U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick stated at the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 21, 2026, that the U.S. economy is robust and could expand by more than 5% at the start of 2026, with potential to top 6% if interest rates fall. He argued that currently high borrowing costs are constraining business and household spending and urged the European Union to avoid retaliatory measures if the United States proceeds with tariffs linked to Greenland, warning this could reignite a damaging tariff spiral.

By mid-January 2026, daily cryptocurrency payment-card transactions neared 60,000, marking a 22x rise from December 2024. The cards processed close to $4 million in spending each day, while cumulative activity surpassed 7.3 million transactions and $804 million in volume, supported by about 150,000 active users.

Stablecoin appchain Noble plans a standalone EVM Layer 1, departing its Cosmos SDK stack. People familiar with the upgrade say mainnet is slated for March 18, while the team maintains short‑term Cosmos support. The new network targets sub‑second finality for stablecoin and FX use cases, after processing over $22 billion across 50 chains since 2023.

On January 21, 2026, Hong Kong's Financial Secretary Paul Chan reaffirmed that the city regulates digital asset activities by risk level rather than by the underlying technology. Hong Kong is piloting tokenized deposits, expanding tokenized green bond issuance worth about $2.1 billion, and preparing a stablecoin licensing regime while also testing cross-border blockchain payments with partners such as Brazil.

Recent on-chain data indicates that institutional custody wallets and spot Bitcoin ETFs have accumulated about 577,000 BTC, valued at roughly $53 billion, over the past year. Large holders now control significantly more Bitcoin than two years ago, while US spot ETFs have seen net inflows and corporate treasuries have expanded their BTC positions, reducing the supply available on exchanges.

On January 20, BitMine staked 86,848 ETH, lifting its treasury to about 1.77 million ETH worth roughly $5.66 billion. Analysts say exchange balances of ETH continue to fall, a trend that could support prices if demand persists.

On January 20, 2026, Citigroup’s Akira Hoshino said the Bank of Japan could raise rates three times in 2026 if yen weakness persists, including a 25 bps move to 1% in April should USD/JPY breach ¥160. He cited negative real rates and projected a 150–165 range for the currency, while swap pricing implied a 90% chance of a December hike.

Between early 2024 and late 2025, Germany's Kiel Institute for the World Economy analyzed about $4 trillion in shipments and, on January 20, 2026, reported that 96% of U.S. tariff costs were borne domestically. Foreign suppliers absorbed roughly 4% through minor price cuts, while higher import fees were passed along to businesses and households.

Cardone Capital invested $10 million in Bitcoin during a market dip, adding to an estimated reserve near 1,000 BTC. Over the weekend leading to January 19, BTC briefly exceeded $95,000, fell below $92,000, and was about $93,184 at the announcement. The firm plans to hold long term and fund additional buys from rental income.