Early 2026 is showing a shift in market behavior, with participants placing greater emphasis on structural strength, network fundamentals, and sustainability over rapid speculation. This selective environment is shaping risk assessment across the broader crypto market.
Ethereum continues to attract significant institutional interest through exchange-traded funds. For the week ending January 16, Ethereum ETFs recorded approximately $479 million in weekly inflows, reversing prior outflows and signaling renewed confidence. BlackRock's ETHA accounted for nearly half of these inflows. Total weekly trading volume across Ethereum ETFs reached $7.74 billion, lifting cumulative net inflows to $12.91 billion and pushing total assets under management above $20 billion.
In contrast, Chainlink remains under pressure, with recent price action failing to translate oversold conditions into sustained momentum. LINK is trading near the $12.60 level, below its key moving averages (20-day, 50-day, and 200-day), reflecting continued selling pressure. Despite the launch of Grayscale's Chainlink Trust ETF, the technical outlook has not shown clear improvement. Resistance remains near the Ichimoku Kijun around $13.20, with support limited above $12.20. Analysts expect continued range-bound movement.
Amid this backdrop, attention is extending to ZKP, a project gaining notice for its operational framework rather than price performance. A central component is its use of Proof Pods—plug-and-play hardware units designed to process verifiable AI compute tasks for the network. Approximately $17 million worth of Proof Pods are currently active and shipping, indicating early infrastructure participation.
These Proof Pods generate ZKP tokens by validating compute activity, with rewards tied to the prior day's presale auction closing price. ZKP runs a daily on-chain presale auction where every 24 hours, around 190 million ZKP are released and distributed based on aggregate participation. The process involves no fixed pricing and no private allocations, establishing a transparent reference price. Stage 2 of this presale is currently active.
From a technical perspective, ZKP functions as a Layer-1 network supporting both EVM and WASM execution. EVM compatibility allows existing Ethereum applications to deploy with minimal modification, while WASM supports high-performance computing. The network uses zero-knowledge proofs to verify results without exposing sensitive data, shifting trust toward cryptographic validation.
The market environment currently favors selectivity, with Ethereum benefiting from institutional flows, Chainlink constrained technically, and projects like ZKP drawing focus through measurable infrastructure and transparent distribution mechanics.
