The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission extended the review period for the proposed Canary Pudgy Penguins (PENGU) ETF and the T. Rowe Price Active Crypto ETF on Jan. 13, financefeeds reports. The PENGU product is designed to list on Cboe BZX and offer exposure to the Pudgy Penguins NFT ecosystem, while the T. Rowe Price fund targets NYSE Arca as a multi-asset, actively managed crypto ETF. The SEC also opened a public comment process on Grayscale CoinDesk Crypto 5 ETF's options listing proposal.

Dubai Financial Services Authority brought into force significant changes to its crypto token regulatory framework on January 12, shifting responsibility for assessing token suitability from the regulator to licensed firms operating in the Dubai International Financial Centre. Under rules that took effect Monday, companies offering financial services involving crypto tokens must now determine whether the tokens they deal in meet DFSA's suitability criteria, and the authority will no longer maintain or publish a list of recognised crypto tokens. DFSA said the update follows a consultation process launched in October 2025 and reflects an evolution in its approach since the crypto token regime was introduced in 2022. The revised rules do not explicitly ban any category of digital assets, but the shift means privacy-focused tokens such as Monero and Zcash could face tighter scrutiny, with some internal compliance teams potentially classifying certain privacy coins as high-risk and applying stricter due diligence or choosing not to support them.

Bernstein said on Jan. 12 the window to pass the U.S. Clarity Act is narrowing as lawmakers split over stablecoin yields. The main hurdle is banking representatives seeking to curb stablecoin yields of 2% to 4% offered by crypto platforms. Bernstein said progress is needed by Q2 2026.

Stablecoins accounted for over 50% of global on-chain transaction volume in 2025, with regulatory focus intensifying on the sector, Chainalysis reported on Jan. 12. Bitcoin continues to represent roughly half of the crypto market capitalization, while illicit cryptocurrency flows reached $154 billion in 2025, up 162% year-over-year, though such activity remains below 1% of total transactions.

Venezuela and Iran underscored the dual role of U.S. dollar-denominated stablecoins on Jan. 12, with Tether (USDT) serving both as a household payment tool and a channel for sanctioned entities to move funds, BlockBeats reports. In Iran, years of rial weakness and sanctions have driven citizens toward crypto; the government set an annual cap on personal stablecoin holdings at $10,000 and purchases at $5,000 in September last year, while TRM Labs reported the IRGC allegedly moved over $1 billion in stablecoins since 2023 through two UK front companies. In Venezuela, USDT is widely used for daily payments amid bolívar depreciation, and state oil firm PDVSA has used USDT for oil settlement since 2020, with an estimated 80% of oil revenue completed via Tether to navigate sanctions-related settlement limits, according to BlockBeats.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Jan. 12 the Trump administration's mortgage-backed securities purchase program is designed to roughly match the pace at which similar bonds roll off the Federal Reserve's balance sheet, Reuters reports. About $15 billion of such securities are currently running off the Fed's portfolio each month. Bessent described the plan as approximately mirroring the Fed's moves, which he said have been pushing in the opposite direction.

BitMine has scheduled a shareholder vote for Jan. 15 on a proposal to increase its authorized shares from 500 million to 50 billion, BlockBeats reports. If approved, the company plans to use the additional capital to purchase ETH. The vote coincides with a U.S. Senate Banking Committee hearing on the CLARITY Act, which targets wash trading and deceptive practices in crypto markets.

South Korean regulators have ended a nine-year ban on corporate cryptocurrency investments, allowing listed companies and professional investors to allocate up to 5% of their equity capital to the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization on the country’s five major exchanges, Wu Blockchain reported. The ban, originally introduced in 2017 following the initial coin offering boom to reduce associated risks, had restricted institutional participation in the sector. The policy change now makes around 3,500 entities eligible to invest, with discussions continuing on whether to include dollar-pegged stablecoins, according to the report.