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The altcoin market begins the second week of January with uncertain signs. Some tokens have reached new all-time highs. Others have recovered, but skepticism remains. Most altcoins are still struggling to recover from the major sell-off that occurred in October last year.

In this situation, three altcoins face major liquidations as traders might believe demand is higher than it actually is.

1. Solana (SOL)

The meme-coin wave early 2026 is not particularly strong, but it shows traders are now willing to take more risks. The Solana ecosystem has set several new records. Pump.fun's DEX volume has reached a new high. The number of meme-tokens launched per day has also increased.

The global digital assets industry is evolving, and the conversation is now more focused on structure, regulatory compliance, and long-term infrastructure than on speculation. Few companies demonstrate this shift as clearly as Bitpanda. The platform was founded in Europe and has evolved into a regulated investment system for multiple assets, with growing presence worldwide.

When we recently spoke with Vishal Sacheendran, Vice President of Global Markets Strategy & Operations at Bitpanda, one theme became clear: regulation is not slowing down the company – it's driving its expansion.

Monero price has risen over 35% in the last seven days. The price increased even more in the past 24 hours. XMR reached a new record near $598 before sellers stepped in. The price is now just below the zone where the new price is determined.

The trend still looks strong, but several signs indicate the upward movement might weaken. The key question now is whether Monero will gather strength for a new rise. Or if the growing imbalance causes the price to drop rapidly soon.

Capital and momentum risks explain why selling pressure became so strong at the peak

The cryptocurrency market is preparing for a major week with token unlocks. Over the next seven days, new tokens worth over $1.69 billion will enter circulation. Three major ecosystems, Ondo (ONDO), Official Trump (TRUMP), and Arbitrum (ARB), will release additional tokens onto the market.

These unlock events increase liquidity but can also cause short-term price movements and higher volatility. Below, you can read what to keep an eye on in each project.

1. Ondo (ONDO)

Unlock date: January 18

A trader turned 321 USD into 2.18 million USD in just 11 days using the Chinese memecoin 114514. This shows how strong speculation is on the market at the beginning of 2026.

This surge is linked to targeted investments from the BNB Chain Foundation and the fact that 2026 is the Year of the Horse according to the Chinese calendar. Analysts therefore believe Chinese memecoins could perform strongly during the first quarter.

Binance listing boosts Binance Life valuation to 153 million USD

Binance Life (币安人生) reached a market value of 153 million USD after its Binance listing on January 7. The token traded at 0.1519 USD on January 12, up 16.9% over the past day. Daily trading volume amounted to 66.1 million USD, with 47.9 million USD on Binance and the remainder on KCEX and LBank.

Cryptocurrency funds suffered a sharp setback last week, with outflows of 454 million USD. This nearly wiped out the inflows of 1.5 billion USD since the beginning of the year.

Selling appears to be driven by declining expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut rates in March. Recent macroeconomic data shows the Fed is likely to continue with the same policy.

Cryptocurrency funds lost 454 million USD as hopes for a Fed rate cut diminished

According to the latest figures from CoinShares, last week's crypto outflows followed four days of outflows totaling 1.3 billion USD.

The first month of the new year typically brings significant network and protocol upgrades. Altcoins can also benefit from this momentum, and some have already shown it in recent days.

BeInCrypto has analyzed three such altcoins that investors should keep an eye on during the second week of January.

Mantle (MNT)

Mantle is approaching its first major network upgrade of the year. The mainnet update will support all features of Ethereum's Fusaka upgrade. The upgrade is scheduled to go live this week and could improve usage and scalability. It may attract new users and increase activity on the chain.

Ethereum's long-term development is now entering an important phase. Vitalik Buterin is driving the idea of "ossifiability"—that the network can be "frozen" without losing functionality even if core developers disappear.

This vision was first presented in 2024 as part of the walkaway test. It sees Ethereum as more than a platform for decentralized applications (dApps)—Ethereum should become a foundation where everything can function independently for many decades.

Vitalik Buterin's Ethereum Ossifiability Roadmap: Everything users need to know

Bitcoin is in the process of breaking out, but the recovery is not clear. The price has reclaimed important trend support, history shows continued upward movement, and temporary sellers have stopped selling.

But every price increase meets resistance. The price does not show why this is happening. A certain group of holders continues to sell as the price rises, which could slow the next upward move.

The breakout structure remains intact

On the daily chart, we now see a cup-and-handle structure for Bitcoin. The price briefly rose toward the breakout near $92,400 before falling back, but the structure holds as long as key support remains.

Ethereum price is rising again, up over 2% in the past 24 hours, and remains positive for the month. The recovery looks promising, but the foundation remains fragile.

A negative pattern is still active, and if key levels are not held, this rally risks turning into a deeper decline.

Ethereum price is rising within a fragile downward structure

Despite the upward move, Ethereum is still trading within a head and shoulders pattern on the daily chart. The peak on January 6 formed the right shoulder, and the price is now attempting to stabilize without breaking the pattern.

Several members of the crypto community have accused Nikita Bier, X's product chief and advisor to Solana, of deliberately suppressing crypto-related content on X (formerly Twitter).

