Between October 2025 and January 2026, security researchers reported that around 175,000 private AI servers running Ollama were exposed to the public internet, with about 23,000 of them remaining persistently online. These unprotected systems span 130 countries and are being hijacked by criminals to steal computing resources, bypass security safeguards, and potentially access internal data using techniques like SSRF, scanning, and prompt injection. Around 48% of the exposed hosts allow tool-calling, and most use a common model file format that could let attackers crash thousands of servers with a single exploit.

On January 28, 2026, Coinbase said it will match the US Treasury’s $1,000 Trump Accounts deposit for eligible employees’ children, and CEO Brian Armstrong suggested paying the company’s match in Bitcoin. The announcement followed a White House post about major employer participation and came alongside commitments from JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America to match the federal contribution.

As of January 28 2026, Solana's active validator count has reportedly fallen below 800, down sharply from around 2,500 in early 2023. Over the same period, daily vote transactions, a proxy for validator participation, have declined by about 40%. The Solana Foundation's pruning policy and reduced subsidies have pushed out many smaller or underperforming validators, raising debate over decentralization versus network performance.

On January 28 2026, security firm BlockSec published a technical review of attacks on SwapNet and Aperture Finance that together resulted in more than $17 million in losses. SwapNet, a DEX aggregator, lost over $13.4 million across Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, and Binance Smart Chain due to an unvalidated function that enabled malicious low-level calls, while Aperture Finance saw about $3.67 million drained through a comparable arbitrary-call weakness in its liquidity management contracts. Both protocols have paused affected functionalities and urged users to revoke token approvals as they work with security specialists and law enforcement on recovery efforts.

On January 27, 2026, Ethena Labs Research filed a proposal to reduce the Ethena Risk Committee from five to three voting members ahead of the next election. The change requires a majority vote from ENA and sENA holders, and supporters say a leaner committee would improve efficiency, accountability, and role clarity.

Japan's Financial Services Agency has launched a public consultation on draft rules specifying which bonds may be held as reserve assets for stablecoins, with the comment window running until February 27, 2026. The proposal, linked to the 2025 amendments to the Act on Fund Settlement, emphasizes high-quality, liquid instruments such as Japanese Government Bonds and introduces updated supervisory guidelines for banks, insurers, and crypto asset brokers dealing with digital assets.

Hong Kong’s SFC has set the transition timeline for suspicious transaction reporting, with the current STREAMS system shutting down at 12:00 AM on January 28, 2026 and STREAMS 2 becoming the sole channel on February 2, 2026. During the interim blackout, urgent filings must be sent via email, phone, or fax, and firms must register new STREAMS 2 accounts through the JFIU.

On January 26, 2026, prediction markets made BlackRock's Rick Rieder the frontrunner for Federal Reserve Chair. According to Polymarket and Kalshi, Rieder is priced at 49–50%, ahead of Kevin Warsh at 28–30%. The choice rests with President Donald Trump, and Jerome Powell's current term ends in May.

On January 26, 2026, Token Terminal reported that active loans on Ethereum-based lending protocols exceeded $28 billion, around a 10x rebound from January 2023 lows. The network’s lending activity also stands roughly 10x ahead of the second-place chain. Separately, Token Terminal said stablecoin issuers on Ethereum earned about $5 billion last year.