Bitcoin (BTC) broke above a multi‑week pattern and retested about $95,000, putting a measured objective near $107,000 in play by February. Long‑dormant holder distribution has slowed and coins are moving off exchanges, tightening supply, while a potential 20‑/50‑day EMA bull cross and a negative correlation to gold add to the bullish case.

On 17 January 2026 at 14:20, a single self-custody wallet was drained of more than $282 million after the owner disclosed a hardware recovery phrase. According to blockchain investigator ZachXBT, no technical exploit was involved. Cybersecurity firm ZeroShadow said about $700,000 was flagged and frozen as the thief moved funds across chains and into Monero.

On 15 January, CME Group announced plans to introduce futures on Cardano (ADA), Chainlink (LINK) and Stellar (XLM), with trading scheduled to start on 9 February subject to regulatory review. The contracts will come in standard and micro sizes and build on CME's record 2025 crypto derivatives volumes, positioning these altcoins more firmly within regulated institutional markets. The move has already prompted new ETF filings tied to these assets, highlighting growing demand for diversified digital asset exposure.

Shiba Inu completed another hourly death cross in 2026 as the 50-hour MA slipped under the 200-hour MA. The token climbed to $0.00001017 in the first days of 2026, then fell six of seven days from Jan. 6–12, touched $0.00000815, and was last up 0.82% at $0.00000853.

On January 17, BlockBeats News reported accelerating adoption of stablecoins in the $900 billion remittance market, highlighting cheaper and faster cross-border payments. With average remittance costs above 6%, stablecoins are positioned to challenge legacy operators and broaden access for low-income senders. Regulatory momentum, including the GENIUS Act, is cited as supporting mainstream use.

Artemis's January 15, 2026 report finds crypto cards processing >$1.5 billion per month, translating to an annualized $18 billion market. The sector grew from ~$100 million monthly in early 2023, with Visa accounting for over 90% of on-chain volume and data tracked through August 2025.

On January 17, 2026, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced that ChatGPT has begun testing advertisements for a subset of users in the United States who do not want to pay for AI access. The company states that paid subscribers will not see ads, user conversations will not be shared with advertisers, and ads will not influence ChatGPT's responses, framing the experiment as a way to support growing operational costs while maintaining privacy protections.

Indian police reported multiple fraud cases in which retirees were targeted through bogus crypto and stock trading applications, with individual losses ranging from tens of lakhs to more than Rs. 1.25 crore. In incidents recorded between late December and mid-January, victims were enticed via WhatsApp groups and fake trading dashboards that showed inflated balances but blocked withdrawals, prompting authorities to urge citizens to seek professional help before investing.