BizwavemediaPersonal Finance and Crypto Updates

Ripple President Monica Long projects that approximately 50% of Fortune 500 companies will maintain crypto exposure by the end of 2026, implementing formal strategies that include tokenized assets, onchain Treasury bills, stablecoins, and programmable financial instruments.

“After one of crypto’s most exciting years (and Ripple’s), the industry is entering its production era,” Long said via her official X account. “In 2026, we’ll see the institutionalization of crypto.”

According to Long, 2026 marks a true inflection point for institutional adoption and the broader expansion of the Internet of Value, as she highlighted in her predictions for the year ahead.

On stablecoins, Long said they would become “the foundation for global settlement, not an alternative rail,” citing integration by Visa, Stripe, and other major institutions into payment flows. She identified B2B as the growth engine, with corporates using digital dollars for real-time liquidity and capital efficiency.

Long also predicted an expansion of institutional access through the capital markets. While crypto ETFs are accelerating exposure, she noted they “only represent a small share of the broader market, underscoring the room for major growth.”

She forecast that 5% to 10% of capital markets settlements will move onchain as collateral mobility becomes a top use case.

On mergers and acquisitions, Long pointed to $8.6 billion in 2025 deal volume led by institutions and predicted that custody will drive the next wave of consolidation, with about half of the top 50 global banks establishing new custody agreements in 2026.

Trump Media and Technology Group announced February 2, 2026, as the record date for its digital token airdrop to shareholders, advancing its blockchain rewards program.

Shareholders who own at least one whole share of DJT stock as of that date will be eligible to receive digital tokens and associated incentives. Eligibility depends on being recognized as the ultimate beneficial owner of shares rather than borrowers.

Trump Media plans to partner with Crypto.com to mint the tokens on the blockchain and custody them pending distribution. The company said the arrangement will leverage Crypto.com’s infrastructure.

The tokens are expected to be non-transferable and will not represent equity or cash value. Holders should not expect profits derived from the company’s managerial efforts.

CEO and Chairman Devin Nunes said the company aims to implement the token initiative consistent with SEC guidance and improve transparency around beneficial ownership.

The initiative builds on Trump Media’s broader strategy to reward shareholders with perks tied to its products, including Truth Social, Truth+, and Truth Predict.

DJT shares jumped about 7% on the news before retracing most of the gains by Tuesday afternoon.

Mastercard is considering an investment in ZeroHash, a blockchain infrastructure firm, after talks to acquire the company for $2 billion fell through, according to a CoinDesk report.

Fortune reported in October that Mastercard was planning to acquire ZeroHash for $2 billion, but the deal has since collapsed.

A ZeroHash spokesperson told CoinDesk that the company is not seeking an acquisition by Mastercard but is weighing a commercial partnership instead.

The ZeroHash team will remain independent, as leadership believes this structure best serves the company’s interests as it continues to innovate and build for customers.

ZeroHash provides blockchain infrastructure to major platforms across the industry. Prediction market Kalshi and Interactive Brokers both use the firm’s services.

Interactive Brokers recently announced stablecoin funding on its brokerage platform powered by ZeroHash’s infrastructure.

TROVE, the native token of perpetual DEX Trove Markets, plunged roughly 97% following its token generation event, wiping its valuation from about $20 million to under $500,000, per GeckoTerminal.

Market confidence had been fragile after a series of controversies, including last-minute ICO contract changes and an incident tied to Polymarket.

Targeting the booming perpetuals DEX market, Trove Markets promised leveraged access to collectibles, real-world assets, and equities.

Its TROVE token ICO ran from January 8 to January 11 without major issues, until just five minutes before closing, when the team unexpectedly amended the smart contract to extend the sale, creating immediate confusion.

Around the same time, large buy orders emerged on Polymarket’s Trove market, leading traders to bet heavily on the expected extension.

However, minutes after the announcement, the team reversed the decision, sparking an intensified backlash from the community.

One trader placed an $89,000 bet before the market closed and suffered roughly $73,000 in losses after the reversal.

Pivot away from Hyperliquid

On January 18, Trove Markets builder “Unwise” announced that the team would pivot away from Hyperliquid and rebuild on Solana.

