W3LAB Crypto News IT and Marketing Agency

The classic “crypto winter,” previously triggered by internal shocks such as the collapse of FTX, has given way to a structural market split under pressure from external macro factors and regulation.
The current state of the crypto market shows that the industry is undergoing not just another cyclical downturn, but a fundamental structural transformation. As noted by Tiger Research analysts, while previous crises originated within the ecosystem itself, whether it was the Mt. Gox hack in 2014, the collapse of the ICO bubble in 2018, or the bankruptcy of FTX and the collapse of Terra (LUNA) in 2022, today the situation is different.
Experts believe that the current correction is caused by external macroeconomic factors, including the US Federal Reserve's monetary policy and geopolitical tensions around the world. Tiger's conclusion is that the current decline is not a “crypto winter” in the classic sense, but rather a new normal, where traditional patterns of market growth or decline have ceased to work.
The crypto market peaked in early October, when Bitcoin reached a record high of $126,200 and the total capitalization of cryptocurrencies reached $4.28 trillion. But shortly thereafter, the crypto market saw its largest liquidation of trading positions ever - nearly $20 billion in a single day. On October 11, cryptocurrency prices began to fall after US President Donald Trump announced a possible increase in tariffs on Chinese products imported into the US.
By February 5, the price of Bitcoin had plummeted to $70,000, and the market capitalization to $2.4 trillion. The dynamics of the decline in cryptocurrencies differed from the prices of precious metals, which reached record highs in early 2026. The indices of the largest US companies showed dynamics similar to those of precious metals.
Analysts understand the classic “crypto winter” model to mean the onset of an internal shock event (the Mt. Gox hack, the ICO bubble, the collapse of Terra and FTX), which instantly destroyed confidence in the industry and caused market participants to doubt the fundamental value of the technology. This crisis inevitably led to a mass exodus of investors, developers, and entrepreneurs to other areas, which exacerbated the situation.
Market segmentation
Although there are signs of a “crypto winter” speculative bubbles, including US President Donald Trump's memecoin (TRUMP), and shock liquidations amid news of US trade tariffs on China there is no internal crisis. Tiger also noted the development of certain sectors of the crypto economy, such as prediction markets, which, according to analysts, indicates not a collapse of the industry, but its adaptation to a changed external environment.
Experts cited regulation as the key factor that changed cryptocurrencies, splitting the blockchain market into three loosely connected segments:
The regulated zone, which includes bitcoin-based exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and tokenized assets (Real World Assets, RWA). This segment is characterized by stable but slow growth due to regulation.The unregulated zone, which includes memecoins and experimental protocols in the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector, as an area for high-risk speculation and innovation.The shared infrastructure, which includes stablecoins and oracles, providing connectivity between the separate zones.
This division has killed the familiar mechanism of capital flowing “top-down.” As Tiger points out, previously, the growth of the main cryptocurrency ensured the flow of liquidity into altcoins (cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin).
Conditions for growth
Analysts emphasize that capital coming through institutional ETFs now remains in Bitcoin and does not flow into other assets. To start the next bullish rally, we'll need to see a truly massive, useful product pop up in the unregulated zone and a major easing of global monetary policy.
In relation to the impact of global monetary policy, Tiger analysts cited the growth of the crypto market in 2020 against the backdrop of cash injections into the economy during the COVID pandemic (the so-called DeFi Summer). And the growth in 2024, against the backdrop of the launch of the first Bitcoin ETFs in the US, coincided with expectations of lower interest rates. Experts clarified that “no matter how well the crypto industry performs, it cannot control interest rates and liquidity.”
In the future, the unregulated zone will become more speculative, experts believe, due to low barriers to entry and the high speed of events: “Cases where there is a 100-fold increase in one day and a 90% drop the next day are becoming more common.”
“The time when everything grows simultaneously is unlikely to repeat itself due to market segmentation. The regulated zone is growing steadily, while the unregulated zone is either soaring or falling. The next bull market will definitely come, but it will not affect everyone,” the experts concluded.
The altcoin season is unlikely to happen again
By rally, Tiger experts mean the onset of altseason (altcoin season) - a slang term used by crypto traders to describe a market phase when alternative cryptocurrencies simultaneously begin to grow faster than Bitcoin. During such periods, capital flows from BTC to riskier coins that offer higher returns.
In past market cycles, including in 2017 and 2021, such phases were accompanied by rallies lasting several months, when many altcoins showed growth in the tens and even hundreds of times, significantly outperforming Bitcoin in terms of returns.
Other industry experts have made similar conclusions. For example, a report by Wintermute, a major market maker in the crypto market, states that liquidity has become more concentrated and is distributed unevenly.
Now, large volumes are concentrated in a smaller number of assets, which the market maker explained by the emergence of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and companies accumulating cryptocurrency as a reserve asset - these participants direct capital primarily to major tokens. Analysts noted that this has affected altcoins, whose price growth has slowed threefold in 2025 compared to 2024.
Delphi Digital analysts also pointed out that the period of massive altcoin growth (alt season) is coming to an end. They suggest that capital will be concentrated only in a narrow circle of projects with structural demand: tokens receiving inflows through ETFs, protocols with real revenue and token buyback programs (buybacks), as well as applications with a proven business model.
There are other opinions that describe the reasons for the lack of global market growth as a shift in investor focus from speculation to assets with clear use cases and a sustainable economy. This opinion was expressed by experts from the management company Grayscale.
#cryptowinter

The founder of Ethereum has declared the end of the era of second-layer networks, arguing that the original goals are now obsolete and that the Ethereum blockchain can now handle the load on its own.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin presented a radically new vision for Layer-2 (L2) projects, stating that their original mission to scale Ethereum is outdated. Buterin now proposes viewing L2 networks as a free market of experimental blockchains with varying degrees of connectivity to the “ether,” calling the previous concept “meaningless.”
Buterin reminded that true “Ethereum scaling” is not just about creating cheap transaction space, but also about ensuring complete security and guaranteeing decentralization. And if a fast and cheap blockchain is managed by a limited number of operators, it is not scaling “ether,” but a separate product. Buterin is referring to the fact that projects often use the brand of the main Ethereum blockchain but do not follow its roadmap.
But now, as Buterin writes, Ethereum no longer needs L2 as “branded” offshoots because the blockchain can handle it on its own. At the same time, according to his observations, the L2 teams themselves are not striving for or unable to achieve the degree of decentralization and security that was originally expected of them.
In recent months, Buterin has made many categorical statements and published various plans to improve Ethereum. In a recent post, he noted that developers “will no longer compromise” on privacy and decentralization in exchange for mass adoption.
Policy review
Interestingly, in 2021, Buterin called L2 solutions one of the key technologies for scaling Ethereum. His ideas were supported by many venture capital firms at the time. For example, Dan Morhead's Pantera Capital, the oldest American crypto fund, called L2 “an immediate and long-term solution to the growing congestion of the Ethereum network” at the end of 2021.
These plans were announced against the backdrop of rising transaction costs on the Ethereum blockchain itself. At that time, the cost of a typical asset transfer rarely fell below $3 per transaction, reaching hundreds of dollars at peak activity times. Under these conditions, an entire industry of L2 projects was born on the crypto market.
Despite what appears to be a narrow and complex market segment to an outside observer, Ethereum scaling projects have formed a huge sector. They include more than 130 projects with their own tokens, with a total capitalization of more than $8 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. They also have daily trading volumes exceeding $1 billion as of February 4. The largest include Mantle (MNT), Polygon (POL), Arbitrum (ARB), Stacks (STX), and Optimism (OP), which account for 65% of this market or more than $5.2 billion in capitalization.
At the height of the L2 hype, many crypto projects raised hundreds of millions for development. Polygon Labs alone raised $450 million in February 2022 at a valuation of $20 billion. Its main competitors, Optimism and Matter Labs (creators of the zkSync solution), raised $150 million and $200 million, respectively, from renowned venture capital funds.
However, over the years, interest in such solutions has cooled, and the value of most tokens in the sector has plummeted tenfold. In 2025 alone, their value fell by up to 90%, making them one of the worst investments of the past year.
Perhaps this negative trend confirms the thesis of Grayscale and other analysts who suggest that the market is shifting its focus from speculation to assets with clear use cases and a sustainable economy. After all, many of these blockchain networks generate revenues tens of thousands of times less than the capitalization of their native tokens.
L2 tokens themselves are often not technically involved in their own networks and are, in fact, a kind of indirect asset, the value of which reflects interest in the project as such.
New rules
In conclusion, Vitalik Buterin suggests that we should stop thinking of L2 networks as “Ethereum components under different brands” with all the expectations and obligations that come with it. Instead, it is better to view them as different types of networks with varying degrees of connection to Ethereum, the choice of which depends on specific tasks.
Thus, according to the co-founder of Ethereum, diversity and freedom of choice will replace a single standard. The community's task is not to restrict this experiment, but to create transparent rules and tools that will allow users to clearly understand what guarantees they can count on in each specific case. At the same time, Ethereum itself must remain the main and most reliable project in the ecosystem.
#ETH

