The first trading week of the new year is expected to be relatively subdued, with crypto markets focused on an Ethereum upgrade, governance votes across several protocols, and a heavy slate of global economic data culminating in the U.S. jobs report.
U.S. nonfarm payrolls for December, due Jan. 9, are forecast to show the economy added 57,000 jobs, with the unemployment rate seen at 4.5%. The release is likely to be the key macro event for risk assets, including cryptocurrencies.
On-chain, Ethereum is set to implement another step in its scaling roadmap, while BNB Chain prepares for a faster block time through a planned hard fork.
Key Crypto Events
- Jan. 7: Ethereum activates its second “Blob Parameter Only” (BPO-2) hard fork, raising the blob target to 14 and the maximum to 21 blobs per block. The change is designed to expand data capacity for rollups as part of the Fusaka scaling roadmap.
- Jan. 8, 11 a.m.: ZBCN hosts an AMA on X titled “Product Roadmap & Tokenomics for 2026.”
Macro Data to Watch
- Jan. 5, 10 a.m. (U.S.): December ISM Manufacturing PMI. Estimate: 48.3.
- Jan. 6, 7 a.m. (Mexico): December Consumer Confidence. Previous: 44.2.
- Jan. 6, 8 a.m. (Brazil): December S&P Global PMI – Services (Previous: 50.1); Composite (Previous: 49.6).
- Jan. 6, 9:30 a.m. (Canada): December S&P Global PMI – Services (Previous: 44.3); Composite (Previous: 44.9).
- Jan. 6, 9:45 a.m. (U.S.): December (Final) S&P Global PMI – Services estimate: 52.9; Composite estimate: 53.
- Jan. 7, 5 a.m. (Eurozone): December (Flash) Consumer Price Inflation. Headline YoY estimate: 2.1%; Headline MoM previous: -0.3%; Core YoY estimate: 2.4%.
- Jan. 7, 8:15 a.m. (U.S.): December ADP Employment Change estimate: 47,000.
- Jan. 7, 10 a.m. (U.S.): December ISM Services PMI estimate: 52.3.
- Jan. 7, 10 a.m. (U.S.): November JOLTS report. Job openings estimate: 7.73 million; job quits previous: 2.941 million.
- Jan. 8, 5 a.m. (Eurozone): November unemployment rate estimate: 6.4%.
- Jan. 8, 5 a.m. (Eurozone): November Producer Price Index. YoY previous: -0.5%; MoM estimate: 0.4%.
- Jan. 8, 7 a.m. (Mexico): December Consumer Price Inflation. Headline YoY estimate: 3.9%; Headline MoM estimate: 0.48; Core YoY estimate: 4.37%; Core MoM estimate: 0.42%.
- Jan. 8, 8:30 a.m. (U.S.): Weekly jobless claims. Initial claims (week ended Jan. 3) estimate: 205,000; continuing claims (week ended Dec. 27) previous: 1.866 million.
- Jan. 9, 7 a.m. (Brazil): December Consumer Price Inflation. Headline YoY estimate: 4.35%; Headline MoM estimate: 0.41%.
- Jan. 9, 8:30 a.m. (Canada): December unemployment rate estimate: 6.7%.
- Jan. 9, 8:30 a.m. (U.S.): December jobs report. Nonfarm payrolls estimate: 57,000; unemployment rate estimate: 4.5%.
- Jan. 9, 10 a.m. (U.S.): December (Preliminary) Michigan Inflation Expectations. Previous: 4.2%.
Governance Votes and Protocol Decisions
- BIM Protocol: Voting on integrating a bridge to Bitcoin and Monero via Quickex to expand cross-chain interoperability. Voting ends Jan. 5.
- SSV Network DAO: Voting on expanding its market-making program, raising the total allocation to 300,000 SSV (about $1.3 million) to secure a 12–18 month agreement with a top-tier market maker for improved liquidity. Voting ends Jan. 6.
- Compound DAO: Voting on topping up reward contracts on Arbitrum and Unichain to maintain user incentives, following a correction to a previous proposal. Voting ends Jan. 6.
- TrueFi DAO: Voting on authorizing a comprehensive protocol rebrand and minting the remaining TRU supply to recapitalize the treasury. Voting ends Jan. 6.
- Aave: Voting on onboarding April 2026 maturity Principal Tokens for Ethena’s USDe and sUSDe to the V3 Plasma Instance. Voting ends Jan. 6.
- BNB Chain: Voting on adjusting five system parameters to align with the upcoming Fermi hard fork and its faster 0.45-second block interval. Voting ends Feb. 2.
Token Unlocks
- Jan. 5 – HYPE: Token priced at $26.18 is set to unlock 3.61% of its circulating supply, worth about $329.6 million.
- Jan. 11 – APT: Token priced at $1.9393 will unlock 0.7% of its circulating supply, worth about $21.5 million.
- Jan. 13 – CHEEL: Token priced at $0.5625 will unlock 2.78% of its circulating supply, worth about $11.67 million.
Token Listings
- Jan. 5: Lighter (LIT) to be listed on BTSE.
- Jan. 6: Brevis (BREV) to be listed on Binance, BingX, and other exchanges.
Conferences
No major crypto conferences were listed for this period.