Bernstein’s latest report warns that political and industry tensions over stablecoin yields are compressing the timeframe for passing the U.S. Crypto Market Structure Act, which must advance by Q2 2026 to avoid prolonged delays. The dispute between banks and crypto firms over interest-like returns on stablecoins threatens to slow legislation impacting a stablecoin market already valued at about $275 billion, with future trillion-dollar potential at stake.

On January 12, 2026, Bakkt Holdings, Inc. said it entered an agreement to acquire Distributed Technologies Research Ltd. in an all‑equity deal. Bakkt will issue Class A stock equal to 31.5% of the "Bakkt Share Number," about 9.1 million shares based on the current figure, and plans a corporate name change to "Bakkt, Inc." on January 22.

Bitcoin trades near $91,500 after a brief push above $92,000 earlier today fizzled, leaving a minor daily gain but a 1% weekly decline. The monthly RSI slipped below 60, and analysts flag 60 as a pivotal reclaim for the cycle. Monday’s $92,400 high and resistance at $94,000 frame near-term risk and upside targets.

Between January 5 and January 11, Strategy reported purchasing an additional 13,627 bitcoin for roughly $1.25 billion at an average cost of $91,519 per BTC, including fees. As of January 11, the company holds 687,410 BTC acquired for about $51.80 billion, funded largely through sales of MSTR common stock and STRC preferred shares under its at-the-market programs.

On January 12, 2026, data attributed to analyst Rand showed that Ethereum's gas costs have fallen to a five-year low following recent network upgrades such as Fusaka and Pectra. The network reportedly processed 2.2 million daily transactions with an average fee of $0.17 at the end of December, improving its competitiveness with rivals like Solana. Despite these on-chain gains, Ether's price has largely struggled below $3,000 for most of 2025, though observers suggest sustained lower fees could eventually support stronger market performance.

World Liberty has launched World Liberty Markets, a peer-to-peer platform for crypto lending and borrowing that runs on USD1. USD1's market cap stands at $3.4 billion, and the venue supports WLFI, Ether, tokenized Bitcoin, USDT, and USDC. WLTC Holdings filed an OCC application five days ago to create a federal trust bank for stablecoins.

On 12 January, Bitcoin's advance faded around the $91,000–$92,000 zone while U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs posted another day of net outflows. BlackRock's IBIT vehicle drove most of the more than 3,700 BTC in redemptions, with on-chain data showing thousands of coins moved to Coinbase Prime and adding visible sell pressure to the market.

On Monday, Bitcoin underperformed gold and silver in what some analysts describe as the debasement trade, with BTC trading near its lowest level against gold in two years. Investment specialist Karel Mercx argued that investors now favor physical precious metals over Bitcoin as a hedge against fiat currency dilution, while gold also strengthens against the S&P 500. Other crypto commentators warned that Bitcoin’s market needs a stronger breakout as gold and silver notch fresh all-time highs.