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A victim lost more than $282 million in Bitcoin (BTC) and Litecoin (LTC) in a case described as a social engineering scam targeting hardware wallets by blockchain investigator ZachXBT. This is considered one of the largest individual victim cases publicly disclosed as of 2026.

The attacker immediately converted the stolen funds into Monero through several instant exchanges and began laundering, a process that coincided with a surge in XMR prices, according to ZachXBT.

According to the latest report from Chainalysis, Iran's cryptocurrency ecosystem has expanded to approximately $7.8 billion by 2025, which shows that digital assets are increasingly embedding themselves into the country's economic and political structures amid sanctions, disputes, and domestic turmoil.

The report notes that Iran's cryptocurrency activities are closely linked to major geopolitical and domestic events, indicating that on-chain data shows a sharp increase in activity during periods of heightened military tensions, cyber attacks, and nationwide protests.

Newrez plans to accept Bitcoin, [Ethereum]https://yellow.com/asset/eth, and dollar-pegged stablecoins in mortgage loan assessments starting in February, allowing borrowers to use their held cryptocurrencies for asset verification and income estimation without having to sell them.

This lender, headquartered in Port Washington, Pennsylvania, claims to have executed $44.5 billion in loans by September 2025 and is the first among the top 25 mortgage lenders in the U.S. to officially recognize cryptocurrency in the mortgage lending process.

Ripple announced the results of the first University Digital Asset Xcelerator (UDAX) program on Thursday. Nine startups that built applications for the XRP ledger graduated from an intensive six-week acceleration program held at UC Berkeley.

The UDAX program is the latest evolutionary stage of Ripple's University Blockchain Research Initiative, which was conducted in the fall of 2025. It aimed to connect institutional readiness for early-stage innovation and XRP ledger development through collaboration with UC Berkeley.

Binance Futures postponed the launch of the AIAUSDT perpetual futures contract, originally scheduled for January 16, just hours before trading was set to begin, and did not provide any explanation for the delay.

The exchange announced that it would postpone the DeAgentAI contract, which was originally scheduled to start trading on Thursday at 15:30 UTC, 'until further notice.'

This contract was expected to offer up to 20x leverage to traders looking for exposure to AIA, the native token of DeAgentAI.

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has stated that the United States is overly focused on monetary policy rather than fiscal discipline, and these remarks came amid ongoing attacks on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who has been publicly pressured by President Donald Trump to cut interest rates and criticized repeatedly.

What Happened

In a Thursday interview with CNBC, Fink said that the national discussion is overly focused on interest rate issues, while insufficient attention is being paid to the growing burden of national debt.

Dash surged over 100% last week, securing the top spot in returns among the top 300 digital assets by market capitalization, significantly outperforming Bitcoin and the broader altcoin market.

This payment token focused on privacy began its upward trend with a single-day 50% surge due to a short squeeze worth about $4.9 million on January 13, and it surpassed $95 on Friday.

The trading volume exceeded $1 billion a day, marking an increase of over 800% compared to usual, indicating a significant rise in investor interest in privacy coins.

Starknet's native token STRK became accessible on Solana through NEAR Intents' cross-chain infrastructure starting January 15, marking a notable integration just a day after Solana's official account publicly criticized Ethereum layer 2.

With this integration, users can directly receive STRK in their Solana wallets without going through the traditional bridge process, utilizing a solver-based execution model that handles technical complexities in the background.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko signed decree No. 19 on January 16, establishing a legal framework for a 'crypto bank' that combines digital token operations with traditional banking services.

This regulation permits joint stock companies with residence qualifications in the High-Tech Park (HTP) to provide token-based financial services integrated with traditional banking, payment, and related operations, applying dual regulatory supervision to this.

**Coinbase** has launched its stock trading service targeting US customers, positioning itself as an 'everything exchange' despite entering a market dominated by established players like Robinhood.

CEO **Brian Armstrong** stated in an interview with Fortune that he envisions a long-term future where tokenized stocks are traded 24/7 on blockchain infrastructure rather than traditional payment and settlement systems.

KBC Bank becomes the first Belgian financial institution to offer cryptocurrency trading to individual customers through the Bolero investment platform under the newly implemented EU regulations starting February 16.

KBC, the second-largest bank in Belgium with approximately $300 billion in assets, enables Bitcoin and Ether trading through a closed system, completely prohibiting transfers to and from external wallets.

