On 13 January 2026, Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott released an updated Digital Asset Market Clarity Act draft clarifying that usage-based stablecoin rewards do not trigger securities or deposit status. The text permits incentives for payments and network activity, but bars interest for simply holding. The Senate Agriculture Committee postponed broader markup until the final week of January.

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao cautioned that buying meme coins inspired by his tweets is "almost guaranteed" to lose money. His message follows a Jan. 1 incident in which BROCCOLI, named after his dog, was allegedly used in a scheme involving stolen Binance market maker accounts and futures positions. Zhao said he enjoys memes but does not endorse coin launches tied to his posts.

Hedera's HBAR declined 12% over the week as the network prepares a mainnet upgrade to v0.69 on January 21. RSI hovered near 44 and open interest around $55 million, with funding slightly positive, signaling consolidation. Developer activity ranked fourth globally, raising the question of whether the upgrade can improve sentiment.

Dash (DASH) has surged 22%+ in 24 hours to ~$46.64, emerging as the top-performing major privacy coin as capital rotates aggressively into privacy-focused assets at the start of 2026. The move is being driven by a mix of sector rotation, clean technical breakouts, and rising derivatives participation, rather than thin liquidity.

On Jan. 13, Monero (XMR) set a new all-time high at $657 after a 46% seven‑day rally, lifting its valuation to about $12 billion. The combined market capitalization of privacy coins climbed to $21 billion, while XMR outpaced Zcash amid rising development activity and easing social hype even as the broader crypto market slipped 0.6% to $3.12 trillion.

By January 11, 2026, Tom Lee's Ethereum DAT platform Bitmine reported total assets topping $14 billion, including more than 4.16 million ETH and nearly $1 billion in cash. Bitmine now controls 3.45% of the ETH supply and holds over 1.25 million ETH in staking, while planning to launch its own staking business MAVAN with the goal of becoming the largest Ethereum staking operator in 2026.

Monero's XMR decoupled from the wider crypto market and broke above its 2018 peak, entering price discovery. According to CoinGecko, it has moved into the top 15 by market cap after clearing the $542 resistance and advancing past $640, with XMR up 13.2% against Bitcoin in the last 24 hours.

On 12 January, a whale's 1x long in LIT slid into a $1.8 million floating loss, while Lighter's daily revenue printed just $8,450. Futures open interest showed signs of recovery alongside rising volume, and a liquidity cluster sits just above the $2.7 level, which could offer support if price breaks through with momentum.