On Jan. 27, ProCap CIO and Bitwise adviser Jeff Park warned on X that Bitcoin’s muted options pricing and thin month‑to‑date activity make upside traction unlikely without a material rise in volatility, citing ~38 IV. He pointed to silver’s Jan. 26 surge—14% in the most‑active futures and outsized SLV volumes—as a template for sudden, disorderly moves.

On Jan. 28, six US senators sent a letter questioning Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche's 2025 decision to disband the Department of Justice's national cryptocurrency enforcement team. They highlighted his then-crypto holdings, alleged conflict of interest, and a reported surge in illicit cryptocurrency activity in 2025 to argue the unit should not have been shut down.

On Wednesday, Hyperliquid's HYPE token climbed 60% from $21.80 to $34.90, with more than $20 million in liquidations hitting bearish leveraged traders and a large staking unlock easing sell pressure. Institutional accumulation tied to Hyperliquid Strategies and a research report describing Hyperliquid as highly revenue efficient have fueled interest, even as onchain DEX metrics like fees and perpetual volumes show limited change and Binance still leads in BTC futures open interest.

Ethereum attempted a rebound above $2,880 but met sellers near $3,050, slipping back below $3,000. It is trading under $2,990 and the 100-hour Simple Moving Average, with support at $2,920 and $2,880. Holding those areas could set a move toward $3,000–$3,050; failure risks $2,820–$2,780.

Bitcoin is edging toward $90,000 as the US dollar posts its sharpest decline in years and the dollar index hovers near 96, a level linked to earlier crypto bull runs. With the greenback at its weakest since 2022 and policy signals from President Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pulling FX markets in different directions, traders are watching whether sustained dollar weakness can reinforce recent gains in Bitcoin and Ethereum.

In its 2026 crypto crime report released on Wednesday, TRM Labs said the use of large language models in scams increased fivefold in 2025. It reported $35 billion in crypto was sent to scammer addresses last year, down from $38 billion in 2024, while illicit wallets received about $158 billion and the illicit share fell to 1.2%.

In Q4 2025, Chainlink’s network reached a record $70 billion in total value secured while its Grayscale ETF GLNK recorded $4.05 million in inflows, even as broader crypto ETFs saw heavy outflows. Over the same period, Ethereum and Dogecoin spot ETFs faced significant redemptions, underscoring how institutions appear to be rotating capital toward Chainlink as it deepens its role in DeFi and global stablecoin infrastructure.

Flare said roughly 91.69 million XRP were bridged to its network, with more than 75% deployed onchain. Reports cite 90.55 million XRP in the core vault and 91.67 million FXRP at a 100% reserve, while the new XRP Yield Vault reached $10.54 million in TVL in 30 days.