Crypto investigator ZachXBT came under fire for allegedly orchestrating a rug pull.
Vivek Ramaswamy has reportedly left his position as co-chair of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to run for Ohio governor.
Former President Donald Trump granted a full pardon to Ross Ulbricht, creator of the Silk Road marketplace.
David Balland, co-founder of Ledger, was kidnapped in France but has now been released.
Donald Trump signed an executive order banning a US CBDC while exploring a strategic Bitcoin reserve and stablecoin regulations.
Last week, ZachXBT was accused of orchestrating a rug-pull—one of the scams he had built a career out of exposing.
Another development also revealed that Vivek Ramaswamy, the speculative co-chair of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), had left the agency, leaving Elon Musk as the sole chair.
In other news, Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht walked free after receiving a presidential pardon from Donald Trump.
This came right around the time the US president signed an executive order banning a US CBDC and exploring the possibility of a strategic Bitcoin reserve within the country.
Finally, in the latest occurrence of crypto-related violence, Ledger co-founder David Balland was finally released after being kidnapped in France.
Here are some of the most significant updates in the Crypto industry from last week:
Last week, reports surfaced that Vivek Ramaswamy, a former presidential candidate and entrepreneur, will no longer co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with Elon Musk.
Instead, Ramaswamy is now reportedly opting to run for Ohio governor instead.
In an X post on 20 January, Ramaswamy stated, "It was an honor to help support the creation of DOGE." "I have no doubt that Elon and the group will be successful in simplifying government."
Ramaswamy’s farewell message
Meanwhile, Elon Musk and DOGE have come under fire on another front.
In an open letter to Elon Musk last week, US Senator Elizabeth Warren offered suggestions on how the US federal government should reduce wasteful spending.
In the short four-paragraph section titled "Cutting Waste and Abuse in the Federal Tax Code," Warren stated:
“I have very serious concerns about both the DOGE process and the policies that you have publicly discussed to date.
It is not clear that you and other DOGE leaders are able to identify and mitigate your conflicts of interest and adhere to common-sense ethics standards.”
As a result, the committee appears to be a venue for corruption.”
ZachXBT came under fire last week after being accused of planning and carrying out a rug pull.
This case is interesting because rug pulls happen to be one of the scams he had dedicated his professional life to exposing.
The investigator spent the last few years exposing con artists and assisting even governments to track down multimillion-dollar scams.
His findings have even been published on major websites, including a United Nations Security Council report on the growing threat presented by North Korean cybercriminals.
However, last week, the investigator raised concerns about the lack of financial incentives investigators received for their hard work.
In response, an anonymous developer created a ZACHXBT meme coin, giving him half of the supply.
Soon after, LookOnChain data showed that the investigator added liquidity to this memecoin before withdrawing $SOL worth $3.81 million—which crashed the token's value in a classic rug-pull scenario.
After this series of incidents, ZachXBT has been accused of pulling the rug from under investors in the Crypto community.
Others have defended him, however, stating that his work was completely voluntary and that he deserves some compensation.
Ross Ulbricht, who had been in prison for nearly 12 years for creating the Silk Road dark web marketplace, has now been fully pardoned by US President Donald Trump.
In a Truth Social post on 21 January, Trump stated, "I just called the mother of Ross William [Ulbricht] to let her know that in honor of her and the Libertarian Movement, which supported me so strongly, it was my pleasure to have just signed a full and unconditional pardon of her son, Ross."
Pardon for Ross Ulbricht
The president described Ulbricht's punishment of 40 years plus two life sentences as "ridiculous."
Ulbricht's creation of the Silk Road marketplace led to his arrest in 2013 and his 2015 life sentence without the possibility of release.
Releasing Ulbricht was one of Trump's many promises to the Crypto community during his presidential campaign.
Speaking of releases, Bloomberg received a statement from the Paris prosecutor's office last week.
This statement showed that David Balland, co-founder of the French Crypto hardware wallet service Ledger, was freed after being kidnapped a few days before.
Early on 21 January, Balland was kidnapped from his central French residence and was held captive until his release by a police operation on the evening of 22 January.
The kidnappers reportedly requested a crypto-based ransom in what appears to be the latest in a growing trend of crypto-related violence.
So far, Balland has returned to his family and is out of harm's way.
As many expected in his first days in office, US President Donald Trump has just signed his first executive order.
This order is massively important and could have a lasting impact on crypto consumers and industry executives.
According to the US AI and Crypto czar, David Sacks, in a televised speech from the Oval Office on 23 January, the order seeks to establish a working group to investigate the possibility of establishing a National Digital Assets Crypto Stockpile.
It also seeks to create a stablecoin regulatory framework and forbids "the establishment, issuance, circulation, and use" of a US central bank digital currency (CBDC).
In essence, this order aims to prevent the creation of a CBDC and promote the growth of the private Crypto sector within the country.
Notably, ordering the halt of a potential CBDC was one of Trump's campaign promises to the crypto industry during his presidential run.
This month we also saw massive whale accumulations in XRP, Ethereum and Solana.
All these altcoins are expected to rally in double digits soon. Major factors pushing these cryptocurrencies higher are a repeat of strong historical charts, technical analysis predictions, re-alignment of historical valuations, and many more.
After the incorporation of a Dogecoin Trust in the US by Bitwise, we saw the re-filing of four Solana ETFs by Cboe Exchange. Cboe re-filed the section 19b-4 form, which provides details of self-regulatory entities to the SEC regarding listing ETFs.
These ETFs were earlier rejected in 2024 by the then SEC Chief Gary Gensler. However, with a pro-crypto government and the new acting Chairman, Mark Uyeda, Solana and XRP ETFs now have the highest chance of approval.
Cboe is the same exchange that previously launched Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, which act as co-applicants.
Disclaimer: Voice of Crypto aims to deliver accurate and up-to-date information but will not be responsible for any missing facts or inaccurate information. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile financial assets, so research and make your own financial decisions.