The U.S. OCC granted Nubank conditional authority to organize a national bank 121 days after its September 30, 2025 application. Regulators set 12 months to complete capitalization and 18 months to launch, alongside separate authorizations from the FDIC and Federal Reserve. The charter would enable deposits, cards, lending, and federally supervised digital asset custody.

In late January 2026, silver and Bitcoin have moved in sharply different directions, with silver briefly topping $121 per ounce before retreating and Bitcoin sliding toward $82,800. Silver remains up about 25% over the past month and more than 200% over the past year amid falling COMEX inventories and industrial demand, while Bitcoin trades over 34% below its October peak above $126,000 as tighter Federal Reserve expectations and broader risk-off sentiment pressure crypto markets.

On January 29, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs logged $817.87 million in net outflows, according to Sosovalue, while BTC fell to $81,200, its weakest level in nine months. BlackRock's IBIT led with $317.81 million withdrawn, and multiple issuers saw redemptions as January's tally turned negative despite sizeable cumulative inflows since launch.

qLABS plans to launch its qONE token with a limited presale on Thursday, February 5 at 2 p.m. UTC, positioning it alongside its new Quantum-Sig wallet as early post-quantum infrastructure for existing blockchains. The project targets the "harvest now, decrypt later" risk by adding a quantum-resistant signature layer to networks like Ethereum and Solana, while Coinbase, Ethereum Foundation, and Aptos pursue parallel quantum-security initiatives.

Ethereum developer Griff Green outlined a plan to repurpose unclaimed Ether from The DAO's 2016 exploit into a staking-backed security fund for the network. The pool includes roughly 70,500 ETH plus about 4,600 ETH and DAO tokens, with yield earmarked for audits and tooling; the remainder tied to past claims is valued at around $200 million.

On January 29, 2026, the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee voted 12–11 along party lines to advance its version of a long-discussed crypto market structure bill as part of the broader CLARITY Act. The proposal would give the CFTC primary oversight of digital commodity spot markets while preserving the SEC's authority over digital asset investment contracts, but key ethics-related amendments were rejected and a final Senate-wide agreement remains uncertain.

In a CNBC appearance ahead of a joint public event in Washington, SEC Chair Paul Atkins and CFTC Chair Mike Selig said U.S. crypto oversight is nearing a turning point after years of jurisdictional uncertainty. They indicated that pending Senate legislation, including work in the Agriculture and Banking Committees, would clarify the agencies' roles, narrow the SEC's focus to securities issues and expand the CFTC's authority over crypto spot markets while addressing questions around stablecoins and retirement accounts.

On January 28, 2026, six US senators sent a letter challenging Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche over his April 2025 move to dismantle the DOJ's National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team while he reportedly held $158,000 to $470,000 in crypto. The lawmakers argue this overlap, combined with a new policy scaling back actions against exchanges and mixers, may pose conflict-of-interest and ethics issues as crypto crime volumes rose in 2025.

TRM Labs' latest report finds crypto-related crime totaled $158 billion in 2025, up 145% from 2024, while illicit transactions comprised 1.2% of on-chain volume. The firm also measured a 2.7% share of deployable liquidity captured by illicit actors, down from 2.9%, as sanctions-linked stablecoin flows and major hacks drove activity.