Gate Research: Global Rally & Crypto Recovery | Solana Meme Sector Rebounds

Crypto Market Overview

• BTC (+1.85% | Current price: 92,898.3 USDT): In the past 24 hours, BTC completed a volume breakout following a high-level consolidation and has entered an accelerated trend-following phase. On the macro level, the recent volatility in U.S. Treasury yields has eased, and the market’s pessimistic expectations regarding the pace of interest rate cuts have been temporarily digested, placing risk assets overall in a recovery window. On the technical side, short-term moving averages (MA5, MA10) have turned steep again and formed a stable bullish alignment with the MA30. From a short-term structural perspective, the upward target may further point to the $94,000–$94,500 range.
• ETH (+1.2% | Current price: 3,184.56 USDT): In the past 24 hours, ETH continued its trend-following upward movement, rising with volume after consolidating at a high level and following BTC, with the price briefly approaching $3,200. On the technical side, short-term moving averages (MA5, MA10) have turned steep again and formed a stable bullish alignment with the MA30, while pullbacks have consistently found support at the mid-term moving averages, indicating that the current rise is driven more by trend inertia than by sentiment. It’s important to note that ETH is still in a steady follow-through phase within the trend—its structure is healthy but has not yet entered an independent acceleration zone, and its short-term performance still depends on BTC’s stability at high levels.
• Altcoins: The Fear & Greed Index is at 26, within the “Fear” range, indicating that overall sentiment in the crypto market remains restrained. The upward structure appears relatively healthy, with risk appetite remaining under control.
• Macro: On January 2, the S&P 500 Index rose by 0.19% to 6,858.47 points; the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased by 0.66% to 48,382.39 points; while the Nasdaq Index edged down by 0.027% to 23,235.63 points. As of 11:40 AM (UTC+8) on January 5, the spot price of gold is $4,408.6 per ounce, up 1.76% over the past 24 hours.

Trending Tokens

PONKE PONKE (+88%, Circulating Market Cap: $33.46M)

According to Gate market data, the current price of the PONKE token is $0.0605, having surged over 80% in the past 24 hours. PONKE is a community-driven meme coin on Solana, featuring an angry monkey mascot described as a “degenerate gambler with anger issues,” blending the style of Pepe the Frog. It has gradually expanded into a multi-chain ecosystem, real-world products (such as NFC chip toys, plush dolls, and collaborations with brands like RIPNDIP), and even operates a Solana validator node, aiming to transition from a pure meme into a “tokenized entertainment” brand.

PONKE’s rise is related to the overall recovery in the meme coin sector and capital rotation into the Solana ecosystem. Recently, other leading Solana meme coins like BONK have also seen significant gains, signaling a clear revival in the Solana meme coin space. As a well-established Solana meme project launched back in 2023, PONKE is more likely to be repriced by capital in this environment.

MSQ MSQUARE (+59%, Circulating Market Cap: $19.61M)

According to Gate market data, the current price of the MSQ token is $1.29, with a nearly 60% increase in the past 24 hours. MSQUARE (MSQ) is a utility token issued by the MSQUARE GLOBAL Foundation; the project positions itself as a platform-based startup aiming to integrate the real economy with blockchain, with the core goal of reducing cross-border payment friction through the MSQ token, enabling payment discounts for real-world applications, and supporting multiple self-operated platforms.

As a narrative around real-world platform implementation, MSQ has not seen any major news recently, but continued project operations may have built positive expectations within the community and among Korean user groups. The recent price surge is attributed to a combination of early-year market liquidity reset, rebound in small-cap tokens, and short-term FOMO, rather than being driven by a single major catalyst.

WOLF Landwolf (+40%, Circulating Market Cap: $15.57M)

According to Gate market data, the current price of the WOLF token is $0.00001683, with a 24-hour increase of 40%. LandWolf (WOLF) is a meme coin on Solana, inspired by the character “Landwolf” from Matt Furie’s (creator of Pepe the Frog) Boys’ Club comic. The character is known for his degenerate traits—lazy, witty, eating cold pizza, sniffing green candles—and is positioned as Pepe’s friend/brother, emphasizing community-driven values, zero trading tax, and pure meme culture.

WOLF’s surge is driven by the renewed momentum of the Matt Furie family narrative led by PEPE. As PEPE stages a strong rebound, the Boys’ Club family rotates in: BRETT remains steady, ANDY is consolidating at lower levels, and WOLF is seen as an “undervalued leveraged play.” Viral content on X, such as “YEAR OF THE WOLF,” has further amplified FOMO through widespread sharing.

Alpha Insights

Global Markets Rally, Led by Asia-Pacific Equities

Global financial markets kicked off 2026 with strong momentum, showing a broad-based rally across the board, with Asia-Pacific equities standing out as the frontrunners. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index surged over 2% on its first full trading day, South Korea’s Kospi Index hit an all-time high (breaking through 4,420 points), and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index continued its strong rebound. The MSCI Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) Index recorded gains that significantly outpaced other regions. This wave of Asia-Pacific leadership was primarily driven by geopolitical catalysts—specifically, a military action that spurred a resurgence in risk appetite—alongside expectations of policy stimulus in Asian economies, such as continued easing in China and ongoing governance reforms in Japan. These factors, combined with a liquidity reset, have accelerated capital flows into high-beta assets.

