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Bitcoin fell sharply, dropping below 88,000 and reaching around 87,790 at its lowest point, marking its weakest level since late December and erasing all gains made earlier in the year. The decline amounted to about 10% over a week and pushed the price below its 50-day exponential moving average, a key technical support level during the recent rally. More than 1.8 billion in leveraged positions were liquidated over 48 hours, with roughly 93% coming from long positions, as broader crypto markets lost about 225 billion in total value, bringing overall market capitalization down to roughly 3.08 trillion, the steepest drop since mid-November.
Analysts linked the sell-off to a mix of global macroeconomic pressures, including renewed tariff threats from US President Donald Trump that revived a “sell America” trade, and severe volatility in Japanese government bonds. Japan’s 10-year yields jumped nearly 19 basis points in two days and 30-year yields saw their biggest daily rise since 2003, driven by concerns over higher government spending, reduced liquidity, and political uncertainty ahead of an election. This bond market shock is seen as accelerating the unwinding of carry trades and tightening a key source of global liquidity, prompting investors to pull funds from riskier assets. While some expect gold to benefit first from these conditions, with Bitcoin potentially following later, for now the cryptocurrency is being pressured by its sensitivity to tightening financial conditions and shifting global capital flows. Source
Strategy made its largest Bitcoin purchase in more than nine months, acquiring about 22,300 BTC for 2.1 billion as prices hovered near 90,000 and broader markets reacted to renewed geopolitical tensions tied to US President Donald Trump’s tariff threats related to Greenland. Bitcoin slipped from around 95,000 and posted a modest weekly decline after briefly touching 97,500, while Strategy’s stock fell to roughly 161, down more than 7% on the day and over 60% in the past six months. The company did not add to its US dollar reserves and spent about 300,000 more than it raised during the week, leaving it with roughly 2.2 billion in cash.
Most of the purchase was funded through issuing common stock, which accounted for about 77% of the capital raised, alongside nearly 300 million from preferred shares including STRC, a dividend-paying product promoted by executive chairman Michael Saylor as a savings-style alternative for retirees. STRC is designed to trade near its 100 par value and currently offers a variable dividend rate around 11%, with the company able to issue more shares if the price rises above that level. Strategy has increasingly relied on such preferred shares as a funding source while building cash reserves to manage future dividend obligations, even as some market participants assign a moderate probability that the firm could sell Bitcoin later this year. Source
Chainalysis has introduced a new automation feature called Workflows designed to let investigators and compliance teams carry out blockchain analyses without needing to write code. The tool provides predefined templates that standardize common investigative processes, allowing users to focus on questions about actors, wallets, and time frames instead of technical details like data schemas or custom SQL and Python queries. The company says this approach makes complex onchain investigations faster and more accessible to non-technical staff, helping organizations apply consistent methods across many cases as blockchain data use expands beyond developers and data specialists.
The launch comes as fraud networks increasingly use advanced technology to scale their operations, with Chainalysis research indicating that AI-enabled scams extract about 4.5 times more money from victims than traditional schemes. The company estimates that crypto scams and fraud drained around 17 billion in 2025, driven by impersonation tactics, deepfakes, and professionalized laundering networks. Recent incidents included widespread low-value wallet drains across Ethereum-compatible networks and social-engineering scams impersonating customer support that stole millions. While scam activity remains high, some indicators suggest improvement on the hacking front, with reported losses from exploits dropping sharply to about 76 million in December from 194.2 million the month before. Source
BitMine Immersion Technologies added about 35,268 ETH worth roughly 108 million last week, expanding its Ethereum treasury to more than 4.2 million ETH, close to 3.5% of the total circulating supply, valued at over 12.8 billion. The company also holds 192 Bitcoin worth about 17.4 million and nearly 979 million in cash. Chairman Tom Lee said Ethereum’s rising ratio against Bitcoin reflects growing investor recognition that tokenization and other financial use cases from Wall Street are being built on Ethereum. At the same time, BitMine increased its staked holdings to around 1.83 million ETH, nearly 44% of its total stash, positioning itself to earn staking rewards while supporting the network.
Despite the aggressive accumulation, BitMine’s stock fell more than 7% as broader markets and crypto prices slid following renewed tariff threats from US President Donald Trump against several European countries and the UK, reviving trade war concerns. The firm expects that once its full portfolio is staked, annual staking fees could reach about 374 million, or more than 1 million per day, using its partners initially and later its own validator network, MAVAN, planned for early 2026. Ethereum itself traded near 3,026, well below its all-time high, even as Lee reiterated his long-term view that ETH could eventually reach 250,000 in a potential supercycle. Source
In early January 2026, Ledger disclosed that a security incident at its third-party e-commerce partner Global-e exposed customer order information for some purchases made through Ledger.com. Global-e acts as the merchant of record and handles checkout and fulfilment, so it stores customer contact and shipping details along with order metadata such as products purchased and prices. Ledger said its own hardware, software, and self-custody systems were not breached, and no private keys, recovery phrases, or wallet balances were accessed. However, the stolen order data provided attackers with enough real-world context to launch targeted phishing campaigns that appeared credible because they referenced genuine purchase details.
