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U.S. investment bank Benchmark has identified this week as a crucial watershed moment for the cryptocurrency sector, Coindesk reported. Benchmark noted that the U.S. Senate is preparing to vote on the crypto market structure bill, known as the CLARITY Act. The bank believes this legislation could be the starting point for fundamentally resolving the long-standing regulatory vacuum in the industry. Furthermore, Benchmark explained that the bill is particularly important because it could mitigate the risk of regulatory reversal, such as a future administration changing the current government's stance on crypto.

Whale Alert reported that 3,744 BTC has been transferred from Coinbase Institutional to an unknown new wallet. The transaction is valued at about $343 million.

Nasdaq-listed Sharps Technology, a strategic investor in SOL, is partnering with Coinbase to participate in validator operations, The Block reported. The company plans to delegate a portion of its 2 million SOL holdings to a validator run by Coinbase.

The Bitcoin Core development team has appointed a new code maintainer for the first time since May 2023, crypto media outlet Protos reported. The new developer is known only by the pseudonym TheCharlatan, with no other information disclosed. Maintainers have the authority to decide which code proposed by developers is implemented into the Bitcoin system. The team is now composed of six members.

WorldLibertyFinancial (WLFI), a DeFi protocol led by the Trump family, has launched a lending market based on the margin trading protocol Dolomite, according to BWE News.

The Bank of Italy has warned that market risks from Ethereum could spill over into infrastructure and financial stability risks in an extreme scenario where the asset's price collapses to zero, Cointelegraph reported. In a research paper, the central bank noted that because validators are compensated in ETH, a sharp price decline could cause some to exit the network. This, in turn, could lead to weakened security, delays in block production, and impaired payment and settlement functions. The report also cautioned that since Ethereum is used as a settlement infrastructure for stablecoins and tokenized assets, any shock could spread to the real-world financial system.

Standard Chartered (SC) has predicted that this will be the year of Ethereum (ETH), The Block reported. The bank stated that it expects ETH to post significant gains against BTC, citing Ethereum's dominant position in stablecoins, real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, and DeFi, as well as its notable growth in network throughput. SC's price target for ETH this year is $7,500, with a positive long-term outlook of $30,000 by 2029 and $40,000 by 2030.

According to Onchainlens, Bitmain (BMNR) purchased an additional 24,266 ETH ($75.37 million) last week. The company's total holdings now stand at 4,167,768 ETH, valued at $12.9 billion.

President Donald Trump is set to interview BlackRock Chief Investment Officer (CIO) Rick Rieder this week as a candidate for the next Chair of the Federal Reserve, Walter Bloomberg reported. Trump is expected to announce his final selection later this month.

Selling pressure from Bitcoin's long-term holders is slowing down, according to an analysis by Glassnode. The on-chain analytics firm stated that the volume of net outflows from these holders is gradually decreasing. Glassnode interprets this as a sign that the market is absorbing the supply held by long-term investors, leading to an easing of sell-side pressure.

Cryptocurrency custody firm BitGo is planning an initial public offering (IPO) in the United States to raise $201 million, according to a report from Unfolded.

VelaFi, a stablecoin infrastructure provider under the Latin America-based crypto firm Galactic Holdings, has raised $20 million in a Series B funding round led by XVC and Ikuyo, CoinDesk reported. Other global investors in the round included Alibaba, Planetree, and BAI Capital. The funds are slated for acquiring licenses in the U.S. and Asia and for bank-related business initiatives.

Strategy announced it has purchased an additional 13,627 BTC for $1.25 billion. As of Jan. 11, the company holds a total of 687,410 BTC, valued at $51.8 billion, with an average purchase price of $75,353 per BTC.

BlackRock has deposited 3,143 BTC, worth $285 million, and 7,204 ETH, valued at $22.42 million, to Coinbase Prime, according to Onchain-Lenz. Coinbase Prime is a prime brokerage platform that facilitates large-scale trading and custody services for institutional investors.

Binance has announced the listing of FOGO, scheduled for 2:00 p.m. UTC on Jan. 15. The token will be listed with the Seed Tag, which is applied to assets that may exhibit higher volatility and risk compared to other listed tokens.

