On January 21 2026, onchain metrics indicated that Bitcoin holders have entered their first 30-day period of realized losses since October 2023, with prices slipping under the $90,000 mark and dropping 7.11% over the past week. The market downturn has coincided with record-breaking gold prices, a slide in spot Bitcoin ETF flows, and a decline in the crypto fear and greed index to “extreme fear,” even as large institutional buyers continue to accumulate Bitcoin.

On January 21, 2026, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said he intends to fully rejoin decentralized social networks in 2026. He stressed the need for mass communication tools that prioritize long-term value and user empowerment, noting he has been using firefly.social and plans to post more on Lens while encouraging activity on Farcaster.

On January 20, 2026, Etherfi introduced its U.S.-focused Liquid Reserve Vault to extend access to its DeFi-native vault infrastructure. The Midas-powered product allocates USDC and USDT deposits across protocols such as Morpho and Sentora PYUSD, targeting higher USD-denominated returns with automatic rebalancing and compounding. The new vault complements Etherfi’s broader suite of liquid yield products for USD, ETH, BTC, and HYPE holders.

The South Korean Democratic Party's Digital Asset Task Force held a closed-door meeting at the National Assembly Members' Office Building to finalize a party-line bill for the Digital Asset Basic Act, which it aims to submit early next month. The proposed framework focuses on comprehensive rules for digital assets and won-pegged stablecoins, including an integrated approach to regulating non-secured virtual assets and stablecoins. Lawmakers highlighted legislative delays, unresolved disagreements with government bodies and the ruling party, and the need to balance industry growth with financial system stability.

On January 20, 2026, on-chain data indicated that Bitcoin whale inflows to Binance fell from $7.88 billion on November 24 to $2.74 billion, with total exchange inflows dropping by more than $5.14 billion in nearly two months. Analysts say this reduction in sell-side pressure, alongside a move in the Bitcoin Fear and Greed Index to a neutral 42 and a newly formed Golden Cross, could support a potential price rebound even as BTC trades around $91,083 after recent geopolitical-driven weakness.

Pendle will retire vePENDLE and introduce sPENDLE, a liquid staking token with a 14-day withdrawal period. Staking for sPENDLE begins January 20, and vePENDLE locks pause January 29 alongside a new incentive framework. sPENDLE holders are set to receive over 80% of fees via buybacks and airdrops, with up to 4x boosts for existing lockers.

Solana-based platform Pump.fun introduced Pump Fund to finance startups and announced a $3 million Build in Public Hackathon. According to Pump.fun, 12 projects will each receive $250,000 at a $10 million valuation with mentorship, and applications opened on January 19, 2026. The first winner is slated to be selected and funded on February 18, 2026.

On January 20, 2026, Animoca Brands co-founder Yat Siu said at the CfC St. Moritz conference that affluent crypto collectors who buy NFTs to hold, rather than trade, are helping sustain a market that still records about $300 million in monthly sales. He compared these collectors to traditional art buyers, revealed his own NFT portfolio is down roughly 80%, and linked the last-minute cancellation of NFT Paris 2026 to France's changing stance on crypto and growing security concerns.

On January 20, 2026, onchain data showed Bitcoin options open interest reaching a record $74.1 billion, exceeding futures open interest of $65.2 billion for the first time. Most options exposure is concentrated on IBIT and Deribit, while BTC trades around $93,189 amid a 15% hashrate drop from October's peak and ongoing miner capitulation. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs also saw over $390 million in outflows on January 18, coinciding with broader risk-off sentiment.