It’s was another quiet start to the day on the economic calendar this morning. There were no material stats to provide the majors with direction early in the day.The lack of stats left U.S stimulus chatter and COVID-19 news in focus.At the time of writing, the Aussie Dollar was up by 0.01% to $0.7714, while the Kiwi Dollar was down by 0.06% to $0.7198.The Japanese Yen was down by 0.02% to ¥103.77 against the U.S Dollar.

Vietnamese Bitcoin exchange VBTC has integrated the Lightning Network.In an announcement on Sunday, Vietnam’s oldest (and reportedly only Bitcoin-exclusive) exchange revealed that Lightning Network withdrawals are now open to its users. VBTC CEO Dominik Weil told CoinDesk that deposits will be available later this year.According to an article by BitcoinVN News, the media arm of BitcoinVN, a parent company which also owns VBTC, Lightning Network withdrawals are priced at 1,000 satoshis plus 0.2% of the withdrawn amount. Normal bitcoin withdrawals have a fee of 100,000 satoshis (0.001).

Bed Bath & Beyond and AMC Entertainment are the newest targets of speculation for retail investors, creating a nightmare scenario for hedge funds betting against these once beat-up stocks.Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond are popping 36% and shares of AMC Entertainment are soaring 30% on Monday, as individual investors pile into the names while hedge funds rush to cover their losses from shorting the stocks.The pair joins GameStop, which is up 80% on Monday, in their short-squeeze rallies. Troubled video came retailer GameStop has rallied 500% in January alone, skyrocketing to over $150 a share at one point on Monday. The stock's rally doesn't seem to be slowing down despite valuation concerns from Wall Street firms.

Janet Yellen is the 78th U.S. Secretary of the Treasury.The former Federal Reserve chair and longtime economist secured enough votes in the Senate on Monday after a confirmation hearing on Jan. 19. Yellen was tapped by President Joe Biden to lead the Treasury Department after winning election last year. She succeeds Steven Mnuchin, who left office on Wednesday following Biden’s inauguration. The newly minted Cabinet official hasn’t spoken much on crypto. During her term leading the Federal Reserve Board, she indicated she wasn’t a huge fan of bitcoin but called for light regulation.

The European fund industry saw a deluge of investment in 2020, with net inflows rising by around 61.6%, according to new figures from Refinitiv Lipper.Across the year, overall net inflows into European funds were estimated at 574.3 billion euros ($696 billion), up from 303.9 billion euros in 2019 and vastly outstripping the annual average of 192.7 billion euros between 2004 and 2019.Following a steep plunge in March as the coronavirus pandemic spread throughout the world, global stock markets recovered over the course of the year, due in part to unprecedented fiscal and monetary stimulus from governments and central banks and the later emergence of successful vaccines.The 2020 total also marks the second-highest inflows into mutual funds and ETFs (exchange-traded funds) in the history of the European fund industry. Mutual funds, which enjoyed 483.5 billion euros of inflows, are those which pool money from investors to allocate to stocks, bonds, money market instruments or other alternative assets.

Bitcoin mining firm Marathon has purchased 4,812.66 BTC for a total of $150 million, according to a press release shared with Coin Rivet.The Nasdaq-listed company executed the trade in collaboration with financial services provider NYDIG.“By purchasing $150 million worth of Bitcoin, we have accelerated the process of building Marathon into what we believe to be the de facto investment choice for individuals and institutions who are seeking exposure to this new asset class.

The standoff between Russia President Vladimir Putin and his main opponent, Alexey Navalny, rose to a new level last week – and so did bitcoin donations to the dissident.Navalny, a Russian politician and vocal critic of Putin, is also a successful bitcoin fundraiser in Russia, receiving 657 BTC in donations over the past five years. The pace of donations accelerated last week, after Navalny was arrested in Moscow and his team published an investigative report describing an over-the-top, luxurious, 168-acre estate with a palace that presumably belongs to Putin.

Some of the largest university endowment funds in the U.S. have been quietly buying cryptocurrency for the past year or so through accounts held at Coinbase and other exchanges, CoinDesk has learned.According to two sources familiar with the situation, Harvard, Yale, Brown and the University of Michigan as well as several other colleges have been buying crypto directly on exchanges. (Several Ivy League endowments took an interest in blockchain technology via crypto-focused venture capital funds back in 2018.)

