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

On January 28, analyst Ali Charts noted that the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will convene its first interest rate meeting of 2026. Market expectations for a January rate cut stand at just 2.8%, signaling low odds of near-term policy easing. Looking at 2025 data, Bitcoin saw a significant pullback following seven of the eight FOMC meetings—only posting a brief uptrend once. The crypto dropped 9% in the wake of the committee’s final 2025 meeting. The analysis highlights that FOMC rate decision weeks typically bring high volatility and downside risks for Bitcoin. Even if markets stay optimistic ahead of the meeting on rate cut hopes, post-announcement reactions are mostly bearish. Investors should exercise caution in managing their positions.

On January 28, Moonbirds **dropped Nesting 2.0**—a new program for holders of Moonbirds, Mythics, and Oddities NFTs to earn birb tokens. The mechanic is designed to align holders with the ecosystem’s long-term growth. Depositing an NFT into the Nesting protocol grants a **soulbound birb NFT**—which won’t be tradable during its “incubation” phase. Starting next month on the 28th, holders can claim **1/24 of their allotted birb tokens monthly over 24 months**. If an NFT was incubated for less than a full month before the 28th claim date, holders get a pro-rated amount. NFTs incubated in the first 7 days count as a full month of incubation.

On January 28, per Defillama data, Pump.fun raked in $2.32 million in revenue over the past 24 hours—surpassing Hyperliquid’s $2.16 million to claim third place overall, behind Tether ($16.59 million) and Circle ($6.25 million).

On January 27, LookOnChain monitoring data reveals three investor wallets sold 36.36 million 1INCH tokens—valued at $5.04 million—triggering a 16.7% drop in 1INCH’s price.

January 27, SharpLink—Ethereum’s second-largest Decentralized Autonomous Treasury (DAT) firm—announced it earned 465 ETH in staking rewards last week. Since launching its staking strategy on June 2, 2025, total staking rewards have hit 12,079 ETH to date. All of its ETH holdings remain 100% staked with institutional partners.