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5 Jan, 2026

Crypto markets regain their swagger

What's being bought and sold*

TOP TRENDING ASSETS

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*Trading activity in the past 24 hours on the Uphold platform, as of 8 a.m. 5th January 2026.

The combined total of buy and sell percentages can exceed 100% due to customers who engage in both buying and selling the same asset within the 24-hour time frame.

Don’t invest in crypto unless you're prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment and you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong. Take 2 minutes to learn more.

What’s up

Crypto Surges On Heightened Global Risk

With 2026 fully underway, crypto markets have come roaring back.

Bitcoin briefly traded above $93,000 on Monday as markets digested the news of a U.S. military operation to oust Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro.

The upswing extended a multi-day winning streak for BTC to the longest since October, according to CoinDesk.

Data from CoinGecko indicates that BTC remained up by 1.8% for the day as of 6:15 a.m. (EST), while Ethereum and XRP remained up by more than 1% and 2% respectively.

Crypto bulls were also in force across securities markets. After several days of liquidation leading up to the end of the year, U.S. BTC spot ETFs gained more than $470 million in net inflows on Friday according to SoSoValue — the biggest single-day infusion of fresh capital since November.

What's down

ICNT Plunges As AI Bulls Pause

Despite a strong broad crypto market rally, Impossible Cloud Network Token (ICNT) plunged by more than 30% during the first five days of 2026 according to CoinGecko. The token has now shed more than 25% of its market value in the past 24 hours alone.

Last year was one of wild-eyed optimism for AI technology, with global equity markets skyrocketing in hopes that the new technology will be as transformative as the internet was a generation ago.

DeFi traders must now decide if the sudden reversal of fortune for ICNT, the native token of Impossible Cloud Network’s decentralized AI cloud platform, signals the start of a sentiment shift for AI linked crypto generally, or just an ordinary pullback for an over-extended token. 

What's next

Breakthrough Year For Tokenized Stocks?

Superstate, a fintech backed by investors including BainCapital and CoinFund, announced a new platform last month for public companies to issue tokenized shares directly to investors, with the first offerings expected in 2026.

Superstate had already launched the “Opening Bell” platform in May, which allowed existing shares to be tokenized on major blockchains. The new announcement now clears the way for Superstate to facilitate the direct issuance of shares on a blockchain in place of a traditional secondary or IPO.

Superstate is not alone in embracing the technology. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins recently stated that tokenization of public securities will likely be common in the next two years, while JP Morgan underwrote a blockchain commercial paper offering in early December.


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