Optimism's governance has cleared a plan to direct 50% of Superchain revenue to monthly OP token buybacks over the next 12 months, starting in February. The Jan. 8 proposal from the Optimism Foundation will convert ETH sequencer revenue to OP via an OTC provider, with acquired tokens held in the treasury for future ecosystem needs.

Rodeo will wind down after struggling to scale, according to CEO Kayvon Tehranian. It will operate normally Jan. 27–Feb. 10, move to read-only from Feb. 10, and shut off by March 10, with media and metadata migration via Arweave. Nifty Gateway extended its asset transfer deadline to April 23.

Digital asset manager Bitwise has announced on X that it is partnering with DeFi lending protocol Morpho to launch non-custodial onchain vaults designed to generate yield. The first Bitwise-managed vault aims for a 6% annual percentage yield by allocating capital into over-collateralized lending pools, with additional multi-strategy products planned on Morpho.

The UK Financial Conduct Authority on Friday opened the final consultation round on 10 proposed rules designed to bring crypto markets closer to traditional finance standards. The package, first outlined in December, covers conduct requirements, credit-based crypto purchases, reporting duties, safeguarding of assets and treatment of retail collateral, with feedback due by March 12.

On Thursday, the SEC and CFTC said their chairs, Paul Atkins and Michael Selig, will convene an event on Tuesday to discuss harmonizing crypto oversight. The move comes as Senate committees work on market-structure legislation, with recent drafts adding restrictions on stablecoin yields and decentralized finance, prompting Coinbase to withdraw its support.

Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan said in a report shared on Wednesday that the fourth quarter of 2025 showed mixed signals and may have marked a crypto bear‑market bottom. He compared the setup to early 2023, when prices climbed from around $16,000 to $98,000 by early 2025, and highlighted record Ethereum and layer‑2 activity, a stablecoin market cap above $300 billion, and rising DeFi usage.

Ripple president Monica Long predicts that by the end of 2026, around half of Fortune 500 firms will have formal digital asset strategies and that balance sheets will collectively hold over $1 trillion in digital assets. She expects rapid growth in institutional use of tokenized assets, stablecoins and onchain instruments, along with broader integration of stablecoins into global payment systems.

Pendle plans to phase out its vePENDLE governance token and transition to a new liquid staking token, sPENDLE, with staking set to start on Tuesday and vePENDLE locks paused on Jan. 29. The protocol aims to simplify governance, reduce lock-up frictions with a 14-day withdrawal period or instant exit for a 5% fee, and expand interoperability so the token can be used across other DeFi platforms.

MegaETH, an Ethereum layer-2, recorded nearly 47,000 transactions per second in testing on Jan. 16, according to growthepie. The team said it will open mainnet access on Jan. 22 for several latency-sensitive apps during a week-long 'global stress test' targeting 11B transactions and sustained 15–35K TPS, with an official launch to follow.