Such information allows scammers to impersonate Ledger or delivery and payment partners, creating urgent stories about account security issues, blocked orders, or required verification to pressure users into clicking links or revealing their 24-word recovery phrases. Ledger notes that it never asks for this phrase and that phishing attempts often arrive through multiple channels including email, SMS, or phone calls. The incident highlights how risks can arise from companies in the commerce and logistics chain even when wallet technology itself remains secure, and reinforces the importance of treating unsolicited support messages as untrusted, verifying communications through official channels, and never entering recovery phrases anywhere except directly on the device. Source
Patrick Witt, executive director of the White House Council of Advisors on Digital Assets, criticized Coinbase for withdrawing support for the Senate’s CLARITY Act, warning that rejecting market-structure legislation now could lead to much harsher regulation later, especially if Democrats regain control after a future financial crisis. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong pulled backing in mid-January over concerns about provisions affecting stablecoin rewards, tokenized equities, and regulatory reach. Witt argued that the current political environment, with a pro-crypto president, Republican control of Congress, and favourable leadership at the SEC and CFTC, offers a rare chance to shape workable rules, while venture firm Andreessen Horowitz publicly sided with passing the imperfect bill as a step toward a more open and resilient crypto ecosystem.
The sharpest industry disagreement centres on how the bill defines stablecoin yield and rewards, with critics warning that vague language could cause legitimate activity such as liquidity incentives or transaction-based rewards to be treated as regulated interest or lending. Clearpool CEO Jakob Kronbichler said this ambiguity could undermine compliant business models and institutional use of on-chain liquidity, arguing that flawed certainty may be worse than temporary regulatory uncertainty. At the same time, the Office of Inspector General cautioned that the bill could strain the CFTC’s resources if it becomes the primary overseer of crypto spot markets. Despite these concerns, some executives expect regulators to focus on exchanges, custodians, and other consumer-facing operations rather than open-source code, and Witt reiterated that comprehensive crypto market rules are inevitable, calling the idea of indefinite operation without them unrealistic. Source
Chainlink announced it will add 24/5 US equities and ETF data streams to its market data services for crypto platforms, aiming to support trading, lending, and derivatives tied to tokenized stocks outside standard US market hours. The company said the product will deliver continuous, real-time pricing for major US equities and ETFs five days a week, helping crypto platforms tap into parts of the roughly 80 trillion US equities market. Chainlink argued that stocks are still underrepresented on-chain because they trade in fragmented sessions, unlike cryptocurrencies, and that growing demand for instruments such as equity perpetual futures is driving the need for high-quality data beyond traditional trading windows.
At least eight crypto protocols, including BitMEX, Lighter, ApeX, and Orderly Network, are already using the new data streams. The move comes as both crypto firms and traditional exchanges accelerate efforts to offer round-the-clock stock and ETF trading using blockchain technology, with the New York Stock Exchange developing a platform for 24/7 tokenized trading and instant settlement. US regulators are also studying the implications of always-on markets, with the SEC and CFTC exploring 24/7 trading and the CFTC having sought public input on continuous commodities trading earlier this year. Chainlink said the equities launch is an initial step and that it plans to expand coverage to more asset classes, countries, and potentially full 24/7 on-chain markets. Source
Markethive presents itself as a decentralized market network designed to protect free expression, resist censorship, and support global social and commercial interaction. It combines social networking, e-commerce, marketing, and content distribution into a single ecosystem where businesses can operate through customizable “supergroups” that function as storefronts and community hubs. The platform also targets artists and creators by offering global content distribution and income-generating mechanisms intended to support financial independence. Central to its design is the use of a blockchain-based distributed database and its native cryptocurrency, Hivecoin, which are meant to enable peer-to-peer transactions, reward participation, and give users direct ownership of their data while reducing reliance on centralized infrastructure.
