🔮 Fee Dominance, NFTs Continue Their Spiral, MNAV, Feeling Silky

Top Stories

Hyperliquid’s Fee Dominance Reignites the App-Chain vs L1 Debate

Blockchain fee capture has re-emerged as a key metric for network value, with Hyperliquid now capturing about 50 percent of all blockchain fees, up from roughly 10 percent at the start of 2025. That rise has come largely at the expense of Ethereum and Solana, whose combined fee share has fallen to around 20 percent. Hyperliquid’s success is driven almost entirely by its perpetual DEX, showing how a single high-quality application can power an entire network. The shift has renewed debate over whether top apps should build on existing chains or launch their own. While app-specific chains maximize fee capture and customization, major L1s still offer liquidity, composability, and proven infrastructure, leaving both models viable.

Source: The Block, DefiLlama

Crypto’s Privacy Narrative Gains Momentum as Institutions and VCs Reengage

Privacy is re-emerging as a core crypto theme, with investors like Balaji Srinivasan, a16z Crypto, and Coinbase Ventures calling it a key moat for the next cycle. The narrative accelerated after Naval Ravikant framed Zcash as “insurance against Bitcoin,” helping drive sharp gains across privacy tokens like ZEC and renewed interest in XMR. VCs say the shift is structural, as institutions and serious users cannot operate on fully transparent chains without exposing strategies and balances. Unlike earlier privacy coins, the focus is now on embedding privacy into useful products such as exchanges, payments, and wallets rather than selling privacy as a standalone feature. Challenges remain around regulation, cost, and usability, but many expect privacy to become table stakes as onchain activity scales and traditional finance moves closer to crypto rails.

NFT Avatars Finally Run Out of Buyers as Demand Evaporates

The NFT market’s long decline is becoming impossible to ignore, with demand, prices, and trading volumes collapsing well below prior cycle lows. Doodles’ new Doopies mint highlights the malaise, with less than 40 percent of paid NFTs minted and over half of existing holders skipping free claims. Former blue-chip collections that once pumped ahead of token launches have since round-tripped, leaving floors far below their peaks. Overall NFT trading volume has cratered from roughly 1 million ETH per day in early 2023 to around 1,000 ETH today. Outside of a few standout digital artists like XCOPY, the NFT avatar market appears structurally broken rather than temporarily out of favor.

Source: Dune

Five Big Takeaways From Solana Breakpoint 2025

Solana Breakpoint 2025 delivered a series of headline moments that signal how aggressively the ecosystem is pushing into mainstream finance. Coinbase announced seamless Solana DEX access, opening every Solana token to its massive user base without added regulatory friction. Stock tokenization also took a step forward, with xStocks enabling institutions to self-serve tokenized equities directly onchain. Solana leaders claimed the network is already capable of handling large-scale TradFi tokenization, reinforced by Bhutan tokenizing parts of its sovereign reserves on Solana. The conference closed with a macro note, as Raoul Pal floated the idea of a delayed cycle and a potential alt season arriving in 2026.

Source: Dune

Regulation

Strategy’s MNAV Premium Collapses to 1.0, Pressuring Its Bitcoin Treasury Model

Strategy’s MNAV ratio has fallen to roughly 1.0 after starting the year near 1.5 and peaking around 2.0, sharply limiting the company’s ability to raise capital without diluting shareholders. A near-parity MNAV constrains its long-running strategy of issuing equity to buy more bitcoin, especially with dividend-bearing preferred shares now in the mix. Similar pressures are hitting other bitcoin treasury firms as both crypto prices and MNAV premiums compress. Strategy built a $1.4 billion cash reserve to support upcoming dividend obligations, a notable shift for a company known for converting cash into BTC. While management has not ruled out bitcoin sales, it signals such a move would be a last resort due to the potential market impact.

