On January 18, 2026, Kevin Hassett said on Fox News' The Sunday Briefing that he is comfortable remaining in the White House, effectively taking himself out of consideration to lead the Federal Reserve. Trump had publicly told him last week he preferred he stay in the West Wing, while the shortlist now centers on Christopher Waller, Kevin Warsh, and Rick Rieder.

Anthony Scaramucci argued that the CLARITY Act's expanded ban on yield-bearing stablecoins makes the US dollar less competitive than China's interest-paying digital yuan. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and other industry executives also criticized the restriction, claiming it protects traditional banks and could undermine the role of US dollar stablecoins in global markets. Separately, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan cautioned that stablecoins may trigger up to $6 trillion in deposit outflows from the banking system.

Between January 18, 2025 and January 17, 2026, XRP reserves on Binance dropped from about $10.16 billion to roughly $5.55 billion, a decline of around 45% that points to shrinking exchange supply. Over the same period, XRP has traded near $2.06 with mixed technical signals, including support around the 50-day SMA at $2.02 and a still-distant 200-day SMA near $2.53.

Solana's network saw Active Addresses rise 56% week-on-week to 27.1 million and Weekly Transactions reach 515 million, while price rebounded into the $135.5-$147.1 support band. With SOL trading near $142 after breaking above a multi-month regression downtrend, momentum indicators and derivatives positioning now lean in favor of buyers as long as the $135.5 level holds.

According to Artemis, crypto-linked cards became the top driver of on-chain stablecoin activity in 2025, with monthly volumes rising from $100 million to over $1.5 billion. Total card payments reached $18 billion, close to $19 billion in P2P transfers, and Visa processed more than 90% of transactions.

Over the week, Bitcoin and Ethereum rose nearly 5% and 7%, while several altcoins diverged. DASH led with a 115% surge to about $80, as Story [IP] and Pump.fun [PUMP] gained roughly 20% and 17%. Polygon [POL] fell nearly 14% to around $0.142, and Midnight [NIGHT] slipped roughly 12%.

Bird, the developer of the XRPL-based meme coin DROP, has triggered discussion by saying that anyone holding more value in XRP than in their bank account is a "genius." He contrasts bank savings rates of around 4–6% with rising living costs and frames XRP as a forward-looking asset, while also noting that how much XRP to hold is subjective and depends on personal circumstances.

Market analyst Michaël van de Poppe views the CLARITY bill’s failure to advance in Congress as positive for crypto markets. Coinbase withdrew support on Wednesday, while CEO Brian Armstrong flagged tokenized stocks and yield-bearing stablecoin concerns and later denied reported White House tensions on Saturday. Negotiations to refine the bill are continuing.