Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has revealed that he earned around $70,000 in profit on Polymarket over the past year, offering a rare glimpse into how one of crypto’s most influential figures approaches prediction markets. Starting with roughly $440,000 in capital, Buterin generated a return of about 16%, not by chasing bold bets, but by deliberately …
Bitget named Oliver Stauber as CEO of its new EU unit, establishing Vienna headquarters to support MiCAR compliance.
Bitget EU said it expects MiCA approval in Austria by mid-2026, with a broker-led model and strict asset standards for European users.
A wallet linked to an alleged theft from a US government crypto seizure launched a Solana memecoin on Pump.fun that later crashed 97%, sparking tokenomics warnings.
A rising share of shops in the US are now taking crypto at checkout. That shift is small in some places and big in others, but it is real. Reports say that roughly four in 10 US merchants accept cryptocurrency today, and customer interest is a clear reason why. Related Reading: Record Pain: Bitcoin Investors Suffer $4.5B Loss, Most In 3 Years Merchant Demand Is Rising According to a new survey from PayPal and the National Cryptocurrency Association, about 39% of merchants have added crypto as a payment option. Many of those firms say they hear from buyers about crypto use on a regular basis. Reports note that 88% of merchants have gotten questions about paying with crypto, and 69% say they see demand at least once a month. Also, 84% of respondents think crypto payments will be common within five years, which shows a lot of business leaders expect wider use soon. Who’s Accepting Crypto Adoption is uneven. Big companies with annual revenue above $500 million lead the pack, with roughly 50% accepting crypto. Smaller shops lag at about 34%, while midsize firms sit near 32%. Travel and hospitality, gaming and digital goods, and higher-end retail are among the sectors pushing crypto forward. These markets often sell online or to tech-savvy buyers, so it makes sense they’d move faster. Crypto’s Role In Sales For merchants that already accept digital assets, crypto is not just an occasional trickle. Reports say digital assets account for over a quarter of sales for some of those sellers. Around 72% of current crypto-accepting merchants said their crypto sales grew over the past year. That kind of growth helps explain why firms want to keep the option available. Barriers And Bright Spots A common complaint is that setup is still too hard. Surveys found about 90% of merchants would accept crypto if it were as easy as taking a credit card. Payment tools and integration are top concerns. Merchants list faster payments, the chance to reach new customers, and better buyer privacy as reasons to accept crypto. Younger generations are pushing the trend too — Millennials and Gen Z buyers are often the ones asking to use crypto at checkout. Related Reading: Bitcoin Influencers Get Spotlight In X’s New ‘Starterpacks’ What Merchants Want Next The survey was run in October 2025 and polled about 619 payment strategy decision-makers across retail, travel, and digital goods. PayPal and the NCA put the findings in a public release at the end of January 2026. Many executives say the next step is simpler tools and clearer rules. If merchants get easier on-ramps and reliable rails for settlements, acceptance could spread faster. Featured image from PayPal Newsroom, chart from TradingView
The crypto market is heading into a tense weekend, following the inclusion of the FOMC interest rate decision, Jerome Powell’s speech, the release of PPI inflation data, and an important vote on the crypto market structure bill. On top of all this, uncertainty is rising as fears grow over a possible second U.S. government shutdown, …
Ripple launched Ripple Treasury following its $1 billion acquisition of treasury management provider GTreasury.
The Federal Reserve (Fed) has a meeting today to decide on interest rates. The decision and the official statement from the Fed will be shared at 12:30 AM IST. After that, Fed Chair Jerome Powell will speak at 1:00 AM IST to explain the decision and answer questions. This is when we find out if …
US President Donald Trump has once again turned attention to monetary policy, saying interest rates will fall sharply once he names a new Federal Reserve chair to replace Jerome Powell. Speaking in Iowa on January 27, Trump said his pick would usher in a more aggressive rate-cutting cycle, reinforcing his long-held criticism that the Fed …
With EU banks exploring stablecoin issuance and regulators laying ground rules, OKX says its card marks a turning point in crypto’s integration into everyday finance.