Source: The Block, Bitcoin Treasuries

Dormant Silk Road Wallets Spring to Life After a Decade

Hundreds of long-dormant Silk Road wallets became active this week, moving about $3.14 million in bitcoin into a single unidentified address. The wallets still hold roughly $41.3 million in BTC, according to onchain data. The activity revived attention on wallets previously linked to Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, who was pardoned and released earlier this year. Analysts say the motive behind the transfers remains unclear as investigators track the funds. The sudden movement has drawn fresh scrutiny to some of the oldest coins in circulation.

OCC Grants Conditional Bank Charters to Ripple, Circle, and Major Crypto Firms

The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has given conditional approval for national trust bank charters to Ripple, Circle, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Paxos. Circle’s approval would allow it to custody reserves and serve institutions, while Ripple’s would place its RLUSD stablecoin under direct federal oversight alongside state regulation. The move reflects a more welcoming stance toward crypto banking under the Trump administration and signals deeper integration with traditional finance. Other firms like Coinbase, Crypto.com, and Stripe-owned Bridge have also applied for similar charters. While still conditional, the approvals mark a significant step toward crypto firms operating within the U.S. banking system.

JPMorgan Moves From Permissioned Ledgers to Public Blockchains

JPMorgan’s digital asset strategy is shifting from private and permissioned infrastructure toward public blockchains. After years of running pilots and production systems on Kinexys, the bank last month issued its first USD deposit token on Base, marking a step into public settlement rails. Its recent USCP issuance on Solana extends that transition beyond payments into capital markets instruments. Together, the moves reflect a clear progression from private pilots to permissioned production and now public deployment at scale. Using public chains for regulated credit products expands acceptable settlement options for institutions and opens the door to deeper DeFi composability around real world assets.

Ondo Closes December as Tokenized Markets Break Into the Mainstream

Ondo Finance ended December with a string of milestones that highlight the rapid maturation of tokenized capital markets. The SEC formally closed a confidential investigation into Ondo without charges, signaling a more constructive regulatory stance toward RWAs and tokenization. Ondo was also named as the expected $200 million seed investor in the State Street–Galaxy SWEEP fund, a tokenized private liquidity vehicle set to launch on Solana in 2026 using PYUSD. On the trading side, Ondo surpassed $2 billion in cumulative volume for tokenized stocks and ETFs, with over $1 billion coming in the past month alone. With roughly $364 million in TVL and growing CEX integrations, Ondo is solidifying its role as core infrastructure for onchain capital markets.

Other Domestic Regulation Updates

• BlackRock moves to add staked Ethereum ETF with fresh SEC filing
• PNC rolls out direct bitcoin trading for high-net-worth clients through Coinbase tie-up
• SEC Chair Atkins signals quick action on crypto priorities in the new year

Other International Regulation Updates

• Robinhood to enter Indonesia by acquiring local crypto trading firm
• UK financial authority to prioritize stablecoin payments in 2026
• Robinhood Acquires Indonesian Firms To Access 17M Crypto Traders
• Binance co-CEO Yi He’s WeChat account hacked to promote and profit from memecoin

Pain & Gain

Pain

• 'Not a crypto winter, just a cold breeze': Standard Chartered halves 2025 bitcoin target to $100K, but keeps long-term bull case
• Santa rally now unlikely as bitcoin slips after Fed delivers 'hawkish cut'
• GameStop Stock Falls After Bitcoin Holdings Lose Value, Firm Says It Could Sell BTC
• Coinbase Ending USDC Rewards for Free Users, Will Only Be for Paid Members

Gain

• Vitalik Buterin pushes for trustless gas futures market to hedge Ethereum fees
• Strive launches $500 million at-the-market offering for further bitcoin acquisitions
• YouTube now allows US creators to receive payouts in PayPal's PYUSD stablecoin
• Pineapple Financial Starts Migrating its $10B Mortgage Portfolio Onchain via Injective
• Solo Bitcoin Miner Beats the Odds, Winning $282K Reward