📈 Bitcoin Breakout Amid Growing Crypto Market Structure Turmoil

Things are starting to look good for Bitcoin but crypto market structure is facing headwinds in Washington D.C.

Jan 16, 2026

Hey Thinkers 💡

This was a great week for Bitcoin.

We finally saw real strength as BTC broke out from $90K to over $97K. As expected, price has pulled back slightly for a healthy retest of support — but make no mistake, this move is different. It’s clear we are in the midst of the next rally, and frankly… it’s about damn time.

Bitcoin has been lagging:

The stock market
Gold and silver
Global liquidity

For a while, it even felt like BTC had completely decoupled. That gap is now starting to close.

📊 Is This Rally Legit?

In short: yes, the data supports it.

🐋 Whales Are Accumulating

On-chain data from Santiment shows Bitcoin whales have increased accumulation, a pattern that has preceded every major rally in this cycle.

📈 Technicals Confirm Strength

Daily RSI → plenty of room to run before being overbought
Daily MACD → bulls firmly in control
Weekly MACD → bearish momentum is fading
USDT dominance → breaking down, mirroring previous bull-market rallies

These signals don’t guarantee anything — but they significantly raise probabilities.

❓ Relief Rally or New All-Time Highs?

This is the debate raging between bulls and bears right now.

🐂 Bull Case

Some bulls believe this is the start of a move to new all-time highs, with targets as high as $144,000. Structurally, that’s possible — higher lows remain intact after the Q4 2025 correction.

🌍 Macro Tailwinds

The macro backdrop supports higher prices:

Central banks (including the Fed) are back to Quantitative Easing
Global liquidity is rising again
Crypto legislation milestones are approaching
Trump wants markets strong heading into midterm elections

There are no guarantees — only probabilities. The market will ultimately decide which scenario plays out.

🧠 What About Altcoins?

If Bitcoin continues higher, altcoins will follow.
The key question is whether they can make new all-time highs, which depends on BTC’s trajectory.

🔍 A Very Bullish Signal

The Russell 2000 has started making new highs.

Think of the Russell as the altcoin sector of equities.

For altcoins, Ethereum serves as the benchmark:

We need to see ETH make new highs
That would be a major confirmation for a true altcoin rally

So far, the setup is constructive — but confirmation is still needed.

🏛️ Crypto Market Structure Bill Drama (CLARITY Act)

This week brought fresh uncertainty in Washington.

The Senate Banking Committee postponed a key vote on the CLARITY Act, following intense lobbying — particularly around stablecoin interest payments.

Key Developments:

Vote delayed by Chair Tim Scott to allow more negotiation
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong announced opposition, warning amendments could “kill rewards on stablecoins” and favor banks
Banking vs. crypto clash over whether stablecoin issuers can pay interest
Future uncertain, but lawmakers on both sides say they are committed to finding a path forward — likely pushing talks into February

This is a temporary setback, not the end of the bill — but it does inject short-term uncertainty.

🔥 Major Crypto News

🏦 State Street Launches Digital Asset Platform

State Street launched a new digital asset platform bridging TradFi and digital finance, offering:

Wallet management
Custody
Cash capabilities
Support for tokenized products across public and permissioned blockchains

🏛️ Standard Chartered Plans Crypto Prime Brokerage

Standard Chartered is preparing to launch a crypto prime brokerage housed within SC Ventures, expanding institutional access to digital assets.

📊 Nasdaq & CME Unify Crypto Indexes

Nasdaq and CME Group merged their crypto benchmarks, rebranding the Nasdaq Crypto Index as the Nasdaq-CME Crypto Index — a major step toward standardized institutional crypto benchmarks.

💳 BNY Introduces Tokenized Deposits

BNY launched tokenized deposit capabilities for institutional clients, mirroring deposits as on-chain digital entries while maintaining full regulatory compliance on a permissioned blockchain.

🏠 Crypto Recognized for Mortgage Qualification

Major U.S. lender Newrez will now recognize crypto assets for mortgage qualification — becoming the first top-25 mortgage lender to do so without requiring liquidation of digital assets.

This is a huge milestone for real-world crypto utility.

🧩 Final Thoughts

Bitcoin is finally catching up — technically, on-chain, and macro-wise.

Whales are accumulating
Liquidity is rising
Technicals are constructive
Institutions keep building

Whether this rally becomes simply a relief rally or a measured climb to new highs, one thing is clear:

👉 A strong rally is starting.

Stay patient. Stay data-driven.
The next phase is unfolding.

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📈Crypto Market Metrics

Here are some key data points from Santiment

Top 10 Coins Trending via Social Media

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