U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs saw significant net outflows of about $147.37 million on January 27, while Ethereum spot ETFs also recorded notable withdrawals of around $63.53 million, showing reduced demand for the two largest crypto assets. In contrast, XRP spot ETFs attracted approximately $9.16 million, and Solana spot ETFs gained about $1.87 million, suggesting growing …
HYPE has surged 30%, outperforming bitcoin, ether and the CoinDesk 20 index by a big margin.
The Bitcoin price is under increasing pressure ahead of Wednesday’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, which has historically corresponded with big price movements in the market’s largest cryptocurrency. Rate Cut Odds Fade The Federal Reserve (Fed) is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged at this meeting. Economists surveyed by financial data provider FactSet anticipate the federal funds rate — the benchmark rate banks use for overnight lending — will remain in the 3.5% to 3.75% range. Such a pause would follow three consecutive rate cuts delivered by the Fed toward the end of last year, a shift that initially fueled optimism across risk assets, including the Bitcoin price. Related Reading: XRP Outlook For 2026: AI Model Signals New Record Ahead — Can Price Reach $6? Despite that earlier momentum, the Bitcoin price has struggled to maintain its footing. Ahead of the FOMC decision, the cryptocurrency is trading near $87,780, roughly 30% below the all‑time highs reached last year. Market analyst Ali Martinez has pointed to Bitcoin’s historical behavior around FOMC meetings as a reason for caution. In a recent post on X (previously Twitter) Martinez highlighted that expectations for a January rate cut are extremely low, estimated at just 2.8%, signaling that meaningful policy easing is unlikely in the near term. That backdrop, he argues, has often set the stage for increased volatility for the Bitcoin price rather than sustained upside. Looking back at 2025, Martinez noted that Bitcoin reacted negatively after the vast majority of the Fed’s policy meetings. Of the eight FOMC decisions held during the year, seven were followed by notable declines for the Bitcoin price. The January meeting was followed by a 27% drop, March saw a 14% decline, June was down 8%, July slipped 6%, September fell 7%, October recorded a 29% pullback, and December ended with a 9% loss. The analysts noted that the only exception seen in the year came in May, when the Bitcoin price briefly rallied about 15% after the decision. Bitcoin Price Approaches Key Decision Zone From a technical and on‑chain perspective, analyst BitBull also sees the Bitcoin price approaching a critical moment. BitBull noted on social media that the asset has entered what she describes as a key on‑chain decision zone. At current levels, the Bitcoin price is trading almost exactly at the Active Investor Mean, estimated near $87,500. This level represents the average cost basis for active buyers, placing much of that capital at breakeven. Related Reading: Tether Reveals Massive Gold Accumulation In Q4: Adds 27 Tons To Reserves BitBull explained that pressure is building on both sides of the price. Above current levels, the short‑term holder cost basis sits near $96,500, meaning many recent buyers are already underwater. As a result, any upward move toward that zone could face selling pressure as traders look to exit at reduced losses. On the downside, the True Market Mean at around $80,700 has historically marked the boundary between a “routine correction and deeper structural weakness.” Further below, the realized price near $56,000 suggests that long‑term holders remain firmly in profit and largely unshaken by recent volatility. BitBull argues if the Bitcoin price can maintain support above the $87,500 level, it would indicate that active capital is defending its position and that broader market strength remains intact. A sustained break below that level, however, could open the door for a move toward $80,700. Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com
OKX says the card supports USDC and USDG spending, is issued via Monavate on Mastercard’s network and is available to verified EU users.
