We are starting 2026 with the first digest! Even though the Christmas and New Year holidays have shifted our focus, last week, there were really a lot of interesting insights from the world of crypto and blockchain.
The past week’s crypto landscape delivered a mix of mainstream adoption milestones, historical reflections, and important security developments. From Visa expanding crypto card usage to Ethereum hitting a new transaction record, we’ve prepared a full-fledged digest for you!
Before diving into the news break, take a moment to explore how Evercode Lab can support your Web3 ambitions. With our white-label solutions, you can develop and launch your own crypto or Web3 product faster, easier, and with full technical support at every stage: from concept to release.
Visa Expands Crypto Card Spending
Visa reported continued growth in spending via crypto-linked cards, signaling that digital assets are becoming more deeply embedded in everyday payments.
According to the company, users increasingly rely on crypto cards for real-world purchases, converting crypto balances into fiat at the point of sale.
As a result, among the group of crypto-linked cards, EtherFi’s Visa-backed card led by a wide margin, recording $55.4 million in total spending over the year. Cypher followed with $20.5 million, while the remaining cards accounted for smaller but steadily rising volumes.
This trend reflects growing comfort among consumers and merchants with crypto-powered payment infrastructure.
For Visa, crypto cards act as a bridge between blockchain-based assets and traditional retail systems, while for users, they remove friction between holding crypto and actually spending it.
Bitcoin Genesis Block Turns 17
This week marked 17 years since the mining of Bitcoin’s genesis block, the moment that launched the entire crypto industry.
On January 3, 2009, a person or group of people under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto launched the main bitcoin network, mining a genesis block with 50 BTC.
His hash contains the headline of the article “Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks” by the British edition of The Times.
So, yes, we can say that on January 3, 2009, Bitcoin’s first block embedded a message referencing the global financial crisis – a symbolic reminder of the system’s original goal: creating an alternative to centralized finance.
The first transaction took place on January 12, 2009, when Satoshi Nakamoto sent 10 BTC to Hal Finney. Three days before, the Bitcoin 0.1 software version was published.
Nakamoto’s identity and motives for creating Bitcoin are still a mystery that is being tried to solve in the crypto community and beyond.
Seventeen years later, Bitcoin has evolved from an experimental peer-to-peer payment system into a global store of value held by individuals, institutions, and even governments.
The anniversary served as a reminder of how far blockchain technology has come, and how Bitcoin’s core principles of decentralization and censorship resistance continue to shape the broader ecosystem.
ZachXBT Identifies Hacker Behind $2M Crypto Theft
Blockchain investigator ZachXBT revealed the identity of an individual linked to the theft of approximately $2 million in crypto assets, using social engineering methods.
According to the investigation, the alleged perpetrator is a Canadian resident known as Habi, who posed as a Coinbase technical support specialist while frequently changing aliases across social media platforms.
The investigation began with a group chat message dated December 30, 2024, in which the scammer shared a screenshot showing the theft of 21,000 XRP from a Coinbase user.
On January 3, 2025, Habi posted an image of his Exodus wallet that exposed links to his Telegram and Instagram accounts.
ZachXBT cross-referenced the wallet’s transaction history with these images and discovered that the XRP address was connected to the theft of approximately $500,000 from two additional Coinbase customers.
The on-chain detective also managed to identify the fraudster’s Bitcoin address, which the attacker later inadvertently revealed by posting a screenshot of the wallet in another chat.
The case demonstrated how on-chain analysis, transaction tracing, and public blockchain data can be used to uncover sophisticated cybercrime operations.
$3.9M Drained From Unleash Protocol
Following the news about scams. Another security incident made headlines this week after hackers extracted roughly $3.9 million from the Unleash Protocol.
The hacker withdrew the assets, converted them, and transferred them to the Ethereum network. He later sent 1,337.1 ETH to the Tornado Cash cryptocurrency mixer.
The Unleash Protocol team confirmed the hacking. The stolen tokens include WIP, USDC, WETH, stIP and vIP.
The attack reportedly exploited vulnerabilities within the project’s smart contract logic, allowing attackers to drain funds without directly compromising user wallets.
Our simple conclusion – even experienced users can be exposed when smart contracts behave in unexpected ways.
For developers, it reinforces the importance of rigorous testing, audits, and conservative permission models.
Ethereum Hits Record 2.2M Daily Transactions
At the end of 2025, Ethereum reached a new milestone as daily transaction counts surged to a record 2.2 million.
The spike reflects increased on-chain activity driven by Layer-2 networks, DeFi usage, NFT platforms, and growing enterprise adoption.
At the same time, Ethereum transaction costs have fallen to historic lows, averaging around $0.17 per transfer, compared to peak fees of over $200 in 2022.
Consistent protocol upgrades have driven this long-term decline in fees. The transition to Proof-of-Stake and the introduction of fee burning via EIP-1559 significantly improved network efficiency.
More recently, the Pectra and Fusaka upgrades deployed in 2025 further reduced costs: Pectra optimized validator infrastructure and staking flexibility, while Fusaka increased base-layer capacity by roughly 33%, raising the gas limit from 45 million to 60 million per block, allowing Ethereum to process more transactions at lower cost.
This record signals Ethereum’s continued relevance as the backbone of Web3 infrastructure. Despite competition from alternative blockchains, Ethereum’s ecosystem remains the most active and diverse, supported by ongoing scalability upgrades and a mature developer community.
Final Thoughts
To sum it up, this week’s developments show crypto’s dual reality: rapid mainstream adoption alongside persistent security challenges.
As payment giants expand crypto access and blockchain usage hits new highs, the importance of robust infrastructure, transparency, and user education becomes even more critical.
Stay tuned with Evercode Lab for more weekly insights into blockchain trends, and explore how our white-label solutions can help your business innovate and thrive in the fast-moving Web3 ecosystem.