U.S. CPI: +2.9% YEAR-OVER-YEAR (EST. +2.9%); U.S. CORE CPI: +3.2% YEAR-OVER-YEAR (EST. +3.3%)

On January 18, Donald Trump announced he will sue JPMorgan Chase—the top U.S. bank—within the next two weeks, citing the lender’s prior role in leading the move to stop services to him. Donald Trump Jr., the former president’s son, stated that following the 2021 U.S. Capitol riot, the Trump family had no option but to enter the cryptocurrency space after banks refused to serve them. Additionally, Trump denied ever offering JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon the Federal Reserve chairmanship, labeling a related report by *The Wall Street Journal* as “completely false.”

**Genius (Perp DEX Terminal by YZi Labs) Updates:** - **Jan 18 Announcement:** Dynamic points will be suspended starting 7:30 PM EST Saturday, Jan 17, 2026, transitioning to a retrospective points system. More details coming soon. All trading-earned points remain in users’ accounts. - **Retrospective & Airdrop:** First phase of retrospective activities kicks off 4:00 PM Jan 19; airdrop whitepaper released today. - **Recent Backing:** On Jan 13, YZi Labs made a “multi-8-figure” investment in Genius Trading, with CZ joining as an advisor. On Jan 14, CZ clarified Genius is not an Aster competitor—rather, a Perp DEX trading terminal.

On January 18, White House Cryptocurrency Chief Patrick Witt said the U.S. is still working to establish a Bitcoin strategic reserve, but inter-agency coordination faces challenges—including restrictions from some "obscure, complex legal terms." Several federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), are currently discussing the legal and regulatory issues tied to creating the reserve, and the matter remains "on the priority list." ### Key adjustments for U.S. English/breaking news style: 1. **Date format**: Added "On" before the date (natural for American context) and simplified "18th" to "18" (common in casual/quick reporting). 2. **Tone**: Replaced formal "stated" with conversational "said" (standard for news briefs). 3. **Clarity**: Trimmed redundant "more" (obscure already implies complexity) and rephrased "progressing towards establishing" to concise "working to establish." 4. **Flow**: Swapped repetitive "with"

On January 18, the dYdX Foundation published its 2025 Ecosystem Annual Report, with key highlights including: - Total trading volume topping $1.55 trillion, alongside ongoing adoption of its on-chain derivatives infrastructure; - Quarterly trading volume rebounding from roughly $16 billion in Q2 to $34.3 billion in Q4—marking its strongest quarter since 2025; - Launch of the DYDX token buyback program, with governance approval to allocate 75% of the protocol’s net income to buybacks; - Growing token holder engagement, with the number of DYDX holders hitting roughly 98,000 by the end of 2025; This rewrite uses casual, news-friendly phrasing common in U.S. communications: - Replaced formal terms like "surpassing" with "topping" and "approximately" with "roughly/hitting" (everyday American usage); - Shortened "second quarter" to "Q2" (standard in financial news); - Added possessives ("its on-chain," "protocol’s net income") for clarity; - Used a dash to emphasize the Q4

On January 18th, Bitcoin dropped below $95,000, registering a 0.49% 24-hour decrease, per HTX market data.

On January 18th, Nansen CEO Alex Svanevik took to X (formerly Twitter) to criticize Coinbase Advanced’s high fees, writing: “120 basis points??? Coinbase’s fees are outrageous.” Per the notification Svanevik shared, his Coinbase Advanced account fee tier has been updated to Intro 1, with a new taker fee of 1.2% and maker fee of 0.6%. This tier is determined by his trading activity or asset holdings over the past 30 days.