In the first week of the year, XRP jumped from under $1.90 to $2.40 before slipping below $2.10. ChatGPT expects consolidation above $2.00 and beneath $2.30, while Grok warns a close under $2.00 could revisit under $1.90. Perplexity and Gemini see scope to reclaim $2.20–$2.25 and potentially retest the $2.40 peak on January 6.

Several EU states sending troops to Greenland prompted the US president to unveil new tariffs on those countries starting February 1, with a possible hike on June 1. While EU officials called an emergency meeting and US Democrats prepared legislation to counter the measures, Bitcoin's price held steady at just above $95,000 during the weekend. Analysts who reviewed Trump's tariff strategy over 12 months view this as step four in the broader trade confrontation and expect traditional markets to open lower as events unfold. Bitcoin, which previously dropped sharply during the April 2025 trade war, has so far shown greater resilience in the current Greenland-related dispute.

US President Donald Trump has announced new tariffs on Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, and Finland tied to a proposed purchase of Greenland, with rates starting at 10% on February 1, 2026 and rising to 25% on June 1 if no deal is reached. Analysts estimate $1.2 trillion in annual trade could be affected and suggest a Greenland acquisition might cost about $700 billion. Bitcoin, which previously fell from $110,000 to below $75,000 after an earlier tariff wave, is currently trading just above $95,000 with minimal price movement.

Spot XRP ETFs reversed their brief setback: January 7 marked the first daily outflow in nearly two months with more than $40 million withdrawn, and the week still closed with $38.07 million in net inflows. The following week added $56.84 million over five straight positive sessions, while XRP slipped about 1% and traded below $2.10.

Journalist Eleanor Terrett reported on January 17, 2026, that the Trump administration is weighing whether to withdraw backing for the crypto market structure bill if Coinbase does not return to negotiations over stablecoin yield terms. Coinbase and CEO Brian Armstrong have criticized bank-driven changes they say restrict stablecoin rewards and tokenized equities, while critics like Citron Research allege the exchange is undermining the bill to fend off competition. The dispute has coincided with the Senate Banking Committee postponing its planned markup of the bill on January 15 without setting a new date.

On January 10, 2026, an on-chain investigator reported that a hardware wallet social engineering scam led to more than $282 million in BTC and LTC being stolen and routed into Monero via multiple instant exchanges. The attacker also bridged a substantial share of the BTC to Ethereum, Ripple, and Litecoin using THORChain, while Monero's price surged from around $450 to near $800 before later pulling back below $630.

On Wednesday evening, bitcoin peaked at $98,000 before sliding in the past 24 hours to just under $94,500 after a rejection near $97,000. XMR jumped more than 50% toward new highs, and the Senate Banking Committee postponed the crypto market structure bill on Thursday as broader market metrics shifted.

Over the past 24 hours, the crypto market has climbed on rising expectations for further US rate cuts, with Bitcoin touching a two-month high of $96,600 and many altcoins notching notable gains. Pi Network's PI token is also higher in the same period but only by 1.5%, continuing its recent pattern of diverging from broader market moves. Some AI models see only a limited chance of a strong PI breakout unless a major project-specific catalyst emerges.

On January 12, 2026, Michael Saylor said Strategy purchased 13,627 BTC for about $1.25 billion at an average price of ~$91,519. As of January 11, 2026, the firm holds 687,410 BTC acquired for ~$51.80 billion at an average ~$75,353, valuing the stash near $62.3 billion with over $10 billion in unrealized gains at a $90,600 price.