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Cardano’s price and the sentiment of investors are demonstrating a divergence that is crucial in the altcoin’s short-term and long-term performance. Despite the waning price action over the past few days, seasoned investors are showing robust interest in ADA as they continue accumulate the altcoin.

Big Brains Are Buying Back Cardano

Even with heightened volatility in the market, major Cardano investors are jumping into the market at a steady pace. Santiment, a leading market intelligence and on-chain data platform, reported that smart money seems to be quietly positioning itself in Cardano, with seasoned investors building up ADA at a steady and encouraging rate.

In the research shared on the X platform, the platform highlighted that the smart money wallet addresses have been accumulating ADA while the token’s price is being suppressed due to the current market state. Interestingly, these individuals are gradually increasing their exposure during times of muted emotion and low volatility rather than chasing short-term price movements.

Typically, such buying activity among smart traders signals conviction in the token’s long-term prospects since smart capital often moves ahead of the general market’s enthusiasm. With the ongoing bullish sentiment from key investors, there is a possibility that the underlying market structure of Cardano is getting stronger.

The cohort appears to have been quietly buying more ADA for several weeks. However, smaller holders, who are also regarded as retail investors, have been offloading their stash during this period. In the last 2 months, wallet addresses holding between 100,000 ADA and 100 million ADA have acquired an additional 454.7 million ADA, which is valued at more than $161.42 million. 

Meanwhile, retail investors, those holding 100 ADA or less, have dumped over 22,000 ADA, worth $7,810 over the past 3 weeks. When cryptocurrency markets start to stabilize, Santiment stated that whales adding and retail dumping have traditionally created the ideal conditions for an eventual resurgence.

A New Landmark In Terms Of Total Transactions

Despite ADA facing steady volatility that has capped its upward attempts, the Cardano network continues to wax strong. The leading network is experiencing significant adoption and interest as transactions carried out on the blockchain have increased exponentially. 

Cexplorer, the most featured OG blockchain, announced that the network recently hit a new record level in total transactions. Data shared by Cexplorer shows that the total transactions conducted on the network since its foray into the cryptocurrency market have surpassed 118,400,000. 

With more value and interactions resting on the network than ever before, the growth indicates a growing appetite for Cardano and its broader ecosystem. Furthermore, rising transaction counts frequently indicate ongoing demand from users, apps, and developers as opposed to transient increases caused by speculation.

At the time of writing, the ADA’s price was trading at $0.35, indicating a 0.77% increase in the last 24 hours. Its price may be slowly turning bullish, but trading volume has sharply declined by more than 28% over the past day.

On-chain sleuth ZachXBT has revealed the identity of a threat actor who stole over $40 million from the U.S. government’s crypto stash. The White House has confirmed that it is looking into the situation but has not yet said whether its Bitcoin holdings were affected by the theft. 

How This Threat Actor Stole Over $40 Million From the U.S. Government Crypto Wallets

In an X post, ZachXBT revealed that threat actor John Daghita, also known as Lick, stole over $40 million from the U.S. government’s seizure addresses, as his dad owns Command Services & Support (CMDSS), which has an active IT government contract. CMDSS was awarded a contract to assist the U.S. Marshals in managing and disposing of seized and forfeited crypto assets. However, the ZachXBT noted that it remains unclear how John obtained access from his dad. 

The CMDSS company X account, website, and LinkedIn were all deactivated following ZachXBT’s revelation. Meanwhile, the crypto investigator had first drawn attention to John in an earlier X post, stating that the threat actor had been caught flexing $23 million in a wallet address. 

He noted that this wallet was directly tied to over $90 million in suspected thefts from the U.S. Government in 2024 and multiple other unidentified victims from November 2025 to December 2025. John revealed this crypto wallet during a heated argument with another threat actor, Dritan Kapplani Jr., in a group chat about who had more funds in their crypto wallets.  

The Source Of The Funds

Following John’s messages, ZachXBT traced the source of the threat actor’s funds to a wallet (0xc7a2) that received $24.9 million from a U.S. Government address in March 2024 related to the Bitfinex hack seizure, which was a theft from the government. John’s wallet (0xd8bc), which he showed off during the heated argument, is also said to be tied to $63 million in inflows from suspected victims and government-seizure addresses in the fourth quarter of last year. 

