Prediction markets saw trading volume jump from $15.8 billion in 2024 to $63.5 billion in 2025, with activity staying strong into January 2026 as three platforms captured over 95% of global flow. A CertiK report warns that this growth relies heavily on centralized Web2-style authentication, creating critical single points of failure even as on-chain settlement and oracle designs continue to evolve.

US banks and crypto firms are clashing over whether stablecoin rewards should be allowed under the CLARITY market-structure push. Total stablecoin supply reached $311.332 billion in mid-January, according to DeFiLlama, and Standard Chartered has warned about approximately $500 billion of potential deposit outflows by the end of 2028. The GENIUS Act, signed in July 2025, and pending implementation by July this year, frames the backdrop.

Ripple has introduced Ethereum and Solana staking within its institutional custody platform through an integration with staking provider Figment, allowing clients to access protocol rewards without running validator infrastructure. The move underscores that XRP itself does not currently offer protocol-level staking, even as XRP-focused products recently recorded larger weekly inflows than comparable Ethereum and Solana products.

Ethereum dropped under $2,000 as large holder activity drew attention, with Lookonchain tracking Vitalik Buterin selling 6,183 ETH ($13.24M) over the past three days at an average of $2,140. Additional insider sales, including Aave's Stani Kulechov, coincided with cascading long liquidations, about $2.5B in US spot ETH ETF outflows, and a broader risk-off backdrop.

Bitcoin recently dropped below the key $70,000 mark and briefly touched $60,000 while the broader crypto market turned fragile, even as stablecoin issuance accelerated. Over a three-day stretch ending Feb. 4, Tether and Circle created more than $3 billion in new USDT and USDC, contributing to a stablecoin market that surpassed $300 billion in 2025. However, on-chain data shows stablecoin balances are being pulled away from exchanges rather than deployed into risk assets, signaling defensive positioning instead of fresh buying power for Bitcoin.

On Feb. 4, the XRP Ledger activated Permissioned Domains with 91% validator approval. The upgrade adds on-ledger credentials to gate access, enabling regulated trading, payments, and future lending on a public chain. Data from RWA.xyz places tokenized real-world assets at about $24.11 billion, highlighting the feature’s institutional focus.

On Feb. 3, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin outlined a revised roadmap that de-emphasizes "branded shard" rollups and questions the role of corporate-controlled layer-2 networks like Coinbase-backed Base. Base, launched in August 2023, has secured over $11 billion in value and generated more than $75 million in 2025 revenue, but faces growing pressure from Ethereum's push for lower L1 costs and higher decentralization standards. The network's reliance on centralized sequencing and upgrade control now sits at the center of a broader debate about long-term economic sustainability and trustless scaling.

Hyperliquid’s HYPE token has climbed about 71% in the past two weeks to a recent high of $35, even as global risk assets lost roughly $6 trillion in early 2026. The perpetuals-focused DEX is seeing surging volume, buybacks and new products like HIP-3 RWAs and the upcoming HIP-4 outcome markets, while a Feb. 6 unlock of 9.92 million HYPE worth around $335 million looms as a key test.

According to CryptoSlate data, Bitcoin trades near $78,000, more than 38% below October's peak above $126,000, while f2pool's Feb. 2 dashboard shows miner revenue around $0.034 per TH/day at roughly 890 EH/s. With hashrate down about 12% since last November and some operators redirecting infrastructure to AI, margins for many rigs have compressed to historical floors.