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"Shark Tank" investor Kevin O'Leary has adjusted his cryptocurrency strategy, shifting towards energy infrastructure, stating that power generation is the real core value.

IOTA has increased real-world integration with live trade systems in Kenya and the UK, and talks are active in ASEAN countries. Deflationary fees, staking, and locked deposits make the IOTA token valuable as more trade volume is conducted on the public mainnet. IOTA has announced a detailed plan to bridge the entirety of the $35 trillion global trade economy to public blockchains with regulated, technology-neutral, and production-ready infrastructure. According to IOTA co-founder Dominik Schiener, the project’s approach focuses on tokenized assets, digital identities, and data integrity rather than the speculative aspects of crypto. This strategy, according to the IOTA Foundation, is already live across markets in Africa and Europe, and is expanding into Asia. IOTA’s network is now fully integrated with the Trade Worldwide Information Network (TWIN), a production-grade system operating on the IOTA Mainnet. It digitizes documents and secures trade data in real time. TWIN is currently live in Kenya, starting with flower exports and expanding to all commodities in 2026, as we reported. In the UK, over 2,000 poultry consignments between Poland and Britain have been recorded on the IOTA network, streamlining regulatory and customs procedures. https://t.co/wcpHOz85mP — Dominik Schiener (@DomSchiener) January 22, 2026 The IOTA token functions as a utility asset within this system. Every shipment creates around 26 transactions, and just 1% of the global trade market would generate over 650 million transactions yearly. IOTA Gains Ground in Africa and Eyes Expansion into ASEAN Region The ADAPT initiative is IOTA’s most ambitious deployment to date. Built in partnership with the AfCFTA Secretariat, the Tony Blair Institute, and the World Economic Forum, ADAPT aims to digitize trade infrastructure for 1.5 billion people in Africa by 2035. Border clearance times are expected to drop from 14 days to hours, while cross-border payment fees could drop by over 50%. As CNF described earlier, IOTA has rolled out RealFi solutions on its mainnet, such as the tokenization of EV chargers via its collaboration with Bolt Earth. The ecosystem is also growing, with applications like Salus (for mineral tokenization), Orobo (digital product passports), and ObjectID (verification for physical goods) now live.  Karen O’Brien, CMO at IOTA, commented, “Crypto doesn’t win by speculation; it wins by solving real economic problems.”  She added that IOTA’s focus on trade, identity, and tokenized assets is building a trust layer that governments actually use. Meanwhile, adoption across Southeast Asia is beginning to accelerate. According to Salima, IOTA’s negotiations with several ASEAN countries are entering advanced stages. Regulatory frameworks are being finalized, with some nations already preparing formal agreements. Although progress is fragmented, momentum is building.  Salima also pointed out that the collective 650 million inhabitants of the region and developed tokenization law make ASEAN an ideal target of onchain trade infrastructure. At the network level, IOTA has kept on improving its architecture towards long term scalability and security. In the transition to a Move-based Layer 1 in 2025, as described by CNF, it also implemented deflationary tokenomics, burning fees on all transactions, and token deposits are required to store digital assets. Combined with an 11% APY staking reward and enterprise accumulation, this structure is designed to reinforce $IOTA’s long-term utility as adoption scales. However, the IOTA price has continued to move in the red zone after failing to breach the resistance at $0.090 . At press time, the IOTA price was trading at $0.08901 a 2.3%  decline.

Hedera becomes the official partner of McLaren F1 and Arrow McLaren IndyCar in a multi-year agreement. McLaren will release free-to-claim F1 weekend digital collectibles on Hedera and bring back IndyCar collectibles in 2026. McLaren Racing has signed a multi-year partnership with the Hedera Foundation, naming Hedera as an Official Partner of the McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team and the Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team. The agreement centers on using Hedera’s public network to support officially licensed digital activations designed for motorsport fans. Under the partnership, McLaren Racing plans to link on-track moments with Web3-based experiences built on Hedera. The companies said the focus is on delivering digital engagement products that can be accessed by both established Web3 users and fans who are new to blockchain-enabled experiences. On track 🤝 on-chain. Proud to announce a multi-year partnership with McLaren Racing — Hedera is now an Official Partner of the @McLarenF1 Team and @ArrowMcLaren IndyCar Team. What’s coming: free-to-claim digital collectibles + new fan experiences built on Hedera’s trusted… pic.twitter.com/yHldm8sElS — Hedera (@hedera) January 22, 2026 Hedera branding will appear across multiple assets in both series. For Formula 1, branding is set to feature on the McLaren Mastercard F1 Team car and on driver race suits. For IndyCar, Hedera branding will be displayed on the No. 6 and No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolets, as well as on the Arrow McLaren team kit. Hedera’s Digital Collectibles and Fan Activations McLaren Racing’s initial use case on Hedera will be a digital collectibles program. The team said it intends to release free-to-claim collectibles during Formula 1 Grand Prix weekends, giving fans recurring opportunities to collect officially licensed items tied to the race calendar. The partnership also includes the return of Arrow McLaren IndyCar digital collectibles for the 2026 season. McLaren Racing and Hedera stated that these collectibles will be motorsport-themed and will incorporate additional elements such as prizes and incentives that connect to the fan program. McLaren Racing and Hedera said the digital collectibles will serve as a foundation for continued development. The approach is intended to connect physical race environments with digital engagement tools. Information and community access for the program will be available through McLaren Racing’s Discord server. McLaren said the channel is intended to support participation for fans regardless of prior experience with Web3 products. CEO of HBAR, Charles Adkins, said,  Working with one of the world’s most recognized sports brands is a big step for the Hedera ecosystem. It gives us a chance to show what Web3 can look like when it’s built on a network people can trust. Additionally, CNF previously outlined that Hedera is being adopted in sports-related Web3 programs aimed at improving how fans access verified digital experiences. The MINGO Tickets rollout follows that trend, using Hedera-backed verification to support ticketing across multiple African markets. At the time of writing, HBAR price was trading at $0.1081 , with a market cap of $4.64 billion and a 24-hour trading volume of $115.17 million.