Americans have lost more than $333 million to scams conducted through crypto ATMs, with $240 million disappearing in the first half of 2025. In response, cities like Spokane and Stillwater have passed local bans, while several other states and municipalities are weighing restrictions or tighter oversight. Industry participants and legal experts argue the machines expose deeper gaps in banking access, even as authorities focus on their role in fast, irreversible fraud.

Venezuela's main stock benchmark, the IBVC, climbed 124% over five trading days last week following the removal of Nicolas Maduro by U.S. forces. Despite the dramatic move and renewed foreign interest, the market remains very small, with fewer than 40 listed firms and annual stock and bond trading barely exceeding $200,000 in 2026. A new ETF has been filed with the U.S. SEC to target companies linked to Venezuela, even as the bolivar slides and liquidity constraints persist.

On January 10, 2026, Jim Cramer urged investors not to chase Apple or Nvidia, citing a calm unemployment report and ongoing market rotation. He said money is moving toward storage and equipment names, and flagged near‑term catalysts including Tuesday's December CPI, the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference, and the start of earnings with JPMorgan Chase.

Mike Burry disclosed in a Substack post that he holds put options on Oracle and has also shorted the shares over the past six months. He points to the company's aggressive cloud and AI build-out, about $95 billion in total debt, and a stock that jumped 36% in September before ending the year roughly 40% below that peak.

In the third quarter of last year, U.S. workers received 53.8% of GDP through wages and salaries, the lowest share since the BLS labor share series began in 1947. Over the same period, labor productivity registered its fastest increase in two years, while employers added 50,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate eased to 4.4% amid subdued hiring. Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin highlighted that firms are leaning on productivity gains, keeping hiring modest even as GDP and corporate profits expand.

According to TRM Labs, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps allegedly used two UK-based exchanges, Zedcex and Zedxion, to route about $1 billion in crypto since early 2023, mostly USDT on the TRON network. Investigators said IRGC-linked flows accounted for 56% of these platforms’ volume between 2023 and 2025 and traced activity across 187 sanctioned wallet addresses.

On January 9 2026, Nasdaq and CME Group introduced the Nasdaq CME Crypto™ Index as the successor to the Nasdaq Crypto™ Index to serve as a single benchmark for institutional digital asset exposure. The index is designed to underlie regulated products such as ETFs, structured products, and managed funds, using CF Benchmarks pricing, vetted exchanges and custodians, and a publicly available methodology with joint governance oversight.

At 08:42, President Donald Trump said on Truth Social he instructed $200 billion in mortgage‑bond purchases via Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. FHFA Director Bill Pulte stated on X the agencies would execute and cited Q3 liquidity of about $191.8B across both as of September 30. Bitcoin traded just above $90,000, with open interest at $139.87B (+0.34%), liquidations at $237.22M, and RSI at 48.9.

In 2025 Bitcoin surged to a series of record highs above $126,000 before sliding to around $80,000 by year-end, leaving it roughly 30% below its peak. For 2026, analysts and industry executives project a wide trading band between $75,000 and $225,000, citing factors such as ETF demand, institutional lending and potential U.S. regulatory shifts. At the same time, Bank of America has upgraded Coinbase shares to Buy, reiterating a $340 price target on the back of its expanding product suite and tokenization initiatives.