Washington's bid to create a single regulatory framework for the US crypto market is losing traction as the White House reassesses whether to support a broad market structure bill. Tensions with Coinbase, including public criticism from CEO Brian Armstrong over issues such as stablecoin yields, tokenized equities, data access and SEC authority, have delayed a Senate Banking Committee vote and left the legislation stalled.

On January 17, 2026, major US banks including JPMorgan Chase, Citibank, Bank of America and Wells Fargo detailed new safeguards for Zelle transfers, according to NBC San Diego. Measures range from blocking payments tied to social media contacts to fraud attestations and pop‑up warnings. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau alleges more than $870 million was lost to Zelle scams over seven years.

Metaplanet CEO Simon Gerovich and Bitmine Immersion Technologies Chairman Thomas Lee are publicly backing their firms' Bitcoin and Ethereum holdings as core drivers of future income. In January 2026, Metaplanet bought $632.5 million in BTC under its "555 Million Plan," while Bitmine holds over 4.2 million ETH and targets owning 5% of the total supply. Both companies are building revenue strategies around BTC income tools and ETH staking amid strong ETF inflows and optimistic price projections for 2026.

Binance will remove USDⓈ-M perpetual futures contracts for BIDUSDT, DMCUSDT, ZRCUSDT and TANSSIUSDT on January 21, 2026 at 09:00 UTC, affecting open derivatives positions in these markets. The exchange states that spot trading for the underlying BID, DMC, ZRC and TANSSI tokens will not be directly impacted, while market reaction from major crypto voices has so far remained limited.

On Saturday, Donald Trump announced that imports from eight NATO countries will face a 10% tariff from February 1, rising to 25% by June 1, unless they agree to sell Greenland to the United States. The move targets Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the U.K., the Netherlands, and Finland, and is linked by Trump to their troop deployments in Greenland. European leaders and U.S. senators have pushed back, warning the tariffs risk damaging Western unity and stressing there is no imminent security threat to the island.

Binance will liquidate and delist the USDⓈ-M perpetual contracts for BID, DMC, ZRC and TANSSI on January 21, 2026. Operations end at 09:00 UTC (17:00 UTC+8), trading stops 30 minutes earlier, and users are asked to close positions manually to avoid forced liquidation.

Binance has enabled USD withdrawals via SWIFT, expanding fiat access across more than 70 countries as of January 2026. The service, facilitated by BPay Global licensed in Bahrain, offers direct USD on- and off-ramps to crypto, with early market feedback described as positive and no public comments from regulators.

On January 10, a high-value crypto wallet was compromised through a social engineering scheme, leading to the loss of more than $280 million in digital assets. The attacker rapidly converted large Litecoin and four-figure Bitcoin holdings via instant swaps, privacy coins such as Monero, and cross-chain bridges like THORChain, causing notable market volatility. Investigators have not linked the theft to any state-backed group, and the victim's identity remains undisclosed.