Metaverse mojo on display
What's being bought and sold*
TOP TRENDING ASSETS
*Trading activity in the past 24 hours on the Uphold platform, as of 8 a.m. 23rd 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.
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What’s up
Metaverse Coins’ Rocking New Year
Led by blazing Axie Infinity (AXS), crypto’s metaverse-related bucket runneth over.
CoinDesk reports its Metaverse Select Index (MTVS) posted a 50% gain since Jan. 1. Heavyweight constituent AXS has in that span tripled to almost $3.
An additional stalwart performer in the land of virtual-realm-related assets is The Sandbox (SAND). The 166th-biggest coin, SAND is up about 40% in the past two weeks. SAND has been as high as $8. Granted, that was four years ago. SAND’s roughly sixteen cents at the moment.
Still yet another category big shot, Decentraland (MANA), has gained 24% over the past couple of weeks while the overall market was slightly negative. “The best performing sector of the year continues to be metaverse tokens,” CoinDesk said.
It’s not entirely clear why this rally's happening. However, do consider most of these coins are trading well off their highs. The largest of them, Render (RENDER), with a current market capitalization of just over $1B, has shed 85% of its value since hitting its record high of $13.50 about two years ago, per CoinGecko.
“Metaverse cryptos are increasingly viewed as infrastructure assets,” Ecos recently noted.
What's down
Bitcoin Barely Budges
As of Friday at 9 a.m. (EST), Bitcoin, the best-known, most-talked-about crypto on earth, was flailing in its bid to recapture $90K territory. Gone, all of a sudden, is any whiff of positivity heading into the weekend. BTC’s spot price was, per CoinGecko, $89,238.38, which reflected a loss of 0.3% since yesterday at this same time.
Investors at the moment are snubbing risk, as U.S. equity futures reddened after a couple of green days while safe-haven gold was again seen rallying.
Said Decrypt: “Bitcoin’s failed attempt to recover above $90K has eroded investor confidence.”
What's next
TradFi Picks Its Spots
Over the past 24 hours, users on prediction market Myriad have hiked expectations for Bitcoin to plunge below $70K, with odds of such a crash rising from 22% to 30%. This dire probability as of last week was a mere 12%.
It’s a sign of elevated bearish vibes in the wake of BTC’s 7% slide over the past seven days. On Polymarket, traders give BTC about a 10% chance of reaching $100K before the end of the month.
Wall Street sure seems bullish on crypto, though. Reportedly, hardware maker Ledger has huddled with investment banks, including Goldman Sachs, to explore an IPO that could fetch the company a $4B valuation.
Meanwhile, big traditional banks have drawn a line in the sand as Congress/lobbyists try to cobble together some sweeping crypto market structure legislation. Banks, fearful of a run on deposits, are seeking to quash the concept of yield on payment-facilitating stablecoins. The American Bankers Association just came out with its list of priorities for 2026 and chief among them was limiting how digital dollars earn returns, CoinDesk said.
Since the GENIUS Act was passed this past July, the total market cap of stablecoins has increased 19% to a record $314B, according to CoinGecko.
It’s not as if banks don’t see potential in stablecoins within the context of the mainstream payments space, which is rapidly modernizing.
Yesterday, Capital One announced plans to acquire fintech firm Brex in a transaction valued at $5.15B. The deal, CryptoNews said, marks one of the largest fintech transactions in recent years and also “signals the bank’s growing interest in stablecoin-based payments.”
