Ahead of the Consensus event in Hong Kong, Auros chief commercial officer Jason Atkins argued that the main issue in crypto markets is insufficient liquidity rather than volatility. He said thin order books and weak market depth make it hard for large institutions to deploy capital and manage risk without moving prices. Atkins warned that this cycle of volatility, caution and illiquidity is keeping major Wall Street players from fully entering the sector despite rising institutional interest.

On January 16 and January 18, 2026, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong rejected suggestions that the White House had pulled its support for the CLARITY Act and stressed that talks on the crypto market structure bill are continuing. Coinbase has paused backing for the legislation over its potential impact on DeFi, tokenized stocks, and stablecoin yields, while the Senate Banking Committee has postponed a planned markup to allow more time for negotiations.

On January 18, 2026, Donald Trump denied ever offering the Federal Reserve chair role to Jamie Dimon and said Dimon is unfit for the job. He also said he will sue JPMorgan within two weeks over alleged political debanking after January 6, as bank shares slid, with JPMorgan down around 5% over the last week.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced new tariffs on European imports via Truth Social, taking effect on February 1. Rates begin at 10% and could rise to 25% by June 2026, contingent on a Greenland purchase. The EU is preparing an emergency meeting to weigh responses, and countries named include Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, and Finland.

On January 18, 2026, BitGo outlined plans to raise about $201 million through a US initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "BTGO." The institutional crypto custodian will sell 11 million new Class A shares plus 821,595 shares from existing holders at an indicative price of $15 to $17, while keeping a dual-class voting structure that leaves CEO Michael Belshe with majority control.

On January 18, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong denied reports that the White House might withdraw support for a U.S. crypto market structure bill, saying talks remain active. He flagged disputes over stablecoin yields and warned of regulatory capture by banks, while policymakers and industry voices weighed potential market impacts.

On January 14, Base led Ethereum layer-2 fee revenue with about $147,000 for the day, according to CryptoRank.io. Arbitrum and Starknet followed at roughly $39,000 and $9,000, while many other scaling networks generated under $5,000; a DefiLlama table cited by community analysts showed Polygon near $155,000 across its broader network, prompting debate over L2 classification.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong rejected claims that the White House is considering withdrawing support for the CLARITY crypto market structure bill and denied that the administration is upset with the exchange. He said the administration asked Coinbase to find a compromise with banks and noted that industry groups are developing proposals to address community bank concerns and stablecoin yield restrictions. Armstrong expects a revised bill markup in the coming weeks after the Senate Banking Committee delayed its vote to allow further negotiations.