Bitcoin attempted to break the $95,000 mark, key developers of Zcash left the team, the Truebit token plummeted after a hack, and Morgan Stanley filed for a crypto ETF launch, among other events from the past week.
Post-New Year Movements
The first full week of 2026 was relatively calm for the crypto market. Bitcoin started Monday with a rise above $93,000.
This price increase was attributed to a global "rally of all assets," with the dynamics of digital currencies synchronizing with Asian exchanges.
Another factor was the situation in Venezuela, where investors closely monitored events, particularly regarding signs of a "strategic entry" by the U.S. into the oil sector.
Additional momentum came from reports of the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his transport to New York. According to CoinEx Research's chief analyst, Jeff Ko, this event triggered a chain reaction: oil prices slightly decreased, while tensions in the Middle East rose, with the Israeli opposition urging Iran to learn from the Venezuelan scenario.
By Tuesday, Bitcoin had risen nearly to $95,000, but this turned out to be a local peak.
From mid-week onward, Bitcoin entered a correction, dropping back to previous levels around $90,000.
At the time of writing, digital gold is trading at $90,700, showing almost no change in price over the past week. Its market capitalization stands at $1.8 trillion.
Other top-10 assets followed Bitcoin's lead, with BNB (+3% for the week) and DOGE (-8%) being exceptions.
According to CoinGecko, the Crypto Fear and Greed Index has emerged from the "extreme fear" zone, recovering to 29 points.
By the end of the week, the total market capitalization of the crypto market reached $3.18 trillion, with Bitcoin's dominance index at 56.9% and Ethereum at 11.8%.
Discontent in the Zcash Team
On January 7, it was announced that the main developers of the anonymous coin Zcash — the Electric Coin Company (ECC) team — have left the project entirely. According to former CEO Josh Swihart, the decision was made due to internal conflict.
He stated that most members of the Bootstrap non-profit fund's board acted contrary to the mission of the private cryptocurrency.
"In short, the terms of our employment were changed in such a way that it became impossible for us to effectively and honestly fulfill our duties," Swihart added.
Former ECC employees plan to create a new structure, maintaining their original goal of creating "unstoppable private money." The Zcash protocol itself will not be affected by the team's departure and will continue to operate as usual.
Helius Labs co-founder Mert Mumtaz called the situation a "bullish signal" for the asset, predicting ZEC could rise to $10,000.
"The most competent people in Zcash (along with Tachyon, of course) are now free from the constraints of ineffective foundation policies," he added.
However, in the immediate aftermath, the price of the private coin reacted negatively. ZEC fell from $530 to $385, losing nearly 30% over the week.
In light of the weakened asset, Monero (XMR) has taken the lead in the anonymous coin segment, with its price reaching $500, gaining 15% over the week.
Topics for Discussion with Friends
- Bitcoin mining difficulty decreased by 1.2%.
- Downloads of the BitChat messenger surged by 400,000 amid protests in Iran.
- The turnover of illegal crypto assets increased by 162% over the year.
- OpenAI launched ChatGPT Health.
Truebit's Collapse
On January 8, hackers attacked the Ethereum verification protocol Truebit, stealing 8,535 ETH (approximately $26.4 million at the time of the incident).
The project team noted that only one smart contract was affected. The reasons for the hack and the exact amount of damage have not yet been disclosed, and the company is working with law enforcement.
Independent researcher Weilin (William) Li speculated that hackers exploited a vulnerability in a token issuance function with an incorrectly set price in an outdated contract deployed about five years ago.
This allowed them to purchase native TRU coins at an artificially low price. The expert believes that two independent groups participated in the hack: the first made a profit of $26 million, while the second earned about $250,000.
The attack severely impacted the TRU token, which nearly lost all its value, plummeting by 100%. At the time of writing, the coin is trading around $0.000071.
Source: CoinGecko.
Morgan Stanley's Crypto Funds
On January 6, investment bank Morgan Stanley filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to launch two spot ETFs.
According to the documents, one product will track the price of Bitcoin, while the other will track Solana. If approved, over 19 million clients of the company's wealth management division will gain access to these instruments.
ProCap's investment director, Jeff Park, believes the bank will benefit from launching its own crypto ETFs, even if their returns are low. He stated that Morgan Stanley is betting on long-term branding advantages, not just capital inflow.
Park views the presence of a spot Bitcoin ETF as evidence of the "foresight and courage" of asset managers. This creates an image of a progressive company, which is particularly important in the competition for talented employees.
"This is a positive external factor that will help in recruiting top specialists amid competitors," the investment director emphasized.
He also noted Morgan Stanley's plans to monetize its brokerage division ETRADE through partnerships in tokenization and crypto trading.
Morningstar analyst Brian Armor speculated that Morgan Stanley's "unexpected" move aims to transition existing clients into its own funds.
"The bank's entry into the crypto ETF sector will add legitimacy to the market, and others may follow suit," the expert added.
Also on ForkLog:
- VanEck predicted Bitcoin at $2.9 million.
- A South Korean court allowed the seizure of Bitcoins from exchanges.
- USDC surpassed USDT in DeFi usage activity.
- Vitalik Buterin compared Ethereum to BitTorrent and Linux.
New Business Model for Pump.fun
This week, it was announced that the meme token launch platform Pump.fun will change its commission reward system for content creators. According to co-founder Alon Cohen, the existing model proved insufficiently beneficial.
The Dynamic Fees V1 mechanism implemented last year attracted new developers and sparked a surge in on-chain activity, but "failed to significantly change the behavior of the average token user," the project representative emphasized.
Cohen believes that "dynamic fees" encourage token creation but do not stimulate trading. He described this situation as dangerous, as traders are a "vital element of the platform."
The first announced changes will allow fees to be distributed among content creators (up to 10 wallets).
This feature will enable the transfer of ownership rights to coins and the revocation of update permissions. Additionally, creators and Community Takeover administrators will be able to adjust fee sizes after the token launch.
The implementation of these changes is scheduled for 2026. Cohen did not disclose exact timelines, promising to adhere to "market principles."
Following the announcement, the native token of the "meme token factory," PUMP, gained nearly 7% over the week.
Source: TradingView.
What Else to Read?
The ForkLog editorial team has summarized the past year for various sectors of the crypto industry — all materials can be found in the festive section.