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Ripple President Monica Long believes that around half of Fortune 500 companies will adopt formal crypto or digital asset treasury strategies in 2026. She pointed to stablecoins, tokenized assets, and custody services as the main areas where adoption will accelerate.

According to Long, crypto is no longer viewed mainly as a speculative trading tool. Instead, large companies are starting to see it as financial infrastructure that can support everyday business operations.

From Experiments to Real-World Use

Long shared her views in a series of posts on X on January 20, along with a longer article published on Ripple’s website. She said banks and corporations are moving beyond small pilot programs and beginning to use crypto in live production environments.

Stablecoins are playing a key role in this shift, especially for payments and settlement. Companies are embedding them into payment systems to achieve faster transactions and more efficient liquidity management. Long highlighted growing participation from firms like Visa and Stripe, which have already integrated stablecoins into parts of their networks.

She also pointed to clearer regulation in the United States as a major driver of adoption, including the passage of the GENIUS Act, which provides guidance for dollar-backed digital assets. Ripple itself is expanding in this area with Ripple USD and has received conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish a national trust bank.

Crypto’s Expanding Role in Corporate Treasuries

Long said corporate crypto exposure is no longer limited to holding Bitcoin. She expects companies to increasingly hold stablecoins, tokenized government treasuries, and other on-chain assets as part of structured treasury strategies.

Supporting this trend, a Coinbase survey from 2025 found that 60 percent of Fortune 500 companies were already exploring blockchain initiatives, while more than 200 publicly listed firms held Bitcoin by the end of last year.

ETFs, Custody, and Industry Consolidation

Long’s comments come as institutional access to crypto continues to expand through exchange-traded funds. Ethereum and Solana ETFs recorded record trading volumes in early January 2026, suggesting sustained institutional interest rather than short-term speculation.

Asset managers are also broadening their offerings. Bitwise filed for 11 single-asset altcoin ETFs at the end of 2025, covering DeFi tokens, layer-one networks, and AI-related projects. Long said ETFs may represent only a small part of the market, but they provide a familiar entry point for institutions.

She also emphasized the growing importance of custody services. Crypto mergers and acquisitions reached $8.6 billion in 2025, with custody emerging as a key focus as banks seek to diversify risk. Long expects more than half of the world’s top 50 banks to establish new custody partnerships in 2026.

She added that blockchain systems will increasingly integrate with automation tools, allowing treasuries and asset managers to manage liquidity and collateral in real time. While her outlook remains a projection, it reflects a broader belief across the industry that institutional adoption is now driving the next phase of crypto’s evolution.

After Bitwise rolled out its new Chainlink exchange-traded product (ETP), Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan suggested that many investors fail to recognize the true importance of the asset, despite its widespread use across stablecoins, decentralized finance (DeFi), tokenization, and institutional crypto infrastructure.

Hougan has described Chainlink as one of the “most misunderstood yet most critical and potentially most undervalued assets in the crypto market.” His remarks came shortly after the low-profile launch of Bitwise’s Chainlink ETP.

Beyond Stablecoins and DeFi

In a recent memo, Hougan noted that while the Chainlink ETP launched with healthy liquidity and narrow spreads, it did not generate the same enthusiasm seen with Bitcoin-focused products. He attributed this muted response to a lack of understanding of Chainlink’s role within the broader crypto ecosystem.

Although Chainlink is currently the 11th-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, valued at close to $10 billion, Hougan argued that it does not fit neatly into the simple narratives often assigned to other major digital assets such as Bitcoin as digital gold or Ethereum as a smart contract network.

Labeling Chainlink solely as a “data oracle,” he said, significantly undersells its capabilities. While oracles are commonly defined as tools that deliver external data like price feeds or real-world events to blockchains, Hougan believes this definition overlooks how much the platform has evolved.

He instead described Chainlink as a rapidly growing software platform designed to address a fundamental limitation of blockchains: their inability to easily communicate with each other and with off-chain systems. According to Hougan, Chainlink has captured dominant market share often between 50% and nearly 100% across several key blockchain infrastructure services.

He added that many of the fastest-expanding and most institutionally relevant segments of the crypto industry depend heavily on Chainlink’s technology. Stablecoins rely on it for price data, cross-chain transfers, and proof-of-reserves. Tokenization projects use it for valuation, asset servicing, and compliance functions. DeFi platforms and prediction markets also depend on Chainlink to operate effectively.

Hougan highlighted the project’s adoption by major global institutions, including DTCC, SWIFT, JPMorgan, BNP Paribas, Visa, Mastercard, Euroclear, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, FTSE Russell, Coinbase, Aave, Deutsche Börse, and Polymarket.

Looking ahead, he expects institutional demand for Chainlink ETPs to increase as more financial assets migrate on-chain.

