“Sui is benefiting from renewed risk appetite in altcoins, driven by strong ecosystem momentum, rising on-chain activity, and positioning around high-throughput Layer-1s going into 2026,” Shivam Thakral, CEO of Indian exchange BuyUCoin, told Decrypt.
XRP, on the other hand, is surging on “expectations of deeper institutional adoption, improving regulatory clarity, and growing use in cross-border payments,” Thakral added. He highlighted that both altcoins are riding a “mix of narrative strength and post-year-end capital rotation.”
The rotation extends beyond these leaders.
Li explained that AI tokens outperforming can be seen as capital rotating toward assets viewed as more future-facing. “Additionally, Elon Musk’s New Year’s Day praise of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on X helped concentrate attention and capital in AI tokens amid the broader altcoin rally.”
What’s next?Analysts also tempered expectations with a cautious stance.
“As the market enters January, investors should expect elevated volatility driven by portfolio rebalancing and renewed risk appetite following year-end positioning.” Lacie Zhang, market analyst at Bitget Wallet, told Decrypt. “Capital is likely to rotate selectively toward higher-conviction sectors such as DeFi, AI-linked protocols, and blue-chip Layer 1s, rather than broad-based speculation.”
Both Thakral and Zhang highlighted regulatory developments, behavior of exchange-traded funds, and digital asset treasury as key catalysts that could sway this trend.
