"I have nothing for you"

Find out our latest reports, listed below:

• 2026 – the year of RWA perps?

• Keep Calm and Carry Yen
  
  
• Bybit x Block Scholes: “2026: It's Different This Time?”

• Tokenised Markets on Bitget UEX: Unlocking Real-World Assets On-Chain for 24/7 Global Access

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Market Snapshot: Overnight Moves

Daily Updates:

• As widely expected, the FOMC left the target range for the federal funds rate unchanged at 3.5%-3.75%, with two members of the board dissenting against the decision (Stephen Miran and Christopher Waller, who both preferred a quarter point reduction). 
• Chair Powell’s presser leaned slightly hawkish by the end. The overall message he portrayed is that the Fed is comfortable with the current level of the policy rate and will “let the data speak to us” to lead the way for future decisions. 

• During the Q&A, Powell emphasised on four separate occasions that the Fed is “well-positioned” to sit and wait to see how the economy evolves. 

“We’re not trying to articulate, you know, a test for when to next cut or whether to cut at the next meeting. You know, what we’re saying is we’re well-positioned, as we make decisions meeting by meeting”

“After the three recent rate cuts, we’re well-positioned to address the risks that we face on both sides of our dual mandate”

• Beyond repeating the same “well-positioned” line, the message of patience was also echoed through Powell’s higher forecast for growth in the US this year and his expectation for tariff inflation to top out “sometime in the middle quarters of the year”. 
• He mentioned a number of drivers for why the Fed expects strong growth in 2026 including “financial conditions and fiscal policy for ‘26”, “strong consumption” and “the AI build-out of datacenters”. Together, those tailwinds mean that “growth is on a solid footing”. 
• Powell did however provide a caveat by saying consumer spending is “uneven across income categories” (referencing the K-shape economy) and that there has “been a disconnect for some time between downbeat surveys and reasonably good spending data”. 

• The Fed’s opening statement also removed a line from the December meeting where it said the committee “judges that downside risks to employment rose in recent months”. 

• Perhaps unsurprisingly, the presser began with journalists peppering Powell regarding recent tensions between the Fed and the Trump administration. Powell gave very little away, stating “I have nothing for you” on five separate occasions and that “there’s a time and place for these questions”. 
• Finally, when asked about what advice he had for his next chair, he said “Don’t get pulled into elected politics. Don’t do it.”

• The overall message that market participants may need to be more patient before expecting the next rate cut provided BTC with few catalysts for a rally yesterday. It traded between $87K and $90K through yesterday and the early parts of today, while ETH is below $3,000. 
• Both US equities and treasury bonds barely moved. Early in the session the S&P 500 rose above 7,000, though by the end of the day the rally had faded and the index closed down 0.0082% on the day. The Nasdaq-100 on the other hand rose 0.32%. 
• Precious metals continue to march higher, however. Gold briefly rose above $5,586 per ounce, up nearly 30% this year, while silver slightly advanced beyond $120 per ounce for a new record high (up 66% year-to-date).

• The US dollar briefly rose yesterday before once again resuming its downtrend after comments from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent during an interview with CNBC. Bessent said that “The US always has a strong dollar policy” but that “a strong dollar policy means setting the right fundamentals. If we have sound policies, the money will flow in.”
• He also confirmed that the US is “absolutely not” intervening in currency markets to help prop up the Japanese yen and when asked whether the US may intervene, he responded, “we don’t comment other than to say we have a strong dollar policy.”
• Bessent’s comments come after a message from Trump earlier this week where he said “I could have it [the US dollar] go up or go down like a yo-yo” which pushed the dollar lower. 

• The White House is expected to convene senior leaders from the banking and cryptocurrency sectors next week as lawmakers seek to revive momentum behind US digital-asset legislation, according to Reuters.
• The meeting, hosted by the administration’s crypto council, will focus on the treatment of stablecoin “rewards” - a point of contention in the Senate Banking Committee, where banking groups argue that third-party reward programmes could replicate interest-like returns and accelerate deposit outflows from traditional institutions. 

• Bybit is preparing to launch “MyBank,” a service that would allow users to hold and transfer 18 fiat currencies via IBANs, positioning itself as a crypto neobank segment.
• The product is expected to go live in February 2026, subject to regulatory approval, and is being developed with local banking partners, including Pave Bank, a Georgia-licensed lender, according to Bloomberg citing Bybit CEO Ben Zhou.
• The service is designed to enable near-instant fiat-to-crypto conversion following deposits, simplifying the process of moving from bank balances into digital assets. 

• Fidelity Investments has announced plans to launch its first stablecoin, the Fidelity Digital Dollar (FIDD), on Ethereum in the coming weeks.
• Issued by Fidelity Digital Assets’ national trust bank, FIDD will be redeemable 1:1 for US dollars via Fidelity platforms, with Fidelity overseeing issuance and reserve management and its asset-management arm handling the reserve assets.
• The token is expected to be available to both retail and institutional clients, purchasable and redeemable at $1, transferable to any Ethereum mainnet address, and available on major exchanges where listed.

• WisdomTree is expanding its tokenized real-world asset (RWA) offering to Solana.
• The New York–based asset manager said both institutional and retail investors will be able to mint, trade, and hold its full suite of tokenized funds natively on Solana via WisdomTree Connect and WisdomTree Prime.

• Bitwise has registered a Delaware statutory trust under the name “Bitwise Uniswap ETF,” a preliminary and non-binding step that allows the firm to retain the option of pursuing a Uniswap-linked exchange-traded fund.

• Trump-associated WLFI stablecoin USD1 has climbed to a $5B market cap after adding nearly $2B over the past 7 days, making it the fifth-largest U.S. dollar stablecoin.

• In a post on X, Coinbase announced yesterday  that Hyperliquid (HYPE) has been added to its asset listing roadmap.

• The number of Solana validators continues to decline, now fluctuating at around 800 validators, numbers last seen in 2021.
• This still represents the 2nd largest number of validators for a Layer 1 blockchain but stands a large way off Ethereum’s 974,000. 
• Bitcoin hashrate is also easing, now ranging between 660-960 EH/s over the past 7 days. This is down from fluctuating around 1 ZH/s since Sep 2025 and peaks of 1.1 ZH/s just a week ago on Jan 22, 2026.

• Strive, a US-based asset management firm, has added 334 BTC, bringing its total Bitcoin holdings to 13,132 BTC (around $1.17B).
• The increase makes the company the 10th-largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, surpassing CleanSpark.

This Week’s Calendar:

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Charts of the Day: