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26 Jan 2026, 18:47
Will Winter Storms Deter the Crypto Legislation?
Bitcoin lingers below $88,000 as gold and silver set new records. A winter storm delayed cryptocurrency law hearings in the Senate. Continue Reading: Will Winter Storms Deter the Crypto Legislation? The post Will Winter Storms Deter the Crypto Legislation? appeared first on COINTURK NEWS .
26 Jan 2026, 18:45
Oracle doubles job forecast for New Mexico AI data center to 1,500 permanent positions
div]:bg-bg-000/50 [&_pre>div]:border-0.5 [&_pre>div]:border-border-400 [&_.ignore-pre-bg>div]:bg-transparent [&_.standard-markdown_:is(p,blockquote,h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6)]:pl-2 [&_.standard-markdown_:is(p,blockquote,ul,ol,h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6)]:pr-8 [&_.progressive-markdown_:is(p,blockquote,h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6)]:pl-2 [&_.progressive-markdown_:is(p,blockquote,ul,ol,h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6)]:pr-8"> _*]:min-w-0 gap-3 standard-markdown"> Oracle says a big artificial intelligence data center going up in New Mexico will create twice as many permanent jobs as the company first thought, 1,500 positions once construction wraps up. The company put out the revised numbers Friday. Executive Pradeep Vincent wrote on LinkedIn that the project “will deliver high-quality jobs, sustainable infrastructure, and long-term economic benefits to Doña Ana County.” It’s part of a broader trend. Data centers have gone from being relatively uncontroversial to facing real opposition from communities. People living near these facilities and their local representatives worry the power-hungry operations will jack up electricity bills, drain water supplies, and won’t create many jobs after they’re built. Tech companies have fought back with PR campaigns featuring TV commercials, studies that claim their facilities aren’t driving up costs, and promises they won’t harm local areas. Oracle’s site goes by “Project Jupiter” and sits just a few miles north of the border with Mexico. It’s tied to a massive contract between Oracle and OpenAI called Stargate. Local protesters have focused mostly on what it might do to the environment. The company got tax incentives and government-backed bonds to help pay for it. Company addresses environmental concerns Oracle tried to ease the concerns. The data center will use about as much water as an office building, the company said, because the liquid cooling the servers gets reused over and over. It’ll run entirely on gas generators sitting on the property instead of tapping into the public power grid, which Oracle says means “no impact to rate payers.” The company also plans to pay hundreds of millions to the county for schools and water systems. The new mexico project isn’t happening in isolation Last September, OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank announced five new AI data center sites around the country, including this one. Put together, they’re supposed to have nearly 7 gigawatts of capacity and represent over $400 billion in investment. Another site near Milwaukee is being developed by OpenAI, Oracle, and Vantage. That one’s a nearly 1-gigawatt campus with four buildings expected to bring more than 4,000 construction jobs and over 1,000 permanent positions. Microsoft’s been busy too , linking data centers in Wisconsin and Atlanta with fiber-optic cables. The company calls it an “AI Superfactory”, basically a networked system for training AI models. Don’t just read crypto news. Understand it. Subscribe to our newsletter. It's free .
26 Jan 2026, 18:30
Bitmine Scoops up 40,302 Ethereum, Pushing ETH Stack to 4.243M Tokens
Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) has taken another oversized step into the crypto treasury race, revealing ethereum holdings that now rival sovereign-scale balance sheets. Bitmine Ramps up Ethereum Accumulation Bitmine said on Monday that its ethereum ( ETH) holdings have climbed to 4.243 million tokens, helping lift total crypto and cash assets to $12.8 billion as
26 Jan 2026, 18:30
The Senate Agriculture Committee has postponed its markup hearing on crypto market structure
The Senate Agriculture Committee has postponed its markup hearing on crypto market structure from Tuesday to Thursday due to the winter storm that hit much of the US over the weekend. A once-in-a-decade winter storm struck the East Coast and much of the eastern half of the country over the weekend, canceling flights and changing the Senate’s schedule. The committee intended to let lawmakers debate amendments and vote on its version of the bill. 🚨JUST IN: The @SenateAg Committee has rescheduled its crypto market structure markup for 10:30 a.m. Thursday. pic.twitter.com/xjBLGqGVfM — Eleanor Terrett (@EleanorTerrett) January 26, 2026 The bill aims to define the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s oversight of crypto markets. The Agriculture Committee was expected to produce a more bipartisan effort that would prove less contentious than the Banking Committee draft. Industry backs crypto bill text, opposes Credit Card Competition Act The first sign of trouble came earlier last week, when several people said they feared the bill would be partisan; only Republican committee members are publicly supporting it. This risked its passage through the Senate. Committee Chair John Boozman also said in a statement last week that he and his negotiating counterpart, Democratic Senator Cory Booker, were unable to reach an agreement on the text due to “fundamental differences in policy.” Late Friday, Democrats and a few Republicans filed several proposed amendments to be debated on Tuesday, Cryptopolitan reported . They included the bipartisan Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA) from Sens. Roger Marshall, Dick Durbin, and Peter Welch. The law would require large banks to allow at least 2 unaffiliated networks, in addition to Visa and Mastercard, on credit cards, giving merchants more choice in how transactions are processed. The amendments also demanded provisions requiring ethics commitments from senior government officials and strong language requiring regulatory agencies to be helmed by bipartisan commissions. The industry itself has been largely supportive of the latest text, released last Wednesday. They praised it for protecting non-custodial software developers and infrastructure providers by limiting control to intermediaries rather than protocols or users. However, they worry that attaching an unrelated piece of legislation, such as CCCA, to an already complex bill