China exported 6,745 tons of rare-earth products in December, down from 6,958 tons in November, according to customs data released Sunday. Beijing has introduced tighter controls on shipments with potential military use that mainly affect Japan, while the U.S., G7 finance ministers and partners met in Washington to discuss reducing dependence on Chinese rare earths and supporting alternative supply chains.

President Donald Trump announced tariffs on eight European countries that begin at 10% on February 1 and escalate to 25% by June, conditioning removal on Denmark selling Greenland. Bitcoin trades near $95,000 after weeks in a $94,000–$97,000 range, with anxiety rekindled by October 2025’s $19 billion liquidation precedent.

On January 18, 2026, Samsung Electronics said it will distribute record performance bonuses as AI-fueled demand lifts profits. Its Device Solutions unit will pay up to 47% of base annual salary this month, while the MX division's OPI reaches 50%. SK Hynix plans to allocate 10% of operating profits to bonuses and pay 80% upfront.

A total of 803.78 million XRP is locked across ETFs from major issuers, alongside a +22.63M XRP net inflow this week. Price action marked a Jan. 12 low at $2.03, followed by a test of the $2 support and resistance seen near $2.56 amid an hourly death cross.

On January 17, 2026, Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko argued the chain's survival depends on continuous iteration, countering Vitalik Buterin's January 12 call for optional protocol ossification. He emphasized decentralized, developer-driven upgrades and disciplined governance. Recent metrics show 2.4 million daily active addresses (+5.64%) and $11.80 billion in DeFi TVL (+6.98%) amid a broader liquidity reset.

XRP has entered 2026 with gains of more than 20%, lifting it back among the largest digital assets by market value and sparking renewed debate about its long-term prospects. While Ripple originally positioned XRP as a fast, low-cost bridge for cross-border payments, banks have largely favored Ripple's software tools, stablecoins, or internal tokens instead of using XRP directly. The rapid expansion of dollar-pegged stablecoins and Ripple's own evolving business strategy have prompted analysts to question how central XRP remains to the company's future.

Axie Infinity's AXS token has extended a volatile upswing on the daily chart, with price now pressing into a tight resistance band between $2.287 and $2.338 while momentum indicators remain firmly bullish. Technical signals such as rising 9-day and 20-day EMAs, an overbought RSI, and a widening positive MACD histogram point to strong upside pressure, but nearby resistance and large order-book walls around $2.161 and $2.500 could decide whether the rally continues or retraces toward support near $1.546–$1.523. Traders monitoring AXS may see breakout or rejection behavior around these levels as key triggers for the next move.

Solana is trading at $142.51 with daily volume near $2.25 billion, holding above the $140 support area. On January 17, 2026, STSS and Coinbase announced a validator on the Solana network, described as strengthening decentralization. Key levels show resistance at $145.47 with potential upside targets at $148.82 and $151.73 if price breaks higher.