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XRP’s price action over the past several days has been tight and uneasy in a way that tends to make traders impatient. XRP is now drifting sideways just below $2, compressing into a narrower range between $1.9 and $1.96. To some, this looks like weakness. 

To others, it looks like upside pressure is building. One technical analyst believes XRP’s price action is approaching a moment that could redefine the entire structure. That view was shared on X by crypto analyst Archie, who noted that its current consolidation is a precursor to a violent breakout that will send its price into new all-time highs.

Why The Current XRP Structure Matters

According to the technical analysis in question, XRP has been carving out a tightening pattern directly beneath a descending trendline that has acted as resistance since the beginning of the year. XRP printed a higher high of $2.4 in early January, retraced, and then began compressing into a narrow range of lower highs on the 30-minute candlestick chart. 

The chart shows how the token has repeatedly respected the trendline without collapsing below support at $1.9. This, in turn, has created what Archie describes as a coil right under the resistance trendline. Interestingly, this kind of structure tends to resolve quickly once price makes contact with the trendline again. 

Trendline Obliteration And The Push Beyond $2

According to the analyst’s prediction, the next touch of the trendline will not be another rejection. Instead, the next touch will lead to a clean break that sends XRP decisively through $2, which is a little more than a checkpoint. From his perspective, the repeated tests of resistance have weakened it, increasing the probability of a breakout as opposed to another downward rejection.

At the time of writing, the altcoin is trading at $1.91, down by 2.6% in the past 24 hours. However, looking closely at the chart Archie shared gives structure to what to expect once the trendline breaks.

The first level is just above the descending trendline itself, around the $2.00 to $2.05 region. In the context of the chart, a clean move through this level is what flips the structure from compression below resistance into expansion above resistance.

Above that, the next highlighted resistance is just below $2.20. The chart then shows a broader resistance cluster between roughly $2.35 and $2.40. Reaching and breaking above this zone is much more significant, as it would show that the breakout is a genuine trend reversal.

At the top end of the projection, the highest marked region is around $2.60. This zone appears to be the final upside target shown on the chart and would place XRP firmly into price discovery territory relative to recent structure.

Over the years, Ethereum staking has become one of the most vital and successful aspects of the broader ETH ecosystem, with big companies steadily jumping into the field. The majority of these companies, especially Bitmine Immersion, are revolutionizing ETH staking, turning it into a massive financial sector and edge.

Bitmine Monetized Ethereum Staking At Scale

After the entry of institutional investors, Ethereum staking has been transformed into a significant business opportunity from a technical requirement. At the forefront of this evolution is Bitmine Immersion Technologies Inc. (BMNR), a leading digital asset platform dedicated to improving the ETH ecosystem.

With its remarkable involvement in ETH staking, Bitmine Immersion is proving just how large this opportunity can be. The digital asset platform has successfully transformed Ethereum staking into a multi-billion-dollar enterprise by growing its validator operations and staking infrastructure.

As outlined by Milk Road on the social media platform X, the company intends to increase its present investment of 1.83 million ETH, valued at approximately $6 billion at current rates, to 4.2 million ETH. Bitmine’s plan and robust participation in ETH staking are a clear sign of the growing institutional appetite for on-chain yield.

This expansion demonstrates how staking is now about creating profitable, long-lasting businesses around ETH’s proof-of-stake economy rather than just protecting the network. Over the past month, Bitmine has been responsible for almost half of all new ETH entering the staking queue. 

Milk Road stated that staking at this scale removes Ethereum from the liquid supply and locks it away in long-term infrastructure rather than short-term trading. When a single player expresses a willingness to commit billions of dollars’ worth of ETH to staking, it points to an increased confidence in ETH’s future economics.

According to the expert, structural pressure is created by a reduced liquid supply and ongoing network demand over time. Given the sustained growth in institutional staking, Milk Road is confident that ETH’s price will move higher in the foreseeable future.

ETH Powering Crypto Native Financial Rails

With crypto native financial rails expanding, Ethereum is increasingly being positioned as the core infrastructure for major financial firms. JP Morgan asset management firm has confirmed this narrative with its latest fund launched on the ETH network.

Milk Road has reported that JP Morgan has introduced a tokenized money market fund on ETH, which is now live and already holds over $100 million in US treasuries. The rails are native to cryptocurrency, and the product appears to be traditional finance.

In reality, there is no separation, and there is only a financial product operating on the trains that make the most sense. Interestingly, this is how institutions move into new systems. “Incrementally, and only after the rules are clear enough to deploy real capital. Once they are live, they don’t leave,” Milk Road stated.

An inactive Ethereum whale has just re-entered the trading scene, withdrawing over $15 million worth of ETH in just a single day. Considering Ethereum’s slow price growth over the past few months and the whale’s sudden appearance despite being dormant for months, there could be a possibility of insider trading.

Dormant Ethereum Whale Moves $15 Million ETH

A sudden $15.14 million Ethereum transaction has caught the crypto market’s attention, with the move either driven by insider knowledge or simple strategic positioning. According to data from blockchain analytics platform, Onchain Lens, the transfer shifted approximately 5,099 ETH from a dormant wallet address on Kraken into active circulation on Thursday, January 22. 

Based on on-chain records, the whale, identified by the address ‘0x761F2F,’ has remained inactive in the market for more than three months. The last few times the whale was actively moving in the market were when it executed a series of stablecoin and HYPE transactions. The anonymous whale had initiated multiple million-dollar trades in UETH, USDT, and USDC. Meanwhile, the HYPE transactions were primarily token burns. 

After withdrawing 5,099 ETH from Kraken, Arkham Intelligence reported that the whale had transferred the ETH to Lido Finance, converting it into 5,100 STETH. While there is currently no evidence of insider trading, the timing of the transaction raises questions, especially given Ethereum’s muted price action over the past few months and the mounting selling pressure from large scale holders. 

Typically, insider trading in crypto occurs when individuals with non-public information make large transactions ahead of major market events that could influence market price. Currently, there has been no spike in Ethereum’s price, nor any major news that could suddenly affect its movements. In fact, ETH continues to trade lower, down by roughly 1.7% over the past 24 hours. Its daily trading volume is also down by 34.89%, signaling reduced confidence among traders and investors. 

Whales Go Long On Ethereum

While dormant large-scale players are suddenly re-entering the market, some active whales remain bullish on Ethereum’s long-term prospects despite its ongoing downtrend. According to well-known market analyst Max Crypto, an anonymous whale has just opened a $202 million long position in ETH with 15x leverage. 

