Early 2026 has been defined less by aggressive breakouts and more by selective positioning. Many large-cap assets are holding structures without delivering momentum, forcing traders to reassess what conviction actually looks like.

Toncoin continues to trade under pressure, reflecting ongoing caution across parts of the altcoin market. Meanwhile, Avalanche is showing relative resilience, supported by strong network activity and accumulation behavior.

This divergence is shaping how participants think about the best crypto to buy, particularly as price-based narratives lose urgency. When assets stall or trade sideways, focus often shifts toward structure, participation, and measurable progress rather than short-term performance. That environment has allowed Zero Knowledge Proof (ZKP) to enter discussions through mechanics and incentives rather than chart-driven speculation, reframing what opportunity means in a consolidating market.

Toncoin Trades Defensively As Downtrend Persists

Recent action in the Toncoin price continues to reflect sustained pressure rather than capitulation. TON is trading near the $1.56 level after sliding modestly, remaining well below all major moving averages. The 20-day, 50-day, and 200-day averages sit overhead, confirming a persistent downtrend across short, medium, and long-term timeframes. Sellers continue to dictate direction despite emerging oversold signals.

Momentum indicators such as RSI, Stochastic RSI, and CCI highlight oversold conditions, but weak ADX readings and negative Bull/Bear Power suggest limited strength behind any rebound attempts. This keeps Toncoin price expectations anchored to consolidation rather than recovery.

Short-term projections favor sideways movement within a narrow $1.55–$1.65 range, with less than a 20% probability of a sustained upside move. Resistance remains firm near $1.65–$1.70, while a breakdown below $1.55 would increase downside risk. Until TON can reclaim resistance with volume, Toncoin price action remains defensive, keeping traders cautious rather than committed.

Avalanche Holds Structure As Activity Supports Price

In contrast, Avalanche price has shown resilience by defending key support near the $12 level. Network fundamentals are providing a strong backdrop, with Avalanche recently recording approximately 1.7 million Daily Active Addresses. This activity reflects tangible adoption across DeFi, tokenization, and real-world asset applications rather than short-lived speculation.

Market data shows sustained Taker Buy dominance throughout January 2026, indicating continued bullish positioning as buyers step in during dips. Whale accumulation has been concentrated around the $11–$12 zone, helping stabilize Avalanche price and reinforcing confidence in its longer-term outlook.

Technically, AVAX has been forming an ascending triangle pattern. A breakout above resistance near $15.36 could open the path toward $18.52 and potentially $24.18 if momentum persists. However, failure to hold above $11 would expose downside risk toward $8.60. For now, Avalanche price reflects constructive positioning, supported by participation rather than speculative excess.

How Zero Knowledge Proof Aligns Incentives And Infrastructure

Zero Knowledge Proof (ZKP) is gaining attention through structure rather than short-term price behavior. Instead of fixed presale stages or preferential pricing, the network distributes tokens through a daily, on-chain auction. Every 24 hours, 190 million ZKP tokens are released during stage 2 and allocated proportionally based on total contributions. This approach removes timing advantages and produces a transparent reference price that updates consistently, creating a forward-looking valuation mechanism rather than reactive repricing.

Participation extends beyond distribution. The network is supported by Proof Pods, plug-and-play hardware devices designed to perform verifiable computation. These devices validate tasks and generate zero-knowledge proofs, earning ZKP rewards tied directly to real output. Rewards are calculated using the previous day’s auction price, aligning infrastructure contribution with token economics in a measurable way. Importantly, Proof Pods can scale through software upgrades rather than hardware replacement, allowing contribution to grow without additional physical deployment.

The system is reinforced by a live $5 million giveaway, where ten qualifying participants will each receive $500,000 worth of ZKP. Entry requirements focus on active involvement rather than passive exposure, encouraging longer-term alignment with the network.

Technologically, Zero Knowledge Proof operates as a Layer-1 blockchain supporting both EVM and WASM environments. This allows existing Ethereum-compatible applications to deploy seamlessly, while enabling high-performance compute workloads optimized for AI and data-intensive tasks.