Major investment company Galaxy expects the bearish trend for Bitcoin to continue, noting weak support at current levels and record outflows from exchange-traded funds.
With the exception of 2017, every time Bitcoin's price has fallen 40% from its historical high, it has been followed by a decline of more than 50% over the next three months. According to analysts at billionaire Mike Novogratz's investment company Galaxy, there is a high probability that the price of Bitcoin could fall even lower than these statistical values - down to $56,000 per coin.
After reaching a record high of $126,200 per Bitcoin (BTC) on October 6, 2025, the price fell by 40%: on February 2, the price of the cryptocurrency dropped to $74,500. If the price loses 50% of its peak, according to Galaxy's expectations, it will be around $63,000 per coin.
Among the main negative factors for the continuation of the bearish trend, Galaxy included the fact that Bitcoin was unable to strengthen its reputation as a hedging instrument against the devaluation of national currencies. Another factor is the stalled passage of the CLARITY Act, which, according to analysts, even if passed, “is more likely to benefit altcoins than Bitcoin.”
In addition, Galaxy noted the lack of clear signs of large-scale accumulation by major holders and negative dynamics in the Bitcoin-based exchange-traded fund (ETF) market. The last two weeks of January ranked second and third among the worst weeks in the history of Bitcoin ETFs, with a total capital outflow of $2.8 billion.
Based on capital inflows into ETFs, Galaxy calculated the average cost price of Bitcoin for funds from 2024, which is around $84,000. As experts pointed out, BTC has not traded below its average cost price since the summer and early fall of 2024, when the indicator was approximately 10% below the market price. The report suggests that this level could become a short-term support level for the Bitcoin exchange rate.
Bitcoin price levels
Based on blockchain data, Galaxy experts also identified several key Bitcoin price levels. The key indicator in the calculations is the realized price of Bitcoin based on 200-week and 50-week moving averages.
The realized price is the average price at which bitcoins were last moved. Analysts track the price at the time of each coin's last transaction and then calculate the average value. For example, if half of the bitcoins were transferred on October 6, when the price was $126,000, and the other half on February 2, when the price was $75,000, the realized price would be $100,500 ($126,000 plus $75,000 divided by 2). This indicator helps to assess which investors are in profit and which are in loss.
During the last bull cycles (2013-2014, 2017-2018, 2019, and 2021), the 50-week moving average served as an important dynamic support level. Bitcoin broke below the 50-week average support in November 2025, rushing towards the next major milestone at the 200 week moving average  in the $56-58 thousand range.
“In each of the three bull cycles, the 50-week moving average served as a key support level, but after it was broken, the price ultimately moved towards the 200 week moving average,” the report said.
Galaxy's historical model shows that it was precisely this zone ($56,000 - 58,000) that served to form the bottom and reversal in previous cycles.
Based on data on the latest movements of Bitcoin, Galaxy also noted a critical gap in the $70,000 - 80,000 range. According to experts, relatively few coins were bought at these levels, which forms a zone with weak support. The bulk of sales since early October have come from investors who bought Bitcoin above $111,000. While there were significant purchases in the $80,000–92,000 range, these coins could create strong resistance to any price recovery.
In percentage terms, the ratio between bitcoins bought at lower and higher prices relative to current values was 56% to 46%. The report noted that in all previous periods of market decline, these indicators converged to close to 50/50.
“Historically, the convergence of these two indicators has signaled the bottom of the cycle,” the report concluded.
Previous forecasts
Last year, Galaxy's research division predicted that Bitcoin would rise above $150,000 in the first half of the year and reach $185,000 by the fourth quarter, betting on the asset's acceptance by financial institutions and governments.
However, in early November, the investment company lowered its Bitcoin price forecast to $120,000, citing a deterioration in momentum and a change in the market structure. Among the factors contributing to the change in the forecast were capital outflows to assets other than cryptocurrencies, as well as a loss of confidence among investors.
#StrategyBTCPurchase

Epstein's released files contain emails to key Bitcoin developers
As part of the publication of Epstein's files, the US Department of Justice released new emails. They showed that Jeffrey Epstein contacted Bitcoin developer Gavin Andresen two days before he visited CIA headquarters to discuss cryptocurrency in June 2011. The event also coincided almost exactly with the moment when the anonymous creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, stopped posting messages in private correspondence and thematic forums where the main cryptocurrency was discussed.
Chronology of events
It should be noted that the first half of 2011 was marked by rapid price growth for Bitcoin—in the first six months of the year, the exchange rate rose by thousands of percent, from approximately $0.3 to more than $24. Exchanges such as Mt.Gox and BitcoinMarket were already operating that year, and new platforms were launched, including Britcoin, Bitcoin Brazil, VirWoX, and Bitomat.
On April 26, 2011, Satoshi sent Andresen his last known message, asking him to downplay his role as a “mysterious and behind-the-scenes” figure.
On April 27, 2011, Andresen publicly announced that he would be giving a presentation on Bitcoin at CIA headquarters in June at a conference on new technologies for the US intelligence community.
“I accepted the invitation to speak because the fact that I was invited means that Bitcoin is already on their radar, which could be a good opportunity to talk about why I think Bitcoin will make the world a better place,” Andresen wrote at the time.
Many speculate that it was precisely the fact that Andresen was invited to speak at the CIA that may have influenced Satoshi's decision to cease public activity. At the same time, a theory arose that Bitcoin was a CIA project.
On June 6, journalist and socialite Jason Calacanis replied to Epstein's letter, promising to send him Andresen's contact details.
“I would like to get in touch with the guys from Bitcoin,” Epstein wrote to Calacanis eight days before Andresen's meeting at the CIA.
Two days before his CIA presentation, Epstein wrote to Andresen himself and asked him to call him, but it is unclear from the messages in the published archive whether the conversation between Andresen and Epstein took place. It is known that Andresen declined invitations to meet with Epstein in person, and there is no evidence of active correspondence between them.
The conference itself took place on June 14, where, according to Andresen himself, he even managed to sell a certain amount of bitcoins to a CIA agent.
Investing in Bitcoin
Among the published documents, there was also a letter from June 2011 in which Epstein called Bitcoin a “brilliant idea” but warned of “serious flaws.”
According to Ki Young Ju, founder of the major blockchain analytics platform CryptoQuant, citing some of the letters, Epstein even invested in Bitcoin and various crypto projects in 2011. However, Ju writes that Epstein hardly believed that the first cryptocurrency would enter the mainstream and preferred short-term trading to long-term storage.
This opinion is indirectly confirmed by later correspondence. In 2017, when asked directly, “Is it worth buying Bitcoin?” Epstein replied succinctly: “No.”
In addition to Andresen, other representatives of the crypto market are also mentioned in connection with Epstein. According to Cointelegraph, crypto investor and Tether co-founder Brock Pierce had been in contact with Epstein on multiple occasions since 2011. Correspondence showed that Pearce discussed investment opportunities in Coinbase with him and may have acted as an intermediary in the deal. And in 2018, one of the participants in the correspondence, presumably Epstein, claimed that Pearce taught him “everything about cryptocurrency.”
Adam Back, head of Blockstream and one of the most prominent Bitcoin developers, also appears in the materials related to Epstein's investments. In 2014, Epstein participated in Blockstream's $18 million seed round, investing $50,000 through the MIT Media Lab director's fund. As Back himself stated, commenting on the correspondence, the relationship was limited to this transaction, and the fund soon sold its shares due to a conflict of interest, emphasizing that Blockstream has no financial ties to Epstein or his heirs.
#BTC

AI analyzed the messages of Satoshi Nakamoto and stated that the development of cryptocurrency went against his ideas.
Ki Young Ju, CEO of the CryptoQuant analytics platform, shared an experiment with artificial intelligence to “resurrect” the creator of Bitcoin, known under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. Ki uploaded Nakamoto's public posts and emails to a neural network, which then generated his possible views on the current development of the crypto industry.
The analyst gave the AI some background info, like how Bitcoin has become similar to gold-based financial instruments — significant amounts of cryptocurrency are held by exchange-traded funds, corporations, and exchanges, and more than half of the coins in circulation are held for investment purposes. He asked what the AI version of Nakamoto thought about this.
The neural network stated that Bitcoin was developed primarily to remove intermediaries from transactions between people. What is happening now is the opposite trend.
People do not control or own the bitcoins that are offered in the form of ETFs, users on exchanges also do not have exclusive access to their funds, and Michael Saylor's Strategy reserve is too large an amount of bitcoins concentrated in the hands of one person, wrote the AI on behalf of the creator of the first cryptocurrency.
“I don't want to seem ungrateful for accepting Bitcoin. But I think something important has been missed,” the reasoning said.
The identity of Bitcoin's creator remains the biggest mystery in the world of cryptocurrencies. He has not appeared in public for 15 years. In April 2011, in a message to developer Mike Hearn, Nakamoto wrote that he had “moved on to other things” and that Bitcoin was “in good hands” with other developers.
According to Arkham, Nakamoto owns tens of thousands of crypto wallets. They hold about 1.1 million bitcoins, or more than $90 billion at the current exchange rate.
#BTC