EUR/USD Current Price: 1.2137US President Biden’s stimulus plan at doubt, hurting the market’s mood.German IFO survey missed expectations in January amid extended lockdowns.EUR/USD is at risk of accelerating its decline once below the 1.2100 level.The EUR/USD pair fell to 1.2115, as a change in the market’s sentiment fueled demand for the greenback. Investors´ mood suffered a setback after the release of poor German data, later exacerbated by discouraging headlines related to US stimulus. The German IFO survey showed that the Business Climate fell to 90.1 in January from a revised 92.2. The assessment of the current situation contracted to 89.2, while expectations fell to 91.1, all missing the market’s forecasts. Also, weekend news indicating that US President Joe Biden’s stimulus plan finds opposition within its own party further hurt the market’s mood.

Ethereum’s and Chainklink’s native cryptocurrencies, ether and link, have set new record highs while bitcoin is in motion to recover losses from its worst week in at least five months. Meanwhile, an early blockchain-based digital collectible sold for $762,000 … what!?Calling bitcoin bulls:The Income Strategy fund for Miller Value Partners, a legendary hedge fund, recently bought a chunk of MicroStrategy debt issued to buy more bitcoin. Explaining the decision, Bill Miller IV said it was “an almost-free call option” on the cryptocurrency that “has been the best-performing asset over eight of the past 10 calendar years,” Miller wrote in an investor letter. MicroStrategy is not alone. Nasdaq-listed bitcoin mining firm Marathon bought $150 million in bitcoin to become a “pure-play bitcoin investment option” for Wall Street.

Chicago-based Rothschild Investment Corporation recently increased its position in Grayscale Bitcoin Trust to 30,454 shares, a 24% increase from October.The institutional investment manager of $1.4 billion disclosed Monday its shares in the trust were worth $975,000 at the end of 2020.Rothschild Investment first bought shares of Grayscale’s bitcoin vehicle in 2017 but appeared to have exited that position shortly after. It began buying again in 2019.

By Gina LeeInvesting.com – The dollar was down on Tuesday morning in Asia, after seeing small gains earlier in the session amid ever-rising numbers of global COVID-19 cases and doubts over both the size and speed of further U.S. stimulus measures. Investors were also cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting, due to open later in the day.The U.S. Dollar Index that tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies inched down 0.04% to 90.308 by 9:10 PM ET (2:10 AM GMT).

Recently, following a change to Whatsapp’s privacy policy, hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world left for other services. Signal, an encrypted messenger service, saw so many sign-ups that it temporarily crashed.This was followed by a mass exodus from social media, as Twitter and Facebook became embroiled in a debate on free speech and censorship, a chain of events that may signal a shift in how users value privacy.

Some bitcoin investors appear to be buying in around $30,000 and taking profits at $40,000, according to one analyst. Meanwhile, ether’s spot market is decoupling from bitcoin and gyrating wildly, according to volatility metrics.Bitcoin (BTC) trading around $32,963 as of 21:15 UTC (4:15 p.m. ET). Gaining 3.5% over the previous 24 hours.Bitcoin’s 24-hour range: $31,650-$34,893 (CoinDesk 20)BTC above the 10-hour and the 50-hour moving averages on the hourly chart, a bullish signal for market technicians.

Hawaii is letting more companies play in its no-license-necessary digital currency sandbox.The state reopened applications for Digital Currency Innovation Lab (DCIL) hopefuls on Monday, raising the possibility that yet more crypto exchanges and service providers could soon do business in the historically restrictive-to-crypto islands.State law requires crypto companies maintain cash reserves equivalent to their digital currency holdings, an unreachable bar for even the largest exchanges. But sandbox participants are exempt from that requirement, and from acquiring the usual money transmitter license, through June 2022.

Janet Yellen is poised to become the first woman to head the U.S. Treasury Department this week, a historic appointment that will position her to promptly work on President Joe Biden’s economic agenda, which aims to further the recovery and offer relief to Americans devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic.Yellen, the first woman to lead the Federal Reserve during her tenure from 2014 to 2018, is expected to be confirmed by the Senate on Monday afternoon. In a step toward confirmation, the Senate Finance Committee unanimously approved Yellen’s nomination on Friday, indicating that she is widely expected to win full Senate approval.She would become the first person to head the Treasury, Federal Reserve and the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

ARK Investment Management CEO Cathie Wood said she believes more companies will load their balance sheets up with bitcoin.In a Saturday interview with Yahoo Finance, the exchange traded fund (ETF) magnate and outspoken bitcoin advocate said large companies have asked her if they should follow Square. Inc’s lead. Square is one of the few public companies to invest in bitcoin as an inflation hedging strategy.

