Bitcoin is currently going through a calm but tense phase as it faces $23.6 billion in option expiry today. After weeks of heavy selling in October and November, the market is trying to find stability. According to recent analysis from 10x Research, Bitcoin has triggered a bullish breakout that may signal the start of a …
Hayes' investment shift towards DeFi tokens suggests a growing confidence in decentralized finance's potential amid evolving market dynamics.
The post Arthur Hayes acquires $2 million in LDO, PENDLE tokens amid DeFi rotation appeared first on Crypto Briefing.
Story Highlights The Live Price Of Bancor Network BNT could attempt a recovery toward $0.96 by 2026 if protocol upgrades and liquidity participation improve. By 2030, BNT may revisit the $8, if long-term DeFi adoption grows. Bancor Network is one of the earliest decentralized finance (DeFi) projects, known for introducing automated market making (AMM) long …
Bitcoin price dynamics heading into the next market cycle are being reframed by Michael Saylor, who argues that the forces capable of pushing Bitcoin to new all-time highs have little to do with speculation, retail enthusiasm, or ETF-driven flows. Instead, Saylor’s outlook positions Bitcoin price appreciation as the outcome of a deeper structural transition that is unfolding quietly within the banking system. Michael Saylor On Bitcoin Price’s Structural Shift As the market looks toward 2026, Michael Saylor’s thesis on Bitcoin price action focuses on a structural shift away from trader-driven dynamics toward regulated financial institutions, a transition that could fundamentally reshape how capital engages with Bitcoin at scale. For most of its history, Bitcoin price discovery has been dominated by cyclical trading behavior, leverage, and sentiment-driven momentum. Related Reading: Why The Current XRP Valuation Doesn’t Make Sense Even milestones such as spot Bitcoin ETFs, while broadening access, largely remain confined to traditional capital markets. Saylor’s view departs from this model by highlighting Bitcoin’s gradual integration into bank balance sheets, where valuation is driven by utility, collateralization, and long-term capital allocation rather than short-term market cycles. Recent developments underscore this shift. A growing number of major US banks have begun offering Bitcoin-collateralized loans, a move that signals a reclassification of Bitcoin from a high-volatility trading asset to a recognized form of financial collateral. Lending against Bitcoin reflects institutional confidence in its liquidity, custody standards, and long-term value stability. In practical terms, this positions Bitcoin alongside assets that are suitable for credit creation rather than short-term speculation. Once Bitcoin is integrated into lending structures, treasury operations, and institutional risk models, demand characteristics change materially. Capital deployed through these channels is not reactive to short-term price fluctuations. It is strategic, compliance-driven, and designed for multi-year horizons. This type of demand absorbs supply consistently, reinforcing scarcity dynamics already embedded in Bitcoin’s fixed issuance model. As a result, Bitcoin price appreciation becomes a function of sustained capital allocation rather than episodic market rallies. Banking Infrastructure And The New Ceiling For Bitcoin Price Saylor identifies 2026 as the period when the impact of banking adoption becomes fully visible. Major financial institutions such as Charles Schwab and Citigroup, planning to roll out Bitcoin custody and related services, point to a broader alignment between Bitcoin and regulated financial infrastructure. Related Reading: $130 Million XRP Fumble: Analyst Reveals What Went Wrong Custody plays a pivotal role in this process. When banks custody Bitcoin, they unlock the ability to embed it across wealth management platforms, corporate treasury strategies, and secured lending products. This dramatically expands Bitcoin’s addressable capital base by enabling participation from institutions previously constrained by regulatory, operational, or fiduciary limitations. As banking participation deepens, Bitcoin price behavior is likely to evolve. Volatility driven by leveraged trading and speculative positioning diminishes in relative importance, while long-term balance-sheet accumulation becomes a dominant force. In this environment, according to Saylor, Bitcoin’s new all-time highs will not be the product of sudden euphoria but the result of sustained absorption by institutions operating at scale. Featured image created with Dall.E, chart from Tradingview.com
The talks could reshape geopolitical dynamics, impacting energy security and digital economies amid ongoing regional tensions.
The post Putin says Russia, US held talks over crypto mining at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant appeared first on Crypto Briefing.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin is weighing in on a growing debate surrounding prediction markets, drawing a clear line between what he views as useful and what he considers dangerous. The discussion unfolded after Buterin defended prediction markets as a better way to measure uncertainty than social media or even traditional financial markets. His core argument: …
Solana is trading at a critical turning point after an extended downtrend. Following a sharp sell-off from the November highs, SOL has spent the last several weeks consolidating above the $118–$120 zone. This area has now been defended multiple times, shifting focus to whether the current structure can support a bullish correction or if the …
Uniswap has entered a new chapter after its community overwhelmingly approved the long-awaited UNIfication proposal. The vote passed with near-unanimous backing, showing strong confidence in reshaping how value flows through the protocol. More than a governance tweak, the decision marks a shift toward tying Uniswap’s growth more directly to the UNI token itself. At its …
Charles Hoskinson’s latest update on Midnight suggests something bigger is taking shape behind the scenes. In a tweet posted today, the Cardano founder said he is currently “writing between 80–100 pages a day of technical documents for Midnight” as the team prepares for internal workshops scheduled for January. He described the work pace as intense …
The proposal, which transforms UNI into a value-accruing asset, received more than 125 million votes in support with just 742 dissenting.
