On February 3, 2026, CME Group said January was its strongest on record, with average daily volume up 15% year over year to 29.6M contracts. Metals led with 218% growth, while crypto activity rose 106% driven by Ethereum products; CME also plans to enable 24/7 crypto futures and options trading by the end of Q1 2026.

On February 1, 2026, co‑founder Griff Green said the Ethereum DAO will stake 69,420 ETH into the Beacon Contract, and an update on February 2 noted its reserves were sent via Tornado Cash to underscore privacy. The DAO targets a $220M fund for security research, with deposits facing a queue near 71 days and more than 4M ETH awaiting entry.

On February 2, 2026, Vitalik Buterin described a two-layer structure for future blockchains to improve governance, incentives, and on-chain social media. He differentiated an open, profit-driven market layer from a decentralized, intrinsically motivated base layer that avoids token-based control and collusion. Buterin also revisited creator coin models, highlighting ongoing challenges in content quality and incentives while ETH traded below $2,300 during a market correction.

In January 2026, crypto venture funding activity fell to a five-year low, with only 67 completed fundraising rounds and a largest single raise of $250M. YziLabs led four deals and Coinbase Ventures backed three, while AI, payments, DeFi, and blockchain infrastructure drew most of the capital. Token sales also cooled, as 37 IDO or ICO events raised $116.9M amid weaker demand for new project tokens.

On January 27 2026, silver trading on Hyperliquid's HIP-3 platform drove record daily volumes of $1.79B, while a rapid price reversal from above $120 to around $101 per ounce wiped out leveraged positions. One whale on the XYZ: silver perpetual futures pair reportedly saw over $8.99B liquidated in a single transaction, contributing to a total of $11M in on-chain silver liquidations.

In a recent X post, Vitalik Buterin said the Ethereum Foundation will adopt an austerity approach and that he will take on more responsibilities, allocating 16,384 ETH over the next five years, with part staked. The Foundation retains 172K ETH, and ETH traded at $2,733.58 following a market downturn.

In 2025 and early 2026, the estimated volume of "lost" BTC decreased as long-dormant wallets began to move coins and early holders adjusted their positions. Billions of dollars' worth of BTC that had been idle for years were transferred for reasons ranging from profit-taking and custody changes to privacy and security concerns. On-chain data show more activity from coins held for over a decade, while newer cohorts favor active trading instead of extended holding.

On January 29, 2026, a newly created whale wallet accumulated almost $7M worth of Tether's XAUT tokens transferred out of Bybit's hot wallet. XAUT trading volumes climbed to a one-month high and open interest reached a record level, while the token traded at a slight premium to spot gold amid renewed demand for gold-backed assets.

Updated January 28, 2026, Bybit EU Co-CEO Georg Harer said at a roundtable that tokenization could become the backbone and rails of future financial infrastructure. He also addressed security, noting Bybit survived a $1.5B heist and has strengthened measures under MiCAR while advocating exchange cooperation against fraud.