Your day-ahead look for Jan. 16, 2026
Shares climb more than 5% in pre-market trading as the company reinforces long term Bitcoin strategy.
Belarus has signed Decree No. 19, legally creating crypto banks that can combine digital token operations with traditional banking services such as payments and deposits. These institutions must be joint-stock companies registered as residents of the High-Tech Park and listed in the National Bank’s crypto bank registry, and they’ll operate under dual oversight by park …
Experts say bitcoin and crypto market liquidity are increasingly concentrated in institutional channels, with macro forces driving prices.
The Kaito price fell sharply in today’s session, sliding more than 20% as the market responded to a sudden breakdown in the token’s core utility model. The move followed X’s decision to ban reward-for-posting InfoFi applications and revoke API access tied to incentivized engagement, a direct hit to the mechanism that previously drove Kaito’s usage …
The rules allow banks to combine token activity with payments and financial services under central bank and tech park oversight.
Bitcoin price has once again notched a strong higher high, pushing to the doorstep of a key resistance near $98,100. The structure has remained constructive since the November rebound, when price flipped the trend and started reclaiming levels that previously acted as bearish pressure. After tagging the $98,000 zone, momentum has cooled, and BTC is …
The crypto lender's agreement with the Formula 1 team follows its sponsorship of the Australian Open
The strategist's exit highlights growing concerns over quantum computing's potential to disrupt Bitcoin, influencing institutional investment strategies.
The post Top Wall Street equity strategist exits Bitcoin over quantum computing threat appeared first on Crypto Briefing.
Hachette and Cengage allege Google bypassed licensing to train Gemini, calling it “historic copyright infringement.”
Belarus authorized "cryptobanks" on Jan. 16, allowing certain firms to combine token services with traditional banking operations.
Ethereum’s on-chain activity has jumped sharply, driven by a wave of first-time users and heavier transaction flow across the network. According to Glassnode, new activity retention roughly doubled this month — rising from about 4 million to around 8 million addresses — a move that points to a fresh cohort of wallets interacting with Ethereum rather than just repeat users. Related Reading: Bitcoin’s New Power Buyers: Companies Bought 3 Times What Miners Produced Surge In New Users Daily transactions hit a record high of 2.8 million on Thursday, a figure that is up 125% from the same period last year. Based on reports from Etherscan, active addresses have more than doubled year-over-year, moving from roughly 410,000 accounts to over 1 million as of Jan. 15. Those numbers suggest real, broad-based engagement is increasing, not merely short-lived spikes. Ethereum’s Month-over-Month Activity Retention shows a sharp spike in the “New” cohort, indicating a surge in first-time interacting addresses over the past 30 days. This reflects a notable influx of new wallets engaging with the Ethereum network, rather than activity being… pic.twitter.com/h8Zw7hXOSX — glassnode (@glassnode) January 15, 2026 Transaction Boom And L2 Effects Observers link the transaction growth in part to rising stablecoin activity and lower fees. Reports have disclosed that many transfers are migrating execution to Layer 2 networks while settlement stays on Ethereum’s main chain, which keeps finality secure and helps push down gas costs. Staking has also climbed, reaching nearly 36 million ETH, adding another layer to the network’s tightening supply dynamics. At the same time, market behavior remains careful. Strength in US equities has helped stabilize crypto prices, yet money flowing into Ethereum looks selective rather than broad. It seems that positioning is rather conservative; traders prefer waiting for more accurate signals regarding ETH prices instead of attempting to predict a breakout. In turn, ETH is consolidating around a correction, but there is not enough momentum-driven buying. Analyst Views & Price Movement There were also those who cited optimism based on improvements to on-chain fundamentals. For