HIP-3 is becoming core to Hyperliquid.

Those markets now make up 8.1% of total OI (~$625M), spanning metals, mega-cap tech, and broad indices. TradFi exposure is finding a clean onchain wrapper.

ETFs now account for ~6.5% of combined BTC + ETH market cap.

And despite all the “self-sovereign” talk, flows already lean heavily on them.

MegaETH stress tests are pushing past 20K TPS as an L2 using EigenDA.

Early signs suggest throughput isn’t the bottleneck anymore — coordination is.

Ethereum network fees just fell to their lowest level since May 2017.

Cheap blockspace is back — quietly changing what’s viable onchain.

Institutions follow revenue.

On Arbitrum, Timeboost already pushed $6.29M back into the DAO, reinforcing a multi-revenue flywheel.

Tether rolled out USAT to compete head-on for institutional adoption.

With Anchorage-backed compliance and early listings across major venues, USAT gives Tether a cleaner lane into regulated flows — especially for firms spanning the US and emerging markets.

L2s are doing the heavy lifting for Ethereum’s network effect.

Monthly transactions on L2s now outpace L1 by nearly 9×, quietly redefining where activity actually lives.

Tokenized equities crossed 150K holders.

Most of that demand clusters around Tesla and Nvidia — familiar names pull liquidity first.

Base lending yields finally normalized.

As capital flowed in, the old 2–3% USDC premium compressed to ~50bps, pulling rates back in line with Ethereum. Liquidity does what liquidity always does.

Alts had a brutal year.

Only ~6% are up YoY, while the average token is down ~70%. That’s not rotation — that’s capitulation.

Liquid staking is no longer a one-horse race.

Competing LSTs absorbed ~4.5M ETH — nearly 30% of new stake — while Lido’s share slid from ~90% to ~65%. Distribution is finally happening.

Prediction markets are already an oligopoly.

Kalshi, Opinion, and Polymarket control ~96% of volume, while everyone else fights over scraps, and users concentrate even harder than volume. Polymarket stands out with ~2M all-time users, which explains a lot.

Perps liquidity is clustering fast.

Hyperliquid, Aster, and edgeX are soaking up most of the action amid metals volatility, with Lighter trailing close behind. HIP-3 fees alone are printing $3-4M+ on strong days for Hyperliquid.

Tokenized real estate sits at ~$392M across 58 properties, and it’s highly concentrated.

The US and UAE make up nearly 80% of value, while just three platforms control 74% of the market. Growth is narrow too: Polygon and Solana are the only chains still expanding.

A new weekly research I hope you've been waiting for ↓

General
➖ Galaxy: Crypto M&A Insights
➖ Galaxy: Weekly Top Stories - 01/30/26

Market
➖ CoinShares: Crypto market structure legislation (CLARITY Act): what it is, where it stands, and why it matters
➖ CoinShares: Market update - January 30th, 2026
➖ CoinShares: Equities update | January 30th 2026
➖ CoinShares: The liquidity lens: lessons from 2025 and a look ahead
➖ CoinShares: Digital asset fund flows | February 2nd, 2026
➖ CoinGecko: Market Share of Centralized Crypto Exchanges, by Trading Volume
➖ Binance: Weekly: Dollar in Freefall, Bitcoin Mining Stocks Rise
➖ Glassnode: Stress Builds Below Resistance
➖ Glassnode: BTC Market Pulse: Week 6
➖ Galaxy: Fed Pause, Gold Surges, and Macro Volatility

Blockchains & networks
➖ Cryptorank: The State of TRON H2 2025: Stablecoin Settlement at Scale Amid Rising Competition

Tokens & currencies
➖ 4pillars: KNTQ Thesis: 17x, Heavily Coded
➖ The Defiant: Ethereum Supply Tightens With 45% of ETH Locked: Sygnum
➖ Galaxy: Bitcoin Drawdown Nears 40%; Weakness Suggests Lower Prices Coming

Bitcoin just slipped below its True Market Mean for the first time in 2.5 years.

Last time that happened, BTC was trading around $29K. Context matters.

Ethereum scaling is actually doing its job now.

Usage keeps climbing while network footprint shrinks — post-Fusaka, L1 and L2 activity flipped from lockstep to inverse (r ≈ −0.67). That’s what breaking the congestion tradeoff looks like.

Robinhood is trading at ~36.7× earnings while markets are bleeding.

All the core metrics are still moving up and to the right — valuation isn’t reacting to macro the way you’d expect. That disconnect is doing the talking.

DeFi never really cracked options beyond prediction markets.

If Hyperliquid can bring options on-chain without eating its own perps flow, that’s a meaningful unlock. Pulling a real options market on-chain would be a step-change, not an iteration.

Maple now sits on $2B+ in stablecoin deposits.

That capital is earning yield directly from institutional borrowers.