Chainlink said on Tuesday it will add 24/5 U.S. equities data feeds, enabling blockchain-based trading of stocks and ETFs outside standard hours. The firm claims this could help bring the $80 trillion U.S. market on-chain, with eight protocols already integrating the streams and more exchanges exploring always-on markets.

Stablecoin appchain Noble plans a standalone EVM Layer 1, departing its Cosmos SDK stack. People familiar with the upgrade say mainnet is slated for March 18, while the team maintains short‑term Cosmos support. The new network targets sub‑second finality for stablecoin and FX use cases, after processing over $22 billion across 50 chains since 2023.

On January 21, 2026, Hong Kong's Financial Secretary Paul Chan reaffirmed that the city regulates digital asset activities by risk level rather than by the underlying technology. Hong Kong is piloting tokenized deposits, expanding tokenized green bond issuance worth about $2.1 billion, and preparing a stablecoin licensing regime while also testing cross-border blockchain payments with partners such as Brazil.

An official Ethereum update on January 19 said adoption by major institutions has accelerated, with 35 firms — including BlackRock, JPMorgan, and Fidelity — launching products on the network. Recent releases span tokenized stocks, money market funds, stablecoins, and bank deposits, alongside activity by JPMorgan, Societe Generale, Stripe, SoFi, and Google.

At a closed-door World Economic Forum workshop in Davos, Hong Kong Finance Secretary Paul Chan reaffirmed the city's "same activity, same risk, same regulation" framework for digital assets and called for guardrails to match financial innovation. He highlighted Hong Kong's licensing regime for virtual asset trading platforms, upcoming stablecoin licenses in the first quarter and the issuance of $2.1 billion in tokenized green bonds since 2023.

Last week, CNBC vice president of news Jason Gewirtz received a phone call from a San Francisco area code by a man claiming to be Coinbase security, who alleged his account was under attack from Germany. The caller used realistic emails, personal data, and pressure tactics to push him into setting up a so-called Coinbase hard wallet and avoid changing passwords, but Gewirtz later confirmed via an AI chatbot and Coinbase that it was a phishing scam. Coinbase and recovery firm ZeroShadow warn that AI-powered impersonation schemes are rising sharply and emphasize that users should be wary of any request to move funds for "protection."

According to his Washington Post opinion piece, CFTC Chair Michael Selig announced a "Future-Proof" initiative to modernize oversight of digital assets and prediction markets. He was nominated in October 2025, confirmed on December 18, 2025, and sworn in on December 22, 2025, and the agency's four other commissioner seats remain vacant.

Chainlink announced on Tuesday that it is rolling out 24/5 U.S. Equities Streams to supply onchain market data for tokenized stocks and ETFs. The solution, tied to the Chainlink Data Standard integrated with 40 blockchains, will be adopted by platforms such as Lighter and BitMEX to extend trading beyond regular hours.