The scale of the trade is extraordinary considering Ethereum’s recent volatility. It shows strong confidence in the cryptocurrency’s future price action and its potential to overcome its ongoing downtrend. Notably, the position has a liquidation price of $2,495, meaning that if ETH falls to that level, the trade could be forcibly closed by the crypto exchange, resulting in substantial losses for the whale. 

Market participants are closely watching the whales’ positioning, with some calling it a brave but chaotic bet. Others have even speculated that the position may have been taken based on insider information, fueling discussions about potential market moves and a possible bullish turnaround for ETH.

Crypto pundit X Finance Bull has explained how Donald Trump’s push to sign the crypto bill into law will boost demand for XRP. This follows White House Crypto Czar David Sack’s prediction about how banks will come into crypto once the CLARITY Act passes.

How Donald Trump’s Crypto Push Will Boost XRP’s Demand

In an X post, X Finance Bull shared a video in which Donald Trump’s crypto adviser, David Sacks, stated that banks will begin to adopt crypto once the crypto bill passes. The pundit noted that this means banks are already positioned, while Ripple has the stack and XRP has the liquidity, and the rails are in place. As such, he believes that the token will be the go-to crypto once these banks enter the crypto industry. 

X Finance Bull further mentioned that institutions that have been waiting over the past few years will return and announce their buys and use of XRP once Donald Trump signs the CLARITY Act into law. The pundit added that this moment resets who is early and that he never needed hype to hold the altcoin. “Research and study were always enough,” he said. 

X Finance Bull also questioned why market participants were panic-selling if banks are going all in once Donald Trump signs the crypto bill into law. The pundit’s statements come just as Ripple partnered with DXC to integrate the token and RLUSD into DXC’s Hogan core banking platform. 

The banking platform powers more than 300 million deposit accounts and over $5 trillion in deposits globally. As such, this is a major step in XRP’s adoption, as the partnership will integrate Ripple’s payment technology into large-scale banking environments.

Trump’s Tariff Move Will Also Boost The Altcoin

In another X post, X Finance Bull claimed that Donald Trump’s move with tariffs will also boost XRP’s demand.  He shared a video of how the U.S. president said that $18 trillion is flowing into the U.S. economy thanks to these tariffs. The pundit asserted that such money flows put pressure on banks, payroll systems, FX rails, and settlement speed. 

X Finance Bull further noted that this creates nonstop cross-border payments and liquidity needs, and this is where Ripple and XRP come in. He explained that while old rails leak money, Ripple and the altcoin were built to stop that. The pundit also alluded to Ripple executives meeting with Donald Trump and to the token being mentioned as part of the digital asset stockpile. He added that the CLARITY Act is next and that when rules lock in, the U.S. capital will need U.S. rails. 

At the time of writing, the XRP price is trading at around $1.92, down almost 2% in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson said he will fly to Japan this week for a multi-city community tour focused on Midnight, the privacy-focused network being developed in Cardano’s orbit, while hinting that new “commercially critical integrations” and major launch partners are nearing the finish line.

In a Jan. 22 video recorded from Colorado, Hoskinson framed the trip as both a reconnection with what he called Cardano’s “most critical component” and a staging ground for the next execution phase he wants the ecosystem to pursue: making leading applications meaningfully more competitive by combining Cardano and Midnight capabilities.

Midnight, Privacy, And A Cardano DeFi Push

Hoskinson said the tour will span Sapporo, Osaka, Fukuoka, Naha, and Tokyo, covering “the entire Japanese archipelago” over roughly two weeks. He described the agenda as part Midnight introduction, part Cardano status update, and part technical pitch for what builders can do when the two stacks interoperate.

“As many of you know, Japan is why Cardano exists. There would be no Cardano if there was no Charles and there would be no Cardano if there was no Japan,” Hoskinson said. “I went to Japan in 2015 and with our partners from Emurgo amongst others we were able to go about all of Japan and convinced them that Cardano needs to exist. So they put up the money we built it and the Japanese community still is the largest and strongest Cardano community in the entire world with more than half the supply there.”

That legacy, in Hoskinson’s telling, makes Japan a natural first stop for positioning Midnight not as a side project but as a strategic lever for Cardano adoption.

Hoskinson said that “about [the] middle part of this year” he intends to “aggressively push for the top 15 Cardano dapps to go through a overhaul and get some additional resources.” His stated goal is not incremental polish, but step-function improvements in usage and distribution.

“In my view the best place to take it is to focus on the DeFi ecosystem and the Cardano dapp ecosystem and ask the question how do we make those Cardano dapps more competitive? How do we 10x their TVL and their transactions?” he said. “Get them listed on major exchanges and get them where they need to go.”

The connective tissue, he argued, is Midnight’s privacy mandate, paired with new infrastructure components he referenced, including “new bridges,” “new stablecoins,” and “new oracles.” The pitch is that dapps cannot win on throughput and fees alone; they need new product surfaces that attract users and transactions from other ecosystems.

“My view is Midnight is going to be an indispensable component in that because it’s not good enough just to make them better, faster, and cheaper,” Hoskinson said. “The dapps have to offer new things and being able to combine Cardano technology and Midnight technology together. What that means is that we can actually offer privacy to the masses to Solana, to Ethereum, to Bitcoin and other places.”

Hoskinson also linked the push to Cardano’s broader engineering roadmap, citing Hydra progress while using a roads-and-traffic analogy to argue that application demand, not base-layer capability, needs to be the next constraint to break.

Japan Tour https://t.co/MTq8Trp0UP

— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) January 22, 2026

After Tokyo, Hoskinson said he will head to Hong Kong for Consensus, where he plans to keynote and “have some cool announcements for Midnight along with some big big partners” tied to the network’s mainnet launch. He stressed he would not disclose counterparties until agreements are finalized, saying he expects people to be “very happy” with upcoming “commercially critical integrations.”

At press time, ADA traded at $0.3595.

Reports say Capital One will buy stablecoin fintech Brex for $5.15 billion in a deal that mixes cash and stock. According to the bank’s release, roughly half of the price will be paid in cash and the other half in Capital One stock.

Regulators must still sign off. The two companies expect the transaction to finish by mid-2026, though that timing could shift if approvals take longer.

Brex Brings Cards, Software — And Stablecoin Plans

Brex began as a corporate card and expense tool for startups and has added services for larger firms.

