The U.S. Senate Banking Committee canceled a January 15 markup of the 278-page CLARITY Act after Coinbase withdrew support and industry criticism mounted over amendments allegedly favoring banks and traditional finance, crypto reporter EleanorTerrett reports. Critics say the revised text on stablecoin yields and tokenization tilts the bill toward legacy players, while some Democrats seek ethics restrictions barring senior officials from profiting from crypto projects. Committee Chair Tim Scott said "everyone remains at the negotiating table working in good faith" but gave no new markup date; the Senate reconvenes after Martin Luther King Jr. Day, when the Agriculture Committee will hold a separate delayed hearing.

Binance will adjust its VIP program at 00:00 UTC on Jan. 29, 2026, and launch a zero maker fee promotion for selected FDUSD spot and margin pairs, BlockBeats reports. Standard taker fees will apply to BTC/FDUSD, BNB/FDUSD, DOGE/FDUSD, ETH/FDUSD, LINK/FDUSD, SOL/FDUSD and XRP/FDUSD, while maker fees on these pairs will remain at zero. Trading volumes on the above pairs will be included in all users' maker volume and VIP tier calculations starting at the same time.

A whale opened a 25x leveraged long position on 93.08 BTC at an average entry of $96,391.2 on January 15, Hyperinsight data show. The position is valued at approximately $8.98 million with an unrealized profit of $10,000.

Binance Alpha will list Owlto Finance (OWL) with trading starting Jan. 15 at 18:00 UTC+8, BlockBeats reports. Users holding at least 241 Alpha points can claim 667 OWL tokens on a first-come, first-served basis. If unclaimed, the threshold will drop by 5 points every five minutes.

Bank of England Deputy Governor Dave Ramsden said on Jan. 15 the UK may need to provide protections for stablecoin deposits similar to bank savings, Bloomberg reports. He said the central bank is assessing how to maintain public trust in money if a systemically important stablecoin fails.

Bitcoin derivatives open interest has declined 31% since October and continued falling over the past three months as leverage eased, CryptoQuant said on Jan. 15. CryptoQuant described this as a "deleveraging signal" that clears excess leverage and supports a more bullish structure, citing analyst Darkfost who noted such phases often mark bottoms. If Bitcoin enters a full bear market, open interest may shrink further and the correction could extend, the firm added.

Market analytics firm Santiment said on Jan. 15 that social media data show increasingly bearish commentary on Bitcoin despite its price rebound this week. Over the past 10 days, "fear" has been one of the most prominent themes in retail discussions around BTC, the firm noted. Because market trends often move against prevailing retail sentiment, this concentrated negative mood could potentially support Bitcoin in revisiting the $100,000 level, according to Santiment.

U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs recorded net inflows of $175.1 million on Jan. 14, Farside Investors data show. BlackRock's ETHA led with $81.6 million, followed by Grayscale Mini ETH at $43.5 million and Grayscale ETHE at $32.4 million. Bitwise ETHW added $8 million, Fidelity FETH $5.9 million, and VanEck ETHV $3.7 million.

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded net inflows of $840 million on Jan. 15, Farside Investors data show. IBIT led with $648 million, followed by FBTC at $125.4 million, ARKB at $27 million, GBTC at $15.3 million, BITB at $10.6 million, HODL at $8.3 million, and EZBC at $5.6 million.