Letter from the Editor — January 2026

Dear iEthereans,

January has a way of reminding us how little control we really have — over weather, over politics, sometimes even over the stories that seem to write themselves around us.

This month opened with literal storms. A massive winter system rolled across North America, cutting power to homes, grounding flights, and reminding millions that modern life still depends on very physical, very fragile infrastructure. When the grid goes down, the cloud suddenly feels less abstract. We are brought back to basics: heat, light, movement, connection.

At the same time, political storms brewed of a different kind. Budget standoffs raised the specter of a government shutdown. Immigration protests flared, not just as policy disputes, but as deeply human conflicts about borders, belonging, and the role of state power. Across the ocean, ceasefires wavered, protests persisted, and migration routes once again proved deadly. In Italy, in Indonesia, in Kenya, in the Philippines — buildings fell, land shifted, ships sank. The physical world made its presence known in the harshest ways.

It would be easy to see all of this as chaos. But there is another way to look at January: as a month that reveals the underlying systems we usually take for granted.

When flights are canceled, we suddenly see the complexity of global logistics. When power fails, we notice the invisible web of energy networks. When governments stall, we are reminded that political order is not automatic — it is maintained, negotiated, and sometimes strained to its limits.

Moments like these are uncomfortable, but they are clarifying. They show us which systems bend, which break, and which quietly keep functioning in the background.

That’s where I find myself thinking about iEthereum.

Not as a headline. Not as hype. But as a metaphor for a different kind of infrastructure — one that lives in the digital layer rather than the physical or political one.

A winter storm can knock down power lines. A budget fight can freeze agencies. A border can close. But math doesn’t protest, and code doesn’t go on strike. A neutral, fixed, decentralized ledger doesn’t depend on a single building, a single office, or a single authority figure to keep existing. It simply continues — block after block, transaction after transaction — as long as there are people somewhere in the world choosing to participate.

That doesn’t make it magical. It doesn’t solve human conflict or prevent tragedy. But it does represent a different design philosophy: build systems that do not rely on constant discretion, constant permission, or constant political alignment to function.

In January, we saw how often the traditional levers of control are pulled — emergency powers discussed, funding battles waged, borders tightened or contested. These are all signs of systems under stress. And stress, in engineering or in society, reveals design assumptions. Who has the authority? Who can say “yes”? Who can say “no”? Who gets left waiting?

A neutral digital commodity like iEthereum sits in a strange but important place in that landscape. It is not a government program. It is not a corporate promise. It is not a physical resource that can be seized, redirected, or destroyed. It is simply a shared accounting system — scarce, fixed, and open to anyone with an internet connection and the willingness to learn how to use it.

In a month filled with debates over who belongs where, and who controls what, there is something quietly radical about a system that asks only one question: Can you follow the rules of the protocol? If yes, you can participate. No passport. No committee vote. No shutdown.

Meanwhile, culture rolls on. The Oscar nominations arrived, and with them the annual ritual of storytelling about storytelling. We gather around films because narratives help us make sense of complexity. They give us heroes, villains, arcs, and endings.

But real life rarely follows a screenplay. Systems evolve slowly. Pressures build gradually. Turning points are only obvious in hindsight.

This month also gave us a cosmic reminder of perspective: Jupiter at opposition, shining at its brightest in our night sky. A planet hundreds of millions of miles away, visible to the naked eye, simply because of alignment. Nothing about Jupiter changed — only our position relative to it.

I sometimes think about iEthereum the same way. The protocol doesn’t wake up and decide to be important. It doesn’t run ads or hold press conferences. It just exists, quietly, persistently. Its “brightness” depends on alignment — on whether the world’s needs begin to line up with what it already is: neutral, fixed, and independent of any single issuer.

Behind the scenes this month, something else was taking shape — quieter than the headlines, but built for the same kind of world those headlines reveal. We published the January edition of the iEthereum Digital Commodity Index, and with it marked a major step in transforming the DCI into a fully licensed, institutional-grade research product. While the news cycle shows us disorder — storms, shutdown threats, protests, conflict — the DCI is about the opposite: disciplined measurement, continuity, and a stable frame of reference. It exists so institutions can observe, compare, and understand iEthereum not through noise or narrative, but through structured, repeatable data. Here in The Block, we zoom out and use metaphor. The DCI, by contrast, is built to be a compass — something steady in a month that reminded everyone how unsteady the world can feel. Which brings us back to the bigger question:

What kinds of systems are we building for the world we actually live in — not the one we wish we had?

