On January 20, Grayscale submitted a Form S-1 to the SEC to convert its NEAR Trust into a spot ETF, with plans to list on NYSE Arca under ticker GSNR. The fund may allow staking, will use Coinbase for brokerage and custody, and track CoinDesk's NEAR CCIXber Reference Rate. According to CoinGlass, NEAR rallied over 3% intraday from $1.44 to just above $1.80 before easing to around $1.52.

The article argues that despite claims crypto is “dead” following recent regulation news, the market structure in 2026 has fundamentally changed rather than disappeared, with open bad actors alleged to dominate parts of the space and lawsuits now targeting Trump-linked tokens and World Liberty Financial. It notes that many veteran investors are turning away from leverage and speculative altcoin bets to focus on long-term positions, while banks and institutions wait for the Clarity Act expected in 2026 as the US considers a broader move to on-chain settlement.

A Bitcoin Improvement Proposal designated BIP-444 has sparked controversy within the Bitcoin community. Published late Friday, the proposal seeks to impose temporary restrictions on arbitrary data embedded in Bitcoin transactions via a one-year soft fork. Proponents cite concerns over potential illegal content storage following changes in Bitcoin Core v30, while critics warn the measure could set a precedent for protocol-level content moderation.

President Donald Trump has nominated Michael Selig to chair the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Selig currently serves as Chief Counsel of the SEC's Crypto Task Force and Senior Adviser to SEC Chair Paul Atkins. The nomination follows the withdrawal of a previous candidate in September and reflects a shift toward structured digital asset oversight.