Биткоин теряет позиции под давлением продаж, а Ethereum восстанавливает свою активность Bitcoin Loses Ground Under Selling Pressure, While Ethereum Revives Its Activity

Digital gold failed to maintain its position above $90,000, Ethereum’s main network surpassed L2 in terms of activity, Iran’s central bank purchased over $500 million in stablecoins, along with other events from the past week.

On Monday, the leading cryptocurrency began immediately with a nighttime correction. The asset sharply broke through support around $95,000, heading towards $90,000.

However, the decline didn’t end there — significant selling pressures affected Bitcoin throughout most of the week. The situation was compounded by downturns in the U.S. and Japanese stock markets.

By Wednesday, digital gold had reached a local bottom at $87,000.

By the end of the week, the flagship of the crypto market traded within a range of $88,000 to $91,000. At the time of writing, the coin is hovering around $89,000.

Analysts from Glassnode noted a persistent oversupply: recent buyers are creating resistance, limiting growth potential. Short-term rallies are being utilized for profit-taking.

Attempts to establish a foothold above $90,000 are met with selling from investors who accumulated positions in Q1 to Q3 of 2025.

CryptoQuant researcher Julio Moreno pointed out that, for the first time in history, the share of «new» whales in Bitcoin’s realized capitalization has surpassed that of long-term holders.

The average purchase price for the first group is around $98,000. With spot prices below this, investors are facing a combined unrealized loss of $6 billion.

The rest of the crypto market followed suit with Bitcoin’s trend. Ethereum dropped below $3,000 (-12% for the week), while BNB fell under $900 (-7.5%).

The cryptocurrency fear and greed index returned to the «extreme fear» zone at 25 points. Last week, the index was around 50.

The capital flow dynamics in crypto ETFs also turned negative. Investors withdrew $1.33 billion from spot Bitcoin funds and $611 million from Ethereum products.

The overall market capitalization of cryptocurrencies decreased to $3.08 trillion, with BTC dominance at 57.5% and ETH at 11.5%.

Token Terminal analysts recorded the beginning of a «return to the mainnet» for Ethereum. Against a backdrop of record-low fees, activity on the main network surpassed that of layer 2 solutions.

The mainnet outperformed L2 protocols in terms of daily active users. On January 16, the figure peaked at approximately 1.3 million addresses. After the correction, it stabilized at around 945,000 daily, which still exceeds the metrics of Arbitrum, Base, and OP Mainnet.

Simultaneously, there is liquidity outflow from layer 2. According to L2Beat data, the total locked value (TVL) of the rollup ecosystem has decreased by 16% over the year, totaling $45 billion.

Experts linked the surge in Ethereum activity to the December Fusaka update, which significantly reduced gas fees. However, much of the traffic may have «artificial origins» and may not reflect the actions of real users, specialists cautioned.

Blockchain security expert Andrey Sergeenkov suggested that the spike in activity was caused by a wave of address «poisoning.» He considers this a mass spam attack.

Following Fusaka, network fees dropped by over 60%. This made fraudulent schemes profitable: criminals remain in the black even with a conversion rate of victims at 0.01%.

At the same time, analysts at JPMorgan expressed skepticism regarding the long-term stability of Ethereum’s successes.

«Historically, successive blockchain updates have not significantly increased activity on a sustainable basis for various reasons,» the bank noted.

The sovereign fund of Bhutan, Druk Holding and Investments (DHI), and Sei Development Foundation agreed to launch a validator in the Sei network within the kingdom.

This partnership aims to expand the national blockchain infrastructure. The parties plan to explore tokenization opportunities, test new economic models, and evaluate data realms and DeSci.

The initiative will be implemented by DHI InnoTech, the fund’s innovation division, with support from venture firm Sapien Capital. The node is expected to begin operations in the first quarter of 2026.

Currently, Bhutan ranks seventh in the world among Bitcoin-holding nations, with the government owning 5,985 BTC (approximately $529 million), primarily acquired through mining.

During the week, the authorities of the Bermuda Islands also announced a blockchain initiative at the state level, planning to create the «world’s first fully on-chain economy.»

Technical partners for the initiative include Circle and Coinbase. The implementation plan includes several phases:

The transition to blockchain aims to solve the problem of high bank transfer costs. Traditional payment gateways are often unprofitable for island jurisdictions, reducing local entrepreneurs’ profits. Using the USDC stablecoin will allow for quick and cheap settlements.

Elliptic analysts uncovered that Iran’s central bank acquired USDT stablecoins valued at $507 million.

Most of the assets were bought in the spring of 2025. Under sanctions and being cut off from the SWIFT system, cryptocurrencies became the only alternative for international bank transfers.

Before a hack in June, much of the funds were directed to the Nobitex platform, which was the largest crypto exchange in Iran for exchanging and selling digital assets for the local currency (Iranian rial).

Following the attack, the regulator switched to a more complex scheme using decentralized cross-chain bridges and DEXs, primarily in the TRON and Ethereum networks.

Experts cited economic instability in Iran amidst the devaluation of the rial as the cause of the purchases.

«The primary motivation for acquiring USDT is to control currency markets. This aligns with blockchain activity. Channeling funds to Nobitex indicates a strategy of injecting dollar liquidity into the local market to support the rial,» they noted.

The central bank attempted to halt the currency’s decline by purchasing fiat with USDT on the exchange, experts believe. The regulator is also establishing a «sanction-proof» banking mechanism.

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) announced the development of a platform for trading and on-chain settlement of tokenized securities.

The service, which requires regulatory approval to launch, will provide round-the-clock trading access, instant settlements, and the ability to place orders in dollar equivalents.

The new NYSE project is planned to support stablecoins.

From a technical standpoint, the platform will combine the NYSE Pillar order matching engine with post-trading systems based on blockchain, supporting settlements across various networks.

The platform will deal with tokenized stocks that are interchangeable with traditional securities, as well as native digital assets. Token holders will retain rights to dividends and participation in corporate governance.

Only qualified broker-dealers will be allowed to the service.

NYSE President Lynn Martin stated that the exchange aims to combine trust in traditional markets with modern on-chain solutions while upholding high investor protection standards.

The exchange’s parent company, Intercontinental Exchange, is simultaneously working to adapt its clearing infrastructure for round-the-clock operations using tokenized deposits.

We analyze the plans of Ethereum developers and assess prospects in light of upcoming updates.

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