Hong Kong plans to grant its initial batch of stablecoin licences by March 2026 after the Hong Kong Stablecoin Ordinance came into force on August 1, 2025. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is reviewing 36 applications, with officials stressing stringent standards on risk management, reserves and use cases under a "proactive yet prudent" regulatory stance.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has challenged Wall Street over the Cryptocurrency Market Structure Clarity Act, arguing that limits on stablecoin yields could alter competition and shift bank funding. He highlighted the risk around $6.6 trillion in deposits and received support from Stripe CEO Patrick Collison. The debate also draws on prior proposals that allowed stablecoin issuance while blocking direct interest to users.

Step Finance has disclosed that its treasury and fee wallets were compromised, leading to the unstaking and transfer of 261,854 SOL tokens valued at about $30 million. The protocol says it has begun an investigation, alerted authorities, and engaged cybersecurity firms, while stressing that user funds were not impacted. Following the incident, the STEP token price plunged sharply and Solana’s market performance weakened over the past day and week.

On February 6, Hyperliquid will unlock about 9.92 million HYPE tokens, equal to 2.79% of its supply and valued near $305 million, while Berachain will release 41.7% of its circulating tokens. These large unlock events could influence market liquidity, price volatility, and investor sentiment around both projects.

Norway's sovereign wealth fund lifted its indirect exposure to Bitcoin by 149%, reaching 9,573 BTC by 2025 through positions in publicly traded companies. The fund does not hold Bitcoin directly, relying instead on stakes in firms such as MicroStrategy, Coinbase, MARA, and Block. A rise of this scale likely reflects portfolio construction choices rather than a direct bet on BTC.

Unverified rumors claim Binance will list an INXUSDT perpetual futures contract with up to 50x leverage on January 31, 2026, using Infinex (INX) as the underlying asset. INX is currently only listed for spot trading on KuCoin, with a fully diluted market cap of $172,005.84 and a 172.53% price rise over the last 60 days but zero daily trading volume. Market participants remain cautious and say they are waiting for formal confirmation before acting on the speculative futures claims.

On January 29, 2026, President Donald Trump and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer met in Washington to head off a U.S. government shutdown before the January 31 deadline. According to Polymarket, bettors now assign a 40% chance of a shutdown. Discussions reportedly center on separating Department of Homeland Security funding and considering short‑term appropriations to maintain operations.

Binance plans to automatically liquidate and delist the 42USDT, COMMONUSDT, CUDISUSDT, and EPTUSDT USDT-margined perpetual futures contracts on January 30, 2026. The change targets low-liquidity products and affects only derivatives trading, while spot markets for the underlying tokens remain available to users.

On January 30, Hong Kong's Legislative Council Finance Committee will brief lawmakers on proposals for a Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework. Public comments remain open until February 6, 2026, and the plan targets an automatic exchange of crypto tax information by 2028 to align with OECD standards and strengthen cross-border transparency.