John Williams, President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said current U.S. interest rates are well aligned with achieving sustainable employment and returning inflation to 2%. He referenced the Federal Open Market Committee's 75-basis-point rate reduction in 2025 and predicted steady then gradually declining unemployment, with inflation easing from an early-year peak toward 2.5%. Williams also noted that Fed officials are divided over further cuts, with expectations centered on just a quarter-point move this year.

On January 13, 2026, SEC Chair Paul Atkins said in an interview that U.S. authorities might seize Venezuela's alleged 600,000 Bitcoin holdings but emphasized no decision has been taken and the issue lies outside the SEC's primary authority. The reported BTC stash, estimated between $56 billion and $67 billion and still unverified, drew renewed attention after the U.S. military captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on January 3, 2026, while the Senate continues to review the CLARITY Act on digital asset regulation and decentralized finance.

As of January 13, 2026, U.S. Senators Cynthia Lummis and Ron Wyden introduced the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act to clarify that crypto software developers who do not custody user funds should not be treated as money transmitters. The bipartisan measure sits within broader congressional work on crypto policy, including debates on stablecoins and decentralized finance.

Gold surged to a record $4,600 on January 12, 2026, as investors sought safety amid doubts about the Federal Reserve's independence. According to the article, Chair Jerome Powell said the DOJ sent grand jury subpoenas to the Fed tied to a $2.5 billion headquarters project. The dollar slipped about 0.3%, stock futures fell, and silver jumped more than 5%.

On January 3, 2026, former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro was arrested and transferred to the U.S., while the country continued facing sanctions and hyperinflation. Venezuela’s state oil company has been using USDT to keep exporting crude despite blocked banking channels, and ordinary citizens increasingly rely on the stablecoin for savings and everyday payments as the bolivar loses value.

On January 12 2026, Monero climbed to a new all‑time high of $545, breaking its earlier peak of about $518 from 2021. The privacy coin has gained 15% in a day, 26.5% over a week and 168% in a year, while capital has been rotating out of Zcash after a roughly 25% weekly drop tied to governance disputes, helping push Monero toward the 12th spot by market value.

On January 11, the chairs of seven UK parliamentary committees sent a letter urging a complete prohibition on cryptocurrency donations to political parties. The move cites risks to transparency, traceability, and enforcement, and follows debates that intensified after a £9 million contribution linked to a crypto investor was flagged in December 2025.

On Saturday, January 10, 2026, Elon Musk said X will roll out an update in seven days that exposes the code deciding which posts and ads appear in users' feeds. The platform plans to rely more heavily on its Grok AI chatbot to evaluate posts daily, even as regulators in multiple countries criticize Grok over sexually explicit image generation and consider or impose access restrictions.

Ethereum's social media sentiment has weakened to levels similar to those seen before its 2025 rally, even as the broader crypto market shifts between "Fear" and "Extreme Fear." Traders on prediction platforms are still pricing in a meaningful chance that Ether will trade above $4,250 to $5,000 or more in 2026. Analysts also note that while Ethereum has pulled back sharply from its 2025 peak, many investors again view it as the clear second-largest crypto asset.