Solana

Binance co-founder Changpeng "CZ" Zhao has reiterated his optimistic outlook on digital assets, stating on X that a crypto "super cycle" is expected to begin in 2026 and drive prices far beyond prior projections. He contrasts this view with the traditional four-year market cycle thesis and continues to spotlight Bitcoin, BNB and Aster as his preferred long-term holdings, while separate analysts and investors are also focusing on emerging tokens like Bitcoin Hyper and Floki.

Solana has introduced the v3.0.14 validator client for Mainnet-Beta, urging both staked and unstaked nodes to upgrade to enhance network resilience. At the same time, SOL trades around $135 with analysts watching $145 as a pivot and $187 as key resistance before February. Broader roadmap upgrades, including Firedancer and Alpenglow, aim to boost scalability while price structure signals compression and potential upside toward higher psychological levels.

At the beginning of 2026, major cryptocurrencies and meme coins have rebounded from the prior year's downturn, while retail sentiment has turned more optimistic but remains highly reactive to short-term news. Social and sentiment data indicate that Bitcoin is trading increasingly in line with macroeconomic signals and ETF flows, as Ethereum, XRP and Solana see mixed yet notable shifts in discussion and price action. Meme coins, led by Dogecoin and its leveraged ETF performance, have also attracted renewed interest alongside whale activity and social media hype.

From early 2025 into early 2026, BTC's volume dominance slid from 45–50% toward 30–35%, while altcoins expanded above 55% and often 60–65%. ETH's share fluctuated between 20% and 30%. On-chain metrics show Ethereum addresses climbed from about 300 million to 370 million, but BNB Chain led with past 730 million addresses and roughly 4.4 million daily active users.

On January 10, 2026, the Solana Foundation recommended Mainnet-Beta validators move to v3.0.14, citing critical patches. SOL is hovering around $136 support with compression suggesting a potential push toward $144–$146, while key resistance sits near $140.78 and secondary resistance at $143.46.

As of January 10, altcoins captured about 50% of total crypto trading volume, while Bitcoin hovered near $90,600 within a $89,000–$94,000 range. Flows rotated toward higher‑beta tokens, with Polygon and Solana's BONK posting outsized weekly gains. On January 9, U.S. spot ETH ETFs recorded $93.82 million in net outflows.

On January 9, 2026, Pump.fun co-founder Alon said the creator-fee model failed and unveiled a trader-led overhaul. The update adds fee-sharing to up to 10 wallets and ownership transfers, while a December court order let plaintiffs add nearly 5,000 chats to a lawsuit alleging over $722 million in revenue and heavy retail losses.

An inactive Solana whale address has transferred 80,000 SOL, valued at about $10.87 million, from Binance to a private wallet after a year of no activity. The move, tracked by Lookonchain, is being interpreted by market observers as a potential long-term accumulation signal even as SOL trades around $136 and struggles below key support levels.

On January 10, altcoins captured over 50% of crypto trading volume, compared with Bitcoin at 27% and Ethereum at 23%. High-beta plays including Solana memecoins, Polygon, and Beefy posted strong gains, while January 9 data showed $93.82 million net withdrawals from U.S. spot ETH ETFs, amid mixed momentum for BTC and ETH.

On 10 January 2026, Pump.fun announced a major redesign of its Solana-based platform fee structure, shifting rewards away from automatic creator payouts toward trader-driven distribution. The PUMP token rose close to 11% to around $0.0024 following the news, as the project signaled that future fees will be optionally allocated by creators and administrators through the app rather than shared with the core team. The update aims to prioritize liquidity and market participation after the team acknowledged that the previous creator-focused model had weakened sustained trading and price discovery.