The allegations arose after several users reported a noticeable decrease in crypto-related posts appearing in their feeds.

Crypto Visibility on X: Why users are expressing concern

X has long been an important source for the crypto community to stay updated on industry news, follow market developments, discover new opportunities, and identify new projects and metas. However, users have recently expressed growing concern over changes in their feeds and reported an increase in posts unrelated to cryptocurrency.

As geopolitical tensions rise, the US dollar (USD), which for a long time has been the market's safe haven, no longer reacts in the same way as before.

At the same time, gold (XAU) and silver (XAG) show strong signs that go far beyond typical commodity increases.

Gold when records when silver surges, but markets protect themselves against something bigger than inflation

Now capital is flowing instead into hard assets. Gold is approaching $5,000 and silver is over $80. These levels mean investors must re-evaluate old economic assumptions.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell says a criminal investigation launched by federal prosecutors is politically motivated. He argues the investigation stems from the central bank's unwillingness to adjust its monetary policy according to the president's wishes.

This event occurs at a time when Powell's term ends in May 2026 and tensions with President Donald Trump have intensified.

Federal Reserve Chair links criminal investigation to disagreement over monetary policy

In a new video, Federal Reserve Chairman Powell says the U.S. Department of Justice sent subpoenas to the Fed on Friday. Powell states that the action represented a threat of prosecution linked to his testimony before a Senate committee last year regarding the renovation of the central bank's headquarters in Washington, DC, for 2.5 billion USD.

Several American economic data releases are scheduled this week, each having significant implications for investor sentiment and thus potentially affecting Bitcoin prices.

Investors can strategically position their portfolios by trading around the following headlines during the week between January 12 and 17.

4 American economic events to watch this week

The four macroeconomic events are concentrated between Tuesday and Thursday, increasing the risk of Bitcoin price volatility during these days.

Monero (XMR) has reached a new record after rising to $598. Its market capitalization has now surpassed $10 billion for the first time. Many analysts remain optimistic and believe this is just the beginning.

The experienced trader Peter Brandt has also expressed optimism, comparing XMR's price movement to that of silver.

Can Monero become the 'silver' of the cryptocurrency market?

On January 12, price data from BeInCrypto showed that Monero (XMR) had risen by more than 30% since the previous Saturday. It was trading above $585 and the market capitalization was over $10.7 billion.

An early Ethereum investor has likely sold their entire ETH position after blockchain data shows the holdings were moved to a centralized exchange. The sale is estimated to have generated around $274 million in profit.

This is happening at the same time as ETH continues to face selling pressure, even from institutional investors in the USA. However, some market analysts remain positive about the future of the second-largest cryptocurrency.

Ethereum OG-whale exits with 344% profit

Analytics from Lookonchain show the investor accumulated 154,076 ETH at an average price of $517. Since the end of last week, the wallet has begun sending ETH to Bitstamp, a central cryptocurrency exchange.

On January 7, Chinese state TV showed dramatic images: a man with a hood and handcuffs being led by police in Beijing. The prisoner was Chen Zhi, the 38-year-old founder of Cambodia's Prince Holding Group. He is accused of running one of Asia's largest fraud empires.

Cambodia's grep Chen days before and handed him over to China. This ended a year of speculation about whether the influential entrepreneur would ever face justice. But while Chen's fall dominates the media, a new mystery remains: What actually happened to his 15 billion USD in Bitcoin?

South Korea's Financial Services Commission (FSC) has now established guidelines that allow listed companies and professional investors to trade in cryptocurrencies.

This decision ends a nine-year ban on corporate cryptocurrency investments and fits into the government's broader '2026 Economic Growth Strategy,' which also includes laws on stablecoins and approvals for spot-based ETFs for crypto, announced last week.

Corporate Investment Framework

According to the FSC's new guidelines, as reported by local media, qualified companies may invest up to 5% of their own capital annually. This investment applies only to the twenty largest cryptocurrencies by market value on the five largest exchanges in Korea.

A viral clip where White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt suddenly ends a press briefing a few seconds before a key betting threshold has heightened concerns about insider trading in betting markets. The incident occurs at a time when 30 Democrats are proposing a new law that would ban elected officials from investing money in politics.

It may have started as a joke – but no one was laughing.

30-second cutoff

The controversy began on January 7 when Leavitt ended her daily briefing after approximately 64 minutes and 30 seconds, just before the 65-minute threshold set by the betting market Kalshi as a betting limit. The market at that time showed a 98% chance that the briefing would last longer than 65 minutes. Those who bet against this earned up to 50 times their money in just a few seconds.

NFT Paris and RWA Paris 2026 were officially canceled on January 5. Organizers cited the collapse of the global cryptocurrency market and unsustainable costs. Meanwhile, the rising violence surrounding crypto has given the announcement a deeply concerning context.

France has reported over 20 kidnappings and violent attacks against crypto experts and their families since January 2025. This has created fear throughout the country's entire Web3 community.

Wave of violence targets France's crypto community

Four kidnapping attempts occurred within just four days at the beginning of January 2026. Therefore, industry profiles quickly issued warnings to the crypto industry.