January witnessed significant milestones for major altcoin networks, with Solana and Ethereum both experiencing substantial growth in user activity. According to data from Nansen, daily active addresses on the Solana network surged by nearly 115% as of January 28, regularly topping 5 million in the latter half of the month. This dramatic increase is attributed to a renewed frenzy in memecoin minting, fueled by the launch of Anthropic's Claude Cowork AI agent. The agent's ability to control a user's desktop enabled developers using the Solana-based token launchpad Bags to accelerate token launches significantly.
The activity spike led to a notable rise in platform fees, which reached $4.5 million on January 16. For context, daily fees from September to December 2023 rarely exceeded five digits and sometimes fell to just a few hundred dollars. During this period, the number of tokens that 'graduated' from Bags surpassed those from the other popular Solana launch platform, Pump.fun.
Meanwhile, the Ethereum network also saw a 25% increase in daily active addresses in January. This follows important network upgrades that increased blob sizes and consequently lowered transaction fees. On January 29, average fees on Ethereum were less than $0.01. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin emphasized on January 12 that the network should ultimately pass a 'walkaway test,' functioning to fulfill user needs without constant developer intervention.
In other news, seven Bitcoin mining operations in the United States, operated by companies including Riot, Core Scientific, CleanSpark, and Bitdeer, faced potential curtailment due to a severe winter storm straining power grids in the Southeast and South Central regions. Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets research at VanEck, noted these miners are structurally set up to act as flexible loads via utility demand response programs.
A report from PayPal highlighted growing crypto adoption for payments, revealing that four in 10 merchants in the U.S. now accept cryptocurrency. PayPal's survey found merchants value crypto for faster transaction speeds, increased privacy, and its appeal to crypto-savvy customers.
Bitcoin's price experienced volatility, climbing toward $100,000 mid-month before falling over 10% to around $87,000. Analysts linked the decline to geopolitical tensions, specifically former U.S. President Donald Trump's stated aspirations regarding Greenland, which heightened global market risk aversion. Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, noted that 'cryptocurrencies offered no haven from the wave of selling that washed over global markets.'
