Crypto analyst @AliCharts says a potential US-Japan currency intervention could be one of the biggest macro signals for Bitcoin in 2026. US officials recently ran dollar-yen rate checks, a step that often comes before direct market action. Rate checks do not mean intervention is certain. But historically, this is how authorities test the waters before …
Former London Stock Exchange Group executive Sabina Liu will lead KuCoin EU’s MiCA-era expansion from Vienna, as the exchange pivots toward a compliance-first European strategy.
Gold and silver have gone on a record-setting tear in recent months, ripping through fresh all-time highs, while Bitcoin has been stuck grinding sideways in a tight $84,000–$94,000 box since mid-November. In a January 27 video posted to X, Anthony Pompliano argued the gap is less about a single catalyst and more about shifting demand drivers, market structure, and a new fight for attention and risk capital. Pompliano framed the disconnect with blunt scorekeeping. “We have gold, which is up 80% in the last year. Silver’s up 250%, copper’s up 40%, and platinum’s up nearly 200% over the last 12 months,” he said, before turning to the contrast: “At the same exact time, Bitcoin is down 16% over the last year.” In his telling, the metals aren’t moving as a monolith, they’re responding to different sources of demand. Gold, he said, is benefiting from central banks accumulating reserves and what he described as “a definitization of the global economy,” where flows rotate out of dollars not into other fiat, but into gold. Silver, by contrast, is less about store-of-value positioning and more about industrial pull. Pompliano pointed to defense equipment, AI hardware, and self-driving cars as examples of end-demand, arguing that “the world is building things again” and that re-industrialization makes silver a direct beneficiary. Related Reading: Expert Who Nailed The Bitcoin Top Now Says Buy At These Levels Copper and platinum, in his framework, are even cleaner industrial stories. Copper rides electrification (EVs, grid buildouts, renewables) and “significant industrial demand.” Platinum’s move, he argued, is supply constrained, describing “very, very low supply” that creates a market structure favorable to holders. Pompliano also highlighted what he called a rotation within metals where gold led, then silver, and more recently copper and platinum, a sequence he dubbed “the metals mania.” So Why Hasn’t Bitcoin Joined The Run? Pompliano’s first answer was structural: Wall Street’s adoption is changing who holds Bitcoin and how it trades. He described an “IPO moment of Bitcoin,” (referring to Jordy Visser’s theory), where long-term holders have been handing coins off to institutional players. In Pompliano’s view, some early holders owned Bitcoin precisely because it was “outside the system,” and the asset’s migration into mainstream finance may reduce enthusiasm from that cohort. He also pointed to public comments from Peter Thiel and others suggesting Bitcoin’s future may be less “asymmetric” than its early years. The second structural shift is the proliferation of financial instruments around BTC. “It used to be really hard to short Bitcoin. Well, now you can do it very simply,” Pompliano said, arguing that options and shorting change the market’s plumbing and dampen volatility. “Bitcoin used to be an 80 vol asset. Now it’s more like a 40 vol asset,” he added, positioning the trade-off as fewer parabolic upside phases but also fewer catastrophic drawdowns. From there, Pompliano moved to narrative demand — specifically, the idea that Bitcoin had been treated as a “chaos hedge.” He argued that recent perceptions of rising geopolitical stability have reduced the perceived need for that insurance bid, while central banks, with far larger pools of capital, continue to express their hedge preference through gold. “It seems like there is not as much of a bid for Bitcoin coming as this insurance hedge,” he said, stressing he viewed it as a flow and narrative issue rather than a loss of utility. Related Reading: Global Liquidity Says Bitcoin Is Extremely Undervalued – Here’s The ‘Real’ Figure He made a similar point about inflation hedging, claiming disinflation has undercut one of Bitcoin’s most effective recent narratives. Citing Trueflation, Pompliano said the metric showed 1.2% inflation, “150 basis points lower than it was just 90 days ago,” and argued that AI and tariffs are deflationary forces. If investors don’t expect inflation to run hot, he reasoned, some capital simply won’t reach BTC. Finally, he argued Bitcoin is losing mindshare and speculative oxygen to AI and to a broader set of “risk-taking” outlets. “There is simply more competition,” Pompliano said, extending the idea beyond markets into an attention economy where every asset competes when users open a financial app and decide where to allocate leftover cash. In that framing, Bitcoin is no longer the default high-upside wager for younger participants; it’s competing with AI equities, prediction