Crypto Markets Await Fed Decision as Bitcoin Slips Under $88K, While New Developments Emerge in Tokenized Equity and ETF Spaces

Cryptocurrency markets are bracing for the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy decision, with Bitcoin (BTC) slipping under the $88,000 mark on Tuesday morning, January 27. According to data from CoinDesk, BTC was trading around $87,640 at press time, little changed over the past 24 hours and down 3.5% on the week. Ethereum (ETH) edged 0.5% lower on the day, trading near $2,920, continuing to struggle to break back over the $3,000 mark. Market sentiment remains cautious, with the Crypto Fear & Greed Index still in the "fear" zone as traders wait for clearer macro and policy signals. On-chain data continues to point to a lack of conviction, with analysts at Glassnode noting that the 30-day simple moving average of net flows for both Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs remains negative, implying institutional demand has yet to recover. However, not all news is bearish. In the world of tokenized equity, TradeXYZ, Hyperliquid's leading real-world asset platform, has crossed new all-time highs in volume and open interest. The platform reached $1 billion in 24-hour volume and an all-time high of $790 million in open interest, up 200% over the last month. The breakout in volume and open interest comes as precious metals continue to rally, with the SILVER/USDC pair commanding $740 million in volume over the last day. In other news, Zama, a cryptography company building fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) tools for blockchain, raised $118.5 million in commitments through a public token auction on Ethereum. The auction, which ran from January 21 to January 24, attracted 11,103 unique bidders across Zama's auction app, KuCoin, and CoinList. The sale cleared at $0.05 and was oversubscribed by 218%. Meanwhile, investment giant VanEck launched a new exchange-traded fund (ETF) tied to Avalanche's native token AVAX on Monday, January 26. The VanEck Avalanche ETF (ticker: VAVX) aims to provide spot exposure to AVAX and may also generate staking rewards by staking a portion of the trust's holdings. This launch adds to a growing wave of crypto-linked ETFs in the U.S. since the start of 2024. On the regulatory front, a new report from Chainalysis highlights the growing issue of crypto money laundering activity. According to the report, Chinese-language networks now account for about one-fifth of the roughly $82 billion in crypto money laundering activity recorded in 2025. These networks, which largely operate across Telegram and affiliated "guarantee" platforms, processed an estimated 20% of illicit crypto flows over the past five years. The report notes that the expansion of these networks has far outpaced the growth of laundering routed through centralized exchanges or DeFi protocols. Chainalysis estimates that Chinese-language money laundering networks handled over $16 billion in 2025 alone, equivalent to roughly $44 million per day, across about 1,800 active wallets. As the cryptocurrency market continues to evolve, it's clear that there are both challenges and opportunities on the horizon. While investors await the Fed's policy decision, new developments in the tokenized equity and ETF spaces are generating excitement and growth. However, the issue of crypto money laundering activity remains a pressing concern that will need to be addressed by regulators and industry leaders in the coming months.