John quickly removed all of the NFT usernames from his Telegram account and changed his screen name after ZachXBT’s post. Meanwhile, it is worth noting that the crypto investigator identified John as John Daghitia after rumors began circulating that the threat actor was the same person previously arrested in September 2025. However, it remains unclear for what John was arrested last year. 

Is The U.S. Government’s BTC At Risk?

White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt confirmed in an X post that they are investigating the theft and will provide an update soon. This development is also significant, as U.S. President Donald Trump has already signed an executive order that allocates all U.S. government Bitcoin holdings to the Strategic BTC Reserve. 

Based on the timeline of these thefts from the government’s seizure addresses, John looks to have stolen some of these crypto assets after Trump signed the executive order. Meanwhile, part of the theft occurred under the Biden Administration. There has yet to be confirmation from the government on how much BTC it holds. However, BiTBo data shows that the U.S. government currently holds 198,012 BTC.

SharpLink CEO Joseph Chalom, who previously led BlackRock’s digital assets strategy, framed the Ethereum-versus-Solana debate as a mismatch between narrative and actual institutional behavior: TradFi firms may praise speed and low fees, but the highest-value financial use cases are gravitating to networks optimized for trust, security, and liquidity.

Why Ethereum Beats Solana

Speaking with CoinDesk’s Jennifer Sanasie on Jan. 26, Chalom said he would avoid positioning his view as opinion and instead point to what he called observable market signals. “Maybe I’ll just share facts,” he said. “The fact is that Ethereum has been around for 10 years. It’s the secure, trusted, and liquid ecosystem. And I talk about both the layer 1 mainnet as well as the long set of layer 2s who help do that rollup strategy.”

That longevity, in his telling, matters because institutions aren’t selecting chains the way consumers pick apps. They’re selecting settlement rails for moving money, tokenizing assets, and representing ownership, workflows where operational failure and security assumptions are existential. Solana, Chalom acknowledged, has carved out a reputation for performance. But he drew a hard line on reliability. “Solana has been fast and cheap but it has not been secure. It has had downtime,” he said, arguing that downtime risk is disqualifying for “high value projects.”

Chalom’s thesis is that when the use case is “tokenizing assets” and “moving money,” the decision criteria compress into three buckets. “The real institutions who care only about three things,” he said, are “trust, security, and liquidity.” On that basis, he argued, “they’re building on Ethereum for high value projects,” adding: “It’s happening on Ethereum.”

He also anchored the comparison in stablecoin and tokenized-asset activity, citing a sharp share gap as evidence of where the market is allocating serious volume. “More than 65% of stablecoins and tokenized assets are happening there,” Chalom said, describing that as “10x what you see on Salana.” He reinforced the directional claim immediately after: “Ethereum leads in high quality assets in DeFi, tokenization, and stable coins by a factor of 10 to one over Salana. And that gap is only getting larger.”

Still, Chalom did not argue for a single-chain world. Instead, he mapped Ethereum and Solana to different product surfaces based on security tolerance. “I do think there’s a role for cheap, fast, less secure chains,” he said, and suggested Solana’s comparative advantage shows up where finality speed and cost trump institutional-grade assurances. “I think Solana will win in the memecoin, maybe the gaming space where actually security matters a lot less and speed matters more.”

The subtext is a segmentation story: Ethereum as the default rail for high-value, regulated, reputation-sensitive flows; Solana as the venue for high-throughput consumer and speculative activity where users accept different risk tradeoffs. Chalom insisted this is not about persuasion so much as migration patterns. “It’s not my perspective,” he said. “People are voting with their feet.”

Notably, SharpLink Gaming (Nasdaq: SBET) has emerged as one of the largest corporate ETH holders, with public trackers putting its holdings at roughly 864,840 ETH (about $2.5B at recent marks).

At press time, ETH traded at $2,921.