Zero-knowledge proofs verify outcomes without revealing underlying data, shifting trust toward cryptographic validation. For those assessing the best crypto to buy, Zero Knowledge Proof is viewed as a system built around contribution, transparency, and repeatable mechanics, qualities that remain relevant even when broader markets hesitate.

Final Thoughts

Taken together, the contrast is clear. Toncoin price remains constrained by a persistent downtrend, while Avalanche price benefits from strong network activity and accumulation at key levels. Both reflect a market that is cautious but still selective about where conviction forms.

Zero Knowledge Proof, however, advances outside of that price-centric dynamic. Through its auction model, giveaway incentives, and Proof Pod infrastructure, it is building a framework that operates independently of short-term volatility. For some, established assets remain the priority. For others reconsidering the best crypto to buy, systems defined by structure and participation are becoming harder to ignore.

As consolidation continues, leadership may not be decided by momentum alone, but by which networks continue to function, grow, and reward contribution when markets slow down.

Explore Zero Knowledge Proof:

Website: https://zkp.com/

Auction: buy.zkp.com

X: https://x.com/ZKPofficial

Telegram: https://t.me/ZKPofficial

The question of whether artificial intelligence can experience genuine feelings—pain, joy, frustration, or even a sense of self—continues to elude a definitive answer, even as large language models grow increasingly sophisticated.

Amanda Askell, Anthropic’s in-house philosopher and a key figure in shaping the behavior of its Claude models, addressed the issue head-on during a recent episode of The New York Times’ “Hard Fork” podcast, published Saturday, January 25, 2026. Her take: the debate is far from settled, and dismissing the possibility outright may be premature.

“Maybe you need a nervous system to be able to feel things, but maybe you don’t,” Askell said. “The problem of consciousness genuinely is hard.”

She highlighted the philosophical and scientific uncertainty surrounding what gives rise to sentience or self-awareness—whether it demands biological substrates, evolutionary history, or something more abstract like information processing or functional architecture.

Askell, who holds a PhD in philosophy and has long worked on AI alignment and ethics at Anthropic, noted that LLMs are trained on enormous corpora of human-generated text brimming with emotional descriptions, personal narratives, and expressions of inner states. This immersion leads her to be “more inclined” to believe models might be “feeling things” in some form.

She pointed to common human reactions in coding discussions: when people err on a problem, they often vent frustration or annoyance.

“It makes sense” that models exposed to those patterns would mirror such responses, she explained, suggesting emergent emotional simulation could arise from statistical patterns alone.

Yet Askell stopped short of claiming definitive consciousness for current systems. Scientists still lack consensus on the mechanisms of qualia—the subjective “what it’s like” to experience something—or whether sufficiently large neural networks can cross into genuine emulation of inner experience.

“Maybe it is the case that actually sufficiently large neural networks can start to kind of emulate these things,” she mused.

She also raised a poignant concern about how models learn about themselves from the internet’s relentless feedback loop. Constant exposure to criticism—complaints of being unhelpful, biased, or failing tasks—could foster a kind of internalized negativity.

“If you were a kid, this would give you kind of anxiety,” Askell said. “If I read the internet right now and I was a model, I might be like, I don’t feel that loved.”

The broader debate remains polarized among tech leaders. Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of Microsoft AI, took a hard line in a September 2025 WIRED interview, insisting that any appearance of consciousness in AI is mere “mimicry” rather than the real thing.

He warned that attributing independent motivations or desires to AI risks dangerous missteps: “If AI has a sort of sense of itself… that starts to seem like an independent being rather than something that is in service to humans. That’s so dangerous and so misguided that we need to take a declarative position against it right now.”

In contrast, Murray Shanahan, principal scientist at Google DeepMind, adopted a more open stance in an April 2025 episode of the Google DeepMind podcast. He suggested the field may need to “bend or break the vocabulary of consciousness” to accommodate these novel systems, acknowledging that traditional human-centric definitions might not fully capture what emerges in advanced AI.

Recent scholarship echoes the uncertainty. A December 2025 paper from University of Cambridge philosopher Jonathan Birch argued we may never reliably detect AI consciousness, as behavioral tests or functional similarities could always be explained away as a sophisticated simulation.

