In 2025, Russia's Social Fund handled about 37 million inquiries, with many asking about pension payments in crypto and whether mining income affects benefits. Officials said all state payments are in rubles and crypto taxation is under the Federal Tax Service. Senior official Maxim Oreshkin urged treating mining as export activity, while exchanges prepared for rules taking effect by July 1, 2026.

Canadian billionaire and mining executive Frank Giustra has renewed his criticism of Bitcoin, arguing it has not justified being described as "digital gold" and remains a speculative asset driven by dogma. He contends Bitcoin has gone through multiple failed narratives, accuses high-profile Bitcoin maximalists such as Michael Saylor of promoting risky advice to unsophisticated investors, and contrasts this with central banks and major powers accumulating physical gold as part of a broader financial reset. Giustra concludes that real power still lies with those who hold gold, while Bitcoin functions mainly as a distraction.

LG AI Research's K-Exaone foundational model has secured seventh place on the Intelligence Index compiled by Artificial Analysis, making it the only Korean entry in a top 10 otherwise dominated by US and Chinese systems. The model, built on a 236 billion-parameter MoE architecture and optimized for A100-class GPUs, topped 10 of 13 benchmark tests in a government-led competition and is available as an open-weight model on Hugging Face with free API access through January 28.

On Saturday, January 10, 2026, Elon Musk said X will roll out an update in seven days that exposes the code deciding which posts and ads appear in users' feeds. The platform plans to rely more heavily on its Grok AI chatbot to evaluate posts daily, even as regulators in multiple countries criticize Grok over sexually explicit image generation and consider or impose access restrictions.

US spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs saw $749.6 million in net outflows between January 6 and January 9, after a near $700 million inflow on January 5. Bitcoin funds led with $681 million in redemptions, while XRP and Solana ETFs drew $38.1 million and $41.1 million in fresh capital.

Ethereum's social media sentiment has weakened to levels similar to those seen before its 2025 rally, even as the broader crypto market shifts between "Fear" and "Extreme Fear." Traders on prediction platforms are still pricing in a meaningful chance that Ether will trade above $4,250 to $5,000 or more in 2026. Analysts also note that while Ethereum has pulled back sharply from its 2025 peak, many investors again view it as the clear second-largest crypto asset.

On 11 January 2026, new analysis from Alphractal indicated that Bitcoin’s one-year percentage change is hovering just below zero, a zone that has historically aligned with bear markets or major trend shifts. Analysts estimate that a 4–5% price increase could flip this metric positive without a deeper drawdown, echoing a rare pattern last seen around July 2020. The coming trading sessions may therefore clarify whether Bitcoin is exiting a long consolidation phase or remaining in a broader corrective structure.

A so-called Satoshi-era Bitcoin miner has transferred 2,000 BTC, in what analyst Julio Moreno describes as the first notable on-chain move from this early cohort since November 2024, when Bitcoin traded near $91,000. Historical netflow charts suggest these long-term holders often move or sell coins during major price rallies, reinforcing their perceived influence over market sentiment.