As Bitcoin’s price continues to face downside pressure and performance, speculation about BTC’s price bottom has grown significantly within the sector or community. However, to accurately determine whether BTC has reached a bottom is highly dependent on on-chain data from several metrics, which are now showing that the bottom is not yet in.

Bitcoin May Not Be Done Correcting

Determining the Bitcoin price bottom has become quite difficult in the ongoing market cycle. In the meantime, several key on-chain metrics are flashing caution and showing data that suggests that the flagship cryptocurrency asset may not have fully found its bottom yet for this market cycle.

After an on-chain analysis, Alphractal, an advanced investment and on-chain data platform, outlined that the BTC market is witnessing steady bleeding, but the true bottom has not been achieved yet. The platform’s analysis is focused mainly on two key metrics, which include the BTC Net Unrealized Profit/Loss (NUPL) and the BTC Delta Growth Rate (Market Cap vs. Realized Cap).

These indications suggest that the market may still be dealing with excess supply and uncertainty, as evidenced by the ongoing pullback in BTC’s price. With the bearish signal from the two indicators, it is clear that the confirmation of a true bottom could need extended data-driven validation or more time.

As seen on the chart, the Net Unrealized Profit/Loss metric has started to drop, suggesting that unrealized gains across the network are starting to compress. In spite of the decline, the metric is still in positive territory. This implies that market participants continue to remain in profits rather than losses.

Alphractal highlighted that the true cycle bottom historically only unfolds once the metric flips negative, entering full capitulation mode. Meanwhile, the BTC Delta Growth Rate is already demonstrating negative movement, signaling the end of speculative activity and the start of the fundamental accumulation phase.

Bearish Outlook Has Intensified Along With BTC’s Price Drop

Following a pullback last weekend, the Bitcoin price is now trading below the $90,000 mark again. According to Swissblock, an investment pioneer, recent price action has reinforced the bearish outlook of the market. 

As the crypto king loses key support at the $89,200 level, the Bitcoin Risk Index is seeing a steady climb, heightening the general bearish sentiment. However, the platform noted that Bitcoin bulls are persistently holding a critical line of defense at the $84,500 mark, which is currently serving as the immediate target for the downside. Swissblock has outlined two separate scenarios that could play out in the upcoming sessions. 

For the bullish case, the platform predicts that if the $84,500 support holds, a liquidity sweep could occur at this point. At the same time, the Risk Index begins to cool off, channeling a high-conviction entry for long positioning. Breaking down the bearish scenario, Swissblock noted that a decline and consolidation below the $84,500 level would likely spark a deeper correction, targeting new lows below the November levels with a primary target at $74,000.

Blockchain technology is beginning to absorb traditional government assets at an alarming pace, with Ripple’s XRP Ledger (XRPL) now hosting US Treasury debt in digital form. The latest reports have revealed a massive increase in tokenized treasuries on the ledger, reflecting not just rising governmental interest in the blockchain but also growing institutional adoption. 

US Treasury Debt Skyrockets On Ripple’s XRPL

Over the past year, tokenized US Treasury debt on the XRP Ledger has skyrocketed to more than $150.19 million. Data from the tokenized asset analytics platform RWA.xyz shows that digital platforms such as OpenEden Digital, Zeconomy, Ondo, and Archax have been the primary drivers behind this latest surge in activity and volume. 

XRPL data also shows that US Treasury debt has not been the only asset class to experience growth on the network. Recent reports revealed that the XRP Ledger achieved a significant milestone, surpassing $1 billion in total tokenized assets. While tokenized US treasury debt contributed significantly to this growth, other asset classes, including stablecoins, private credit, commodities, and private equity, have also recorded substantial volume, reflecting the network’s expanding role in global digital finance. 

Stablecoins recorded the highest volume of over $338 million within the $1 billion tokenized asset growth, representing approximately 160% more than US Treasury debt. In comparison, private equity accounted for $55.2 million, reflecting less than 33% of tokenized treasuries. 