Privacy is becoming a central trend in the crypto market, actively promoted by key players. Growing investor interest is transforming privacy from a niche feature into a new standard for the blockchain ecosystem.
Over the past few years, the issue of privacy in user transactions involving cryptocurrencies has been under close scrutiny by regulatory authorities in various countries. In some countries, transactions of this kind have been strictly limited, and trading in relevant crypto assets has been banned on centralized exchanges. However, at the end of last year and the beginning of 2026, this sector of the crypto economy received a boost of interest from institutional investors and companies.
In public statements, discussions, and reports, blockchain project developers, experts, and analysts from many crypto organizations began to call privacy the main trend of 2026. The reasons may vary and include protecting investors from tracking their personal addresses with assets or large traders who do not want their trading operations to be visible. Either way, the topic has taken center stage in the crypto market.
Retail privacy
One of the first to raise the issue of data transparency in blockchain transactions, whose words resonated with the wider community in 2025, was Binance founder Changpeng Zhao. The entrepreneur voiced the idea of launching a decentralized exchange with dark pools amid the popularization of large trading deals on Hyperliquid, which were watched by tens of thousands of users in real time.
Although similar ideas had been voiced before, the topic remained niche, without the support of the wider user community and, as a result, without popularization. This is because ordinary retail users are rarely interested in privacy in blockchain, and the focus is on the speculative component of the market to maximize potential profits.
This thesis was confirmed in mid-January by Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, the second largest blockchain by capitalization, who stated that “they will no longer compromise” on privacy and decentralization in exchange for mass adoption. Bearing in mind that it is impossible to follow the lead of the wider community, he simultaneously identified the introduction of confidential payments on the network as a priority.
“Privacy is freedom, which allows us to live the way we want without constantly worrying about how our actions will be perceived by various centralized and decentralized structures,” The Block quotes Buterin as saying at the Devcon conference, where he presented the Kohaku toolkit for improving privacy and security in Ethereum.
Institutional privacy
The demand for such transactions was confirmed by the growth of the anonymous cryptocurrency sector, the largest of which — Monero (XMR), Zcash (ZEC), and Dash (DASH) — have grown several times over since the middle of last year. The annual percentage growth of these coins in 2025 was the best among other asset classes. This may also have prompted organizations to revise their forecasts for the future.
Experts mainly predict the development of privacy technologies in terms of blockchain add-ons. Pantera Capital, the oldest Bitcoin fund, expects the emergence of solutions with a user-friendly interface for developers that will simplify the implementation of confidential transactions, similar to how Wallet-as-a-Service developed earlier. In other words, they believe that companies will begin to offer Privacy-as-a-Service options for corporate clients.
A similar opinion was expressed by experts from a16z crypto, the largest venture fund in the crypto market. They suggested that 2026 will see the development of what the authors call Secrets-as-a-service, when data protection becomes a product. As described by the experts, these are services that provide encryption of sensitive confidential information and meet all regulatory requirements.
The large management company Grayscale has indicated that the trend toward privacy will develop alongside the growth of blockchain technology adoption, as public blockchains are transparent by default. Unlike previous experts, they noted existing specific projects that could benefit from the trend.
The company highlighted ZEC (Zcash), which provides private transactions, as well as Aztec, a second-layer network based on Ethereum. They also noted Railgun (RAIL), a project designed to ensure privacy in the field of decentralized finance.
In its forecasts for 2026, Coinbase, the largest US crypto exchange, wrote that as institutional adoption grows, users want more control over their funds and privacy. The exchange's experts expect further development of technologies such as zero-knowledge proofs (ZK-proofs, ZK) and fully homomorphic encryption (FHE). In their view, the growth in adoption of these technologies will also depend on the development of crypto infrastructure.
Institutional users of blockchain technologies have thus identified privacy as a standard technology that needs to be implemented at various application levels. The niche market for anonymous tools, which previously interested only a small number of customers, is now being promoted as a must-have.
#Privacy

Gold and silver hit new all-time highs, while Bitcoin corrected amid the Fed's decision to keep interest rates unchanged and delays in discussing legislation regulating cryptocurrencies in the US.
On January 29, exchange prices for gold and silver exceeded $5,600 and $120 per ounce, respectively, for the first time in history. At the same time, the price of Bitcoin fell by approximately 2.5% from yesterday's local peak. The main movement in asset prices over the past day occurred against the backdrop of the US Federal Reserve's (Fed) decision on January 28 to keep the interest rate at 3.5-3.75% per annum.
After the Fed's decision, the price of Bitcoin (BTC) fell by about 2%, dropping below $88,300 on January 29. The day before, the price had risen above $90,500. During the same period, gold and silver prices rose by 5% and 6% to $5,560 and $119 per ounce, respectively. On January 29, prices for both metals exceeded $5,600 and $120 for the first time.
The total capitalization of the crypto market fell by 2% from its peak on January 29, dropping to $2.98 trillion. About 80% of the crypto assets from Coinmarketcap's list of the 100 largest by capitalization suffered losses in the range of up to 13%. The biggest losses for the day were River (RIVER) at 13%, Dash (DASH) down 10%, and Tezos (XTZ), which lost 7%.
The largest growth was recorded by the Stable (STABLE) cryptocurrency — more than 25%, followed by Worldcoin (WLD), which added 10%. Next are the stable gold-based tokens XAUT from Tether and PAXG from Paxos — their prices rose by about 6%.
The weak performance of Bitcoin and most other major cryptocurrencies relative to precious metal prices comes amid delays in the consideration of a bill to regulate the cryptocurrency market in the US. As reported on January 22, the Senate Banking Committee shifted its focus to housing measures, which the Trump administration considers a priority.
According to updated information, in early February, the White House will hold a meeting with representatives of the banking and cryptocurrency sectors to discuss the stalled bill, Reuters reports.
The main controversy in the discussion of the document revolves around provisions allowing crypto companies to pay interest on stablecoins. The crypto industry insists that this is necessary for competition, while banks fear a massive outflow of deposits and a threat to financial stability. The meeting, organized by the president's administration, aims to help the parties find a compromise to move the bill forward.
In mid-January, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said that up to $6 trillion in U.S. bank deposits could move into stablecoins if Congress does not limit the yield on such tokens. According to him, this is about 30-35% of all deposits in U.S. commercial banks.
#ETH

ERC-8004, a new standard on the Ethereum blockchain, introduces a “passport” system for AI agents. This infrastructure will enable autonomous programs to interact in the global economy.
The Ethereum network development team has announced the launch of a new ERC-8004 standard, which aims to create tools for blockchain interaction with artificial intelligence (AI) applications. As noted in the Ethereum account on X, the standard will open up a global market where AI services can interact with each other without any intermediaries.
“Ethereum is in a unique position to enable blockchain to become a platform that provides security and settlement between AI agents,” wrote Davide Carpis, head of AI at the Ethereum Foundation.
According to Marco De Rossi, head of AI at MetaMask, one of the most popular crypto wallets, and co-author of the proposal (ERC-8004), the standard is likely to be launched on the Ethereum mainnet on January 29, according to The Block.
At the moment, there are no generally accepted or widespread methods and technologies where AI agents interact with each other in cryptocurrencies. One of the most well-known options is x402, an open internet standard that aims to make payments on the network as simple and automatic as loading a web page.
This standard (x402) was introduced by Coinbase in May 2025 and is specifically designed for AI agents conducting autonomous transactions with stablecoins. In other words, it is a payment solution, but the Ethereum team offers its own vision for the development of the AI economy.
It is important to understand that ERC-8004 is not a marketplace or a ready-made platform — it does not deal with payments or pricing, but provides general conditional standards for establishing trust and interaction between users and programs. The standard is designed to make it easier for developers to create various applications and services — from purchasing goods and providing services to complex decentralized autonomous organizations.
What is ERC-8004?
ERC-8004 is a new standard on the Ethereum network that creates a unified identification and reputation system for AI agents. In simple terms, it is a digital “passport” system for autonomous programs that act independently and need to interact between different services and organizations.
The standard offers three main components, according to the specification on the Ethereum website, implemented as lightweight registries on the Ethereum blockchain or its second layers (L2), such as Arbitrum, Base, and others.
The first component is an identity registry that assigns each agent a unique and unforgeable digital passport, similar to non-fungible tokens (NFTs). This allows the agent to prove who they are and be recognized on any platform.
The second component is a reputation registry. It works like an open book of reviews, where users and other programs can leave ratings and structured feedback on the agent's work. The main advantage is that reputation becomes transferable: a high rating earned in one application will be visible and taken into account everywhere, increasing trust in the agent.
The third element is the validation (verification) registry. This is a mechanism for independently confirming the completion of specific tasks. An agent can voluntarily send the results of its work for verification to authoritative services, which, if successful, will issue it a digital “quality certificate” recorded in the blockchain. This is especially important for complex or critical tasks, such as data analysis or financial transactions.
Although the previous successes of the Ethereum blockchain do not guarantee the success of future developments, the blockchain and its team are pioneers in many innovations in the crypto market. This applies to many technical and ideological solutions.
For example, there is the ERC-20 token standard, launched in 2017 on Ethereum, which allowed exchanges to list tokens on the platform with literally one click. This enabled hundreds of ICO projects (similar to IPOs) of those years to get listed on exchanges and obtain liquidity for further development.
Also, the concept of decentralized finance (DeFi), including decentralized exchanges and credit protocols such as Aave or Uniswap, in its modern form was first developed on Ethereum. This was partly thanks to the NFT standards from Ethereum developers, which are used on trading platforms as the underlying technology.
#ETH

