On Jan. 9, Tennessee’s Sports Wagering Council directed Polymarket, Kalshi, and Crypto.com’s Nadex to halt sports event contracts, void pending wagers, and refund deposits by Jan. 31, 2026. The letters warned that unlicensed betting could trigger criminal referrals and fines up to $25,000 under state law.

Bitcoin's mining difficulty eased in the first 2026 adjustment, slipping to 146.4 trillion on Thursday. The next recalibration is projected for Jan. 22, 2026 at about 04:08 UTC, with estimates pointing to 148.20T as average block times run at 9.88 minutes. Despite the brief relief, miners' profitability remains thin after 2025's margin squeeze.

Ethereum’s social sentiment has dropped back to levels last seen before its 2025 recovery rally, while its price trades around $3,094 after a 36% pullback from the 2021 peak of $4,878. Analysts highlight depressed mood, strong network growth, and rising staking interest alongside a lingering risk-off environment dominated by Bitcoin as factors that could set up Ethereum’s next significant move.

On Jan. 9, Tether announced a partnership with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to bolster cybersecurity awareness, digital asset safety, and anti-trafficking initiatives across Africa and other emerging regions. The joint programs include youth-focused cybersecurity education in Senegal, funding for anti-trafficking organizations in several African countries, and fraud-prevention initiatives tied to universities in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. The collaboration aims to build safer digital ecosystems as crypto adoption accelerates in developing markets and digital crime risks increase.

According to TRM Labs' forthcoming 2026 Crypto Crime Report, UK-registered exchanges Zedcex and Zedxion operated as a single platform that routed about USD 1 billion, mostly in USDT on TRON, through wallets linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The analysis shows that IRGC-associated activity dominated Zedcex's flows in 2023, 2024, and 2025, including more than USD 10 million in late 2024 reportedly transferred directly to an OFAC-designated Houthi financier without intermediaries. TRM argues this case illustrates how offshore crypto exchanges can become long-term sanctions-evasion infrastructure rather than one-off laundering channels.

BNY Mellon has launched tokenized bank deposits for institutional clients, using an in-house permissioned blockchain to represent onchain cash claims fully backed by the bank. The initiative aims to improve settlement speed, transparency, and liquidity as U.S. regulators in September 2025 outlined plans for around-the-clock capital markets. Positioned alongside similar moves by major banks exploring real-world asset tokenization, the product is initially focused on collateral and margin use cases as part of a broader shift toward always-on finance.

Crypto prices were little changed as Washington awaited a Supreme Court decision in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump that could reset tariff powers under IEEPA. The Harmonized Tariff Schedule now exceeds 4,500 pages, and roughly 100 billion dollars in revenue tied to emergency tariffs may be affected. Traders are cautious as early 2026 begins.

In a new long-term outlook, VanEck projects Bitcoin could climb to $2.9 million per coin by 2050 if it evolves into a key settlement currency and enters central bank reserves. The base case assumes Bitcoin processes 5–10% of international trade, 5% of domestic transactions, and reaches a 2.5% allocation in central bank portfolios, while alternative scenarios range from $130,000 to $52.4 million per coin.

Bernstein's Tuesday research note anticipates a multi-year tokenization "supercycle" beginning in 2026 after a soft end to 2025. The firm reaffirmed Bitcoin targets of $150,000 for 2026 and $200,000 for 2027, and projects stablecoin supply near $420 billion by end-2026, tokenized assets around $80 billion, and prediction market volumes roughly $70 billion.