Friday Forecasts: 23/01/26

Your weekly pulse on markets, narratives, protocols, and policy.

Market Pulse

Bitcoin price targets extend down to $58K as BTC prints new death cross

Bitcoin failed to break out from its macro trading range, according to analysis, with new BTC price targets including a return to sub-$60,000 levels. Bitcoin slid to eight-day lows on Tuesday as macro headwinds gave bulls new headaches.

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XRP price slips below $2 despite ETF demand, robust network

XRP price plunged below $2 amid a market-wide sell-off as strong spot ETF inflows and a surge in XRP Ledger transactions failed to lift investor sentiment.

Spot XRP exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have continued to attract investor interest, recording inflows every day of last week as transactions surged to a six-month high.

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Narratives to Watch

BNB Chain Gaming NFT Ecosystem: Activity and Top Projects in 2026

The BNB gaming NFT ecosystem now hosts a large number of play-to-earn titles, NFT marketplaces, and GameFi platforms, thanks to its fast transactions, low fees, and strong developer support. As adoption increases, BNB Chain continues to position itself as a major hub for scalable and accessible Web3 gaming.

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Why $SKR is Suddenly on Traders’ Radar – Early Momentum or the Start of Something Bigger?

Despite the broader crypto market grappling with a grueling drawdown over the past 24 hours, one new entrant is going against the herd. Solana Mobile Seeker or SKR, the native token of the Solana Mobile Ecosystem, is up over 500% since launch and accompanying airdrops on January 21st. In fact, the token has become the largest gainer among the top 500 coins by market cap, surpassing a fully diluted value (FDV) of over $400 million in just a single day.

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Protocol Watch

Winklevoss twins donate $1.2M in ZEC to back independent Zcash development

Shielded Labs, an independent Zcash development organization that includes Zcash founder Zooko Wilcox among its contributors, said it has received 3,221 worth about $1.16 million from Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss to fund core protocol work amid ongoing changes within the Zcash ecosystem.

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Ondo Finance Brings 200+ Tokenized U.S. Stocks and ETFs to Solana

The expansion comes as tokenized real-world assets continue to gain traction across crypto markets. Ondo Finance is expanding its tokenized equities business to Solana, bringing more than 200 tokenized U.S. stocks and exchange-traded funds to the high-speed blockchain for the first time, the company said Wednesday.

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Regulatory Radar

New SEC submissions press on self-custody and DeFi regulation

The submissions add to mounting pressure on regulators as Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong calls for compromise to pass market structure legislation. The US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Crypto Task Force “Written Input” page added two new submissions on Tuesday that focus on self‑custody rights and how proprietary trading in tokenized and decentralized finance (DeFi) markets should be regulated.

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South Korea weighs ending one-bank rule for crypto exchanges: Report

South Korea is reportedly reviewing exclusive bank partnerships for crypto exchanges as regulators assess competition and prepare the Digital Asset Basic Act.

South Korea’s financial regulators are reviewing a long-standing practice that effectively ties each cryptocurrency exchange to a single banking partner, as part of a broader examination of competition in the country’s crypto market, according to local media.

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Moonrig Perspective

Markets are maturing — and so are narratives.
Real opportunity now lies in utility-backed protocols, tokenomics with intent, and cross-chain infrastructure.

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