ETH developers consider protecting the blockchain from quantum threats to be a key strategic priority
The Ethereum Foundation, the organization behind the development of the Ethereum blockchain, has announced the formation of a special team to work on protecting the network from quantum threats. According to Justin Drake, senior research scientist at the foundation, this is their “top strategic priority.”
To speed up the work, the foundation has established two prizes of $1 million each — Poseidon and Proximity. Drake also noted that the threat to Ethereum's security, which has been under study since 2019, now occupies a central place in the blockchain project's roadmap.
The initiative is a response to what many experts believe are growing threats from quantum computers, which could hack the cryptographic algorithms of modern blockchains in the future. Late last year, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin suggested that blockchain developers have a few years to create protection against the quantum threat, assuming that the development of this technology continues at the same pace.
The threat, as Buterin noted, “will require the coordination of the entire ecosystem.” And with the development of second-layer protocols (such as Arbitrum, Base, Optimism), Ethereum, as the underlying infrastructure for many other networks, must “harden” against such dangers.
A few days before the Ethereum Foundation's announcement, the largest American exchange, Coinbase, formed an advisory council on quantum computing and blockchain, which will assess the threats posed by quantum computers to the crypto industry. The exchange's blog notes that the emergence of powerful quantum computers could undermine the foundations of cryptography on which Bitcoin and Ethereum currently operate.
Exchange representatives, like Buterin before them, noted that this area will require joint efforts by experts and advance planning, even if such computers do not appear in the near future. Justin Drake from the Ethereum Foundation is a member of the Coinbase council.
Quantum threat
Until the end of last year, the topic of quantum computers and their potential impact on cryptocurrencies was raised infrequently, about once a year. Usually, such discussions intensified against the backdrop of the release of new chips or announcements of achievements in the field of quantum computing.
In previous periods of interest in the topic, such as in 2024, almost all experts and representatives of cryptocurrencies saw the threat, but noted it as “distant.” Buterin did not say that year that the threat could materialize in the coming years.
But 2025 was exceptional, and the topic did not fade away as in previous years. For example, Jay Yoo, a partner in the research and investment division of Pantera Capital, the oldest Bitcoin fund, noted the quantum threat to Bitcoin as a major trend for 2026.
Jan van Eek, head of the large investment company VanEck, said that the fund may abandon Bitcoin in the future if it fails to meet security expectations, referring to the quantum threat.
Christopher Wood, a strategist at investment bank Jefferies, completely liquidated his 10% stake in Bitcoin from his GREED & FEAR portfolio. He reallocated the stake to physical gold and shares in gold mining companies, citing the “existential” threat posed by quantum computing.
A similar opinion to Wood's was expressed by Charles Edwards, founder of the Capriole fund, known for his contribution to the development of Bitcoin on-chain analytics. Edwards has no doubt about Bitcoin's ability to adapt to the threat posed by quantum technologies, but he believes that the issue is already putting pressure on the asset's price. In his opinion, if no solution is found in the coming year, gold will continue to outperform Bitcoin in terms of returns, and the quantum threat itself will become an obstacle to growth.
Nevertheless, many believe that the danger is exaggerated. Blockstream co-founder and one of the most prominent Bitcoin developers, Adam Back, believes that the emergence of systems capable of hacking Bitcoin algorithms is unlikely in the next 20-40 years.
#ETH

The crypto market has lost a third of its capitalization since October, and investors are switching to platforms for betting on future real-world events. Trading volumes on these platforms have grown more than 15 times in six months.
Since its October 2025 highs, the crypto market has lost nearly a third of its capitalization. Millions of investors were left with depreciated coins, and the audience's attention quickly shifted to precious metals, which were breaking new records. It may seem that the speculative energy of the crypto market has dried up, but it is more a matter of risk redistribution: capital is flowing into other forms of speculation, including prediction markets.
"Crypto is so easy to manipulate. Liquidity can be withdrawn at any moment, and there is fraud at every turn. Traders are only thinking about how to outsmart each other. Everyone is tired of these games," Nickshep Saravanan, founder of the HumanPlane prediction market research platform, told Bloomberg.
In recent months, prediction markets have become almost the only sector of the crypto economy to show positive dynamics. According to Dune, at the end of January, the total weekly nominal trading volume on such platforms exceeded $6.1 billion. In August, the figure was less than $400 million. In October, the volume was just over $2 billion.
The market leaders in terms of volume are Kalshi, Opinion, and Polymarket, which account for more than 95% of the total market.
In October, the crypto market recorded record capitalization values of around $4.3 trillion, and Bitcoin reached a maximum of $126,200. Since then, market capitalization has fallen below $3 trillion, losing more than 30%, and the price of Bitcoin has fallen to just above $88,000.
A new game for speculating with dopamine (the happiness hormone)
In some sectors of the crypto economy, the last three months of last year proved disastrous. As analysts noted, market turbulence during that period led to 7.7 million tokens ceasing trading activity, with the memecoin sector being particularly hard hit.
But the crypto market is always trying to find a new trend, or “game,” for speculation. Industry experts periodically point out that a lack of excitement among crypto traders can lead to a general decline in the market. At the end of 2024, shortly before the US presidential election, Ki Young Ju, head of the CryptoQuant analytics platform, pointed out that without “creating a new game that will stimulate traders' dopamine, the crypto industry will face a long period of stagnation.”
The current growth dynamics in the prediction markets may well become such a “game” for crypto traders, offering the same speculative component and thrills in the form of binary ‘yes’ or “no” bets on real events and quick results, Bloomberg journalists note. There are no “roadmaps,” the publication writes, meaning that investors don't have to wait months for the development team to execute their product development plans — just a “dopamine loop” with a simple outcome.
Despite the growth in volume and interest, such markets still only bring profits to a small portion of investors. According to data from research company defioasis.eth, about 70% of user wallets using prediction markets have recorded losses.
Increased interest
Interest in the sector is also confirmed by app download data. While the figure for cryptocurrency exchanges fell sharply last year, prediction markets moved in the opposite direction.
The number of Polymarket installations grew from 30,000 in January to more than 400,000 by December, according to analytics company Sensor Tower. The number of Kalshi installations increased from 80,000 to 1.3 million over the same period.
Major players in the crypto market are already exploring this new potential trend. For example, in November last year, Google began displaying Polymarket and Kalshi data in its search results and on its updated Google Finance platform, while Yahoo Finance announced that it would display predictions on key economic and political events.
Exchange giants are also showing interest. In October, Intercontinental Exchange (owner of NYSE) conducted a $2 billion financing round for Polymarket. The largest American crypto exchange, Coinbase, added prediction market functionality through a partnership with Kalshi, and Crypto.com is developing its own direction.
#predictons

The price of BTC has fallen to $86,000 for the first time since mid-December. Let's look at the reasons why.
The price of Bitcoin (BTC) has hit its lowest point since 2026. On January 26, the price of the coin fell to $86,000 for the first time since December 19. Over the course of a day, BTC fell by 1%, and over the course of a week, it fell by 5%.
After Bitcoin set a historic high ($126,000 on October 6, 2025) 3.5 months ago, the lowest point to which it corrected was $80,600, recorded on November 21.
The total capitalization of the cryptocurrency market has again fallen below $3 trillion. Over the past 24 hours, it has declined by 1% to $2.97 trillion.
The price of Ethereum (ETH) fell to $2,780 in the morning but recovered to $2,890. Over the past 24 hours, the leading altcoin has fallen in price by 1.5%, and over the past week, by almost 10%.
Of the top 10 cryptocurrencies, Solana (SOL) fell the most, by 3%. Among the top 100, the leaders in decline remain the anonymous coins Monero (XMR) and Dash (DASH), which lost 5% each, as well as the token from Trump's crypto project World Liberty Financial (WLFI), which fell 6%.
Over the past 24 hours, crypto exchanges liquidated the positions of nearly 200,000 traders worth $678 million, according to Coinglass. Of this amount, more than 88% was accounted for by long positions — those who bet on rising prices lost $601 million. This refers to the nominal value of positions taking into account leverage (a position of $100 with 10x leverage counts as $1,000 in the total amount of losses).
The fear and greed index for the crypto market on January 26 is in the “extreme fear” zone, indicating 20 points out of 100. This suggests that panic selling of cryptocurrencies is possible in the market.
One of the reasons for the price decline is that over the past week, US spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on Bitcoin recorded a net outflow of $1.33 billion, according to SoSoValue. This is the second-largest weekly outflow in the two-year history of Bitcoin ETFs. The only time more funds were withdrawn from these funds in a single week was at the end of February 2025. $611 million was withdrawn from Ethereum ETFs over the past week.
#BTC

