto loves it. 💳 Banks are fighting hard. ⚠️

Coinbase even pulled its support over yield-related provisions, but Atkins and Selig refused to pick a team, sticking to the safe line: we’ll help Congress land something that works. 👀

Selig also pointed out that the GENIUS Act pushed stablecoin policy mostly out of his lane, so the CFTC is more focused on tokens and tokenized securities once lawmakers decide the rules. 📜

Behind the scenes, the bill is still moving: the Senate Agriculture Committee voted 12–11 to advance it, setting up the next round of negotiations and a potential floor vote later. ⏳

Alpha Leak 👉 BTCFi and Bitcoin L2

Bitcoin is still the king, but it is also trying to prove it can be more than “store of value”. 👑

The question is: how do you make $BTC productive? 🧠 Use it as collateral, plug it into apps, and unlock yield and credit loops. 🔓

That is where BTCFi and Bitcoin L2 narratives come in. 🚄

⚽ The goal is DeFi-style rails on top of Bitcoin, offering faster settlement, cheaper transactions, and more composable liquidity without changing what $BTC is. 

🔎 Expect a lot of wrapped assets, bridges, lending, stablecoin liquidity, and “Bitcoin native” experiments. 

If this actually clicks, it unlocks a new $BTC demand path without needing a fresh meme cycle. 📈

But this is also peak risk territory! ⚠️ Bridges and smart contracts are where exploits love to farm, so stay alert.

Projects to watch 👇

• Stacks ($STX): smart contracts anchored to Bitcoin, big BTC app ecosystem.

• Botanix ($BOTX): Bitcoin L2 idea aiming for EVM style apps on BTC rails.

• Rootstock ($RBTC): EVM sidechain secured by merge mining, BTC DeFi infra.

Scam Alert ⚠️ Fake “Official” Token Claims

Scammers pose as the “official” team, exchange, or foundation and blast a claim link for a “new token”, “retro rewards”, or “mandatory migration”. 🪙 The site looks legit, the copy feels urgent, and the CTA is always the same: connect wallet and claim. 🔌 It’s obviously a trap.

What really happens: you sign something or approve a contract, often with unlimited permissions. 🖊️ The claim “fails”, but the approvals stay. Then the drain hits later. 💸🕳️

Red flags 🚩

• Link came via DM, comments, or ads 📩

• “Last chance”, “deadline”, “one time only” language ⏰

• Approvals requested before any real details 📄

• Unlimited approvals or strange permissions ♾️

How to stay safe 🛡️

• Only use links from the project’s official website 🌐

• Use a burner wallet for claims 🔥

• Keep approvals tight, revoke often ✂️

• If you already signed, move funds and revoke ASAP 💨