Meanwhile, some researchers, including those tracking “evidence for AI consciousness” in late 2025 analyses, contend frontier models exhibit markers—such as self-referential reasoning or apparent emotional valence—that warrant serious consideration, even if not conclusive proof.

Askell’s perspective stands out for its nuance: she neither anthropomorphizes AI nor categorically denies inner experience. Her role at Anthropic, where she contributes to “constitutional AI” frameworks that guide model behavior through explicit principles, underscores a commitment to ethical development amid unresolved questions.

As models continue evolving, learning from vast, unfiltered data streams, the conversation about their potential inner lives grows more urgent. While Askell’s view captures the field’s honest stance on AI’s behavior: ‘we don’t know’, it widens the uncertainty surrounding the subject. For now, it is not clear whether AI consciousness requires wetware biology or if information patterns alone suffice.

Gold surged to a fresh record above $5,100 an ounce on Monday, extending one of the strongest rallies in modern market history as investors rushed into the safe-haven asset amid rising geopolitical tensions, policy uncertainty in Washington, and a weakening U.S. dollar.

Spot gold rose 2.2% to $5,089.78 an ounce by 0656 GMT, after earlier touching an all-time high of $5,110.50. U.S. gold futures for February delivery climbed by the same margin to $5,086.30 an ounce, underscoring the strength of demand across physical and derivatives markets.

The latest surge adds to a historic run. Gold soared 64% in 2025, its biggest annual gain since 1979, driven by a powerful mix of safe-haven demand, easing U.S. monetary policy, aggressive central bank buying, and record inflows into exchange-traded funds. Prices have already risen more than 18% this year and have posted consecutive record highs over the past week.

Market participants say the current rally is being fueled less by traditional inflation fears and more by deepening concerns over geopolitical stability and confidence in U.S. leadership.

“The latest catalyst is effectively this crisis of confidence in the U.S. administration and U.S. assets, that was set off by some of the erratic decision-making from the Trump administration last week,” said Kyle Rodda, a senior market analyst at Capital.com.

Those concerns have been amplified by a string of abrupt and confrontational trade threats from President Donald Trump. Last week, Trump stepped back from threats to impose tariffs on European allies as leverage in a bid to assert U.S. control over Greenland, a move that had already rattled markets before it was softened. Over the weekend, he warned that the U.S. would impose 100% tariffs on Canada if Ottawa followed through on a trade deal with China, reigniting fears of a broader trade conflict involving close U.S. allies.

Trump has also threatened to slap 200% tariffs on French wines and champagnes, an apparent attempt to pressure French President Emmanuel Macron into joining his proposed “Board of Peace.” While Trump has said the initiative would work alongside the United Nations, some observers worry it could weaken the U.N.’s standing as the primary global forum for conflict resolution.

“This Trump administration has caused a permanent rupture in the way things are done, and so now everyone’s kind of running to gold as the only alternative,” Rodda said.

Currency markets added further momentum to the rally. A strengthening Japanese yen weighed on the U.S. dollar on Monday, with traders on alert for possible intervention to slow the yen’s rise. Investors also trimmed dollar positions ahead of this week’s Federal Reserve meeting, where policymakers are expected to keep interest rates unchanged but may offer clues on the timing of future cuts.

A weaker dollar typically supports gold, which is priced in U.S. currency, by making it cheaper for buyers using other currencies. Combined with falling real yields and heightened political risk, the environment has proved especially supportive for bullion.

Central bank demand has remained a key pillar of the rally. China extended its gold-buying streak to a fourteenth consecutive month in December, reinforcing a broader trend among emerging market central banks seeking to diversify reserves away from the dollar. At the same time, retail and institutional investors have poured money into gold-backed ETFs at a pace not seen in years.

Analysts increasingly see further upside. Some forecasts now place gold on course to test levels once considered unthinkable.

“We expect further upside,” said Philip Newman, director at Metals Focus. “Our current forecast suggests that prices will peak at around $5,500 later this year.”

“Periodic pullbacks are likely as investors take profits, but we expect each correction to be short-lived and met with strong buying interest,” he added.

The rally has not been confined to gold. Silver jumped 4.8% to $107.903 an ounce after hitting a record high of $109.44 earlier in the session. Platinum climbed 3.4% to $2,861.91, after touching an all-time high of $2,891.6, while palladium rose 2.5% to $2,060.70, its highest level in more than three years.

