CryptoQuant sees bitcoin downside risk toward around $70,000, and said it could fall as low as $56,000 if the downtrend continues.
CryptoQuant has released a new report, highlighting a significant shift in Ethereum’s exchange supply dynamics and institutional behavior. According to the data, the amount of ETH held on crypto exchanges has crashed to unexpected lows. The decline coincides with growing institutional accumulation, a trend often viewed as an early signal of a bullish price outlook. Ethereum Exchange Balances Fall To 2016 Lows Arab Chain, a crypto analyst on CryptoQuant, revealed that Ethereum’s exchange supply ratio across all tracked platforms has declined to approximately 0.137. According to the data referenced in the report, this represents one of the lowest readings observed since 2016. Related Reading: Ethereum 2-Year Trend Maps Out This Unique Crash Path To Bottom At $2,187 The analyst emphasized that this metric reflects the proportion of total ETH supply currently held on exchanges relative to the overall circulating supply. Lower levels of this metric reflect a smaller fraction of ETH ready for liquidation on exchanges, which the analyst identifies as an important factor in understanding market liquidity conditions. Arab Chain also noted that the sustained decline in this ratio indicates a continued outflow of ETH from centralized exchanges to external wallets. This movement suggests that a smaller portion of Ethereum’s supply is readily available for trading. It also signals growing confidence among holders who prefer long-term positioning over short-term speculation. From a broader market perspective, a shrinking exchange supply is often seen as bullish for prices due to basic supply-and-demand dynamics. When fewer coins are available to sell, even a slight increase in demand can push prices up, as buyers compete for a smaller pool of liquid ETH. Reduced liquidity can also limit the intensity of declines, as large sell orders become harder to execute without moving the market. In his report, Arab Chain references historical behaviour, illustrated by a chart showing the Ethereum supply ratio for all exchanges. The analyst noted that similar declines in exchange supply have occurred during periods of reaccumulation or in the lead-up to stable price movements following significant market volatility. Ethereum Supply On Binance Crashes Arab Chain has also shared insights on Ethereum’s supply on Binance. The analyst disclosed that ETH balances on the exchange have been steadily declining over the past few months. As one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world, Binance’s reserve changes often reflect broader market sentiment. Related Reading: Why Did The Bitcoin, Ethereum, And XRP Prices Crash, And Will It Continue? The CryptoQuant report highlights that the Exchange Supply Ratio on Binance has crashed to 0.0325, a relatively low level compared to previous months. This indicates a steady withdrawal of ETH from the crypto exchange, reducing the amount of tokens available for immediate spot market selling. Arab Chain suggested that the drop in Ethereum supply on Binance shows that traders are becoming more cautious. Rather than engaging in short-term trades, many appear to be holding ETH off exchanges due to ongoing market volatility and uncertainty. The analyst added that the falling supply, combined with ETH’s price stability, indicates lower selling pressure. It also signals that the market may be entering a new phase of liquidity absorption and repositioning. Featured image from Adobe Stock, chart from Tradingview.com
The SEC proposed settlement agreements for key members of FTX co-founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s inner circle.
In the latest update on the FTX saga, the SEC confirmed Caroline Ellison had consented to a officer-and-director bar, preventing her from leading any companies for 10 years.
The most tireless advocate of digital assets issues in the U.S. Senate said she's grown too tired to keep at it, leaving her Republican seat in play next year.
Sen. Cynthia Lummis — a leading force behind efforts to pass sweeping crypto legislation — said she will not seek reelection.
Cynthia Lummis is one of the key Republicans responsible for pushing members of Congress to pass a crypto market structure bill under consideration in the Senate.
The Bank of Japan tightened policy on Dec. 18, lifting its benchmark rate to 0.75%, the highest since 1995. Governor Kazuo Ueda framed the move as a formal break with the “ultra-accommodative” regime that has helped fuel global risk-taking for decades. Following the news, Bitcoin was little changed near $87,800, but the calm surface belies […]
The post Japan’s rate hike ends the ‘free money’ era and puts Bitcoin on notice appeared first on CryptoSlate.
Expanding the stablecoin yield prohibition to include the application layer is an anti-competitive practice, industry advocacy groups say.
XRP-linked exchange-traded funds reached about $60 million in assets under management on December 17, according to market reports, even as XRP’s spot price slid. Related Reading: 5,606 Bitcoin: Lightning Network Sets Fresh Capacity Record At the time of reporting, XRP was trading around $1.86, down more than 8% in the last week. That gap between ETF growth and a falling spot price has left some investors puzzled. ETF Flows And How They Work According to Chad Steingraber, the way ETFs operate helps explain the disconnect. ETF shares trade on exchanges like regular stocks during market hours. Fund managers then tally net flows at the end of the trading day and arrange purchases of the underlying XRP after the market closes. Because of that timing, ETF inflows do not always translate into instant buying pressure on the spot market. Officially crossed $60Million! Record day! https://t.co/Nub2m5MK0Y pic.twitter.com/xg2zgecq24 — Chad Steingraber (@ChadSteingraber) December 18, 2025 Institutional Processes Take Time Based on reports, part of the picture is the nature of institutional decision-making. Large funds tend to move slowly. They run checks, review risk, and take time to approve new positions. That process can take months or longer. So an increase in ETF AUM can reflect careful planning and staged capital allocations rather than a rush of short-term bets. Price Action Shows Technical Weakness On charts, XRP has been under pressure for months. Traders watching longer time frames point to a steady downtrend and multiple warnings of a broader pullback since mid-year. The token has slid about 12% over the past month. Support between $1.80 and $1.90 is now being tested. A sustained break below $1.80 would likely shift focus to $1.60, and then to a wider support band near $1.30 to $1.40 if selling continues. ETF Growth Still Small In Context While $60 million sounds meaningful, that sum is small compared with AUM levels seen in larger crypto ETFs, and it may not be enough on its own to move markets. ETF structures differ, too. Some managers may hedge, use staged buys, or employ other tactics that change how and when they add XRP to reserves. These operational choices can mute any immediate impact on price. ???? Among top cap assets, here are the amount of non-empty wallets on each network currently: ???? Ethereum $ETH: 167.96M ???? Bitcoin $BTC: 57.62M ???? Tether $USDT: 9.63M ???? Dogecoin $DOGE: 8.13M ???? XRP Ledger $XRP: 7.41M ???? Cardano $ADA: 4.54M ???? USD Coin $USDC: 4.39M ???? ChainLink… pic.twitter.com/ciRBUp4GxE — Santiment (@santimentfeed) December 18, 2025 Non-Empty XRP Wallets Steadily Climbing Meanwhile, reports show that the number of non-empty wallets on the XRP Ledger has been climbing. Santiment has highlighted rising counts of addresses holding some XRP. Over the past month, while the token fell in price, on-chain wallet activity suggested accumulation by some holders. That pattern raises questions about whether larger buyers are quietly adding to positions. Related Reading: UK Crypto Ownership Takes Biggest Hit Since 2021, Regulator Says What This Means For Traders For now, markets show mixed signals. ETF AUM growth points to rising institutional involvement over time. Price action, however, signals caution. Traders and investors will be watching whether end-of-day ETF purchases increase demand on the spot market, and whether the $1.80 level holds. The coming days and weeks may help reveal whether AUM gains translate into broader buying or if technical pressure continues to dominate. Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView
FDIC reveals a path for bank-issued stablecoins under the GENIUS Act as corporate BTC treasuries expand, Anchorage buys Securitize’s RIA arm and Bhutan taps reserves.
In its annual predictions report, Galaxy’s analysts said onchain dollar transfers could process more volume next year than the US bank system that handles payroll and bill payments.
DraftKings launches a prediction markets app in 38 states, setting the stage for future crypto-linked contracts under a regulated US derivatives framework.
Bitcoin and several major altcoins are attempting to start a recovery, but negative investor sentiment, combined with selling at the range highs, is preventing the formation of a stronger bull trend.
