Markets Kick Off 2026 With Broad Rally

Squiffs _ & Olivia Capozzalo
January 05, 2026

Happy Monday Defiers!

Today’s big story:

• As Friday’s rally extends into Monday, we look at what makes this rebound different — and what it might mean for alts in the near future

In other news:

• Crypto exploit losses fell 60% in December
• Starknet resumes after multi-hour outage
• Polymarket, Parcl partner on real estate bets

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.

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📈 Markets in the Past 24 Hours

	TICKER	VALUE	24H
	Bitcoin	$94,031	3.10 %
	Ethereum	$3,200.44	2.22 %
	XRP	$2.21	6.06 %
	BNB	$904.71	0.79 %
	Solana	$136.04	1.26 %

Today’s Big Story

New Year, New Market?

The crypto markets are surging like they made a New Year’s resolution to pump, with BTC leading the charge, and basically every altcoin under the sun catching aggressive bids.

Unlike the previous BTC relief rallies we’ve seen post 10/10, the market is exhibiting risk-on behavior, as opposed to a lethargic dead-cat bounce.

Activity is returning to the trenches, too, with PEPE attempting to lead memecoins out of their brutal secular bear market. The memecoin that started it all is up 70% this week and looking to reclaim a $3 billion valuation, after falling to as low as $1.6 billion in December.

PEPE Chart - CoinGecko

New coins are picking up the pace as well, which is always a sign of a market eager to speculate. Lighter’s LIT token, which underwhelmed at its token generation event (TGE), made a new high today and finally crossed the $3 mark, with OTC points top-buyers getting closer to their breakeven price of $4.

Other 2024 favorites such as Virtuals Protocol and Fartcoin are having a big week as well, up 61% and 45%, respectively, displaying a clear shift of capital stepping out on the risk curve. Even the true trencher coins, such as The White Whale token and The Official 67 Memecoin, are moving differently than before, signaling buyers’ willingness to step back up to the plate and start swinging again.

While BTC has a ways to go before reclaiming clear bull-market price action, the market’s behavior is a step in the right direction and marks the first breath of true optimism since the brutal 10/10 liquidations.

Only time will tell whether the crypto market gives up on its “New Year, New Me” resolution, but so far it has hit the ground running in 2026, and investors can only hope the momentum continues as crypto seeks to catch up with the traditional market’s success.

Squiffs, resident degen at The Defiant

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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 Exploit Losses Fell 60% in December Despite Ongoing Hacks Losses from crypto-related hacks and exploits fell sharply in December 2025 from November, totaling $76 million last month, according to data from blockchain security firm PeckShield. Why it matters: PeckShield’s data shows that despite the decrease, exploit activity remains a persistent threat across the crypto ecosystem.
• Starknet Restores Network After Four-Hour Outage Starknet, an Ethereum Layer 2 (L2) network with $267 million in total value locked, has returned to normal operations after a network outage on Monday that slowed and halted activity for more than four hours.Why it matters: The outage underscores how reliability issues on a major L2 can have wide-reaching effects.
• Polymarket and Parcl Launch Real Estate Prediction Markets Polymarket unveiled its first partnership of the new year today, launching housing price prediction markets in collaboration with Parcl, the Solana-based on-chain real estate market. Why it matters: The launch comes on the back of Polymarket’s highest-volume month yet.

Trending on The Defiant

• ZachXBT Reports EVM Hack Affecting Hundreds of Wallets
• Crypto Markets Move Higher After Holidays, Memecoins Outperform
• Memecoins Lead Crypto Rally as PEPE Surges Over 30%
• 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

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