Senator Tim Scott: Brief Pause in the Crypto Market Regulation Bill
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott announced that there will be a brief pause before the crypto market regulation bill moves to the markup stage. Scott stated that discussions with the crypto sector, financial leaders, and bipartisan senators are ongoing. He said the parties are still continuing negotiations in good faith. David Sacks, the White House’s director of artificial intelligence and crypto affairs, emphasized that the bill’s passage is closer now than ever before. Sacks said the industry should use this pause to resolve the remaining disagreements.
US Jobless Claims
Initial jobless claims in the US for the week ending January 10 came in at 198,000, compared to expectations of 215,000. The previous figure was revised from 208,000 to 207,000.
Russia Changes Mining Authorities
The Russian State Duma Financial Markets Committee proposed to accept at first reading a bill that would transfer some of the crypto mining oversight duties to the Ministry of Finance. The authorities cover mining pools, miners, and those operating mining infrastructure. Currently, only legal entities and individual entrepreneurs registered with the tax office can engage in mining. Individuals can mine with a monthly limit of 6,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity.
BNB Foundation Completes Burn
The BNB Foundation announced that it has completed the burning of $BNB for the 34th quarter of 2026. A total of 1,371,803.77 $BNB was burned during this process, worth approximately $1.277 billion at the time of destruction. The amount consists of 1,371,703.67 auto-burns and 100.1 Pioneer Burns. Following the destruction of $BNB, the total amount in circulation dropped to 136.36 million $BNB.
Brevis and BNB Chain Collaboration
Brevis and $BNB Chain will collaborate to expand their privacy infrastructure and plan to launch the “Smart Privacy Pool” on $BNB Chain in the first quarter of 2026 through a partnership with 0xbow. The privacy pool incorporates $ZK attribute verification, allowing users to prove the compliance of off-chain funds using the Brevis $ZK Data Collaborator.
Half of Participants Expect S&P 500 Inclusion
According to a survey initiated by BitcoinTreasuries.NET, 50% of participants believe Strategy ($MSTR) will be included in the S&P 500 Index this year.
Privacy Cash Launches on Solana
Privacy Cash has launched its privacy swap feature on Solana. Users can swap supported tokens without revealing their main wallet on-chain records. The transaction is executed via a temporary client wallet, and the funds are re-masked and returned to the user’s wallet.
Galaxy Issues CLO on Avalanche
Galaxy has completed the first collateralized loan obligation (CLO) issuance on the Avalanche network, with Grove becoming the anchor investor by investing $50 million. The CLO was issued on the Avalanche chain to provide low-cost transactions and high transparency. The tokens are traded on the INX platform for qualified investors.
Bitmine to Invest in MrBeast
Bitmine Immersion Technologies ($BMNR) announced it will make a $200 million equity investment in MrBeast’s affiliate company, Beast Industries. The transaction is expected to close around January 19. The parties stated that the investment will contribute to global entertainment brands and DeFi platforms.