With the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting scheduled for today, cryptocurrency markets have entered a cautious phase of price volatility. Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and XRP are trading in narrow ranges as traders pause for fresh direction from the U.S. central bank, widely expected to hold interest rates unchanged. The lack of near-term rate …
Crypto markets are set for a volatile week as several major U.S. economic events take place, increasing uncertainty among investors. How crypto prices move in the coming days may indicate whether the market is heading for a deeper correction or preparing for a bullish move. The key events start on January 28 with a speech …
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said he made around $70,000 on Polymarket last year by committing about $440,000 and consistently betting against hype-driven outcomes. He calls this approach “anti-insanity mode,” focusing on markets fueled by irrational behavior. In an interview with Foresight News, Vitalik named Decentralized Social as his top priority for developers, followed by smarter …
Altcoin investors have heard this many times before that Altcoin Season is about to start, but the question is exactly when. Well-known crypto trader Don Wedge believes the next altcoin season may already be forming quietly and could begin within the next 112 days, based on past market patterns. Altcoin Season Just 112 Days Away …
A new Ethereum standard seeks to give AI agents portable identities and reputations, letting them interact across companies and chains without relying on centralized gatekeepers.
A Glassnode analyst has pointed out how Ethereum is retesting a dense supply cluster that could set the tone for where the cryptocurrency heads next. Ethereum Is Trading At A Dense Level On The CBD In a new post on X, Glassnode analyst Chris Beamish has talked about how Ethereum is looking from the perspective of the Cost Basis Distribution (CBD). The CBD is an on-chain indicator that tells us about the total amount of ETH that investors last purchased at the various levels that the cryptocurrency has visited in its history. Related Reading: Bitcoin Social Interest Fades As Retail Chases Gold, Silver Hype Below is the chart shared by Beamish that shows the CBD heatmap for Ethereum. As is visible in the graph, Ethereum’s bottom in November gave rise to a dense supply cluster on the CBD around the $2,750 level. Interestingly, the zone has since acted as a support barrier for the asset multiple times. The explanation behind this trend could lie in investor psychology. Generally, investors are sensitive to a retest of their cost basis since it can lead to a flip in their profit-loss balance. As such, they can be likely to show some kind of move when one takes place. When the retest is occurring from above, the holders might react by accumulating more in order to defend their break-even level. This is the pattern that has potentially been witnessed since the November bottom. From the chart, it’s apparent that Ethereum retested the $2,750 supply zone twice in December and both times, the asset was able to rebound. Recently, a third retest has taken place and so far, the support has held, but it only remains to be seen how long the coin will maintain above it. “Holding here suggests absorption and base building, but a breakdown would move price into thinner support where underwater supply may derisk,” explained the analyst. Usually, regions where a large amount of supply shares a cost basis tend to act as notable sources of support/resistance. The $2,750 cluster might fall in this category, but that doesn’t make it unbreachable. “Next move hinges on this level,” noted Beamish. Related Reading: Stablecoin Market Cap Drops By $7 Billion—What It Means For Bitcoin In some other news, Ethereum has witnessed a decline in transaction fees recently, as highlighted by Glassnode in an X post. Following this drawdown, the transaction fees on the Ethereum blockchain has fallen to its lowest level since May 2017, a potential indication that network activity has gone down. ETH Price At the time of writing, Ethereum is trading around $2,950, down 1.5% over the last week. Featured image from Dall-E, chart from TradingView.com
The ERC-8004 proposal aims to let AI agents interact with entities on Ethereum, allowing them to participate in a decentralized economy.
Crypto prices steadied as traders looked past short-term volatility with positioning shifting to the Fed, megacap earnings and a weakening dollar.
All eyes are on the U.S. Federal Reserve today as it prepares to announce its latest interest rate decision. The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will release its policy update at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time, followed by a press conference from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at 2:30 p.m. ET. Markets widely expect the Fed …
China’s exports remain resilient under U.S. tariffs as the yuan stays tightly managed, sending ripples all the way to the crypto market.
Chainalysis says the on-chain money laundering ecosystem processed $82 billion in funds in 2025, with Chinese-language networks now dominating.
