Turkish crypto exchange BtcTurk reported a $48 million loss on 1 January 2026 after attackers drained funds from its hot wallets on Ethereum, Arbitrum and Polygon. The incident is the platform's third major hack since 2024, following earlier breaches in June 2024 and August 2025, and raises fresh questions about its custodial security and regulatory oversight.

On 05 Jan 2026, MetaMask users were warned about a new phishing campaign that mimics two-factor authentication checks to steal seed phrases. Attackers use typosquatted domains and countdown-style warnings to pressure victims into entering full wallet recovery phrases. Once obtained, the scammers import the wallets and rapidly drain user funds.

On 1 January 2026, Ripple unlocked 1 billion XRP under its programmed escrow schedule and subsequently sent 700 million tokens back into new escrow contracts while retaining 300 million XRP for liquidity and operations. After these movements, 34.185 billion XRP remain locked in programmatic escrow and the circulating supply stands at 65.78 billion, with 14.2 million XRP permanently removed via network fee burns.

On 03 Jan 2026, Ripple managing director Reece Merrick publicly backed Franklin Templeton's decision to position XRP as a foundational asset via its XRPZ ETF on NYSE Arca. Franklin Templeton, which manages about $1.6 trillion in assets, uses the XRP Ledger for tokenized money market funds alongside Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin and the sgBENJI USD money market token listed on DBS Digital Exchange.

On 31 December 2025, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong set three priorities for 2026: grow a global "everything exchange," scale stablecoins and payments, and move more users onchain. Earlier, on 17 December 2025, Coinbase added commission-free stock trading, prediction markets, a tokenisation service for institutions, and integrated the Jupiter DEX into its platform. The firm also highlights ETFs, stablecoins and tokenisation as key market drivers in 2026, alongside the Base layer-2 network and USDC-powered payments.

Starting January 1, 2026, the People's Bank of China will require commercial banks to pay interest on eligible e-CNY wallet balances and record them as deposit liabilities. The framework brings the digital yuan onto bank balance sheets with deposit insurance and reserve requirements, while usage had reached 3.48 billion transactions and 16.7 trillion yuan by November 2025.

On 31 Dec 2025, California advanced a 2026 ballot initiative to impose a one-time 5% wealth tax on residents with net worth above $1 billion, including unrealized gains as of 1 January 2026. The levy would be payable in 2027 and would cover digital asset holdings, potentially affecting large crypto positions. Crypto leaders such as Jesse Powell and Hunter Horsley warn the measure could push high net worth founders and investors to leave the state.

On 30 Dec 2025, Sberbank said it extended Russia's first corporate loan secured by Bitcoin to miner Intelion Data. The pilot used Intelion's mined digital currency as collateral, with the assets held via Sberbank's Rutoken custody system. The bank did not disclose the loan size, term, rate, or detailed risk parameters.

A major Russian bank, working with the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Russia, supports a tiered framework to let non‑qualified investors enter crypto under tests and strict limits. Draft terms include a knowledge exam and an annual cap of around 300,000 rubles per intermediary. The Bank of Russia targets 1 July 2026 for the core legislation.