Travis VanderZanden has introduced Buck (BUCK), a non-collateralized stablecoin positioned as a "dollar of the Bitcoin world" that offers users a 7% annualized yield without lock-up or lending. The token is currently limited to non-U.S. users with AML checks, trades via buck.io, and on January 7, 2026 was priced at $0.99 with more than a 32% 24-hour volume decline and no market capitalization due to zero circulating supply.

On January 6, U.S. Congressman Ritchie Torres introduced the 2026 Financial Forecasting Market Public Integrity Act to restrict insider trading by government officials in prediction markets. The bill seeks to curb unethical profit-taking based on non-public information and reinforce transparency standards for federally elected officials. Its implementation could reshape trading behavior in forecasting markets and influence future financial regulation debates.

On January 5, 2026, Starknet experienced a brief halt in transaction processing between 9:24 and 9:42 AM UTC due to a block execution mismatch, before restoring full network operations. During the disruption, Bithumb suspended STRK deposits, while the token traded around $0.09 with a $459.44 million market cap and 24-hour volume of $60.68 million, as the community awaited a detailed post-incident report.

On January 5, 2026, Starknet's mainnet suffered an outage linked to slow block production, with the team investigating and working on technical fixes. Despite the disruption and absence of detailed leadership commentary, the STRK token's market performance and trading activity showed limited immediate impact. The event follows a prior incident in September 2025, underscoring ongoing operational reliability concerns for the network.

As of January 5, 2026, secondary reports indicate that Bank of America permits its wealth advisors to suggest allocating up to 4% of client portfolios to Bitcoin, though the bank has not issued an official confirmation. A cited statement from Chris Hyzy describes a 1%–4% digital asset allocation via regulated vehicles for investors comfortable with higher volatility, while CoinMarketCap data show Bitcoin trading around $92,566.51 with a market cap of $1.85 trillion and 58.68% market dominance.

From January 1, 2026, China's six largest state-owned banks will begin paying interest on real-name digital yuan wallets at standard deposit rates, under a framework set by the People's Bank of China. The policy, detailed by Deputy Governor Lu Lei, treats e-CNY balances in Type I to III wallets as deposit liabilities covered by insurance, while BOCOM excludes Type IV wallets, underscoring China's move to embed its CBDC within the traditional banking system.

Coinbase's Global Head of Research David Duong expects cryptocurrencies to reach broad mainstream use by 2026, driven by ETFs, stablecoins, tokenization, and clearer rules. He points to the introduction of spot ETFs, corporate crypto treasuries, and regulatory frameworks such as the GENIUS Act and MiCA as key catalysts for institutional capital and deeper integration with global finance. Bitcoin's current market performance and dominance are cited as indicators of the asset class's growing structural role despite short-term price declines.

In 2025, Bitget Wallet's internal data review shows that user activity is expanding from trading into payments and on-chain yield farming. While swap and perpetual trading volumes are rising, stablecoin payments reportedly approach $46 trillion annually and demand for yield products continues to grow. At the same time, Tether USDt is trading near $0.99 with a market cap of $187.11 billion and daily volume of $74.20 billion as of December 31, 2025.

On December 30, the New York Stock Exchange listed five America-first Truth Social-themed ETFs managed by Yorkville America Equities under Trump Media & Technology Group Corp.'s Truth.Fi brand. Built on MarkerVector indexes and focused on U.S. strength and "Made in America" priorities, the lineup includes tickers TSSD, TSFN, TSIC, TSES, and TSRS.