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Weekly Snapshot
- BTC: US $90,608 (+0.0%)
- ETH: US $3,094 (-1.0%)
- Crypto Market Cap: US $3.06T (+0.2%)
- Gold: US $4,509/oz (+4.4%)
- S&P 500: 6,966 (+1.3%)
- ASX 200: 8,717 (+0.0%)
Executive Summary
- US growth and stimulus remain a key tailwind: The US economy expanded at a 4.3% annualised pace in Q3 2025, with further stimulus underway as the administration caps credit card interest at 10%, directs US $200B into mortgage-backed securities purchases and lifts defence spending to US $1.5T, reinforcing a highly expansionary policy mix.
- ETF flows show rotation, not capitulation: US spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs recorded ~US $750M in net outflows during the first full week of 2026, while XRP ETFs attracted US $38M in inflows and hit record trading volumes, indicating selective institutional reallocation rather than broad risk aversion.
- Fundamentals continue to build beneath price action: Solana Mobile’s upcoming SKR token launch, alongside ~150,000 Seeker pre-orders across 50+ countries, highlights ongoing ecosystem investment and builder activity despite consolidation in major token prices.
Key Stories this Week
US Economic Growth and Macro-Stimulus
The US economy expanded at an annualised rate of 4.3% in the latest official release for Q3 2025, marking the strongest growth in two years. We expect this economic growth to continue ahead of the 2026 mid-term elections in November, where the public will vote in lawmakers across the House and Senate into power.
Republicans currently control the majority of these two branches of government, giving it the ability to enact swift and decisive economic policies including Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act. To improve the likelihood of a Republican controlled House and Senate for the second half of his term, Trump is doing everything he can to grow the economy and consumer sentiment.
Across the last week, Trump has announced a one-year cap on credit card interest at 10%. Furthermore, the administration has directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to purchase US $200B of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) to reduce borrowing costs for home buyers. This is paired with an increase in the military budget from US $1T to US $1.5T.
Implications for investors: These measures are highly expansionary, meaning they increase the total money supply and stimulate consumer demand. For digital asset investors, this environment is traditionally bullish. As the US adds more debt to fund military and housing goals, it could lead the US economy to run hot, stoking inflation but also supporting digital assets to make a recovery in 2026.
While not a perfectly correlated comparison, you can see below that during times of global money supply expansion (green bars), bitcoin's price (organge line) tends to rise, and price fall or stalls during money supply declines.
Institutional ETF Flows Signal Rotation Beneath the Surface
According to new data reported by The Block, US spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs saw a combined US $750 million in net outflows during the first full trading week of 2026. Bitcoin ETFs led the pullback with US $681 million in outflows, while Ethereum ETFs recorded US $68.6 million exiting.
In contrast, XRP ETFs continued to attract capital, posting US $38.1 million in net inflows and recording their highest weekly trading volume since launch at US $219 million. Spot Solana ETFs also logged modest net inflows over the same period.
BlackRock’s IBIT drove a large share of Bitcoin ETF outflows, while Fidelity’s FBTC stood out as one of the few funds to remain net positive. XRP ETF assets now total approximately US $1.47 billion, representing early but growing institutional exposure.
Implications for investors: This divergence highlights an early-cycle capital rotation rather than broad risk-off behaviour. Large allocators appear to be trimming BTC and ETH exposure following lacklustre 2025 performance, while selectively reallocating toward assets with clearer regulatory momentum and asymmetric upside.
Solana Mobile Sets Jan. 21 SKR Token Launch
Earlier this week, Solana Mobile confirmed its SKR token will launch on Jan. 21, with a fixed supply of 10 billion tokens and 20% allocated to users and developers via an airdrop. SKR will serve as the governance and incentive layer for the Solana Mobile ecosystem, including the Seeker smartphone and decentralised app store.
Seeker devices are expected to begin shipping in January 2026, closely aligning hardware rollout with token activation. SOL currently trades around US $136, down roughly 37% year-on-year despite continued ecosystem growth.
Seeker has surpassed ~150,000 pre-orders across 50+ countries at ~US $450–500, implying ~US $65–70 million in gross sales, compared with ~20,000 units sold for the original Saga phone.
New Seeker phone specs:
Implications for investors: The mobile device does come with some great features including a fingerprint secured vault for a users seed phrase and private keys. Still, Solana have their work cut out for them in a landscape that competes with the likes of Google, Apple and Samsung that can already install a crypto wallet.
While we won't be buying a Solana Seeker phone, it's worth noting that their first model, listed for US $599 ended up having a re-sale value in excess of US $2,000 as it became a cult classic, and the BONK tokens given for free to new buyers rose in value more than that of the phone itself.
Until next week,
James
James Brannan
Managing Director
BlockByte
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