Weekly Update: 30th of January
What happened between the 23rd and the 30th of January?
- The market remains range-bound; the Fed held rates steady, yet heavy ETF outflows keep investors defensive and liquidity-focused across Bitcoin and altcoins. Read more
- Fidelity launched its own stablecoin, reinforcing stablecoins as institutional settlement rails and accelerating adoption without direct exposure to volatile crypto assets. Read more
- Tether expanded gold reserves for corporate backing and its gold token, becoming the biggest non-governmental holder of physical gold. Read more
- Davos elevated crypto as infrastructure; stablecoins and tokenization dominated discussions, signalling mainstream institutional acceptance and stronger regulated capital flows. Read more
Market stays range-bound as the Fed pauses and ETF outflows rise
Crypto remains range-bound, with brief spikes and later in the week a correction due to renewed geopolitical risks. The Federal Reserve kept rates unchanged, which offers some stability, yet underlying sentiment remains fragile. Investors remain sensitive to macro risk, and spot crypto ETFs recorded another wave of sizable outflows. That matters for price formation, especially when liquidity thins and risk is reduced across portfolios.
In this setting, Bitcoin tends to hold up better, while altcoins typically react more sharply to outflows and lower risk appetite. For institutional investors, this is primarily a positioning phase, prioritising liquidity, quality and risk budgeting while waiting for a clear catalyst that can break the market out of its current range.
Fidelity enters the stablecoin market
Fidelity is taking another step into digital infrastructure with the launch of its own stablecoin. This reinforces the shift toward stablecoins as rails, where large financial institutions use stablecoins for settlement, internal transfers and, over time, broader payment flows.
Strategically, the logic is clear: stablecoins move value 24/7, reduce friction and add a programmable layer on top of traditional money. For investors, the key takeaway is that institutional blockchain adoption can accelerate without requiring direct exposure to volatile crypto assets.
Tether becomes a major non-sovereign gold holder
Tether continues expanding its gold position, emerging as one of the largest non-government holders of physical bullion. These reserves support both the company’s broader balance sheet and Tether Gold, a token designed to track gold’s value. The move highlights ongoing reserve diversification, alongside earnings generated from U.S. Treasuries, making the company healthier. Additionally, much of the acquired gold is for its Gold-backed stablecoin XAUT. With investor interest in gold on the rise, so did the market capitalization of the token.
Crypto becomes a headline topic at Davos
Crypto and digital financial infrastructure were highly visible in Davos, with stablecoins, tokenization and blockchain integration repeatedly highlighted. The tone is shifting from if to how, less about speculative narratives, more about implementation in payments, settlement and capital markets workflows. For institutional investors, the signal value matters.
When policymakers, banks and large asset managers keep the topic on the agenda, the probability rises that regulation, standards and market infrastructure will advance in parallel. Davos functions as a barometer of mainstream acceptance. It does not remove market risks, but it does suggest maturing conditions in which capital is increasingly likely to flow through regulated channels into digital assets and tokenized products.
In other digital assets news
- BitGo raised $200M and went public with an implied valuation around 2 billion dollars.
- BitMine made its largest Ethereum purchase of 2026, while Strategy continued accumulating Bitcoin.
- BlackRock filed for a Bitcoin income ETF designed to generate yield by writing call options.
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