Trakx Weekly Update: Post Holiday Rally

Key Crypto Market Figures

CTIs Weekly Performance

The new year started solidly for digital assets with our benchmark large cap Top10 Crypto CTI gaining 6% over the preceding seven day period. Top of the pack in terms of weekly performance was the higher beta Meme CTI, after it rallied more than 30%. By contrast, the typically defensive Digital Inflation Hedge CTI, slipped just a little over 1%, making it the worst performer of the week.

Tradfi Stress Speculation

In the final days of 2025 tradfi firms borrowed a record $75bn from the New York Fed’s standing repo operation, a cash injection that adds reserves to the commercial banking system. Especially in light of rumours that a major systemically-important US bank had failed to make margin payments and had its short position in silver futures liquidated – the price of silver spiked over 16% to a new record high on December 28 – speculation surged that this was beyond the typical year-end funding pressures and that the Fed would be forced to inject additional liquidity into the banking system to shore things up. While the claims circulating on social media were unverified, thin holiday trading conditions amplified their impact, encouraging crypto investors to push digital asset prices higher.

Venezuela Strikes

Even the sharp escalation in geopolitical tensions following President Trump’s surprise decision to launch strikes on Venezuela and capture and exfiltrate President Maduro and his wife to the US—an action condemned by China as a “clear violation of international law”—was largely shrugged off by crypto markets. Instead, investor attention shifted to the potential implications for global energy supply after President Trump suggested the US would take control of Venezuela’s oil reserves. As the country holds the world’s largest proven crude oil reserves, any increase in production could deliver a meaningful deflationary impulse, representing a net positive shock to the global economy.

For one investor though, US action against the leadership of Venezuela was a massive short-term win. Hours before the US operation was launched a new account on the online betting platform Polymarket placed a $32,000 wager on a contract predicting Maduro’s removal by month-end, a position that netted the trader over $400,000 in under 6 hours. Obviously, the extremely fortuitous timing of the bet raised suspicions that someone with prior knowledge decided to front-run the operation. In response, according to Punchbowl News founder Jake Sherman, US Democrat Ritchie Torres will introduce the Public Integrity in Financial Prediction Markets Act of 2026. The legislation seeks to prohibit federal elected officials, political appointees, and Executive Branch employees from buying, selling, or exchanging prediction market contracts tied to government policy, government action, or political outcomes. If passed, online prediction markets would be subject to the same insider trading rules as tradfi asset markets.

PwC Embraces Crypto

PricewaterhouseCoopers is significantly expanding its involvement in the crypto sector, driven by clearer US regulation including the passage of the GENIUS Act. The firm is “leaning in” on both audit and consulting services, actively advising clients on using tokenization and stablecoins to improve payment efficiency and settlement speed. This marks a notable shift for the Big Four firm, which had previously been cautious due to regulatory uncertainty, signalling growing institutional engagement in the digital asset market.

Sources: Trakx, Coingecko, Alphavantage

Market Trends

• Meme Coins Swell as Sector Outstrips Broader Crypto Market: Decrypt
• “Major US bank blows up from Silver trade” headlines hide the $675M margin shock currently hitting traders: CryptoSlate
• ‘Just The Beginning’—Bitcoin And Crypto Suddenly Braced For A ‘Critical’ $17.3 Trillion Oil Price Shock: Forbes
• Rep. Torres to target insider trading on prediction markets after bet on Maduro: Cointelegraph
• PwC deepens crypto push as U.S. rules shift and stablecoins go mainstream: Report: CoinDesk
• Bitfinex hacker Ilya Lichtenstein says he is being released early as part of ‘Trump’s First Step Act’: The Block

Trakx News

• Ryan Shea published his 2026 crypto outlook where he outlines three trends that will shape the digital asset landscape over the coming 12 months.

Trakx CTIs Performance

Sources: Coingecko and AlphaVantage

*Return of bitcoin is calculated since 01/05/2020, while CTIs performances were calculated since their respective launch date.
**Includes simulated performance.
***The risk signal is determined according to the historical volatility level, the higher the riskier.

Trakx is a global fintech company creating new standards for digital asset investments. Through our trading platform, we offer thematic Crypto Tradable Indices (CTIs) and customised solutions, providing sophisticated investors with a high degree of compliance, custody and liquidity.

TRAKX SAS,  10 rue de Penthièvre, Paris, 75008, FRANCE – French société par actions simplifiée Paris Trade and Companies Register number 850 626 078

Crypto Asset Service Provider (CASP) Registered with the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) under number E2021-020

Disclaimers: No Investment Advice. Index returns and statistics are for illustration only. Index returns do not reflect any transaction costs or expenses. Past performance does not guarantee future results. The information provided in this newsletter does not constitute investment advice, financial advice, trading advice, or any other sort of advice and you should not treat any of the newsletter content as such. Trakx.io does not recommend that any cryptocurrency should be bought, sold, or held by you. Readers shall conduct their own due diligence and consult their financial advisors before making any investment decisions.