Reports note the company moved quickly into payment tech last year when it announced plans to offer native stablecoin payments, letting customers send and accept dollar-pegged tokens with automatic conversion back into USD balances.

That bit of tech is a major part of why the deal matters to a bank that wants faster settlement options.

A Mix Of Old And New

This is not just about software. It is also a play for customers. Brex runs business accounts, serves big names in tech, and has built a set of tools that many businesses use daily.

Some of those clients moved business deposits to Brex after the 2023 banking turmoil, and those relationships are part of the package Capital One is buying.

The price tag looks smaller than Brex’s peak private valuation years ago, which shows how venture valuations have reset across the sector.

Why This Matters For Payments

Banks have been testing token-based rails and faster settlement for a while. By folding Brex into its operations, Capital One gains a ready platform that already experiments with stablecoin rails.

Real-time settlement for businesses can lower friction and could cut the waiting time for funds to clear. At the same time, regulators in the US and abroad are paying closer attention to token projects, so the new setup will run under tighter scrutiny.

Source: Coingecko The Growing Stablecoin Market

Stablecoins have drawn growing attention across traditional finance after Congress approved major rules for the tokens last year.

Based on data from Coingecko, the total value of stablecoins has climbed over 18% to an all-time high of $315 billion since the GENIUS Act was passed in July 2025. USDT takes the lion share of the overall stablecoin market.

Leadership And Market Reaction

Reports note that Pedro Franceschi, Brex’s CEO, will continue to lead the unit after the sale, now inside Capital One.

Investors reacted calmly overall; Capital One’s shares dipped early but were supported by robust quarterly results announced at the same time. That earnings strength helped soften any sharp market moves.

Featured image from YouHodler, chart from TradingView

Qubic says it is now building a Dogecoin mining integration, a step that moves the project’s post-Monero “attention” narrative into an implementation phase and reopens a familiar set of security questions around majority-hashrate risk.

In an X post shared Thursday, Qubic wrote: “The community didn’t hesitate. The vote was decisive: DOGE won with 301 votes. This isn’t a plug-and-play upgrade. Integrating ASIC hardware into uPoW requires real engineering, deep protocol work, and time to do it right. But the upside is significant. DOGE represents one of the largest and most established mining economies in crypto. Bringing it into Qubic’s useful Proof-of-Work model extends uPoW beyond theory, into scale. […] Development is underway. This is just the beginning of what is to come.”

Dogecoin mining integration is actively in development.

The community didn’t hesitate. The vote was decisive: #DOGE won with 301 votes.

This isn’t a plug-and-play upgrade.

Integrating ASIC hardware into uPoW requires real engineering, deep protocol work, and time to do it… pic.twitter.com/7aBgxfLdDR

— Qubic (@_Qubic_) January 22, 2026

Could Dogecoin Suffer A 51% Attack?

The announcement lands with baggage. In August 2025, Qubic ran what it publicly described as a Monero “takeover demonstration,” claiming it had achieved “over 51% hashrate dominance” during parts of the experiment and reporting a brief chain disruption that included a six-block reorganization and orphaned blocks. That episode became a lightning rod for the broader PoW security debate: how quickly external incentives can concentrate hashpower, and how markets react when “51%” enters the conversation.

Subsequent research challenged the strongest interpretation of those claims. A December 2025 paper reconstructing Qubic-attributed activity on Monero describes the operation as an advertised “selfish mining campaign,” finding Qubic’s hashrate share rising into the 23–34% range in detected intervals, while “sustained 51% control is never observed.”

Dogecoin’s mining economy is structurally unlike Monero’s CPU-oriented RandomX landscape. Dogecoin uses Scrypt and has, since 2014, supported merged mining alongside Litecoin, an architecture that has historically helped bolster its security budget by tapping into a broader Scrypt ASIC miner base.

That hardware reality is central to Qubic’s own messaging. The project said “integrating ASIC hardware into uPoW requires real engineering, deep protocol work, and time to do it right,” explicitly acknowledging that this is not a simple pool launch.

It is also where most of the immediate 51% attack fears run into friction. In an August 2025 research note, published when Qubic first began floating Dogecoin as the “next” network after Monero, 21Shares argued that a brute-force Dogecoin majority would be economically prohibitive, estimating that Qubic would need to match and then exceed roughly 2.78 PH/s, implying about $2.85 billion in hardware plus roughly $2.5 million per day in electricity (before logistics).

The more plausible risk vector, if any, is not Qubic buying its way to majority hashrate, but whether it can engineer incentives and integrations that convince existing Scrypt ASIC operators to route meaningful hashpower through a Qubic-mediated setup, an approach 21Shares characterized as “vampire mining.”

At press time, DOGE traded at $0.12521.

A little token that few people had heard of a year ago has become a big mover of money. Reports say the A7A5 stablecoin, launched as a rouble-linked coin, has processed the equivalent of $100 billion in transfers since it began moving at scale.

Elliptic Finds Rapid Growth And Large Volumes

According to analysis by Elliptic, A7A5 grew quickly after its launch and was used heavily for settlement between firms that could not rely on regular banks. The firm traced huge daily flows, with transaction totals rising into the billions and aggregate transfers passing major milestones.

Origins And Backing

A7A5 was set up in a way that tied it to rouble deposits and to a handful of private entities connected to Russia’s financial network.

Reports say the project was linked to a payments group and to banking partners that have been under western scrutiny. Some of the people and firms behind the token were later sanctioned by authorities in the US and the UK.

How The Money Moved

Transactions were concentrated on a small number of exchanges and on on-chain routes that made cross-border transfers possible without the usual banking rails.

In practice, the coin served as a bridge into other stablecoins and crypto markets. That routing let trade keep moving even when formal channels were closed to certain actors.

A7A5 Stablecoin Role In Sanctions Evasion Claims

Reports note that regulators and analysts view those flows as a tool that could help avoid sanctions. Regulators in several countries have taken action against linked platforms and individuals after patterns of transfers were uncovered.

Some of the design choices around the token made monitoring harder for a time, and in a few cases tokens were reissued in new wallets to muddy traces.

Market Reaction And The Wider Impact

Markets noticed. The token’s market cap surged, and exchanges that handled it saw sharply higher volumes.

Ordinary traders were not the main users; activity was often timed with business hours and weekdays, which suggested corporate or institutional flows rather than retail swaps. This type of pattern changed how people outside the region looked at crypto as a payments tool.

Authorities responded by blacklisting some addresses and platforms and by stepping up enforcement against those named in the network.

