Stocks

Tokenized stocks have grown to a market size of $867 million in under a year, edging toward $1 billion as monthly transfer volume hits $2.3 billion and holders reach 159,000. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong remains optimistic about on-chain equities despite controversy over the Senate's CLARITY Act, while BNB Chain has recently overtaken Solana as the leading settlement layer for these assets.

On January 18, 2026, Donald Trump denied ever offering the Federal Reserve chair role to Jamie Dimon and said Dimon is unfit for the job. He also said he will sue JPMorgan within two weeks over alleged political debanking after January 6, as bank shares slid, with JPMorgan down around 5% over the last week.

On 17 January 2026, Metaplanet CEO Simon Gerovich argued that Bitcoin is largely absent from corporate balance sheets because it rarely reaches board-level discussion. He said it conflicts with standard treasury assumptions on volatility, return predictability, and accounting, and that only a few firms accept perception risk and long-term skepticism to adopt it.

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.

On January 17, 2026, Prime Minister Mark Carney advanced a Canadian auto production bill aimed at countering U.S. tariff pressure and retaining local manufacturing. The plan links a China trade arrangement to a quota of 49,000 EVs at a 6% tariff, includes a C$35,000 price-cap segment, and is set for a February rollout by Industry Minister Melanie Joly.

Global equity markets are trading at elevated valuations, with the MSCI World Index at 20 times forward earnings while Q4 results start to roll in. Investors are relying on strong profit growth from AI leaders, banks, consumer goods firms, and defense contractors to justify last year's rally and avoid renewed volatility. At the same time, shifting tariffs, oil supply threats, and surging defense spending are adding fresh uncertainty across regions.

Strategy chairman Michael Saylor argued on a podcast that corporate Bitcoin purchases are cash allocation choices, not moral missteps. Public disclosures indicate listed companies hold about 1.1 million BTC, with Strategy at 687,410 BTC. Bitcoin traded near $95,250 at the time of writing, within an intraday range of roughly $94,320 to $95,660.

On January 17th, Defiance ETFs said it will liquidate its Nasdaq-listed Ethereum ETF (ETHI) together with seven other leveraged products. ETHI’s last trading day is January 26, 2026, with delisting after market close, and cash redemptions at net asset value set for January 30, 2026.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs booked $1.42 billion in net inflows over the past week, the strongest since early October, with roughly $754 million Tuesday and about $844 million Wednesday, then a $395 million outflow Friday. Ether ETFs were similarly front-loaded, adding approximately $479 million for the week after about $290 million Tuesday, $215 million Wednesday, and roughly $180 million in net outflows Friday.

On 17 January 2026, Goldman Sachs said on its latest earnings call it remains committed to tokenization even as the CLARITY Act’s progress has stalled. The Senate Banking Committee removed the bill from markup, while Coinbase withdrew support over concerns about tokenized equities and stablecoin incentives. Attention is turning to alternative market structure efforts in Congress.