LINK’s Recent Price Action

From a market perspective, LINK has experienced heightened volatility in recent weeks. After moving sideways toward the end of December, the token surged in early January, briefly surpassing $14 before losing steam. A subsequent pullback erased part of those gains, with prices recently drifting back toward the $12.30 range.

At the same time, data from blockchain analytics firm Santiment shows that large Chainlink holders have resumed accumulating LINK as prices dipped below $13. Wallets among the top 100 holders increased their positions during the decline, while smaller retail investors appeared to be selling amid fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD).

Santiment noted that this pattern is typical during market downturns, as larger investors often accumulate assets during price weakness in anticipation of a potential rebound.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said he intends to move away from centralized social media platforms by 2026, revealing that he already relies on Firefly a multi-client tool that lets users post across X, Lens, Farcaster, and Bluesky.

In a recent post on X, Buterin said strong communication systems are essential for a healthy society, but argued that today’s dominant platforms are designed to maximize short-term engagement rather than serve users’ long-term interests. He added that these systems often fail to elevate high-quality information, meaningful debate, or shared understanding.

While acknowledging that there is no single solution, Buterin said increased competition is a crucial starting point something decentralization can help unlock. He explained that decentralized social networks can share a common data layer, allowing anyone to build a client without trapping users inside a single platform.

Shift Toward Decentralized Social

Buterin said he returned to decentralized social platforms earlier this year and noted that all of his reading and posting in 2026 has been done through Firefly, which aggregates multiple social networks into one interface.

He also criticized the direction taken by many crypto-powered social media projects, arguing that the industry has often treated speculative tokens as innovation. Although he said combining money and social platforms is not inherently problematic pointing to Substack as a working example he said most crypto social experiments have focused on inflating creator tokens rather than improving content quality.

According to Buterin, these efforts have repeatedly failed over the past decade by rewarding existing influence instead of valuable contributions, with many associated tokens losing most of their value within one or two years. He also dismissed claims that creating new markets is automatically beneficial because it “elicits information,” saying such arguments are often contradicted by product designs that do little to help users act on that information.

Buterin stressed that decentralized social platforms should be developed by teams focused on solving real social issues and improving online interaction not on financial speculation.

256 ETH Donated to Privacy Tools

In November, Buterin donated 256 ETH to support privacy-focused messaging projects, splitting the funds equally between Session and SimpleX, both of which are building end to end encrypted communication tools.

He said private messaging is critical to digital privacy and highlighted permissionless account creation and metadata protection as areas that still require significant improvement. While acknowledging the platforms are still evolving, Buterin encouraged more developers to help tackle the remaining technical challenges.

Bitcoin climbed back above the $90,000 mark after US President Donald Trump said the United States would not resort to military force regarding Greenland. Despite the recovery, trade tensions between the US and the European Union continue, with tariff threats still in play.

Trump made the remarks during a highly anticipated speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he addressed several major topics, including Greenland and cryptocurrency-related issues. Financial markets reacted positively, with Bitcoin and broader assets rallying during and after the event, rebounding from recent losses and pushing BTC past $90,000.

Analysts at The Kobeissi Letter explained that Trump’s tariff threats often follow a 12-stage pattern. They believe the current standoff between the US and the EU is at stage seven, a point at which dip buyers typically enter and spark a relief rally that often fades before another downturn. This pattern may explain Bitcoin’s latest price action, as the asset surged above $90,000 after falling below $88,000 earlier in the day. The analysts also noted that institutional investors usually begin accumulating positions between stages seven and eight.

During his speech, Trump reiterated his belief that the US should maintain the lowest interest rates globally, calling on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to cut rates as soon as next week.

Regarding cryptocurrency regulation, Trump emphasized that the US must remain the world’s leading digital asset hub and said he hopes the controversial crypto bill debated last week will be signed into law soon.

While Trump ruled out the use of force over Greenland, the European Union appears to be taking a firm stance. Reports indicate the bloc has paused work on a trade agreement with the US following Trump’s latest comments.

The early 2026 crypto rally has been wiped out in just a few days, with Bitcoin (BTC) tumbling below $88,000 to hit a 19-day low. Altcoins have also been hammered, with XMR and HYPE among the worst performers in the past 24 hours.

Bitcoin Slides Under $90K

Just a week ago, BTC briefly reached $98,000, fueling optimism about a potential $100K milestone. The price held above $95,000 for several days, even amid escalating tensions between the U.S. and EU. That stability vanished Monday morning as Asian and futures markets opened.

BTC fell from $95,500 to $92,000, briefly rebounded to $93,500, then dropped to $91,000 on Tuesday. Over the past 12 hours, it sank further below $88,000, its lowest since January 2. It has since recovered slightly to above $89,000, down 2% on the day and 6% weekly, with a market cap of $1.78 trillion and a dominance of 57.5%.

