Crypto Market News Today, January 8: BTC USD Follows The Trend Line as Ethereum Price in Queue for A Breakout

Cambodia has extradited billionaire Chen Zhi to China, where prosecutors accuse him of running a global crypto investment scam that stole billions from victims worldwide. The news came as Bitcoin USD fell below its key $91,000 level and is currently trading between $89,500 and $90,500.

There is a perception that crime headlines still shape regulators’ views of crypto and adversely affect price action. The extradition of Chen Zhi is part of a broader push by governments to shut down Southeast Asian scam compounds that have drained tens of billions of dollars from everyday users.

Authorities say Chen’s network pulled in as much as $30 million per day at its peak, according to an investigation by 99Bitcoins analysts. The case highlights how South East Asia and China now treat crypto fraud as a financial security threat, not a niche online crime.

https://twitter.com/jacobincambodia/status/2009196767758438910

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Polymarket continues its bid for total mainstream adoption. In its latest advancement, the leading prediction market platform has announced a deal with Dow Jones to integrate Polymarket’s real-time prediction data across outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, and MarketWatch. This move comes as institutional crypto adoption accelerates, with regulated platforms entering the traditional finance sector.

It is a significant move for crypto and the prediction market platform sector, with Polymarket leading the emergence of the fastest-growing market right now: prediction markets. With a token rumored to be on the way, Polymarket is quickly cementing itself as the market leader in the prediction platform space, picking up where it left off in 2025 with huge announcements.

We're honored to be named the Exclusive Prediction Market Partner of the Wall Street Journal & the Dow Jones.

The World's Largest Prediction Market™ 🤝 the most trusted voices in finance pic.twitter.com/S6o7qkCUS6

— Polymarket (@Polymarket) January 7, 2026

The news comes as the broader crypto market suffered its second consecutive day in the red following a strong start to 2026. Per CoinGecko data, Bitcoin is down -2.2%, trading just above $90,000 and approaching a key level. 99Bitcoins analysts note that is the only top-20 digital asset in the green today, up a modest +0.5%, while the rest of the market continues to bleed.

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Remember the Solana Saga phone that kicked off the Solana Mobile initiative back in April 2023? Priced at $1,000 initially, it gained massive popularity among crypto enthusiasts due to bundled airdrops like <span style=”font-weight: 400;”> Bonk BONK $0.000005 4.55% Bonk BONK Price $0.000005 4.55% /24h Volume in 24h $31.38M Price 7d Learn more </span>, which turned early buyers into unexpected winners as token values soared.

Fast forward, and Solana Mobile’s second-generation device, the Seeker, launched for pre-orders in late 2024 with shipments starting on August 4, 2025. It was offered at $450 during the limited Founder window, $500 for early adopters, and later rose to around $600 at retail, making it far more accessible than its predecessor.

People snapped it primarily for the high anticipation of lucrative airdrops similar to Saga’s. Over 150,000 pre-orders.

Finally, Solana Mobile has locked in January 21, 2026 (at 2:00 AM UTC), as the launch date for its eagerly awaited SKR token, solidifying the schedule for one of this year’s biggest mobile crypto airdrops.

<span style=”font-weight: 400;”> Solana SOL $67.86 6.34% Solana SOL Price $67.86 6.34% /24h Volume in 24h $4.05B Price 7d Learn more </span> held steady near recent levels upon the announcement, with little price movement but intense interest from airdrop hunters.

Solana Mobile just announced $SKR TGE!

This is one of @solana's biggest days of the year

> TGE on Jan 21st
> 20% of SKR supply for users and devs (AIRDROP)
> Season 1 ended, Season 2 has begun

I am looking forward to this daypic.twitter.com/P86Iy17vSX

— gum (@0xGumshoe) January 7, 2026

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No IPO for XRP. Ripple, again, shut down IPO talk this week, with President Monica Long saying the company has no need to go public right now. XRP XRP $1.16 4.65% XRP XRP Price $1.16 4.65% /24h Volume in 24h $2.78B Price 7d Learn more has been a notable performer early in 2026, rising over 25% year-to-date before a recent dip. It currently trades around $2.12, down 7% in the last day, aligning with the broader market pause but underpinned by robust institutional inflows through US spot ETFs.

These funds have accumulated $1.3 billion since launching in November 2025, with minimal outflows and weeks of consistent positive flows. Interestingly enough, XRP has been one of the top-performing major assets in 2026, surpassing Bitcoin and Ether gains, fueled by regulatory progress and ETF demand.

$XRP is leading 2026 with a 25% gain!

To make a comparison, the token is leaving behind both $ETH (+10%) and $BTC (+6%).

ETF inflows crossed $100M with zero outflow days, signaling sticky institutional demand.

Social and on-chain signals align: reserves on Binance are at a… pic.twitter.com/iCjrA4dVU0

— Onur 🍌🦍 (@0xc06) January 8, 2026

Large-scale transactions by whales have also surged, signaling potential upcoming volatility. This week, Ripple once again downplayed IPO speculation, with President Monica Long stressing the company’s strong financial position and emphasis on strategic growth.

Steady ETF capital is transforming how crypto companies approach funding.

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Donald Trump clinching the presidency in November 2024 was a major win for crypto. Promises of warm rules, a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, and accelerated Bitcoin and crypto mining were a perfect base for Bitcoin and some of the top cryptos to buy to jump. And they did.

Bitcoin flew to over $125,000 sometimes in 2025 before recoiling to spot rates. Within the same year, something amazing in crypto regulation in the United States happened: The approval of the GENIUS Act. DeFi was rejuvenated, and institutions channeled billions to promising crypto firms. Considering the pace of capital injection, there is no doubt that some of the top DeFi protocols by market cap could easily be 100X heavyweights by the end of the decade.

