Top 5 Altcoins With Big Developments This Week — ADA, LINK, XRP Among Leaders

• Injective, Lido, Chainlink, and XRP are all seeing key developments this week, while the Cardano Summit kicks off on November 12.
• The crypto market’s total capitalization rose 4.25% over the past 24 hours, as Bitcoin continues to struggle near the $110,000 threshold.

The U.S. government shutdown, which began on October 1, has now stretched into its 41st day, with the Senate repeatedly holding votes on the House-passed continuing resolution, most of which have failed along party lines. On November 9, several senators negotiated a bipartisan agreement, offering a potential path toward reopening the government.

The prolonged shutdown has forced key federal agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), CFTC, and the Treasury Department, to pause or delay critical operations, slowing regulatory reviews and market oversight.

Despite these, several crypto projects —Chainlink, Ripple, Cardano, Injective, and Lido —remain strong and appear to be setting the stage for an upward trajectory across the digital asset market.

1. Chainlink (LINK)

Chainlink is kicking off its Rewards Season 1 on November 11, inviting LINK stakers to participate in a build-partner ecosystem. Nine “BUILD” partners, such as Space and Time (SXT), Dolomite (DOLO), and others, will distribute tokens to eligible LINK stakers.

This builds on the earlier “Season Genesis” distribution of 100 M SXT tokens. The staking incentives could reduce circulating supply and increase engagement within the Chainlink ecosystem. Token performance ahead of the launch is already showing strength, reflecting rising expectations.

At the time of writing, Chainlink is trading at $16.49, reflecting a 6.71% increase over the past 24 hours.

2. Injective (INJ)

The Injective token is the native utility and governance asset of the Injective Protocol, a high-speed, interoperable layer-one blockchain built specifically for decentralized finance (DeFi) applications. Injective is set to deploy its Altria Upgrade on November 11, following strong community approval for Proposal IIP-583.

According to the network’s announcement, the upgrade promises enhanced EVM compatibility, real-time transaction speeds, and instant finality, targeting use cases in derivatives, trading, and tokenization.

Ahead of the upgrade, INJ has seen some price momentum, with an 8% gain over the past week, in anticipation of these improvements.

3. Cardano (ADA)

Cardano is the tenth-largest token with a market capitalization of about $21 billion. As detailed in our earlier news brief, the network will convene its Cardano Summit 2025 in Berlin from November 12–13, featuring 75+ speakers addressing enterprise blockchain, partnerships, and roadmap updates.

On November 15, Buenos Aires will host the Cardano Tech Summit LATAM, organized by Ada Solar, featuring preliminary hackathon events at UBA. ADA remains down 30% year-to-date and over 80% below its all-time high of $3.10, currently trading around $0.5950.

4. Lido DAO (LDO)

On November 11, Lido DAO is scheduled to hold a token-holder update, which, while officially described as a routine session, has drawn attention from market observers who note that potential surprises, such as governance adjustments or tokenomics updates, could trigger market reactions.

Given Lido’s substantial Total Value Locked (TVL) of approximately $31.24 billion and its central role in the Ethereum liquid staking ecosystem, any major announcement could have far-reaching implications, influencing not only LDO’s price action but also creating ripple effects across DeFi protocols.

5. Ripple (XRP)

Several asset managers, including Canary Capital, Bitwise, Franklin Templeton, and 21Shares, have updated their S-1 filings for spot XRP ETFs, introducing uniform language designed to expedite the SEC approval process.

As Crypto News Flash highlighted, the fact that all five proposed spot XRP ETFs are now listed on the DTCC further strengthens the view that XRP functions as a non-security asset.

If the XRP ETF approval moves forward, it could expand institutional access to XRP and boost on-chain activity. The market has already responded positively, with XRP surging 6.32% over the past week and 12% in the past 24 hours to reach $2.55, breaking above the $2.50 resistance level.

Trading volume has also spiked, increasing 116% to 5 billion. From a technical perspective, if buyers can push XRP past the $2.60–$2.65 resistance range, the recent upward movement may continue to reach $3.