On Monday, Tether reported that its XAUt tokenized gold product now exceeds $2.2 billion in value and represents more than half of the gold‑backed stablecoin segment. The milestone comes as Comex gold moves above $5,000 per troy ounce and the US Dollar Index, which dropped 9.4% in 2025 and another 2.4% since Jan. 19, hits its weakest level since September amid central bank gold buying.

US lawmakers and regulators are expected to revisit crypto market structure on Thursday, 29 January, after winter storms delayed federal activities. The Senate Agriculture Committee will hold a 10:30 a.m. ET markup on the Digital Commodities Intermediary Act, while the SEC and CFTC plan a 2:00 p.m. ET harmonization session, with amendments ranging from ethics rules to national security and consumer protection likely to shape the bill's final scope.

Bitwise Asset Management launched its first curated onchain vault on Morpho, aiming for up to 6% yield on USDC by deploying into over-collateralized lending markets while keeping user funds non-custodial. The firm oversees strategy and real-time risk and may add other stablecoins and DeFi approaches. Kraken also unveiled a vault-based "DeFi Earn" targeting up to 8% yields.

As markets approach the January 28 FOMC meeting, futures pricing indicates around a 97% chance the Federal Reserve will keep the federal funds rate at 3.75%. Inflation near 3.0%, robust fourth-quarter growth and only modest labor market cooling support expectations for a pause, while rising political pressure and a 2026 leadership horizon add uncertainty to the longer-term rate path.

On 26 January 2026, Binance announced it will introduce a Tesla-linked TSLAUSDT perpetual futures contract, scheduled to go live on 28 January 2026 at 14:30 UTC. The instrument will mirror Tesla's Nasdaq share price, trade 24/7 with up to 5x leverage, settle in USDT and offer a minimum position size of 0.01 TSLA with a notional starting from 5 USDT.

BlackRock has submitted an S-1 registration statement dated 23 January 2026 for the planned iShares Bitcoin Premium Income ETF, moving a step closer to launching a Bitcoin-focused income product. The fund aims to track Bitcoin’s price while generating additional yield of about 8–12% annually through covered call strategies on IBIT shares and other spot Bitcoin ETPs. The filing comes as BlackRock’s existing IBIT spot Bitcoin ETF holds roughly $69.85 billion in assets, even as Bitcoin trades below $90,000 and analysts highlight potential downside toward $74,000 or lower.

The RIVER token surged to a new all‑time high of $87.73 before dropping back below $80, while most of its supply remains in insider‑linked wallets. Launched in late 2025 by DeFi protocol River, Inc., the asset shows heavy concentration on Base and BNB Chain, with a small circulating float and highly leveraged derivatives trading contributing to sharp volatility. Analysts caution that large whale profits, single‑provider liquidity on PancakeSwap, and ongoing token unlocks may increase the likelihood of severe price swings.

On January 26, 2026, CoinShares reported institutional outflows of $1.73 billion from digital asset investment products over the latest week, the largest since mid-November 2025. Bitcoin saw $1.09 billion in outflows, with Ethereum at $630 million, while Solana recorded $17.1 million in inflows. The US led with nearly $1.8 billion exiting, as Switzerland, Canada and Germany posted inflows.