Across all networks, tokenized US Treasury holdings have now reached about $10 billion. While the percentage held by the XRP Ledger is impressive, it still represents just 1.4% of the total. Nonetheless, the growth rate of US Treasury debt on XRPL is striking, showing a more than 2,900% increase from the roughly $5 million on the network in 2025. 

The recent surge in tokenized US Treasury debt on the XRP Ledger underscores the expanding integration of traditional finance with blockchain technology. It also reflects the rising demand for Real-World Asset (RWA) tokenization, which has become a fundamental aspect of Ripple and XRPL’s utility and key driver of the network’s growth and expansion into broader markets. 

Why This Is A Big Deal

Historically, US Treasury debt was tracked and recorded through conventional banking and government systems. As a result, trading relied heavily on intermediaries, transactions and settlements were slow, and most retail investors had limited access. At the same time, Paper records and centralized systems dominated the market, making processes less transparent and tedious.

However, the introduction of blockchain technology has significantly improved how debt is represented and managed. On the XRP Ledger, Treasury debt can now be tokenized, allowing near-instant settlement and real-time verification on a public network. This reduces the reliance on intermediaries and introduces a new level of transparency and security compared to traditional methods. 

The rise of tokenized Treasury debt also signals changes in investor behavior and broader market dynamics. It shows that blockchain-based assets can now compete with traditional markets, offering faster, more efficient, and accessible alternatives for institutions and governments.

Председатель Австралийской комиссии по ценным бумагам и инвестициям (ASIC) Джо Лонго (Joe Longo) назвал отсутствие регулирования криптовалют серьезной проблемой, призвав власти страны как можно скорее устранить этот пробел в законодательстве.

Crypto traders are watching quietly. Prices are moving, but not in the way many bulls expected. According to Fundstrat managing partner Tom Lee, during an interview on CNBC’s Power Lunch Monday, the surge in gold and silver has pulled a lot of cash away from riskier bets. That shift has been strong enough to slow the momentum that might otherwise have lifted digital assets sooner.

Precious Metals Steal The Spotlight

Gold has surged to record territory, and silver has climbed sharply, drawing interest from investors seeking a safe place to park money. Reports note gold topped $5,100 after a strong run that added close to 8% since the start of the year, while silver hit about $110 following a 57% gain. Geopolitical stress, tariff fears, and a weaker dollar are cited as reasons for that move. In plain terms: a lot of nervous money went to metal, not crypto.

Lee pointed to the large deleveraging event in October as another drag. Many firms and market makers were hit hard, and margin-driven upside is much smaller now. That means rallies take more time to appear.

Based on reports, parts of the industry are recovering, but some players remain fragile. BitMine, an Ether treasury firm tied to Lee, added 20,000 ETH in a fresh buy, which shows belief is still there at institutional levels.

It seems that Tom Lee(@fundstrat)’s #Bitmine bought another 20,000 $ETH($58.22M) from #FalconX 6 hours ago.https://t.co/OYqF48eaXX pic.twitter.com/GB6DT0HUid

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) January 27, 2026

Bitcoin Price Action And Market Mood

Bitcoin traded in a tight band around $87,000–$88,000 after recent swings tied to global headlines. It tested support at about $86,000 and failed to push above $95,000 in recent attempts.

Buyers are stepping in on dips rather than chasing gains, and volumes have been mixed. ETF flows have been negative, which points to short-term caution. Still, holding those levels without a sharp drop keeps the story alive.

Risk Appetite Matters More Than Dollar Moves

Reports from CryptoQuant contend that dollar weakness alone won’t send Bitcoin higher if the move is fear-driven. When people flee the dollar because they are scared, they pick the most traditional hideouts — like gold.

For crypto to rally strongly, the dollar needs to weaken because investors are willing to take on risk, not because they are panicked. That difference is subtle but crucial. And that’s precisely what Tom Lee means — that Bitcoin and Ethereum usually jump when gold and silver pause.

What Could Trigger A Shift

A pause or pullback in precious metals could free up capital and change investor focus. Easing from the Fed, or clearer signs that geopolitical tensions are cooling, might push some money back toward digital assets.