The moves show that a token can move a lot of value, but it can also draw regulatory heat and prompt countermeasures that affect every participant in the chain.

Featured image from Pixabay, chart from TradingView

The CEO of stablecoin issuer Circle has weighed in on the importance of stablecoin rewards and why he believes the banking industry’s concerns about interest payments on these assets are “absurd.”

Circle CEO Rejects Banks’ Stablecoin Fears

Speaking at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Circle’s CEO, Jeremy Allaire, discussed banks’ growing concerns that paying interest on stablecoins poses a threat to the industry, calling the deposit flight narrative “totally absurd.”

The banking sector has expressed concerns about stablecoin rewards, arguing that interest payments will distort market dynamics and affect credit creation. In the US, banks have heavily criticized the GENIUS Act, claiming that it has loopholes that could pose risks to the financial system.

The executive rejected the sector’s general arguments, citing historical and practical reasons. He asserted that this exact argument has been historically used when new financial products, such as government money market funds, have emerged.

Notably, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan recently compared the digital assets to money market mutual funds, which require reserves to be held in short-term instruments, such as US Treasuries, reducing lending capacity in the system.

The executive told investors that the banking sector, small- and medium-sized businesses in particular, could face significant challenges if the US Congress does not prohibit interest-bearing stablecoins, as up to $6 trillion in deposits, or 30% to 35% of all US commercial bank deposits, could flow out of the banking system and into the stablecoin sector.

However, Allaire pointed out that, despite institutions claiming that financial products would “draw all the deposit base,” their growth has not “stopped the ability for lending to happen.”

The importance Of Rewards

Circle’s CEO also argued that stablecoins should not be singled out when rewards for other financial products exist and contribute to the system. “Those rewards (…) exist in every balance that you have with a credit card that you use. They exist around so many other financial products and services that we have,” he detailed.

“These rewards are actually very important,” Allaire continued. “They help with stickiness, they help with customer traction. They are not themselves like these huge monetary policy dampers.”

Most importantly, he pointed out that lending is moving away from the risk-taking of banks, with “a huge amount of lending is moving towards private credit.”

He cited a Wednesday WEF panel, in which a capital markets participant highlighted how the vast majority of GDP growth in the United States was “formed by capital market formation around junk bonds.”

“So private credit issuing junk bonds, capitalizing the build out of the American technology advancements, not bank credit,” the executive added.

Previously, Coinbase Institute shared a similar argument, affirming that “credit is evolving, not shrinking. Lending is shifting to private credit, fintech, and DeFi channels that don’t depend on deposits. Liquidity moves—it doesn’t vanish.”

Allaire concluded that “we want stablecoin money to be cash instrument money, prudentially supervised, very, very safe money. And then I think what we want to do is we want to build models for lending that build on top of stablecoins.”

Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is preparing to launch new rules related to crypto, including exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Thailand To Regulate Crypto ETFs And Futures This Year

As reported by Bangkok Post, the Thailand SEC is preparing regulatory changes related to crypto to support the growth of investment in the sector. Jomkwan Kongsakul, deputy secretary-general of the SEC, said the regulator is planning to issue guidelines supporting the launch of digital asset ETFs, while also working to enable crypto futures trading on the Thailand Futures Exchange (TFEX).

ETFs are investment vehicles that allow investors to gain exposure to an underlying asset without having to directly own it. In the context of digital assets, ETFs enable traders to invest into coins like Bitcoin without interacting with any on-chain element like wallets or exchanges.

In the United States, spot ETFs gained approval by the nation’s SEC in January 2024 for Bitcoin and July 2024 for Ethereum. Since then, these funds have attracted notable attention, capturing demand from traditional investors who were reluctant to deal with blockchain infrastructure.

Kongsakul noted:

A key advantage of crypto ETFs is ease of access; they eliminate concerns over hacking and wallet security, which has been a major barrier for many investors.

Within Asia, Hong Kong approved spot ETFs for both Bitcoin and Ethereum in April 2024, while South Korea is planning to roll out similar investment vehicles this year.

According to Kongsakul, Thailand’s SEC board has already approved crypto ETFs in principle, with detailed investment and operational rules currently being finalized. Although an exact timeline is unknown, the SEC is expected to introduce the regulations “early this year.”

Alongside ETFs, the SEC is also moving to formally recognize crypto within Thailand’s derivatives framework, allowing digital asset futures products to trade on the TFEX. Kongsakul said crypto futures would provide traders with hedging tools and more sophisticated risk management options.

In related news, the US spot Bitcoin ETFs have faced weak demand recently, with the netflow for the current week sitting at a notable negative value, according to data from SoSoValue.

As displayed in the above graph, the US Bitcoin spot ETFs have witnessed net outflows of $1.19 billion this week so far. These negative netflows have come as the asset’s price has gone through a bearish shift, retracing the recovery it had made earlier this year.

Last week, the funds actually saw net inflows of $1.42 billion, breaking the trend of weak inflows or outright outflows that had persisted since mid-October. But this week’s netflow suggests the bullish market mood couldn’t last.

BTC Price

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading around $89,100, down more than 8% over the last week.

The crypto industry is preparing for a potential security challenge with the anticipated arrival of quantum computing. In response to this potential threat, Coinbase (COIN) has announced the formation of an advisory board composed of external experts. 

Coinbase Chief Security Officer’s Warning 

According to a report from Fortune, the newly established board includes academics from Stanford, Harvard, and the University of California, specializing in fields like computer science, cryptography, and fintech. 

Officially titled the Coinbase Independent Advisory Board on Quantum Computing and Blockchain, the group also features experts from the Ethereum Foundation, the decentralized finance (DeFi) platform EigenLayer, and Coinbase itself.

Jeff Lunglhofer, Coinbase’s Chief Information Security Officer, elaborated on the potential impact of quantum computing on current encryption methods. 

He explained that the encryption protecting wallets and private keys of Bitcoin (BTC) holders relies on complex mathematical problems that would take conventional computers thousands of years to solve. 

However, with the computational power that quantum computers promise—potentially a million times greater—these problems could be solved much more swiftly, Lunglhofer asserted.

Although the security implications of quantum computing are genuine, Lunglhofer reassured that they are not expected to become an immediate concern for at least a decade. The purpose of the new advisory board is to examine the upcoming challenges posed by quantum computing in a measured manner. 

This involves fostering initiatives within the blockchain industry that are reportedly already underway to enhance the resilience of Bitcoin and other networks against quantum attacks.

