Active Solana Addresses Spike, More Traders Take Bitcoin.

Activity on major altcoin networks, namely Solana and Ethereum, saw major events in January. Daily active addresses on Solana increased by 5 million consecutively in the second half of the month.

In terms of daily active addresses, Ethereum passed the major layer 2 in December after a major upgrade to the network. In January, the network saw a 25% increase in daily active addresses amid efforts from developers to “future-proof” Ethereum.

Seven Bitcoin (BTC) miners in the U.S. are in a hurricane zone and may need to temporarily curtail their mining operations as a winter storm shakes out power lines and leaves thousands without power.

Global investors are wary of geopolitical concerns, namely US President Donald Trump's ambitions to acquire Greenland. The price of Bitcoin dropped 10% from $97,000 in a month.

Here is January in numbers:

Active Solana addresses will increase by about 115% in the token launch event

As of January 28, Solana's network showed a monthly increase of 115% in daily addresses. According to Nansen data, the total number of these addresses regularly reached 5 million.

The increase is the result of renewed momentum in memecoin following the launch of Anthroponic Cloud CoWork, an AI agent that can control a user's desktop. This allowed developers using Solana-based token wallets to convert token launchers to overdrive.

Payments on the platform increased to $4.5 million on January 16. For context, from September to December of last year, daily payouts ranged from five figures to several hundred dollars less.

During this same period, the number of tokens “graduated” or launched from wallets reached Pump.fun, another popular Solana token launch platform.

Active Ethereum addresses increased by 25%

Activity on the Ethereum network has also seen a significant increase. In late December, it surpassed popular L2s Base and Arbitrum in terms of daily active addresses. In January, the same measure increased by 25%.

The increase in activity follows some important improvements to the network, which have increased blob sizes and therefore reduced fees. On January 29, the average fees in Ethereum were less than $0.01.

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These improvements were part of the effort to complete work on Ethereum. On January 12, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin said that Ethereum must finally pass the “walk test”. Ethereum's real challenge is to continue to operate and meet the needs of users without developers actively changing and monitoring the network.

Seven US Bitcoin Miners Face Ban During Winter Storm

Seven bitcoin mining operations in the United States could slow operations as winter storms strain the US power grid in the Southeast and South Central regions.

According to Matthew Siegel, head of digital resources research at VanEck, mining sites operated by Riot, Core Scientific, CleanSpark, and BitDeer are “structurally configured to operate as dynamic loads through utility demand response programs.”

“We don't yet have confirmation of real-time limits for this storm, but the model has already confirmed its value as conditions strengthen.”

The storm, which battered parts of the Midwest and Northeast, saw canceled flights, dangerous travel conditions and power outages, and killed at least 20 people as of January 27.

Southern states, generally unaccustomed to snow and lacking the critical infrastructure to deal with winter conditions, are worst affected. As of January 28, nearly 400,000 people were without power in Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.

Many Bitcoin miners have set up in places where they can stabilize grid prices, buying power cheaply when there is no demand and turning it off temporarily during times of stress.

Four in 10 Merchants in America Accept Crypto: PayPal Report

Crypto is becoming more popular for payments, according to major payment processor PayPal. Four out of 10 merchants in the United States now accept crypto, the company said in a January report. According to PayPal's research, crypto offers faster transaction speeds and greater privacy and attracts crypto-savvy customers.

“What we're seeing through this data and our conversations with our customers is that crypto payments are moving beyond experimentation and into everyday business,” said May Zabaneh, PayPal's vice president and general manager.

84% of the same traders believe that crypto payments will become mainstream in the next five years.

Bitcoin price is static amid Greenland fiasco.

Bitcoin price made a brief rise to $100,000 in the middle of this month before falling to $87,000. The drop of more than 10 percent comes amid discussions about what might happen to Greenland, which is itself a Danish territory.

Trump says the US needs to control Greenland for security reasons and to counter China and Russia's ambitions in the Arctic Ocean. This is despite the fact that Denmark and the US are part of NATO, an organization formed to oppose similar objectives.

While the temper has cooled, Bitcoin's saber-rattling effect with global markets in general shows that BTC is a risky asset.

Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at investment and trading platform IG, said: “Cryptocurrencies have not given way to a wave of selling that washed out of global markets in response to Trump's threats.”

Some analysts say Trump's mercurial foreign policy, increasing sanctions, unilateral tariffs and hostile talks with former allies, has put pressure on Bitcoin's price.

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