Cryptocurrency-focused attackers are compromising existing publisher accounts on Canonical's Snap Store to turn previously legitimate Linux packages into crypto-stealing malware. By taking control of expired developer domains and email addresses, they push malicious updates that harvest wallet recovery phrases, exposing users to fund theft before Canonical removes the snaps. Security researcher Alan Pope warns that these incidents highlight weaknesses in Snap's trust model and urges stronger account verification, domain monitoring, and wider use of two-factor authentication.

Ripple's US dollar-backed stablecoin RLUSD is set to begin spot trading on Binance, initially supported on Ethereum with XRP/RLUSD and RLUSD/USDT pairs. The stablecoin, backed one-to-one by cash, short-term US Treasuries and equivalents, has surpassed a $1.3 billion market cap and is also cleared for institutional use in Abu Dhabi as an Accepted Fiat-Referenced Token.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan said Hong Kong plans to issue its first licences for fiat-referenced stablecoin issuers in Q1, describing the regulatory stance as "responsible and sustainable." The regime, passed in 2025, imposes strict reserve and redemption standards, while 11 trading platforms are already licensed under SFC oversight.

On January 21, 2026, Solana Mobile began a 90-day airdrop of its native SKR token for Seeker smartphone owners and select early dApp developers. The fixed supply is 10 billion SKR with 30% allocated at launch, claims are made via the device wallet, and the company said more than 100,000 users are eligible.

De Nederlandsche Bank reported that Dutch companies, institutions and households held about €1.2 billion in indirect crypto securities as of October 2025, up from roughly €81 million at the end of 2020. These holdings, concentrated in a small number of foreign-issued ETFs, ETNs and crypto treasury shares, still account for only 0.03% of the Dutch securities market despite strong price-driven growth. Pension funds, investment funds and households each show distinct patterns of exposure across ETFs, ETNs and crypto-related equities.

On January 20, 2026, X open-sourced the core architecture of its feed-ranking algorithm, built on a Grok-based transformer model. The company outlined an end-to-end machine-learning system in Rust and Python and pledged four-week public updates with developer notes. The move coincides with stricter policies on crypto-linked engagement apps.

Bitcoin has declined for five consecutive sessions, retreating from highs last seen in November and struggling to hold above $92,000. According to Samer Hasn of XS.com, the sell-off reflects profit-taking and broader risk aversion amid political and macro uncertainty. Spot demand shows resilience, with US Bitcoin ETFs recording their strongest weekly net inflows since October and futures open interest down about $9 billion.

K33 launched a crypto-collateral lending product, letting eligible clients borrow USDC against Bitcoin and select digital assets. The firm, listed on Nasdaq First North Growth Market, tied the service to its Bitcoin treasury strategy and will start with a limited onboarding phase. Clients can register interest, with terms decided case by case.

Ethereum is now processing a record volume of transactions while average gas fees have fallen to about $0.15, the lowest level in the network's modern history. Recent protocol upgrades, a higher block gas limit and growing layer-2 usage have expanded effective capacity, while stablecoin transfers and increased staking activity indicate renewed confidence in Ethereum.