Bitcoin returned to $95,000; in the US, the Clarity Act review was postponed; New York’s former mayor launched a scam token; Belarus signed a law on crypto banks—and other events of the week.
Bitcoin’s recovery
The past seven days were favourable for bitcoin and the wider crypto market.
The rally began on Monday as the digital gold bounced off $90,000. On Tuesday the coin surpassed $95,000 for the first time since November 2025.
By Wednesday the rally reached a local peak, stopping just short of $98,000. In the second half of the week bitcoin slipped into a mild correction, pulling back to $95,000 (+5% in seven days).
After weeks of listless trading, the leading cryptocurrency joined the advance in risk assets and precious metals. Analysts at QCP Capital said bitcoin had long lagged gold and equities, but the break above $95,000—resistance since November—changed the picture.
They reckon the current price already discounts key macroeconomic risks, from developments in Venezuela and Iran to tariff policy in the US. They also suggested a rotation of capital into digital assets amid the depreciation of fiat currencies.
The rest of the crypto market kept pace. Ethereum exceeded $3,300 (+7% on the week).
Most top-10 crypto assets by market value also ended in the green. TRX added 6%, and SOL 4.5%.
In parallel, the crypto Fear and Greed Index jumped. Over the week the gauge rose from 29 to 50, pointing to “greed” for the first time since October.
Crypto-ETF flows also stabilised. Bitcoin-based spot funds took in $1.42bn, and Ethereum funds $479m.
Total crypto market capitalisation stands at $3.3trn. BTC dominance is 57.4%, ETH 12.1%.
Clarity Act delayed
On January 15, the US Senate Banking Committee postponed consideration of the Clarity Act on crypto market structure. Officials said the bill needs further alignment with industry stakeholders.
Coinbase did not back the latest draft, citing “too many issues” including restrictions on tokenised-stock operations and exchanges paying rewards to stablecoin holders.
“It seemed extremely unfair to me that one industry [banks] came in and got the ability to seize control over regulators by banning competition,” said the company’s CEO Brian Armstrong in an interview with FOX News.
Later, journalist Eleanor Terrett reported that the company’s stance sparked “rage” in President Donald Trump’s administration. According to her, the White House threatened to withdraw its support for the bill unless Coinbase resumed talks.
After the rumours spread, Armstrong posted a rebuttal. He said the administration is not considering backing away from the Clarity Act.
“The White House has been exceptionally constructive here. They asked us to try to reach an agreement with the banks, which we are working on now,” the executive added.
Meanwhile David Sacks, Trump’s lead on crypto, urged the industry to use the delay to “resolve any remaining disagreements.” He added that “market-structure legislation remains closer than ever to completion.”
What to discuss with friends?
- US lawmakers defended DeFi developers.
- Interactive Brokers added support for USDC deposits via Solana and Base.
- Bank of America’s chief suggested $6trn could flee banks into stablecoins.
- AI agent and medic: Anthropic released new versions of Claude.
New York’s scam token
On January 12, during a Times Square conference, former New York mayor Eric Adams announced the NYC Token meme coin on Solana.
The coin’s stated aim was to fight “anti-Americanism” and antisemitism. The politician promised to direct all proceeds to a non-profit.
About 30 minutes after launch, however, the token’s price plunged from $0.47 to $0.10.
Bubblemaps analysts pointed to suspicious activity. A wallet linked to Adams profited by $1m through manipulations with the meme coin’s liquidity pool.
According to the analysis, an address affiliated with the coin’s creator sent 80m NYC to an account that provided them as liquidity on the Meteora decentralised exchange. It then withdrew $2.5m in USDC at the price peak, returning only $1.5m after a 60% drop.
Bubblemaps also noted that the wallet linked to the coin’s deployment opened several single-sided liquidity pools on Meteora.
The scheme has already been compared to the launch of the LIBRA token, which Argentina’s president Javier Milei promoted on his social networks.
After the scandal, representatives of the former New York mayor said he did not profit from the token. They said NYC has no relation to the city administration or other authorities. It remains unclear who is behind the launch.
“To be absolutely clear: Eric Adams did not move investor funds. He also did not profit from the release of NYC Token,” the statement said.
Belarusian crypto banking
On January 16, Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko signed the law “On crypto banks and certain issues of oversight in the sphere of digital signs (tokens).”
Under the law, a crypto bank is a joint-stock company resident in the High-Tech Park (HTP) and included in a special National Bank register. Such organisations will be able to conduct token operations alongside classical banking and financial services.
Two bodies will regulate these institutions: the central bank and the HTP.
“Dual regulation will allow a crypto bank to offer clients innovative financial products that combine the advantages of classical banking operations with the technological sophistication, speed and convenience of operations with digital signs (tokens),” the presidential website says.
Crypto banks must meet requirements applied to non-bank credit and financial organisations, including capital adequacy, risk management, AML/CFT, and consumer protection.
Also on ForkLog:
- Expert: 80% of Venezuela’s oil revenue flows into USDT.
- The crypto cards market grew 1,400% in two years to $18bn.
- Google unveiled a new standard for automating AI purchases.
- A change in X’s API policy crashed the KAITO token.
An influx of new users to Ethereum
On January 15, the number of daily active addresses on the Ethereum network topped 1m—more than double last year’s 410,000.
A new peak in daily transactions of 2.8m was recorded in parallel, up 125% year on year.
The positive trend is linked to lower transaction costs and increased use of stablecoins. Glassnode researchers also observed a twofold rise in the Ethereum network’s activity-retention metric.
The number of addresses interacting with the blockchain for the first time in the past 30 days jumped from 4m to 8m.
In addition, the amount reached record levels in Ethereum staking.
As of January 16, 35.8m ETH—29.57% of the circulating supply—was locked on Beacon Chain. The number of active validators stood at 976,117.
The exit queue has almost cleared. At the time of writing, 128 ETH is awaiting withdrawal.
The main drivers were large players and exchange-traded product issuers:
- BitMine. The firm led by Tom Lee owns 4.07m ETH (3.36% of total supply). Over the past week the company doubled the amount staked to 1.53m ETH.
- ETF. Grayscale began distributing staking rewards to its fund investors. Morgan Stanley filed for a spot Ethereum ETF with staking. This confirms asset managers’ interest in blockchain-based passive income.
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