China is reassessing its stance on digital assets after high-profile investigations into alleged scam operator Chen Zhi and a former senior central bank official linked to crypto bribes. Authorities have highlighted large Bitcoin seizures and reiterated strict bans on digital asset transactions in mainland China, even as Hong Kong maintains a more permissive licensing regime for crypto businesses.

Silver traded at $90.05 as of writing after briefly exceeding $93 earlier in the week, with 8% gains over both the past seven and 30 days. Google Trends shows search interest doubling after the $90 breakout, while Vanda reported $921.8 million flowing into silver-linked ETFs and a 169-day inflow streak for the iShares Silver Trust.

On 17 January 2026, Goldman Sachs said on its latest earnings call it remains committed to tokenization even as the CLARITY Act’s progress has stalled. The Senate Banking Committee removed the bill from markup, while Coinbase withdrew support over concerns about tokenized equities and stablecoin incentives. Attention is turning to alternative market structure efforts in Congress.

The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, led by Chuck Grassley and Dick Durbin, has urged Senate Banking leaders to reject DeFi developer exemptions in the broader crypto market structure bill that includes the CLARITY Act and BRCA. Lawmakers warned the changes could weaken key criminal code tools used by the Department of Justice, while the bill also faces setbacks after Coinbase withdrew support over issues such as a ban on stablecoin rewards.

U.S. mortgage lender Newrez will begin treating select crypto holdings as qualifying assets in its underwriting, with the change slated for February. Eligible assets include Bitcoin, Ether, spot ETFs tied to those coins, and U.S. dollar‑pegged stablecoins held with U.S‑regulated platforms. Valuations may be adjusted for volatility, and payments remain in USD.

Senator Tim Scott has postponed the Senate Banking Committee hearing on the Crypto Market Structure Act due to disagreements over stablecoin yields and DeFi restrictions. The delay coincided with a roughly 2% decline in Bitcoin and Ether prices, while Bitcoin later traded around $95,166.01 with a market cap of $1.90 trillion as of January 17, 2026.

The Senate Banking Committee delayed a planned markup of a U.S. crypto market structure bill after Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said on January 14 the company no longer backed the text. The Senate Agriculture Committee postponed its own session and set a new markup date for 27 January 2026.

Anchorage Digital is pursuing a $200 million–$400 million capital raise while weighing an IPO next year. The federally chartered crypto bank is expanding stablecoin, custody and wealth services, and it cited 2025 as a year of scale amid rising institutional demand. The firm previously raised $350 million in late 2021, valuing it above $3 billion.