In an X post on January 10, 2026, Jan3 founder Samson Mow outlined a series of Bitcoin forecasts, including a prediction that Elon Musk will significantly ramp up his exposure to BTC in 2026. He also projected Bitcoin could climb to $1.33 million and said nation-state adoption would be a key driver, while other industry executives voiced more cautious long‑term expectations.

In a post on X published on Sunday, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin argued that today\u0027s decentralized stablecoins still face unresolved structural weaknesses. He highlighted ongoing reliance on the U.S. dollar, vulnerabilities in oracle-based price feeds, and incentive problems linked to staking yield and slashing risks. Buterin called for a fundamental redesign of collateral models, oracle mechanisms and incentive structures instead of minor incremental adjustments.

X’s head of product Nikita Bier said on Sunday that the platform is developing Smart Cashtags, a feature that lets users tie ticker symbols to specific tokens or smart contracts and view real-time price data. The announcement followed backlash over engagement limits, as Elon Musk promised to open-source X’s new recommendation algorithm within seven days while the company faces EU investigations, fines, and growing criticism about bot activity and throttled crypto reach.

On Sunday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell condemned a new criminal investigation into the Fed's headquarters renovation as politically driven and linked to President Donald Trump's push for lower interest rates. The probe, centered on whether Powell misled Congress about the project, comes months before his term ends in May 2026 and as Trump prepares potential successors more supportive of rate cuts. Heightened political pressure on U.S. monetary policy is adding to volatility in traditional markets and crypto, where assets like Bitcoin often react sharply to Fed rate signals.

On Jan. 9, Tennessee’s Sports Wagering Council directed Polymarket, Kalshi, and Crypto.com’s Nadex to halt sports event contracts, void pending wagers, and refund deposits by Jan. 31, 2026. The letters warned that unlicensed betting could trigger criminal referrals and fines up to $25,000 under state law.

Bitcoin's mining difficulty eased in the first 2026 adjustment, slipping to 146.4 trillion on Thursday. The next recalibration is projected for Jan. 22, 2026 at about 04:08 UTC, with estimates pointing to 148.20T as average block times run at 9.88 minutes. Despite the brief relief, miners' profitability remains thin after 2025's margin squeeze.

Ethereum’s social sentiment has dropped back to levels last seen before its 2025 recovery rally, while its price trades around $3,094 after a 36% pullback from the 2021 peak of $4,878. Analysts highlight depressed mood, strong network growth, and rising staking interest alongside a lingering risk-off environment dominated by Bitcoin as factors that could set up Ethereum’s next significant move.

On Jan. 9, Tether announced a partnership with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to bolster cybersecurity awareness, digital asset safety, and anti-trafficking initiatives across Africa and other emerging regions. The joint programs include youth-focused cybersecurity education in Senegal, funding for anti-trafficking organizations in several African countries, and fraud-prevention initiatives tied to universities in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. The collaboration aims to build safer digital ecosystems as crypto adoption accelerates in developing markets and digital crime risks increase.

According to TRM Labs' forthcoming 2026 Crypto Crime Report, UK-registered exchanges Zedcex and Zedxion operated as a single platform that routed about USD 1 billion, mostly in USDT on TRON, through wallets linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The analysis shows that IRGC-associated activity dominated Zedcex's flows in 2023, 2024, and 2025, including more than USD 10 million in late 2024 reportedly transferred directly to an OFAC-designated Houthi financier without intermediaries. TRM argues this case illustrates how offshore crypto exchanges can become long-term sanctions-evasion infrastructure rather than one-off laundering channels.