Stacy in Dataland (´⊙~⊙`)

Early January saw ~$900M in stablecoins hit Solana, mostly USDC. Big print, but nothing exotic — Circle regularly mints $250–500M every few days. Looks like routine rails activity, not a signal.

Stablecoins are tracking toward ~$1.6T by 2030, but the structure is already clear. USDT and USDC still control ~86% of supply, and only ~10 out of 90 stables ever crossed $1B. These aren’t brands — they’re plumbing.

January's first insights: let's see what the new year has in store for us ↓ General ➖ Galaxy: Weekly Top Stories - 01/02/26 Market ➖ CoinShares: Digital asset fund flows | January 5th, 2026 ➖ CoinShares: Equities update | December 29th 2025 ➖ Glassnode: BTC Market Pulse: Week 2 DeFi ➖ DL Research: State of DeFi: RedStone Interview Blockchains & networks ➖ 4pillars: The DApp Survival Formula: Insights from Solana’s Rent Recovery Market

ETF flows made it clear: institutions still treat crypto as a risk-on trade. They piled in when macro looked clean and pulled back once uncertainty hit, flipping inflows to outflows. If rates ease and policy clarity improves in 2026, flows should stabilize – less reactive, fewer headlines.

U2U kept scaling without drama. Blocks up 64% QoQ to a new ATH, block times steady at ~1.7s, and gas efficiency improving under load. Boring infra wins again.

Per Artemis, only two sectors are ending 2025 green: privacy and exchange tokens. Everything else got chopped up.

DEXs are finally eating CEX territory – especially in perps. In Q3 2025, Solana DEX volume overtook CEX volume, signaling a structural shift in where leverage lives. The Oct 10 flash crash slowed momentum, but didn’t reverse the trend.

From January to December, TVL jumped 5× while daily perp volume went nearly 30×. Series A momentum and the GLP launch did the heavy lifting – capital followed incentives fast. Textbook catalyst-driven growth.

Rough year-end for x402. Average transaction size kept bleeding out, hitting an all-time daily low below $0.05 in late December. Usage is there, value isn’t.

RWAs are compounding quietly. $17B TVL looks small, but it’s already +130% YTD – keep that curve and you’re staring at ~$40B next year and ~$90B by 2027. Exponentials don’t announce themselves early.

Long-term BTC holders just stopped distributing – first time since July. Supply pressure eased, which usually sets the stage for a relief move. Market finally gets some breathing room.

Many 2025 listings are now 90-99% down from ATH FDV. The euphoric window was short – reality arrived faster than liquidity.