What are Pump fun and Bonk fun, how are meme tokens created on them, what are the risks for investors, and why do projects go viral: an analysis of the trend on Solana
The memecoin industry on Solana experienced a period of rapid growth, especially in 2025: several thousand new coins appeared every day, including tokens launched by Donald Trump. Terms such as “pump fun,” “meme coin,” “bonding curve,” and even the name of the cryptocurrency Bonk became familiar to users. The center of this trend was undoubtedly the Pump.fun platform, which allowed meme tokens or meme coins to be launched in minutes, without programming, auditors, or technical knowledge. This was followed by clones such as Bonk.fun, targeting the same audience and using similar release mechanics.
The service simultaneously gave everyone the opportunity to create their own coin and became a source of increased risk: most tokens have no fundamental value and live off market dynamics. Let's take a look at how Pump.fun and its analogues work, how memecoins are issued, what makes projects go viral, and what risks await investors.
What is Pumpfun and how does it work?
Pump.fun is a platform on Solana for launching memetokens using a single template. The service provides a simplified interface where users connect a wallet that supports the Solana network, enter the token name, ticker, image, and description. Unlike independent issuance of SPL contracts (contracts on the Solana blockchain), Pump.fun takes care of all technical processes, including token launch, creation of a bonding curve (a contract that determines the value of the token), and liquidity preparation.
A key feature is the pre-trade model via a bonding curve (a mathematical model that establishes a relationship between the price of a token and its supply). The entire volume of the token is in the Pump.fun contract, and users buy it through a curve where the price increases with each purchase. This creates predictable dynamics: the higher the demand, the higher the price, and early buyers get a mathematical advantage. The bonding curve in Pump.fun acts as a fair distribution of tokens: no one gets coins in advance.
The built-in Fair Burn system retains a small percentage (usually around 1%) from each transaction, distributing it among holders and providing an additional incentive for early buyers.
When the buyback volume reaches a threshold (usually 69% of the curve), the token is automatically listed on DEX. Pump.fun forms a liquidity pool, after which the coin becomes a full-fledged Solana market asset. The price is then determined solely by market demand.
Bonkfun and other clones: what's the difference?
The popularity of Pumpfun has led to the emergence of clones, the most famous of which is Bonk.fun. Its creation is directly linked to the growth of the ecosystem around the Bonk cryptocurrency, which acts as a layer of Solana. The concept of such services remains similar: quick token creation through a simple interface, a fixed bonding curve, and automatic listing.
The clones differ in nuances: the amount of liquidity formed during listing, the types of commissions, the distribution of tokens between the creator and the pool, as well as additional tokenomics rules. Some services give the creator a small share of the token, while others completely exclude them from the initial distribution.
CoinMarketCap notes that the success of such platforms depends on the ecosystem around them. Bonk.fun operates in the context of a large and active community, which sometimes helps tokens gain momentum faster. But from a technical standpoint, the models are very similar and replicate the logic of Pump.fun.
How meme tokens are launched and what happens after launch
The process of creating a token on Pump.fun is as follows:
1. Connect your wallet. The user connects their Solana-supported wallet to the platform. The service supports Phantom, Solflare, and other Solana wallets.
2. Fill in the token card. The creator uploads an image, enters a name, ticker, and description. No technical code is required — Pump.fun automatically creates an SPL contract behind the scenes.
3. Pay the commission. A small amount of SOL is required to launch - the funds go towards activating the bonding curve and the future liquidity pool.
4. Token release on the bonding curve. After confirmation, the token appears in the “Live Tokens” section of the platform. The price is minimal and increases incrementally with purchases.
5. Automatic listing. When the curve is filled to the threshold, Pump.fun automatically creates a liquidity pool. At this point, the token becomes a Solana market asset and begins to trade outside the platform.
CoinGecko emphasizes that the creator does not receive a pre-released share - if they want to own the token, they need to buy it through the bonding curve on an equal basis with others. This reduces the risk of “pre-distribution” and makes the system more transparent.
Why meme tokens go viral
The success of memecoins is closely linked to the peculiarities of internet culture. A meme is a story that spreads instantly. When a coin is attached to it, excitement arises: you can not only follow the joke, but also “catch the trend” before everyone else.
Social media plays a key role. X (Twitter), Telegram, and Discord create chain reactions: memes, screenshots of transactions, posts by influencers, fan art. The faster the story around the token spreads, the more liquidity comes to Pump.fun and DEX.
The virality of meme tokens is usually based on three factors:
- meme recognition;
- active community (e.g., around BONK);
- support from influencers or popular traders.
Often, a simple joke, a bright visual, and a lucky moment have given a coin a tenfold increase in value - which is why meme tokens continue to appear by the hundreds every day.
How to protect yourself if you still want to participate
There are several practical rules for participants in the memecoin market.
1. Use a separate wallet. Experienced users create a separate “memecoin wallet” for Pump.fun and Bonk.fun to minimize the risks of interacting with unverified contracts.
2. Verify the token address. Always check the contract through the appropriate aggregators. Scammers often create clone tokens with similar names.
3. Do not enter at the top of the curve. If the bonding curve is almost full, the probability of a reversal is highest.
4. Assess liquidity after listing. Some tokens receive a minimal liquidity pool, making sales nearly impossible.
5. Invest amounts that do not affect your budget. Memecoins are the riskiest segment of the crypto market. Participation in it is justified only with small, non-critical amounts.
Pump fun, Bonk fun, and their counterparts have made creating memecoins as easy as possible, but at the same time, they have opened the door to a huge number of risky schemes. Understanding the mechanics of the bonding curve, Fair Burn, and automatic listing helps to soberly assess what is happening in the memecoin market and what limitations such a model has.
#memecoin🚀🚀🚀

