The Weekly Wrap
Crypto just walked into 2026 with a little swagger.
Over the past 7 days, the total crypto market cap jumped 7.83%, climbing to $4.74 trillion. Not bad for the first week back after the holidays. Even better? Sentiment is thawing. After spending most of December stuck in “extreme fear”, sentiment indicators just flipped back to neutral for the first time since October 2025. And the flows are backing it up. After a slow, sleepy Christmas week, Bitcoin ETFs saw a hefty $431 million inflow on Jan 2, signalling fresh demand.
BTC
First, a small milestone:
Bitcoin quietly turned 17 years old this week, marking the mining of the Genesis Block on 3 January 2009.
Find out more on BTC’s Birthday here
Michael Saylor the BTC maxi has purchased another 109 million USD in BTC this week which has pushed the company’s total bitcoin holdings to nearly 672,500 BTC.
Bitcoin has spent the past few weeks moving sideways. Price pulled back in December and has since settled into a clear range, with buyers stepping in near recent lows and sellers showing up around the same resistance zone.
In simple terms: Neither side has control ….yet.
This kind of consolidation is common after sharp moves and often reflects the market pausing, reassessing, and waiting for fresh information.
For now, Bitcoin looks content to chop within its range… until it gets a reason not to.
ETH
Ethereum’s been quietly stacking some solid fundamentals.
Developer activity just hit a new all-time high, with more builders working across Ethereum, Layer 2s, and infrastructure than ever before. At the same time, onchain data shows a pickup in new Ethereum wallets, suggesting fresh users are entering the network.
This comes alongside Ethereum’s recent Fusaka upgrade, which focuses on improving network efficiency and supporting Layer-2 scaling rather than flashy user-facing changes.
If you want a simple breakdown of Fusaka and why it matters, you can read our explainer here: 👉 Market Update December 3rd 2025Like Michael Saylor, ETH maxi Tom Lee and BitMine have purchased another 130 million USD in ETH this week and now own more than 4 million ETH.
PEPE
PEPE just ripped 70% in a week with Open Interest rising, so let’s balance the hopium with a big scoop of reality. 🐸
Open interest (OI) = the total value of open futures positions (longs + shorts) that haven’t been closed yet.
So when OI rises, it usually means new positions are being added, not “people are buying,” not “price must go up,” just more traders are stepping into the arena.
PEPE OI moved from a quieter ~$200–$300M USD zone into roughly ~$500–$600M USD.
Translation? The market got busier… and usually more sensitive which could mean bigger liquidations in either direction.
What we have been reading
📈 Ledger Says Customer Assets Safe After Global-e Data Breach
Ledger confirmed that its e-commerce partner Global-e suffered unauthorised access to order data affecting some customers. The company said no crypto assets, recovery phrases, balances, or payment details were compromised. Ledger has engaged independent forensic experts to investigate the third-party breach.
Read more on staying safe with Crypto with Cointree’s guide➔
📈 Tether Proposes New Gold Unit for Everyday Digital Payments
Tether has introduced “Scudo”, a unit equal to one-thousandth of an ounce of gold, to make gold-based payments easier. The move builds on its gold-backed XAUT token, supported by nearly A$26 billion worth of physical gold held in secure vaults.
📈 Grayscale Starts Paying Staking Rewards to Ethereum ETF Investors
Grayscale has begun distributing staking rewards to investors in its Ethereum Staking ETF, marking the first time an Ethereum ETF has passed staking income directly to shareholders. Investors will receive US$0.083178 per share, with payments scheduled for January 6.