Institutional interest in smart contract platforms was highlighted at recent finance events, and some firms are building on Ethereum and similar chains. Those longer-term moves are being made quietly, even while spot prices wander.

Featured image from Unchained, chart from TradingView

Инвесторы массово продают криптовалюту, чтобы получить наличные, превратив биткоин «в банкомат», заявил глава отдела аналитики New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG) Грег Чиполаро (Greg Cipolaro).

Платформа GoMining, предлагающая токенизацию майнинговой мощности при помощи невзаимозаменяемых токенов (NFT), совместно с производителем часов Jacob & Co. планирует выпустить механические часы с функцией контроля за добычей биткоинов.  

Федеральный суд Австралии наложил штраф в размере $14 млн на компанию BPS Financial за продвижение и эксплуатацию криптопродукта Qoin Wallet.

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson used the opening of a Midnight workshop in Sapporo (Japan tour) on Jan. 25 to frame Midnight as Cardano’s “crown jewel” and a missing primitive for mainstream crypto adoption, arguing the privacy layer is positioned to outpace incumbent privacy-focused networks within 12 months.

Why Cardano’s Midnight ‘Eclipses’ All Privacy Projects

Hoskinson told attendees that while crypto spent the past decade perfecting transparent ledgers, it never built a first-class “private side” that real businesses and regulators can work with. “When you have the yin and yang, well, we only built one side of the yin and yang. We only built the transparent side. We didn’t build the private side,” he said. “So the challenge is that blockchains, every single one of them, they’re missing something. They’re missing a component that’s required for real-life business.”

In his telling, the gap sits at the intersection of privacy-enhancing technology (PET), compliance, and an emerging “abstraction” stack aimed at making crypto usable without forcing consumers to learn how blockchains work. Hoskinson argued that regulated activity like KYC/KYB/AML requires selective disclosure, but public chains force a tradeoff between compliance and privacy. “If you share information about yourself on a public network, everyone in the world, everywhere in the world, gets to see that,” he said. “That doesn’t make any sense. That doesn’t make sense to do commerce.”

He extended the same logic to intent-based execution and account abstraction-style UX, where users describe outcomes and a solver network routes liquidity and settlement across chains. “If I know your intentions, I can trade against you,” Hoskinson said, warning that revealing price bounds or execution constraints invites adverse selection. “Never tell me your intention because I can use it against you. So, intentions also require privacy.”

Midnight, he said, is designed to supply those primitives without demanding wholesale migration to a new Layer 1. Hoskinson described the network as built for “hybrid applications” across multiple ecosystems, claiming Midnight’s launch architecture connected it to “eight different ecosystems, seven different blockchains,” so users can stay on chains like Solana, Cardano, Bitcoin, or Ethereum while invoking Midnight’s privacy features.

He also positioned Midnight as a catalyst for Cardano’s DeFi ambitions, acknowledging a participation gap between staking and on-chain application usage. “There’s 1.4 million people staking, but only about 50,000 people participating on a monthly basis in our DeFi ecosystem,” Hoskinson said, adding that the next phase is to upgrade a subset of leading Cardano dApps so they can tap Midnight and market privacy-native products—such as private DEXs, prediction markets, or stablecoins—to users from other ecosystems.

On rollout, Hoskinson said the first stage of Midnight launched in December and that the first mainnet is “very soon” to follow. He highlighted what he characterized as an unusually retail-heavy distribution: “We never sold a single token. We just gave it away,” he said, claiming ADA holders received more than 50% of supply and that early trading activity surpassed $9 billion in volume and more than $1 billion in value.

Hoskinson closed with his boldest projection: “Within a year, Midnight is going to eclipse anybody in the privacy space because we know how to solve these problems,” he said, attributing the edge to the depth of Cardano’s research bench.

“Because we hired 168 scientists, and they happen to have spent the last four decades of their life chasing this. One of the guys working on this wrote the first computer game online. He was at Stanford when they were building the internet, […]. He wrote Pong, and it was the first online game. That’s the legacy we have. Now, 40 years later, he’s a fellow in the Royal Society, the same society that Sir Isaac Newton was a member of. He’s working on this, as is that 22-year-old graduate student, as is the developer here in Japan, and everyone in between, and that’s why we’re going to win. It’s not a US cryptocurrency. It’s global,” Hoskison said.

