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.

Chainalysis reports Iran's crypto ecosystem reaching $7.78 billion by 2025 as inflation, protests and internet shutdowns drive adoption. On-chain volumes increased and funds moved to self-custody, with withdrawal growth across several brackets. The report also notes IRGC-linked wallets received over $3 billion in 2025, highlighting dual use by citizens and the state.

Polymarket is under scrutiny over large bets tied to Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which critics say may blur the line between forecasting and market manipulation. One wallet reportedly turned a $30,000 position on Maduro's removal into more than $400,000, while other trades speculated on a US strike on Iran and Khamenei's potential loss of power. These activities have sparked debate about "information laundering" and prompted a proposed US bill to restrict officials from trading on prediction markets using non-public information.

Monero (XMR) has set a fresh all-time high above $797 after a weekly surge of more than 50%, lifting its market capitalisation beyond $13 billion and briefly into the top 15 cryptocurrencies. The move is being linked to tightening global financial surveillance rules, capital rotation from Zcash and political debates like the US CLARITY Act, which are pushing investors toward privacy-focused digital assets.

South Korea's Financial Services Commission has set guidelines to let listed companies and professional investors trade cryptocurrencies, with corporate exposure capped at up to 5% of equity annually. Final guidance is due between January and February, with implementation tied to the Digital Asset Basic Act in Q1 2025 and market participation targeted by end‑2026.

BlackRock's Global Outlook 2026 frames stablecoins as core settlement infrastructure rather than niche trading tools, while Visa and JPMorgan integrate USDC and tokenized funds into their operations. Regulatory clarity from the US GENIUS Act and Ethereum's dominance in real-world asset tokenization underpin this shift but also surface monetary and issuer risks.

In early January 2026, Bitfinex margin whales began trimming long Bitcoin positions while U.S. spot ETF flows showed sharp swings between inflows and outflows. Longs on Bitfinex recently peaked around 72,700 BTC before starting to roll over, as ETF data revealed a +$471 million net inflow on 2 January followed by about -$1.1 billion in outflows from 5 to 7 January. Analysts are weighing whether this combination signals a constructive reset for Bitcoin or the onset of a deeper correction over the next six weeks.

In its latest 2026 Crypto Crime Report, Chainalysis reports that illicit cryptocurrency transactions surged 162% in 2025 to at least $154 billion, driven by sanctioned states and organised criminal networks. The study highlights Iran's IRGC, Russia's ruble-linked A7A5 token, North Korean hackers and Chinese money laundering networks as key actors in this ecosystem. It also notes a sharp rise in physical attacks and kidnappings targeting crypto users, underscoring mounting security risks for the industry.

On January 8, 2026, Cyvers alerted to a suspicious on‑chain transfer tied to Truebit Protocol, citing an estimated exposure of about $26 million. The flagged movement involved 8,535 ETH and carried the on‑chain label "Truebit Protocol: Purchase." Truebit's team has not issued an official statement or confirmed any loss at the time of writing.