On February 1, 2026, Base said its Ethereum Layer‑2 saw intermittent slowdowns in transaction processing, while block production continued. Base engineers linked the behavior to traffic spikes and internal bottlenecks rather than a full outage. A 19‑minute interruption late last year and a separate January 14 incident on Sui have heightened reliability concerns.

On January 31, 2026, Step Finance said several treasury and fee wallets were compromised during APAC hours, with about 261,854 SOL valued near $30 million stolen. CertiK noted the stake authorization had been transferred before withdrawal, and the STEP token fell over 90% within 24 hours as the team stated user funds were not impacted.

Bitcoin slid about 7% on Saturday to around $77,000, with more than $2 billion wiped from the crypto market. It later hovered near $78,690 at publication, according to CoinMarketCap. Analysts are split: some see a bottom between $75,000 and $80,000, while others caution potential declines toward $60,000–$65,000 in 2026.

Zcash (ZEC) extended a four-day slide to a 13% weekly drop, trading at $322 with a 24-hour decline of 3.25% as volume fell 12% to $450 million. Price action around $310 and derivatives positioning skewed to shorts highlight risk of a move toward $200 if that support gives way.

In the final stretch of January, Bitcoin briefly fell under $80,000 as analysts highlighted roughly $1.3 billion in liquidations within 12 hours. Market expert Burak Kesmeci views $80,000 as both a key technical support and the approximate cost basis for spot Bitcoin ETFs, with January 2026 net outflows already at $1.61 billion. He cautions that a confirmed weekly close below this level could extend downside toward $72,000, $68,000 and $62,000, while a rebound above $90,000 and $95,000, and eventually $100,000, would improve the bullish outlook.

Bitcoin has just recorded its fourth consecutive monthly decline, marking its heaviest red streak since the 2018–2019 bear phase. After hitting an all-time high above $126,000, the price reversed sharply, sliding to nearly $75,000 and closing January with a 10.17% loss. This pattern resembles previous bear-cycle behavior and has reignited debate over whether the current phase can still be called a bull market.

Bitmine Immersion Technologies, a public crypto treasury firm linked to Tom Lee, is carrying more than $6 billion in unrealized losses on its Ether holdings after the market pullback. The company added 40,302 ETH last week, taking its stash above 4.24 million; Dropstab values the position near $9.6 billion versus an October peak of $13.9 billion.

On February 1, 2026, Tether expanded its tokenized gold product by minting 192,657 XAUT, a tranche valued at nearly $1 billion at prevailing gold prices. Each token corresponds to one troy ounce held in secured vaults, primarily in Switzerland. The issuance highlights growing on-chain demand for real-world assets and differs from fiat-pegged stablecoins due to commodity price exposure.