Category: Bitcoin News

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…

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…

Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) started 2026 with sharp outflows, shedding a combined $681 million over the first full trading week of the year. According to data from SoSoValue, spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs recorded four consecutive days of net outflows between Tuesday and Friday, outweighing inflows earlier in the week. The largest daily redemption occurred on Wednesday, when products shed $486 million, followed by $398.9 million on Thursday and $249.9 million on Friday. The reversal came after 2026 opened with brief strength. On Jan. 2, Bitcoin ETFs attracted $471.1 million,…

Pump.fun co-founder Alon Cohen said the Solana-based memecoin launchpad is overhauling its creator fee system after concluding that the existing model may have skewed incentives. “Creator fees need change,” Cohen wrote in a Friday post on X, acknowledging that the Dynamic Fees V1 system, introduced several months ago, succeeded in driving activity but failed to produce sustainable market behavior. According to Cohen, the mechanism encouraged low-risk token creation at the expense of high-risk trading, which he described as “dangerous” because traders are the core source of liquidity and volume on…

Crypto remains a key technology for maintaining America’s technological edge, according to a16z, which has raised another $15 billion to back American-aligned tech investments. Tech-focused venture capital firm Andreessen “a16z” Horowitz said it raised over $15 billion to invest in companies and technologies it sees as critical to secure America’s future and win the next century — and crypto remains a key part of that mission. In a post to X Friday, a16z co-founder Ben Horowitz, acknowledged that China and other competitors have caught up to the US in recent…

Democratic leaders on key committees considering crypto market structure legislation are reportedly drawing a line in the sand over elected officials profiting off the industry. A number of Democratic lawmakers in the US Senate are reportedly pushing for conflict-of-interest guardrails in a crypto market structure bill under consideration. According to a Thursday report from Punchbowl News, Senate Democrats including Adam Schiff and Ruben Gallego demanded safeguards in the Republican-led Responsible Financial Innovation Act (RFIA) which would affect how US regulatory agencies and the government handles digital assets. The lawmakers reportedly…