Hey folks,
Welcome back to your weekly snapshot of crypto insights, where we cover major trends, market moves, policy shifts, and must-know developments from the crypto space.
Crypto markets started 2026 on a firmer footing, with Bitcoin breaking above $93K on improving sentiment, solid spot ETF inflows, and a short-led liquidation reset. Ethereum followed with a steady recovery above $3,000, while memecoins led risk-on momentum, posting sharp weekly gains.
Meanwhile, Tether added more BTC to reserves, stablecoin liquidity increased on Solana, crypto card usage surged, and tokenized equities hit new highs. Here's your quick dive into the week that was and the future that's unfolding.
Bitcoin breached $93K for the first time in nearly three weeks as market sentiment improved heading into the new year. The move was supported by strong spot ETF inflows, with $471 million added on Friday alone. Price action was also amplified by a liquidation-driven reset, with roughly $180 million in futures positions wiped out by yesterday afternoon, mostly shorts, forcing buybacks as BTC pushed above $91K and momentum carried it further higher.
Political headlines from Venezuela added a short-term volatility trigger, prompting traders to reduce downside exposure rather than signaling a fundamental shift. Holding BTC around $93K keeps the market constructive and supports a gradual upside bias. Overall, BTC remains in a clear short-term uptrend, forming higher highs and higher lows, with $91K as key support and $94K–95K as the next upside zone.
ETH staged a steady recovery over the past week, climbing from the $2,930–2,950 range to trade above $3,150, marking a shift in short-term momentum. After consolidating through late December, ETH broke higher, with follow-through buying briefly pushing the price toward $3,200. Pullbacks have been shallow and quickly absorbed, pointing to dip-buying. The move coincided with broader risk-on sentiment across crypto and strength in BTC, helping ETH reclaim the psychologically important $3,000 level.
In the broader market, large-cap memecoins kicked off the year with sharp gains, leading overall performance. PEPE surged 62.8% over the past seven days, while BONK rose 46%, and DOGE gained 18.6%. This reinforces a familiar pattern where memecoins lead during short risk-on bursts as traders rotate into higher-volatility assets, following months of consolidation and heavy downside pressure after the October 2025 liquidation event.
On the macro and infrastructure front, Tether added 8,888 BTC using Q4 profits, reinforcing its long-term strategy of systematically accumulating bitcoin from stablecoin-generated earnings rather than market timing or leverage.
Finally, the tokenized equities market hit a new all-time high of $1.2 billion in market value, highlighting growing demand for blockchain-based access to traditional stocks and the deepening overlap between crypto and legacy finance.
The overall crypto market cap is up by 1.39% in the last 24 hours, led by continued strength in BTC and ETH. In the altcoin sector, memecoins led the way, with DOGE, SHIB, and PEPE among the top gainers.
Weekly price movement:
BTC $92,411 ⏫ 3.3% (1W)
ETH $3,157 ⏫ 4.94% (1W)
DOGE $0.14 ⏫ 17.86% (1W)
SHIB $0.000008 ⏫ 16.18% (1W)
PEPE $0.000006 ⏫ 61.56% (1W)
(All data here as of 2:30 p.m., 5 January 2026)
Before we conclude, here’s a quick look at some important news from around the crypto world.
The CoinMarketCap Crypto Fear and Greed Index, a metric tracking crypto investor sentiment, flipped to “neutral” on Jan. 4 for the first time since October, signaling that investor sentiment is improving. The index is at 40, signaling that investors are no longer fearful, but they are not bullish on the crypto market either. The Index recorded its lowest sentiment reading of 2025 in November, when it hit 10, indicating “extreme fear,” according to CoinMarketCap.
Stablecoin transfer volume on Ethereum surpassed $8 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2025, marking a new all-time high, reported Token Terminal on Jan. 5. The $8 trillion milestone is almost double the transfer volume figure for the second quarter, which was just over $4 trillion, according to the chart. Stablecoin issuance on Ethereum increased by around 43% in 2025, from $127 billion to $181 billion by year’s end, according to BlockWorks.
That’s it for now. Thanks for sticking around.
See you later, folks! 👋