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey held the central banker’s line against cryptocurrency proliferation at the Davos conference Monday.At the same time, Bailey, a panelist at Davos’ digital currency talk, stressed that digital innovation in payments is here to stay. It’s just a matter of finding the right design and governance model for a “lasting digital currency,” he said.“I don’t think we’re there yet,” said Bailey, adding, “Honestly, I don’t think cryptocurrencies as originally formulated are it.”

Bitcoin’s options market continues to grow along with an institutional-led bull run in the leading cryptocurrency. Yet, while many use options to hedge their positions, the large amounts of bitcoin options slated to expire in a few days may themselves lead to wild price swings as January draws to a close. At press time, there are 120,300 contracts worth $4 billion set to expire this Friday on major exchanges Deribit, CME, Bakkt, OKEx, LedgerX, according to data source Skew. Much of that amount can be found on Deribit, the world’s largest crypto options exchange by trading volume. It is on track to register a record monthly bitcoin options expiry of 102,162 contracts (nearly $3.5 billion).

Ethereum slid by 5.46% on Monday. Partially reversing a 12.92% rally from Sunday, Ethereum ended the day at $1,317.97.A bullish start to the day saw Ethereum rally to an early morning intraday high and a new swing hi $1,477.30 before hitting reverse.Ethereum broke through first major resistance level at $1,457 before falling to a late intraday low $1,293.65.Steering clear of the first major support level at $1,277, Ethereum moved back through to $1,300 levels to limit the downside.

Publicly traded Chinese gaming company The9 (NCTY) announced an agreement to buy 26,007 bitcoin ASICs as part of its plan to launch a cryptocurrency mining initiative.The9’s subsidiary NBTC will own and operate the machines, which are expected to total 549 petahashes per second (PH/s) of hash power.The9 says a “majority” of these mining machines have already been deployed in Xinjiang, Sichuan and Gansu.

Stocks turned lower Monday, as investors looked ahead to this week’s deluge of company earnings and remained concerned about the economic damage from a rise in coronavirus cases in some countries.The S&P 500 was down 0.6% as of 11:15 a.m. Eastern after being up 0.4% earlier. The Nasdaq composite was down 0.4% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 335 points, mostly due to financial companies like Goldman Sachs and American Express.Several big companies will report their results this week, including technology titan Apple. The iPhone maker will report its results on Wednesday after the closing bell. Others reporting this week include American Express, Johnson & Johnson, 3M and AT&T.Taxes:IRS tax season 2021 officially kicks off Feb. 12. Here’s why it starts so late

For most investors these days, it's literally a "PIPE dream." PIPEs, or private investments in public equity, are mechanisms for companies to raise capital from a select group of investors outside the market. But as PIPEs are increasingly being deployed in conjunction with a surge in SPAC mergers, a larger group of fund managers are seeking access to this security, with limits on who and how many can invest. While SPACs, or special purpose acquisition companies, will tap the public markets to raise capital to fund a future takeover, PIPEs are allocated to a small group of investors. Managers of the funds participating in the PIPE will sign a non-disclosure agreement, with trading restrictions, and are brought over a proverbial "wall," where they're given material, non-public information from the SPAC about which target they're looking to acquire. They're then allowed to choose whether or not they want to invest at the SPAC's IPO price — or sometimes at a discount — and ride what they're hoping is a pop when that takeover is announced. 

AUD/USD Current Price: 0.7705Australian markets to be closed in observance of the Australia Day.A dismal market mood pushed the pair lower in the American session.AUD/USD is bearish in the near-term, additional declines expected.The AUD/USD pair fell to 0.7682, its lowest in a week during the American session, but managed to regain the 0.7700 level ahead of the daily close. The pair traded alongside sentiment, falling early in the US session as US indexes plummeted on speculation further coronavirus relief would be delayed a month or two. Australia started the week with an empty calendar, with activity in the country set to remain reduced on Tuesday amid the observance of Australia Day.