The popular AI framework Virtuals Protocol will host an in-person meet-up in Hong Kong on Friday, January 17.

Jan. 25: Strategy founder Michael Saylor again shared an update on its Bitcoin tracker, stating, “Unstoppable orange.” Per historical patterns, Strategy typically discloses its Bitcoin holdings the day after relevant news breaks. Following its latest Bitcoin purchase last week, as of Jan. 19, 2026, Strategy holds 709,715 Bitcoin total—with a cumulative investment of roughly $53.92 billion and an average entry price of ~$75,979 per coin.

**January 25 – Spot gold climbed another 1.01% intraday Wednesday, trading at $4,986.13 per ounce as of press time and inching toward the historic $5,000-per-ounce threshold, per Bitget market data.** Gold has overtaken U.S. Treasuries to become the world’s largest single reserve asset held by central banks — the first such historic reversal since 1996. Latest figures from the World Gold Council show the total value of non-U.S. central bank gold reserves has approached or topped $4 trillion, slightly exceeding the ~$3.9 trillion in U.S. Treasury bonds held by global central banks. In 2025, gold prices skyrocketed nearly 65% and set new all-time highs more than 50 times. On January 1, 2025, the metal traded at $2,624.27 per ounce, with an annual average of $4,318.53. Since the start of 2026, it has gained roughly 15% in just 25 trading days. Emerging market central banks have been the most active gold buyers, using the metal to hedge against geopolitical risks, U.S. dollar c

On Jan 25, the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced that no political or personal financial ties would influence its review of the bank charter application for WLFI, the Trump family’s crypto project. Anti-crypto Senator Elizabeth Warren had called for halting WLFI’s national trust bank charter application unless the Trump family divested its stake in the firm—a request the OCC rejected. The OCC’s Inspector General Jonathan Gould responded to Warren’s letter, stating, “The OCC intends to fulfill its review responsibilities, rather than accede to your demands.” Crypto firms have long struggled to secure U.S. national trust bank charters, but a breakthrough came last December: the OCC conditionally approved Ripple, Circle, Paxos, BitGo, and Fidelity Digital Assets for transition to federally chartered national trust banks.

On January 25, Token Terminal released data showing stablecoin issuers generated roughly $5 billion in revenue in 2025 by deploying stablecoins on the Ethereum blockchain. Stablecoin supply on Ethereum rose by around $50 billion throughout 2025, topping $180 billion by the fourth quarter (Q4). Issuers’ revenue also climbed, hitting roughly $1.4 billion in Q4 alone. A portion of that revenue comes from returns on the reserve assets backing stablecoin supplies. Ethereum remains the primary issuance platform for most major stablecoin issuers.

**January 25th Update** Per Coinglass data, Coinbase’s Bitcoin Premium Index has stayed in negative territory for 10 straight days, with the discount widening to -0.1573%. Over the past 30 days, the index has been negative for 28 total days. **BlockBeats Note** The Coinbase Bitcoin Premium Index tracks the gap between Bitcoin’s price on Coinbase (a leading U.S. crypto exchange) and the global market average. It’s a key gauge for monitoring U.S. market capital flows, institutional investment interest, and shifts in investor sentiment. - **Positive Premium**: Coinbase price > global average → Signals strong U.S. buying pressure, active entry of institutional/compliant capital, ample USD liquidity, and broadly optimistic sentiment. - **Negative Premium**: Coinbase price < global average → Reflects elevated U.S. selling pressure, reduced investor risk appetite, increased market risk aversion, or capital outflows.

Jan. 25: Per OnchainLens monitoring, a wallet linked to the Pendle team has deposited 1.8 million PENDLE (valued at $3.61 million) into Bybit, following a 3+ year hold. The wallet received the tokens from Pendle’s vesting wallet.