Large-Cap Memes Lead Rally
Plus, EVM chains are target of sweeping exploit
Happy New Year, Defiers!
Here’s what’s happening:
The Defiant’s 2025 in review:
- RWAs Became Wall Street’s Gateway to Crypto in 2025
- Prediction Markets Expand from DeFi Niche to Global News Sources
- Stablecoins Became Crypto’s First Mainstream Use Case in 2025
- Looking Ahead: The Biggest Names in Crypto Predict New Bitcoin Highs and a Tokenization Boom in 2026
Read more below! But first, please give our sponsors some love; they make this newsletter possible.
Stellar: The Proving Ground for Real-World Privacy The latest Stellar upgrade, X-Ray, delivers zero-knowledge cryptography that lets developers build privacy into their apps—protecting what matters while keeping Stellar radically open, trusted, and ready for real-world finance.
We’re back! Here’s what you need to know in web3 today
📈 Markets in the Past 24 Hours
| TICKER | VALUE | 24H | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Bitcoin | $89,418 | 1.78 % |
 | Ethereum | $3,079.27 | 3.23 % |
 | BNB | $876.57 | 2.25 % |
 | XRP | $1.91 | 3.37 % |
 | Solana | $128.66 | 3.23 % |
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🎬WATCH
Unpacking Uniswap’s “fee switch” with Hayden Adams
The UNIfication proposal just passed with an overwhelming majority of voters in favor. On the most recent episode of The Defiant podcast, Uniswap founder Hayden Adams joins us to break down the proposal — a sweeping plan from Uniswap Labs + the Uniswap Foundation that would activate protocol fees, introduce a programmatic UNI burn, and realign how value accrues across the Uniswap ecosystem.
Top News in the Past 24 Hours
- Crypto Markets Move Higher After Holidays Crypto markets moved higher today as risk appetite returned across digital assets following two relatively flat holiday weeks. BTC pushed back over $90,000, while ETH is over $3,100, boosting other altcoins. Why it matters: Trading activity saw a slight uptick after lower volume days over the holidays.
- Memecoins Lead Crypto Rally as PEPE Surges Over 30% Large-cap memecoins are leading the new year crypto rally today with Pepe (PEPE) posting the strongest gains among the top-100 tokens on Friday, while SHIB and DOGE also outperformed. Why it matters: The move highlights a familiar pattern in crypto markets, where memecoins often lead during short bursts of risk-on trading as investors rotate into higher-volatility assets.
- ZachXBT Reports EVM Hack Affecting Hundreds of Wallets The on-chain sleuth said that a total of roughly $100,000 had been drained across hundreds of wallets in what continues to be an ongoing exploit. Why it matters: The majority of stolen funds were taken from Ethereum wallets.
Trending on The Defiant
- 2025 Marks a Year to Forget for Altcoins
- Trump Media Announces New Token Launch in 2026
- Zcash Emerges as Top-Performing Large-Cap Crypto of the Year
- Crypto Markets Trade Mostly Flat as Year-End Activity Remains Light
- ZORA Drops as Creator Coins Disappoint Yet Again
- Lighter Users Report Withdrawal Issues After Perp DEX Launches LIT Token
That’s it for today — if you enjoyed this newsletter, tell your friends! https://thedefiant.io/subscribe
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