Blockchain Networks Expected To Implement Larger Keys

At present, Bitcoin secures its wallets through private keys, which consist of long strings of random characters. These keys are accessible to their owners but can only be estimated through extensive trial-and-error computations. 

The advent of quantum computing, however, would make it feasible to deduce private keys using trial-and-error methods in a fraction of the time. 

In response to this looming threat, Fortune disclosed that blockchain experts speculate that networks will implement larger keys and add “noise” to obscure their locations, making them more difficult to detect. Implementing these defensive upgrades across blockchain networks is said to take several years. 

In the meantime, the newly formed Coinbase Advisory Board is gearing up to publish research papers and issue position statements aimed at helping the cryptocurrency industry brace for the impacts of quantum computing. 

Their first paper, which will address quantum’s influence on the consensus and transaction layers of blockchain, is expected to be released within the next couple of months.

At the time of writing, Coinbase’s stock, which trades under the ticker symbol COIN on the Nasdaq, is trading at $225.10. This represents a slight drop of 1.2% over the last 24 hours. 

Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com 

Following the unsuccessful markup of the long-awaited crypto market Structure bill (CLARITY Act) by the Senate Banking Committee, the Senate Agriculture Committee unveiled a new draft of the bill, with a scheduled markup session for Tuesday, January 27.

Stablecoin Yield Regulations Excluded

The Agriculture Committee’s version of the bill primarily addresses regulations under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which would gain expanded authority to regulate cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). 

In contrast, the Senate Banking Committee’s section of the legislation focuses on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and its oversight. Notably, the Agriculture draft allocates $150 million to support the CFTC in the implementation of the proposed law.

Market expert James Murphy reviewed the key provisions of the new draft and expressed optimism about its implications. He highlighted that the bill creates a pathway for decentralized finance (DeFi) to avoid CFTC regulation, providing important protections for developers and specific service providers from liability. 

The Senate Agriculture Committee’s draft also excludes any regulations concerning stablecoin yields. This decision is significant, particularly as it addresses a critical provision that resulted in Coinbase (COIN) withdrawing its support for the Banking Committee’s version of the bill last week. 

The Banking Committee’s version of the CLARITY Act aims to limit the yield that stablecoin platforms can offer. While banks support this approach due to concerns about deposits potentially flowing out, crypto firms oppose it, arguing that such restrictions hinder competition. 

In contrast, the Agriculture Committee bill seeks to exempt stablecoins from CFTC regulations and relies on existing frameworks like the already passed stablecoin bill, or GENIUS Act, which mandates that stablecoins be fully backed.

Banking Committee Delays Crypto Bill’s Consideration

Senate Agriculture Chair John Boozman expressed appreciation for the collaborative efforts among lawmakers, particularly mentioning Senator Cory Booker and his staff for their contributions to consumer protections and CFTC authority. 

Despite the remaining differences in fundamental policy issues with its Democratic counterpart, the Committee’s chair emphasized the importance of moving the bill forward:

While it’s unfortunate that we couldn’t reach an agreement, I am grateful for the collaboration that has made this legislation better. It’s time we move this bill, and I look forward to the markup next week. 

But amid the broader cryptocurrency industry’s optimism surrounding the Agriculture Committee’s version of the market structure bill, the timeline for advancing the overall legislation remains uncertain. 

Bloomberg reported that the Senate Banking Committee is expected to delay consideration of its own portion of the bill, which could push discussions into late February or even March.

Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com 

Ethereum is once again under pressure as it struggles to regain solid ground around the $3,000 level, reflecting a broader wave of uncertainty across the crypto market. With sentiment turning increasingly fragile, many altcoins remain stuck in corrective mode, and bulls are now forced to defend key support zones to prevent deeper downside. In this environment, Ethereum’s ability to push higher is becoming a critical signal for whether the market can stabilize or if the current bearish trend will extend.

Despite the weakness, on-chain data suggests that ETH may be nearing an important turning point. According to CryptoQuant, Ethereum is approaching a major support line that has historically acted as a strong floor during periods of heavy volatility.

The report highlights that the realized price of Ethereum accumulation addresses continues to climb and is now approaching the current market price, indicating that long-term accumulation remains active even as short-term traders hesitate.

This dynamic matters because accumulation-based cost levels often represent zones where large investors defend their positions aggressively. If ETH holds above this rising support range, the market may be setting the foundation for a broader recovery.

Ethereum Whale Cost Basis Signals a Potential Bottom Zone

CryptoQuant’s report suggests Ethereum may be approaching one of its most important structural support zones, anchored by the realized price of accumulation addresses. This metric tracks the average on-chain cost basis of entities that consistently accumulate ETH, and it often behaves as a “defense line” for whales who build long-term positions.

According to the analysis, this realized price level has historically acted as a reliable floor, with Ethereum never breaking below this range during prior drawdowns, even when broader market conditions turned sharply risk-off.

That historical behavior matters because it implies that accumulation whales tend to protect their cost basis aggressively, either by adding exposure near support or by reducing sell pressure when the price approaches their entry zone. In practice, this can limit downside momentum and create a stabilization area where volatility compresses before the next trend decision.

Based on the current trajectory, the report argues that even if ETH sees another leg down, the most probable “bottom zone” sits near $2,720. From current levels, that would represent an additional pullback of roughly 7%, keeping the move within a controlled correction rather than a full breakdown. If buyers defend this area, Ethereum could begin rebuilding a base for a renewed push back above $3,000.

ETH Price Slips Back Toward $3,000 As Bulls Struggle To Reclaim Control

Ethereum (ETH) continues to trade under heavy pressure as price struggles to stabilize around the $3,000 zone. The chart shows ETH printing another sharp rejection after failing to hold the recent rebound, reinforcing that the market remains in a corrective phase rather than a clean recovery. Even though buyers are attempting to defend current levels, momentum still looks weak, with each bounce being met by renewed selling.

From a technical perspective, ETH is trading below its key moving averages, which highlights how resistance continues to stack above the price. The broader structure suggests a downtrend that is transitioning into consolidation, but without a confirmed breakout, the risk remains tilted to the downside.

The recent push toward the mid-$3,200 region failed to flip that zone into support, and the pullback toward $2,980 signals that bulls are still struggling to build sustainable demand.

Volume remains relatively muted compared to the larger selloffs seen earlier in the cycle, which supports the idea that this is a grinding distribution phase rather than full panic capitulation. For a bullish shift, ETH needs to reclaim $3,200–$3,300 and hold above it. Until then, the $2,900–$3,000 area remains the key line of defense.

