On 7 January, Rep. John Snyder filed HB 1039 to establish a Strategic Cryptocurrency Reserve Fund outside the state treasury, while Sen. Joe Gruters introduced SB 1040 and SB 1038 to enable trust custody. Eligibility requires a 24‑month average market cap of at least $500 billion; Bitcoin qualifies, while Ethereum at roughly $380 billion does not.

In the first week of 2026, WisdomTree used Rule 477 under the Securities Act of 1933 to withdraw its Form S-1 for the WisdomTree XRP Fund, originally filed on 2nd December 2024. The move removes the risk of a formal SEC stop order while XRP ETFs have seen strong demand, including $19.12 million of net inflows on 6th January and a cumulative total of $1.25 billion, even as XRP’s spot price slipped 4.9% to $2.25. Other institutions remain optimistic, with Standard Chartered previously outlining a price target of $8 for XRP by the end of 2026.

During the first week of 2026, BlackRock's clients accumulated 3,948 BTC valued at $371.89 million and 31,737 ETH worth $100.23 million. On January 5, Bitcoin ETFs saw $697.2 million of inflows, with IBIT taking $372.5 million and ETHA $102.9 million, as BTC reached $93,700.64 and ETH $3,234.78.

During the latest political upheaval in Venezuela, Bitcoin's spot inflows jumped by about 1,671% within five minutes and coincided with a sharp shift in market sentiment. After briefly dipping 0.5% to $89,300 around 2:00 a.m. ET, BTC rebounded above $90,000 by 9:00 a.m. and was last trading near $92,731.61, while traders weighed rising interest in Bitcoin as a potential safe-haven asset.

On January 2, 2026, US spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs logged $645.8 million in net inflows, according to Farside Investors. IBIT drew $287.4 million of Bitcoin's $471.3 million, while ETHE led Ether with $53.7 million; BTC and ETH had fallen 1.56% and 1.39% over 30 days.

On 3 January, Bitcoin briefly slipped about 0.5% to $89,300 during reports of U.S. military action in Venezuela before rebounding to trade near $90,000 and later around $91,399.76. Analysts highlighted how Venezuela’s oil reserves and potential regime change could reshape energy costs, mining economics and risk-on appetite across crypto markets.

According to a16z crypto's 2026 outlook, blockchain is expected to fade into the background as core infrastructure while AI agents, on-chain credit origination, and privacy-centric networks reshape the ecosystem. The report highlights KYAs for autonomous agents, a move from tokenized RWAs to programmable credit, and zero-knowledge-based privacy as key competitive advantages.

BitMine Immersion Technologies added 118,944 ETH (~$352.16M) to staking, raising its staked total to 461,504 ETH valued at $1.37B under its "Alchemy of 5%" plan. On-chain watchers flagged a new wallet receiving 32,938 ETH from FalconX, hinting at further buys. In 2025, Ethereum led net inflows above $4.2B as ETH traded near $2,980 and BMNR was around $27.15.

The U.S. Senate Banking Committee has scheduled a 15 January markup for the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, a bill intended to settle jurisdictional disputes between the SEC and CFTC and give the crypto sector clearer regulation. Lawmakers are still divided over DeFi oversight, token categorization and stablecoin rewards, while prediction markets price in a meaningful chance the proposal becomes law before May.