Weekly Rollup - January 20, 2026

Market highlights

• Bitcoin hit a two-month high of US$97,963 on cooling U.S. CPI data.
• The New York Stock exchange is developing a tokenised trading platform that will trade 24/7.
• Crypto industry says stablecoin yield limits language in market structure bill favours banks.
• Iran’s crypto economy reached US$7.8 billion in 2025, amid unrest across the country.
• World Liberty Financial’s USD1 was integrated on the Myriad prediction market.
• Bitwise’s Chainlink ETF launched on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Arca.

Macro market overview

Risk assets were flat last week as geopolitical developments, uncertainty over the U.S. Federal Reserve’s January 29 rate decision and new chair, and fourth-quarter earnings caused risk-off sentiment across markets. President Trump announced an additional 10% tariff on European nations, including Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany and the U.K. due to the nations not supporting U.S. control of Greenland. The tariffs will take effect from February 1. If a deal isn’t reached by June 1, the tariffs will increase to 25 per cent. Trump also said this week that he’d prefer to keep Kevin Hassett, National Economic Council Director, in his current role instead of appointing him to be the next U.S. Federal Reserve Chair when Jerome Powell’s term ends in May. Former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh is now the frontrunner for the job. According to CME’s Fed Watch tool, the likelihood of a rate cut at the Fed’s January 29 meeting currently stands at 5%.

In economic data, the U.S. consumer price index for the 12 months ending December 31, 2025 came in on forecast at 2.7%, while the U.S. producer price index for December came in below forecast at 0%.

This week, market participants will be monitoring geopolitical developments, the World Economic Forum’s (WEF’s) annual meetings , and updates to the U.S. core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, Bank of Japan (BoJ) rate decision, and U.S. flash manufacturing purchasing manager’s index (PMI).

Weekly performance: S&P 500 -0.1%, Dow Jones 0%, Nasdaq -0.4%.

Looking ahead:

• WEF annual meetings - Tuesday, January 20 and Wednesday, January 21
• U.S. core PCE price index - Thursday, January 22
• Bank of Japan policy rate decision - Friday, January 23 (tentative)
• U.S. flash manufacturing PMI - Friday, January 23

Crypto Market Performance

Sector performance was mixed this week, with about two thirds seeing declines, while some sectors saw minor gains. Gaming was the biggest gainer, with bridging services closely behind. The crypto fear and greed index is currently in neutral territory at 45. Following a sell off to end last week, the new week has also seen US$874 million in total liquidations, with long contracts making up US$788 million of these positions.

Biggest loser

• Gaming: Axie Infinity (+89%) gained as the sector saw broad gains, and new rewards on Axie Infinity: Origins were announced, including a new token. The non-tradable token, bAXS is designed to control token supply and reduce selling pressure.

Bitcoin (BTC)

• Opened the week at US$90,878, rallied to a two-month high of US$97,963 on Wednesday, January 14 and sold off on global macro uncertainty around President Trump’s tariffs, U.S. interest rates, and Q4 earnings. As bitcoin’s price gained throughout the start of the week, almost US$800 million in short-bitcoin positions were liquidated. Price is now trading around US$92,900 to start the new week (+1.9% 7D).
• BTC dominance ranged between 59.1% and 59.6% this week.
• Bitcoin investment products saw almost US$1.6 billion of inflows.

The nearly US$6.4 million worth of bitcoin seized from the creators of the privacy-focused Samourai Wallet has not been sold, the White House confirmed this week. Instead of being liquidated, the seized BTC will be added to the country’s bitcoin reserve, which was created in March 2025 using the nation’s seized holdings.

Bitcoin advocates urged U.S. lawmakers to reform crypto tax rules, calling for the expansion of de minimis exemptions on stablecoin transactions to bitcoin and other major networks. A letter, sent to congressional tax leaders this week, argued that cash-like treatment be applied for GENIUS-compliant stablecoins and qualifying tokens with a market cap of at least US$25 billion.

A report from Chainalysis outlined that Iran’s crypto economy reached US$7.8 billion in 2025, driven by rising bitcoin adoption amid nationwide protests and economic pressures. Bitcoin and other digital assets have been used for remittances, payments and value preservation as traditional financial channels faced constraints and citizens deal with hyperinflation.

Bitcoin treasury company, Semler Scientific, will be acquired by Strive Inc. in an all-stock transaction, with the combined company set to hold 12,797 BTC worth US$1.1 billion. Strive Inc. shares declined 13% on the news.

