Whale Awakens, DeFi Exploit, Flows Reverse, Asia Watch

Welcome to our Crypto news in 10, a daily podcast bringing you the latest news about crypto in under 10 minutes.

Here's what's moving crypto on Monday, January 26, 2026... A DeFi integration blows up and drains tens of millions, a nine-year-dormant Ethereum whale suddenly stirs, fund flows flip hard into outflows, a major Korean exchange explores a stake sale, and Japan's best-known public bitcoin treasurer takes a massive impairment — while still guiding higher for 2026. Let's get into it.

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Story one — a security wake-up call.

Matcha Meta, the decentralized exchange aggregator, disclosed an incident tied to its SwapNet integration. On-chain analysts estimate roughly 16.8 million dollars were drained.

PeckShield says wallets with the One-Time Approvals feature turned off were exposed. On the Base network, the attacker swapped about 10.5 million USDC for roughly 3,655 ether, and then began bridging funds.

Matcha Meta says SwapNet contracts were disabled and direct aggregator allowances removed while the investigation continues. If you're affected, rotate keys and revoke allowances — then re-enable only what you actually need.

Early reports point to an arbitrary call vulnerability in the SwapNet router, which let approved contracts transfer funds. Another reminder that convenience in approvals often equals latent risk.

Sources: The Block, with alerts from PeckShield and follow-ups from multiple incident trackers.

Story two — a sleeping giant moves.

An Ethereum address dormant for roughly nine years moved 50,000 ether — about 145 million dollars — into a Gemini-linked wallet on Sunday, according to data from Arkham and EmberCN summarized by The Block.

The same wallet withdrew around 135,000 ether from Bitfinex back in 2017, when ether was under 100 dollars. After yesterday's transfers, it still holds about 85,283 ether.

Traders will watch for follow-through — large exchange-bound transfers can precede selling pressure... but not always.

As of early morning, ether hovered under 2,900 dollars and bitcoin near 87,600 dollars, reflecting a broader risk-off mood across majors. Source: The Block.

Story three — flows flipped hard to negative.

CoinShares' latest weekly report shows global crypto exchange-traded products saw roughly 1.73 billion dollars in net outflows — the largest since mid-November — amid mounting macro jitters.

U.S. vehicles bore the brunt with about 1.8 billion dollars out, while Switzerland, Germany, and Canada saw modest inflows.

Bitcoin products led outflows at roughly 1.09 billion dollars, with ether products near 630 million. Big picture, that snaps the tentative early-year momentum and helps explain why dips kept running last week.

Sources: The Block's readout of the CoinShares report, corroborated by secondary coverage.

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Story four — consolidation watch in Korea.

Coinone, South Korea's third-largest exchange, is exploring a partial sale of shares held by its chairman and largest shareholder, Cha Myung-hoon. Local outlet Seoul Economic Daily reports discussions with overseas exchanges and domestic financial firms. The Block notes industry chatter that Coinbase executives are set to visit Korea this week — and could be among potential partners.

Coinone has been under earnings pressure — book value was about 75.2 billion won, roughly 52 million dollars, at the end of the third quarter — so a capital or strategic partnership could reset the trajectory as Korean crypto competition intensifies.

Nothing is final. The company says there are no specific decisions yet. Sources: The Block and Seoul Economic Daily.

Story five — a giant impairment that's mostly optics.

Tokyo-listed Metaplanet, the bitcoin treasury company that supercharged its purchases in 2025, flagged a non-cash impairment of about 104.6 billion yen — roughly 680 million dollars — tied to year-end bitcoin pricing.

Despite that headline number, management raised 2025 revenue and operating income projections on stronger-than-expected results from its Bitcoin Income Generation business. They also issued higher 2026 guidance: about 16 billion yen in revenue and 11.4 billion yen in operating income.

The firm ended 2025 holding 35,102 bitcoin, up from 1,762 a year earlier, after an aggressive fourth-quarter accumulation cycle. Shares fell around 7 percent intraday on the news, but the company emphasized the impairment doesn't affect liquidity or ongoing operations.

Sources: The Block, with additional confirmations from regional and crypto trade press.

Quick recap: security first — Matcha Meta's SwapNet tie-in was exploited for about 16.8 million, so check and revoke old approvals. A nine-year ether whale moved 50,000 to Gemini, stoking speculation... but no confirmed sale yet. Fund flows turned sharply negative, with about 1.73 billion in weekly outflows, weighing on prices. In Korea, Coinone is exploring a stake sale and potential overseas partnerships. And in Japan, Metaplanet took a big paper loss on bitcoin — but still guided higher for 2026, underscoring how accounting volatility and operating momentum can diverge in crypto treasury strategies. That's your rundown for January 26, 2026.

Thanks for listening and see you tommorow!