This launch took place after the implementation of Belgium's cryptocurrency market regulation (MiCA) law on January 3, which designated the Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) and the National Bank of Belgium (NBB) as the regulatory bodies for the cryptocurrency market.

Google Play requires the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) to complete the acceptance of reports for cryptocurrency exchange apps in Korea starting from January 28, resulting in major overseas platforms being effectively blocked from Korean Android users.

Currently, only 27 exchanges have completed the registration with the FIU in Korea for virtual asset service providers (VASP).

Major global platforms including Binance, Bybit, and OKX are expected to be unable to have their apps newly downloaded and updated on Google Play due to failure to meet essential reporting requirements.

Hyperliquid launched XMR/USDC perpetual contracts in a permissionless manner, allowing traders to have leveraged exposure to Monero without access to the spot market.

This listing was made as XMR reached an all-time high of $797 on January 14, coinciding with a 65% monthly increase driven by rising demand for privacy coins.

Monero is currently trading around $700, with a market cap of $13 billion, and despite losing access to spot trading on most major exchanges, it remains among the top 15 cryptocurrencies.

Bank of America CEO **Brian Moynihan** warned that if Congress allows interest payments on stablecoins, a digital token, under the currently pending legislation, up to $6 trillion in deposits, corresponding to about 30% to 35% of all U.S. commercial bank deposits, could move from the traditional banking system to stablecoins.

What happened: Bank chief warns of deposit outflow risk

Moynihan supported his outlook during the company's fourth-quarter earnings call on Wednesday, citing research from the U.S. Treasury Department that suggests if interest payments on stablecoins are allowed, a significant portion of bank deposits could shift to stablecoins.

**Cardano** shows a cup and handle pattern on the 4-hour chart, and if the pattern's validity is confirmed, the token could rise to around $0.51. However, it dropped 6% on Thursday to $0.3969, complicating the technical setup, and traders are watching whether it will break above $0.423.

What happened: ADA forms a bullish pattern

Market analysts noted that this pattern is being captured, and $0.423 is the handle range that must be broken to confirm the pattern formation.

Despite the growing online discussions that XRP is entering a 'super cycle', a prolonged period of sustained upward movement in the market, the weekly SuperTrend indicator for this cryptocurrency has shown a sell signal.

What happened: The weekly indicator turned bearish

Analyst Ali Martinez posted the weekly XRP price chart on X, highlighting the disconnect between market sentiment and technical signals.

The SuperTrend indicator, which uses a single trend line based on the Average True Range (ATR) to distinguish between upward and downward trends, indicated that XRP was trading below key levels according to the analysis.

Bitpanda, a cryptocurrency trading platform based in Vienna, is backed by billionaire Peter Thiel. According to sources familiar with the matter, Bitpanda is preparing for a listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange that could value the company at up to 5 billion euros ($5.83 billion) in the first half of 2026.

What happened: Frankfurt IPO preparation

This Austrian cryptocurrency exchange is reportedly preparing for an IPO as early as the first quarter of next year, having hired Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Deutsche Bank as underwriters, according to Bloomberg, citing sources who requested anonymity due to the private nature of the discussions.

Currently, approximately 36 million Ethereum tokens worth over $119 billion are locked in staking contracts, which accounts for about 30% of the total supply. Meanwhile, the network's founder, Vitalik Buterin, is urging developers to stop experimenting and create applications that people can actually use.

What happened: Surge in staking, highest level in 18 months

According to the ValidatorQueue data, the staked ETH has increased from nearly 35.5 million to almost 36 million since the beginning of January. The price has dropped by more than 30% since August.

**Solana** fell below $145 on Thursday and is currently testing a key support level around $140. Technical indicators suggest that if this level fails to hold against growing selling pressure, further declines may follow.

What happened: SOL, testing key support level

This cryptocurrency declined from a recent high near $149 after failing to break above the $150 resistance. According to Kraken's trading data, SOL has slipped below the 100-hour simple moving average.

Bitcoin broke above the 97,000 USD level for the first time since early November, but according to on-chain data, short-term holders moved profits exceeding 40,000 BTC to exchanges within just one day as the price approached this level, indicating that caution still prevails over confidence among recent market participants.

What happened: BTC breaks 97,000 USD amid profit-taking

This rally emerged after weeks of a consolidation (trading range) phase, during which bearish arguments about Bitcoin and speculation about a larger trend reversal had intensified.