At press time, ADA traded at $0.3512.

В среду, 28 января, в Москве компания «Вэйморр» проводит закрытую конференцию для майнеров WAYMORR Event 2.0.

Bitcoin treasury company Strategy has unveiled its latest purchase of the cryptocurrency, this time tokens worth a total of $264.1 million.

Strategy Has Expanded Its Bitcoin Treasury By 2,932 BTC

In a new post on X, Strategy co-founder and chairman has shared the details related to the latest Bitcoin acquisition from the company. In total, the new purchase has added 2,932 tokens to the firm’s treasury at an average price of $90,061 per token.

According to the filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the buy took place between January 20th and 25th. Strategy funded the $264.1 million acquisition using proceeds from its STRC and MSTR at-the-market (ATM) stock offerings.

In the last two weeks, the company has made purchases involving a substantial size. Last week, the company added Bitcoin worth $2.13 billion, while the week before that, it spent $1.25 billion on the cryptocurrency. Compared to these, the latest buy isn’t too big, but nonetheless showcases continued resolve for accumulation from Saylor’s firm.

Following the latest purchase, Strategy’s Bitcoin reserves have grown to 712,647 BTC, equivalent to about 3.57% of the asset’s total circulating supply. Currently, these holdings are worth around $62.23 billion, up nearly 15% over the company’s investment of $54.19 billion.

Strategy is the largest digital asset corporate holder in the world, with its closest competition being Bitmine, a BTC mining company that pivoted to an Ethereum treasury strategy last year.

According to a Monday press release, Bitmine has also participated in accumulation during the past week, adding 40,302 ETH ($116.5 million) to its holdings. The firm’s total treasury reserve has now risen to 4,243,338 ETH ($12.24 billion), corresponding to a supply share of 3.52%.

Recently, Bitmine has been putting its Ethereum toward staking to earn a passive interest on its holdings. In the past week, the company has increased its locked stake by 171,264 ETH, taking total staked supply to more than 2 million tokens. “Bitmine has staked more ETH than other entities in the world,” said Tom Lee, Bitmine chairman.

In some other news, Bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) saw a high amount of net outflows in the past week, according to data from SoSoValue.

As displayed in the above graph, the weekly Bitcoin spot ETF netflow measured at -$1.33 billion last week. This is the highest outflow that these investment vehicles have witnessed since the end of February 2025.

Just a week prior, the market situation was the complete reverse, as spot ETFs saw net inflows amounting to $1.42 billion. The latest streak of outflows, however, have nearly entirely retraced this growth.

BTC Price

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is floating around $88,000, down more than 5% in the last seven days.

Американская компания Circle, выпускающая стейблкоины USDC, подверглась критике за неспособность своевременно блокировать украденные цифровые активы.

Сооснователь Fundstrat Global Advisors и председатель компании BitMine Immersion Technologies Том Ли (Tom Lee) признал, что криптовалютный рынок значительно ослаб, и объяснил произошедшее в первую очередь ростом цен на золото и серебро.

The cryptocurrency market is facing renewed pressure as a sharp contraction in stablecoin supply raises fresh concerns about Bitcoin (BTC) and overall market liquidity. 

Over the past week, the total market capitalization of ERC‑20 stablecoins has dropped by roughly $7 billion, a move analysts say could signal deeper structural weakness rather than a temporary correction.

Bitcoin Outlook Darkens

According to market analyst Darkfost, who shared the data on social media platform X (previously Twitter), this is the first time in the current cycle that the stablecoin market has experienced such a steep weekly decline from approximately $162 billion to $155 billion in just seven days. 

Darkfost described this drop as a clearly negative signal, suggesting that investors are increasingly choosing to exit the crypto market altogether instead of rotating capital within it.

The mechanics behind the trend are relatively straightforward. When demand for stablecoins falls, it typically means investors are converting their holdings back into fiat currency rather than keeping capital parked on-chain. 

