The cryptocurrency market started off the year cautiously, adding 115b USD over the past week, with a market cap of around 3.1t USD. The altcoin sector gained traction, up 1.2%, while stablecoins bounced hard, gaining almost 8%. The Fear/Greed Index is neutral at 51 and is currently around 40 (still a fear level), up about 17 points since last week, indicating some optimism has entered the market.
ETFs gained 590b in positive inflows, with the U.S. leading the way with 2.5b USD. January 5th saw the biggest inflows of over 698m US$, and January 6-9th the outflows began, tapering off by January 12th.
As 2026 kicks off, market sentiment remains fragile yet cautious, following a difficult Q4 2025. The market wants to see signs of stabilization to bring back traders currently sitting on their hands and inject unused capital into the crypto market.
A Big Week for Bitcoin
When approval for spot BTC ETFs in the U.S. was granted in January 2024, it shifted the entire crypto market. That brought in many institutional investors who had previously lacked confidence in digital assets. Since then, BTC has hit an all-time high and been dubbed “digital gold.” Institutional investors have welcomed regulatory changes, allowing them to diversify their portfolios (ETFs, futures, VC investments, and treasuries).
MicroStrategy has doubled down on Bitcoin and yesterday bought another 13,627 BTC for 1.25b USD. They currently hold 687,410 BTC in their treasury and have an average purchase price of 79k USD. This purchase has bolstered the price of BTC, which has risen 3.3% in the past 5 days and is currently trading around 92k USD. This recent price surge could be short-lived, as the U.S. will release its Consumer Price Index (CPI) data today. If it is negative, it could impact BTC and market sentiment. If the news is contentious, BTC could drop below 90k, leading to a selloff, but analysts believe that it will recover and rally in the coming weeks.
Securing Ethereum’s Future
The co-founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, has stated this week that the future of ETH will depend on quantum resistance if it is to survive. This means if all core developers disappeared, ETH could continue to operate and function independently without major upgrades, which he calls “the walkaway test.” The blockchain would prioritize long-term protocols over short-term performance gains going forward to protect private keys from being stolen and undermining current security protocols. Other blockchains are working on developing this technology too, as every network will be at risk soon.
Inflows of over 5m USD to ETH ETFs yesterday boosted the price of ETH to 3.1k USD after touching the 3k USD level several times earlier in the week. The total value of ETH ETFs is now 18.9b USD, and this accounts for almost 5% of ETH’s market cap.
Bitmine continues to build its Ethereum coffers as it holds 3.5% of the total supply and is looking to get that percentage to 5% in 2026. The company is striving to be the biggest ETH staking company and will launch MAVAN, a company owned by Bitmine, specifically dedicated to ETH staking. As of last week, Bitmine has staked 1,256,083 ETH and is in partnership with 2 other companies to perfect technical solutions.
Tether Working with International Law Enforcement to Seize Funds
It has been a very busy few months at TRM Labs, a firm that analyzes data to detect fraud and provides evidence of wrongdoings in banks, crypto exchanges and government agencies. Tether has been working with them for several years and has frozen around 1b USD of USDT illegally transferred by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) since 2023 through UK-based crypto exchanges. Tether froze 42 wallets, which were mainly on the Tron network, under the instructions from Israeli and U.S. counter terrorism authorities.
In the past few days, Tether froze another 5 Tron wallets to the tune of 182m USDT. Authorities have not specifically disclosed the reasons why these wallets had been blacklisted, but they have been associated with illicit activities. Tether commands around 65% of the stablecoin market, so the exposure of these seizures tends to focus on USDT.
Tether Working with International Law Enforcement to Seize Funds XRP Enchances its Exposure Through Partnerships & Adoption
Ripple passed a milestone earlier this week when the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) approved XRP to operate as a crypto asset firm and facilitate cross-border money transactions.
Ripple has purchased parts of certain firms to build a financial platform to launch a ‘one-stop shop’ for all digital asset services. Ripple spent 2.5 billion to buy parts of a brokerage firm, a treasury software provider, a stablecoin payment network and a wallet custody company. Ripple’s RLUSD is critical to the success of the new venture, as it will serve as collateral for trades, payments, and treasury purchases.
Despite XRP’s current accolades, the token is down almost 13% for the week and is trading at 2.06 USD. It is showing signs of moving up as it is up 1% today.
The week started off with quiet optimism and then reverted to a volatile rollercoaster. BTC saw massive inflows into its ETFs, but the inflows reversed later in the week. The macroeconomic news coming out today could stifle a hopeful bull run, but it would not be anything that traders have seen in the past 3 months. Patience rewards those who wait…
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