The largest token is up over 40 percent since the turn of the year, a first-month gain bettered only twice before when crypto was in its infancy. Smaller coins like Solana, Axie Infinity and Decentraland have doubled in value, part of a $280 billion January climb in digital assets overall, CoinGecko figures show.
The rally in virtual coins has weathered ongoing fallout from the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX exchange—such as the bankruptcy of crypto lender Genesis Global Holdco LLC and a spate of layoffs across the industry. The comeback of speculative assets like Bitcoin and the Ark Innovation ETF “will likely reverse” if oil, wages and consumer-price increases shift the “soft landing” narrative temporarily in coming weeks into a “no landing” view, Bank of America Corp. strategists led by Michael Hartnett said last week.
Some corners of global markets are also flashing warnings. For instance, hedge funds have built up the biggest bearish bet on bond futures on record, clashing with the narrative that a peak in rate hikes is near.