The platform emphasizes community self-regulation instead of centralized moderation, allowing users to block others and control their own content feeds, which are presented in chronological order without algorithmic manipulation. It positions itself against data harvesting, targeted advertising, facial recognition, and long-term activity logging, and states that users can delete their accounts and export their content freely. To avoid censorship on major social media platforms, Markethive distributes limited summaries externally while hosting full content on its own network, where it claims material cannot be removed by third parties. Its stated goal is to create a secure, privately operated, blockchain-backed environment that protects digital property rights, supports continuous access to information, and promotes both freedom of speech and financial autonomy through decentralized technology. Source
Polymarket has started 2026 facing widening regulatory pressure in Europe and the United States, with authorities in Portugal and Hungary banning the platform for allegedly offering illegal gambling services. Portuguese regulators said the site is not authorized to provide betting and that wagering on political events is illegal under national law, while Hungary’s supervisory authority imposed a temporary block pending further assessment. In the U.S., Nevada’s Gaming Control Board filed a civil enforcement action seeking to halt unlicensed wagering, following similar moves in Tennessee where regulators ordered Polymarket, Kalshi, and Crypto.com to shut down sports-related prediction markets and refund users. These actions come despite the sector’s rapid growth, with major platforms handling more than $13.5 billion in monthly volume and tens of millions of transactions, driven in part by interest around the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
Operators argue that their platforms offer financial-style event contracts rather than gambling, but regulators and courts in several jurisdictions are unconvinced, and Kalshi is also facing a class action lawsuit in New York alleging it runs an illegal sportsbook. Additional concerns include the legality of political betting in many countries and the risk of insider trading, highlighted by a trader who earned more than $436,000 after correctly predicting the removal of Venezuela’s former president shortly before it occurred, prompting proposed U.S. legislation to bar federal employees from using prediction markets when they hold nonpublic information. While U.S. regulators recently allowed Polymarket to re-enter the American market after a 2022 ban and fine, industry observers say long-term viability will depend on building transparent, compliant frameworks that separate speculation from influence. Source
Patrick Witt, executive director of the President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, said the Senate must move quickly to pass a crypto market structure bill and accept compromises to secure enough votes. He argued that a comprehensive regulatory framework is inevitable for the multi-trillion-dollar crypto industry and criticized the idea that it can continue operating without clear rules. The legislation would define how the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission oversee crypto markets, but has faced delays as the Senate Banking and Agriculture Committees seek bipartisan backing, and opposition from some industry lobbyists who say parts of the bill are too restrictive on stablecoins and decentralized protocols.
Witt criticized Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong for withdrawing support and saying the industry would prefer no bill to a flawed one, arguing that the current political environment under President Trump offers a rare chance to pass relatively favorable legislation before potential Democratic control leads to stricter rules. He urged lawmakers and industry figures not to let perfect be the enemy of good, stressing that compromises are necessary to reach the 60 votes required in the Senate. His comments come as Republicans try to secure policy wins ahead of the November midterm elections, with polling and prediction markets suggesting Democrats could retake the House, a shift that could stall much of the administration’s remaining legislative agenda. Source
Trump Media and Technology Group plans to distribute new digital tokens to shareholders, setting February 2 as the record date for eligibility. The tokens will not represent stock or ownership in the company and are expected to be non-transferable, non-exchangeable for cash, and limited to beneficial owners holding at least one full share. Shareholders are advised to check with their brokers to avoid delays in eligibility, and the company hinted that additional rewards may be offered to token holders in the future.
The tokens will be minted in partnership with Crypto.com on the Cronos blockchain and could be used to access discounts or services within Trump Media’s ecosystem, including Truth Social subscriptions and fintech products like Truth.Fi and the prediction market Truth Predict. The initiative reflects the company’s broader effort to integrate cryptocurrency into its operations while complying with SEC regulations. Although the company has not disclosed full details about the token’s utility, the move aligns with a growing trend among firms exploring digital assets, even as regulators continue to scrutinize crypto’s role in mainstream finance. Source
Grayscale has filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to convert its NEAR Protocol Trust into an exchange-traded fund to be listed on the NYSE Arca. The NEAR Trust currently trades under the symbol GSNR on the OTCQB market and holds $900,000 in assets with a net asset value per share of $2.19, down 45% since its September debut. The proposed ETF conversion continues Grayscale’s established strategy of launching crypto products as private trusts, moving them to secondary markets, and eventually listing them as exchange-traded products, following similar conversions for its Digital Large Cap Fund, Chainlink Trust, and XRP Trust in 2025.
