Investment bank B. Riley forecasts a move by 2026 in which digital assets shift from speculation to utility within financial infrastructure. Key drivers include stablecoin regulation and tokenization of real-world assets. Per CoinMarketCap, BTC stood at $91,132.33 with $1.82 trillion market cap as of January 8, 2026.

Bitcoin Core developers cautioned that versions 30.0 and 30.1 contain a migration vulnerability affecting legacy wallets, and advised users to postpone migrations until v30.2. The issue risks unintended wallet deletion and fund loss if backups are missing, while regular operations remain unaffected; the team is removing the affected builds and preparing a fix.

The Senate Banking Committee scheduled a January 15 markup for a cryptocurrency market structure bill, with Chairman Tim Scott pushing the measure forward. Bipartisan backing remains unclear as negotiations continue, and the proposal would clarify digital asset classifications and investor protections. Bitcoin and Ethereum could be affected if new rules advance.

Circle minted 1.00 billion USDC on Solana within the last 24 hours, taking the network’s USDC supply to 1.75 billion on January 6, 2026, according to Lookonchain. CoinMarketCap shows USDC at $1.00 with a market cap near $75.70 billion and 24-hour volume of $14.26 billion. No official statements from Circle were available.

On January 5, Starknet, an Ethereum Layer 2 network, restored full functionality after a proving error temporarily halted block production and transaction processing. The incident disrupted transactions submitted between 9:24 AM and 9:42 AM UTC, but STRK's price showed limited movement despite the outage and recent volatility. Starknet plans a detailed post-incident report outlining the root cause and long-term preventive measures.

Nasdaq-listed DeFi Development Corp expanded its Solana treasury by 25,000 SOL, bringing total holdings to 2.22 million as of January 1, 2026. The firm says 15% of its SOL is deployed on-chain and it conducted a $11.5 million share repurchase. Leadership, including CEO Joseph Onorati, frames the move around validator infrastructure and staking.

Bank of America will allow wealth advisors to recommend a 1-4% Bitcoin allocation via ETFs, effective January 5, 2026. On that date, BTC traded at $92,424.37 with $33.62 billion in 24-hour volume and a 58.66% dominance. Analysts characterized the initial reaction as cautiously optimistic.

On December 31, Polymarket data showed Kevin Hassett's probability of becoming the next Federal Reserve Chair falling to 44%, while Janet Yellen's odds climbed to 33% and Jerome Powell's stood at 11%. Bitcoin traded at $87,984.31 with a market cap of $1.76 trillion and 24-hour volume of $33.60 billion, as analysts pointed to potential monetary policy shifts under a new Fed leadership that could influence BTC and ETH.

On December 30, 2025, Bitwise Asset Management submitted filings to the U.S. SEC for 11 cryptocurrency strategy ETFs focused on altcoins rather than BTC or ETH. Each fund is designed with a 60/40 allocation between direct exposure to the underlying asset and related exchange-traded products, with market participants watching potential regulatory feedback and trading implications. If approved, the products could broaden institutional access to diverse digital assets and spur new hedging and innovation in crypto markets.