could make members less likely to support it. The Senate Banking Committee, which also needs to pass market structure legislation, postponed its own hearing on its version of the bill earlier this month. According to reports, the White House and committee members wanted the crypto industry and the banking lobby to resolve their stablecoin yield issues before they pick the effort back up. However, unlike the Agriculture Committee, it has not yet set a new date. The SEC and CFTC also postponed a planned joint press appearance planned for Tuesday to Thursday at 2:00 p.m. ET. The US government will run out of funding on Friday . The House of Representatives rushed a funding package through on Thursday and sent it to the Senate, but the Senate still needs to vote on this package before the deadline. Benchmark warns that US crypto valuations are at risk Benchmark, a Wall Street brokerage firm, has warned that failure to pass a comprehensive crypto market structure bill could limit US crypto valuations. The absence of clear regulatory frameworks is expected to maintain a regulatory risk premium, which could favor Bitcoin-centric investments, robust balance sheets, and cash flow-generating infrastructure. However, this situation may leave exchanges, altcoins, and decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms facing structural constraints due to their sensitivity to regulatory changes. According to analysts, DeFi and smart contract platforms are particularly vulnerable, whereas Bitcoin, miners, and energy-supported infrastructure face less risk. Meanwhile, the crypto market is steady, with a 0.13% gain to a market cap of $2.96 trillion. However, the fear and greed index has been constrained at 29, which is in fear territory. If you're reading this, you’re already ahead. Stay there with our newsletter .
26 Jan 2026, 18:28
Carry trades in emerging markets up in 2026, as currencies hit multi-year highs
People who moved their money from the dollar into emerging market currencies are seeing strong profits at the start of 2026, and financial experts at major banks think this winning streak will keep going after last year’s impressive gains. These investment approaches, known as carry trades, have already climbed 1.3% in 2026. A Bloomberg index that tracks returns from eight emerging markets shows these strategies are continuing their momentum from 2023, when they jumped 18%, the best performance since 2009. Carry trades work by buying currencies from countries with high interest rates using borrowed money from countries where borrowing costs are cheaper. On Monday, the Bloomberg index stood above 291, coming within 5% of the record set back in 2011. Currencies ranging from South Africa’s rand to Colombia’s peso are trading at their highest levels in years. Analysts at Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Corp., and Citigroup Inc. all expect these gains to continue building. Beyond just currency values going up, these strategies are also making money because real interest rates remain high across the developing world. High interest rates drive strategy success Central banks in many emerging countries are only slowly cutting interest rates, even though inflation numbers show prices are rising more slowly. “For carry trades, we are looking at countries where monetary policy is tight and central banks are considered credible,” said James Lord, who leads emerging market strategy at Morgan Stanley. He pointed to Brazil’s real, Turkey’s lira, and the Czech koruna as his top picks for 2026. Latin American currencies are doing particularly well. Brazil’s real has already delivered returns of 4.3% so far this year, adding to last year’s gain of 23.5%. The country keeps interest rates at 15% even though inflation has moved closer to what the central bank wants. Citi strategists are also suggesting investors buy the real against the dollar, along with the Turkish lira. However, not all emerging currencies are succeeding. As reported by Cryptopolitan previously, India’s rupee, which was the worst performer last year, continues to lose ground with a drop of about 2% in carry trade terms this year. Indonesia’s rupiah has also caused losses for investors. The Bloomberg index shows the record year for carry strategies was 2003, with a 25% return. For investors to see similar big gains this time, the dollar needs to keep weakening, and emerging currency swings must stay small. Traders are watching JPMorgan Chase & Co’s volatility gauge closely, which hit a three-week high recently after a long period of calm. President Donald Trump’s policies are playing a major role in pushing down the dollar’s value. Recently, Trump threatened to impose 10% tariffs on European countries in a dispute over Greenland, which rattled markets and added to concerns about the dollar. Financial markets see this as increasing political risk around the US currency. Dollar’s reserve currency status under question There are also growing worries about the dollar’s position as the world’s main reserve currency. With US policy becoming less predictable, European Union countries that hold $8 trillion in US assets may have leverage in trade disputes. Trump’s tariffs represent the biggest US tax increase since 1993 , equal to 0.55% of the country’s economic output, according to analysts. Fears of a wider trade war are building as these policies take shape. Bank of America strategist Alex Cohen thinks carry trades will keep doing well, but only if market volatility stays low. “That’s a big ‘if’ as we sit here today,” Cohen said, pointing to possible conflicts around the world that could shake things up. Despite these risks, the current environment of high emerging market interest rates combined with dollar weakness continues to favor investors willing to take on emerging market currencies. Whether this trend can match the historic returns of 2003 remains uncertain, but major banks are betting the conditions are in place for continued gains throughout 2026. Emerging markets have shown surprising strength against expectations that trade tensions would hurt them most. With central banks in developing countries maintaining credibility and keeping tight monetary policy, the fundamentals appear solid for now. However, any sudden spike in volatility or major geopolitical event could quickly reverse these gains. The success of carry trades in 2026 will depend on whether the current calm in currency markets can hold, and whether Trump’s unpredictable policy moves continue to weaken the dollar without triggering a broader financial crisis. The smartest crypto minds already read our newsletter. Want in? Join them .
26 Jan 2026, 18:06
Mark Zuckerberg to testify, Snap settles as teen addiction case heads to court
Three of the world’s biggest social media companies will face a jury this week as they defend allegations that their platforms have contributed to mental health problems among young users, marking the first time such claims will be tested in a courtroom. The trial opens in California Superior Court in Los Angeles County, where a 19-year-old California woman known as K.G.M. has brought claims against Meta Platforms, TikTok and YouTube. Court documents show she argues the companies built their platforms with features designed to capture attention, which she says led to addictive use starting when she was young. The woman claims this use contributed to depression and thoughts of suicide. First test of legal claims against platforms According to Matthew Bergman, the lawyer representing K.G.M., this marks the first time these technology companies will have to answer for alleged harms in court. “They will be under a level of scrutiny that does not exist when you testify in front of Congress,” Bergman told Reuters. The case is one of multiple lawsuits expected to reach trial this year involving what lawyers are calling addiction to social media among children. The jury hearing the case will weigh whether the companies acted carelessly in offering products that damaged K.G.M.’s mental wellbeing. Jurors must also consider whether her platform use played a major role in her depression, or whether other factors, such as content created by third parties that she saw on the apps, or circumstances in her offline life, were more significant causes. Clay Calvert, who works as a media lawyer at the American Enterprise Institute, a think tank that generally supports business interests, described the proceedings as “really a test case.” He said the trial will reveal how legal theories holding social media platforms responsible for user harm hold up in court. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is scheduled to appear as a witness. Lawyers for Meta told Reuters before the trial that the company plans to argue its products were not responsible for K.G.M.’s mental health struggles. Snap’s CEO Evan Spiegel had also been expected to testify, as Snap was named in the lawsuit, but the company reached a settlement agreement with K.G.M. on January 20. A Snap representative would not discuss details of the settlement. YouTube plans to tell the court that its platform operates differently from social networks like Instagram and TikTok, and should not be grouped with them, according to a YouTube executive speaking ahead of the trial. TikTok did not provide information about its courtroom strategy. Companies launch public outreach efforts While preparing for trial, these same companies have been working across the country to persuade doubters that their platforms are appropriate for teenagers. They have rolled out tools they describe as giving parents greater oversight of their children’s platform use, and have put millions into promoting these features. Meta has been running workshops for parents focused on teen safety online at high schools throughout the United States since at least 2018. In 2024, the company held one such workshop called Screen Smart in Los Angeles. National PTA President Yvonne Johnson and Meta’s safety chief Antigone Davis participated. National PTA is a nonprofit organization focused on child welfare. TikTok has backed similar events through partnerships with 100 local and regional PTA groups under the name Create with Kindness, according to information on the company’s website. The program offered instruction on TikTok features for parents, including ways to restrict nighttime screen use, based on the program’s curriculum. Google, which owns YouTube, has worked with Girl Scouts in recent years as part of its public messaging about protecting children online. Girls can receive a patch displaying Google’s logo for their uniform after finishing lessons covering topics like creating secure passwords, treating others well online, and understanding digital privacy, per the Girl Scouts website. The companies have also brought on legal teams with experience defending corporations in major cases involving addiction. Meta retained lawyers from Covington & Burling who previously represented McKesson in widespread litigation connected to the opioid crisis, according to publicly available attorney biographies. TikTok’s legal team includes lawyers who represented Activision Blizzard and Microsoft in arguments about video game design and addiction. Julie Scelfo, who started Mothers Against Media Addiction, a group backing smartphone restrictions in schools, said the companies are deploying extensive influence campaigns. “These companies are using every lever of influence that you can imagine,” she said. “It can be very confusing for parents who to trust.” Don’t just read crypto news. Understand it. Subscribe to our newsletter. It's free .
