The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has repealed a controversial rule requiring financial firms holding cryptocurrency for customers to report those assets as liabilities on their balance sheets.

In a bulletin issued on Jan. 23, the SEC announced that Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) 122 officially rescinds SAB 121, a policy introduced in March 2022 that faced significant pushback from the crypto industry.

SAB 121 had drawn criticism for its cumbersome reporting requirements, with industry leaders arguing it made custody of digital assets unnecessarily complicated.

The rule’s removal was met with relief, as highlighted by SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce’s celebratory Jan. 23 post on X: “Bye, bye SAB 121! It’s not been fun.”

Around 30,000 Bitcoin options contracts will expire on Friday, Jan. 24, and they have a notional value of roughly $3.1 billion.

This week’s expiry event is slightly larger than last week’s, but it is unlikely to have any major impact on spot crypto markets, which have calmed following a volatile week.

Bitcoin Options Expiry

This week’s batch of Bitcoin options contracts has a put/call ratio of 0.48, which means that there are more than twice as many call (long) contracts expiring than puts (shorts). Open interest, or the value or number of BTC options contracts yet to expire, is highest at the $120,000 strike price, which has $2.4 billion in OI, according to Deribit.

There is also around $1.7 billion in OI at the $110,000 strike price, as derivatives traders remain bullish.

The anticipated announcements and crypto executive orders following US President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday did not materialize, causing cryptocurrency market indicators to stabilize, reported Deribit this week.

While Bitcoin options markets still show some unusual trading patterns, overall market excitement has subsided, it added.

In addition to today’s batch of Bitcoin options, around 168,000 Ethereum contracts are expiring as well. These have a notional value of $543 million and a put/call ratio of 0.47. This brings Friday’s combined crypto options expiry notional value to around $3.5 billion.

Crypto Market Outlook

Spot markets have remained relatively stable over the past 24 hours, with total capitalization at $3.7 trillion following a volatile week. The market cap is exactly where it was last week, so the Trump pump following the US president’s inauguration on Monday was very short-lived.

Bitcoin has dropped 4% from this week’s all-time high, which was almost revisited on Thursday. The asset was trading up 3% on the day at $105,000 at the time of writing, having held above six figures for most of this week.

Ethereum is up 5% on the day at $3,370, but it remains deflated following dissent and infighting at the Ethereum Foundation.

Altcoins remain mixed with minor gains and losses across the board during the Friday morning Asian trading session.

Nevertheless, market sentiment is strengthening as the first crypto-related executive order gets the approval signature from President Trump.

I told you this was the year for Bitcoin and digital assets.

— Senator Cynthia Lummis (@SenLummis) January 24, 2025

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Bitcoin price settled above the $100,500 resistance zone. BTC is consolidating gains and might aim for a fresh increase above the $105,000 zone.

• Bitcoin started a downside correction from the $106,800 zone.
• The price is trading below $104,000 and the 100 hourly Simple moving average.
• There is a connecting bullish trend line forming with support at $102,000 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair (data feed from Kraken).
• The pair could start another increase if it stays above the $102,000 support zone.

Bitcoin Price Eyes Fresh Increase

Bitcoin price started a decent upward move above the $104,500 zone. BTC was able to climb above the $105,500 and $106,000 levels.

The bulls even pushed the price above the $106,500 level. However, the bears were active near the $106,800 zone. A high was formed at $106,833 and the price is now correcting gains. There was a move below the $105,000 level.

There was a move below the 50% Fib retracement level of the upward move from the $101,281 swing low to the $106,833 high. Bitcoin price is now trading below $104,000 and the 100 hourly Simple moving average. There is also a connecting bullish trend line forming with support at $102,000 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair.

On the upside, immediate resistance is near the $104,000 level. The first key resistance is near the $105,500 level. A clear move above the $105,500 resistance might send the price higher. The next key resistance could be $106,800.

A close above the $106,800 resistance might send the price further higher. In the stated case, the price could rise and test the $108,200 resistance level and a new all-time high. Any more gains might send the price toward the $110,000 level.

More Losses In BTC?

If Bitcoin fails to rise above the $104,500 resistance zone, it could start a downside correction. Immediate support on the downside is near the $102,500 level or the 76.4% Fib retracement level of the upward move from the $101,281 swing low to the $106,833 high. The first major support is near the $101,250 level.

The next support is now near the $100,500 zone. Any more losses might send the price toward the $88,500 support in the near term.

Technical indicators:

Hourly MACD – The MACD is now gaining pace in the bearish zone.

Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI for BTC/USD is now below the 50 level.

Major Support Levels – $102,500, followed by $101,250.

Major Resistance Levels – $104,500 and $105,500.

Bitcoin (BTC) held steady during Friday’s Asian hours after Bank of Japan (BOJ) lifted the benchmark borrowing cost to the highest in 17 years while raising inflation forecasts.

“If the outlook presented in the January Outlook Report will be realized, the Bank will accordingly continue to raise the policy interest rate and adjust the degree of monetary accommodation,” the policy statement said, citing positive outlook on wages and maintaining guidance to keep raising rates, according to ForexLive.

The anti-risk Japanese yen rose over 0.6% to 155.12 against the U.S. dollar following the rate decision. Still, risk assets remained resilient. Bitcoin showed no signs of stress, trading little changed on the day above $104,000. The futures tied to the S&P 500 also traded flat.

This resilience in risk assets suggests that market attention is increasingly centered on potential policy developments under Donald Trump’s presidency. In comparison, the Bank of Japan’s rate hike in late July had previously shaken risk assets, including cryptocurrencies.

On Thursday, President Trump signed an executive order to ban digital dollar and promote crypto and AI innovation in the U.S. Meanwhile, the U.S. data released recently showed “all tenant rent” index, which leads shelter inflation in the CPI, rose at a slower pace last quarter. That has raised hopes that the Fed will walk back on its hawkish December rate forecasts.

After being pardoned by President Trump, Ross Ulbricht tweeted for the first time in over 11 years, expressing gratitude for second chances and support, while his associated cryptocurrency token experienced a price drop following a three-month surge.

On Jan. 24, Ross Ulbricht made his appearance on X for the first time after 11 years in prison. Ross Ulbricht took to X to thank President Donald Trump, who fully pardoned his sentencing of life without parole and called the sentencing ‘Ridiculous.’

In the X post, Ulbricht emphasized the importance of ‘second chances’ and thanked all his supporters, saying “it is a victory, and it is your victory too.”

Ulbricht was the founder of the Silk Road darknet marketplace. Silk Road operated as a secret service on the Tor network and facilitated the anonymous buying and selling of illegal drugs as well as other goods using Bitcoin (BTC). 

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He was sentenced to life in 2015 after being convicted in a federal trial on multiple counts, including conspiracy to engage in a racketeering enterprise, money laundering, and hacking of computers.

Ulbricht, whose X account was run by his wife until now, previously tweeted that he was not associated with any meme coin bearing his name. However, a cryptocurrency of a similar name was launched in Jun. 2024, which soared as high as $0.04243 on Jan. 22, 2025, the day Ulbricht was fully pardoned by the President.

The ROSS token has now seen a dip in its price after almost three months of being bullish, as per CoinMarketCap.

Does Ross Ulbricht have any crypto holdings to his name?

As reported by Fortune Crypto, Ross Ulbricht had over 144,000 BTCs when he got arrested. After his arrest, nearly $184 million was forfeited by the court, resulting in government auctions of the BTCs. The U.S. Marshals Service disposed of its BTCs in 2014 when the asset’s price crashed to $300. The auctions raised $48 million, a small percentage of the $14 billion they would be worth today. The FBI wallet that sold Ulbricht’s crypto now has a balance of nearly $129,000. 

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As of now, it looks like even as he is pardoned, Ulbricht is unlikely to recover his forfeited assets, as the law does not retroactively return property once the proceeds have been spent. 

Dear Ross,

All of us at Kraken want to make sure that after what you’ve been through, you’re able to land on your feet with the support of the community that loves you most, the ₿itcoin community.

That’s why we’ve donated $111,111 in $BTC to YOU

-Kraken pic.twitter.com/SCnZety71W

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— Kraken Exchange (@krakenfx) January 22, 2025

However, on Jan. 23, Kraken donated about $111,111 in BTC to Ulbricht to help him get off his feet now that he is a free man. 

Better Markets, a non-profit advocating for financial reform, has filed an Amicus brief supporting the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in its ongoing legal battle with Ripple Labs.

The organization argues that a prior decision by the District Court for the Southern District of New York undermines investor protections.

Ripple’s Victory Under Scrutiny

In its brief, Better Markets claims that XRP qualifies as a security. The non-profit also asserted that the district court’s ruling weakened the Howey test, a cornerstone of U.S. securities laws, by narrowing the definition of “investment contracts.”

According to the organization, the court excluded many crypto transactions from regulations, potentially exposing investors to fraud. It claims that retail traders are at risk since the SEC now has a diminished capacity to protect less sophisticated investors from fraudulent schemes because of the court’s interpretation of the law.

Ripple won a partial victory against the SEC in a case the regulator brought against it, alleging the payments platform conducted an unregistered securities offering by selling XRP.

In that ruling, District Judge Analisa Torres declared the token was not a security when sold to retail investors on crypto exchanges. However, she found it violated securities laws when offered to institutional investors.

Legal Expert Dismisses Better Markets’ Action

Better Markets’ move comes just a week after the SEC formally appealed against Judge Torres’ ruling, asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to overturn it. While the agency called the judge’s decision “factually and legally” wrong, Ripple’s top attorney, Stuart Alderoty, described the appeal as “a rehash of already failed arguments.”

The brief has sparked reactions from legal experts and the crypto community at large. Some have pointed out ties between the Better Markets CEO Denis Kelleher and the Biden administration, where he was part of the transition team, alleging bias.

Lawyer Jeremy Hogan has criticized the organization’s argument as lacking substance and failing to engage with the court’s finding.

“Better Market’s Amicus Brief was hard to read. Not because I don’t think this case will ever be ruled on by the appellate court, but because it COMPLETELY misses (or misconstrues?) what the Trial Judge ruled,” he said.

With payment firm Stripe’s recent $1.1 billion acquisition of stablecoin platform Bridge.xyz sending shockwaves through the crypto payments sphere, attention is turning to the next generation of stablecoin payment infrastructure providers.

Among them is BlindPay, a 2024 Consensus hackathon winner and Y Combinator 2025 (W25) batch company that’s taking a distinct approach to the challenge of global payments (if you’d like to apply for the EasyA Hackathon at Consensus Hong Kong 2025, please go here).

While Bridge.xyz captured the U.S. and European markets with its enterprise-focused strategy, BlindPay is betting on emerging markets — particularly those in Latin America — as the key to widespread stablecoin adoption. This focus comes at a time when a16z crypto predicts increasing enterprise acceptance of stablecoins for payments, calling them “the cheapest way to send a dollar.”

“What differentiates us from Bridge is our focus on emerging markets,” says Bernardo Simonassi Moura, BlindPay’s 26-year-old CEO. “We already operate in Argentina, Mexico, Colombia and Brazil, and we have our compliance and regulations in place to onboard customers in those regions.”

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Unlike Bridge’s enterprise-centric model that relies on monthly commitment fees, BlindPay takes what Moura calls a “Shopify approach” of trying to democratize access to global payment rails for small and medium-sized businesses via a transaction-fee model. This strategy aligns with a16z’s prediction that small and medium-sized businesses will be among the first to embrace stablecoin payments in order to avoid the hefty transaction fees levied by traditional finance companies.

Since its launch in July, the approach has proven highly effective, with BlindPay securing 19 customers across gaming, payments, and DAOs, including notable names such as LootRush in gaming and Hifibridge and WalaPay in payments. Monthly payment volumes have grown from $30,000 at launch to over $300,000 recently, and Moura expects that figure to grow to $2.5 million by the addition of new customers.

BlindPay’s competitive advantage lies in its deep integration with Latin American markets, particularly Brazil, where crypto adoption ranks top ten globally, according to Chainlysis. In addition, Moura is focusing heavily on developer experience, drawing on his seven years of experience as a software engineer and product designer. “I always strive to bring the seamless and intuitive developer experience that platforms like Resend, Stripe, Ankey, SVX, and Clerk offer to the Web3 space,” he says.

The market opportunity

BlindPay’s potential market is substantial. The cross-border payment industry, currently dominated by SWIFT, processes approximately $33 trillion annually. Stablecoins, which moved $8.5 trillion in 2024, offer a compelling alternative. “If I want to send money from Brazil to Argentina using stablecoins, it takes 30 seconds, while SWIFT takes five business days,” Moura points out.

Looking ahead, BlindPay’s ambitions extend beyond stablecoin integrations. “We have a long-term strategy of leveraging our team’s fintech experience to launch banking-as-a-service features powered by stablecoins,” Moura says. To that end, the company plans to connect with card networks, enable stablecoin spending through card issuance and facilitate buying tokenized stocks from regulated regions.

With its four co-founders bringing experience from traditional fintech — including Silicon Valley’s Lending Club and Brazilian fintech unicorns — BlindPay is well positioned to bridge the gap between traditional finance and crypto-native solutions. As the stablecoin payment landscape evolves, their focus on emerging markets, developer-friendly infrastructure and developing a comprehensive stablecoin-powered banking ecosystem could prove to be a winning strategy in the race to revolutionize global payments.