In 2025, Solana’s network revenue has accelerated, with yearly figures reportedly on track to exceed Ethereum’s for the first time as on-chain activity and RWA growth surge. Data shows Solana’s revenue rising from $28 million in 2021 to $2.5 billion YTD in 2025, while Ethereum has declined to about $1.4 billion. Although the SOL/ETH price ratio has spent 2025 in a bearish trend, Solana still logged a 12-month high around 0.93 in mid-January, keeping the contest between the two L1s firmly in focus going into 2026.

Bitcoin is trading sideways as $415 million in options are scheduled to expire over the next seven days, with half of that open interest due on 26 December. If buyers can continue to defend the $85k–$88k support band through the expiry window, analysts expect conditions for a FOMO-driven breakout and a bullish base heading into 2026.

Reports of a renewed Bitcoin mining crackdown in China surfaced after BTC's hashrate dropped about 8%. Jack Jianping Kong posted that Xinjiang miners faced scrutiny and later claimed at least 400,000 machines were shut. By 18 December, pool data showed a rebound, with North American and China-based pools reflecting mixed, temporary declines.

Bitcoin's traditional four-year halving pattern is facing a test after the April 2024 reward cut to 3.125 BTC left prices on track to end the first post-halving year about 7% lower. Recent data point to stabilizing forces such as ETF launches, institutional flows and shrinking exchange reserves, including 140k BTC accumulated in Q4, supporting the idea that the market may be shifting toward a longer "supercycle" rather than a sharp boom-bust phase.

Ethereum's annual revenue has slid from $2.52 billion to about $604 million as Layer-2 networks retain more transaction value and remit a small share in settlement fees. BitMine's BMNR holds 3.66 million ETH and recently added 38,596 ETH, yet ETH stayed below $3,200 and BMNR fell 9.17% with Q4 down 32%.

Solana’s validator set has reportedly shrunk by 68% over the past two years, leaving about 800 active nodes and stirring concerns over network security. At the same time, the SOL stake needed for a validator to break even has tripled to roughly $17 million per block, intensifying pressure on operators amid one of the asset’s weakest quarters since 2022.

Over the past week, MemeCore, Merlin Chain, and Zcash logged double-digit gains while major caps slipped below key technical levels. In contrast, Story, Jupiter, and The Graph led the market's notable decliners as several tokens failed to hold support. Other smaller-cap assets also saw extreme moves in both directions, underscoring elevated volatility across the crypto market.

Heading into 2026, BNB has held firm through a weak Q4 2025, rising 27% year over year and trading about 30% above its Q3 open. After crossing $120 billion in market value, BNB overtook XRP to become the third-largest crypto asset. The XRP/BNB ratio dropped roughly 8.5% in the past month, while BSC’s TVL fell 9% versus XRP’s 30% decline.

Heading into 2026, data from Alphactral shows Global M2 money supply has reached a new all-time high near $130 trillion, with China contributing about 37% at $47.7 trillion. While major economies cut rates and the U.S. pursues a $40 billion Treasury plan to ease funding conditions, the total crypto market cap has fallen 21% in Q4 2025, leaving risk assets below their late-Q3 highs and investors wary despite improving liquidity.