Day: January 10, 2026

ETH, XRP, and Meme Coins Shine as Retail Sentiment Reacts to Short-Term Catalysts

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Crypto enters 2026 on a positive footing, but retail sentiment remains fragile and driven by immediate news catalysts. Crypto market sentiment has improved at the start of 2026 as prices across major digital assets rebound from last year’s extended correction. New data shows retail traders growing more optimistic as ETF headlines and macro narratives increasingly influence crypto price movements. According to the latest social and sentiment data compiled by Santiment, there has been a renewed optimism among retail traders, even as recent price action has begun to flatten and…

Bitcoin Network Mining Difficulty Falls in Jan 2026

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The Bitcoin (BTC) network mining difficulty, the relative computing challenge of adding a new block to the decentralized blockchain ledger, fell slightly to 146.4 trillion on Thursday, in the first difficulty adjustment of 2026.  “The next Bitcoin difficulty adjustment is estimated to take place on Jan 22, 2026, 04:08:12 AM UTC, increasing the Bitcoin mining difficulty from 146.47 T to 148.20 T,” according to CoinWarz.  Average block times are 9.88 minutes at the time of this writing, slightly below the 10-minute target, which means the next difficulty adjustment will increase…

Starknet Team Outlines Root Cause of Latest Network Outage

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The outage was the second major network disruption in 2025, with both incidents requiring a block reorganization that rolled back some activity. The team behind Starknet, an Ethereum layer‑2 (L2) scaling network, released a post-mortem report outlining the root cause of the temporary mainnet downtime on Monday. The root cause of the mainnet downtime was a discrepancy in the network state between the blockifier execution layer and the proving layer that checks that the execution layer is processing transactions correctly, according to the report. The Starknet team explained: “In one…

a16z Predicts Major Shifts in Privacy, Security, and Messaging

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Chains with built-in privacy may attract finance, healthcare, and real-world asset projects that cannot operate on fully transparent ledgers. A leading venture capital firm in the digital asset space, a16z crypto, has published a series of forecasts for 2026, arguing that privacy, decentralized communication, and stronger security frameworks will define the next phase of blockchain development. The views shared by the firm’s general partners this week suggest a move away from competing on transaction speed alone and toward building systems that offer genuine user protection and institutional-grade infrastructure. Privacy…

Tennessee targets Kalshi, Polymarket, and Crypto.com over sports betting

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Key Takeaways Tennessee’s Sports Wagering Committee has issued cease-and-desist orders to Kalshi, Polymarket, and Crypto.com. Regulators want the companies to immediately stop offering sports contracts in Tennessee. Share this article The Tennessee Sports Wagering Council (SWC), which oversees the regulation and licensing of online sports betting and fantasy sports, has issued formal cease-and-desist demands to Kalshi, Crypto.com, and Polymarket, accusing the platforms of violating state gambling laws by offering sports-related contracts without authorization. The orders were first reported by sports betting attorney Daniel Wallach on X. BREAKING: Tennessee Sports Wagering…

17 Years On and Hal Finney’s ‘Running Bitcoin’ Post Is Still Celebrated

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The Bitcoin (BTC) community is celebrating the anniversary of cypherpunk and Bitcoin pioneer Hal Finney’s post on January 10, 2009, telling the world that he was running the Bitcoin node software “Running Bitcoin,” Finney said on X, formerly known as Twitter. Finney was the recipient of the first Bitcoin transaction on the network. He was born on May 4, 1956, and pursued a career in computer science and cryptography, and was one of the first people to respond to Satoshi Nakamoto’s publication of the Bitcoin whitepaper.  Source: Hal Finney Satoshi…

Trump issues executive order to reinforce control over Venezuelan oil proceeds

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Key Takeaways Trump signed an executive order declaring a national emergency concerning Venezuelan oil revenue. The order blocks judicial processes against Venezuelan oil funds in US Treasury accounts. Share this article President Donald Trump on Saturday signed an executive order protecting Venezuelan oil revenue held in US Treasury accounts from legal seizure or attachment. The order supersedes prior directives and limits any dealings in the accounts without government authorization, maintaining revenues as sovereign assets of Venezuela, the administration said in a fact sheet. According to the White House, allowing the…

Bitcoin Whales Drop BTC Longs in New Bull Signal

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Bitcoin whales began repeating a classic bull signal as they took BTC long positions off the table after a year of declining overall market exposure. Bitcoin (BTC) whales are “aggressively” reducing long exposure as a classic bull signal reappears. Key points: Bitfinex whales are rotating out of BTC long positions — something that preceded major price gains in the past. A Wyckoff-style “spring” bottom should come next before a major reversal, analysis says. Whale holdings drop by around 220,000 BTC in 2025. Bitcoin whales trigger six-figure BTC price target Data…

DeFi TVL Tops $99B, Stablecoin Volume Hits $18.8T

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Ethereum’s DeFi TVL surpassed $99B, over nine times larger than the next Layer 1, showing dominant network adoption in decentralized finance. Ethereum reported strong growth across decentralized finance (DeFi) and stablecoin activity in 2025. This was mainly because lower transaction costs and expanding infrastructure contributed to increased usage across the network. DeFi and Stablecoin Activity Increase In a New Year’s post shared via X, the chain revealed that it recorded over $99 billion in total value locked during 2025, according to data from DefiLlama. This figure places Ethereum’s DeFi…

Bitcoin Price Analysis: Is This The Most Likely Scenario for BTC Next Week?

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Bitcoin continues to consolidate near the $90k mark as global financial markets remain under pressure. Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, growing uncertainty around fiat currency stability in emerging markets, and macro volatility have once again pushed BTC into the spotlight. Bitcoin Price Analysis: The Daily Chart On the daily timeframe, BTC has broken out of its descending channel but is facing resistance near the $95k zone. The rally from the $80k low has been sharp, but it now appears to be cooling down after hitting the key resistance level…