On 18 January 2026, analysis by Joao Wedson found Ethereum's correlation with the Russell 2000 has weakened after several cycles of alignment. Despite the index's positive year-over-year performance, ETH's reactions are muted. The split may reflect a shifting risk regime or crypto pricing future conditions ahead of traditional finance.

Monero has fallen 26% from its recent all-time high of $798 reached on Jan. 14, following a multi-month rally that started in September and a five-day winning streak from Jan. 10 to Jan. 14. Despite a subsequent pullback to $590, with XMR still up 19% weekly, the price remains above the daily 50- and 200-day moving averages, and technical indicators imply that the broader uptrend could still be intact.

Truist is increasing a range of business banking fees, with changes effective January 1, 2026. Mobile deposit items now cost $0.25 each, monthly maintenance moves to $35–$55, and ACH credits and debits rise to $0.25. The bank says the adjustments reflect operational costs and urges clients to review available waivers.

On January 14, Bitcoin briefly climbed above $97,000, its highest level since November, prompting renewed debate over whether its long-observed four-year pattern is changing. Analyst Egrag Crypto assigns a 55%–65% probability that 2026 will close green if BTC can secure monthly closes above $105,000 while holding support near $90,000. Other chart watchers highlight this deviation from past cycles as BTC dominance rises and short-term holders take profits into strength.

According to the analysis, XRP is stabilizing above a major demand area in its USDT pair after an earlier-month rebound, but it has not reclaimed the broader supply zone near $2.40. Against BTC, the token remains in a downtrend, fading from 2,400–2,500 sats and hovering near 2,150 sats while momentum indicators ease.

Bitcoin is consolidating just under the $95,000 resistance zone after rebounding from its December lows, with the daily chart showing a clear pattern of higher lows. Technical structure now places BTC between a potential breakout toward the $100,000 area and a possible pullback toward support around $90,000, while on-chain data shows the share of supply in profit recovering from a deep reset.

Industry security leaders warn that close to 80% of crypto projects hit by major exploits fail to regain stability, with the outcome hinging on how teams act in the first hours. Immunefi CEO Mitchell Amador and Kerberus' Alex Katz argue that operational breakdowns and trust erosion, not just stolen funds, drive long-term damage. In 2025, reported hack-related losses reached $3.4 billion, and a single Bybit incident accounted for $1.4 billion.

On 18 January 2026, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin warned that growing protocol complexity is a major long-term threat to the network's decentralization. He argued that constant feature additions and reliance on highly specialized cryptography can make users dependent on a small expert class instead of the code itself. Buterin called for an explicit focus on simplification, including removing or offloading rarely used features from the core protocol to preserve Ethereum's trustlessness over decades.