Crypto News of the Week — 31 Dec 2025 to 7 Jan 2026

📊 Crypto News of the Week — 31 Dec 2025 to 7 Jan 2026

🚀 The crypto market kicked off 2026 with bitcoin trading near $92,500-$93,000, while ethereum stayed comfortably above $3,200, signalling resilience as investors returned after year-end consolidation. The total crypto market capitalisation is hovering around $3.28 trillion, reflecting sustained interest in digital assets despite short-term volatility.

🏦 Institutional involvement continues to deepen. Morgan Stanley filed with the US SEC to launch two new ETFs — a bitcoin trust and a solana trust, becoming the first major US bank to seek approval for direct crypto-linked exchange-traded products. This move highlights growing acceptance of digital assets among traditional financial giants.

📑 On the regulatory side, new tax reporting rules under the OECD Cryptoasset Reporting Framework officially came into force on 1 January across the UK and dozens of other jurisdictions. Crypto exchanges are now required to share detailed user transaction data with tax authorities, tightening compliance and transparency across the industry.

📊 In Asia, Japan confirmed a major crypto tax overhaul starting in 2026, introducing a flat 20% tax rate on specific crypto income and allowing losses to be carried forward for up to three years. This aligns crypto taxation with equities and strengthens the groundwork for wider ETF adoption in the country.

🔧 From a technical perspective, Ethereum implemented an important network upgrade on 7 January, increasing blob capacity per block. The change is expected to reduce transaction costs and improve scalability for layer-2 ecosystems such as Arbitrum and Optimism.

📈 Altcoins also grabbed attention. XRP surged around 30% in early January, breaking key resistance levels as fresh inflows and ETF-related optimism boosted sentiment across parts of the altcoin market.

📜 Political backdrop — crypto regulation remains a central topic in the US, with ongoing discussions around market structure legislation, oversight reforms and monetary policy expectations. These developments could shape liquidity conditions and digital asset regulation throughout 2026.

😂 Fun fact — During the first trading days of January, a major decentralised exchange temporarily paused parts of its network following a protocol upgrade. The incident quickly turned into a meme wave on crypto social media, with traders joking that even blockchains needed a short New Year holiday before markets fully reopened.

🔥 Overall, the first week of 2026 reflects a market driven by institutional momentum, tighter regulation and real technological progress, setting an eventful tone for the year ahead.

📊 Crypto News of the Week — 31 Dec 2025 to 7 Jan 2026 was originally published in Coinmonks on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.