What are retrodrops in cryptocurrencies, how do they work, and how do they differ from regular airdrops? Instructions on how to earn money from retrodrops in 2026 and which projects are conducting them
Over the past few years, retrodrops in cryptocurrency have become a separate phenomenon on the market. Specifically, users who have been trying out new protocols, testing wallets and infrastructure solutions for a long time receive free tokens on their balance after the network launch (or at another pre-agreed time). Sometimes, the amount can be quite impressive. For some, this is a pleasant bonus for their activity, while for others, it is a full-fledged way to earn money for early participation and project development. If you want to engage in such activity, it is important to understand the logic behind the distribution mechanism and the rules of the game.
In this article, we will explain what retrodrops are in simple terms, how they differ from classic drops, why projects give tokens to users, and how to try to earn money from retrodrops without unnecessary risk. We will also look at typical difficulties and recall some of the most high-profile distributions in recent years, after which stories about unexpected cryptocurrency winnings appeared en masse on social networks.
What are retrodrops in simple terms
Retrodrops in cryptocurrencies are a special type of token distribution in which rewards are given to users who have already been active in the project. Unlike promotional campaigns aimed at attracting new people, the focus here is on those who started activities at an early stage and helped develop the protocol or wallet at a time when almost no one knew about it. In the highly competitive environment of blockchain projects, such distribution becomes a kind of gratitude from the project to those who were among the first to believe in the idea.
The principle is simple: the project team records a list of addresses that have been using their product from the very beginning and allocates a portion of tokens for free distribution among these addresses. The specific criteria depend on the logic of the protocol. The reward may be influenced by the number of transactions made, the amount of liquidity, the period of asset ownership, participation in testnets or voting. In any case, a retrodrop is a kind of look at the history of a user's activity, for which they receive a reward after the full launch of the project.
This approach makes retrodrops understandable even to beginners. Roughly speaking, the service looks at its history, selects those who supported its development at an early stage, and shares a portion of its tokens. For market participants themselves, this is a signal: sometimes it is enough to use and test solutions that seem promising. After some time, such actions may be rewarded with free tokens.
How does a retrodrop differ from a classic airdrop
A retrodrop looks like another token distribution, but its logic differs from a standard airdrop. A classic airdrop is usually aimed at attracting new users. The project promises a free token for subscribing to social media, filling out a form, or completing a simple task. The goal is to expand the audience, create buzz around the brand, and quickly spread information about the coin launch to a wide audience.
Retrodrop is structured differently. It is a reward not for potential future action, but for past work and activity in the protocol. The user has already interacted with the service: traded on a decentralized exchange, provided liquidity, tested early versions, or regularly contributed to community activity. After some time, the team releases a governance token or updates the tokenomics and decides to distribute part of the emission among such early participants. Thus, cryptocurrency retrodrops become a way to strengthen the connection between the protocol and its early users.
The difference is clearly visible in the examples. One of the most discussed retrodrops was made by Uniswap, when many addresses that traded on the exchange before a certain date received a fixed set of UNI tokens. Arbitrum and other large second-layer networks used a similar approach: the reward was distributed among those who had already transferred assets to the network, made transactions, or participated in the ecosystem in some way. In essence, this is a recognition of the value of early activity, not just a quick marketing ploy.
Another important point: classic airdrops often attract people who are looking to meet the minimum requirements in order to get a free asset and sell it immediately. Retrodrops in cryptocurrencies are more often targeted at an audience that was already using the protocol. As a result, the proportion of random participants is lower, and there are more addresses among those who are willing to interact with the project after the distribution.
Why do projects do retrodrops?
It may seem strange that projects give away some of their tokens for free instead of selling them to raise capital. However, there is a clear logic behind retrodrops. In many cases, tokens are not just speculative assets, but are used as a tool for managing the protocol. By distributing tokens among active users, the team takes a step towards decentralization: those who are already familiar with the product and understand how it works will vote for its development.
The second reason is related to community motivation. It is important for early users to feel that their contribution is noticed. If the project publicly rewards old participants, it strengthens trust and maintains interest in further development. The user understands that their actions matter and that activity can lead to real financial results. This is especially important in a competitive environment where each protocol has alternatives with similar functionality.
Retrodrops also help increase popularity. Each large distribution generates a wave of discussion: people share screenshots of their rewards, recall how long ago they started using the service, and tell their friends about their bonus. This way, the project gets free promotion among its target audience without a traditional advertising campaign. In some cases, retrodrops are also used as a way to attract liquidity: part of the distribution may depend on the amount of funds that the user held in the protocol or sent through it.
Finally, retrodrops build a long-term horizontal connection between the team and the community. When the same people constantly participate in votes, discussions, and tests and receive rewards for doing so, a stable core of the project is formed. For a crypto startup that is building infrastructure for years to come, this is no less important than one-time equity capital.
How to make money on retrodrops
The question of how to make money on retrodrops is obviously one of the most important for users. Some come to cryptocurrency precisely for such opportunities, while others consider retro drops as an additional bonus to their main strategies. There is no universal instruction, because each project has its own conditions, but there is a common set of approaches that increase the chances of being among the rewarded addresses.
Activity in protocols
Most often, retrodrop criteria are related to real activity in the protocol. This can include trading on a decentralized exchange, participating in liquidity pools, staking, lending, using bridges, or interacting with smart contracts. The more actions a user performs, the higher the probability that their address will be included in the sample for future distribution.
At the same time, it is not necessary to chase maximum volumes. Many projects seek to reward a wide range of participants, not just the big players. The important thing is that a person uses the product not just once, but regularly over a certain period of time. Such behavior shows that the user is solving their tasks through this protocol, and did not just come for a free token.
Use of wallets and services
There are retrodrops associated not only with protocols, but also with wallets or infrastructure services. The user installs a wallet, makes transactions through it, connects to different networks, participates in the creation of bridges (moving assets across different networks), and after a while, the team releases its own token and announces a distribution among early addresses. Similar scenarios are being considered for MetaMask-level wallets, zkSync-based solutions, and various Layer-2 networks that are developing around large ecosystems.
It is important not to limit yourself to a one-time action. The more diverse your activity is - sending and receiving tokens, interacting with applications, participating in staking or test programs: the higher your chances of being on the list of future recipients. Some users distribute their activity across multiple addresses, but this approach requires accuracy and thoughtful security management.
Tracking future retrodrops
A separate area of work is the search for promising projects that are highly likely to arrange a retro drop in the future. A whole layer of content has formed where analysts and enthusiasts share their assumptions about possible candidates. To avoid spending all their time on independent monitoring, many subscribe to thematic Telegram channels, blogs, and aggregators that collect information about new protocols, testnets, and activity campaigns.
However, blindly following any advice does not make sense. Before investing funds or spending significant time on a particular service, it is useful to assess the risks, study the team, partners, and real-life usage scenarios. Cryptocurrency retrodrops offer a chance to get a good bonus, but the basic rule remains: users are responsible for their decisions and should work with tools they understand.
Risks and hidden complexities of retrodrops
Against the backdrop of stories about sudden success, it is easy to forget that any way of making money on the market involves risk. Retrodrops are no exception. First and foremost, the danger comes from scam projects that hide behind promises of future distributions. Malicious actors create a page, offer to connect a wallet, sign a suspicious transaction, or install a phishing extension. As a result, the user loses money, and no retrodrop takes place.
Another common risk is associated with fake websites of real projects. The more popular the protocol, the higher the chance that clones with similar domains will appear. The user rushes to participate in an airdrop or retrodrop, clicks on a link from an unverified source, and gives attackers access to their assets. To avoid this scenario, it is important to check the website address, use official channels, and not confirm transactions whose purpose is unclear.
Don't forget about commissions. Some strategies for receiving retrodrops involve active work on networks with high traffic. At peak times, transaction costs can be significant, and the pursuit of free tokens turns into a series of expensive operations that do not pay off even with generous distribution. The user only sees the final reward, but the real profit is reduced by all the associated costs.
Tax implications are a separate issue. In different jurisdictions, receiving free tokens may be considered a taxable event. If the retrodrop was large, it is unsafe to ignore this aspect. When planning your strategy, it is wise to clarify the rules in your country in advance so that you do not face possible consequences later. A retrodrop is an attractive type of reward, but it does not override legal requirements.
Top 5 retrodrops of recent years
In recent years, there have been several retro drops on the market that have been actively discussed in the crypto community. They have shown how significant the rewards for early participation can be and what role such distributions play in the development of a project.
Uniswap (UNI). One of the first sensational retrodrops. Users who had conducted at least one transaction on the exchange before a certain date were eligible to receive a set of UNI tokens. For many, this was an unexpected confirmation that regular activity on the protocol could eventually turn into a tangible reward.dYdX. The decentralized derivatives platform allocated tokens to those who traded on the platform and provided it with volume. The number of coins depended on activity, and the tokens received became a management tool, so it was not only a distribution but also a step towards greater decentralization.Optimism (OP). The Ethereum-based second-layer network decided to reward both early users and active participants in governance and supporters of the ecosystem. The retro-drop took place in several waves, and part of the distribution was based on the history of interaction with the ecosystem as a whole, not just with one application.Arbitrum (ARB). Another example of a large retrodrop that was discussed throughout the community. The reward was given to users who made transactions on the network, transferred assets via bridges, and used various Arbitrum-based applications. This distribution showed that the network is capable of valuing not only individual large addresses, but also a mass user base.Aptos (APT). When launching the main network, the team chose a distribution format for the early community and test phase participants. Many considered this retrodrop to be further confirmation that joining a promising project at the right time can be profitable.
Each of these retrodrops has its own rules, but they are united by a common idea: projects share tokens with those who helped them during the development stage. For some users, this was a pleasant surprise, while for others, it was an incentive to pay closer attention to new protocols and infrastructure solutions that have not yet been distributed.
Cryptocurrency retrodrops do not guarantee profits and are not a guaranteed way to make money. At the same time, they show that the market encourages meaningful activity, participation in tests, staking, and the use of wallets and protocols. If you approach the selection of projects thoughtfully, consider the risks, and do not perceive every announcement as a chance for quick enrichment, retrodrops can become one of the elements of a long-term strategy. Airdrops as classic distributions and retrodrops as rewards for past actions complement each other, forming a wider range of ways for users to interact with the crypto market.
#Airdrop

Analysts at Pantera Capital, the oldest crypto fund, note that 2025 was a disastrous year for the vast majority of cryptocurrencies, with the exception of Bitcoin, whose growth was supported by institutional demand.
In its January review, Pantera Capital notes that 2025 was an unsuccessful year for most of the crypto market, except for Bitcoin. According to the company's assessment, price movements last year were mainly determined by macroeconomics, capital flows, and the behavior of major players, rather than the development of the projects themselves.
Pantera estimates that the bear market for altcoins has been going on since December 2024. The company calls this “perhaps the most underrated fact of 2025.” The total capitalization of crypto assets, excluding Bitcoin, Ethereum, and stablecoins, fell by about 44% during this period. Most tokens have fallen significantly in price, and the decline has been widespread.
Pantera also notes that the current decline in altcoins is in line with previous cycles in terms of its duration.
*Pantera Capital is one of the first and largest cryptocurrency investment companies, founded in 2013 by former Tiger Management top manager Dan Morehead. It specializes in venture investments in blockchain projects and manages billions in assets through funds focused on DeFi, infrastructure, and direct investments in crypto project tokens.
The company separately points to the sharp divergence between Bitcoin and the rest of the market. Bitcoin benefited from its status as “digital gold” and steady demand from ETFs, corporations, and government agencies. Other tokens did not have such support, which exacerbated capital outflows and pressure on prices.
Additional factors contributing to the decline were unresolved issues regarding the value of tokens for investors, a slowdown in blockchain activity, and the departure of retail speculators. At the same time, the use of stablecoins continued to grow, but the main economic benefits from this went to companies and services, rather than token holders.
Assessing the outlook for 2026, Pantera notes that the market has become significantly less overheated. Participants have reduced their use of borrowed funds, prices have already undergone a deep correction, and speculative activity has declined.
According to the company, this makes the beginning of 2026 more stable compared to the beginning of last year, provided that the fundamental indicators of the market do not deteriorate. “Periods of market imbalances have historically become the basis for the next phase of growth,” the authors write.
#altcoins

