On January 13, Polygon Labs said it signed an agreement to acquire Coinme and Sequence for over $250 million. The deal targets stablecoin payments and cross-border settlement, leveraging Coinme's 48-state licenses and 50,000 fiat-to-crypto locations plus Sequence's enterprise wallets and cross-chain tech. Meanwhile, POL fell from $0.18 to $0.15 before rebounding to $0.16.

CryptoQuant contributor Darkfost reports Binance's Bitcoin futures open interest topped $15B on October 6, then fell more than 31% to about $10B as futures-led selling eased. He views the drop and an OI slide below the 180‑day average as a deleveraging signal, while Net Taker Volume has cooled to –$51M from a –$489M monthly peak. BTC last traded at $95,131.

On January 14 2026, Chinese authorities ordered domestic firms to stop using cybersecurity software from more than 12 companies based in the United States and Israel, citing national security risks and potential data exposure. The decision affects major vendors such as Broadcom's VMware, Palo Alto Networks, CrowdStrike, Fortinet and Check Point Software Technologies, and is part of Beijing's broader push for technological self-reliance and a shift to local providers.

A new draft of the U.S. Digital Asset Market Clarity Act could classify XRP, along with tokens like LTC, HBAR, DOGE, SOL, and LINK, as "non-ancillary" assets from January 1, putting them on similar regulatory footing to Bitcoin and Ethereum as ETF primary assets. While this change does not immediately move XRP's price, it adds institutional clarity as XRP trades around resistance at its 200-day EMA, with bulls eyeing a potential move toward $3.20 and bears watching support near $1.95.

Bitcoin climbed above $95,000 for the first time since mid-November and was trading near $97,200, breaking out of a multi-week consolidation range. On-chain and market metrics show spot taker buy volume and accumulation rising, suggesting buyers are regaining control and that recent strength may be supported by broader participation.

On 15 January 2026, Visa began piloting stablecoin funding and payouts on Visa Direct through BVNK. The program lets select businesses send or receive transfers in stablecoins alongside fiat, with Visa Direct handling around $1.7 trillion annually and BVNK processing more than $30 billion in stablecoin transactions each year. The rollout is limited to approved markets.

DeFi Education Fund has raised concerns over eight CLARITY Act amendments submitted by several U.S. senators, arguing they would undermine DeFi technology, software developers, and self-custody. The group is urging lawmakers to reject proposals from Senators Reed, Kim, Cortez Masto, and Warren that would expand Treasury and FinCEN authority, as the Senate Banking and Agriculture Committees prepare January 15, 2026 hearings on the bill.

OpenAI struck a multi-billion agreement with Cerebras Systems to bring up to 750 megawatts of low-latency AI compute online over the next three years. The plan, set to roll out in tranches through 2028, complements a separate SB Energy partnership involving $500 million from each party and a 1.2 GW data center in Milam County.