Bitcoin continues to struggle below the $90,000 level as volatility remains elevated and market conviction weakens. Short-term price swings have failed to establish a clear directional bias, reinforcing a broader sense of uncertainty among traders and investors. While price remains historically high, internal market conditions suggest that underlying stress is building beneath the surface, particularly within the mining sector. Related Reading: Bitcoin Faces Elevated Downside Risk: Loss Selling Takes Hold As STH SOPR Falls Below 1 A recent analysis by Axel Adler highlights growing pressure on Bitcoin miners using the Miner Financial Health Index, a composite metric that assesses mining profitability relative to price. Readings above 80% historically signal excessive profitability and late-cycle conditions, while levels below 20% indicate financial strain and elevated risk for miners. Currently, the index sits near 22%, once again approaching the Alert zone. This places miner profitability near one of its weakest levels since 2022, despite Bitcoin trading well above its summer 2022 price range. Similar conditions have typically appeared during post-correction phases or shortly after halving events, when revenue compression collides with high network difficulty. This divergence between elevated price levels and deteriorating miner fundamentals raises important questions about the sustainability of Bitcoin’s current structure as the market searches for its next equilibrium. Miner Economics Signal Growing Stress Beneath Bitcoin’s Price Adler’s analysis further examines the demand–supply balance within Bitcoin’s mining economics, offering deeper insight into why miner profitability continues to deteriorate. This index tracks the ratio of transaction fee revenue relative to new coin issuance, effectively measuring how much users are willing to pay for blockspace compared to the rate of supply expansion. Historically, readings above 70% indicate strong demand and a risk-on environment, while levels below 30% reflect structural weakness. Currently, the demand–supply balance sits near 38% on a 30-day average. While not yet in outright stress territory, the metric has declined steadily from local highs above 60%, placing it firmly in a neutral-weak zone. This trend suggests that organic demand for blockspace remains subdued, with users showing little urgency to outbid one another through higher fees. For a clear improvement in conditions, Adler notes that the index would need to reclaim levels above 50%, likely requiring a surge in transaction activity or a meaningful on-chain catalyst. This weakness is mirrored in absolute miner revenue. Bitcoin miner revenue, measured in US dollars and smoothed over seven days, has fallen to roughly $40 million after a recent peak. Although consistent with 2025 averages, this level remains well below revenue spikes seen during periods of heightened network activity. With difficulty remaining elevated, declining revenues amplify pressure on less efficient miners, reinforcing the stress signaled by both profitability and demand metrics. Related Reading: Legendary Bitcoin OG Deepens Ethereum Bet Despite Losses Exceeding $70 Million Bitcoin Price Struggles to Reclaim Key Trend Levels Bitcoin’s price action on the daily chart reflects a market struggling to regain structural strength after a sharp corrective phase. BTC is currently trading around the $88,000 area following a rebound from recent lows, but the broader trend remains fragile. The selloff from the $120,000–$125,000 region marked a clear break in momentum, with price slicing below the short-term moving averages and triggering accelerated downside pressure. Notably, Bitcoin lost the daily 50-day and 100-day moving averages during the decline, confirming a shift toward a bearish short-term structure. While the 200-day moving average continues to trend higher and remains intact, price is now consolidating just below it, turning this level into a critical zone of resistance. As long as BTC fails to reclaim and hold above this long-term trend line, upside attempts are likely to face selling pressure. Related Reading: Bitcoin Structure Turns Bearish As Structural Indicators Flip Negative The sharp increase in sell volume during the breakdown contrasts with relatively muted buying volume on the rebound, suggesting that recent upside moves are corrective rather than impulsive. Structurally, Bitcoin is forming a lower-high pattern, which keeps downside risk elevated if support near $85,000–$86,000 fails. For bulls to regain control, BTC must reclaim the 200-day moving average and establish higher highs. Until then, the chart favors consolidation or further volatility rather than a sustained recovery. Featured image from ChatGPT, chart from TradingView.com
Keonne Rodriguez said on social media that he will report to prison on Friday to begin his five-year sentence for operating an illegal money transmitter.
Citigroup sets a Bitcoin price target of $143,000, citing renewed ETF interest and outlining scenarios for both growth and decline.
The post Citigroup sets Bitcoin’s base price target at $143,000 amid ETF demand appeared first on Crypto Briefing.
The following article is adapted from The Block’s newsletter, The Daily, which comes out on weekday afternoons.
The BitMEX co-founder's latest Substack essay argues the US Fed’s liquidity program mirrors quantitative easing mechanics that favor Bitcoin and other scarce assets.
SolanaFloor app now available on Solana Mobile's dApp store, offering real-time news, data, and insights to Seeker device users.
The post SolanaFloor app launches on Solana Mobile’s dApp store appeared first on Crypto Briefing.
SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci said he still sees a path to Solana reaching $2,500 over a five-to-ten-year horizon, arguing that tokenization plus clearer US regulation could turn Solana into a core financial “rail system.” Scaramucci made the remarks in an interview with SolanaFloor filmed during last week’s Solana Breakpoint conference and released on Dec. 18. Why Solana Is Still Poised For $2,500 Scaramucci framed the $2,500 thesis as a long-duration bet that won’t play out cleanly. “It’s not going to come without… volatility,” he said, pointing to what he called a messy US regulatory year and sticky inflation as headwinds that “probably slowed down our trajectory.” “If you had asked me at the beginning of the year” whether Washington would pass stablecoin legislation and “the market structure, the CLARITY bill,” he said he would have expected both. “That did not happen.” Still, he argued “the timing is still right,” with the caveat that price will likely remain jumpy until those macro and regulatory variables resolve. Related Reading: Solana (SOL) Support Shattered, Potential $100 Test Looms, Says Analyst To explain the patience required, Scaramucci leaned on a tech-investing analogy, recalling Amazon’s drawdowns by 90% before mass adoption. The lesson, in his words: stay with “great technology” through uncertain stretches because durable infrastructure eventually gets adopted. Asked what surprised him most this cycle, Scaramucci singled out the Trump and Melania memecoins. He described their Solana launch as “a compliment to Solana” because it was selected for “ability to handle large scale large volume transactions with great certainty and finality.” But he also argued the episode backfired on policy. “I think those coins slowed down the regulatory process in the US,” he said, suggesting that the optics of a US president entering the memecoin business created a political “foil” that opponents could use to resist crypto bills. “I think we would have gotten everything that we wanted this year had the president sort of stayed out of the meme coin business,” he added, calling it “short-term regulatory” damage. He also claimed the memecoin surge “sucked out all the liquidity from a lot of the altcoins,” which he said “hurt the industry,” even as it showcased Solana’s throughput. Tokenization Is The Endgame Scaramucci’s core argument was simple: tokenization is coming, and Solana is positioned to host a meaningful share of it. He said Paul Atkins, whom he described as a longtime personal friend, delivered what Scaramucci considers an underappreciated prediction: “In 5 years all of our assets are going to be tokenized.” Scaramucci then pushed his own conclusion: “What’s going to be the number one rail system to tokenize on? It’s going to be Solana.” He argued superior systems tend to win through adoption, not ideology. “If you have something that works better than something else, it gets adopted,” he said, comparing Solana’s trajectory to the internet’s jump from dial-up to today’s high-bandwidth reality. He also flagged operational progress on the network. “I don’t want to jinx us,” he said, but suggested Solana had gone “two years now without any” downtime. Related Reading: Solana Value Proposition Extends Beyond Tech Into Economic Infrastructure SolanaFloor challenged Scaramucci on why SkyBridge tokenized a $300 million fund on another chain. Scaramucci said it was “a very small fund,” and that a larger fund “will likely get tokenized on Solana.” He also rejected maximalism: “I don’t believe in chain monogamy,” he said. His view is that “three or four chains” will win, naming Solana and Avalanche. He argued Avalanche can be attractive for certain compliance-driven deployments, while Solana is where “stocks and bonds are going to be tokenized” and where “the larger funds are going to be tokenized.” Scaramucci also disclosed his personal positioning: “My largest personal position even greater than Bitcoin is my position in Solana and I have it all staked,” he said, adding he owns Avalanche and Bitcoin and holds a “very small position” in Ethereum. Scaramucci tied the next leg of the cycle to US policy and liquidity. If the US passes market-structure rules next year, he said, prices should respond. If inflation cools and the Fed can cut more aggressively under a new chair, he argued that would add liquidity and reinforce a “positive flywheel.” At press time, SOL traded at $125. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
Grayscale's 2026 outlook highlights 10 key themes marking the beginning of the institutional era for digital assets.
The post Grayscale predicts end of crypto’s four-year cycle as institutional era begins appeared first on Crypto Briefing.
The volatility of the cryptocurrency market is threatening the stability of corporate crypto treasury companies, resulting in larger swings in their net asset value that threaten their fundraising abilities.
The company has recently become more active in prediction markets space including a partnership with Kalshi.
Bitcoin advocates have been divided over Michael Saylor’s updated BTC thesis, leaving question marks over how the Strategy CEO views the cryptocurrency.
Fidelity’s Jurrien Timmer said Bitcoin may have completed another halving cycle in both price and time, and he placed support in the $65,000–$75,000 zone. Sharing a “Bitcoin analogs” chart, the Fidelity director of global macro wrote, “While I remain a secular bull on Bitcoin, my concern is that Bitcoin may well have ended another 4-year […]
The post Fidelity’s latest Bitcoin chart pattern signals a 2026 “off-year” that could drag prices down to this brutal support level appeared first on CryptoSlate.
Bitcoin's onchain data reveals new BTC whales with 50% of the realized capital, highlighting a shift in how capital is shaping the market.
The UK’s financial watchdog has launched a sweeping consultation that could reshape how crypto exchanges, staking services and DeFi operate ahead of a 2027 rollout.
The SEC looks to bar Caroline Ellison and former FTX executives Gary Wang and Nishad Singh from being directors for several years.
In times when the Bitcoin price volatility is at its peak, some altcoins like XRP have been maintaining their stability. As the bulls are trying to regain control, the second-largest crypto, Ethereum, is once again approaching the psychological barrier at $3000. At this time, the bull-bear concentration and the short-term price spikes may have a …