Based on monthly return data from Coinglass, Bitcoin is set to finish January 2026 down 10.17% after briefly topping $97,000, while February 2026 is tracking a 12.12% decline following a drop to $60,000. If March 2026 also closes negative, it would mark six straight red months, exceeding the five-month stretch recorded in 2018.

SBI Holdings CEO Yoshitaka Kitao said the firm does not hold $10 billion in XRP, correcting a social media claim and highlighting its more than 9% equity stake in Ripple Labs. On Friday, SBI announced a majority acquisition of Singapore's Coinhako, a MAS-licensed exchange. Recent private market reports value Ripple at around $50 billion, implying approximately $4.5 billion for SBI's stake.

Ripple CTO Emeritus David Schwartz stated on X that native XRP has no issuer and that the XRP Ledger's XLS-39 "clawback" does not apply to XRP itself. The remark followed a post from the Global Trade Finance (GTF) aggregator claiming its VC wallet was compromised by a "fake NFT offer" and "XRP Voucher Scam," affecting a major LP holder.

A recent update from 10x Research links Bitcoin's sharp fall from $90,000 to $60,000 within a few weeks to heavy institutional flows and unwinding of structured positions. The firm highlighted unusually high trading volumes in BlackRock's IBIT ETF and concentrated Asian-session gains, which have fueled market speculation about distress at a multi-billion-dollar hedge fund based in Hong Kong, while cautioning against blaming a single entity.

On Feb. 5, on-chain data cited by CryptoQuant showed cryptocurrency investors locking in $3.2 billion in realized losses within 24 hours, placing the sell-off among Bitcoin's top 3–5 historical loss events. The downturn follows a week of average daily realized losses of $2.3 billion and comes as Standard Chartered warns Bitcoin could fall toward $50,000 and Ether to $1,400 amid a weakening macro backdrop.

On Thursday, Monness, Crespi, Hardt issued a rare double downgrade on Coinbase Global Inc., cutting the leading U.S. crypto exchange's stock directly from "Buy" to "Sell." The firm expects prolonged crypto market weakness to persist for more than a year and has lowered its forecasts for Coinbase's revenue, EBITDA and EPS, even after the share price has already fallen about 50%. Additional downgrades and reduced price targets from other Wall Street analysts have deepened concerns over Coinbase's valuation and future performance.

Gold proponent and long-time Bitcoin critic Peter Schiff forecasts that Bitcoin could drop toward $10,000 and suspects that support at that price may not hold. He also argues that MicroStrategy would struggle if Bitcoin fell to $8,000 over the next four years and criticizes major financial TV networks for what he views as overly bullish Bitcoin coverage.

Bitcoin briefly rallied around 13:30 after the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its delayed January jobs report, touching roughly $67,400 before easing. The NFP showed 130,000 jobs added versus a 65,000–75,000 consensus, and unemployment dipped to 4.3%. A separate benchmark revision removed 898,000 jobs between April 2024 and March 2025.

BitMEX Research has outlined a post-quantum recovery plan for Bitcoin that would address coins held in legacy addresses at risk from quantum attacks. The proposal suggests a potential soft fork to freeze vulnerable funds, paired with quantum-safe recovery transactions using hash commitments or zero-knowledge proofs. The plan also covers high-risk legacy holdings, including early coins such as those attributed to Satoshi Nakamoto, via a "Pre-QDay Commitment" mechanism.