Selective Strength Emerges as Markets Push Higher
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Equities and commodities pushed to fresh highs this week, while crypto showed early signs of optimism beneath the surface. Among majors, Bitcoin remained modestly stable but capped below the $90K level, while Ethereum led relative strength, reclaiming $3K and finishing the week up ~0.8%. Outside of crypto, gold and silver continued to extend higher, and to put the move into perspective, gold added the entire Bitcoin market cap in value over a single 24-hour period.
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Altcoin performance was more selective but notable. Hyperliquid (+57%) and Pump.fun (+30%) led the week, with Lighter (+15%), Aster (+16%), and XPL (+14%) also standing out. The common thread across these outperformers was not narrative alone, but revenue generation and sustained on-chain activity, a theme we expand on further below.

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High-Conviction Protocols: Hyperliquid and Pump.fun
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Two of the highest conviction protocols we’ve been tracking, Hyperliquid and Pump.fun continue to stand out for the same reason, real usage, real revenue, and clear supply mechanics, even as broader market conditions remain choppy. Hyperliquid remains the largest revenue generator in crypto, with fundamentals strengthening materially despite relatively flat year-on-year price performance. The recent HIP-3 upgrade expanded Hyperliquid’s on-chain markets into commodities and equities, enabling assets such as gold, silver, Tesla, and oil to trade permissionlessly. Since launch, open interest across these new markets has climbed to $790M, nearly tripling in the past month, while liquidity depth now exceeds that of Binance. At the same time, protocol buybacks and the permanent removal of over 39M $HYPE from circulation have reduced supply by 10-12%.
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Pump.fun tells a similar story from a different angle. As the largest Solana-based memecoin launchpad, it acts as a broad proxy for meme sector participation rather than any single token outcome. Despite muted sentiment across high-beta assets, Pump.fun has maintained consistent activity and strong revenue, $36.6M over the past 30 days, ranking as the second-highest revenue-generating product in crypto. Currently with 100% of platform fees allocated to PUMP buybacks and over 18% of total supply already removed, token mechanics remain directly tied to platform usage. In both cases, performance has been driven less by speculation and more by durable demand, reinforcing why these two protocols continue to feature prominently in our core thesis.

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Global Macro Updates

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Commodity Boom - Foreseeing 

Gold and silver rallies have historically served as a barometer of investor fear regarding macroeconomic deterioration and currency debasement. The current 2025-2026 surge, with gold surging 85% year-over-year to US $5,197/oz and silver rocketing 280% to US $114/oz, follows this pattern, signaling profound anxiety about the US dollar's future viability.

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During the 1970s stagflation, gold rallied from $35/oz to $875/oz as investors feared runaway inflation and dollar collapse. Similarly, in 2008–2011, following the financial crisis and quantitative easing, gold surged from $800 to $1,900/oz as central banks printed currency aggressively. Each time, precious metals rallies preceded periods of currency weakness and elevated geopolitical tension.

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Today's precious metals surge reflects similar anxieties. More significantly, the US Dollar Index has plummeted roughly 11% in 12 months, reaching a 4-month low, as central banks actively diversify reserves away from dollar concentration. China, Poland, Russia, and NATO allies have accelerated gold purchases to 60 tonnes monthly, triple pre-2022 rates.

Foreign Exchange Dynamics

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The Japanese yen represents another critical avenue through which central banks are reducing USD reserve concentration, shown by USD/YEN pulling back by over 3.5% in a week. The broader pattern is that the central banks are not abandoning dollars wholesale, but rather building a multipolar reserve structure where yen, euros, and gold each capture growing allocations from the dollar's formerly dominant position. However, the situation is more complex and contradictory than it initially appears. Central banks are indeed diversifying into yen, but this very dynamic is triggering the unwinding of the massive yen carry trade, creating a destabilising feedback loop that threatens global financial markets.

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Overall, the diversification by central banks and investors is not mere reallocation, but a hedge against currency debasement. It reflects deep concern about American fiscal sustainability, including deficit spending and elevated debt-to-GDP ratios, plus policy unpredictability under current leadership, and geopolitical tensions. 

UpTrade offers clients exposure to tokenised gold and silver as a way to diversify from crypto assets. Speak to your Uptrade broker or visit our website for more information.

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Source: LBMA via FactSet; St. Louis Fed

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Government Shutdown Extends CLARITY Timeline
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Momentum around the CLARITY Act remains constructive, with the House already passing its version and Senate committees advancing drafts in January, bringing the bill closer than ever to becoming law. However, that progress is facing a near-term risk from a potential U.S. government shutdown, which would pause committee markups, negotiations, and floor time needed to move the legislation forward. With funding deadlines approaching, timing has become a key vulnerability.
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Prediction markets are starting to reflect that risk. Polymarket currently prices a ~75% chance of a government shutdown this Saturday, while the probability of CLARITY being signed into law in 2026 has fallen to ~55%, down from a recent high near 80%. A shutdown wouldn’t kill the bill, but it could stall momentum, extend regulatory uncertainty, and delay the shift away from enforcement-led oversight at a time when 2026 is increasingly viewed as a make or break year for U.S. crypto policy.

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Tether Is Quietly Building a Gold Standard

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Tether quietly reached a notable milestone this quarter, accumulating what is now one of the largest known private gold holdings in the world, outside of nation states and central banks. According to Bloomberg, Tether holds over 140 tonnes of gold, stored in a secure vault, following the purchase of roughly 27 tonnes in Q4 2025, bringing the total value to approximately $4.4B at current prices. For a company best known for issuing a dollar-pegged stablecoin, this marks a meaningful evolution in how its balance sheet is being structured.
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From a strategic standpoint, the move reflects diversification rather than a shift away from Treasuries. Tether continues to generate substantial cash flow from U.S. government bonds, but gold introduces a layer of hard-asset collateral that is not tied to monetary policy, inflation targets, or counterparty risk. 

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Dave Joins UpTrade Alpha: PUMP Technical Breakdown
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This week we featured ASX Trader Dave, co-founder of Mastering the Markets and one of the most respected technical analysts in Australia, for a focused Pump.fun technical breakdown inside UpTrade Alpha. Dave walks through the chart using pure market structure, key levels, momentum shifts, and what confirmation would be required for a sustained move. This is the first Dave analysis we’re releasing free to all UpTrade Alpha users. Future Dave breakdowns will be available exclusively to Pro members, adding a dedicated technical lens alongside our ongoing fundamental and macro coverage. Head over to uptradealpha.au to log in today or sign up for a free account to watch Dave’s full Pump.fun technical breakdown.

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Ryder Wallet: Security First Self-Custody
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Security remains one of the most critical considerations in crypto, particularly as hackers become increasingly sophisticated and on-chain activity expands across more protocols and assets. As users interact with a wider range of applications and networks, the attack surface continues to grow, making robust self-custody and wallet design more important than ever.Ryder Wallet has positioned itself as one of the new-generation cold wallet solutions, combining self-custody with a strong focus on usability and recovery design. Its approach removes traditional seed phrases in favour of NFC-based tap setup and recovery, helping reduce common points of failure while keeping assets fully offline and under user control.

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