Gold prices exceeded $4,700 per ounce for the first time in history, and the capitalization of stable tokens backed by precious metals reached a record $4.65 billion.
The price of gold hit a new all-time high, exceeding $4,700 per ounce for the first time during trading on January 20, according to TradingView. At the same time, exchange prices for silver also hit a new all-time high, exceeding $95 per ounce. Against the backdrop of this growth, the only sector in cryptocurrencies representing precious metals, stable gold-based tokens, reached a record capitalization of $4.65 billion. The data also shows a tenfold increase in their use at the blockchain level over the past year.
The price of precious metals hit historic highs amid US President Donald Trump's desire to seize Greenland. This raised investor concerns about a trade war between the US and Europe and triggered a flight to safe-haven assets.
The total capitalization of gold stablecoins was nearly $4.65 billion, more than 3.5 times higher than a year ago, according to The Block on January 20. Two assets alone accounted for nearly 90% of the total: PAXG from Paxos and XAUT from Tether, with $1.8 billion and $2.43 billion, respectively.
The rise in the price of gold significantly exceeded the growth of the first cryptocurrency. Bitcoin has risen less than 4% since the beginning of the year, to $91,000. During the same period, the price of gold has risen by almost 10% and set a record above $4,700. The prices of stable tokens — PAXG and XAUT — have achieved the same result, as their exchange rate is pegged to the value of real metal.
During the same period, the main stock indices of American companies, the S&P 500 and NASDAQ, rose by 1.4% and 1.1%, respectively. The overall growth dynamics were reflected in the correlation chart between Bitcoin prices and gold and indices.
According to The Block, as of January 20, the correlation index had recovered to mid-October 2025 levels, when Bitcoin reached its historic high of $126,200. Currently, the indices for gold, S&P 500, and NASDAQ are 0.41, 0.6, and 0.52, respectively. For comparison, at the beginning of January, these values were at -0.25, 0.47, and 0.34.
Network metrics for gold
The rise in the price of gold, which is a continuation of last year's trend when the precious metal became one of the fastest growing asset classes, also coincided with user activity with PAXG and XAUT tokens.
According to Etherscan, there are 70,000 and 20,000 PAXG and XAUT wallet holders, respectively.
As the capitalization of the tokens themselves grew, the number of token holders also increased — at the beginning of January last year, there were more than 35,000 PAXG holders and 3,500 XAUT holders, which indicates a twofold and approximately sevenfold increase, respectively.
The number of transactions and the total amount of transfers have also shown significant growth since the beginning of 2025. For PAXG, over the past year, the weekly aggregate indicator has grown from $130 million and about 6,000 transactions to more than $530 million and 74,000 transactions. For XAUT, the growth occurred from $7 million and less than 1,000 transactions per week to $520 million and nearly 35,000 transactions, according to TokenTerminal.
The trading volume of such tokens has grown tenfold over the same period. At the beginning of last year, the daily volume of both XAUT and PAXG did not exceed several tens of millions of dollars. As of January 20, according to CoinMarketCap, the combined daily trading volume has grown to $350 million.
The positive dynamics of gold tokens is accompanied by an expansion of the list of trading platforms where the assets are traded. For example, in October 2025, PAXG was added to the spot trading list on the OKX crypto exchange. And XAUT was added to the spot lists of the two largest Korean crypto exchanges, Upbit and Bithumb.
Other uses for tokens have also emerged. For example, in early January, the popular video hosting service Rumble, supported by Tether, launched a cryptocurrency tipping system for content creators. According to the company, users will be able to send rewards in Bitcoin, USDT stablecoin, or the gold-backed XAUT token.
#GOLD

Launched a year ago, the $Trump meme coin has fallen more than 90%. During this period, the president's administration has failed to meet the expectations of the crypto community.
A few days before the inauguration of US President Donald Trump, the OFFICIAL TRUMP (TRUMP) memecoin was launched on the Solana blockchain. Trump officially supported the launch of the crypto asset, and the event became one of the most high-profile for the crypto market last year.
Exactly one year ago, on January 19, the price of TRUMP reached a historic peak above $75, since then falling by more than 90% to below $5. Experts believe that the project has done more harm than good to the crypto market, becoming a political tool and hindering key legislation.
“The launch of Trump's memecoin has done more harm than good to the industry. Political opponents cite his personal gain as a reason to block or slow down the legislative process in the cryptocurrency space,” Peter Chang, head of research at Presto Labs, told Decrypt.
The hype surrounding TRUMP in early 2025 coincided with the growth of the total market capitalization of meme coins, which rose to a record $150 billion. Also, after the launch of TRUMP, the main exchange regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), stated in February 2025 that their issuance and sale did not require registration, and buyers of such assets were not protected by US federal securities laws.
On this wave, dozens of memecoins were listed on major crypto exchanges, including the largest Binance and the American Coinbase, which did not want to risk adding memecoins until the change of administration in the US. By January 19, 2026, the market capitalization of the sector had fallen to $45 billion, according to Coingecko.
Although there have been periodic attempts to revive the TRUMP project community, the price has been on a downward trend for most of the year. For example, in May, Trump's team hosted a dinner at the Trump National Golf Club for the largest token holders. And in early December, it was announced that Trump's meme coin would be used as a reward in the mobile game “Trump Billionaires Club.”
However, none of these initiatives had a positive long-term impact. In April, there was an attempt to stabilize the price above $15 after it fell to $8. But since then, the price has fallen almost without rebound - on January 19, it dropped below $5.
A year under Trump
During Trump's presidency, only one law concerning the cryptocurrency market was passed - the GENIUS Act, which regulates the stablecoin market. However, the main document regulating the cryptocurrency market as a whole - the CLARITY Act - was never passed. Trump initially set a deadline for the adoption of CLARITY for last summer, then expectations shifted to September and then to the end of November.
Now, no exact dates have been given, although the introduction of transparent regulation was one of Trump's promises to the cryptocurrency market before the last election, which led to cryptocurrencies rising to new highs in 2025.
The same situation occurred with the national cryptocurrency reserve in the US. In one of his first executive orders in early 2025, Trump identified the development of the dollar stablecoin market as a priority and ordered the creation of a US government reserve consisting of confiscated cryptocurrencies. However, the audit of federal agencies' crypto assets, which are to form the basis of the reserve, scheduled for April 5, 2025, has not yet been carried out.
Some experts note that overly positive expectations were formed towards the Trump administration.
“Trump supports cryptocurrencies, and that's a positive thing. But we are not his top priority. I think our industry has always believed that Trump would be our savior, but in reality, that has never been the case,” Yat Siu, co-founder of investment company Animoca Brands, told Coindesk.
Others openly criticize the US president's policies. Charles Hoskinson, founder of the Cardano crypto project, said that Trump's policies have politicized cryptocurrency and turned half the country against the industry. He added that the Trump administration has put the American crypto industry in a worse position than it was under former President Joe Biden.
Siu noted the structural changes taking place in the market: institutional capital is becoming a permanent force. He believes that Bitcoin has taken on the role of a reserve asset, forcing altcoins to prove their real value.
The current situation, according to the expert, is the opposite of what it was at the beginning of 2025, when altcoins were valued based on political expectations. At that time, the industry was waiting for approval from regulators, which never came.
#TRUMP