Featured image from ChatGPT, chart from TradingView.com 

Bitcoin is facing renewed volatility after a sharp drop from the $97,000 region to nearly $87,000 in just a few days, shaking market confidence and forcing bulls into defense mode. The pullback comes as geopolitical tension between the United States and the European Union escalated this week, with trade-war rhetoric returning to the spotlight and uncertainty rising around potential retaliatory measures tied to broader disputes, including the situation surrounding Greenland.

Despite the downside pressure, on-chain behavior suggests the market structure is not collapsing, but shifting. Since January, Bitcoin whales have continued to accumulate through corrective phases, absorbing spot supply even as price action weakened.

At the same time, retail investors appear to be stepping back after the drawdown, reducing activity and participation across the market. This divergence highlights a familiar dynamic: short-term fear tends to push smaller traders out, while larger holders use volatility to build exposure at discounted levels.

With price now stabilizing near a major psychological zone, Bitcoin is entering a critical stretch where demand must return to confirm whether this move was a temporary shakeout or the start of deeper weakness.

Whales Keep Accumulating as Bitcoin Fights to Hold $90K

Bitcoin is now attempting to hold above the $90,000 level as volatility remains elevated and traders look for signs of stabilization after the recent swing lower. Price action has become increasingly reactive to macro headlines, and the $90K zone is acting as a key psychological threshold that could determine whether the market consolidates or extends the correction.

In this environment, short-term sentiment can flip quickly, especially as liquidity thins and intraday moves become sharper across both spot and derivatives markets.

However, a CryptoQuant report suggests the underlying structure has not broken down. Even after geopolitical risks intensified and broader risk appetite deteriorated, whale holdings have not declined on a monthly basis.

Instead, large holders have continued increasing exposure, reinforcing the view that the current phase reflects structural accumulation rather than broad distribution. This matters because sustained whale buying during drawdowns typically implies supply is being absorbed at lower levels, reducing the probability of a cascading sell-off driven purely by spot sellers.

In practical terms, the market has shaken, but whale conviction has not. While retail participants often reduce exposure during periods of uncertainty, larger investors tend to operate with longer time horizons, stepping in when volatility forces weak hands out.

If this accumulation trend persists, it can help establish a stronger base below price and create conditions for a more stable recovery once demand improves. For now, Bitcoin’s next move depends on whether $90K holds under continued macro pressure.

Price Action Details: Consolidation Continues

Bitcoin is attempting to stabilize near the $90,000 level after last week’s volatility sent price sharply lower from the prior range above $100,000. The weekly chart shows BTC holding a higher-low structure since the November breakdown, but momentum remains fragile as sellers continue to defend overhead resistance zones. After reclaiming the mid-$80,000s, price pushed back toward $90,000, yet the latest weekly close suggests hesitation and a lack of strong follow-through from buyers.

From a trend perspective, BTC is trading below the short-term moving average, which has rolled over and now acts as dynamic resistance. The rebound has been constructive, but it remains corrective until the price can break and hold above that blue trend line. Meanwhile, the longer-term averages are still rising, reflecting that the broader cycle is not broken, but that the market is transitioning into a slower consolidation phase.

Volume also confirms this uncertainty. Sell-side spikes marked the initial breakdown, while recent recovery candles have not shown the same level of aggressive demand. For bulls, holding the $88,000–$90,000 zone is critical to prevent a deeper pullback. A clean weekly close above $92,000 would improve the short-term outlook and open the door for a stronger recovery leg.

Featured image from ChatGPT, chart from TradingView.com 

Markets showed signs of life after a sudden political retreat in Davos. Prices that had tumbled earlier this week found buyers again, though the mood stayed cautious and quick to keep an eye on the next headline.

Political Shift Calms Markets

According to Reuters, US President Donald Trump announced he would not go ahead with planned tariffs tied to Greenland after talks with NATO officials, calling the outcome an outline for future cooperation.

Reports say the initial shock knocked big chunks off crypto positions. More than $600 million in leveraged bets were wiped out within a day as Bitcoin and major altcoins slid during the selloff.

Market sentinels counted over $620 million in liquidations, while other market trackers put the toll as high as about $870 million as traders rushed to close risky positions.

Risk Appetite Returned, Slowly

After the tariff threat was pulled, stock indexes rallied. The pan-European STOXX 600 gained back ground, rising about 1.2% as traders stepped back into risk assets and some panic cooled. London shares also moved up in a broad rally that reflected relief across sectors.

Short, sharp moves hit markets. One minute confidence; the next minute forced selling. That pattern left bitcoin and ether lower from recent highs, and it reminded many investors that headlines still drive big swings.

Some long holders were squeezed out. Some traders were burned by over-extended bets. Reports note rare split liquidations where both long and short positions were affected.

Recovery Was Cautious Not Complete

According to market stories, crypto prices rebounded after the immediate scare, but volume stayed thin and sentiment stayed tilted toward fear.

Traders who saw the drop as a buying chance kept their distance, while short-term players moved back in to chase quick gains. The bounce was real, but fragile.

On Crypto & Geopolitical Noise

This episode shows that geopolitical noise can still push crypto the same way it pushes stocks. Even when the issue is not directly about digital assets, risk appetite matters.

When big, headline-driven moves happen, leveraged markets get whipsawed and people who bet too much either lose a lot or get forced out of their positions.

According to reports, the tariff retreat eased immediate worry and allowed markets to recover some lost ground, but the relief felt measured and watchful.

News can move markets fast. The mental framing of the selloff will probably keep traders cautious for a while, and any new twist in policy or diplomacy could bring fresh volatility.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView

Epoch Ventures founder Erik Yakes is urging bitcoin investors and protocol watchers to slow down on quantum “panic” and resist premature upgrades, arguing that the practical threat to Bitcoin’s cryptography remains unproven and that moving too early could lock the network into inefficient signature schemes for years.

In a section on quantum risk in his 2026 Bitcoin Ecosystem report, Yakes framed the late-2025 flare-up in quantum anxiety as something closer to a behavioral event than a technical one. He wrote that “a focus on quantum computing risks to bitcoin’s underlying cryptography potentially drove an institutional investor sell-off,” and attributed that reaction to “loss aversion, herd mentality, and availability.” The core of his argument is not that quantum computing is irrelevant, but that the market’s implied timeline is being built on expectations rather than observable progress.

