London Stock Exchange Group launched its Digital Settlement Hub (LSEG DiSH) on Jan. 15 to enable programmable real-time settlement between independent on-chain and off-chain payment networks, BlockBeats reports. The service uses commercial bank deposits recorded on the DiSH ledger as DiSH Cash, allowing 24/7 instantaneous movement of commercial bank money across multiple currencies and jurisdictions. The platform supports both payment-versus-payment (PVP) and delivery-versus-payment (DVP) models.

South Korea's National Assembly passed amendments to two capital-market laws on Jan. 15, institutionalizing token securities, Yonhap News reports. The changes establish an issuer account management institution system and allow eligible issuers to issue token securities via blockchain.

An and BIG DON posted rapid market-cap spikes on Jan. 15 amid BNB Chain's USD1 trading contest, with An briefly surpassing $30M and now at $45.2M at about $0.045 with a 24-hour gain of about 16%, while BIG DON opened and quickly climbed to $39.9M at about $0.0398, GMGN data show. In USD1 pools on BNB Chain, GMGN observed concentrated buying via batch wallets, noting that An started two days before the event announcement and its top-100 holders account for 11.1%, while many on-chain meme coins typically see the top-100 exceed 50%. GMGN said BIG DON saw more than 90 suspected linked addresses buy within roughly 10 minutes, with additional concentrated purchases during a minor pullback at 6:05, 7:05 and 11:00 this morning; on-chain data show a wallet used CiaoSwap (a batch distribution tool) before concentrated buying, with related addresses including 0xD8b54De07e0eaDc00B760B352AeA59A13d385cbc and 0x6eFFa72a258907399d8DCe258232001A3FA609b9. BlockBeats reports the activity has drawn significant capital as the community expects the winning project could list on top exchanges, an analyst on X alleged the operators behind the two meme coins may be associated with the earlier WLFI project, and BlockBeats cautioned that meme coins are highly volatile, sentiment-driven and have no practical value or use cases.

Polymarket bettors cut the odds of Jerome Powell leaving the Fed by May 30 to 45% from 74%, and by year-end to 62% from 85%, after the DOJ opened a probe on Jan. 15, Polymarket data show. Kevin Warsh, a more hawkish candidate, has overtaken Kevin Hassett in Polymarket odds for next Fed chair.

The address associated with Machi Big Brother Huang Licheng reduced its ETH long position over the past 30 minutes on January 15, Hyperinsight data show. The address now holds 9,620.13 ETH with 25x leverage, with an average entry price of $3,217.71 and an unrealized profit of $1.07 million. It also maintains a long position of 310,000 HYPE with 10x leverage at an average entry of $25.62, with an unrealized loss of $194,000, BlockBeats reports.

The People's Bank of China lowered interest rates on structural monetary policy tools by 0.25 percentage points, reducing the one-year relending rate to 1.25% with other maturities adjusted accordingly, Deputy Governor Zou Lan said at a State Council Information Office briefing on January 15. Zou said the central bank aims to refine these structural instruments and increase support to facilitate economic restructuring. He added room remains for further cuts to the reserve requirement ratio and policy rates, noting the average required reserve ratio for financial institutions stands at 6.3%, the renminbi exchange rate remains relatively stable while the U.S. dollar is in a rate-cut cycle, and that recent reductions in structural policy tool rates will help lower banks' interest expenses, stabilize net interest margins and create space for potential rate cuts as sizeable 3-year and 5-year term deposits mature in 2026.

The U.S. Senate Banking Committee canceled a January 15 markup of the 278-page CLARITY Act after Coinbase withdrew support and industry criticism mounted over amendments allegedly favoring banks and traditional finance, crypto reporter EleanorTerrett reports. Critics say the revised text on stablecoin yields and tokenization tilts the bill toward legacy players, while some Democrats seek ethics restrictions barring senior officials from profiting from crypto projects. Committee Chair Tim Scott said "everyone remains at the negotiating table working in good faith" but gave no new markup date; the Senate reconvenes after Martin Luther King Jr. Day, when the Agriculture Committee will hold a separate delayed hearing.

Binance will adjust its VIP program at 00:00 UTC on Jan. 29, 2026, and launch a zero maker fee promotion for selected FDUSD spot and margin pairs, BlockBeats reports. Standard taker fees will apply to BTC/FDUSD, BNB/FDUSD, DOGE/FDUSD, ETH/FDUSD, LINK/FDUSD, SOL/FDUSD and XRP/FDUSD, while maker fees on these pairs will remain at zero. Trading volumes on the above pairs will be included in all users' maker volume and VIP tier calculations starting at the same time.

A whale opened a 25x leveraged long position on 93.08 BTC at an average entry of $96,391.2 on January 15, Hyperinsight data show. The position is valued at approximately $8.98 million with an unrealized profit of $10,000.