Crypto analyst Matt Hughes is arguing the global liquidity cycle is stretching well beyond its usual rhythm and that the extension is precisely why staying structurally bearish on crypto has been so punishing since 2020. Hughes, who posts as “The Great Mattsby,” said Monday that the cycle is “now ~6 years strong post-2020 with no clear peak in sight as of early 2026,” framing the move as something closer to a super-cycle than a standard 4–6 year expansion. What This Means For The Crypto Market Hughes’ core claim is that the traditional mechanism that ends liquidity cycles, central banks tightening into contraction, is being blunted by a mix of debt math, fragmented global money creation, and a capital-intensive investment boom that keeps pulling liquidity back into risk assets rather than allowing it to drain out. “The current global liquidity cycle is on track to become the longest ever, smashing past the typical 4–6 year patterns we’ve seen historically. Here’s why it’s stretching into a true super-cycle (now ~6 years strong post-2020 with no clear peak in sight as of early 2026):” Hughes wrote, before laying out the macro pillars of the thesis. First, Hughes points to the scale of leverage in the system as a constraint on normalization. “Global debt/GDP >350% creates a refinancing nightmare,” he wrote, arguing that each policy response has to be larger to prevent defaults and that aggressive tightening risks cascading sovereign and emerging-market stress. In that framework, policy makers are boxed into “perpetual support mode,” which delays the kind of contraction that would normally mark the end of a liquidity upswing. Related Reading: US Government Bitcoin, Crypto Theft Allegation Emerges Involving CEO’s Son Second, Hughes argues the cycle can run longer because global liquidity is no longer dominated by a single central bank. “The old dollar-only world is fragmenting,” he wrote, describing a “bifurcation of the global monetary system” in which liquidity creation outside the US can offset periods when the Federal Reserve is tighter. In his telling, a multipolar setup — spanning “BRICS nations,” China as a major credit creator, and alternative stores of value including “yuan, gold, crypto” — makes the overall system more resilient than past cycles that were more synchronized. Third, Hughes links the endurance of the cycle to an unusually large wave of capital demand. He calls AI, renewables, data centers, chip fabs, and blockchain “capital hogs,” arguing that the scale of funding required “demand & absorb endless liquidity.” He also ties that directly to market behavior, writing that risk assets like “IWM small-caps, ARKK innovation, BTC” pushing toward or near all-time highs is consistent with a cycle that is “closer to start than end.” Related Reading: Bitwise Says Crypto Has Likely Bottomed, Echoing Q1 2023 Setup Finally, Hughes emphasizes a policy bias toward preventing downturns. He described central banks as “hyper-proactive,” citing tools like forward guidance and yield curve control alongside tighter fiscal-monetary coordination. He also argued geopolitical priorities: reshoring, infrastructure, and the energy transition reinforce a stimulus-leaning posture, while traditional recession signals have been less reliable, pointing to a record-long 10y/3m inversion “without collapse.” Not everyone in the thread accepted the implication that the liquidity impulse remains cleanly supportive. A user posting as zam flagged a near-term risk: “My concern here is that Michael Howell says that liquidity momentum is slowing down considerably and that the liquidity is peaking very soon for this cycle. Any thoughts on that?” Hughes’ reply was succinct: “It can rotate into other assets as long as the economy is strong.” For crypto markets, the exchange captures the key tension: whether the cycle’s length is the dominant story, or whether a decelerating liquidity impulse changes the playbook via rotation rather than outright collapse. Hughes’ framing leaves the timing open-ended, asking followers whether the crypto peak arrives “at the end of 2026 or even longer,” while implicitly suggesting bears may need a clearer, system-wide rollover in liquidity, not just slower momentum, before the macro backdrop decisively turns. At press time, the total crypto market cap stood at $2.95 trillion. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
South Dakota has joined the growing list of U.S. states exploring Bitcoin as part of public finance. A new bill introduced in the state legislature by Republican lawmaker Logan Manhart could allow a 10% of government-managed funds to be invested in Bitcoin. Once the House committee approves it, the bill goes to the full South …
Traders are watching $0.122 as support and $0.1243–$0.1255 as the levels DOGE needs to reclaim.
BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes says the yen is weakening while Japanese government bond yields are rising, which could lead to Japanese investors selling US Treasuries.
The latest proposal closely mirrors House Bill 1202, which was introduced during the 2025 legislative session.