markets, and sports betting. Why is bitcoin lagging while gold, silver, copper, and platinum continue to go higher? I break down the forces driving the metals rally, how Wall Street adoption has reshaped Bitcoin’s market structure, and why inflation expectations, global stability, and AI are influencing… pic.twitter.com/VzATl6ZCYi — Anthony Pompliano ???? (@APompliano) January 27, 2026 Pompliano’s closing message was that laggards can catch up and that he sees Bitcoin as “more interesting sitting at $87,000 than it was at $126,000.” But he also cautioned that a lower-volatility, more institutional Bitcoin may demand a different temperament from holders. “If you actually get impatient, you’re going to be disappointed. You’re going to get shaken out,” he said, arguing that the trade increasingly resembles a waiting game rather than a yearly sprint. At press time, BTC traded at $88,131. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
Hyperliquid (HYPE) extended its rebound in the latest session, climbing over 25% as trading activity across its HIP-3 derivatives markets surged to new highs and large wallets increased exposure. The move places HYPE among the strongest performers in the decentralized exchange segment, even as broader altcoin markets remain range-bound. The latest rally appears to be …
Japan's FSA has opened a consultation on draft rules defining which bonds are eligible for stablecoin reserves under 2025 law amendments.
Traders spotted multiple signals that suggest Bitcoin could be gearing up for another bull run, but onchain data still highlights weakness in the market.
With the Federal Reserve set to announce its latest policy decision, markets are calm but not relaxed. Interest rates are widely expected to stay where they are, yet Bitcoin traders are paying close attention to what comes next. Veteran financial trader Matthew Dixon said interest rates are likely to remain unchanged at the upcoming FOMC …
The year began on a bullish note for Bitcoin and the broader crypto market, with BTC rallying toward the $98,100 level, reviving expectations of a fresh push above $100,000. However, the momentum proved unsustainable. Buyers failed to defend higher levels, triggering a sharp corrective move that dragged the price back below $90,000. Since then, Bitcoin …
As the crypto market recovers from the latest pullback, Bitcoin (BTC) is attempting to bounce from its one-month low. Some analysts have warned that the correction has left the cryptocurrency in a “fragile position” that resembles the start of the previous bear market. Related Reading: XRP At ‘Critical Inflection Point’: Analyst Signals Major Expansion If This Level Holds Bitcoin Risks 2022-Like Correction On Sunday, Bitcoin saw a 3.6% intraday decline, closing the day below its yearly opening for the first time. Since November, the flagship crypto has been hovering between $86,000-$93,500 in the weekly timeframe, failing to turn the range’s resistance into support despite multiple attempts. During the early January breakout, BTC climbed 11.5% from its $87,600 2026 opening price, reaching a two-month high of $97,924 nearly two weeks ago. Since then, the cryptocurrency has erased all its recent gains, diving below this key area and closing the week at the base of its range. Amid this performance, Market observer Philarekt affirmed that Bitcoin is repeating its 2022 playbook, highlighting the similarities between the leading crypto’s performance at the start of the last bear market and its current price action. As the chart shows, the cryptocurrency formed a bear flag pattern after the initial drop from its cycle top of $69,000. At the time, the cryptocurrency tested and rejected the 100-day Moving Average (MA), leading to a pullback towards the pattern’s lower boundary. This was followed by a rebound towards the formation’s upper boundary, where the 200-day MA was located, and a rejection from this area, which led to a breakdown from the pattern and 55% correction. This time, Bitcoin has rejected from the 100-day MA and is currently retesting the pattern’s support line. Based on this, he suggested that the flagship crypto could see one more leg up toward the 200-day MA, located around the $100,000 barrier, before “the real show” begins. BTC Price In Precarious Position Meanwhile, Rekt Capital explained that Bitcoin was in a “particularly fragile position,” as it needed to hold the previous week’s marginal close above the range high. “When Weekly Closes occur marginally beyond a key level, the subsequent retest becomes structurally precarious,” he detailed. In his analysis, the market watcher noted that Bitcoin saw a sharp rejection from the $98,000 region, where the 21-week and 50-week Bull Market Exponential Moving Averages (EMAs) are located. This coincided with the loss of a higher low structure that had been building similarly to 2021. “Losing that Higher Low is significant, as it removes a key structural buffer that could have supported continued consolidation within the Weekly