The Daily Degen - January 2nd, 2026
All of today's news/data/alerts...
Happy Friday good frogs! Lots of stuff going on!
Let’s dive in!
As always… stats/alerts/etc at top and tweets/news/links/videos/etc at bottom… and all tweets are hyperlinked so just click on them to pull them up on Twitter/X!
Market Update
Crypto (from @CryptoBubbles)
Total Crypto Market Cap: $3.16T
QQQ (Nasdaq 100): $611.53
Gold: $4,315.80
Oil (WTI): $57.01
US 10Y Treasury: 4.183%
Crypto Fear & Greed Index (from coinmarketcap(dot)com): 34
Altcoin Season Index (from coinglass(dot)com): 39
Biggest Price Movers
(From @coingecko top 1000, by 24 hour change)
Spotlight
Take note wise degens! 2026 is set to be the year of Quai!
Once again, @QuaiNetwork is a new GPU-mineable and EVM-compatible proof-of-work blockchain based on tokenizing compute, and incorporating a gigabrain dual-token model involving $QUAI and $QI - with $QUAI as the main token and $QI as an “energy dollar” or “flatcoin”…
And they just introduced an insanely cool new development called ‘Project SOAP’!
Here is a short description of it:
“Subsidized Open-market Acquisition Protocol, or SOAP, is a sophisticated evolution of Merged Mining…
SOAP enables Multi-Algorithm Mining to take place, or in other words, allows block producers to use different algorithms together while merge mining.
So a block producer could mine both LTC and QUAI at the same time. These operate on different algos (KawPoW and Scrypt), so before SOAP, this was impossible…
Using SOAP, when a block producer produces a block - they get rewarded in 2 tokens: the normal $QUAI (or $QI) reward, and then the subsidy chain of their choice (LTC, DOGE, BCH, RVN to start with). That subsidy chain reward is routed to the network, sold at market, and then used to buyback $QUAI…”
Project SOAP is off to a massive start, as seen in the tweet below from Quai’s @ChristopherNFGG!
If you want to know more about the deeper workings of SOAP and why it is such a big deal, then make sure to check out Chris’s recent long-form article on it by clicking here now!
And make sure to follow both him and @QuaiNetwork on Twitter for more updates, and stay tuned as we continue covering Quai’s increasingly meteoric rise!
Biggest TVL Movers + Other Interesting Data
Chains are quite green today. Only top 25 chains red on the weekly are Hyperliquid (#9), Polygon (#12), Katana (#13), Berachain (#20), and Linea (#23).
Protocols are quite green today as well. Only top 25 protocols red on the weekly are Spark (#6), Ethena (#8), Sky (#9), Pendle (#14), Curve Finance (#20), Tether Gold (#23), and Lista DAO (#25).
Here’s The Top 12 Fastest-Growing Chains By TVL On The Weekly With At Least $100M TVL (from @DefiLlama):
Here’s The Top 12 Fastest-Growing Protocol By TVL On The Weekly With At Least $100M TVL (from @DefiLlama):
Here’s The Top 10 Dex’s By 7 Day Volume (from @DefiLlama):
New Projects
(note: this includes new projects we find through combing Twitter each day and going through newly launched protocols added by @DefiLlama, limited primarily to new projects that have at least some TVL or are followed by at least some of our mutuals… Disclaimer: these are not pre-vetted by us so make sure to DYOR!)
-Something new called @Axios_finance. Twitter bio states “Fixed-rate, Fixed-duration Lending Protocol powered by @fuel_network”. Followed by 3 of our mutuals. h/t @0xvietnguyen:
-New project called @quickscope_gg. Twitter bio states “Custom trading terminal that rewards users for the alpha they share.” Followed by 12 of our mutuals. h/t @0xvietnguyen:
Top Stablecoin Yields
(note: these are the top Stablecoin Yields, sourced from @DefiLlama (all types, $10M+ TVL only) - note: these lists are just raw data, make sure to always DYOR before interacting with any/all protocols)
Important News And Analysis
-$ETH hovering just over $3000, about 35% below its previous ATH’s just below $5000, h/t @DaanCrypto:
-Jupiter’s new app is generating attention, and Fogo teased an airdrop for January 13th, h/t @TheDeFinvestor:
-MicroStrategy/$MSTR is at a 52 week low, h/t news from @layerggofficial:
-Truflation’s real-time inflation reading currently at 1.93% for US:
-Infinex ICO goes live tomorrow, generating contentious debate, h/t @Tyler_Did_It:
-Telegram continues to be a fascinating dark horse in the crypto and tech worlds as we enter 2026, h/t @patfscott:
-Some good defi protocols to keep an eye on and/or potentially use in 2026, from @belizardd:
-Reminder to stay hypervigilant out there and practice good wallet hygiene friends! Story about wallet drainings is generating discussion, h/t @leviathan_news:
-Coinbase founder Brian Armstrong says “Goal is to make Coinbase the #1 financial app in the world…”, although debate continues on Base’s creator coins and the company’s issues with user security:
-@ryanconnor offered a thread of 2026 predictions, including bullish thoughts on AI, institutional privacy, and Pendle’s Boros product:
-Excellent article of 2026 investment ideas and general life thoughts, from the aforementioned @patfscott:
-New @pahueg interview with crypto/macro gigabrain @ramahluwalia:
-New Jack Farley interview with popular macro commentator Citrini:
-New @Bankless video:
-New roundtable from @Unchained_pod (published yesterday):
-New @coinbureau video on Ethereum (published yesterday):
-Parting wisdom on airdrops and opportunities from @flb_xyz:
Conclusion
Have a great Friday and stay alert out there friends!
And please RT/subscribe/etc if you found this valuable!
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Note
While sentiments in crypto-land are down at the moment, many agree we are entering a veritable defi renaissance under the surface…
And within that nascent renaissance the idea of “vaults” has been generating massive attention! (see example tweets below!)
This is what @RockSolidHQ is focused on, and they are one of the coolest new crypto projects to pop up in recent months!
RockSolid is 100% centered on vaults, and their inaugural RocketPool $rETH vault (the first and official rETH vault with Rocket Pool) helps $rETH holders increase their returns via various professionally curated and resolutely gigabrained defi strategies!
They just crossed 6,000 $rETH in deposits in it and they continue to generate all sorts of excitement within the world of EVM defi!
Deposit into their $rETH vault now by clicking here and start earning yield immediately!
And make sure to follow RockSolid on Twitter for more updates, and stay tuned as we continue banging the drum on everything they are doing going into 2026!
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***Note On Material: The ‘Spotlight’ and ‘Note’ sections are the only parts of The Daily Degen that are sponsored/promotional. Everything else is chosen 100% organically based on what info/stories/etc seem likely to be the most newsworthy/important/valuable to readers.