Altcoin Markets in Flux: Cosmos Seeks New Tokenomics, Ripple Abandons IPO Plans

Strategic Shift at Cosmos After Weak Trading Year

After a difficult year in 2025, the Cosmos ecosystem faces a fundamental realignment. Cosmos Labs is seeking external economists to strategically reposition the ATOM token and solve a central problem: while the underlying technology is widely used, ATOM has barely benefited from this so far ^[1].

Going forward, a "revenue-driven model" is intended to ensure that on-chain and off-chain usage generates direct revenue for the ecosystem. Mechanisms such as fees, buybacks, or higher staking yields could thus clearly link ATOM to the economic use of Cosmos for the first time ^[1].

Despite the weak annual performance, ATOM recorded a price increase of 24 percent on a weekly basis ^[1]. The coin is currently trading at $2.422 USD with a market capitalization of approximately $1.18 billion USD ^[1]. From a chart technical perspective, the price is moving above the EMA-20 at $2.3715 USD, with the overall sequence showing higher highs and lows ^[1].

Ripple Labs Remains Private – XRP Under Pressure

While analysts at the end of December still rated Ripple Labs as one of the most promising candidates for a crypto IPO in 2026 with a possible valuation of up to $50 billion USD, company management is now giving such plans a clear rejection ^[3].

"We currently continue to plan to remain private," Monica Long, President of Ripple Labs, told Bloomberg. The usual strategy behind an IPO is access to investors and the liquidity of public markets. However, for Ripple Labs there is no such necessity: "We're in a really good position to invest in the growth of our company without going public" ^[3].

The company recorded strong growth in 2025 and completed several significant acquisitions, including that of the global multi-asset prime broker Hidden Road. With deals worth around $4 billion USD, Ripple is positioning itself as a comprehensive infrastructure provider for digital enterprise assets ^[3].

The XRP price reacted negatively to the IPO rejection and is currently trading at $2.24 USD, representing a decline of 5.7 percent compared to the previous day ^[3]. Additionally, the cryptocurrency is burdened by WisdomTree's withdrawal of its S-1 registration application for a spot ETF ^[3].

Structural Change in User Behavior: From Meme Coins to Yield Strategies

Parallel to developments at individual projects, a fundamental shift in crypto investor behavior is taking place. Vivien Lin, Chief Product Officer (CPO) at the exchange BingX, observes a clear shift: "In a cooling market, retail interest is shifting from trading-heavy products to interest- or yield-generating offerings" ^[2].

This is particularly evident in asset selection. "Many users have traded meme tokens and lost money with them," Lin explains. Investors are now once again focusing on established assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Solana ^[2]. At the same time, interest is growing in high-quality projects with low market capitalization for accumulation or yield strategies ^[2].

BingX is responding to this trend with resource reallocation: "We're deploying more developers and product managers to wealth management products, including funds, new assets, and RWA products," says Lin ^[2]. Real World Assets in particular are complex and require long development processes to create structures understandable for retail users ^[2].

Lin distinguishes between two user groups: crypto-native investors are switching from a trader to a holder mentality and using tools like DCA strategies for automatic accumulation ^[2]. TradFi users, on the other hand, primarily want to exploit the high volatility in the crypto market and rely on structured products like Dual Currency Notes or Grid Bots ^[2].

In the long term, Lin expects a convergence of systems: "From a systems perspective, there will hardly be any differences between crypto and TradFi brokers in five years" ^[2]. The platform is pursuing an "all-in-AI strategy" and combining artificial intelligence with quantitative strategies that currently encompass sixteen strategy types with a total of over fifty variants ^[2].