On January 16, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice confirmed that the roughly 58 BTC forfeited by Samourai Wallet developers will be held on the federal balance sheet within the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve under Executive Order 14233. Earlier reports had suggested a possible sale via SDNY and the U.S. Marshals Service.

On 16 January 2026, Jefferies global head of equity strategy Christopher Wood removed Bitcoin from his model portfolio over long-term security concerns tied to quantum computing. He shifted the former 10% Bitcoin allocation into physical gold and gold-mining stocks, reflecting a preference for assets with long historical resilience as debate grows over whether future quantum advances could challenge Bitcoin’s cryptographic foundations.

Grant Cardone is rolling out a real estate structure that channels cash flow from large U.S. multifamily properties into Bitcoin while exploring tokenized ownership. The approach is expanding as President Donald Trump outlines plans to curb institutional buying of single-family homes and push borrowing costs lower, reshaping the housing investment landscape.

On January 16, 2026, Ark Invest's Cathie Wood argued that Bitcoin is a superior scarce asset to gold due to its mathematically fixed supply. She cited gold's 166% rise alongside a 1.8% annualized supply increase, versus Bitcoin's 360% gain with 1.3% annualized supply growth, and noted BTC's correlations to gold (0.14) and bonds (0.06).

On January 16, 2026, Bitcoin was consolidating near $95,000 and trading closer to $94,000 after failing to maintain strength above a key resistance-turned-support area. The recent stall in upside momentum and compressed volatility has led traders to reassess short‑term structure, even as the broader bullish trend and expectations for a potential push toward $100,000 remain intact. Key levels between $92,000 and $96,000 are now seen as crucial in determining whether the market resumes its advance or extends its consolidation phase.

According to on‑chain analyst Darkfost, Bitcoin’s short‑term holder realized price sits near $102,000, with spot trading below that mark. On January 16, 2026, trader Merlijn The Trader highlighted a potential double bottom and said a clean break above $102,000 implies a move toward $110,000, while holding around $95,500 maintains structure and a drop under $87,500 invalidates.

Bitcoin fell to its deepest historical discount against gold on Friday in 2026, as the BTC/XAU Z-score dropped below minus 2 standard deviations. This extreme undervaluation level has previously coincided with major Bitcoin bottoms, including a roughly 150% price rally after a similar signal in late 2022, and has some analysts expecting BTC to strongly outperform gold if past patterns repeat.

On 16 January 2026, Justin Bons, founder and CIO of Cyber Capital, presented an analysis warning that Bitcoin could face a structural breakdown in roughly 7 to 11 years as halving events reduce miner incentives. He argues that declining miner revenue, limited fee scalability, capacity bottlenecks, and rigid governance could make profitable attacks and severe congestion more likely as block rewards trend toward zero.