Daily Crypto Briefing – January 26, 2026

The crypto market faces headwinds as Bitcoin hovers near $87,000 amid government shutdown fears and massive ETF outflows, while institutional players continue expanding their digital asset offerings.

Top Stories

BlackRock Files for Bitcoin Income ETF

BlackRock looks to bring yield-generation to Bitcoin investments with iShares Bitcoin Premium Income ETF - The asset management giant filed for a new ETF that would hold bitcoin directly while generating yield from selling IBIT option premiums, marking another institutional push into crypto income products.

$40 Million Government Crypto Theft Allegations

U.S. Marshals investigate claims that son of government contractor stole $40 million of seized crypto - ZachXBT alleges that the son of a federal crypto custody contractor's CEO was behind a multimillion-dollar theft from U.S. government seizure addresses, with the suspect captured on video flaunting the stolen funds.

Bitwise Launches Onchain Vault

Bitwise debuts onchain vault via Morpho, targeting up to 6% yield on USDC - The asset manager joined Morpho as a vault curator, highlighting growing institutional demand for allocating capital onchain with yield-generating strategies.

Massive Crypto Fund Outflows

Bitcoin, Ethereum ETFs Bleed as Crypto Funds Lose $1.73 Billion, Largest Since November - Digital asset investment products saw their largest weekly outflows since November as U.S.-led redemptions intensified amid broader market uncertainty.

Markets

• Bitcoin Pressure: Bitcoin slides near $87,000 as US government shutdown fears weigh on crypto amid rising political uncertainty
• Ethereum Whale Activity: Ethereum whale resurfaces after nine years, moves $145 million in ETH - 50,000 ETH moved after approximately nine years of dormancy
• Gaming Tokens Rally: AXS price pumps 12% as Axie Infinity outpaces gaming sector tokens with WEMIX and Ronin also gaining
• Algorand Bounce: Algorand price bounces on 170% volume surge rising nearly 9% to above $0.12
• Solana Concerns: Solana price prediction: SOL risks drop to $100 despite institutional inflows as technical indicators signal bearish continuation

Regulation

• Senate Hearing Delayed: Senate Agriculture panel delays market structure hearing to Thursday after winter storm - Critical crypto legislation markup postponed due to Washington D.C. snowstorm
• Regulatory Impact: Market structure bill delay seen capping U.S. crypto valuations, Benchmark says - Prolonged regulatory ambiguity could favor bitcoin and institutional players
• Russia Sanctions Exchange: Crypto exchange WhiteBIT flagged by Russia as 'undesirable' over support for Ukraine military - Exchange has donated $11 million to Ukrainian military initiatives

Technology

• Tezos Upgrade: Tezos completes Tallinn upgrade, cutting app storage costs by up to 100x delivering faster block times and stronger validator security
• Microsoft AI Chip: Microsoft rolls out Maia 200 AI chip to reduce reliance on Nvidia as the tech giant looks to cut costs ahead of earnings
• Mining Disruption: Bitcoin hash rate slides during U.S. winter storm while markets shrug off mining disruption highlighting geographic concentration risks

DeFi

• Kraken DeFi Expansion: Kraken rolls out 'DeFi Earn' for onchain yield according to The Block's daily newsletter
• Crypto Card Launch: MEXC and Ether.fi's Crypto Card 'Puts Power in the Hands of Users' - New card offers 4% cashback at 150 million Visa merchants globally
• Security Incident: Matcha Meta sees $16.8 million drained in SwapNet incident according to PeckShield analysis

Companies

• Strategy Bitcoin Purchase: Strategy purchased $264 million in bitcoin last week adding 2,932 BTC to reach 712,647 total holdings
• BitMine Ethereum Accumulation: BitMine, the largest Ethereum treasury firm, makes biggest ether purchase of 2026 adding over 40,000 ETH and staking over 2 million tokens
• Zerohash Funding: Zerohash is in talks to raise $250 million at $1.5 billion valuation after walking away from Mastercard acquisition talks
• ARK ETF Filing: Cathie Wood's ARK Invest files for two crypto index ETFs tied to CoinDesk 20 with one excluding bitcoin

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