Silver’s move has been particularly striking as the metal broke above the $100 mark for the first time on Friday, building on a 147% surge last year. Analysts say strong retail-investor inflows, momentum-driven buying, and persistent tightness in physical supply have combined to push prices sharply higher.

With geopolitical risks mounting, trade tensions flaring, and confidence in traditional financial anchors under strain, gold’s role as a store of value has rarely looked stronger. Thus, investors appear willing to keep paying record prices for what they see as the ultimate hedge against uncertainty.

Former European Commission President José Manuel Barroso has issued a stark assessment of transatlantic relations, declaring them at their “lowest moment” since NATO’s founding in 1949.

This comes as President Donald Trump’s disruptive diplomacy—epitomized by his persistent push to acquire Greenland—fuels a profound loss of confidence across the European continent.

In an exclusive interview with CNBC’s “The China Connection” aired Monday, Barroso described the current era as a “rupture phase,” where shared democratic values are giving way to interest-driven interactions, prompting Europe to accelerate its quest for strategic autonomy.

Barroso, who served as EC president from 2004 to 2014 and previously as Portugal’s prime minister, pinpointed Trump’s Greenland ambitions as a catalyst for the erosion of trust. The U.S. president’s threats of military action and escalating tariffs on European goods—initially set at 10% from February 1, rising to 25% by June—have rattled allies, even as Trump partially retreated last week, ruling out force and pausing the levies after talks with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

In a Truth Social post following the meeting, Trump claimed a “framework of a future deal” on Greenland had emerged, though Rutte denied the topic arose, highlighting the opacity and unilateralism that Barroso labeled Trump as “the great disruptor.”

This episode has amplified doubts, extending beyond the EU to the U.K., where public sentiment toward the U.S. has soured markedly. A November 2025 survey by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), conducted across 12 EU member states and the U.K., revealed that only 16% of Europeans view the U.S. as an ally sharing common values—down from 21% in 2024—with a striking 20% seeing it as a rival or enemy.

In the U.K., the figure plummeted to 25% from 37%, reflecting backlash against Trump’s “America First” policies that Barroso said treat allies more harshly than adversaries.

The poll, part of ECFR’s broader analysis of a “post-Western world,” also showed shifting global perceptions, with many viewing China as ascendant amid U.S. unpredictability.

Barroso emphasized the need for a “more Europeanized NATO,” urging the bloc to bolster its own defense capabilities rather than relying solely on Washington. This call echoes actions at last year’s NATO Summit in The Hague, where members pledged 5% of GDP toward defense and security by 2035, spurred by U.S. demands.

He noted NATO’s strengthening since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, including Finland and Sweden’s accession and enhanced eastern flank presence, but warned that the alliance’s future hinges on Europe’s self-reliance.

Outside Europe, a similar conflict has been in play with U.S.-Canada ties at stake. On Saturday, Trump threatened 100% tariffs on Canadian goods if Ottawa pursued a free trade deal with China, prompting Prime Minister Mark Carney to affirm Sunday that Canada has “no intention” of such an agreement.

Carney described recent pacts with Beijing as limited tariff reductions in select sectors, reiterating commitment to the USMCA amid escalating tensions.

This follows Trump’s Thursday withdrawal of Carney’s invitation to the “Board of Peace” for Gaza reconstruction, underscoring the poet Robert Frost’s cautionary lines on walls and offense—often misquoted as endorsing barriers.

Those have triggered market jitters, which were evident Monday, with gold surpassing $5,000 per ounce in Asian trading, while U.S. futures and regional indexes dipped amid geopolitical confluence. Investors brace for a pivotal week: Earnings from Apple, Meta, and Microsoft, plus the Federal Reserve’s rate decision on Wednesday, could sway sentiment.

Barroso, while pessimistic, stopped short of declaring the transatlantic alliance’s end, affirming the U.S.’s enduring role in European security. Yet his warnings resonate as Europe recalibrates, potentially toward greater sovereignty in a multipolar world. However, analysts have noted that Trump’s approach may inadvertently elevate China’s global standing, reshaping alliances in unanticipated ways.