The crypto market saw a moderate recovery on January 2, 2026, with the total capitalization rising to $3.08 trillion (up 0.9% in 24 hours) and trading volume at $64 billion. Bitcoin dominance remained strong at 57.3%, while Ethereum held 11.7%. The number of tracked cryptocurrencies reached 19,980.
Bitcoin and Ethereum Edge Higher
Bitcoin hit $88,603.49, up 0.96% with $19.24 billion in volume. Ethereum traded at $2,998.51, up 0.69% on $10.33 billion volume.
Top Gainers: PEPE Rockets 22%, STAR, DOGE Follow
PEPE led the market with a 22.3% surge to $0.054941, backed by $579.87 million in volume. Other notable gainers: Starpower (STAR) +2.99%, Dogecoin (DOGE) +7.28% to $0.1266, Falcon Finance (FF) +4.71%, and Filecoin (FIL) +14.46%. Story (IP) gained 20.35% and Aerodrome Finance (AERO) rose 17.04%.
Biggest Losers: HYPE Down 5.49%, Canton and Monero Decline
Hyperliquid (HYPE) dropped 5.49% to $24.44, with $218.6 million traded. Canton (CC) fell 5.03% to $0.1522, and Monero (XMR) slipped 3.43% to $415.46.
Stablecoins and DeFi Mixed
Stablecoin market cap stood at $310.8 billion, down 0.1%. DeFi surged 2.1% to a $105 billion market cap, with total value locked at $3.35 billion and a 3.4% DeFi dominance.
Fear and Greed Index: From Extreme Fear to Fear
The current index sits at 28 (Fear), up from 20 (Extreme Fear) a day earlier, signaling slight sentiment improvement amid price stabilization. However, macro uncertainty and low volumes keep the mood cautious.
Key News Today
Iran Accepts Crypto for Arms Sales: Iran's defense export agency Mindex announced it will accept cryptocurrency payments for missiles, drones, and warships, alongside barter and rial, covering clients in 35 countries.
Lighter Airdrop Details: Lighter confirmed that most of its airdrop points are non-trading, with less than 10% tied to partners. Jump Crypto received 0.93% of LIT supply during early platform development as a market maker.
Hyperliquid Founder Reaffirms Neutrality: Founder Jeff stated the platform prioritizes integrity and neutrality, with no private investors, no market maker privileges, zero protocol fees, and genesis tokens allocated to early users—verifiable on-chain.
Silent EVM Wallet Drain Ongoing: ZachXBT monitoring detected hundreds of EVM wallets being quietly drained, each losing under $2,000, with an unknown cause. Total losses so far amount to $107,000 and are spreading across multiple chains.
Dormant Entity Unstaked 631,900 HYPE: An address that had been idle for over a year unstaked 631,900 HYPE worth $20.3 million across three wallets in three days, representing 14-15% of its holdings. The entity originally used Tornado Cash funds to buy after the TGE.
Coinbase Plans to Match Robinhood: CEO Brian Armstrong said Coinbase has matched Robinhood's retail features and plans futures trading, stock integration, and broader crypto support. The Base App is positioned as an independent social trading experiment.