As a result, stablecoin issuers burn excess tokens that are no longer needed, leading to a decline in overall supply. For this reason, a shrinking ERC‑20 stablecoin market cap is widely viewed as a bearish indicator.

Importantly, the same pattern is beginning to appear on other blockchain networks, reinforcing concerns that the trend is not isolated to Ethereum-based assets. 

Darkfost also pointed to historical precedent, noting that a similar contraction in stablecoin supply in 2021 coincided with Bitcoin’s transition into a bear market, although the Terra Luna collapse also played a role during that period.

Analyst Warns Of Potential Crypto Liquidity Crunch 

At the same time, macroeconomic risks are resurfacing. Crypto analyst Crypto Rover has warned that the likelihood of a US government shutdown by January 31 has surged to nearly 80%, up dramatically from estimates of just 10% to 15% one day earlier. 

According to his analysis, a government shutdown could pose serious challenges for Bitcoin and crypto markets due to its impact on liquidity. Historically, when shutdowns begin, the US Treasury rebuilds its Treasury General Account (TGA) by pulling cash out of financial markets. 

During the last shutdown cycle, the TGA increased by roughly $220 billion, effectively draining that amount of liquidity from the system. Crypto markets, Rover argues, are particularly vulnerable to such conditions.

In the previous episode, markets initially rallied briefly before liquidity dried up. That was followed by sharp declines, with Bitcoin and Ethereum (ETH) falling between 20% and 25%, while altcoins suffered even deeper losses.

This time, the setup appears even more fragile, according to Rover’s view. Liquidity in the market is already thin, investor confidence is weak, and institutional capital is largely concentrated in equities and gold rather than digital assets.

Furthermore, Rover notes that volatility is elevated, and crypto prices are reacting sharply to relatively small capital flows. Under these conditions, a shutdown-driven liquidity drain could be especially damaging, potentially triggering another severe market sell-off.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading at $88,183, having erased all the gains seen in the first week of the year. It is now down 5% over the past seven days, with the cryptocurrency sitting 30% below the all-time high of $126,000 reached last October. 

Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com 

Основатель крупнейшей по объему торгов криптобиржи Binance Чанпен Чжао (Changpeng Zhao) на Всемирном экономическом форуме в Давосе объявил, что знает, какой мемкоин является самым устойчивым.

За последнюю неделю капитализация стейблкоинов в сети Эфириума упала на $7 млрд. Аналогичная динамика наблюдалась в 2021 году, когда рынок переходил в медвежью фазу, заявили эксперты ончейн-платформы CryptoQuant.

Japan is reportedly likely to approve and list its first wave of crypto-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the next two years as the country’s financial authorities work on rule changes that allow the investment products.

Japan To Join Global Crypto ETF Race In Two Years

On Monday, news media outlet Nikkei Asia reported that Japan’s first crypto ETFs could be listed as early as 2028, offering retail investors easier access to Bitcoin (BTC) and other digital assets.

This would mark a major shift in the country’s regulatory approach to digital asset-based products. Japanese regulators have been cautious about crypto funds, with the Financial Services Agency (FSA) repeatedly expressing its reservations about the investment products.

The FSA plans to amend the Investment Trust Act’s enforcement order to include cryptocurrencies in the list of specified assets for ETFs. Additionally, the agency will propose stronger safeguards to protect investors, Nikkei added without detailing its sources.

Ahead of the regulatory changes, Japanese giants Nomura Holdings and SBI Holdings are preparing to develop the country’s first crypto ETFs. In August, SBI filed to launch an ETF linked to both BTC and XRP, as well as a Digital Gold Crypto ETF, which would allocate 51% to gold and 49% to digital assets to mitigate investment risks.

As reported by Bitcoinist, Japan’s Minister of Finance Satsuki Katayama highlighted earlier this month that US crypto ETFs have expanded as “a means for citizens to hedge against inflation.”

In her New Year’s address at the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s (TSE) Grand Opening Ceremony, Katayama supported a potential launch of crypto-based investment products, suggesting that similar initiatives to those of the US would be pursued in Japan.

