Gate Daily (January 8): Venezuela's first batch of crude oil will arrive in the United States; Barclays Bank makes its first investment in stablecoins

Bitcoin (BTC) significantly retraced its gains, currently around $91,360 as of January 8. Venezuela will supply oil to the United States indefinitely, with the White House stating that it has begun “promoting” crude oil, with the first batch of 30 to 50 million barrels arriving soon in the US. Barclays Bank is one of the world’s largest banks and a systemically important global financial institution; it has invested in a stablecoin-related company for the first time, holding shares in Ubyx.

Macro Events & Crypto Hotspots

1. Following US President Trump’s announcement that Venezuela will deliver and “indefinitely” export sanctioned crude oil to the US, the White House further disclosed implementation details on Wednesday. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that the US is “selectively” rolling back some sanctions on Venezuela to allow the transportation of Venezuelan crude oil to the US and global markets; the related proceeds will first go into an international bank account controlled by the US, with the US government deciding on the final distribution and use of the funds. She stated that the first batch of 30 to 50 million barrels of crude oil mentioned by Trump will “soon” arrive in the US, with the US leveraging top global commodity marketing agencies and key banks to advance sales and settlement arrangements.

2. Barclays Bank, one of the world’s largest banks and a systemically important financial institution, has invested in a stablecoin-related company for the first time. The UK-based bank announced on Wednesday that it has invested in the US stablecoin clearing platform Ubyx. Ubyx aims to connect regulated issuers with banks and fintech companies. Barclays did not disclose the investment amount. Ryan Hayward, Head of Digital Assets and Strategic Investments at Barclays, said: “As the landscape of tokens, blockchain, and wallets evolves, technical expertise will play a key role in providing connectivity and infrastructure, enabling regulated financial institutions to interact seamlessly.”

News Highlights

1. PMX trading robot was attacked, resulting in user losses of $2.3 million.

2. Wyoming’s official stablecoin FRNT is now officially available to the public through exchanges, deployed on the Solana chain.

3. Anthropic plans to raise $10 billion at a valuation of $350 billion.

4. WLFI applied for a nationwide US banking license.

5. US December ADP employment increased by 41,000, versus an expected 47,000.

6. Decentralized protocol Babylon completed $15 million in funding, with a16z Crypto leading the investment.

7. WisdomTree withdrew its S-1 registration for its spot XRP ETF.

8. Riot Platforms sold 1,818 bitcoins by December 2025, cashing out $161.6 million.

9. Rumble and Tether jointly launched the non-custodial crypto wallet Rumble Wallet.

10. Prince Group founder Chen Zhi was arrested and deported to China.

Market Trends

1. Latest Bitcoin news: $BTC significantly retraced its gains, currently around $91,360. In the past 24 hours, there was a liquidation of $72.63 million, mainly long positions.

2. US President Trump stated that the interim Venezuelan government will transfer up to 50 million barrels of oil to the US, sparking concerns about increased oil supply, leading to a decline in crude oil prices. Additionally, Trump said that until defense companies increase investment in production and R&D, they will not be allowed to pay dividends or buy back stock, which also caused a sell-off in defense-related stocks. On January 7, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 466.00 points or 0.94%, closing at 48,996.08. The S&P 500 declined 23.89 points or 0.34%, closing at 6,920.93. The Nasdaq rose 37.11 points or 0.16%, closing at 23,584.28. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 76.06 points or 0.99%, closing at 7,574.87.

(Source: Gate)

3. According to Gate BTC/USDT liquidation map, with the current price at 91,220.90 USDT, if it drops to around 90,200 USD, the total long liquidation exceeds $293 million; if it rises to around 92,006 USD, the total short liquidation exceeds $137 million. Short positions are significantly less than long positions, so it is advisable to control leverage reasonably to avoid large-scale liquidations during market fluctuations.

(Source: Coinglass)

4. In the past 24 hours, spot inflow of BTC was $1.87 billion, outflow was $2.15 billion, with a net outflow of $280 million.

(Source: Coinglass)

5. In the past 24 hours, net trading outflows led by contracts of $SUI, $PEPE, $ZKP, $BREV, $RIVER , indicating trading opportunities.

X KOL Selected Opinions

Phyrex Ni (@Phyrex_Ni): “Today I roughly estimated that many friends will start saying, look, US stocks hit new highs again, but $BTC fell to $90,000, and US stocks and Bitcoin are not correlated. I understand everyone’s frustration, but in fact, although the S&P 500 did hit a new high during the day, it closed lower, almost erasing yesterday’s gains. The Nasdaq also pulled back.”

“Cryptocurrencies are affected by liquidity and user sentiment. In terms of market size, they cannot compare to major US stocks. Increased volatility is inevitable; although they fall earlier and more sharply, they also rise more significantly. On Monday, they led US stocks’ gains by a large margin, not to mention that this rise is driven by positive news rather than actual liquidity changes.”

“Moreover, today’s decline is partly related to a series of new measures by Trump. It seems Trump is a bit impatient for votes, as he imposed restrictions on defense contractors and institutional home purchases. Also, Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA doesn’t seem very cooperative, so the current key game is on monetary policy. For example, today’s job data isn’t very friendly, waiting for non-farm vacancies.”

“Looking at Bitcoin data, the turnover rate is now alarmingly high, indicating that investor sentiment is unstable. From the perspective of chip structure, short-term investors are reacting more strongly. The short-term profit-taking chips that were previously on hold are showing signs of large turnover. The current focus is whether US stocks have bottomed out and whether Bitcoin can stabilize above US stocks.”

“I’m more worried that if BTC breaks below $90,000, it will likely hover around $88,000 again, which probably means entering another period of stagnation or decline.”

Today’s Preview

1. China’s December trade balance (billion USD), previous value: 111.68

2. China’s December trade balance (billion yuan), previous value: 792.57

3. Eurozone November Producer Price Index (year-over-year), previous value: -0.5%

4. Eurozone November Unemployment Rate, previous value: 6.4%

5. US weekly initial jobless claims (thousands) as of 0103, previous value: 199