In 2025, Russia’s Social Fund processed 37 million hotline calls, with a growing portion focused on cryptocurrency, pensions and social benefits in digital assets. Over the period from July 2024 to June 2025, Russia recorded $376.3 billion in crypto inflows, making it Europe’s largest market while Bitcoin traded around $90,751 with a dominant market share. Current rules still require pensions to be paid in rubles, but regulators are signaling openness to tightly controlled investment channels rather than direct payment use for crypto.

According to TRM Labs' 2026 Crypto Crime Report, illicit crypto inflows reached $158 billion in 2025, a 145% rise from $64.5 billion in 2024. The share of illicit activity fell to 1.5% of on-chain volume and 2.7% of VASP inflows, while Russia-linked A757 and A7 saw $72 billion and $39 billion respectively.

Over the past week, Bitcoin and Ethereum both slipped less than 2%, while several altcoins saw sharp moves in both directions. Polygon's POL token surged close to 50%, supported by steady on-chain activity, and Virtuals Protocol and JasmyCoin also booked double-digit gains. In contrast, Midnight and Zcash dropped more than 20% from recent highs, with several privacy-focused coins and major tokens like UNI and DOGE also ending the week in the red.

Most of the Magnificent 7 lagged the S&P 500 in 2025 for the first time since 2022, with gains concentrated in Alphabet and Nvidia. Early 2026 points to continued dispersion as investors reassess AI spending and profit prospects, with slower earnings growth expected for the group and a greater emphasis on select stock picking.

Updated on January 11, 2026, India's ITSAR draft outlines 83 smartphone security requirements, including potential source code reviews. Apple, Samsung, Xiaomi, and Google, via MAIT, oppose provisions such as year-long log retention and periodic malware scans, citing trade-secret risks and operational burdens.

U.S. lawmakers are reviving the Clarity Act, a market structure bill that would establish the first comprehensive legal framework for digital assets. Senate Agriculture and Banking Committees plan to hold hearings on Thursday to revise their sections, addressing stablecoin rewards, DeFi liability, and whether public officials like Donald Trump can profit from crypto while in office. The committees aim to merge their drafts and move the combined bill to a Senate vote ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

The International Monetary Fund indicates that stablecoins are shifting from a crypto market tool to infrastructure for cross border payments. Its analysis highlights growing use outside major financial centers, tighter links to dollar based assets, and policy concerns around hidden dollarization. Fragmented oversight and bank initiatives in tokenization point toward a hybrid payment architecture.

The Tennessee Sports Wagering Council has directed Kalshi, Polymarket and Crypto.com to stop offering sports event contracts to residents and to void existing agreements, with refunds due by January 31, 2026. Noncompliance could lead to fines of up to $25,000 per violation and potential felony charges under state law. The move underscores growing state-level scrutiny of crypto-linked derivatives and their overlap with federal regulation.