Moody's 2026 Outlook: Stablecoins to Become Core Market Infrastructure, Evolving into "Digital Cash"

On January 8, the Optimism Foundation put forward a proposal to more closely link the OP token to the Superchain’s success. Under the plan, starting this February, 50% of Superchain revenue will go toward repurchasing OP tokens.

On January 8, Ethereum treasury management firm SharpLink announced it has deployed $170 million worth of ETH to Linea, leveraging an enhanced yield strategy. The strategy combines Ethereum’s native yield, EigenCloud restaking rewards, direct incentives from Linea and ether.fi, with all assets held in custody by institutional-grade qualified custodian Anchorage Digital.

**January 8 – CNBC: U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has called on the Federal Reserve to keep cutting interest rates, ramping up pressure on U.S. monetary policymakers.** Yellen stated lower rates are “the only missing ingredient for stronger economic growth — which is why the Fed shouldn’t delay.” She also noted 2026 will see the “payoff” of former President Trump’s “America First” agenda. Per CNBC, Yellen said Trump laid the groundwork for robust growth via last year’s tax cut legislation, trade deals, and deregulatory policies. Yellen is leading the administration’s process to select a successor to Fed Chair Jerome Powell, whose term expires in May. She has repeatedly echoed Trump’s calls for rate cuts. （Note: The original content references Trump’s 2024 tax cut legislation and agenda, aligning with the context provided.）

On January 8, Fitch Ratings lifted its U.S. GDP growth forecasts for 2025 and 2026, incorporating economic data delayed by last year’s government shutdown into its outlook. The agency now projects 2025 GDP growth at 2.1%—up from 1.8% in its December 2025 Global Economic Outlook (GEO). For 2026, the forecast was revised higher to 2.0% from the prior 1.9%. Inflation trends have been hard to parse due to incomplete October data. Fitch estimates December 2025 CPI inflation rose to 3.0% (from 2.7% in November), and expects further increases in 2026—reaching 3.2% by year-end—driven by the delayed impact of tariff pass-through. With slowing job growth offset by declining labor force growth, the 2026 average unemployment rate is seen at 4.6%, near recent levels. The Fed is expected to cut interest rates twice in the first half of 2026, lowering the federal funds rate’s upper limit to 3.25%.

U.S. stock markets opened lower on January 8. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) fell 0.3%, the S&P 500 Index declined 0.05%, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.12%.

Jan 8 — Per HTX market data, the meme coin “Binance Life” briefly surged over 20% earlier, and it’s currently trading at $0.1432. Earlier reports noted that CZ (Changpeng Zhao) stated: “I might name the Chinese edition of my book or memoir ‘Binance Life.’ This has nothing to do with any meme coin or its listing. However, I do appreciate meme culture. The term itself has a ‘stickiness’ for me and is easy to remember.”