Hedera's HBAR declined 12% over the week as the network prepares a mainnet upgrade to v0.69 on January 21. RSI hovered near 44 and open interest around $55 million, with funding slightly positive, signaling consolidation. Developer activity ranked fourth globally, raising the question of whether the upgrade can improve sentiment.

In 2025, stablecoin issuers generated roughly $5 billion from deployments on Ethereum, according to X. Startups reported a 400% year-over-year rise in stablecoin card usage and payment volumes, while ERC20 stablecoin activity approached record highs, per CryptoQuant. U.S. lawmakers are also weighing changes to yield rules, with a markup set for the 15th of January.

Over the past week, Bitcoin and Ethereum both slipped less than 2%, while several altcoins saw sharp moves in both directions. Polygon's POL token surged close to 50%, supported by steady on-chain activity, and Virtuals Protocol and JasmyCoin also booked double-digit gains. In contrast, Midnight and Zcash dropped more than 20% from recent highs, with several privacy-focused coins and major tokens like UNI and DOGE also ending the week in the red.

Ethereum is facing an identity debate as institutional investors commit over 1 million ETH to staking while yields sit near multi-year lows. At the same time, co-founder Vitalik Buterin is urging a shift toward a privacy-focused, sovereign web that counters corporate data extraction and algorithm-driven platforms. A recent 330 ETH transfer from a wallet linked to Buterin into Paxos underscores his ongoing operational and ecosystem-related activity on-chain.

Cardano's ADA approached $0.40 over the past week as attention turned to Leios, with the main proposal 67% complete and technical design at 46%. Grayscale's Smart Contract Fund allocates 18.55% to ADA, behind SOL at 29.55% and ETH at 29%, while indicators show slowing inflows and rising seller interest.

Sui Network's SUI token has climbed more than 36% in a week, with trading volume surging 244.65% across DEXs, aggregators, and derivatives. The price briefly reclaimed the $1.90-$2.00 range and is up 43% since 1 December, even as social interest and dominance remain muted.

Polkadot's DOT and Ethena's ENA have each risen more than 20% over the last week, but their trading activity and inflation patterns show clear differences. ENA saw higher and steadier volume, while DOT climbed on lower participation, and the two tokens also follow contrasting annual supply dynamics. These factors may shape how sustainable their recent price moves prove to be.

Large Bitcoin holders accumulated more than 56,000 BTC since mid-December while smaller wallets reduced exposure. In early January, ETF net inflows climbed, bringing cumulative inflows close to $58 billion as price advanced toward $94k. Resistance is flagged near $98k–$105k, with support around $80k–$82k.

As of January 2026, the Crypto Fear & Greed Index shifted back to neutral, hovering in the low 40s. Bitcoin reclaimed the $90,000 zone after weeks of range-bound trade, with RSI above 60 and MACD turning positive. The last neutral phase in early October 2025 preceded a fast drop from above $125,000 to nearly $80,000.