An inactive Solana whale address has transferred 80,000 SOL, valued at about $10.87 million, from Binance to a private wallet after a year of no activity. The move, tracked by Lookonchain, is being interpreted by market observers as a potential long-term accumulation signal even as SOL trades around $136 and struggles below key support levels.

On 10 January 2026, OKX confirmed it had overhauled its global institutional business, resulting in a notable reduction in staff. People familiar with the matter indicated that around one-third of the institutional sales team left, with estimates of eight to ten layoffs alongside voluntary departures. The exchange says the move follows a strategic review and aims to adopt a more traditional coverage model for institutional clients.

Pi Network released its first update of 2026 this week, introducing a bundled developer library and SDKs designed to let apps add Pi payment functions in under ten minutes. The upgrade supports JavaScript, React, Next.js and Ruby on Rails stacks, aiming to cut integration complexity and reduce developer friction. It comes as the PI token trades far below its $2.98 all‑time high and faces large token unlocks and weak social metrics, alongside relatively low but recently rising trading volumes.

In its latest 2026 Crypto Crime Report, Chainalysis reports that illicit cryptocurrency transactions surged 162% in 2025 to at least $154 billion, driven by sanctioned states and organised criminal networks. The study highlights Iran's IRGC, Russia's ruble-linked A7A5 token, North Korean hackers and Chinese money laundering networks as key actors in this ecosystem. It also notes a sharp rise in physical attacks and kidnappings targeting crypto users, underscoring mounting security risks for the industry.

Tether has announced a new partnership with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to fund cybersecurity education in Senegal, victim support in six African countries, and blockchain awareness initiatives in Papua New Guinea. The collaboration follows an earlier enforcement phase in which Tether froze $3.3 billion across 7,268 wallet addresses between 2023 and 2025, and now shifts toward development-focused efforts aimed at tackling scams, human trafficking, and digital asset fraud.

Bitcoin’s 2026 path is drawing mixed calls from major firms. VanEck, Bitwise, Grayscale, Bernstein, and Coinbase foresee a rebound and a possible new high near $150k, while Fidelity’s Jurrien Timmer points to $65k—with $45k below—as key thresholds. In November 2025, CryptoQuant’s Realized Cap flagged bear‑market risk for the first time since 2023.

On January 10, altcoins captured over 50% of crypto trading volume, compared with Bitcoin at 27% and Ethereum at 23%. High-beta plays including Solana memecoins, Polygon, and Beefy posted strong gains, while January 9 data showed $93.82 million net withdrawals from U.S. spot ETH ETFs, amid mixed momentum for BTC and ETH.

Shiba Inu rallied across Jan. 1–5, 2026, peaking at $0.00001017 on Jan. 5 before momentum faded and four down days followed from Jan. 6, hitting $0.00000846. On Jan. 9, SHIB team member Lucie urged the community to stay resilient. At writing, SHIB was $0.000008658, down 0.8% daily but up 9.58% weekly.