Ethereum

Florida Representative John Snyder sponsored HB 1039, and Senator Joe Gruters filed SB 1040 and SB 1038 to set up a state-run strategic cryptocurrency reserve that requires an average market capitalization of $500 billion for eligible assets. The legislation includes a conditional effective date of July 1, 2026, and, for now, only Bitcoin meets the criteria, with Ethereum around $380 billion.

Ripple said it has no plans to pursue an IPO, with President Monica Long highlighting the company's ability to self‑fund growth. Flare listed FXRP on Hyperliquid on Wednesday, introducing the first spot XRP market on the DEX. The digest also includes $243 million in U.S. spot bitcoin ETF redemptions on Tuesday and a new Morgan Stanley filing for a spot Ethereum ETF.

On January 6, 2026, on-chain researchers observed multiple 100 ETH withdrawals from Tornado Cash consolidating to one wallet, followed by 128,808 ETH reaching a ProveX-linked address. Analysts also tied these flows to 112,987 ETH sent by Richard Heart in November 2025. ProveX's sacrifice phase is nearing its end, with a 6.25% rate increase from January 8.

As of January 7, 2026, Bitcoin has reclaimed $92,000 and Ethereum remains above $3,200, while hiring accelerates across Web3 infrastructure and DeFi. This roundup lists open roles in engineering, marketing, and operations with salaries from $36,000 to $217,000+, many remote. Companies include Tether, ZIGChain, Wormhole Foundation, Exodus, Ares, Pulley, Silo Finance, FalconX, GSR, and Dune.

CoinFlip introduced a workplace benefit that lets US employees buy cryptocurrencies via payroll deductions, with allocations starting at $25 per pay period. The program supports Bitcoin, Ether, Solana and select stablecoins. On Aug. 7, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to review the treatment of alternative assets in retirement plans.

Analysts reported that in 2025, DeFi tokens dropped 67% and smart contract-linked cryptocurrencies averaged a 66% loss, marking a broad bear phase outside Bitcoin. They argue this downturn reflected a repricing toward networks with strong usage and revenue, just as institutional investors began rolling out regulated Bitcoin, Ether and Solana ETF products that could shape market dynamics into 2026.

January 2026 is shaping up as one of the most lucrative months ever for crypto airdrop hunters, with several confirmed, high-profile distributions set to deliver billions of dollars in tokens across DeFi, wallets, mobile Web3, NFTs, and prediction markets. Backed by a $3 trillion+ crypto market and record DeFi TVL, major drops from projects like Solana Mobile (SKR), MetaMask (MASK), Polymarket (POLY), OpenSea (SEA), and Jupiter (JUP) are driving intense community interest as teams use airdrops to reward early users, decentralize ownership, and accelerate adoption at scale.

On Jan 7, 2026, BitMine's staked Ether balance approached 779,488 ETH, valued at more than $2.5 billion, after a fresh deposit of roughly 186,336 ETH worth about $605 million. A Jan 6 update noted the validator exit queue had fallen to zero and withdrawal waits were minutes, while over 1.3 million ETH awaited entry.

Ethereum activated its second Blob Parameter-Only hard fork at 1:01:11 UTC on Wednesday, lifting the blob limit from 15 to 21 and the blob target from 10 to 14. The upgrade expands data capacity for rollups while aiming to protect mainnet performance, with developers discussing a gas limit increase to 80 million and a 2026 Glamsterdam fork to drive further scalability.

On Wednesday at 1:01:11 UTC, Ethereum's second BPO hard fork increased the blob limit from 15 to 21 and raised the blob target from 10 to 14. The change lets rollups batch more data, potentially lowering costs, while one blob equals 128 KB, lifting per-block storage to 2,688 KB.