January didn’t give us easy answers. It rarely does. But it did offer clarity. It showed us fragility in some places, resilience in others, and the growing importance of infrastructure that doesn’t depend on perfect political weather.

As always, thank you for reading, thinking, and exploring these ideas with me. The world is noisy. The signals are subtle. But together, month by month, we keep learning how to tell the difference.

Until next time,
Knive Spiel
iEthereum Advocacy Trust

With that context established, the following provides a public-facing summary of the key observations from the January 2026 iEthereum Digital Commodity Index.

Note for Readers
This public summary provides general observations for a broad audience. The January 2026 iEthereum Digital Commodity Index (DCI) Report has now been published as a licensed institutional research product, presenting formal measurement and data intended for independent analysis by professional readers.

January marked a defining milestone in the evolution of the iEthereum Digital Commodity Index. What began as an independent observational effort has now formally transitioned into a structured, institutional research index. This month’s report reflects that shift — with expanded datasets, refined methodologies, and a significantly enhanced presentation framework designed to support professional-grade analysis.

While the public summary remains focused on accessibility, the underlying research process has grown considerably more rigorous. New internal and external data inputs have been integrated, valuation frameworks have been standardized, and measurement consistency has been strengthened across all major metrics.

iEthereum’s average monthly price declined from $0.01320 in December to $0.01109 in January, a 16.02% nominal pullback. Market capitalization averaged $199,620 during the month. When viewed in ETH terms, however, price rose slightly from 0.00000444 ETH to 0.00000465 ETH, suggesting relative resilience within the Ethereum ecosystem despite USD weakness.

Trading activity remained active. Monthly on-chain transfer volume rose from 31,674 IETH to 42,973 IETH, and total USD volume increased from $418 to $477. Average daily volume climbed nearly 14%, indicating continued circulation and usage even during price consolidation.

The holder base expanded modestly from 4,369 to 4,376 wallets, while 29 active wallets generated 114 transfers, averaging 3.93 transfers per active wallet. Transfer activity was primarily concentrated in mid-sized movements, with the 101–1000 IETH range representing the majority of transactions — a pattern consistent with gradual distribution rather than large-scale speculative churn.

Liquidity-normalized flow intensity increased from 0.0066× to 0.0090×, signaling stronger economic movement relative to liquid supply. At the same time, only 30.71% of supply is considered active, while 69.29% remains dormant, reinforcing iEthereum’s ongoing profile as a long-duration, low-velocity digital commodity.

Wallet concentration metrics remained stable. The Top 10 addresses hold 35.05% of supply, while the Top 100 hold 63.91%. When exchange wallets are excluded, concentration drops materially, with the Top 100 non-exchange wallets representing 38.34% of supply — a clearer view of organic holder distribution.

Inequality measures such as the Gini coefficient (0.8606) and Theil index (2.7385) remain elevated but stable, consistent with early-stage fixed-supply asset networks where long-term holders dominate.

January introduces the first full deployment of multiple valuation lenses within a unified structure:

These models do not predict price; rather, they provide a range of structural reference points under different economic assumptions. Their inclusion marks a significant expansion in the Index’s analytical depth.

Global engagement continued to broaden, with users now spanning 104 countries. Newsletter subscribers grew to 691, and monthly page views increased to 781, indicating steady international interest as the iEthereum awareness matures.

Although we have published routinely a month and quarterly DCI report since May 2024; The January report represents the first edition of the iEthereum Digital Commodity Index in its fully institutional research format. Methodology governance, version control, and expanded data architecture now align the Index with the standards expected of professional market intelligence products.

Public summaries will continue to provide high-level insights. However, the full DCI Reports now function as a licensed institutional research product designed for asset managers, treasury teams, research desks, and digital-asset strategists.

Organizations seeking structured, longitudinal intelligence on iEthereum’s market structure, liquidity behavior, valuation frameworks, and distribution dynamics may request access to the licensed iEthereum Digital Commodity Index (DCI) research series.

Institutional inquiries:
Visit the licensing page at iethereum.org or contact the iEthereum Advocacy Trust directly to learn more about research access.