[비즈한국] This report provides a summary of market trends and the performance of top 100 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization over the past week. We synthesize key information ranging from major coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum to significant altcoin market issues and global policy variables. We aim to make the volatile cryptocurrency market as easy and fun to understand as watching Netflix.
According to CoinMarketCap, a global cryptocurrency market monitoring site, Axie Infinity (AXS) took the top spot with a weekly gain of 144.45% between 7:00 AM on January 16 and 7:00 AM on January 23. The current price of Axie Infinity is 3,806 KRW, with a market capitalization of approximately 640.39 billion KRW. Axie Infinity is a P2E game based on the Ethereum and Ronin networks. It is characterized by its redesigned in-game economic structure, which includes a major tokenomics overhaul—such as the suspension of 'SLP rewards' and the introduction of account-bound reward tokens (bAXS)—alongside preparations for the beta of the MMORPG 'Atia’s Legacy'.
LayerZero (ZRO) ranked second with a weekly gain of 33.29%. The current price of LayerZero is 3,122 KRW, with a market capitalization of 1.0437 trillion KRW. LayerZero is a message-passing infrastructure that connects over 40 chains, and its strength lies in being an 'omnichain' protocol that enables multi-chain asset and message transfers within a single application.
The Sandbox (SAND) came in third with a weekly gain of 33.16%. The current price of The Sandbox is 231 KRW, with a market capitalization of 616.61 billion KRW. The Sandbox is a metaverse gaming platform that combines Ethereum-based virtual land (NFTs) and User Generated Content (UGC), characterized by a structure that allows users to create and monetize games and spaces through tools like the Game Builder and Land Editor.
Sky Protocol (SKY) took fourth place with a weekly gain of 12.68%. The current price of Sky Protocol is 98 KRW, with a market capitalization of 2.2556 trillion KRW. Sky Protocol is an Ethereum-based open finance platform that functions as a kind of 'DeFi bank,' where users can mint the stablecoin USDS using deposited assets as collateral and earn interest or participate in staking centered around USDS and the governance token, SKY.
Quant (QNT) ranked fifth with a weekly gain of 10.06%. The current price of Quant is 117,691 KRW, with a market capitalization of 1.4208 trillion KRW. Quant is classified as an enterprise-level interoperability project, providing institutional infrastructure such as Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) and tokenized deposits by connecting more than 45 blockchains and traditional financial systems through its OS-like interchain solution, 'Overledger OS'.
At the same time, Tether Gold (XAUt) recorded a weekly gain of 7.24%, ranking sixth. PAX Gold (PAXG) ranked seventh with a 7.08% gain, Canton Network (CC) was eighth with 6.86%, Memecore (M) ranked ninth with 5.23%, and MYX Finance (MYX) rounded out the top ten with a 4.40% gain.
Axie Infinity saw its price surge after announcing tokenomics and content restructuring plans on January 7, including the suspension of new 'Smooth Love Potion' (SLP) issuance, the introduction of account-bound bAXS tokens, and preparations for the 'Atia’s Legacy' MMORPG beta test, which triggered a 24-hour trading volume of approximately 380 million USD (560 billion KRW). While short-term volatility risks are high due to a high ratio of leverage trading, analysts suggest that the token economy reset could make it a 'leading ticker in the GameFi resurgence' for 2026.
For LayerZero, the revelation of a scheduled unlock of approximately 25.71 million ZRO tokens on January 20 led to concerns over increased supply, which fueled active short, long, and short positions in the derivatives market. While futures premiums and volatility expanded, spot market volume also increased. Despite the burden of short-term profit-taking, experts suggest that the unlock event was absorbed as a buying signal due to the growing demand for multi-chain infrastructure and expectations for secondary airdrops and ecosystem fund deployments.
The Sandbox recorded double-digit weekly gains as trading volume surged over five times higher than average since mid-January, bolstered by the breakout of technical resistance lines and news regarding the resumption of metaverse builder campaigns and land development calls for entries. Along with the analysis that funds are rotating into the P2E and metaverse sectors during the Bitcoin correction phase, there is an assessment that 'expectations for a mini-metaverse season led by AXS have also been projected onto The Sandbox.'
Experts analyzed this as a selective bull market driven by individual theme events, noting that 'during the Bitcoin correction phase, risk-on capital has polarized toward gaming, memes, and DeFi, while defensive capital has moved toward gold and institutional-grade chains.'
※ This article was written by the generative AI of Bizhankook and MetaVX.