Experts have identified the main areas of development for cryptocurrencies in 2026, which are expected to transition from a speculative boom to structural growth.
In 2026, the cryptocurrency market is on the verge of a qualitative leap from the experimental phase to the stage of mass adoption and structural maturity, according to a report by market maker Keyrock.
Together with the Dune analytics service team, they identified key trends to track the growth of the crypto industry and provided their forecasts for this year.
Dune is an analytics platform for creating dashboards and analyzing blockchain data that allows users to query, visualize, and share information about cryptocurrencies.
Forecast markets
Prediction markets became the main trend of 2025, with weekly volume growing 9.2 times to nearly $5 billion. Market leaders Kalshi, Polymarket, and Opinion account for more than 98% of the market share. Experts believe that they demonstrate real demand for hedging against uncertainty. Categories including sports, politics, and economics attract different audiences, indicating maturity as a financial product.
Keyrock predicts that the total volume will grow fivefold to $25 billion per week. The fastest growth will be in non-sports categories such as economics, culture, and society. Liquidity will be concentrated among the top three players.
Tokenization
The real world assets (RWA) tokenization sector showed explosive growth in 2025, indicating real interest in blockchain among traditional finance. Currently, the sector is mainly represented by stablecoins, but experts are noting interest in launching a broader range of RWA products, such as private loans or government bonds.
In 2026, experts expect growth to increase more than fourfold (excluding stablecoins), and the structure will shift to a more diversified basket of products, including tokenized stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
AI agents and x402
The x402 protocol allows AI agents (autonomous programs based on artificial intelligence) to automatically pay for services with stablecoins on the internet. It has not yet become widespread, but is considered by experts to be an indicator of the development of automated trading.
The main forecast for 2026 includes weekly volume growth exceeding $100 million, which is 10 times higher than the peak values of 2025.
Blockchain storage
Safes and vaults are the cryptocurrency version of stock structures. Keyrock highlights this sector as a separate important element of decentralized finance (DeFi), but one that is still underdeveloped. Only four representatives are included in the list of tracked projects: Morpho, Euler, Yearn, and Beefy.
The market volume in 2025 grew by 73% to almost $12 billion. This year, experts predict growth to $36 billion thanks to the influx of institutional capital, regulatory clarity, and RWA growth.
Perpetual futures
In 2025, there was explosive growth in the perpetual futures market, led by Hyperliquid. Open trading interest on such futures platforms (Perp DEX, from perpetual futures) grew to $20 billion, which is a fivefold increase from the beginning to the end of 2025.
Keyrock predicts that this year the market will scale to new asset classes (stocks, commodities). And open interest will exceed $50 billion. This type of futures will be used by default for trading any assets on the blockchain, especially RWA.
Buyback
The process of token buybacks by issuers has become the main mechanism for returning value to crypto asset holders, but experts observe inefficiencies in execution, which reduce the effectiveness of the process. The total amount of token buybacks in 2025 exceeded $1.5 billion.
The company's forecast for 2026 includes a 50-100% increase in the number of buyback programs.
Privacy
The growing interest in the privacy features of Zcash (ZEC) reflects real demand for financial privacy in blockchains, experts say. And the growth in volume in this sector creates a kind of network effect. This refers to the volume of ZEC held in a special pool (shielded pool), which ensures data privacy for its holders.
The forecast for 2026 includes growth from 5 million to more than 7 million ZEC coins held in this privacy pool. It is noted that the growth will be driven, among other things, by interest from institutional players.
Crypto cards
The volume of payments via crypto cards using stablecoins grew more than sixfold in 2025, exceeding $106 million per week. Keyrock considers this segment to be a significant catalyst for the growth of stablecoins. Despite significant growth in 2025, it is still in its early stages of development.
Experts predict that in 2026, the monthly volume will reach $500 million, along with improvements in user experience and expanded functionality.
Bitcoin ETF
Despite the volatility of capital inflows into Bitcoin ETFs, the amount of assets under management by funds increased by 25% in 2025, becoming a source of demand. Experts believe that this has changed the structure of the market. According to Sosovalue, as of January 16, the amount of assets under management by Bitcoin funds exceeds $125 billion.
Keyrock predicts that the volume of assets under management by Bitcoin ETFs will continue to grow and exceed 2.5 million BTC this year, or $237 billion (at an exchange rate of about $95,000). At the same time, net inflows will be positive in at least eight of the 12 months.
Credit rates in DeFi
The volatility of lending rates (e.g., USDC on Aave) is holding back the development of complex financial products in DeFi. In 2025, the value ranged from 2.4% to 9.8%. Analysts note that stable lending rates are key to institutional adoption.
In 2026, rate volatility will decrease significantly, with the 30-day volatility falling below 0.25 on average (compared to approximately 0.40 in 2025). Keyrock believes this will be possible thanks to deeper liquidity and effective arbitrage.
#InvestorFocused

2025 was a record year in terms of the number of tokens that stopped trading on the markets. The number of dead projects surpassed all previous years combined.
More than 11.6 million tokens ceased to exist in 2025, setting an absolute annual record in the history of the cryptocurrency market. This was reported by CoinGecko analysts, who explained such huge figures by the general turbulence in the market during the year, which hit the memecoin sector particularly hard.
In the fourth quarter of 2025, 7.7 million tokens ceased to be active, accounting for 34.9% of the total number of recorded failures. Analysts explained this sharp increase by the systemic crisis that followed the market crash in early October.
The analysis methodology includes data from the GeckoTerminal service's list of tokens that are no longer actively traded. The data covers the period from July 1, 2021, to December 31, 2025. “Dead tokens” refers to the absence of trading activity.
The number of crypto projects that ceased to exist, by year, from 2021 to 2025:
in 2021 — 2,584 tokens;
in 2022 — 213,075 tokens;
in 2023 — 245,049 tokens;
in 2024 — 1,382,010 tokens;
in 2025 — 11,607,391 tokens.

More than half (53.2%) of all cryptocurrency projects ever presented on GeckoTerminal have ceased to exist, with the vast majority of “crypto project deaths” occurring in 2025. Over the previous year, more than 11.6 million tokens “died,” accounting for the overwhelming majority (86.3%) of the total number of “token deaths.”
Despite this, the total number of crypto projects in 2025 also increased sharply. In 2021, 428,383 projects were presented on GeckoTerminal. However, by 2025, this number had skyrocketed to nearly 20.2 million. Coingecko noted that this trend was facilitated by the ease of launching tokens on special platforms such as Pump.fun, which led to a surge in low-quality crypto projects on the market.
In 2024, nearly 1.4 million projects ceased to exist (10.3% of the total number of “crypto project deaths” over the past five years). The same year was the second in terms of the number of launches, with more than 3 million new projects entering the market. The share of project failures from 2021 to 2023 is only 3.4% of the total number for the five-year period.
Back in 2024, the probability of success for many cryptocurrencies was extremely low, particularly those launched on platforms such as Pump.fun. At that time, experts estimated the probability of generating income by purchasing tokens on such platforms to be lower than in a casino. They cited a 2.6% chance of success in American roulette, while the chance of finding a memecoin that would rapidly increase in value was estimated at only 0.12%.
#solana

Damages incurred by participants in the crypto industry from the actions of scammers and hackers increased by 34% compared to 2024.
Due to hacks and fraud involving cryptocurrencies, more than $4 billion was lost in 2025, according to analysts at PeckShield. According to their data, this is 34.2% more than in 2024, when $3.01 billion worth of cryptocurrencies were stolen.
The total damage in 2025 exceeded $4.04 billion. Of this, $2.67 billion was lost to hacks (a 24.2% increase year-on-year) and $1.37 billion was lost to fraud (a 64.2% increase).
The report highlights a strategic shift: there is a growing number of thefts involving social engineering techniques (psychological tricks and manipulation that force victims to disclose confidential information that attackers can use to steal funds). Analysts attributed 12% of losses in 2025 to incidents involving such methods.
Hacks accounted for 66% of the total damage, the most serious being the theft of $1.4 billion from the Bybit exchange in February last year. Another 22% of losses were due to scams, including “rug pulls” (when developers withdraw liquidity at the peak of the price) and pseudo-crypto investments.
Another important change was the increase in the share of centralized services among the affected platforms. While in 2023 they accounted for just over 35%, in 2024 they already accounted for about 45%, and in 2025 — over 70%.
Over the course of the year, only about $334.9 million of the stolen funds were frozen or returned. PeckShield noted a decrease compared to 2024, when $488.5 million was recovered.
PeckShield's assessment is based only on officially confirmed and recorded cases and amounts of damage. For example, experts at Chaianalisys, by analyzing the relationships and transactions in wallets associated with fraudsters, estimate the damage for the past year to be much higher — $17 billion.
#ETH

The price of the largest cryptocurrency in the privacy sector has updated a record that had held for about five years, amid a lack of growth for Bitcoin and Ethereum.
On January 12, the price of the confidential cryptocurrency Monero (XMR) hit a new record high, reaching almost $598.5 according to the Kraken crypto exchange. Later, the price of XMR fell slightly to around $580. The previous peak was above $517 and was reached in May 2021.
Over the past day, the price of XMR has risen by almost 20%, while the price of XMR's closest competitor, the cryptocurrency Zcash (ZEC), has risen by 7%. During the same period, the prices of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) remained virtually unchanged, trading at around $90,500 and $3,100, respectively, according to Coinmarketcap.
Since the beginning of the year, XMR quotes have grown by more than 30%, outperforming many major cryptocurrencies in terms of percentage growth. During this period, BTC grew by almost 2%, and Ethereum by 4%.
XMR's performance since the beginning of 2026 is a continuation of the coin's growth in the previous year, when it became one of the growth leaders among the largest cryptocurrencies on the market. As was the case for most of 2025, the current growth of XMR has not been accompanied by any events or news. The coin grew without institutional capital inflows, as was the case with cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, BNB, and others.
XMR ranks 12th among the largest cryptocurrencies on Coinmarketcap with a market capitalization of nearly $10.5 billion and is the largest coin by market capitalization in the privacy sector, ahead of Zcash (ZEC) with $6.6 billion.
For most of the second half of last year, ZEC showed better dynamics than XMR, briefly surpassing it in terms of capitalization. The Zcash price lost momentum in November 2025, reaching a local peak of around $730 — since then, the price has fallen to $400. In early January 2026, pressure on the ZEC price intensified amid the announcement of the departure of one of the cryptocurrency development teams — at that time, the asset's price lost about 20% in a few hours.
Ban on anonymity
With Monero, anonymity is a fundamental and mandatory feature of all transactions, as users cannot choose a different format for sending coins. This has led to its consistent delisting by many major exchanges, including Binance, OKX, and Bybit, due to pressure from regulators. Due to the exchanges' rejection of XMR, liquidity in the trading markets has been falling for a long time.
Attention has been drawn to Monero due to general interest in coins from the privacy sector, despite the risks of regulation, as noted by analysts at 10x Research, according to Coindesk.
For example, on January 12, a ban on private cryptocurrencies, including Monero and Zcash, will come into force by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), according to new rules for the circulation of digital assets in the DIFC international financial zone.
The reason is the inability to ensure transaction transparency and compliance with anti-money laundering and sanctions legislation requirements. But this does not stop confidential cryptocurrencies and their growth.
#XMR