The way towards this future is for DeFi firms to find more regulatory clarity and actually comply with existing laws. Leading the way is the World Liberty Financial, a crypto firm tied to President Donald Trump’s family.

On January 7, the World Liberty Financial said they had applied for a federal banking charter to issue and manage its USD1 stablecoin. Following this news, the Bitcoin price held steady around $90,000, showing that traders treated this as a regulatory signal, not a price catalyst.

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The bigger story sits in Washington, where crypto firms now line up to look more like banks.

Read our full coverage here.

Tips? That means micro-transactions, and Tether, the world’s largest stablecoin by valuation, is ready. The success of Tether USDT $0.9992 0.03% Tether USDT Price $0.9992 0.03% /24h Volume in 24h $91.64B Price 7d Learn more and the regulatory warmth towards crypto is exactly why they think a new non-custodial wallet is what’s needed for crypto tips to be the norm.

The issuer of USDT won’t be doing it alone. They have found a partner in Rumble, the video platform.

So, on January 7, they rolled out Rumble Wallet, a new in-app crypto wallet. The wallet lets users tip creators directly in USDT, a portal for buying next 100X tokens, and Bitcoin (BTC), the digital gold.

BREAKING: Rumble and Tether Launch Crypto Wallet for Creator Economy

"Rumble Inc. (NASDAQ:RUM), the Freedom-First technology platform, and Tether, the largest company in the digital assets industry, today launched the Rumble Wallet, a non-custodial crypto wallet integrated… pic.twitter.com/BHaeSjSEaJ

— Rumble 🏴‍☠️ (@rumblevideo) January 7, 2026

The launch arrives as the total market cap of all stablecoins stabilize above the $312Bn mark with Tether leading the charge, minting over $186Bn of USDT. If anything, this launch is timely and strategic for Tether as it fits a bigger trend: crypto shifting from trading chips to everyday internet money.

(Source: Coingecko)

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CertiK and YZi Labs announced a $1M security grant aimed at helping early-stage DeFi startups catch bugs before hackers do. The timing matters because DeFi users lost over $2.47Bn to hacks and scams in the first half of 2025 alone, according to <a class=”general-link” href=”https://www.certik.com/resources/blog/hack3d-the-web3-security-report-2025″ target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>CertiK data</a>. This move comes at a time when trust, not token prices, determines whether everyday users stick with DeFi or seek out safer places to park their assets.

While and Ethereum remain above $90,000 and $3,000, respectively, capital continues to flow out of high-risk protocols following each high-profile exploit. These continuous exploits across DeFi explain why infrastructure news like this matters more than another short-term pump. Safety now drives adoption.

The story is bigger than just one grant. DeFi continues to grow rapidly, but attackers seem to be one step ahead, adapting faster than most teams can deploy fixes to buggy code and poor SecOps.

CertiK and @yzilabs have established a $1M audit grant program for all participants in the EASY Residency incubation initiative.

This partnership supports the next generation of Web3, AI, and biotech startups by embedding security from day one. pic.twitter.com/ZdRsBoeLt8

— CertiK (@CertiK) January 6, 2026

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Wall Street’s embrace of crypto took a major step forward this week as Morgan Stanley, one of the world’s largest wealth managers with over $1.8 trillion in assets under management, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to launch its own spot Ethereum ETFs Trust. This proposed product would directly hold Ether Ethereum ETH $1,761.52 4.77% Ethereum ETH Price $1,761.52 4.77% /24h Volume in 24h $21.35B Price 7d Learn more , track its spot price, and incorporate staking rewards, allowing investors to benefit from Ethereum’s proof-of-stake yields without managing the process themselves.

The filing, submitted on January 6, 2026, comes just hours after similar registrations for spot Bitcoin and Solana trusts, marking three crypto-related ETF proposals from the bank in under 48 hours. This rapid push signals Morgan Stanley’s shift from merely distributing third-party crypto products to creating in-house vehicles, reflecting growing confidence in digital assets amid a more favorable regulatory environment.

(Source: sec.gov)

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Wall Street’s embrace of crypto took a major step forward this week as Morgan Stanley, one of the world’s largest wealth managers with over $1.8 trillion in assets under management, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to launch its own spot Ethereum ETFs Trust. This proposed product would directly hold Ether Ethereum ETH $1,761.52 4.77% Ethereum ETH Price $1,761.52 4.77% /24h Volume in 24h $21.35B Price 7d Learn more , track its spot price, and incorporate staking rewards, allowing investors to benefit from Ethereum’s proof-of-stake yields without managing the process themselves.

The filing, submitted on January 6, 2026, comes just hours after similar registrations for spot Bitcoin and Solana trusts, marking three crypto-related ETF proposals from the bank in under 48 hours. This rapid push signals Morgan Stanley’s shift from merely distributing third-party crypto products to creating in-house vehicles, reflecting growing confidence in digital assets amid a more favorable regulatory environment.

(Source: sec.gov)

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Solana and meme coins go hand in hand. In 2024, meme coin activity single-handedly propelled the SOL USDT price to nearly $300. And whenever more developers launch meme coins on platforms like Pump.fun, decentralized exchange (DEX) activity on Solana spikes.

There are hints that Q1 2026 would shape up to be favorable to some of the top Solana meme coins. Recent on-chain data shows that on-chain trading just heated up again as DEX activity surged alongside a fresh wave of meme coin speculation.

Earlier this week, the Solana price jumped to nearly $145 after climbing +6% on the week as traders chased fast-moving tokens. This fits a familiar Q1 2025 pattern where meme coin hype pulls users back onto Solana’s low-fee rails. When activity spikes like this, prices often follow. But they also snap back fast. That tension sits at the heart of today’s Solana story.

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