In bitcoin buying news:

• Steak and Shake’s bitcoin buying program has added US$10 million worth of bitcoin to its strategic reserve since it began accepting BTC payments eight months ago. All BTC payments are being directed into the firm’s strategic reserve.

Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.

Ethereum (ETH)

• Opened the week at US$3,118, rallied to a weekly high of US$3,405 on Wednesday, January 14 and then sold off due to global macro uncertainty. Ethereum is now trading around US$3,200 to start the new week (+3.5% 7D).
• Ethereum dominance hovered between 12.3% and 12.6% this week.
• Ethereum-focused funds saw inflows of US$496 million.

Daily transaction volume on the Ethereum network rose to a record 2.1 million last week, while transaction fees declined. These improvements are presumably linked to the blob-capacity increase that was part of the network’s Fusaka upgrade that went live on December 3, 2025.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin outlined a long-term roadmap focused on simplifying the protocol to ensure decentralisation and self-sovereignty. He warned that excessive complexity undermines the “walkaway test,” which is whether the Ethereum network could securely operate without core developers. To that end, Buterin is advocating for reducing code, dependencies, and technical debt.

Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.

Altcoins

The altcoin season index is currently at 39, which is still bitcoin season.

Mission possible

• Internet Computer (ICP) gained 23.7%. The cloud network, which decentralises computing power, gained when Dominic Williams, Internet Computer’s founder, released a white paper detailing “Mission 70,” which will cut inflation on new ICP tokens issued throughout 2026.

Stamp of approval

• XRP declined by 3%, despite another regulatory win for Ripple this week. Ripple, which created XRP, secured a preliminary Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license from Luxembourg’s financial regulator. The license will expand XRP-based payments and cross-border settlement across EU markets. XRP gained 3% on the news before declining with the broader market in the second half of the week.

Sui stalls

• Sui declined by 11.4%. The layer-1 blockchain resumed operations after a six-hour network outage caused by software execution stalls. Developers implemented fixes to restore transaction processing and validator coordination, while the team said an upgraded version is coming to reduce future disruptions. Sui is currently trading at US$1.56.

Crypto ETF News

Digital asset investment products saw inflows of almost US$2.2 billion, the largest inflows since October 2025. These inflows predominantly occurred in the front half of the week before global macro uncertainty caused risk-off sentiment.

In altcoins, Solana saw inflows of US$45.5 million, while XRP, Sui, Lido and Hedera saw inflows of US$69.5 million, US$5.7 million, US$3.7 million, and US$2.6 million, respectively.

Bitwise’s Chainlink ETF launched on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Arca on Wednesday, January 14, sending Chainlink to the highest prices it has seen in a month.

Other crypto news

• The mark-up vote on the U.S. Senate’s crypto market structure bill was delayed due to a last-minute reversal in industry support for the bill. Crypto industry spokespeople say the current bank-backed amendments around stablecoin yield limits offered by crypto companies is designed to protect the banking sector. Policymakers will now revisit the wording in key sections of the bill, with a view to proceeding to a mark-up vote in late January.
• Trump-linked World Liberty Financial’s dollar-pegged stablecoin USD1 has been integrated as the first base settlement asset on the Myriad prediction market, enabling users to trade markets denominated in USD1 on BNB Chain. The launch aims to increase liquidity and utility for USD1 within prediction markets while standardising settlement infrastructure. Also this week, Pakistan’s Ministry of Finance signed a memorandum of understanding with World Liberty Financial to explore stablecoin use for cross-border transactions.
• The New York Stock Exchange is developing a tokenised trading platform, which will include 24/7 operations, instant settlement, stablecoin-based funding, and orders sized in dollar amounts. Fractional share trading will also be available on the new platform. It will launch after it receives the appropriate regulatory approvals.
• South Korean authorities and Google Play are tightening crypto access by blocking unregistered foreign exchange and wallet apps from the Play Store unless they prove registration with the country’s Financial Intelligence Unit. The move restricts Android users’ ability to download or update major offshore crypto platforms, reinforcing local regulatory compliance.
• Visa is partnering with BVNK to enable stablecoin payouts through Visa Direct, allowing businesses to send real-time USD-pegged transfers on blockchain rails using Visa’s global payout network. The integration aims to combine stablecoin speed with existing payment infrastructure, expanding crypto’s utility for commercial remittances and digital disbursements under regulated frameworks.