We’re pivoting Trove to Solana.

After recent sentiment around Trove, the liquidity partner that had been supporting our Hyperliquid path chose to unwind their 500k $HYPE position. That was their decision and we fully respect it.

This changes our constraints: we’re no longer…

— unwise (@unwisecap) January 18, 2026

The sudden shift marked a major departure from Trove’s original technical roadmap and further unsettled token holders.

Despite these issues, the team remains active and publicly communicating.

BubbleMaps noted that one entity obtained 12% of the $TROVE supply. Investigators also traced approximately 80 recently created wallets, mainly funded via ChangeHero, showing identical funding patterns and no prior on-chain activity.

Most of these wallets are still holding, but it remains uncertain whether this represents a sybil presale setup or another distribution method, and there is currently no proven link to the Trove team.

This is a developing story.

Investors poured approximately $2.2 billion into digital asset products last week, marking a peak in weekly inflows not seen since October 2025, according to CoinShares.

By assets, Bitcoin dominated with over $1.5 billion in new capital. Ethereum trailed with nearly half a billion dollars, while XRP rounded out the top performers with inflows topping $69 million.

Funds tied to Solana, Sui, Litecoin, and Chainlink also reported gains.

Geographically, the US drove over $2 billion of the total inflows, followed by Germany, Switzerland, Canada, and the Netherlands.

These gains coincided with Bitcoin’s climb to $97,500, its highest level since last November. However, geopolitical friction over Greenland and renewed threats of international tariffs have since weakened the market’s bullish outlook.

Analysts at CoinShares highlight a shift in investor confidence following signals that Kevin Hassett, a leading candidate for Fed Chair, will likely remain in his current role.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading above $93,000, per CoinGecko. While this represents a slight recovery from yesterday’s slump to $91,910, the asset remains down approximately 2% over the last 24 hours.

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Lighter, a crypto perpetual futures exchange on Ethereum, saw its native token LIT fall more than 15% over the past 24 hours as a broader market selloff pushed the price below the $1.70 level.

The decline coincided with a pullback in Bitcoin, which dropped from around $95,000 to $92,000 late Sunday before recovering to roughly $93,000 by Monday midday.

Lighter launched its token on December 30, 2025, following a $675 million airdrop. Shortly after launch, the platform briefly surpassed Hyperliquid in trading activity, reaching roughly $198 billion in cumulative volume.

Despite the recent selloff and heavy token dumping, Lighter continues to post strong on-chain activity. The exchange recorded approximately $2.25 billion in trading volume over the past 24 hours, trailing only Hyperliquid at $2.7 billion and Aster at $4.5 billion, according to DefiLlama data.

Lighter ranks third in open interest with about $1.31 billion, behind Aster at $2.6 billion and Hyperliquid at $8.9 billion.

On-chain data shows the Lighter team has conducted roughly $1.7 million worth of LIT buybacks so far. At current prices of nearly $1.70, total buybacks amount to approximately $2.8 million since the program was announced on January 6, 2026.

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Shares of Europe’s largest carmakers fell sharply today after US President Donald Trump pledged to impose new tariffs on several European countries amid a dispute over Greenland.

The Stoxx Automobiles and Parts index was trading about 2% lower on Monday at 2 pm ET after paring steeper losses earlier in the session.

Germany’s Volkswagen, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz Group were down between 2.5% and 3%. Shares of Porsche fell more than 3%.

In Milan, Ferrari slipped about 2.2%, touching a 52-week low, while Stellantis was last seen around 1.8% lower.

The selloff followed Trump’s announcement that the US plans to impose a 10% tariff on imports from the UK, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Finland starting February 1.

Trump said the levy would rise to 25% from June 1. The move is tied to his renewed push to bring Greenland, a self-governing Danish territory, under US control.

In response, European leaders said early Monday the European Union is preparing up to €93 billion in retaliatory tariffs if the US moves ahead with the 10% levy on European countries.

The automotive sector is viewed as particularly vulnerable due to its highly globalized supply chains and heavy reliance on cross-border manufacturing, including significant exposure to North America.