Clear Street analyst Owen Lau says prediction markets’ rapid growth in 2024–2025 has thrust the sector into a regulatory clash between federal and state authorities. The stakes include roughly $400 billion in annual trading and $4 billion in potential state tax revenue, with court cases delivering mixed outcomes and appeals continuing.

On January 16, President Alexander Lukashenko signed Decree No. 19 establishing a legal framework for crypto banks. The measure defines these entities as joint-stock companies combining digital token operations with banking and payments and requires High-Tech Park residency and inclusion in a National Bank registry, according to BELTA.

Tokenized gold surged in 2025, contributing around 25% of net RWA growth as market capitalization rose from roughly $1.6 billion to $4.4 billion. Trading volume reached $178 billion for the year, with Q4 exceeding $126 billion and surpassing the combined activity of five leading gold ETFs.

On January 14, 2026, BVNK said it will power stablecoin functionality for Visa Direct, enabling businesses to pre-fund payouts in stablecoins and send funds to recipients in digital dollars. Visa Direct handles around $1.7 trillion in annual volume, while BVNK reports processing more than $30 billion in stablecoin payments each year, with services starting in approved markets.

On January 12, 2026, Bakkt Holdings, Inc. said it entered an agreement to acquire Distributed Technologies Research Ltd. in an all‑equity deal. Bakkt will issue Class A stock equal to 31.5% of the "Bakkt Share Number," about 9.1 million shares based on the current figure, and plans a corporate name change to "Bakkt, Inc." on January 22.

Between January 5 and January 11, Strategy reported purchasing an additional 13,627 bitcoin for roughly $1.25 billion at an average cost of $91,519 per BTC, including fees. As of January 11, the company holds 687,410 BTC acquired for about $51.80 billion, funded largely through sales of MSTR common stock and STRC preferred shares under its at-the-market programs.

Standard Chartered is planning to establish a crypto prime brokerage within its wholly owned venture arm SC Ventures, according to people familiar with the matter. The initiative is still at an early discussion stage with no confirmed launch date, and would build on the bank's existing digital asset projects and institutional spot crypto trading services. The bank is also working with Bank Malaysia and AirAsia parent Capital A to explore a ringgit-pegged stablecoin under Malaysia's Digital Asset Innovation Hub framework.

SharpLink (Nasdaq: SBET) said it has moved $170 million in ETH onto Linea, aligning with a $200 million crypto treasury program announced last fall. The structure involves Anchorage Digital, ether.fi and EigenCloud to combine qualified custody with onchain yield tools, signaling a push toward institutional-grade DeFi on Ethereum.

On January 8, the Financial Action Task Force recognized the T3 Financial Crime Unit as a model of public-private collaboration for policing illicit blockchain activity. Launched in September by TRON DAO, Tether and TRM Labs, the unit has supported freezes over $250 million, and the partners report more than $300 million across five continents.