Market Report: Top 5 Cryptocurrency Gainers on January 23, 2026, led by ZRO

Gate News Bot Message, January 23, 2026, according to CoinMarketCap data, the cryptocurrency market continues its recovery trend, with strong performance in the GameFi and cross-chain sectors. The top five cryptocurrencies by 24-hour gain all achieved double-digit growth, and market participation remains high. Below is the performance of the top five gainers in the past 24 hours:

1️⃣ ZRO (LayerZero) 📈 Current Price: $2.17 | Change: +12.19% 📊 24H High/Low: $2.24 / $1.86 | Market Cap: $728 million 💡 Large token unlock (25.71 million ZRO, valued at $44.5 million) usually causes selling pressure, but market confidence remains strong. Meanwhile, LayerZero is suspected to release a major announcement on February 10, fueling market anticipation. Large fund transfers (outflow of 3.3419 million ZRO) reflect active institutional operations.

2️⃣ AXS (Axie Infinity) 📈 Current Price: $2.86 | Change: +8.14% 📊 24H High/Low: $2.93 / $2.40 | Market Cap: $482 million 💡 Uptrend driven by an upgrade to the economic model, the project launched bAXS, an application token that incentivizes players through staking mechanisms to improve token utility. The GameFi sector regained attention in early 2026, with Axie, as a well-established IP leader, becoming a preferred choice for capital inflows, with a cumulative increase of over 200% in January.

3️⃣ SAND (The Sandbox) 📈 Current Price: $0.17 | Change: +8.53% 📊 24H High/Low: $0.17 / $0.15 | Market Cap: $463 million 💡 Bullish trend confirmed, with multiple technical indicators showing price breakout progress. The current price level of $0.15 represents a key support point, reflecting increased market participation and aligning with the overall recovery of the NFT and metaverse sectors.

4️⃣ XDC (XDC Network) 📈 Current Price: $0.42 | Change: +6.38% 📊 24H High/Low: $0.44 / $0.39 | Market Cap: $812 million 💡 Growing demand for enterprise-grade blockchain applications, with XDC Network’s practical deployments in compliant supply chain and corporate financing driving ecosystem value.

5️⃣ ZEC (Zcash) 📈 Current Price: $368.35 | Change: +3.62% 📊 24H High/Low: $371.47 / $353.05 | Market Cap: $6.077 billion 💡 Privacy coin narrative regains attention, with the Zcash Foundation releasing a Rust-based DNS seed generator to enhance network reliability. The Winklevoss brothers donated 3,221 ZEC (about $1.2 million) to support core development, indicating long-term institutional confidence in privacy coins.

📊 Market Summary: The current rally is driven by three major narratives: GameFi, cross-chain interoperability, and privacy protection. The leading gains of LayerZero and Axie Infinity reflect market recognition of ecosystem upgrades and incentive mechanism reforms, while the revival of privacy coins like Zcash indicates a warming privacy demand. It is worth noting that several projects face large token unlocks, and investors should monitor subsequent liquidity releases.

⚠️ This message is not investment advice. Please be aware of market volatility risks when investing. The cryptocurrency market is highly volatile; participate cautiously according to your risk tolerance.