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Solana's price is pulling back, but the structure remains bullish. A 2% daily drop occurred at the same time as a new Solana-focused ETF was launched, bringing SOL back into focus in a volatile crypto market. Although the daily decline is moderate, Solana is still up over 8% for the week and outperforming most other major coins.

The change in positions supports stable development more than weakness.

The Morgan Stanley ETF application arrives as Solana tests a key structure

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro denied his guilt in the New York court on charges of drug terrorism this week. The news came just five days after the United States arrested him at the presidential palace in Caracas.

The broader landscape of digital assets has highlighted the dual nature of cryptocurrencies. Borderless and immediate transactions offer life-saving opportunities for those whose banking systems do not function. However, the same features also enable illicit financing and circumvention of sanctions.

Welcome to the US Crypto News Morning Briefing — the most important crypto news for the day, all in one package.

Order coffee, sit down, and get ready. Even though MSCI's restriction on new MSTR shares has removed a significant automated buying mechanism, the market is not fully constrained. Today's US Crypto News highlights the ongoing tension between traditional finance and digital assets.

Today's crypto news: Max Keiser explains why the MSCI MSTR cap isn't what it seems

The blockchain security platform Cyvers detected a suspicious on-chain transfer related to the Truebit Protocol, which is estimated to have caused around a 26 million dollar loss.

Cyvers said that its real-time monitoring systems identified an unusual transfer, in which approximately 8,535 ETH was sent to a single address, which was marked on-chain as "Truebit Protocol: Purchase".

At current market prices, the value of this transfer is approximately 26 million dollars.

The first major hack of 2026?

Ethereum's price has pulled back after a steady recovery that began around mid-December. Although the price dropped over 4% in the past 24 hours, ETH is still up about 5% over the week and has remained largely unchanged over the past month. This sideways movement reflects markets stuck between buyers and sellers.

Recent rejection near the resistance level highlights this imbalance. Buyers attempt to step in, but fail to push the price through resistance. Ethereum is now at a critical point where one level could decide whether the pullback remains shallow or if declines deepen further.

The net assets of Solana ETFs in the United States surpassed the 1 billion dollar threshold at the beginning of 2026. However, the price of SOL has dropped by over 50% over the past year and is now trading at a level last seen two years ago. This outcome has likely been disappointing for many holders.

In addition to SOL ETFs, the Solana network has achieved several milestones that highlight its attractiveness to institutional investors. Yet, these advancements have not been sufficient to satisfy individual investors.

After a strong start in 2026, Ethereum (ETH) faces downward pressure, and its price has dropped nearly 3% over the past 24 hours.

Amid this, an analyst highlighted a crucial bear market signal that Ethereum must overcome before a confirmed rally above the $3,300 level becomes likely.

Ethereum faces a critical test as market conditions weaken

BeInCrypto Markets data showed that ETH ended 2025 down 10.9%. Nevertheless, green candles dominated the price action, especially at the beginning of the new year, when the altcoin surged 11.3% between January 1st and 6th.

Zcash's price has come under severe pressure due to internal turmoil within the core development team. The privacy-focused cryptocurrency experienced a sharp decline as confidence eroded.

At the same time, market behavior suggests a possible movement of capital from Zcash to Monero. This raises questions about whether XMR could benefit from ZEC's growing uncertainty.

Zcash developers are quitting

Electric Coin Company's CEO Josh Swihart confirmed that the entire ECC team resigned after they were effectively forced to leave ('constructive discharge'). The term refers to situations where working conditions change so drastically that employees have no realistic alternative but to resign.

Cryptocurrency crime reached record levels in 2025, with at least 154 billion dollars transferred to illicit addresses—a 162% increase from the previous year, according to a recent report by blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis.

Strong growth was primarily due to funds flowing 694% more than previously to entities targeted by sanctions. According to Chainalysis, this represents a new form of 'large-scale state-level activity' in the field of cryptocurrency crime.

Cybercriminals to national actors

Zcash's price has declined significantly, reinforcing the recent downward-sloping ascending channel formed over the past weeks. ZEC dropped sharply, erasing previous gains and shifting into a correction phase.

The decline points to rising liquidation risks, but blockchain data suggests that some investors are preparing for a potential deeper crash.

Zcash traders are under pressure

The data indicates increasing pressure from long position holders. The liquidation heatmap shows a dense cluster of long positions that could be liquidated between the current Zcash price and the $430 level. Trading activity in this area could lead to forced liquidations worth approximately $28.46 million.