instance, LVRG Research reported that the increasing number of transactions and staking activities encouraged a positive network. Some traders argue the compression in price action could precede a breakout. Ether traded near a two-month high of $3,400 on Wednesday and was around $3,300 in early trading on Friday, reflecting the tug of war between renewed demand and persistent caution. Despite the stronger metrics, technical hurdles remain. Reports and recent analysis suggest the market is in a repair phase, not a confirmed uptrend. Overhead supply still constrains sustained advances, and many market participants want to see ETH reclaim key long-term resistance levels, such as the 200-day EMA, before committing large-scale capital. That explains why short-term traders operate inside a defined range while longer-term players hold back. Related Reading: Ethereum Staking Hits Record Levels As Buterin Urges Builders To Deliver Real Apps What This Means For Traders And Investors Network health has improved materially — more users, more transactions, and higher staking — but price action has not yet matched those gains. Based on the data presented, cautious optimism is reasonable. Traders may find chance to trade the range, while investors looking for conviction should wait for cleaner technical confirmation before assuming a sustained rally. Featured image from Blockzeit/EthBurn, chart from TradingView
Bitcoin (BTC) nearly touched $98,000 overnight before settling around $96,000, up roughly 5.5% over recent sessions. The rally reignited a familiar question: is this the setup for a sustained move above $100,000, or another fragile push built on thin order books and positioning games? Glassnode's latest analysis reveals a nuanced picture, where mechanical positioning drove […]
The post Bitcoin just touched a critical price point but this order book signal suggests the move to $100k might backfire appeared first on CryptoSlate.
Major CoinDesk indexes moved less than 1% on Friday as bitcoin consolidated above a key breakout level, while dash extended its advance.
Federal prosecutors said Brian Garry Sewell defrauded investors of nearly $3 million and ran an unlicensed cash-to-crypto business that moved more than $5 million.
Belarus has formally legalized crypto banks, marking a notable shift in how the country approaches digital assets. President Alexander Lukashenko has signed a decree allowing financial institutions to offer cryptocurrency services alongside traditional banking products such as deposits, transfers, and loans. On the surface, the move signals Belarus’ intent to blend on-chain finance with familiar …
Google will require proof of FIU registration acceptance for crypto apps, raising compliance hurdles for offshore exchanges serving South Korean users.
The recovery may continue as long as Bitcoin achieves a daily close above $98,000, with the technical setup projecting 18% gains ahead.
Moldova plans to introduce its first crypto law in 2026, aligning with the EU’s MiCA framework while warning citizens about digital asset risks.
TRON (TRX) is showing inherent strength and is holding firm after rising higher in this week. Instead of retracing sharply or giving back gains, Tron price has settled into a higher range, with buyers accumulating to push toward higher levels. This signals more short-term enthusiasm among market participants, suggesting growing confidence. While broader momentum across …
XRP has become one of the most searched cashtags on X, showing growing interest in the token. According to Nikita Bier, Head of Product at X, recent data shows XRP ranking alongside popular names such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tesla, and GameStop. The strong search activity reflects XRP’s active online community and ongoing interest in Ripple-related …
CME Group, the world’s largest derivatives marketplace, is set to broaden its crypto product lineup with the launch of futures contracts for Cardano (ADA), Chainlink (LINK), and Stellar (XLM). Trading is scheduled to begin on February 9, subject to regulatory approval. The move marks another step in CME’s push to bring more regulated crypto derivatives …
The institutional bitcoin manager expands its mandate as demand for professional risk-managed digital asset strategies grows.