A group of 70 European economists and policy experts has sent an open letter to members of the European Parliament, urging that the digital euro must align with the public interest, Cointelegraph reported. They argued that a digital euro would play a key role in safeguarding Europe's monetary sovereignty and ensuring public access to central bank money as cash usage declines. The letter emphasized the need for a public digital payment method issued by the Eurosystem, usable across Europe, with basic services provided free of charge. The experts also stressed that the digital currency should complement rather than replace physical cash. They warned that any hesitation by the European Union on the project could lead to market dominance by non-European card companies and Big Tech payment firms, which could undermine the autonomy of Europe's payment infrastructure and its ability to respond to crises.

Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin has outlined the technical conditions necessary for the network to achieve long-term self-sufficiency without its core developers, The Block reported. These conditions include quantum resistance, scalability based on ZK-EVMs and PeerDAS, a long-term management system based on statelessness, a fully abstract account model, a fee structure designed to defend against DoS attacks, a sustainable Proof-of-Stake (PoS) structure, and a censorship-resistant block production mechanism. Buterin emphasized that quantum resistance, in particular, should not be delayed for efficiency, stating that the protocol must provide confidence in its cryptographic security for 100 years. He added that Ethereum needs to enter a stable phase of no structural changes, at which point it could operate securely without its core development team.

Standard Chartered plans to launch a cryptocurrency prime brokerage service through its subsidiary, SC Ventures, Bloomberg reported. The new venture, which is still in the early stages of development, will offer services including custody and financing.

Bernstein has analyzed that the chances of the U.S. crypto market structure bill passing are weakening amid intensifying conflict between the banking and crypto industries, The Block reports. According to the investment firm, the current period represents a critical window of opportunity for the legislation to be approved. However, Bernstein noted that growing opposition from the banking sector, particularly regarding stablecoin compensation provisions, has become the biggest variable affecting the bill's passage. The bill has passed the House of Representatives and is now under review in the Senate, with a target for approval in the first quarter.

Fear is spreading among short-term Bitcoin holders even as the cryptocurrency continues its upward trend, according to an analysis by CryptoQuant contributor gaah_im. The contributor noted that the Short-Term Holder Spent Output Profit Ratio (SOPR) has remained below one for approximately 70 days, indicating that individual investors are consistently selling at a loss. The analyst added that historically, such a divergence between rising prices and negative retail sentiment has presented a buying opportunity.

Whale Alert reported that 80,000 ETH has been transferred from Binance to Binance Beacon Deposit. The transaction is valued at about $249 million.

Digital asset investment products saw net outflows of $454 million last week, marking a return to negative flows after just one week, according to a CoinShares report. Bitcoin investment products accounted for $404.7 million of the outflows, while Ethereum products saw $11.61 million exit. CoinShares noted that the U.S. led the withdrawals with $569 million in net outflows. In contrast, Germany, Canada, and Switzerland recorded inflows of $58.9 million, $24.5 million, and $21 million, respectively.

Bitcoin is being re-evaluated as a decentralized asset that does not require government guarantees amid a U.S. federal investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, Cointelegraph reported. The media outlet noted that the probe into Powell could introduce short-term political risk to broader risk assets, including U.S. stocks. However, this political uncertainty may stimulate demand for Bitcoin, as the narrative for decentralized assets strengthens when the credibility of the U.S. dollar and the independence of the central bank are tested. The report added that if political intervention becomes more structured, Bitcoin's value could become even more prominent. Additionally, on-chain analyst Will Clemente commented that the current situation, characterized by threats to the Fed's independence, soaring gold prices, and geopolitical risks, is precisely the reason Bitcoin exists.

South Korean crypto exchange Upbit has announced a temporary suspension of withdrawals for RVC, EXCL, and CRW, citing a halt in block generation on their respective networks.

Binance has announced that it will delist 20 spot trading pairs at 8:00 a.m. UTC on Jan. 13. The affected pairs are ACT/FDUSD, AEVO/FDUSD, AR/FDUSD, DOGS/FDUSD, HEMI/FDUSD, HFT/BTC, IO/FDUSD, MEME/FDUSD, NFP/FDUSD, PENDLE/FDUSD, PHA/BTC, RARE/BTC, RAY/FDUSD, RED/FDUSD, SAND/FDUSD, SHELL/BTC, SXP/BTC, TURTLE/FDUSD, ZBT/FDUSD, and ZK/FDUSD.