Altcoins Face Heavy Losses

Ethereum slipped from above $3,300 to below $3,000, XRP dropped from $2.10 to $1.90, and BNB fell under $900. TRX is down 3% daily.

Monero (XMR) was the hardest hit, plunging 15% to below $500, while HYPE fell 8% to $21. Only a few coins bucked the trend, with CC up 7% and WLFI up 5%.

The total crypto market capitalization has now fallen below $3.1 trillion, erasing more than $250 billion since Monday.

Bitcoin’s price fell sharply from $95,500 to $87,500 over the past 48 hours, wiping out more than $10,000 since reaching a multi-month high of $98,000 last week. The sell-off has been fueled by rising geopolitical tensions between major allies, alongside a surge in long-dated Japanese government bond yields, which are weighing on risk assets.

While retail investors are exiting, data from Santiment shows smaller wallets holding under 0.01 BTC sold roughly 132 BTC over the past nine days, representing about 0.28% of their total holdings. In contrast, large investors commonly called whales and sharks have been buying, accumulating 36,322 BTC, worth around $3.2 billion at current prices.

A significant portion of this accumulation may come from Michael Saylor’s Strategy, which reportedly purchased 22,305 BTC in the previous week alone, reinforcing the trend of corporate and institutional buying.

Meanwhile, traditional safe-haven assets continue to thrive. Gold hit a fresh all-time high near $4,900/oz, while silver approached $100, signaling that investors are shifting toward defensive plays amid market uncertainty.

Layer-1 blockchain Injective is stepping up efforts to make its native token, INJ, more deflationary. Following overwhelming community approval of IIP-617 (INJ Supply Squeeze) with 99.89% support, the Injective team unveiled a new mechanism designed to complement its existing deflationary tools, including the Community BuyBack program.

What the INJ Supply Squeeze Does

Since its 2021 mainnet launch, Injective has actively pursued strategies to reduce INJ’s circulating supply and strengthen its tokenomics. Early on, the network implemented regular token burns, and in October 2025, it introduced a Community BuyBack mechanism. Together, these measures have permanently removed 6.85 million INJ from circulation.

The INJ Supply Squeeze aims to further increase the rate at which INJ is withdrawn from circulation, working alongside buybacks to enhance scarcity. Injective describes this move as a step toward a “structurally enhanced deflationary model,” reinforcing the token’s long-term value proposition.

Potential Impact on INJ’s Price

Co-founder Eric Chen emphasized the strategic importance of the initiative:

“The INJ Supply Squeeze, led by the Injective community, represents a decisive evolution in our monetary design. By accelerating deflation and pairing it with systematic buybacks, Injective is reinforcing INJ’s scarcity and positioning it as a long-term deflationary asset aligned with ecosystem growth.”

While most deflationary crypto models aim to increase token value by reducing supply, INJ has yet to see a significant price surge, currently trading around $4.64. However, developments in other areas such as staked ETFs could drive future price growth.

The crypto sell-off accelerated over the past 24 hours, erasing early 2026 gains amid rising geopolitical tensions, which have hit the crypto sector harder than most financial markets.

Investors Pull Back from XRP ETFs

Investor caution is now evident in U.S. ETF flows. XRP-focused ETFs, which began launching just over two months ago, saw strong demand initially Canary Capital’s XRPC even set a record for trading volume on its debut day in 2025. After minor losses on January 7, the funds enjoyed a green streak from January 8 to January 16.

That trend reversed sharply on Tuesday, the first U.S. trading day after escalating tensions between the U.S. and EU over the weekend. Data from SoSoValue shows investors withdrew $53.32 million, marking the largest net outflow for these funds. Cumulative net inflows fell from $1.28 billion to $1.22 billion in a single session, wiping out nearly all gains from the previous week.

XRP Price Declines

The outflows intensified XRP’s bearish momentum. After peaking at just over $2.40 on January 6 a roughly 30% gain in a few days the asset quickly fell below its $2.00 support on Monday and even touched $1.84 on some exchanges. It now struggles to stay above $1.90 after dipping to $1.86 during overnight trading. Analysts note that the broader market trend, particularly Bitcoin’s performance, continues to dominate XRP’s movements.

Cryptocurrency markets have erased all gains made this year as Bitcoin plunged amid rising fears over trade tensions and instability in Japan’s bond market.

Total crypto market capitalization dropped 4% on the day, with more than $200 billion wiped out since the weekend. Bitcoin led the downturn, briefly falling below $88,000 during early Asian trading on Wednesday. Selling pressure appears to have intensified as U.S. markets came online.