Cathie Wood is arguing that the next phase of US policy and macro could recreate an early-1980s style risk-on regime, one that, in her telling, strengthens the case for bitcoin as a portfolio diversifier even as it complicates the “digital gold” narrative. In a post on X, the ARK Invest CEO said “the next three years could be Reaganomics on steroids,” pointing to deregulation, tax cuts, “sound monetary policy,” and “peace through strength” as ingredients for a stronger dollar and capped gold prices. Her January 15 “New Year letter,” titled Cathie Wood’s 2026 Outlook: The US Economy Is A Coiled Spring, lays out the mechanics behind that analogy and places crypto explicitly inside the policy and productivity story. A “Coiled Spring” Macro Thesis Wood’s central claim is that the US has looked sturdier than it really is because weakness has rotated through rate-sensitive pockets rather than hitting the whole economy at once. “Despite sustained real gross domestic product (GDP) growth during the past three years, the underlying US economy has suffered a rolling recession and has evolved into a coiled spring that could bounce back powerfully during the next few years. In response to COVID-related supply shocks, the record-breaking 22-fold surge in the Fed funds rate from 0.25% in March 2022 to 5.5% in the sixteen months ended July 2023 pushed housing, manufacturing, non-AI capital spending, and low-to-middle income America into recession.” Related Reading: Bitcoin Rally Accompanied By ‘Very Bullish’ Whale-Retail Behavior, Santiment Says She anchors the housing leg with a specific trough: existing home sales fell 40% from a 5.9 million annual rate in January 2021 to 3.5 million in October 2023, which she notes is “a level last seen in November 2010.” From there, Wood pivots to policy impulse and cash-flow relief. “Thanks to the confluence of deregulation and lower taxes (including tariffs), inflation, and interest rates, the rolling recession which has characterized the last few years in the US could turn quickly and sharply during the next year and beyond. Deregulation is unleashing innovation in every sector, led by the first AI and Crypto Czar, David Sacks, in the AI and digital assets space. Meanwhile, lower taxes on tips, overtime, and social security should hand US consumers significant refunds this quarter, potentially driving real disposable income growth up from ~2% at an annual rate during the second half of 2025 to ~8.3% this quarter.” She also argues corporate cash flows could be boosted by accelerated depreciation, writing that it could push the effective corporate tax rate “down toward 10%,” with 100% first-year depreciation for equipment, software and domestic R&D made permanent and retroactive to January 1, 2025. Gold, Bitcoin, And The Dollar Wood’s inflation case is concrete and component-driven. She points to oil falling from about $124 on March 8, 2022 to a level that’s roughly 53% lower, and down about 22% year-over-year as of ARK’s January 12 data cut. She adds that single-family home sale prices are down about 15% from the October 2022 peak, while existing home price inflation (three-month moving average) decelerated from roughly 24% YoY in June 2021 to about 1.3%. On labor, she cites non-farm productivity up 1.9% YoY (third quarter), compensation per man-hour up 3.2%, and unit labor cost inflation at 1.2%. She then pushes a real-time check: Truflation at 1.7% YoY as of January 7, nearly 100 bps below CPI-based inflation. The crypto hook comes through her attempt to split gold’s recent run from bitcoin’s role in portfolios. “During 2025, the gold price appreciated 65% as the price of bitcoin slipped 6%. While many observers have attributed the 166% surge in the gold price from $1,600 to $4,300 since the end of the US equity bear market in October 2022 to the risk of inflation, another interpretation is that global wealth creation… has outpaced the ~1.8% annualized increase in the gold supply globally.” Related Reading: Glassnode: Bitcoin Is Back At $96K, Hitting The Same Sell Ceiling Again Wood then leans on supply schedules and correlations. She notes bitcoin’s supply is “mathematically metered” to rise about 0.82% per year for the next two years before slowing to ~0.41%, and argues that diversification — not “digital gold” rhetoric — is the cleaner allocator lens. In ARK’s correlation matrix using weekly returns from 1/1/2020 through 1/6/2026, bitcoin’s correlation is 0.14 to gold, 0.06 to bonds, and 0.28 to the S&P 500; the S&P 500–bonds correlation is shown at 0.27. Finally, she brings it back to FX: after a year in which the trade-weighted dollar (DXY) fell 11% in the first half and 9% for the full year, Wood argues that higher US returns on invested capital, driven by fiscal, deregulation, and US-led technological breakthroughs, could push the dollar higher, echoing the early Reagan period when “the dollar nearly doubled.” If Wood’s “Reaganomics on steroids” framing gains traction, the near-term market implication is less about a single bitcoin price target and more about positioning: a regime she expects to feature falling inflation, lower rates, and heavy AI capex (data-center systems investment up 47% to nearly $500 billion in 2025, with a further 20% to roughly $600 billion expected in 2026) is one where allocators may revisit where bitcoin sits on the risk spectrum, and whether its low cross-asset correlation is the more durable thesis than any one-line comparison to gold. While Wood’s 2026 outlook does not publish a specific Bitcoin price target, ARK has previously outlined 2030 scenarios for BTC of roughly $300,000 (bear), $710,000 (base), and $1.2 million (bull). At press time, BTC traded at $95,685. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
The restructuring comes as the company integrates new payments assets and narrows its mandate, with several employees saying on X that they were affected by the layoffs.
