Cryptocurrency Market Update: Tariff Risks and Turbulent Economic Indicators

■ Bitcoin and Macro-Economic Trends

Bitcoin (BTC) fell about1.3% on Monday. This extended the slide that began late Sunday after President Trump announced additional tariffs, widening the loss.

Over the weekend, Trump signaled tariffs on eight European countries including EU member states, raising international tensions significantly.

In response, emergency meetings were convened across Europe, discussions on countermeasures (retaliatory tariffs) resurfaced. The international community has voiced unusually unified criticism of this unpredictable trade policy.

※Based on the current situation as of January 2026 (news), the exact state is as follows.

Targets: Denmark, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, Norway 8 countries.
Reason: Retaliation for these countries opposing the proposed “Greenland Purchase,” which involved dispatching troops to the region.
Content: A coercive move to raise tariffs to 10% from February 1 and 25% from June.

Meanwhile, attention is also on U.S. judicial rulings. The U.S. Supreme Court today decided not to issue the long-awaited ruling on the legality of Trump’s tariffs.

As a result, the scheduled ruling has been postponed for the third time in a row. In response, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stated that “the Supreme Court is unlikely to rule tariffs unconstitutional,” maintaining expectations that a ruling will be issued soon.

In the Predictive Market PolyMarket, the probability that the Supreme Court will support Trump’s tariffs is estimated at about32%, reflecting divergent views among market participants.

◯Market Sentiment and Asset Class Reactions

Geopolitical risk has risen, leading investors to a notable move toward “safe assets (risk-off).” Gold and silver hit new highs on Monday. In contrast, U.S. stock futures opened lower, suggesting this week could begin very volatile ahead of major corporate earnings season.

The current Bitcoin Fear & Greed Index is “32: Fear.” As of January 15, it had temporarily risen to “60: Greed

The top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap broadly declined today by2–3%.

· Ethereum (ETH): traded above $3,300 late last week, but today fell about3.2% to around $3,215. However, on a weekly basis it remains up nearly4%.

· Solana (SOL) and Dogecoin (DOGE): among the top 10, today took the largest hit, both down about6% in the last 24 hours.

· Overall market cap: Reflecting broad weakness, today’s market cap declined by2.6%, approximately3 trillion2,300 billion USD in scale.

■ Sector Performance: Gaming- and Metaverse-Related Breakout

Despite overall market softness, the gaming and metaverse sector (+11.3%) led weekly performance.

· Axie Infinity (AXS): surged about90%

week-over-week, driving the sector.· The Sandbox (SAND) and Decentraland (MANA): each rose around20%, recapitulating the metaverse boom of 2021.

The surge in Axie Infinity is linked to a panel discussion on January 13, where co-founders announced a plan to shift the reward structure to a tokenized form of profit sharing (fromAXS as “app token version” (bAXS)).

Meanwhile, SAND and MANA’s gains appear to be driven less by specific fundamentals and more by sector-wide enthusiasm, i.e., beta (market correlation)-driven buybacks.

Major Topics and Institutional Investor Trends

■ Institutional Interest in Bitcoin

Traditional financial and public institutions are increasing investment in Bitcoin as a financial asset.

· Louisiana State Employees’ Retirement Fund: Managing assets of about$156 billion reports holding 10,790 shares of MicroStrategy (approx in value) in its portfolio. Public pensions are increasingly including Bitcoin-related assets in their portfolios. ※ MicroStrategy is the world’s largest Bitcoin holder. $3.2 million)

· Vanguard Group (Vanguard Group): A world-leading asset manager with about $12 trillion in assets under management disclosed purchasing $0.5 billion in MicroStrategy stock for the first time. Vanguard’s previously cautious stance toward crypto has sent a powerful shock through the market.

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Virtual Currency Market Analysis [January 20]