Notably, the US approved the first wave of spot crypto ETFs in 2024, based on Bitcoin and Ethereum (ETH), leading pension funds, endowment funds for major universities such as Harvard, and government-affiliated investors to include them in their portfolios.

As of January 23, BTC funds’ total net assets amount to approximately $115.8 billion, according to SoSoValue data. Nikkei noted that Japan’s asset management industry has estimated that Japanese crypto ETFs could eventually reach 1 trillion yen, worth around $6.4 billion.

Authorities Prepare For Japan’s ‘Digital Year’

Japanese authorities have been reviewing their regulatory system over the past few years to develop customer fund safety policies and allow innovation in a more reliable environment.

Last year, the Liberal Democratic Party and the Japan Innovation Party published their upcoming FY2026 Tax Reform. The tax reform is set to introduce significant changes to the existing taxation system, addressing the categorization and regulation of crypto assets, and reclassifying them as financial products.

The reform signals a shift from the regulators’ previous treatment of digital assets as speculative. Moreover, authorities are also exploring introducing a separate taxation system for crypto income, with a flat 20% tax similar to the stock system.

During her New Year’s address, Finance Minister Katayama also recognized the country’s efforts to integrate digital assets and blockchain technology into the local financial markets. She expressed her support of Japan’s development as an asset management nation, affirming that “there is still room for growth.”

Katayama declared that 2026 would be the “Digital Year” for Japan, asserting that this year “is a turning point” in overcoming deflation. Ultimately, she emphasized the importance of stock exchanges in supporting the transition to a growth-oriented economy that opens public access to crypto assets.

The Senate’s effort to advance the crypto market structure bill (CLARITY Act) has hit another delay, as severe winter weather disrupts congressional scheduling and deepens uncertainty around the bill’s path forward.

Following the stalled and ultimately delayed markup of the bill by the Senate Banking Committee, attention had shifted to the Senate Agriculture Committee, which oversees digital asset markets through its jurisdiction of commodities. 

That committee had planned to move ahead with its own markup earlier this week, but the vote has now been postponed to January 29 due to weather-related disruptions.

Snowstorm And Partisan Gridlock Stall Crypto Bill’s Markup

Journalist Eleanor Terrett of Crypto In America reported on Monday that heavy snowfall and icy conditions prompted the Senate to preemptively cancel Friday’s voting session. As a result, committee members are not expected to return to Washington until Tuesday afternoon. 

Although the markup is currently scheduled for 3 p.m., widespread flight delays and cancellations across the country raise questions about whether all members will be able to arrive in time for the vote, which adds to existing political uncertainty surrounding the bill. 

Despite two additional weeks of bipartisan negotiations—which had already pushed back an earlier planned markup from January 15—the legislation remains divided along party lines. At this stage, only Republican members of the committee have publicly voiced support for the bill.

Nevertheless, Terret reported that the broader crypto industry responded positively to the latest draft of the bill released by the Agriculture Committee last Wednesday, January 21, ahead of the scheduled vote. 

Optimism Grows Around Senate Ag’s Draft  

Industry participants have praised the bill’s draft for offering clear protections to noncustodial software developers and blockchain infrastructure providers. The language narrowly targets intermediaries, rather than protocols or end users, a distinction many in the sector view as critical to preserving innovation. 

The draft also notably excludes provisions regulating stablecoin yields, a choice that carries particular significance after Coinbase withdrew its support for the Senate Banking Committee’s version of the bill last week over that very issue.

Despite lingering disagreements with Democrats over key policy elements, the Agriculture Committee’s chair, John Boozman, emphasized last week that progress should not be stalled indefinitely. 

Acknowledging the lack of a final agreement, the chair said the collaborative process had strengthened the legislation and stressed the importance of advancing the bill, expressing optimism about proceeding with the markup in the coming week.

However, even as optimism builds around the Agriculture Committee’s version of the crypto market structure framework, the overall legislative timeline remains unclear. 

Bloomberg has reported that the Senate Banking Committee is expected to delay consideration of its portion of the bill, a move that could push broader negotiations into late February or even March.

Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com