Range,” he asserted. The rejection has shifted focus to the strength of the $86,000 support and the character of the upcoming rebounds from this area. He warned that shallower bounces from the range lows would suggest weakening demand, increasing the chances of a breakdown below this support. Related Reading: Crypto Traders Share Odds Of XRP Price Rising 40% This Year, Can It Still Rally? Strong rejections that lead to downside continuation historically tend to occur later in the cycle toward the end of Q1 or the start of Q2, Rekt Capital pointed out, but Bitcoin is already testing the lower boundary of its weekly range. This adds “importance to the integrity of this support, as any early breakdown would represent a shift relative to that typical timing.” At the moment, the weekly range remains pivotal, “acting as the key decision point between a prolonged relief structure and the risk of deeper downside,” the analyst concluded. Featured Image from Unsplash.com, Chart from TradingView.com
South Korea’s stablecoin debate remains stalled as the central bank raises concerns over capital flows, issuer oversight and US dollar-linked risks.
Around 60% of the top 25 U.S. banks are now offering or developing Bitcoin products, including trading, custody, and lending solutions. PNC leads with full-service offerings for private clients, while Wells Fargo provides Bitcoin-backed loans for institutions. J.P. Morgan, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley are actively exploring crypto integration. Even Bank of America is starting to …
The liquidity rotation seems to have begun for the other altcoins as the top ones are consolidating within a tight range. After maintaining weeks of descending consolidation, the Hyperliquid (HYPE) price has triggered a massive upswing. This has induced huge confidence among the market participants, as volume has also surged by more than 100%. Along …
Global markets were caught off guard when gold and silver suddenly crashed, wiping out nearly $1.7 trillion in value in just 90 minutes. The scale of the move was massive, even larger than the combined market value of major cryptocurrencies like Ethereum, BNB, XRP, Solana, and others. As money moved out of safe assets, attention …
Data shows the ERC-20 stablecoin market cap has just seen a notable drop for the first time in years, something that could have a knock-on effect on Bitcoin. ERC-20 Stablecoin Market Cap Has Gone Down During The Past Week As highlighted by CryptoQuant author Darkfrost in an X post, stablecoins have witnessed outflows over the past week. A “stablecoin” is a cryptocurrency that has its price pegged to a fiat currency, with tokens based on the US Dollar being the most popular. Generally, investors store their capital in the form of these assets when they want to avoid the volatility associated with Bitcoin and other coins. Traders who keep stablecoins usually plan to venture back into the volatile side of the market, however, which is why the supply of these coins is often considered as a sort of “dry powder” reserve for BTC and company. Related Reading: XRP, Ethereum Now ‘Undervalued’ On MVRV, Says Santiment Stablecoins are available on several blockchains, but the ones of relevance here are specifically the ERC-20 tokens running on the Ethereum network. Below is the chart shared by Darkfrost that shows the trend in the combined market cap of the assets of this type over the last few years. As displayed in the graph, the supply of the ERC-20 stablecoins saw a phase of growth during the second phase of 2025, indicating that capital was flowing into these assets. At the same time as this growth, Bitcoin and other assets rallied, suggesting that the sector as a whole was witnessing net capital inflows. When the volatile coins saw a bearish shift, however, the stables also observed a change in trajectory. From the chart, it’s apparent that these tokens hit a plateau alongside the market mood swing. This means that while capital wasn’t flowing out of the stables, it wasn’t flowing in, either. In the past week, though, this sideways movement has broken, with the market cap of the ERC-20 stablecoins registering a drop. More specifically, $7 billion in capital has flowed out of these assets, taking the market cap from $162 billion to $155 billion. Whenever the stablecoin supply declines, one possibility is always that investors are simply rotating into Bitcoin. The original cryptocurrency’s price has also gone down in this window, however, a potential sign that the drop represents outflows to fiat. Related Reading: Dogecoin Wedge Breakout Could Be “Powerful,” Analyst Says As the analyst explained: This is a very negative signal, explained by the fact that some investors are choosing to fully exit the crypto market, which continues to correct, while precious metals keep surging and equity markets maintain a strong underlying uptrend. This is the first time this cycle that such a rapid decline in the stablecoin market cap has occurred. It now remains to be seen whether this is a temporary deviation or the start of a new trend. BTC Price Bitcoin has bounced up a bit since its Sunday low as its price is now back at $88,300. Featured image from Dall-E, chart from TradingView.com
