Democratic lawmakers have sent a strongly worded letter to SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins criticizing the agency's decision to drop long-running enforcement cases against Ripple and other crypto firms. They argue that the SEC's retreat since January 2025, including dismissals involving Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, and Tron founder Justin Sun, risks eroding investor protection and confidence in U.S. markets. The timing is portrayed as troubling given increased crypto industry lobbying and substantial political contributions.

On 16 January 2026, the XRP Ledger ecosystem was reported to be adding a new prediction market platform called Axiom, with a beta launch scheduled for 19 January using XRP and RLUSD as trading assets. Built on the XRPL EVM Sidechain and supported by infrastructure like Axelar and SquidRouter, the project aims to extend XRPL beyond payments into more diverse, market-driven financial applications.

Solana’s SOL slipped below $145 after failing to hold a brief move above $147, putting focus on the $141–$140 support band. On January 15, U.S. spot Solana ETFs registered $23.57 million in net inflows, while resistance sits near $146–$148 and a break above $148 could target $155 and $162.

Cardano's ADA trades around $0.39 after a 24‑hour drop of just over 3%, with one analyst favoring an ABC wave‑(2) correction while price holds below $0.438. Ali Martinez also notes a cup‑and‑handle with a $0.423 neckline and a $0.517 objective. CME Group expects ADA futures to begin trading on February 9, pending approval.

On January 16, Shiba Inu futures open interest slipped 0.93% in 24 hours but still totaled about 13.07 trillion SHIB, valued near $108.89 million. Over the same period, SHIB price dropped 3.08% to $0.000008182 and trading volume declined to roughly $93.49 million, while Gate.io led the derivatives market with the largest share of positions.

CME Group will launch cash-settled futures for Cardano (ADA), Chainlink (LINK) and Stellar (XLM) on 9 February 2026, pending regulatory review, according to a CME Group statement. The suite includes standard and micro contracts—100,000/10,000 ADA, 5,000/250 LINK, and 250,000/12,500 XLM—expanding regulated tools for exposure and hedging in large-cap altcoins.

On January 16, XRP traded around $2.0462 after a 2% decline day over day. Intraday support is near $2.0530; a break below could prompt a move toward $2.03–$2.04, while a daily close under $2.0450 risks continuation toward the $2 area. Seller momentum was stronger late in the week, according to CoinStats.

Upbit reported that in 2025 XRP became the most actively traded cryptocurrency on its South Korean platform, generating more than $1 trillion in volume and outpacing both Bitcoin and Ethereum. The exchange said XRP reached 13.26 million users, about one in four residents, and at times accounted for up to 22% of daily trading with a single-day peak of $1.22 billion in July 2025, even as its price later retreated and ETFs and on-chain metrics showed mixed signals.