Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has called for President Donald Trump's crypto adviser David Sacks to resign if the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act does not advance this quarter. He linked ongoing market weakness and regulatory uncertainty to gaps in U.S. policy as key crypto bills head toward Senate markups on January 15, warning that upcoming elections could further delay comprehensive legislation.

On January 12, 2026, World Liberty Financial launched World Liberty Markets, a web-based lending and borrowing platform centered on its USD1 stablecoin, according to the company. The rollout comes as USD1's circulating supply climbed past $3.5 billion, with market capitalization around $3.48 billion and deployments spanning BNB Smart Chain, Ethereum, and other networks.

On January 11, 2026, user Captain Bunny said his OKX accounts holding about $40,000 in stablecoins were frozen after he bought four KYC-verified accounts in 2023. On January 12, 2026, CEO Star Xu replied that access depends on the registered identity, citing terms barring acting on behalf of others. The user shared on-chain records and emails to support his claim.

In January 2026, more than 30 House Democrats, including former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, lined up behind Rep. Ritchie Torres' Public Integrity in Financial Prediction Markets Act of 2026, which would bar federal officials and staff from trading certain prediction market contracts. The move follows a Polymarket position that reportedly grew from $32,000 to over $400,000 on a contract about Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's ouster, raising fears of trades based on nonpublic information and exposing perceived gaps in existing insider trading rules.

On January 9, 2026, Pump.fun announced a redesigned creator fee system with fee‑sharing so teams can split percentages across up to 10 wallets. The update addresses low‑risk coin creation incentives from Dynamic Fees V1 and aims to improve transparency; weekly platform volume reached $6.6 billion.

SharpLink Gaming reported $33 million in income from Ether staking over the past seven months and, on January 8, 2026, said it deployed $170 million in ETH to Linea for restaking incentives. The company holds 864,840 ETH and on January 6, 2026 reiterated that its treasury remains 100% ETH and fully staked.

Cryptocurrency industry groups are lobbying senators in Washington ahead of the January 15 markups on a long-debated U.S. crypto market structure bill. The Senate Banking and Agriculture Committees will each advance their versions of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act amid unresolved disputes over ethics rules, regulatory governance, stablecoins and DeFi.

U.S. spot XRP ETFs recorded their first net outflow day on Wednesday, January 7, with $40.8 million exiting the products and breaking a 36-day streak of inflows. The move was led by the 21Shares XRP ETF, which saw $47.25 million in redemptions, even as total XRP ETF assets remained around $1.53 billion and XRP stayed up more than 13% over the past week. The outflows came as XRP’s price pulled back from recent highs and Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs also posted significant redemptions, pointing to broader portfolio adjustments rather than a collapse in demand.

On January 7, 2026, Zcash’s entire core development team resigned from Electric Coin Company after weeks of conflict with a majority of the Bootstrap board over what they alleged was malicious governance. The departing group, led by CEO Josh Swihart, plans to launch a new independent company to keep working on privacy-preserving digital money, while the ZEC price briefly fell about 7% and traded near $455 on heavy volume.