GameStop transferred its 4,710 BTC to Coinbase Prime amid a softer market, with Bitcoin around $89,098. CryptoQuant said a sale near $90,800 could realize about $76 million in losses, while GME climbed roughly 6.7% after CEO Ryan Cohen bought 500,000 shares on January 21.

On January 23, 2026, Novo Nordisk shares advanced after the new oral Wegovy weight-loss pill logged 18,410 first-week prescriptions and outpaced Eli Lilly's Zepbound. The rally was reinforced by a Buy rating from Goldman Sachs, as investors focused on the drugmaker's earnings outlook and expanding position in the GLP-1 obesity market.

On 23 January 2026, Binance submitted an application in Greece for a Markets in Crypto‑Assets license that would grant it EU‑wide authorization under the bloc’s new regulatory regime. If approved, the exchange could passport its services across all member states, with Greece potentially serving as its main regulatory hub in a market where competition among jurisdictions for crypto firms is increasing.

At the Friday Wall Street open, according to TradingView data, Bitcoin stayed under $90,000 while gold touched $4,967 and silver approached $100. Traders focused on the 2025 yearly open at $93,500 and key pivots at $86.8K and $91K, as Capriole founder Charles Edwards outlined a $12,000–$23,000 gold path over 3–8 years.

On January 23, 2026, the yen swung sharply as the dollar briefly exceeded 159.00 before sliding to 157.33 and later hovering near 158.00, leaving the pair down 0.3%. The Bank of Japan kept short‑term rates at 0.75%, while senior officials declined to comment on intervention talk or reported rate‑check calls with banks.

On January 23, 2026, the Bank of Russia detailed plans for a "simple licensing" framework targeting crypto exchanges and digital-asset custodians that avoid the securities market. The regulator aims to move existing crypto businesses from the gray sector into a regulated space while imposing prudential limits on banks' and brokers' exposure to risky crypto assets. The strategy also builds on Russia's 2024 legalization of crypto mining and includes wider investor access by recognizing cryptocurrencies and stablecoins as monetary assets.

On 2 January 2026, an unidentified Polymarket user reportedly wagered about $30,000 that Nicolás Maduro would lose power by 31 January 2026, a bet that surged to more than $436,000 after a U.S. special forces raid led to his capture. By 2025, decentralized perpetuals and crypto prediction markets had evolved from niche tools into high-volume, consumer-facing infrastructure, with contracts on geopolitical events attracting over $10.5 million in open interest. The maturation of execution, liquidity design, distribution channels, and regulatory frameworks is now driving broader participation, particularly in emerging markets such as India.

Tether Gold (XAUt), a token backed 1:1 by gold held in Swiss vaults, has climbed toward the $5,000 level alongside a sharp rally in physical gold. Large holders have recently accumulated thousands of XAUt worth tens of millions of dollars, while new liquidity via Mantle and Bybit supports trading around key levels at $4,800 support and $5,000 resistance.