At the same time, the crypto market also broke out, with BTC approaching the $93,000 mark, Ethereum nearing $3,200, and major coins like XRP posting notable gains. Market sentiment has shifted from cautious at year-end to decisively bullish. U.S. equity futures rose slightly, continuing the AI-driven optimism that marked 2025. Meanwhile, precious metals extended their dazzling rally: gold exceeded $4,400/oz, and silver rebounded nearly 4%, supported by expectations of Fed rate cuts—currently pricing in at least two 25-basis-point cuts in 2026—a potentially weaker dollar, geopolitical hedging demand, and structural supply-demand imbalances.

Overall, this broad-based rally is essentially the result of a combination of the “New Year effect” (capital reallocation after tax-loss harvesting), geopolitical catalysts, macro easing expectations, and recovering risk appetite. Liquidity has quickly shifted from the holiday lull to active engagement, though trading volumes remain thin, leaving short-term volatility risks in place. Caution is warranted against profit-taking or sudden event-driven reversals.

Infinex Raises Only Around $550K in Public Sale Over Nearly Two Days

Infinex, a Crypto Superapp launched by Synthetix founder Kain Warwick, aims to create a non-custodial, multi-chain wallet and DeFi platform offering a CEX-like user experience. It supports features such as cross-chain swaps, leveraged trading, and yield optimization, and leverages passkey biometric login to eliminate the need for seed phrases and gas concerns. The project previously raised $65.3 million in 2024, with backing from investors including Solana Ventures.

The current public sale began on January 3, 2026, at 06:00 UTC via the Sonar platform, offering 5% of total token supply with a fundraising target of $5 million. The FDV is set at $99.99 million, and a one-year lock-up period applies (early unlocking is allowed but incurs a penalty based on a higher FDV of $300 million). However, nearly two days after the sale began, only about $550,000 has been raised—just 11% of the target—with 350 participants contributing an average of $1,600 each. The fundraising pace has slowed significantly, now generating only a few thousand dollars per hour. Forecast models suggest the final amount raised will likely fall between $2 million and $2.5 million, making it difficult to reach the $5 million goal.

The underwhelming performance of the Infinex sale stems from a combination of negative factors. The initial plan—which featured a $3 billion FDV and a $15 million raise—triggered strong backlash from the community, who criticized it as “excessive value extraction.” Although the team quickly reduced the terms to current levels, the trust had already been damaged, leading many to adopt a wait-and-see approach. The one-year mandatory lock-up and harsh early unlocking penalty make the sale unattractive to short-term speculators and those seeking liquidity, especially compared to the currently popular token launches with no lock-up or short vesting schedules. Furthermore, the broader crypto public sale environment has also cooled.

While Kain Warwick and his team are still recognized for strong execution and a product vision with long-term value, this public sale misstep highlights how crucial pricing and community alignment are in token launches.

Solana Set to Launch Major Alpenglow Consensus Layer Upgrade

Alpenglow is a major upcoming consensus layer upgrade for Solana, designed to completely replace the current Tower BFT (Byzantine Fault Tolerance) and Proof of History mechanisms. Its goal is to reduce block finality time from the current 12.8 seconds to a theoretical 100–150 milliseconds—approximately 1/100th of the original time.

The upgrade introduces two core components: Votor and Rotor. Votor is a lightweight vote aggregation model that allows validators to aggregate votes off-chain and achieve finality via either a single-round or two-round confirmation process. It supports both Fast Finalization (where over 80% of stake in the first round locks in finality) and Slow Finalization (where 60–80% in the first round requires a second-round supplement), with both modes running in parallel to ensure consensus even with partial participation. Rotor restructures the block propagation layer by optimizing data transmission through relay paths based on stake weight. Simulations show that block propagation time can be reduced to as low as 18 milliseconds, significantly boosting network throughput.

According to Delphi Digital, the upgrade is expected to roll out gradually in the first half of 2026 and reflects Solana’s long-term commitment to performance and stability. Alpenglow marks a critical step in Solana’s maturation, shifting its narrative from simply “high throughput” to “sub-second finality + institutional-grade,” making it especially well-suited for real-time DeFi, gaming, and trading applications.

However, challenges remain, as real-world performance at full network scale still needs to be tested and validated.


References

• Gate, https://www.gate.com/trade/BTC_USDT
• Farside Investors, https://farside.co.uk/btc/
• Gate, https://www.gate.com/trade/ETH_USDT
• Farside Investors, https://farside.co.uk/eth/
• Gate, https://www.gate.com/crypto-market-data
• Investing, https://investing.com/indices/usa-indices
• Investing, https://investing.com/currencies/xau-usd
• CoinGecko, https://www.coingecko.com/en/cryptocurrency-heatmap
• Infinex Sale Tracker, https://inx-ico.swishi.xyz/
• Delphi Digital, https://x.com/Delphi_Digital/status/2007125651892117585?s=20

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Disclaimer
Investing in cryptocurrency markets involves high risk. Users are advised to conduct their own research and fully understand the nature of the assets and products before making any investment decisions. Gate is not responsible for any losses or damages arising from such decisions.