At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong brought Bitcoin into formal policy debate. On January 21, 2026, he confronted Banque de France governor François Villeroy de Galhau over monetary control, and by January 22 the focus had shifted to Bitcoin as a monetary system rather than a mere technology.

On 21 January 2026, Bhutan outlined plans to start operating a validator on the Sei Network in the first quarter, moving the country directly into the consensus layer of a public proof-of-stake blockchain. The initiative is led by Druk Holding and Investments in collaboration with the Sei Development Foundation and could later extend to tokenization, digital payments, and identity-linked services.

On 20 January 2026, Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded funds saw notable net outflows as prices slipped below key thresholds, while Solana ETFs continued to register modest inflows. Over the past week, Bitcoin dropped to around $89,000 and Ether fell below $3,000, whereas Solana traded near $127 despite also posting double‑digit percentage losses. At the same time, risk‑off sentiment tied to geopolitical and trade tensions coincided with rising demand for gold and silver as perceived safe‑haven assets.

On 20 January 2026, privacy-focused blockchain Midnight, which is closely integrated with the Cardano ecosystem, saw its NIGHT token listed for trading on eToro. The move opens access to a wider retail user base beyond crypto-native exchanges, while the network continues to develop zero-knowledge technology for selective data privacy and advances through its 2026 roadmap.

On 20 January 2026, Brian Armstrong argued that the global financial system structurally benefits existing capital owners while limiting broader access to top-performing markets. He highlighted how capital income has outpaced wages and pointed to tokenization of real-world assets on blockchain as a way to lower entry barriers and expand global market participation.

On January 19, 2026, Injective's community approved the "Supply Squeeze" to cut INJ issuance, with 99.89% voting yes. The changes pair lower emissions with ongoing buyback-and-burns; roughly 6.85 million INJ have already been destroyed, while TVL sits below $20 million, according to DefiLlama.

On 20 January 2026, Bermuda announced a partnership with Coinbase and Circle following talks at the World Economic Forum in Davos to advance a fully on-chain financial infrastructure. The plan seeks to embed blockchain technology into payments, settlement, and core financial services at a national level, with USDC expected to function as a primary digital settlement asset. By leveraging established regulatory frameworks and support from major crypto firms, Bermuda intends to improve efficiency, transparency, and market connectivity in its economy.

On 18 January 2026, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin warned that growing protocol complexity is a major long-term threat to the network's decentralization. He argued that constant feature additions and reliance on highly specialized cryptography can make users dependent on a small expert class instead of the code itself. Buterin called for an explicit focus on simplification, including removing or offloading rarely used features from the core protocol to preserve Ethereum's trustlessness over decades.

On 17 January 2026, BlackRock was observed shifting more than $1.24 billion in Bitcoin and Ethereum across several days, involving withdrawals rather than direct liquidation. On-chain tracking indicates these flows are linked to portfolio and custody rebalancing, while BlackRock continues to hold hundreds of thousands of BTC and millions of ETH, maintaining significant exposure to both assets.