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin detailed a clear approach to scaling blockchains efficiently. He explained that computation is the easiest to scale using tools like parallel processing and zero-knowledge proofs. Data comes next, with solutions like erasure coding and PeerDAS allowing lighter nodes to verify information without full downloads. State is the hardest, as it requires …
Axie Infinity (AXS) is back in focus after posting one of its massive intraday rallies in this month, rising over 33% today as traders reacted to the launch of bAXS, a new token utility layer designed to expand participation across the ecosystem. The move comes at a time when most altcoins remain trapped in tight …
Australia's Federal Court ordered BPS Financial to pay $1.3 million for unlicensed conduct and $8 million for misleading and deceptive representations.
January 27, 2026 07:43:40 UTC Trump Threatens Higher Tariffs on South Korea President Donald Trump has warned that the United States could raise tariffs on South Korean goods to as much as 25%. He cited frustration over South Korea’s slow implementation of last year’s trade agreement. The warning signals rising trade tensions between Washington and …
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has flagged digital assets and AI risks in its annual report.
Tether, the company behind the world’s largest stablecoin USDT, has disclosed a substantial expansion of its gold holdings, underscoring a growing shift toward hard‑asset backing amid uncertainty across crypto and traditional financial markets. Tether Expands Gold‑Backed Stablecoin Reserves Gold crossed the $5,000 per ounce threshold for the first time on Monday, a milestone that market observers had not previously seen. Prices briefly climbed to around $5,110 per ounce as safe‑haven demand accelerated. Tether revealed that it significantly increased its gold exposure during the fourth quarter of 2025. The company disclosed that gold‑backed stablecoins (XAU₮) experienced rapid growth throughout the year, with total market capitalization rising from roughly $1.3 billion to more than $4 billion. Related Reading: Expert Who Nailed The Bitcoin Top Now Says Buy At These Levels According to Tether’s attestation report, this expansion was fueled by record‑high gold prices, rising geopolitical fragmentation, and growing demand from both institutional investors and crypto‑native users for fully on‑chain safe‑haven assets. Within the gold‑backed stablecoin sector, Tether Gold emerged as the dominant issuer, accounting for approximately 60% of the total supply in circulation. By the end of the fourth quarter, total physical gold reserves stood at 520,089.350 fine troy ounces. Each token is backed on a one‑to‑one basis by a fine troy ounce of physical gold. At current prices, the total market value of these holdings reached approximately $2.25 billion. Crypto Giant Ranks Among Top 30 Global Gold Holders Tether confirmed that all gold reserves are securely stored in Switzerland and comply fully with the London Good Delivery standards established by the London Bullion Market Association, a key benchmark for institutional gold custody. The scale of Tether’s accumulation has also positioned the company among major global gold holders. Based on data from the International Monetary Fund and a Jefferies report published in late 2025, Tether now ranks within the top 30 gold holders worldwide. Its holdings surpass those of several countries, including Greece, Qatar, and Australia. During the fourth quarter of 2025 alone, Tether Gold Investments added roughly 27 metric tons of gold to its exposure. Related Reading: Crypto Traders Share Odds Of XRP Price Rising 40% This Year, Can It Still Rally? Paolo Ardoino, Tether’s CEO, said the company’s growing role in gold markets carries significant responsibility. He emphasized that Tether Gold is designed to bring clarity and verifiability at a time when confidence in traditional monetary systems is being tested. Ardoino noted that each XAU₮ token represents vaulted physical gold that can be independently verified on‑chain, adding that the product’s rapid growth reflects rising expectations for tokenized assets to meet the same standards as sovereign and institutional reserves. Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com
This week is packed with major U.S. economic and political events, and crypto investors are watching closely. From the Federal Reserve’s rate decision to inflation data, and together they could influence how Bitcoin and altcoins may react next. Lets see what are the key U.S event to watch this week,. 28 Jan : FOMC interest-rate …
Brian Armstrong, the CEO of crypto exchange Coinbase, said a takeaway from his time at the Davos forum was that most of the bank CEOs he met were pro-crypto.
