Market analyst Paul Bennett reports XRP-linked futures open interest has reached $4.03 billion, signaling widespread leverage on venues including Binance and CME. CoinGecko data shows XRP is up 10.2% over the past month and trading near $2.17, while a $30 million long and shrinking spot volumes point to a fragile, derivatives-driven setup.

BMNR is pursuing a 5% share of Ethereum’s supply and says it manages large ETH holdings with staking income, alongside a $200 million investment in Beast Industries. Analysts highlight recent multi‑million ETH buys and structural demand from Digital Asset Treasuries as they discuss a potential path toward a $12,000 year‑end price versus a $3,500 high.

Crypto analytics data indicate that XRP whales accumulated more than 50 million XRP worth about $103 million over the last week while the price trades slightly above $2.05. At the same time, XRP balances on Binance have fallen from over 3 billion tokens before the October 10 crash to around 2.6 billion, the lowest level in roughly two years. This combination of large-scale accumulation and shrinking exchange reserves could set the stage for a potential supply-driven price move if current trends persist.

Analyst Tyrex warns that Bitcoin's structure resembles April 2022 and, if the uptrend fails, projects an 11.04% slide toward $86,000–$84,000 while price hovers near $95,000. Separately, CryptoXLarge maps January–May 2026: quiet accumulation, a February surge, a March ATH around $240,000, an April bull trap, and a May flash crash.

On January 18, 2026, Donald Trump denied ever offering the Federal Reserve chair role to Jamie Dimon and said Dimon is unfit for the job. He also said he will sue JPMorgan within two weeks over alleged political debanking after January 6, as bank shares slid, with JPMorgan down around 5% over the last week.

On Saturday, Solana Labs CEO Anatoly Yakovenko said on X that Solana must keep iterating and even envisaged network fees funding AI-assisted code updates. His comments contrasted with Vitalik Buterin's "walkaway test" vision for Ethereum, which emphasizes long-term self-sustainability without ongoing developer guidance.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced new tariffs on European imports via Truth Social, taking effect on February 1. Rates begin at 10% and could rise to 25% by June 2026, contingent on a Greenland purchase. The EU is preparing an emergency meeting to weigh responses, and countries named include Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, and Finland.

On January 18, 2026, BitGo outlined plans to raise about $201 million through a US initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "BTGO." The institutional crypto custodian will sell 11 million new Class A shares plus 821,595 shares from existing holders at an indicative price of $15 to $17, while keeping a dual-class voting structure that leaves CEO Michael Belshe with majority control.