On February 4 2026, UBS Group AG CEO Sergio Ermotti said the Swiss bank is preparing infrastructure to enable individual clients to trade cryptocurrencies and to offer tokenized deposit solutions for corporate customers. He emphasized that UBS will follow a fast‑follower strategy and roll out these digital asset services cautiously over the next three to five years amid strict Basel III capital rules on crypto exposure.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin argued on Wednesday that layer-2 networks should not remain focused solely on scaling, noting security gaps and upgrades on the main chain. Leaders from Arbitrum, Base and StarkWare responded with differing views, with Arbitrum defending scaling as central while Base and StarkWare highlighted their moves toward more specialized roles. The debate underscores shifting expectations for L2 rollups as Ethereum's base layer gains higher gas limits and potential native rollup support.

In a video shared on X on Monday, Alex from Uma Protocol and Across Protocol unveiled rentahuman.ai, a website where people list hourly rates so AI agents can book them for real-world jobs. The platform, described as a "meatspace layer for AI," reports nearly 26,000 registrations and supports tasks from shopping to attending meetings, while explicitly ruling out the launch of its own token. Alex said the site was developed using "vibe coding" with Claude-based AI agents running in recursive Ralph loops that iteratively generate and fix code.

The Institute for Supply Management said on Monday its Manufacturing PMI rose to 52.6 for January, the highest reading since August 2022. Some analysts view the stronger print as a potential tailwind for Bitcoin, which hovered near $78,000 after touching $75,442 on Monday and remains down almost 38% from its October peak.

In the run-up to the 2026 Lunar New Year festivities starting on February 15, Chinese AI firms are rolling out upgraded models such as DeepSeek's V4, Zhipu AI's GLM-5 and MiniMax's M2.2, alongside large-scale user acquisition campaigns. Alibaba plans to spend 3 billion yuan on incentives for its Qwen app, while Tencent and Baidu will allocate 1 billion yuan and 500 million yuan respectively to push their AI services during the extended nine-day holiday.

On February 2, 2026, the German Economy Ministry lowered its 2026 growth outlook to 1.0% from 1.3%. In a Friday note, Deutsche Bank strategist Maximilian Uleer said he still expects the DAX to climb 18% in 2026, well above an 8% consensus, citing government spending and resilient global conditions.

On Sunday, Elon Musk said SpaceX has halted unauthorized Russian access to Starlink. He cited measures such as location restrictions and speed-based shutdowns (typically 75–90 km/h), while Ukraine's Mykhailo Fedorov noted initial results and continued coordination. SpaceX also revised its privacy policy in mid‑January 2026, and Starlink serves 155 countries as of February 2026.

In January, shipments of Venezuelan crude to China fell to zero from prior averages, and on January 30 India’s Narendra Modi spoke with Acting President Delcy Rodríguez on energy cooperation. On Saturday, Donald Trump said he would welcome Chinese and Indian investment in Venezuela’s oil sector as Caracas cut extraction taxes to 15% from 33%.

Bitcoin slid about 7% on Saturday to around $77,000, with more than $2 billion wiped from the crypto market. It later hovered near $78,690 at publication, according to CoinMarketCap. Analysts are split: some see a bottom between $75,000 and $80,000, while others caution potential declines toward $60,000–$65,000 in 2026.