In early January 2026, crypto reporter Eleanor Terrett reported that a newly formed group called Investors For Transparency began running prime-time Fox News ads urging opposition to DeFi-related provisions in the CLARITY Act. The campaign portrays decentralized finance as a regulatory threat, drawing criticism from industry figures who question the group's anonymous backing and warn that applying traditional banking rules to DeFi could damage the $120 billion decentralized lending market.

On January 1, 2026, the UK's HMRC brought in new rules requiring cryptocurrency platforms to gather and submit detailed user information to help recover an estimated £300 million in tax. The framework targets Capital Gains Tax on digital asset disposals, sets a £3,000 tax-free CGT allowance, and encourages investors to use self-assessment and voluntary disclosure for past gains.

Senate Agriculture Committee Chair John Boozman is weighing whether to delay a January 15 markup of a broad crypto market structure bill as bipartisan negotiations with Cory Booker continue. The talks aim to strengthen cross-party backing for the legislation while parallel action in the Senate Banking Committee and pressure from the White House highlight growing urgency around digital asset regulation. At the same time, US community bankers are urging Congress to tighten the GENIUS Act to curb stablecoin-related rewards they say could pull deposits from local banks.

In the third quarter of 2025, Tiger Global Management founder Chase Coleman sold Meta Platforms shares valued at about $3.49 billion and reduced stakes in several other major public companies. Over the same period, he opened new positions in tech names including MongoDB, with an investment of roughly $105.84 million, and Netflix, with a stake of around $242.06 million.

On 10 January 2026, Nasdaq and CME Group consolidated their crypto benchmarks into the joint Nasdaq-CME Crypto Index. The basket covers large, liquid assets including Bitcoin, Ether, XRP, Solana, Chainlink, Cardano, and Avalanche to provide market-wide exposure. The collaboration lays groundwork for ETFs and derivatives aimed at institutional investors.

According to a blog post published on Friday, the Pi Network Core Team released a developer library that enables Pi payment integration in under ten minutes. PI has stalled, with recent upside capped below $0.22 and trading just under $0.21, while upcoming unlocks average under 4.5 million coins per day with spikes near 5.5 million.

Ripple obtained fresh approvals from the UK Financial Conduct Authority to operate a regulated digital‑asset and fiat payment stack, embedding its infrastructure in the country's financial system. Aimed at institutional rails rather than retail speculation, the move saw muted market impact, with XRP activity briefly rising on January 6 before fading in the following sessions.

Nasdaq and CME Group have consolidated their separate crypto benchmarks into a single Nasdaq-CME Crypto Index aimed at institutional investors. The index evolves from the former Nasdaq Crypto Index and currently tracks a diversified basket of assets including Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Solana, Chainlink, Cardano and Avalanche. By focusing on broad market exposure instead of single tokens, the new benchmark is designed to support the next phase of index-based crypto products such as ETFs and structured instruments.