Raw News Items
28 itemsJanuary 17, 2026
- The Block
Stablecoin yield fight threatens to sink CLARITY Act as Coinbase and White House clash
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said the White House told him to go figure out a deal with the banks, or risk losing its support on the bill.
- CointelegraphScore: 90
Spot Bitcoin ETFs attract $1.42B in strongest week since early October
Spot Bitcoin ETFs posted their strongest week since October as institutional investors returned via regulated products, helped by reduced whale selling and tightening effective supply.
- CointelegraphScore: 85
Crypto bank Anchorage Digital eyes $400M raise with IPO in sight: Report
Being the first federally chartered bank, Anchorage is looking to become a leading stablecoin issuer in 2026, with plans to double the size of its stablecoin team this year.
- CointelegraphScore: 85
White House threatens to pull support for crypto bill after Coinbase standoff: Report
Coinbase withdrew support for the CLARITY Act, warning the draft would restrict DeFi, ban tokenized equities and eliminate stablecoin rewards.
- CointelegraphScore: 85
User loses $282M in one of the largest social engineering crypto heists
The crypto user was reportedly deceived by an attacker impersonating Trezor support, tricked into revealing their hardware wallet seed phrase.
- CryptoSlateScore: 85
Kalshi and Polymarket face a “sports gambling” probe that could void your trades and shut down the market
On Jan. 9, Tennessee’s sports betting regulator sent a set of letters that, at first glance, looked like the kind of paperwork most crypto natives scroll past. The message was blunt: stop offering sports-related event contracts to Tennessee residents, void unsettled positions, and refund customers b...
- CryptoSlateScore: 85
Why writing open-source code is suddenly an existential risk, and the five-page bill designed to fix it
Two senators have introduced a short bill with an unusually big ambition: to stop US law from treating people who write and publish blockchain software as if they were running a shadow payments company. The proposal, titled the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act of 2026, aims to clarify that “non-c...
- The BlockScore: 85
China-led cross-border CBDC platform mBridge surges past $55 billion in transaction volume: Reuters
China's digital yuan accounts for approximately 95% of settlement volume on the platform, which includes central banks from elsewhere in Asia.
- CryptoSlateScore: 75
XRP volume is exploding in Korea because it exploits a specific gap in the country’s spot-only exchange laws
XRP has become the default trading chip of South Korea, bypassing Bitcoin and Ethereum to dominate the country’s high-velocity retail market. While institutional capital worldwide typically gravitates toward Bitcoin as a store of value, South Korean trading patterns tell a different story. Data from...
- CoinDeskScore: 75
Crypto trading platform with CZ as advisor sees sudden $2 billion volume surge on 'airdrop' hype
Users are actively trading in hopes of qualifying for future perks, with the platform hinting at an airdrop in 2026 and receiving a multi-8-figure investment from YZi Labs.
- CointelegraphScore: 75
'Obscure' laws stall Bitcoin reserve: White House Crypto Council director
The bill is still a "priority," White House Crypto Council Director Patrick Witt said, but interagency legalities remain a challenge.
- CoinDeskScore: 70
What comes next: State of Crypto
The crypto market structure bill isn't dead, but it took a blow.
- CointelegraphScore: 70
DOJ didn't sell Bitcoin forfeited from Samourai case: White House advisor
Selling the Bitcoin would have violated President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14233, which mandates that any Bitcoin obtained through criminal or civil forfeiture “shall not be sold.”
- CryptoSlateScore: 65
Bitcoin difficulty just retreated, but a more critical “survival metric” signals the mining sector is bleeding out
Bitcoin’s first difficulty adjustment of 2026 was anything but dramatic. The network nudged the dial down to about 146.4 trillion, a pretty small retreat after the late-2025 grind higher. Graph showing Bitcoin's mining difficulty from Oct. 14, 2025, to Jan. 14, 2026 (Source: CoinWarz) But small isn'...
- CointelegraphScore: 60
ETH price hits $3.4K, but pro traders are not bullish yet: Here’s why
ETH price cooled down from its recent rally as US macroeconomic factors, reduced DApps activity and falling fees impact traders’ use of Ether derivatives.
- CoinDeskScore: 60
Two solo bitcoin miners hit rare $300,000 jackpots in the same week
Two independent miners mined full blocks and collected roughly 3.15 BTC each, an uncommon outcome in a network dominated by large pools.
- CointelegraphScore: 60
Three reasons why Bitcoin's 'real breakout' toward $107K has begun
Bitcoin entered a decisive breakout phase, targeting $107,000 as long-term holder selling fades and BTC continues to leave exchanges, tightening supply.
- CoinDeskScore: 60
Coinbase refutes rumors of White House's threat to pull support for crypto bill
"The White House has been super constructive here," said CEO Brian Armstrong.
- CointelegraphScore: 60
Coinbase CEO denies White House clash, says negotiations are ongoing
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said the industry is working on several ideas to help community banks in the CLARITY market structure bill.
- CointelegraphScore: 55
Sacrificing Ethereum’s values for mainstream adoption must stop now: Buterin
Vitalik Buterin wants improved private payments, easier running of full nodes, decentralized apps that don’t rely on centralized services, and more on-chain privacy.
- CoinDeskScore: 50
Popular Burger joint Steak ’n Shake buys $10 million bitcoin
The company says that accepting bitcoin payments has led to a "self-reinforcing cycle" where crypto revenue helps fund upgrades and improvements.
- CoinDeskScore: 40
Elon Musk once backed a $10 billion OpenAI ICO, internal notes show
Internal OpenAI call notes show Elon Musk agreed to explore an ICO with a for-profit arm in early 2018, but later dropped the idea and exited the organization.
- CoinDeskScore: 40
Lack of liquidity is a growing concern in crypto, says Auros' Jason Atkins
Ahead of Consensus Hong Kong, Auros’ Jason Atkins says market depth, not hype, will determine crypto’s next phase.
- CointelegraphScore: 40
Steak 'n Shake announces $10M notional increase on Bitcoin holdings
The company began accepting Bitcoin as a method of payment in May 2025, following hundreds of store closures between 2018 and 2025.
- CoinDeskScore: 30
Why tokenized stocks, funds and gold will have a breakout year in 2026
After stablecoins proved product-market fit, crypto founders and executives say 2026 is when banks and asset managers will push tokenized assets into mainstream markets.
- CoinDeskScore: 30
Cathie Wood calls bitcoin 'good source of diversification' for investors seeking higher returns
Ark's data shows bitcoin has weak price correlations with stocks, bonds, and gold, making it potentially attractive for risk-adjusted portfolio management.
- CryptoSlateScore: 30
Bitcoin’s next major move hinges on a $63 billion “fallen angel” signal that most investors are completely ignoring
Corporate credit quality is deteriorating beneath a surface that looks deceptively calm. JPMorgan tallied roughly $55 billion in US corporate bonds that slid from investment-grade to junk status in 2025, the so-called “fallen angels.” At the same time, only $10 billion returned to invest...
- DecryptScore: 20
AI Utopianism Masks Tech Billionaires’ Fear: Douglas Rushkoff
Economists and technologists say AI hype obscures displacement, infrastructure costs, and uneven gains.