At the center of the debate is “Neven’s law,” the idea that quantum computational power grows at a doubly exponential rate relative to classical computing, sometimes translated into a claim that the clock to break Bitcoin’s cryptography could be “as short as 5 years.” Yakes pushed back on treating that as an empirical trajectory. He compared it to Moore’s law, but drew a sharp distinction: “Moore’s law was an observation. Neven’s law is not an observation because logical qubits are not increasing at such a rate. Neven’s law is an expectation of experts.”

Yakes’ skepticism is anchored in what he characterizes as the gap between lab metrics and real-world cryptographic capability. “Today, quantum computers have not observably factored a number greater than 15,” he wrote, arguing that the industry has yet to demonstrate the kind of scaling evidence that would make the threat tangible to Bitcoin. Progress, in his view, has been largely confined to “physical (not logical) qubits” and declining error rates, without translating into the logical-qubit reliability needed for meaningful factorization. Rising physical qubits and lower error rates are not increasing logical qubits and factorization,” he said.

He also highlighted a compounding problem that could limit practical breakthroughs even if headline qubit counts climb: “a potentially existential issue for quantum computing is that error rates scale exponentially with the number of qubits.” If that relationship persists, Yakes suggested, quantum systems may not convert theoretical scaling into usable cryptographic attacks. He went further, arguing that in a world where algorithmic improvements and classical hardware continue to advance, “it may even be more likely that classical computers, through Moore’s law and algorithm improvements, break the cryptography used by Bitcoin before quantum computers do.”

Bitcoin Could Pay A High Price If It Rushes Quantum Signatures

Where Yakes becomes most concrete is in describing the trade-offs of “quantum-resistant” mitigation. He doesn’t argue the ecosystem lacks candidate solutions, he argues the network should be careful about choosing the wrong one too early. “Quantum-resistant signature algorithms exist — implementing one of them is not the issue,” he wrote. “The issue is that they’re all too large for Bitcoin and would consume block space, thereby lowering transaction throughput on the network. New signatures emerging today are being tested and are increasingly data-efficient.”

That sizing problem is central to his warning about premature action. In a network where block space is scarce and transaction throughput is a persistent constraint, large signature schemes don’t just change security posture; they reshape the economics of using the chain. Yakes called out what he sees as the “worst-case scenario” for quantum risk planning: not a sudden cryptographic collapse, but a rushed upgrade that hard-codes an avoidable performance penalty.

“The worst-case scenario we see for quantum risk is that a solution is implemented prematurely, with an exponentially lower efficiency trade-off had we waited longer before implementing,” he wrote.

Yakes pointed to existing research and mitigation pathways that could buy time if quantum progress suddenly accelerates. He cited Chaincode Labs’ work recommending “a 2-year contingency plan and a 7-year comprehensive plan,” and described a near-term lever tied to modern Bitcoin script and address design.

“For the short-term contingency plan, we know that taproot address types can make commitments to spend before the public key is revealed — thus hiding the public key from a quantum computer and protecting quantum-vulnerable public keys,” he wrote. “Basically, modern address types have a hidden form of quantum resistance that can be unlocked, and this could be used if quantum factorization suddenly grows exponentially.”

The harder question, in his telling, is governance and coordination. Bitcoin’s bar for consensus is deliberately high, and “achieving bitcoin consensus for improvement proposals is very challenging,” Yakes noted, emphasizing the ecosystem’s history of adopting soft forks. If an existential threat materialized, he expects a broader stakeholder alignment could emerge, yet he still flags the risk that any adopted signature transition “would materially decrease the efficiency of the blockchain,” pointing to ongoing work by “the BIP360 team” on such proposals.

For investors, Yakes’ bottom line is to triage: quantum is worth understanding, but not worth displacing more immediate risks in a “geopolitical environment with monetary commodities and fiat currencies.” “We do not view quantum computing as a primary risk for the reasons above,” he wrote. “If you’re reducing your allocation because of quantum risk, you’re being driven by behavioral bias and failing to see the benefits of a bitcoin allocation on net.”

At press time, BTC traded at $90,046.

Market cap arguments always dominate debates around XRP’s long-term price potential, especially when double-digit and triple-digit targets are mentioned. Critics point to the altcoin’s large circulating supply and compare its implied valuation to banks and major corporations, using that comparison as a reason to dismiss higher price scenarios. 

However, a few analysts also contend that this framework misunderstands what the token is designed to do. According to one such expert, the problem is not the math itself, but the model being used to interpret it.

Why Bank Market Cap Comparisons Miss The Point

Crypto analyst Crypto Luke recently pushed back against the idea that XRP should be valued using the same logic applied to banks and financial institutions. The idea is that banks process enormous volumes of money every day, often in the trillions, but they do not hold that money on their balance sheets. The market capitalizations of banks are based on earnings, risk exposure, regulatory burdens, and operational efficiency, not the total value that flows through their systems.

Comparing XRP to financial institutions such as BNY Mellon mixes two very different concepts. Banks act as intermediaries that move other people’s money and earn fees along the way. The altcoin, on the other hand, is not a company but a liquidity bridge. It is designed to be the asset that actually settles value. Therefore, using equity-style market cap comparisons to judge a settlement asset like XRP leads to conclusions that are incomplete.

What This Means For XRP Price Debates

As noted by the expert, the design question isn’t how much volume moves; it’s how much capital must exist to support that movement without pre-funding.

It is important to note that the claim that market cap theory doesn’t apply to XRP is not a denial of basic math. Price multiplied by supply will always equal market capitalization. However, what Crypto Luke and others are challenging is the assumption that its market cap must be interpreted the same way as that of a bank or a traditional company. 

Related Reading: XRP Price At $10 Too Low? Pundit Says That’s For Retail, Reveals Institutional Targets

Another analyst, Pantoja, dismissed the idea that market cap is a hindrance for the altcoin to reach $1,000. The analyst noted that long-term XRP valuation will hinge on the real-world adoption of its underlying technology. Speaking of adoption, the adoption is talking about the token and the XRP Ledger being used by banks for cross-border settlements.

At the time of writing, XRP has a circulating supply of 60.7 billion XRP tokens. If the cryptocurrency were to reach a double-digit price, such as $10, based on the current supply, the implied market capitalization would be about $607 billion. That sounds extreme at first glance, but it is not automatically impossible. For context, Bitcoin’s market cap is about $1.79 trillion, so this is possible for a cryptocurrency.

