Markets
Share this article

U.S. inflation report, BNB Smart Chain’s hard fork: Crypto Week Ahead

Your look at what's coming in the week starting Jan. 12.

By Francisco Rodrigues, Siamak Masnavi|Edited by Sheldon Reback
Jan 12, 2026, 10:03 a.m.
Stylized BNB token logo (Midjourney/Modified by CoinDesk)
(Midjourney/Modified by CoinDesk)

What to know:

You are reading Crypto Week Ahead: a comprehensive list of what's coming up in the world of cryptocurrencies and blockchain in the coming days, as well as the major macroeconomic events that will influence digital asset markets. For an updated daily email reminder of what's expected, click here to sign up for Crypto Daybook Americas. You won't want to start your day without it.

The most influential economic report of the week comes Tuesday, when U.S. consumer inflation data are published. Prices are estimated to have increased 2.7% in December, the same pace the previous month.

That's the same day BNB Smart Chain activates its Fermi hard fork. The upgrade focuses on making the network faster and more responsive, cutting block times by 40%.

STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
By signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk products and you agree to our terms & conditions and privacy policy.

What to Watch

(All times ET)

  • Crypto
    • Jan. 13, 1 p.m.: Hedera (HBAR) to upgrade its mainnet to v0.68.
    • Jan. 13, 9:30 p.m.: BNB Smart Chain’s Fermi hard fork upgrade activates, reducing block times to 450 ms from 750 ms.
    • Jan. 14, 2 a.m.: Mantle (MNT) mainnet upgrade (v.1.4.2) is focused on supporting all features of Ethereum’s Fusaka upgrade.
    • Jan. 15 (est.): RVN$0.006249 second block‑reward halving at block 4,200,000, cutting the mining reward from 2,500 RVN to 1,250 RVN per block.
    • Jan. 15: U.S. Senate Banking Committee markup on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act.
  • Macro
    • Jan. 13, 8:30 a.m.: U.S. Dec. consumer price inflation. Headline rate YoY Est. 2.7%, MoM Est. 0.3%; Core rate YoY Est. 2.7%, MoM Est. 0.3%.
    • Jan. 14, 8:30 a.m.: U.S. Nov. PPI. Headline rate YoY Est. 2.7%, MoM Est. 0.3%; Core rate YoY Est. 2.7%, MoM Est. 0.2%.
    • Jan.15, 8:30 a.m.: U.S. Jobless Claims. Initial (for week ended Jan. 10) (Prev. 208K); Continuing (for week ended Jan. 3) (Prev. 1914K).
  • Earnings (Estimates based on FactSet data)
    • Nothing scheduled.

Token Events

  • Governance votes & calls
    • Rari DAO is voting on a proposal to transfer some 24 ETH from the DAO treasury to a foundation-controlled multisig for conservative staking. The initiative aims to generate yield on idle assets while maintaining full ETH exposure. Voting ends Jan. 11.
    • Extra Finance DAO is voting on the distribution of lending emissions for Epochs 131 to 134. veEXTRA holders will use a weighted voting system to allocate rewards across eligible Base chain pools. Voting ends Jan. 12.
    • Treehouse DAO is voting on implementing mesh bridging for its assets via Chainlink CCIP. This update will allow direct transfers between all supported chains, removing the need to route transactions through Ethereum. Voting ends Jan. 12.
    • Usual DAO is voting on the acquisition of Fira, a fixed-rate lending infrastructure developed by Usual Labs, for $1.72 million. Voting ends Jan. 13.
    • Moons Governance is voting on building a DAO-operated MOON bridge between Arbitrum One and Nova. Voting ends Jan. 13.
    • Aave DAO is voting on a governance update requiring proposers to explicitly signal readiness before a third party can trigger a vote. Voting ends Jan. 12.
    • CoW DAO is voting to renew its Grants Program for 2026, allocating 500,000 xDAI and remaining COW reserves. Voting ends Jan. 15.
  • Unlocks
    • Jan. 11: Aptos APT$1.2448 to unlock 0.7% of its circulating supply worth $20.47 million.
    • Jan. 13: CHEEL$0.4607 to unlock 2.78% of its circulating supply worth $11.71 million.
    • Jan. 15: Connex CONX$13.43 to unlock 1.59% of its circulating supply worth $21.16 million.
    • Jan. 15: Starknet STRK$0.05652 to unlock 4.83% of its circulating supply worth $10.6 million.
    • Jan. 16: Arbitrum ARB$0.1369 to unlock 1.86% of its circulating supply worth $19.29 million.
    • Jan. 17: DeBridge DBR$0.01665 to unlock 14.81% of its circulating supply worth $11.1 million.
    • Jan. 18: Official Trump TRUMP$4.1403 to unlock 11.95% of its circulating supply worth $268.5 million.
    • Jan. 18: Ondo ONDO$0.2778 to unlock 57.23% of its circulating supply worth $785.96 million.
  • Token Launches
    • Jan. 13: Fogo’s token generation event occurs.
    • Jan. 13: Recall’s token airdrop claiming period ends.
    • Jan. 15: KUBChain’s inaugural KUB token burn occurs.
    • Jan. 15: Mantra’s OM migration period to the MANTRA Chain ends.

Conferences

MarketsMacroFinanceweek ahead