BTC is now down roughly 10% over the past week, retreating toward key support levels. Despite the sharp decline, the broader trend shows Bitcoin still trading within a two-month consolidation range.

Heightened volatility had been anticipated following Monday’s U.S. market holiday, as investors reacted to President Trump’s latest tariff threats targeting Europe.

“The crypto market sell-off on January 21 was driven by a broad risk-off move triggered by President Trump’s renewed 10–25% tariff threats against European and NATO countries over the Greenland dispute, compounded by a sharp sell-off in Japanese government bonds,” said Andri Fauzan Adziima, research lead at Bitrue.

Trade Tensions, Japanese Bonds, and Global Risk-Off

Trade war concerns were not the sole driver of today’s market turmoil.

“A significant portion of the volatility is coming out of Japan,” said Liz Thomas, Head of Investment Strategy at SoFi. Ole Hansen, Head of Commodity Strategy at Saxo Bank, added that the surge in long-dated Japanese government bond yields suggests a weakening of one of the world’s most dependable liquidity anchors, with global repercussions.

As global liquidity tightens, risk-sensitive assets such as cryptocurrencies and technology stocks tend to suffer first, while safe-haven assets like gold and commodities attract inflows.

According to MN Fund founder Michaël van de Poppe, continued strength in gold signals “maximum panic” as investors rotate aggressively into defensive assets.

Broader Crypto Market Takes a Hit

The sell-off extended across the wider crypto market. Ether dropped 7%, falling below $3,000 to around $2,925, revisiting levels last seen in December.

Binance Coin, Monero, and Hyperliquid also posted notable losses, while most altcoins declined between 3% and 4%. Canton (CC) stood out as an exception, gaining 12% on the day.

Overall crypto market capitalization fell toward the lower end of its consolidation range at approximately $3.08 trillion. Holding this level will be critical to avoiding a deeper breakdown that could usher in a prolonged crypto bear market.

Major financial institutions are increasingly turning to Ethereum to issue tokenized stocks, money market funds, stablecoins, and bank deposits.

Over the past few months, 35 leading global firms including BlackRock, JPMorgan, and Fidelity have launched new products and services directly on the Ethereum blockchain. According to a recent thread shared by Ethereum’s official social media account, these initiatives reflect a sharp rise in institutional adoption of tokenized real-world assets (RWAs).

This momentum underscores Ethereum’s growing position as a core settlement layer for global finance, extending its use beyond speculative crypto activity into traditional assets such as equities, bonds, and large-scale payment systems.

Institutions Advance Tokenization on Public Blockchains

On January 19, the Ethereum account highlighted accelerating institutional participation, pointing to a wide range of launches covering tokenized equities, money market funds, stablecoins, and on-chain bank deposits.

Crypto exchange Kraken introduced xStocks, enabling eligible users to trade fully collateralized U.S. equities on-chain. Ondo Finance also unveiled a platform offering over 100 tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs, each backed by real underlying assets.

Asset managers have followed suit. Fidelity rolled out its tokenized money market fund, FDIT, on Ethereum, while China Asset Management’s Hong Kong subsidiary launched a tokenized U.S. dollar money market fund one of the first such offerings from a major Chinese firm. In Europe, Amundi debuted a tokenized share class of its euro-denominated money market fund on Ethereum’s main network.

Banks have expanded their blockchain strategies as well. JPMorgan transitioned its JPM Coin deposit token from a private blockchain to Base, an Ethereum Layer 2 network, and later introduced its first tokenized money market fund on Ethereum with an initial $100 million investment. Societe Generale FORGE also deployed euro- and dollar-based lending and trading products across Ethereum-powered DeFi protocols.

Payment companies and fintech firms are participating too. Stripe broadened its stablecoin subscription services using USDC on Ethereum, while SoFi launched SoFiUSD, becoming the first U.S. national retail bank to issue a stablecoin on a public blockchain. Google further added momentum by announcing a stablecoin-based agent payments protocol on Ethereum, developed in collaboration with the Ethereum Foundation and Coinbase.

Rising Activity Sparks Debate Over Ethereum’s Design

This institutional surge has coincided with increased on-chain activity. Ethereum staking surpassed 30% of total supply this month, with roughly 36.2 million ETH locked, according to Ultrasound Money. Wallet creation also reached a new high, with nearly 394,000 new addresses registered in a single day on January 11.

However, concerns about growing complexity remain. On January 18, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin cautioned that increasing protocol complexity could threaten long-term security and self-sovereignty, urging developers to focus on simplicity and resilience.

Overall, the latest wave of institutional launches highlights Ethereum and its Layer 2 networks as key testing environments for regulated, tokenized finance spanning funds, equities, payments, and settlement even as discussions around governance and protocol design continue.