On January 31 2026, Kevin Warsh's nomination to lead the Federal Reserve pushed the 30-year versus two-year Treasury yield spread to 1.35 percentage points, close to its widest level since 2021. Warsh favors reducing the Fed's roughly $9tn bond portfolio, while Donald Trump is pressing for lower long-term interest rates, creating tension over how policy should be set. Investors still anticipate two quarter-point interest rate cuts starting in the summer even as large asset managers highlight the difficulty of shrinking the balance sheet and easing rates at the same time.

Amazon requested the FCC move a July 2026 deadline to July 2028 to deploy roughly 1,600 satellites. The company cites rocket shortages and manufacturing delays, reports more than 150 launched since April, expects about 700 in orbit by July 30, and has 32 set to fly on February 12.

In late January 2026, Microsoft introduced Rho-alpha, a robotic foundation model that coordinates two arms using vision, language, and tactile sensing. The system adjusts its grip based on physical feedback for tasks like inserting plugs and assembling parts, and will first roll out via an Early Access Program before becoming available on the Microsoft Foundry platform. Manufacturers and logistics firms can then adapt Rho-alpha with their own data for repetitive handling and small-batch assembly work.

On January 29, 2026, Bybit rolled out a crypto payment card in Georgia with Mastercard acceptance, allowing spending at participating merchants under applicable rules and location limits. The program offers 10% cashback, capped at $150 for new users and $75 for existing users, with a $100 minimum deposit required within 30 days of approval. Virtual and physical cards are available, with EMV 3-D Secure and Google Pay support.

On January 29, 2026, Tesla said it will invest $2 billion in xAI and reiterated that Cybercab production is slated for 2025. The company reported a 3% full-year revenue decline to $94.83 billion for 2025, outlined more than $20 billion in 2026 capital spending, and will discontinue Model S and Model X.

On January 27 2026, EU regulators launched proceedings giving Google six months to remove barriers for rival AI search tools on Android and to share search data with competing services under the Digital Markets Act. The European Commission signaled that failure to comply could trigger fines of up to 10% of Google's global annual revenue, while Google argues the rules risk undermining user privacy, security and innovation.

On January 27 2026, multiple advanced economies including the United States, Britain, France, Italy and Japan were reported to be carrying debt loads at or above the size of their annual GDP. The United States now faces about $38 trillion in national obligations with net interest costs near $1 trillion a year, while Japan’s debt exceeds twice its economic output amid new election-driven spending pledges. Rising borrowing costs, aging populations and infrastructure needs are squeezing government budgets and raising concerns over long-term financial stability.

On January 27 2026, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission warned that gaps in cryptocurrency and digital asset oversight pose growing risks to consumers. A draft Corporations Amendment (Digital Assets Framework) Bill 2025 would introduce licensing for platforms holding customer assets and is projected to add $24 billion annually to the economy. Industry experts support faster regulatory clarity while urging policymakers to protect space for innovation and education around complex technologies.

On January 26 2026, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said his 2017 dismissal of user-side blockchain self-verification was mistaken. He now argues that advances in zk-SNARKs make it practical for ordinary users to verify Ethereum directly and has pushed zero-knowledge rollups to the center of the network's development plans. This shift also underpins renewed interest in a "mountain man's cabin" fallback model for operating on-chain when intermediaries or network infrastructure fail.