The peloton keeps climbing.
But this time, the race is starting to change shape.
After several weeks dominated by a handful of clear leaders, some gaps are beginning to stabilize while others are opening up brutally. Volatility is still everywhere, but the market increasingly feels like it is entering a more selective phase: projects capable of maintaining structural momentum are starting to separate themselves from simple technical rebounds.
And in the middle of this uneven climb, Bitcoin no longer holds the same absolute dominance it had at the beginning of the year.
That does not mean the market has turned bullish again.
It simply means that a few riders are starting to breathe again.
CAT 1 — AKT Remains Untouchable
AKT continues to dominate this 2026 edition of the Crypto Race by a wide margin.
Even after several more volatile weeks, the project still maintains a massive lead over the rest of the group with nearly +87% YTD with staking. The momentum remains impressive, especially in an environment where most assets still struggle to rebuild a sustainable trend.
Behind it, the battle becomes far more interesting.
TAO remains solid. The project continues to outperform Bitcoin across much of the year, even if recent selling pressure reduced part of its lead. Despite that slowdown, TAO remains one of the few assets still capable of maintaining a genuinely constructive trajectory in the current market structure.
But the real surprise of this checkpoint probably comes from OSMO.
After spending months under pressure, the asset has delivered a strong enough rebound to move back ahead of several competitors in the category. It is not a full recovery yet, but the move is a reminder that fragmented markets can quickly reshuffle positions when liquidity starts returning locally.
Bitcoin itself remains remarkably stable relative to the broader context. The benchmark has slipped slightly back into negative territory YTD, but it still acts as the market’s true metronome. Many assets remain unable to match its pace despite several attempted recoveries.
ETH and AVAX continue to struggle in that environment.
Both assets remain clearly under pressure and still fail to rebuild lasting momentum. Short-term rebounds exist, but they remain insufficient to reverse the broader trend.
ATOM and ALGO perfectly illustrate the role staking plays in this 2026 edition.
Yield does not magically transform weak performance into victory. But it progressively reduces erosion, softens difficult periods, and slowly improves the long-term position of staked portfolios.
In a market lacking clear direction, that effect is becoming increasingly visible.
CAT 2 — A Survival Race
The second category remains far more brutal.
Here, most assets are still evolving under heavy pressure, with increasingly violent gaps between projects capable of maintaining relative stability… and those that are completely falling apart.
NLS clearly remains the leader of the group.
The project continues to show the strongest overall resilience in the category and is now almost back to breakeven with staking included. In such a difficult environment, that kind of stability becomes a performance in itself.
GNO also continues to confirm its strength.
Without delivering explosive upside, the asset remains relatively stable compared to the rest of the field and has preserved a significant portion of its value despite market turbulence.
Behind them, the situation remains far more complicated.
CTK, FLUX, and BAND remain deeply negative on the year, although staking plays a much more visible role here. Yield significantly reduces losses and clearly improves final results compared to non-staked portfolios.
But once again, staking does not replace fundamentals.
It supports projects capable of surviving long enough to benefit from long-term accumulation.
LAVA unfortunately represents the opposite side of that equation.
The asset remains the category’s major collapse with losses above -80% on the year. Even yield can no longer compensate for the scale of the decline. At that point, the race becomes more about capital preservation than actual performance.
What This Race Really Shows
This 2026 edition is progressively becoming a selection race.
The market appears increasingly less interested in generic narratives and is starting to reward projects capable of maintaining:
- real activity,
- visible utility,
- functional infrastructure,
- or an economy strong enough to absorb difficult periods.
Staking plays an important role in this dynamic.
Not as a magical solution.
But rather as a slow accumulation mechanism capable of softening cycles, especially during long periods of stagnation or decline.
That difference is becoming particularly visible across several Cosmos assets where staked portfolios are gradually reducing the gap against Bitcoin despite sometimes negative raw performances.
Market fragmentation, however, remains enormous.
A small number of assets still concentrate most of the performance while a large part of the peloton is simply trying to survive the climb.
And in this type of race, preserving energy sometimes becomes just as important as taking the lead.
Final Results — CAT 1
Without Staking
| Asset | Performance |
|---|---|
| AKT | +80.0% |
| OSMO | +18.8% |
| TAO | +14.6% |
| BTC | -12.3% |
| ATOM | -10.4% |
| ALGO | -11.9% |
| ETH | -29.0% |
| AVAX | -31.0% |
With Staking
| Asset | Performance |
|---|---|
| AKT | +87.3% |
| OSMO | +20.9% |
| TAO | +16.5% |
| BTC | -12.0% |
| ATOM | -5.4% |
| ALGO | -10.1% |
| ETH | -28.2% |
| AVAX | -29.7% |
Final Results — CAT 2
Without Staking
| Asset | Performance |
|---|---|
| NLS | -1.4% |
| GNO | -7.5% |
| FLUX | -29.8% |
| CTK | -30.6% |
| BAND | -37.7% |
| LAVA | -83.1% |
With Staking
| Asset | Performance |
|---|---|
| NLS | +0.0% |
| GNO | -5.8% |
| FLUX | -24.8% |
| CTK | -21.8% |
| BAND | -33.0% |
| LAVA | -82.9% |
Methodology
- Initial portfolio: 1000 USD per asset
- YTD tracking since January 1st, 2026
- Daily compounded staking simulation
- Bitcoin used as benchmark reference
- Relative alpha calculated against BTC performance
- Historical AKT prices originally denominated in EUR were normalized into USD on earlier datasets when required