Coinbase’s decision to withdraw support for the US CLARITY Act has reignited tensions across the crypto industry. The bill, originally positioned as a long-awaited framework to bring regulatory clarity to digital assets, is now at the center of a deeper debate around competition, power, and whose interests US crypto regulation truly serves. While Coinbase says …
Brian Garry Sewell sentenced to three years for defrauding investors of $2.9 million and laundering $5.4 million.
X revised its developer API policies to ban applications that financially reward users for posting, and enforcement has already begun. Nikita Bier, who joined X's product team after selling his social app tbh to Meta, framed the move as part of a broader effort to reduce low-quality engagement and told displaced builders that X would […]
The post Discord is suddenly locking down servers for the same alarming reason X just purged these crypto developers appeared first on CryptoSlate.
Belgian bank KBC will launch bitcoin and ether trading for retail investors via its Bolero platform as Belgium’s MiCA regime comes into force.
According to Wintermute’s 2025 Digital Asset OTC Markets report, altcoin rallies last year were much shorter than traders expected, averaging about 19–20 days. That is a steep drop from the roughly 60-day runs seen in 2024. Market flows tightened, and many smaller tokens saw gains vanish faster than before. The result: capital moved back into the big names — Bitcoin and Ethereum — where liquidity is deeper. Related Reading: Bitcoin’s New Power Buyers: Companies Bought 3 Times What Miners Produced Altcoin Open Interest Drops Based on reports, one key trigger was a sharp deleveraging on October 10, 2025, which pushed retail traders to reduce risk and rotate out of smaller tokens. Open interest in many altcoin futures contracts fell, with some coverage noting about a 55% decline in altcoin futures open interest since October. Trading desks said lower liquidity made it harder for rallies to keep going beyond a few weeks, turning what used to be multi-month moves into short bursts. Major Coins Reclaimed Center Stage Institutional flows and product structures played a role. Reports have disclosed that ETFs and other institutional channels helped funnel funds toward Bitcoin and Ethereum. As a result, the market’s attention narrowed. Where narratives once pushed dozens of tokens into rallies, more capital was now concentrated in the top tier. Traders say they preferred assets where orders could be filled without dramatically moving the price. Short, Intense Moves Replaced Long Trends Wintermute’s analysis points to a change in how momentum forms. Rally drivers became more tactical and less about broad, lasting narratives. In practice, that meant memecoin pumps and exchange-themed rallies burned out quickly. Some traders described these moves as hair-trigger events: quick upswings followed by equally rapid retracements. Liquidity bands tightened and stops were hit sooner than in past cycles. What Traders And Firms Are Watching Market participants say the path to a sustained altcoin season now requires a few things aligning. Reports indicate renewed retail interest, clearer institutional support for smaller tokens, and calmer macro markets could help. Otherwise, rallies are likely to remain short. Execution desks reported that when big buyers reappeared for a token, it could run fast, but keeping that momentum proved difficult without deeper market participation. Related Reading: Futures Frenzy Pushed Crypto Exchange Volume To Nearly $80 Trillion In 2025 Outlook For 2026 Based on the report and market commentary, a broader crypto rebound in 2026 depends on several moving parts: interest from institutions, shifts in macro rates, and retail returning to risk-on strategies. If those elements arrive, rallies might last longer than the 19–20 day average seen in 2025. If not, traders say the pattern of quick, sharp moves into the majors will continue. Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView