Altcoins have lost their appeal after years of sliding with no recovery, leading to accelerated retail capitulation and general selling pressures. The current selling pressure has surpassed the 2022 market crash and the subsequent bear market. In 2026, altcoin holders are no longer willing to wait for years for an eventual recovery. The current selling trend, excluding Ethereum, affects legacy assets, some VC-backed tokens, and platforms with no significant fee activity. As Cryptopolitan reported, new batches of altcoins outperformed assets from previous market cycles.

Altcoin selling pressure hits a new peak in June

As of June 17, the altcoin season index sits at 49 points, in neutral territory between BTC dominance and interest in other assets. Among the top 100 assets, only 36 have net gains in the past three months, based on CoinMarketCap data. Altcoins have also abandoned the rise of narratives, and instead, liquidity concentrates with specific assets and platforms. Real activity, high daily fees, or signs of liquidity inflows are the main drivers of value in altcoin platforms.

Despite the selling pressure, Binance is gaining activity from altcoin trading. Altcoin volume returned above 50% of all Binance activity in June, rising for the past week. At the same time, ETH and BTC activity on Binance slowed down, showing that the most active altcoins still attracted speculative trading. Based on Cryptoquant data, altcoin volumes dropped to local lows of around 30% in March. Binance is the leading venue for altcoins, due to the involvement of market makers and its own curation and liquidity programs for selected assets.

Altcoins tied to revenue-producing ecosystems may retain their value. Already established activity hubs like the Binance ecosystem will support BNB. Solana (SOL), despite the recent losses, also retains relative stability. On the other hand, Cardano has been disappointing due to its lack of apps and revenue. ADA fell to $0.17, lower than the 2022-2023 bear market. Selected DeFi tokens may also retain their gains.

Hyperliquid (HYPE) was among those tokens, recently posting new records above $75. Meme tokens have dramatically slowed down their activity, and most new launches remain in the ‘trenches’, not even graduating to DEX activity. At the same time, trading activity has switched to perpetual futures, spreading to tokenized commodities and equities. This has further undermined the trading of altcoins without significant vetting and fundamental value.

The market has already adapted to mini altcoin seasons, which lift a small selection of assets, instead of causing parabolic rallies for all altcoins. Listings, liquidity pairs, and attention from market makers will differentiate the true winners. Even blue-chip assets like SOL are trading at over 70% below their all-time peaks. Traders remain more cautious and selective, despite indicators of a potential market reversal.

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Different versions of the token had been launched unofficially and ended their activity after a while. The Solana X handle has hinted at interest in XRP, but only officially announced the token addition on April 17. This time, the official Solana team announced the token will be added to a growing list of assets from other chains.

XRP launches on Solana

XRP will launch on Solana in a wrapped form, similar to WBNB and wrapped Ethereum. The new version was launched in partnership with Ripple, Hex Trust, and other partners. The asset will gain access to the entire Solana DEX trading ecosystem, including Phantom wallet, Jupiter DEX, Meteora, and more. XRP attempts to draw in more liquidity to compensate for the relatively slow usage of Ripple’s native chain.

XRP will be available for trading on some of the most widely used Solana platforms, and the asset may spread to lending protocols. XRP is expected to start with new trading pairs against SOL and USDC. XRP also heavily relies on centralized exchanges, especially on South Korean assets. With the move to Solana, the token may tap one of the liveliest DEX ecosystems. XRP recovered to around $1.48 after the latest market rally, after weeks of hovering around $1.30.

Solana is currently one of the important venues of tokenization, adding both crypto and traditional assets. The exact trading velocity and liquidity may vary depending on the available trading pairs and liquidity providers. XRP may take a while before establishing high-velocity trading pairs. There is no single standard of tokenization for Solana-based tokens from other native chains. Sunrise is one of the tokenization services, constantly bringing new assets on the chain, including HYPE.

Others, like PreStocks, list pre-IPO assets, with instant access reflecting sentiment and price expectations for yet unlisted tokens. The fastest-growing tokenized assets on Solana are still high-ranking tech stocks, including Anthropic. Solana is also a venue for a tokenized version of Strategy’s STRC. Almost all RWA on Solana have expanded to new records of on-chain value. Other issuers include Ondo Finance, Solstice Finance, XStocks, Securitize, and others.

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Based on DivergSec analysis and reports by Elliptic and TRM Labs, new information about the exploit is emerging. The attacker did not just compromise the Drift Protocol multisig once. Drift migrated some of its multisig wallets to new Security Council members. Within three days, the attacker compromised the new multisig and prepared with pre-signed transactions on March 31, a day before the attack.

Drift Protocol incident tied to North Korean hackers

The specific usage of wallets points to the Lazarus Group modus operandi, with a wallet first funded by Tornado Cash, rapid multi-chain bridging to ETH, and consolidating the funds for mixing. Based on Elliptic’s research, Lazarus has performed 18 attacks in the year to date. Researchers will cooperate with the Drift Protocol team to track the funds. Drift Protocol announced that critical information about the involved parties has been discovered.

In addition, the team sent messages to the four identified wallets currently holding the proceeds of the hack. The message suggested Drift Protocol may have known the identity of the hackers. The community speculates about possible insider access or project infiltration. Despite this, Drift Protocol was still criticized for having a zero timelock on protocol-level changes, allowing the exploiter to drain liquidity immediately.

Drift Protocol retains $232M in value locked, down from over $550M. Multiple protocols that used Drift for yield have had their funds stolen or frozen in whole or in part. SOL recovered above $80 after a brief dip in response to the hack. The hack affected Reflect Money for its USD+ farming yield. DeFi Carrot lost 50% of its TVL in Drift, and CRT tokens were also affected. Ranger Finance was exposed through rUSD. PiggybankFi lost $106K from deposits into Drift Protocol.

Project0 paused loans against Drift vaults. Other projects, including Pyra, which lost all its funds, and XPlace, which mainly used Drift for yield. Elemental DeFi was only exposed through a USDC vault. Some of the protocols only had their funds on hold until security is improved. Eleven projects were affected so far, not counting the general sentiment repercussions and loss of trust in DeFi lending.

A total of 35 DeFi protocols have been exploited in 2026 to date, with an accelerating trend and more organized attacks. Around $453M was extracted from DeFi, showing it is still a high-risk sector. The hacks undermine the narrative that DeFi would be a suitable way to gain yield with minimal risk.

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Russia is set to legalize cryptocurrencies this year, but intends to let its citizens touch only the biggest coins on the market today. The report is according to the latest version of the legislation designed to regulate crypto transactions, which has just received the nod from the Russian government. The bill “On Digital Currency and Digital Rights” empowers the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) to shortlist the digital assets that will be allowed to circulate in the country, the business news portal RBC unveiled after obtaining a copy.

Russia to greenlight state-approved digital assets for trades

The new bill introduces a set of criteria that any decentralized or foreign-issued digital currency would have to meet to be approved for trading. A key condition is that the average market capitalization of such a coin exceeds 5 trillion rubles (more than $60 billion) in the two years before its admission to the regulated Russian market.

In addition, its average daily trading volume over the same period must be at least 1 trillion rubles (a little over $12 billion at the current exchange rate). Both indicators will be verified by the monetary authority using data from global platforms licensed in their respective jurisdictions and having an average crypto trading volume of at least 100 billion rubles (around $1.2 million).

Every cryptocurrency offered in Russia must have a proven trading history, including officially published closing prices, spanning at least five years before it’s considered. The most popular coins, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana, meet these criteria, RBC noted in its report, referring to figures compiled by the leading crypto price-tracking website CoinMarketCap.

For example, SOL has been traded since 2020, has a market cap of nearly $50 billion, and a daily turnover of approximately $2.8 billion. Under the government-backed legislation, Russia’s financial intelligence service, Rosfinmonitoring, will be able to blacklist certain cryptocurrencies. The trading of such assets will be prohibited, while companies and individuals won’t be allowed to hold them. Privacy-oriented coins fall in that category.

The new bill recognizes cryptocurrencies and stablecoins as “monetary assets” and expands investor access to include not only qualified investors but ordinary Russians as well, although the annual investments of the latter will be capped at less than $4,000. While the law envisages licensing crypto platforms such as depositories and exchanges, Russia wants to use its existing financial infrastructure to process crypto transactions.

These infrastructures include banks, brokers, and traditional stock exchanges, some of which already offer crypto derivatives. The expanded legal framework now introduces financial penalties for cryptocurrency exchanges violating the regulations for digital asset circulation, which may reach 1 million rubles (over $12,000). Entities and entrepreneurs involved in mining, which became Russia’s first regulated crypto activity in 2024, will face fines, too, if they mine outside the law.

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In 2025, the Solana ecosystem saw another significant source of inflows. The pace of buying was uneven in 2025, and SOL still faces price challenges. Despite this, the influence of those holders may continue to affect Solana in 2026. Solana’s strategic entities built up over 20M SOL in their reserves, valued at $2.6B. Of those reserves, close to 9.5M SOL is staked with validators, increasing their influence.

Solana treasury companies slow down purchases in December

The Solana treasury companies seem to have completed their purchasing rounds for the year. In December, no net additions were made to the treasuries, despite the lower SOL price. The Solana treasury companies also lost on the stock market, following peak hype in Q3. Forward Industries, the leading treasury company, is on track to finish the year with around 40% net gains.

However, FWDI is down from a $39 peak in September. The company’s SOL treasury is valued at $871M, while the stock market cap is down to $608.8M, showing decreased enthusiasm for proxy buying. Solana Company, with a treasury of 2.3M SOL, failed to see its stock bounce. The former biotech company is trading at $2.78, down from a March peak of $772.50.

DeFi Dev Corp is also down from a yearly high of $53.88, trading at $5.76 toward the end of 2025. The company holds the third-largest treasury of 2.19M SOL. Toward the end of the year, the treasury companies did not have new inflows and had to switch to relying on the internal Solana ecosystem and its fees. Staking with validators may provide some windfalls for those companies, provided the price of SOL remains relatively stable.

The relative novelty of Solana ETF extended the buying streak for funds. ETFs are not as reliable as treasuries for long-term holding, as the trend may reverse at any time. The available Solana ETFs had mostly net inflows in the past three weeks. In total, the funds contain 7.86M SOL, breaking above the $1B tier in assets under management. The ETF may restart fees beyond that threshold.

SOL remains relatively subdued, trading at $127.91. SOL’s mindshare is above 10% on social media, rising by 29.25% lately. Despite the price slowdown, Solana remains a key platform for decentralized activity and fast apps. The chain was among the biggest fee producers based on real economic activity for 2025. Despite the expansion of on-chain activity, SOL has been bound in a range for years.

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The long positions in the BTC, ETH, and SOL have been opened in excess of $500 million, which represents aggressive market bets despite the recent uncertainty.

The whale that shorted BTC in October returned with an even larger long position, betting on a market recovery. | Source: Hyperliquid.

Large longs in BTC and Altcoins

Garrett Jin, known as the 1011 whale, has made three of the biggest long positions on Hyperliquid. The whale has combined holdings worth above $500 million, which are above earlier short positions that occurred in October. The 1011 whale does not counter-trade or face liquidation as opposed to other large traders, but rather holds high-risk, high-value positions. 

The trader initially created an ETH long and then proceeded to increase the exposure of BTC. ETH limit orders were between 3,030 and 3,150, and SOL limit orders were between 138.6. The prices of ETH and SOL in the current market are directly above these levels, which means that there is a willingness to purchase the dip to expect a rebound.

Market environment and consequences

It was returning to the market due to uncertainty in the market. BTC has dropped to less than 90,000 and partially recovered to more than 92,000 in the last two days, reflecting short-term unstable situations. The fear and greed index is 29, which indicates a wary attitude of the investors. 

The open interest in BTC is also low at 28 billion when compared to the normal levels of 33 billion. It is possible that the aggressive positioning of the whale affects overall market direction, particularly with the weekly options expiry on Deribit coming up, which is commonly followed by significant price changes. The traders of options are concerned with a decline to $85,000 or $80,000, but also understand the ability of markets to rise very fast.

Wallet activity and market strategy

The 1011 whale is now transferring money to a different set of wallets and has transferred 5,152 BTC on December 11. The other wallet still available contains 9,340 BTC. The current BTC long entry prices are greater than the majority of the traders at 91,506.7, and the other long positions have 88000 prices on the liquidation heatmap. 

The whale seems ready to offer more collateral and high funding fees in order to sustain these positions. The past trading experience indicates that it concentrates on short-term profit and does not have any long-term commitments, and this is leaving the market players in uncertainty about the intentions of the trader.

The 1011 whale returns are a timely event for the cryptocurrency market. Investors are keeping a close eye on BTC and ETH, and SOL positions, whereas the general market trends are still governed by the activity of whales and options expiries.

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The company also announced that it will store its own SOL assets at Anchorage Digital Bank in custody, a subsequent stage in its transition to a Solana-based treasury operation.

HSDT enhances its Solana strategy

The on-chain statistics reveal that Solana has a total of over 2.2 million SOL, which is worth approximately $396 million. The company will utilize these holdings to receive staking rewards, contribute to Solana’s governance system, and enhance its participation in the network. HSDT is expected to provide its users with safe, clear, and scaled staking services through its collaboration with Helius and Twinstake. These two providers are both in the top 25 by the number of SOL staked in their validators on the Solana network.

According to Joseph Chee, Executive Chairman of HSDT and Chairman of Summer Capital, cooperation with prominent validators enhances the company’s work efficiency. He explained that collaborating with established leaders in the ecosystem helps HSDT enhance its SOL management, while also supporting the growth of Solana.

Institutional-level staking services

Helius already manages over 13 million SOL staked on its site, and it offers institution-level staking infrastructure. The company has SOC 2 Type II-based systems to maintain the uptime, performance, and security of its customers. The regulated enterprise services of Twinstake and Anchorage Digital also increase HSDT’s exposure to the Solana validator environment.

According to board observer Cosmo Jiang, staking is a crucial component of HSDT’s yield generation and governance strategy. According to him, the partnership highlights the firm’s compliance, scalability, and network compatibility, yielding maximum returns on the chain. Mert Mumtaz, the CEO of Helius, stated that Solana could be the most scalable blockchain in capital markets, AI payments, and microtransactions, and the partnership will expedite the institutional adoption of Solana.

Move to a Solana treasury model

HSDT, previously known as Helius Medical Technologies, has reorganized its mission to enable the use of tokenized networks by providing long-term SOL holding services. The company continues to maintain its neurotechnology business as it expands its operations into the Solana ecosystem.

The company opened its treasury section on September 15, following a decline in its share value from $182.75 in June to $9.76 a month later. HSDT stock has increased by 6.55% to $6.63 following the announcement of the partnerships, despite recent volatility. The company indicated that market volatility presents an opportunity to strengthen its belief in the plan, rather than withdrawing under pressure.

The collaboration with Helius, Twinstake, and Anchorage Digital, as a part of the HSDT, is an excellent step to earn staking revenue and enhance the presence in the Solana network. Through the use of the most reputable validators and institutional-grade custody products, the company aims to align its treasury operations with the growth and security of the broader Solana ecosystem.

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After Aster’s success, HumidiFi saw large amounts of traffic, surpassing other platform giants like Orca and Meteor.

Record Volumes Strengthen HumidiFi Position

The protocol recorded a trading of $8.55 billion in the last week. HumidiFi reached an all-time high of $1.91 billion on September 25. During peak trading periods, the platform reached up to 15% of Solana’s on-chain volumes. This expansion was achieved in the absence of a retail-oriented front end at HumidiFi. Other protocols, including ZeroFi and SolFi, were also active but have fallen behind.

HumidiFi is a liquidity pool that trades with one market maker. Trading is not free without permission, but it offers regulated spreads and slippage. The trading business revolves around the most liquid markets, and the most popular pair is SOL vs. USDC.

HumidiFi reached peak volumes in September, driven by demand for dark pools and veiled orders. | Source: DeFiLlama.

Dark Pools Reduce Sandwich Attacks

Dark pool trading is becoming popular among institutional Solana users who want to avoid front-running. These pits also assist in curbing sandwich attacks, which ripped traders off over ten days at a cost of over 4 million. In contrast to transparent decentralized exchanges, HumidiFi protects whale activity against on-chain analytics and predatory counter-trading.

Raydium remains the leader in the DEX retail space in Solana. But HumidiFi and Aster are drawing in bigger traders who value liquidity and little slippage. Their shrouded trading environment has now become a favorite among high-volume traders.

Jupiter Benefits from Dark Pool Activity

The growth in dark pool activity has increased Jupiter’s trading volume. Jupiter sends instructions through decentralized exchanges and provides exposure to platforms that do not have a direct retail interface. HumidiFi has taken the pre-eminent position of routed SOL and USDC orders, comprising up to 80 percent of orders when activity is at its peak.

Even though Jupiter still has to undertake transactions with meme tokens, dark pools remain its driver for large-scale liquidity. SolFi and smaller pools also play a role, although HumidiFi is the leader in making an impact in the market.

The increase in the SOL and USDC trade was characterized by Solana dropping down to below 200 momentarily. SOL recovered to $208.22 by the new week, and new inflows in the USDC also backed it. The supply of the stablecoin in circulation increased by 7.15% to reach a high of 13.79 billion in seven days. USDC represents 9.65 billion of this supply, rising 10 percent in the last month.

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Expansion of the Nasdaq Crypto Index ETF

The proposed changes would replace the current benchmark, the Nasdaq Crypto US Settlement Price Index, with the more inclusive Nasdaq Crypto Index. This shift would bring four additional assets into the benchmark, which already includes Bitcoin and Ethereum. Pending SEC approval, the index will also include Chainlink, Litecoin, and Uniswap. The SEC is expected to issue a decision by November 2, 2025.

Hashdex currently operates under regulatory limits that only allow it to hold Bitcoin and Ethereum, although its benchmark includes more assets. A sampling strategy is being used to align with the broader index, but this has created gaps between the ETF’s actual holdings and its benchmark structure.

Market reaction to Nasdaq’s filing

The announcement had mixed effects on token prices. XRP climbed above $2.23 during early trading hours and marked a 3.1 percent rise from weekly lows. Solana rebounded to around $155 following a drop near $140, gaining 0.2 percent intraday and recording a 36 percent increase in trading volume. Cardano maintained a declining trend, settling around $0.67. Stellar Lumens also experienced weekly losses of more than 1 percent.

These movements reflect investor sensitivity to regulatory and institutional developments, especially involving major financial platforms like Nasdaq.

Leadership changes and regulatory criticism

Furthermore, the notice pointed out that Hashdex Asset Management saw some change in leadership. Bruno Leonardo Kmita de Oliveira Passos left his position as a member of the board as well as his jobs as Principal Financial Officer and Principal Accounting Officer. Samir E. H. Kerbage took up his roles as Chief Investment Officer within the firm. There were no disagreements within Gonzalez’s camp that caused the change.

In parallel, VanEck, 21Shares, and Canary Capital urged the SEC to return to a first-to-file approval policy for exchange-traded products. A joint letter criticized the current simultaneous approval approach, citing competitive disadvantages for early filers. The firms referenced both the 2021 Bitcoin futures ETF approval and the 2024 simultaneous spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETF approvals as examples.

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Meme coins are currently witnessing an upward momentum, with most of them riding Bitcoin’s wave since it started. The cumulative market cap of the tokens is around $120 billion, spurred by the rise of assets like Dogecoin (215%) and Pepe (123%) over the last month.

Bot nets $8.6 million in profits on Pump.fun

According to data by Lookonchain, the bot initially earned 27,000 Solana over 30 days. The profit, worth about $6.8 million was made by sniping several meme coins. The data also revealed that the bot also used 1.75 SOL to purchase 58 million FRIC tokens, selling it for 1,646 SOL and making a profit of $418,000 in the process. The bot claimed a 943 return from that singular trade.

The bot had also bought 57 million FATHA tokens using 2 SOL, and sold the tokens for 4,456 SOL, signifying an increase of 2,227%, with a profit of $1.12 million. The bot uses two addresses, sniping the tokens with one, and sending the profits to another wallet. The bot had also initially taken 27,000 SOL in profits, sending 19,000 from the cache to OKX to sell for profits.

The activities of these meme coins on Solana have affected the platform’s token, gaining a visible surge over the last few days. According to trading data, Solana is up by 49% over the last 30 days, and it is presently trading at $250. The recent surge propelled the token to hit a new all-time high of $263 on November 23, before settling at its present value.

Pump.fun under fire over the use of its livestream features

Pump.fun has been embroiled in several controversies, especially with complaints related to the use of its livestream features. According to reports, users claim that scammers are now using it for bad acts and harmful activities. Users said that these acts also include several threats of self-harm, often tied to market cap goals.

In a recent incident, a developer threatened to harm himself if his token didn’t reach the $25 million market cap by a certain time frame, showcasing the misuse of the platform. It has also raised alarm within the community. In another case, a 13-year-old who created the Quant token raised about $30,000 before the rug pulled the community. Although measures were taken to help, the tokens became useless.

After the rug pull, the boy and his family were doxxed online. Meanwhile, there has been growing turmoil in the crypto community over these incidents. While some demand that the platform should be shut down, others have called for softer measures like disabling the livestream feature for the time being. The incidents also show how easy it is to scam people using these livestream features, showing that traders need to be careful.

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