The global crypto market stood at $2.64 trillion on May 26, down 0.2% over 24 hours, while total trading volume came in at $63.66 billion. Bitcoin traded at $76,698, off 0.41% on the day, with a market capitalization of $1.53 trillion. Ethereum changed hands at $2,092.12, down 0.33%, giving it a market cap of $252.9 billion. BTC dominance held at 58.2%, while ETH accounted for 9.58% of the market.
Fear index improves, but the market remains in fear
The Crypto Fear & Greed Index rose to 34 from 30 a day earlier, though the reading still points to “Fear.” A week ago, the index was at 25, which signaled “Extreme Fear,” and the monthly reading was 33. The move higher suggests panic eased compared with recent sessions, but price action across the market stayed soft.
NEAR and DeXe led gainers while SLX posted one of the sharpest drops
Altcoins showed a wide split in performance. NEAR was listed at $2.72, up 13.89% with $1.04 billion in trading volume; another market snapshot in the source placed NEAR at $2.73, up 14.16%. DeXe rose to $17.42, gaining 14.23%. Worldcoin climbed 11.26% to $0.3259, and TON added 8.54% to trade at $1.91.
On the losing side, Solstice (SLX) fell to $0.1975, down 42.27% in 24 hours, with $200.61 million in volume. VVV dropped 10.21%, ONDO lost 7.41%, DASH slipped 4.92%, and XRP fell 0.77% to $1.34.
ESPORTS plunged within hours after wallets sold tokens for USDT
The sharpest collapse in the report came from ESPORTS. According to the source, heavy selling continued as wallets dumped millions of tokens into USDT, sending the token down by more than 90% within hours. The report did not include wallet addresses or a fuller breakdown of the sell-off size, but it linked the move to major project-related liquidations.
Privacy tools, prediction markets, and shutdown plans drove headlines
The Ethereum Foundation’s Kohaku Initiative launched a wallet SDK that integrates Railgun, Tornado Cash, and Privacy Pools, allowing users to access privacy tools directly from wallet interfaces. Hyperliquid also announced support for validator-driven prediction markets tied to off-chain events, with validators handling market creation and settlement.
In South Korea, the ICON blockchain said it will officially shut down on December 31, 2026 and complete its migration to SODAX, ending maintenance of its Layer1 network. Ondo Finance confirmed that founder Nathan Allman had unexpectedly passed away, and company president Ian De Bode will take over as CEO.
Nearly $3 million stolen in SquidRouterModule exploit
On the security front, attackers exploited the SquidRouterModule linked to Gnosis Safe and stole nearly $3 million. Squid said its core protocol and official Router contracts were not compromised. Binance rolled out its DYOR Hub for Alpha tokens, adding on-chain analytics covering liquidity, token unlocks, exchange balances, funding rates, and GitHub development activity.
Bitget, for its part, is replacing its older stock token system with broker-connected U.S. stock products that include stablecoin trading and dividend support. Compared with May 25, total crypto market capitalization slipped from $2.65 trillion to $2.64 trillion, and trading volume fell from $67.7 billion to $63.66 billion, even as the fear index moved higher.