1. Ethereum smart contract deployments hit a record high of 8.7 million in Q4.
Crypto analyst Joseph Young points out that Ethereum's smart contract deployments hit a record high of 8.7 million in Q4, and this trend has continued for several consecutive quarters, making it difficult to "artificially exaggerate" and reflecting more of a genuine expansion of the ecosystem. Driving factors include Layer 2 network expansion, RWA issuance, stablecoin adoption, and the development of wallet and intents infrastructure.
2. Coinbase Institutional: Perpetual contract trading volume is rising, evolving towards core DeFi financial primitives.
According to Coinbase Institutional's "2026 Crypto Market Outlook," the trading volume of crypto derivatives expanded significantly in 2025, with decentralized platforms (DEXs) being the main driving force. Monthly trading volume of DEX perpetual contracts exceeded $1.2 trillion, with Hyperliquid still holding a large market share. Amidst a sluggish Altcoin spot market, some funds shifted to high-leverage perpetual contracts, with purely speculative exposure reaching nearly 10% at one point in the year, before declining after the October liquidation event. Simultaneously, perpetual contracts are evolving from a single trading instrument into a composable underlying financial primitive within DeFi, gradually integrating with lending protocols and extending to equity-type perpetual contracts, becoming an important derivative form connecting the crypto market and traditional assets.
3. Dragonfly partner Haseeb Qureshi releases 2026 crypto and AI trend predictions.
He predicts Bitcoin may break $150,000 by the end of the year, but its dominance will decline; Ethereum and Solana will continue to perform strongly, while many "Fintech public chains" will underperform expectations; at least one Big Tech will launch or acquire a crypto wallet, more Fortune 100 companies will launch blockchains, and Avalanche and the OP ecosystem may benefit. Regarding DeFi, he predicts perpetual DEXs will consolidate into about three leading platforms, with perpetual stock trading potentially accounting for over 20%, and DeFi insider trading scandals are possible. For stablecoins, total supply may increase by 60%, USDT's share will decrease to about 55%, and stablecoin bank card business may grow by 1000%. On the regulatory front, he expects the Clarity Act to pass in 2026; predicts the market will continue its strong expansion; and AI will be increasingly applied to development and security, with the number of security incidents potentially increasing but individual losses decreasing.
4. Delphi Digital: GameFi performed poorly in 2025, with funding declining by over 55% year-on-year.
Delphi Digital published an article stating that GameFi performed poorly in 2025, with funding declining by over 55% year-on-year. Many highly anticipated projects launched underperformed expectations, and market enthusiasm waned. However, they believe the industry's decline is not one-sided: a new type of "Web 2.5 game" is emerging—treating blockchain as underlying infrastructure and even choosing not to issue tokens, competing based on real revenue generation capabilities. Some native Web3 games achieved six- to seven-figure revenues this year, but player numbers remain small and bots are prevalent, leading to retention pressure as incentives diminish. Furthermore, they predict that stablecoin adoption will further drive this trend, making nanosecond-level micro-payments, global payment networks, and participation-based reward distribution easier to implement.
5. SlowMist: In 2025, approximately 200 blockchain security incidents occurred, resulting in losses of approximately $2.935 billion.
SlowMist released its "2025 Blockchain Security and Anti-Money Laundering Annual Report." The report shows that approximately 200 blockchain security incidents occurred throughout 2025, resulting in losses of approximately $2.935 billion. Compared to 2024, the number of incidents decreased, but the amount of loss increased by approximately 46%. In terms of ecosystem distribution, Ethereum suffered the largest loss at approximately $254 million, followed by BSC at approximately $21.93 million and Solana at approximately $17.45 million. By sector, DeFi projects experienced 126 incidents, accounting for approximately 63% of all incidents, with losses of approximately $649 million; trading platforms experienced only 12 incidents, but suffered losses of a staggering $1.809 billion, with Bybit suffering the most severe loss of approximately $1.46 billion in a single incident. The report also indicates that North Korean-related hacking groups stole at least $2.837 billion in crypto assets between January 2024 and September 2025.
6. Russia plans to criminalize illegal cryptocurrency mining, with a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison.
The Russian Ministry of Justice has proposed penalties for illegal cryptocurrency mining, including fines of up to 1.5 million rubles or up to two years of forced labor; if the profits are exceptionally large, or if the activity is carried out by an organized group, the maximum penalty could be five years imprisonment. These sanctions are included in amendments to the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure, which have been published on the Russian legal drafting portal.