As the United States considers creating a national strategic bitcoin reserve, Greenland emerges as an unexpected but potentially decisive factor.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet with Danish leaders next week. The meeting will reaffirm Washington's commitment to President Donald Trump's goal of gaining authority over the Arctic island.

Greenland offers a more practical bitcoin strategy than foreign reserves

Polymarket bettors are already placing wagers on different outcomes ahead of Rubio's meeting with Danish leaders. Supporters estimate the move could make the United States the dominant player in bitcoin mining.

The MSTR stock price has rebounded by about 13% since the beginning of January, as fears about MSCI delisting have eased. Confidence in a possible future inclusion in the S&P index has also helped stabilize the mood.

There is still a clear distribution visible in the data. Buyers after the drop are returning to MicroStrategy, but larger capital outflows are still ongoing. This tension raises an important question: Is buying during the drop, possibly by individual investors, the right strategy in this situation, or is MSTR still facing significant downward pressure?

Canton Coin is slipping at a critical juncture. The coin briefly returned to the consolidation zone of a bullish pattern, but over the past seven days, its price has corrected nearly 16% and is now about 22% below its recent peak, achieved just a week ago. The move has put the widely followed bullish structure under serious threat.

The overall picture still points to significant upside potential if conditions improve. However, weakening volume and capital flow suggest the breakout window may close sooner than expected.

As 'vibe coding' has gained traction within major technology companies, the phenomenon is rapidly spreading to cryptocurrency. This could fundamentally transform how Web3 projects are built, funded, and scaled.

Andrej Karpathy, former founder of OpenAI and former AI leader at Tesla, coined the term 'vibe coding' in early 2025. It refers to building software 'by feel.' It leverages natural language or voice commands with AI and requires minimal keyboard usage.

The entire Electric Coin Company (ECC) team, who have been the core developers of Zcash (ZEC), have left the company, claiming that Bootstrap pushed them out through constructive dismissal. Bootstrap is a nonprofit organization that oversees the company.

The crisis hit ZEC at a critical moment. This year, the privacy-focused cryptocurrency has faced market pressure. By 2026, the altcoin's price had dropped over 18%.

Governance conflict leads to ECC team departure

BNB has been one of the top-performing layer-1 altcoins in the market over the past year. Its ecosystem is tightly integrated with the massive user base of the world's largest crypto exchange, which could enable continued strong development for BNB.

Several chain-specific metrics and trading data suggest that despite market corrections, a steep drop in BNB is unlikely.

Three strong demand drivers supporting BNB's price in 2026

One of the most important indicators showing BNB's price stability is the average spot order size.

Bitcoin's recent price recovery proved short-lived, as the king of cryptocurrencies quickly returned to early January levels after a brief rally. This sudden shift has reignited concerns about market fragility.

The inability to sustain higher levels reflects ongoing uncertainty about whether the recovery truly marked a shift away from the previous bear market or was merely a temporary relief within a broader downtrend.

Bitcoin (BTC) experienced a short but sharp drop on Thursday, reaching a daily low of $89,641 before rebounding above $90,000.

This move highlights the ongoing volatility in the cryptocurrency markets, and millions of long positions were caught off guard, leading to their liquidation.

Bitcoin's price temporarily dropped below $90,000, liquidating $128 million in long positions

As of this writing, Bitcoin's price was $90,431, having briefly fallen below the psychological threshold of $90,000.

XRP has pulled back after last week's price rally, but the structure below the price level remains strong. A classic head and shoulders pattern is forming, and a predicted rise of about 34% would occur if XRP's price pattern unfolds with increasing buying demand.

Nevertheless, blockchain data indicates that not all buyers are the same. Some accumulation confirms breakout expectations, while other buying patterns increase short-term risks. The breakout potential exists, but the number of participants may determine whether XRP's price breaks through clearly or stalls again.

The crypto community is concerned about privacy as new crypto tax reporting frameworks come into effect in 2026 and regulatory oversight of digital asset activities increases globally.

A total of 48 countries have adopted the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) this year, and the European Union's DAC8 law has also come into effect.

Understanding CARF and DAC8

Background: The OECD has developed the CARF framework. This is a global tax transparency standard designed to ensure that tax authorities receive information on crypto-asset transactions in a standardized and automated manner, similar to how the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) operates in traditional financial accounts.