GameFi tokens are showing early signs of revival, with Axie Infinity emerging as one of the stronger performers. After spending months under sustained bearish pressure, the AXS price has decisively reversed course, supported by both technical momentum and recent changes to the project’s token economics. The rally gained traction after Axie Infinity introduced bAXS, effectively …
Kalshi, a federally-approved entity, has been battling state-level enforcement actions over its sports event contracts.
Senator Roger Marshall filed an amendment to the market structure bill last week that would force companies to compete on swipe fees.
On-chain analytics firm Santiment has pointed out how XRP and Ethereum are among coins sitting in the MVRV Ratio’s “undervalued” zone. 30-Day MVRV Is Negative For XRP & Ethereum In a new post on X, on-chain analytics firm Santiment has talked about where some notable cryptocurrencies like XRP and Bitcoin currently sit from the perspective of the 30-day Market Value to Realized Value (MVRV) Ratio. The MVRV Ratio is a popular indicator that tells us how the market cap of a given digital asset compares against its Realized Cap. The latter is an on-chain capitalization model that calculates the asset’s total value by assuming that the value of each individual token is equal to the spot price at which it was last transacted on the network. Related Reading: Dogecoin Wedge Breakout Could Be “Powerful,” Analyst Says In short, what the Realized Cap represents is the total amount of capital that the cryptocurrency’s investors have put into it. In contrast, the usual market cap is just the value that holders are carrying in the present. Since the MVRV Ratio takes the ratio of the two, it essentially provides a look into profitability among investors as a whole. In the context of the current topic, the MVRV Ratio of only a particular segment of traders is of interest: those who purchased within the past month. Below is the chart for this version of the MVRV Ratio shared by Santiment that shows its trend across five top coins: Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Cardano, and Chainlink. As is visible in the graph, the 30-day MVRV Ratio has dropped into the negative region for all five of these cryptocurrencies recently, indicating that returns of the monthly buyers have gone into the red. The analytics firm considers assets to be “undervalued” when this condition forms. “A coin having a negative percentage means average traders you’re competing with are down money, and there is an opportunity to enter while profits are below the normal ‘zero-sum game’ level,” explained Santiment. Not all tokens with a negative value on the indicator provide an equal opportunity, however. “The lower a coin’s 30-day MVRV is, the less risk there is in opening or adding on to your position,” noted the analytics firm. Related Reading: Bitcoin Supply Overhang Likely To Cap Rallies Above $98,400, Glassnode Says Down to a value of -5%, Santiment defines cryptocurrencies to be in a “mildly undervalued” zone. Bitcoin has a 30-day MVRV value of 3.7%, so it falls inside this territory. Meanwhile, XRP and Ethereum have the metric sitting at -5.7% and -7.6%, putting them inside a stronger undervalued region. Out of the tokens in the chart, Chainlink’s 30-day buyers are currently in the most amount of pain with losses of 9.5%. XRP Price XRP dropped to a low of $1.8 on Sunday, but the asset has since bounced back above $1.9. Featured image from Dall-E, chart from TradingView.com
Ethereum transaction fees have dropped to their lowest levels since May 2017, even as network activity hits record highs. Daily transactions reached nearly 2.9 million on January 16, highlighting strong usage. Fees fell after major scalability upgrades, including the Fusaka hard fork in December 2025, which tripled the block gas limit. With gas prices close …
Hyperliquid's HIP-3, also known as "Builder Deployed Perpetuals," lets anyone who stakes 500,000 HYPE to create a new perpetual futures market on the Hyperliquid blockchain.
Polymarket has launched new prediction markets tied to Volmex's bitcoin and ether 30-day implied volatility indices.
The warning comes as Canberra moves to close digital-asset regulatory gaps through long-awaited licensing legislation.