U.S. mortgage lender Newrez will begin treating select crypto holdings as qualifying assets in its underwriting, with the change slated for February. Eligible assets include Bitcoin, Ether, spot ETFs tied to those coins, and U.S. dollar‑pegged stablecoins held with U.S‑regulated platforms. Valuations may be adjusted for volatility, and payments remain in USD.

Anchorage Digital is pursuing a $200 million–$400 million capital raise while weighing an IPO next year. The federally chartered crypto bank is expanding stablecoin, custody and wealth services, and it cited 2025 as a year of scale amid rising institutional demand. The firm previously raised $350 million in late 2021, valuing it above $3 billion.

On January 16, 2026, White House digital-assets advisor Patrick Witt said he received DOJ confirmation that Bitcoin forfeited in the Samourai Wallet case has not been sold and will not be sold under EO 14233. The statement followed analysts noting a 57.5 BTC transfer from a government wallet to a Coinbase Prime address in November.

On January 15, 2026, Glassnode said Ethereum is drawing a wave of first-time users, with month-over-month activity retention in the "New" cohort sharply higher. New active addresses rose from just over 4 million to around 8 million in the past month, and daily transactions reached a record 2.8 million amid lower fees and all-time-high stablecoin activity.

On January 14, 2026, California's Department of Financial Protection and Innovation fined Nexo $500,000 for issuing unlicensed crypto-backed loans. The agency found at least 5,456 residents received loans without a state license and ordered all California customer funds moved to a licensed U.S. affiliate within 150 days.

On Thursday, South Korea's National Assembly approved amendments to the Capital Markets Act and Electronic Securities Act to legalize the issuance and trading of tokenized securities, with the laws set to take effect in January 2027. The new framework enables blockchain-based securities to be issued on distributed ledgers and traded via licensed intermediaries, while regulators prepare supporting infrastructure and market participants position for growth in a sector projected to reach trillions of dollars globally.

On the bank's Wednesday earnings call, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan warned that as much as $6 trillion, or roughly 30%–35% of U.S. commercial bank deposits, could move into stablecoins under certain regulatory outcomes. A Jan. 9 Senate Banking Committee draft would bar passive interest on stablecoin balances while allowing activity-based rewards, and the planned markup was later postponed.

BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes said Bitcoin's chance of setting new all-time highs in 2026 hinges on expanding dollar liquidity, not short-term price swings. He noted 2025's tight liquidity coincided with Bitcoin falling more than 14% while gold rose over 44%. On January 13, 2026, he also flagged a first-quarter trade idea in a tweet.

On January 14, 2026, Eric Adams’ spokesperson denied that the former New York City mayor moved or benefited from funds tied to the newly launched NYC Token, following heavy investor losses. The project attributed sharp post-launch price swings to early market volatility and temporary liquidity "rebalancing," while onchain analysts reported multimillion-dollar withdrawals and estimated that around 60% of roughly 4,300 traders lost money in the token’s first hours.