NEAR Protocol tokens have experienced a dramatic decline, falling 92% from their all-time high of just over $20 in January 2022 to around $1.54, reflecting broader weakness in altcoin markets and fading AI-driven hype. Despite the drop in performance, Grayscale is moving forward with the ETF filing to offer investors fractional ownership in NEAR tokens in a regulated, exchange-traded format. Analysts note that crypto exchange-traded product filings continue to increase, signaling ongoing institutional interest in packaging digital assets for broader market participation. Source
Lawmakers are considering giving the Commodity Futures Trading Commission a significantly expanded role in overseeing crypto markets, but the agency is facing a shrinking workforce and limited resources. The Office of Inspector General highlighted digital asset regulation as a top risk for fiscal year 2026, noting that pending legislation could sharply increase the CFTC’s responsibilities. To manage this growth, the agency would need to hire additional staff, develop technical expertise, and implement new data systems. Staffing has already fallen about 21.5% from roughly 708 employees in fiscal year 2024 to 556 in 2025, creating challenges for effective market surveillance, enforcement, and data collection beyond traditional derivatives oversight.
Negotiations over the CLARITY Act, which aims to clarify crypto regulatory boundaries between the CFTC and SEC and establish registration requirements, have stalled amid industry pushback and jurisdictional disputes in the Senate. The complexity of crypto markets, including prediction markets that transform real-world events into tradable contracts, adds further challenges. These on-chain, globally operating markets raise legal and institutional issues unfamiliar to the CFTC, requiring a regulatory approach that balances privacy with verifiable compliance rather than relying on blanket bans or full surveillance. Source
Bhutan is set to run a Sei Network validator in the first quarter, expanding its ongoing digital transformation efforts. The validator will be established through a partnership between the Sei Development Foundation and Druk Holding and Investments, the country’s main sovereign wealth fund. This move builds on Bhutan’s existing blockchain initiatives, including a Bitcoin mining operation and an Ethereum-powered self-sovereign ID system. The validator will support network security, transaction validation, and governance voting, while the collaboration signals Bhutan’s growing role in global blockchain innovation and its interest in leveraging technology for data valuation, scientific advancement, and financial services.
Looking ahead, Bhutan and the Sei Development Foundation are exploring additional projects such as tokenization and payments. Bhutan has become a quiet leader in crypto adoption, with its residents able to access government services via blockchain-based IDs and the country holding roughly 11,286 Bitcoins, largely mined domestically. The initiative also aligns with a broader trend of companies and countries deploying validators to strengthen blockchain networks, with examples including Deutsche Telekom and Google Cloud establishing validators across multiple chains. Source
Turmoil in Japan’s bond market has spilled over into global financial markets, pushing risk assets lower and raising concerns about tighter liquidity. Japanese government bond yields surged at a pace not seen since 2022, driving declines in U.S. Treasurys and rattling global rates markets. The Nikkei fell 2.5%, the S&P 500 dropped more than 2%, and Bitcoin fell 3.3% to around $89,300, while gold rose sharply. The scale of the move, described by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as a six-standard-deviation shock, highlights the abrupt return of volatility to sovereign debt markets and the potential for a reversal of Japan’s ultra-low interest rate environment that has long underpinned global borrowing and capital flows.
Market observers note that Japan’s central bank faces a difficult choice: tighten monetary policy and risk reducing global liquidity, or intervene to stabilize bonds and currency markets, potentially signaling greater debt monetization. Bitcoin’s price movements reflect this link to global liquidity, with its longer-term appeal tied to central banks’ responses to the stress. Analysts suggest that if the Bank of Japan engages in significant bond-buying, it reinforces the narrative of Bitcoin as an inflation-resistant, non-sovereign asset, while the broader outlook for tech-heavy equities and risk assets depends on whether liquidity conditions tighten or stabilize in the near term. Source
Galaxy, led by Mike Novogratz, is preparing to launch a $100 million hedge fund designed to profit from both rising and falling crypto prices. Set to debut in the first quarter, the fund will take long and short positions across digital assets and traditional financial stocks linked to blockchain adoption, regulation, and technology trends. Up to 30% of the fund’s capital will be allocated to crypto tokens, while the remainder targets financial services equities. Funding commitments have already been secured from family offices, high-net-worth individuals, and select institutions, with Galaxy making an undisclosed seed investment.
The launch reflects a shift in the crypto market, as Galaxy executives note that the “up-only” phase of the cycle may be ending, though major assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana remain relevant amid potential Federal Reserve rate cuts. The fund will also monitor traditional financial players affected by blockchain adoption, regulation, and artificial intelligence. This initiative follows Galaxy’s broader digital asset strategy, including a $1.5 billion investment spree and the recent launch of its first tokenized collateralized loan obligation on Avalanche, which finances Bitcoin and Ether-backed consumer loans and marks a step toward integrating private credit markets with blockchain infrastructure. Source
Disclaimer: These articles are provided for informational purposes only. They are not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or any other advice.
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