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On January 11, South Korea announced the end of a nine‑year ban on corporate crypto investing, and, as of February 1, 2026, regulators were weighing a 10% equity cap for listed firms and professional investors, up from 5%. The Financial Services Commission also floated a 15–20% ownership ceiling for exchange shareholders, drawing pushback from industry groups and academics.

Solana’s SOL token dropped to $100.30, its lowest level since April 2025, after a 30-day drawdown that aligned with broader altcoin weakness and macro risk-off moves in tech, AI and commodities. At the same time, Solana’s onchain activity and fee revenue have sharply outperformed rival networks, suggesting a widening gap between fundamentals and price. Derivatives data, ETF outflows and pressure on public firms holding SOL show traders have reduced leverage, leaving the token’s recovery dependent on an improvement in global economic and geopolitical sentiment.

Donald Trump formally chose Kevin Warsh to lead the Federal Reserve after a 14‑month selection battle that began in November 2024. On December 10, hours after the Fed lowered rates by 0.25%, Warsh told Trump he would support further cuts, while a January 11 DOJ probe disclosure by Jerome Powell reshaped the field.

Bitcoin dropped more than 7% over the weekend, pushing BTC price under $80,000 and close to its April 2025 low around $74,500. The move sent Bitcoin below the $80,700 true market mean and threatened Strategy's more than 700,000 BTC corporate treasury, which turns negative around $76,037. Analysts highlighted mounting liquidations and key downside levels, including the prior cycle peak at $69,000.

BitMine Immersion Technologies, a publicly listed crypto treasury linked to Tom Lee, faces over $6 billion in unrealized losses on its Ether holdings. According to Dropstab, after adding 40,302 ETH last week to push its total above 4.24 million, the stash is worth roughly $9.6 billion, down from about $13.9 billion in October.

On 31 January 2026, a Delaware judge declined to dismiss a shareholder suit against Coinbase, allowing the case to continue for now. Filed in 2023, the suit challenges insider stock sales around the 2021 direct listing, citing more than $2.9 billion sold, including nearly $292 million by Brian Armstrong and roughly $119 million by Marc Andreessen.

From January 26 to 30, US-listed Bitcoin ETFs posted about $1.5 billion in net outflows, while Ethereum funds saw roughly $327 million. According to Farside Investors, withdrawals intensified on January 29–30; Solana flows were largely flat, and a single XRP ETF session erased nearly $93 million of prior inflows.

On January 30, precious metals sold off sharply, with silver falling up to 36% intraday and gold down more than 12%, according to Bloomberg. The move followed President Donald Trump's nomination of Kevin Warsh as Federal Reserve chair and coincided with Bitcoin sliding to about $82,000 amid intensified spot ETF outflows cited by Bitfinex analysts.

On January 31 2026, Kevin Warsh's nomination to lead the Federal Reserve pushed the 30-year versus two-year Treasury yield spread to 1.35 percentage points, close to its widest level since 2021. Warsh favors reducing the Fed's roughly $9tn bond portfolio, while Donald Trump is pressing for lower long-term interest rates, creating tension over how policy should be set. Investors still anticipate two quarter-point interest rate cuts starting in the summer even as large asset managers highlight the difficulty of shrinking the balance sheet and easing rates at the same time.

On Friday, Judge Kathaleen St. J. McCormick permitted a shareholder lawsuit alleging insider trading by Coinbase directors, including Brian Armstrong, to proceed. The complaint says insiders sold $2.9 billion during the 2021 direct listing, including $291.8 million by Armstrong and $118.7 million via Andreessen Horowitz, even as a special committee later found no use of confidential information.