This perspective weakens blanket statements that the token cannot reach certain price levels simply because the implied valuation looks large when placed next to corporate balance sheets. At the same time, it does not automatically validate extreme price targets. One crypto analyst, Mason Versluis, noted $10 is a much more realistic price target than $10,000 predictions.

At the 2026 World Economic Forum in Davos, crypto moved away from price cycles and ideological debates toward a more practical focus: how blockchain is being used inside the global financial system.

Across panels, side events, and executive interviews, tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs) emerged as the clearest signal of where crypto is heading next. With the value of tokenized assets now exceeding $22 billion, Davos framed tokenization less as an experiment and more as infrastructure in active use.

The shift was evident in both the tone and the participants. Rather than startups pitching concepts, conversations featured central bank officials, large asset managers, and executives from firms in the tokenization space. The emphasis shifted from whether blockchain belongs in finance to how quickly it can be scaled.

Tokenization Moves From Concept to Financial Infrastructure

Panels such as “Is Tokenization the Future?” underlined how assets traditionally seen as illiquid, bonds, equities, funds, and real estate, are increasingly represented on-chain.

Executives from Coinbase and Ripple, alongside European Central Bank officials, described tokenization as a way to reduce settlement times, improve liquidity, and allow fractional ownership without rebuilding the financial system from scratch.

Institutions including BlackRock, BNY Mellon, and Euroclear confirmed they have moved beyond pilot programs and are deploying tokenized instruments at scale.

Data shared during the forum showed that the total value locked in tokenized RWAs has passed $22 billion, reflecting broader asset coverage and growing institutional participation. Ethereum currently hosts more than 65% of these assets, underlining its role as the main settlement layer for tokenization activity.

Regulation and Stablecoins Shape the Next Phase

Regulatory clarity was repeatedly cited as the key factor behind this momentum. Frameworks finalized in 2025 in the US and parts of Europe provided banks and custodians with clearer rules on issuance, custody, and compliance.

In Davos, US President Donald Trump reinforced this direction by pointing to the GENIUS Act, which established a federal framework for payment stablecoins.

Stablecoins were described as the “plumbing” connecting traditional finance, decentralized finance, and tokenized assets. Rather than competing with banks, they are increasingly used for settlement, treasury operations, and cross-border transfers.

What Davos 2026 Signals for Crypto Investors

For investors, Davos 2026 suggested that crypto’s next growth phase may be less speculative and more structural.

Consulting firms such as McKinsey and Boston Consulting Group estimate that tokenized assets could reach between $2 trillion and $16 trillion by 2030. The focus on regulated products, institutional adoption, and market infrastructure points to a longer-term shift.

Tokenization’s rise at Davos indicates that crypto’s role in global finance is being defined less by volatility and more by utility, an important signal for how the sector may evolve in the years ahead.

Cover image from ChatGPT, BTCUSD chart from Tradingview

On Thursday, Senator Craig Bowser introduced a new piece of legislation aimed at creating a Strategic Bitcoin and cryptocurrency reserve for Kansas state. 

The proposal, filed as Bill 352, would permit the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System (KPERS) to allocate up to 10% of its total funds into Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Kansas Bitcoin Bill 

Under the bill’s framework, KPERS would not be obligated to sell its Bitcoin ETF holdings if their value grows beyond the 10% allocation threshold, unless the board determines that doing so would better serve the interests of beneficiaries. 

If enacted, the legislation would also require the KPERS board to conduct an annual review of the investment program, with the results formally submitted to the governor for oversight and evaluation.

Kansas’ move follows a growing trend among US states exploring BTC as a strategic asset as the regulatory environment surrounding crypto has significantly shifted under President Donald Trump’s administration. 

US States Move Toward Crypto Reserves

Texas set an early benchmark last November when it became the first state to formally incorporate cryptocurrency into its treasury strategy by purchasing $10 million worth of Bitcoin. 

In North Dakota, lawmakers are considering BTC investments as a potential hedge against inflation. Oklahoma has also entered the conversation, with Senator Dusty Deevers introducing the Bitcoin Freedom Act.

Meanwhile, Tennessee introduced a new bill last week—HB1695—designed to establish its own Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. West Virginia has put forward Senate Bill 143, which proposes allocating 10% of certain state funds toward a cryptocurrency reserve. 

Missouri has made notable progress as well, advancing House Bill 2080 to create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Fund. That measure has already passed its second reading and is now moving forward for further consideration in the state House.

Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com 

Now hanging in uncertainty, a big US cryptocurrency bill meant to set firmer ground for trading platforms, digital tokens and stablecoins lost its urgent status among Congress leaders. Attention shifting elsewhere, several influential senators paused work on it this week. Talks continue behind the scenes, aiming to fix unresolved parts before moving forward.

Lawmakers Focus On Housing

A handful of senators shift attention toward affordable housing plans linked to US President Donald Trump’s priorities. This move shrinks the chance for quick approval of the cryptocurrency legislation. Time runs short as political energy flows elsewhere.

Now the Banking Committee changed its timeline because of that move, so the expected vote on the bill got delayed for now. This puts a pause on efforts to build one clear system.

Big Industry Pushback

Out of nowhere, Coinbase stopped backing the plan. Its executives said the proposal might limit how stablecoins work, affecting services people rely on. That shift made them step away quietly. Right after, the group in charge paused things as well.

That shift laid bare growing tensions. Not every bank welcomed the rise of stablecoins. Rivalry looms when digital coin returns gain wider reach. Some financial players see threat in that growth.

Industry Response And Market Effects

Fear spread through trading floors. When talks got delayed, digital currencies started falling because people began questioning how much longer the arguing could last – alongside what kind of outcome might finally emerge.

Useful, perhaps, if waiting brings sharper rules. Still, dragging too long risks confusing banks more, leaving them unsure when to act.

Separate Tracks Emerge

Ahead of the curve, some lawmakers are eyeing a fresh approach where certain digital tokens fall under commodity rules. This version, quietly shared by the Senate Agriculture team, might follow its own path forward – timing unclear.

While others debate classification, this draft sidesteps the main gridlock and suggests an alternate route through regulatory terrain.

One path might still move forward, even if the Banking Committee’s proposal gets stuck. Still, running two versions at once brings up concerns – how will they merge them should both make it to debate?

Crypto Bill: What Might Happen Next

Few believe it’s dead, though time slips fast. Elections loom; attention wanders. Agreement must come soon, or nothing sticks.

Some members of Congress quietly say pushing into late February could kill chances, yet backers still meet out of view to adjust the proposal and pull in more votes.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView