Worldcoin Discontinues its Orb Verification Services in India, Brazil and France

Russia's Central Bank has issued a warning to citizens about a cryptocurrency scam project that is based on the popular TV show The Boy's Word: Blood on the Asphalt. The project, which also goes by the name "The Boy's Word," is described by the Central Bank as a pyramid scheme that has no official affiliation with the show. The project asks investors to pay $10 in exchange for tokens that supposedly represent the project's own cryptocurrency. The scammers promise high returns of up to 25% per day. Advertisements for the project are circulating on social media platforms, featuring music and images from the TV show, as well as stolen pictures from legitimate cryptocurrency providers' websites. The Central Bank warns that the scammers will eventually disappear with the investors' money, as the project is not licensed to operate in the financial market. Only financial organizations with permits from the Central Bank can request public investment. The project has been added to the Central Bank's list of probable financial pyramid schemes. The TV show has gained significant popularity in Russia and other Russian-speaking countries, surpassing searches related to the war in Ukraine and special military operations.

Newly launched Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) experienced their highest daily inflows on the fourth day of trading, with $913.6 million invested on Wednesday. This influx of capital brings the total assets under management for all recently launched ETFs to $2.9 billion. These figures, provided by Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, do not include flows related to the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), which is the largest and most actively traded Bitcoin ETF. The GBTC recently converted into an ETF on January 11 after accumulating over 600,000 BTC prior to conversion. Since the conversion, the fund has experienced consistent outflows as investors sell their long-held BTC or move to newer and cheaper Bitcoin ETFs offered by companies like BlackRock and Fidelity. On Wednesday, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust saw $450.6 million in outflows, bringing its total net outflows since the ETF conversion to $1.6 billion. Overall, all Bitcoin ETFs have seen net flows of $1.2 billion. The first day of the ETF launch remains the day with the highest Bitcoin ETF inflows when including GBTC, though this includes seed capital such as Bitwise's initial $200 million contribution. Other Bitcoin funds and investment products have also suffered following the ETF launch, including the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) and MicroStrategy, which has seen a 25% drop in value since last Thursday. Bitcoin itself has fallen approximately 11% to $41,250 since last week, and newly launched ETFs like the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) have yet to experience a positive trading day. Coinbase, the custodian for most ETF providers, has also seen a 19% decline in value year to date.

Paris-based Ethereum staking platform Kiln has raised $17 million in a funding round led by 1kx. The funding will be used to expand internationally and support decentralized finance (DeFi) reward models. Other investors in the round include Crypto.com, IOSG, Wintermute Ventures, KXVC, and LBank. Kiln plans to use the capital to expand its global presence, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, and further develop its product offerings in the DeFi space. The platform has seen significant growth, with staked assets under management reaching $4.2 billion in 2023. Kiln aims to democratize value creation in the digital assets ecosystem and is the largest operator of Ethereum validator nodes, representing about 4% of the Ethereum network. The funding will also support the integration of additional reward mechanisms in the DeFi space and the development of a DeFi product for integrator customers.

A crypto trader has made $1 million in just 10 days by investing in TROLL tokens following Elon Musk's bio update. The trader initially invested $10,000 and purchased TROLL tokens before their value skyrocketed due to Musk's bio change. The trader turned $300 into $1.03 million by selling some of the TROLL tokens. Despite a slight decrease in TROLL's value, the trader still maintains a significant gain. Other traders have also profited from the price rally of TROLL tokens, with one trader making a $2.7 million profit from a $30,000 investment. Elon Musk's influence on the crypto market is evident, as his tweets and actions can shape the direction of certain assets. For example, his tweets about Dogecoin caused its value to increase by over 50%.