Flare Network has rolled out a new yield-focused product in collaboration with Upshift and Clearstar that offers XRP holders a way to earn returns without selling their XRP holdings. XRP’s price action has been bearish in recent weeks, and that calm has carried into the past trading sessions. The cryptocurrency is trading around $1.87, after staying confined between roughly $1.83 on the downside and $1.88 on the upside in the latest session. This subdued price behavior has preoccupied recent discussions, but development around its ecosystem has continued quietly in the background. Flare Launches New XRP Product Flare Network has officially introduced a new product designed to expand what XRP holders can do with their cryptocurrencies besides holding or trading. The product, which is called earnXRP, is positioned as the first on-chain yield solution that is fully denominated in XRP, and at the same time, addresses a long-standing gap in the ecosystem where earning yield typically required moving into stablecoins or other assets. Related Reading: The Decision That Could Change Everything For XRP Investors The launch is built around Flare’s FAssets system, which allows XRP to be represented on the network as FXRP on a one-to-one basis. To participate in earnXRP, holders deposit FXRP (XRP represented 1:1 on Flare) directly into an on-chain vault, where those assets are deployed across yield-generating strategies. In return, users receive a receipt token that tracks their deposited FXRP along with any yield accrued over time, with earnings remaining fully denominated in XRP. Users receive earnXRP, which represents the user’s deposited FXRP plus any yield generated over time. This structure removes much of the complexity typically associated with DeFi participation. Strategy execution, rebalancing, and compounding are handled within the vault. Users can also request withdrawals at any time, a process where their earnXRP tokens are burned, and FXRP is returned to their wallet. Muted Price Reaction For The Altcoin Flare’s earnXRP is one of the few avenues XRP holders can participate in DeFi. FXRP is a 1:1 ERC-20 representation of XRP that unlocks DeFi utility not possible on the XRP Ledger alone. Related Reading: XRP Price Falls To Critical Support Level, Is It Time To Panic? “Only 0.1% of XRP supply is utilized in DeFi, despite it being the 5th largest cryptocurrency by market cap. Users have not had an easy way to capture sustainably high returns. We’re excited to work with Flare and Clearstar to unlock XRP yield using the new Flare XRP Yield vault,” said Ethan, Growth Lead at Upshift. Despite the significance of the launch from a utility standpoint, the immediate market response has been limited. XRP is still trading within its recent range, with the price still below $1.9 and showing little reaction to the announcement. This response shows that the altcoin is currently heavily influenced by broader market conditions and macro sentiment, which have weighed on price action across the entire sector. Featured image from Pngtree, chart from Tradingview.com
The plant is located in Ukraine and has been under Russian control since 2022, with its future management a key issue in peace talks.
Today marks the largest crypto options expiry in history, with nearly $28 billion worth of BTC and ETH contracts settling on Deribit. Roughly 267,000 Bitcoin options expire with a put/call ratio of 0.35 and a max pain level near $95,000, while 1.28 million Ethereum options expire with a put/call ratio of 0.45 and max pain around $3,100. …
Around $27 billion worth of Bitcoin, Ethereum options expired today on Deribit, one of the world’s largest crypto options exchanges. Bitcoin is trading near $88,000, while Ethereum is hovering close to $2,950, as traders brace for possible volatility. With such a large amount of contracts settling at once, the expiry could have a massive impact …
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino warned an AI sector correction could spill over into crypto markets in 2026, with some analysts projecting BTC to drop to as low as $65,000.
Lithuania is preparing for one of its toughest crypto enforcement actions yet, signaling a clear shift from regulatory tolerance to strict oversight. Starting January 1, 2026, crypto firms operating without a valid MiCA license will be treated as illegal, exposing hundreds of companies to fines, website blocks, and even criminal liability. The move places Lithuania …
Changpeng Zhao, a co-founder of Binance, which owns the utility, said the losses will be reimbursed.
From McDonald’s to municipal taxes, Lugano is proving that Bitcoin adoption is not about predicting the future; it is about building the infrastructure to handle it today.
Russia’s biggest bank is taking a careful step toward crypto. Sberbank, the country’s largest state-owned lender, has confirmed it is exploring loans secured by cryptocurrency. The idea is that borrowers could get ruble loans while using digital assets as collateral, instead of selling them outright. The comments come as Russia’s stance on crypto begins to …
After maintaining a choppy trade for a few days, the Bitcoin price rose slightly but failed to sustain above $89,000. Meanwhile, due to the pullback, the volatility seems to have risen as the token is heading into the weekend at a sensitive point. Besides, it has moved past the current options expiry after days of …
Crypto analyst Cryptollica (@Cryptollica on X) is arguing that Dogecoin’s weekly chart is doing that familiar thing again: carving out a rounded base, bleeding off volatility, resetting momentum and quietly setting up what he frames as the “calm before the storm.” Or, at least, that’s the pitch. In a Dec. 23 TradingView analysis titled “DOGE: The Cycle Repeats (1W Timeframe),” Cryptollica calls the current structure a “textbook fractal setup,” pointing to four prior “structural points (1, 2, 3, 4)” across DOGE’s longer-term history and claiming the market is now sitting at “Point 4.” The core claim is less about a single indicator and more about pattern recognition: “the structure is rhyming perfectly with the pre-bull run accumulation phases of the past.” Will Dogecoin Repeat History? Cryptollica frames Zones 1 and 2 as prior “boredom phases” — the type of long, dead-feeling stretches that, in hindsight, look like accumulation. “Zones 1 & 2: These were the ‘boredom phases’ where volatility died, and smart money accumulated,” the post reads. Zone 2, in particular, is described as “the launchpad for the massive 2021 parabolic run.” The current period, which the analyst labels Zone 4, is presented as a near-mirror: “We are seeing the exact same rounding bottom formation. The price is stabilizing, forming a heavy base just like it did before the previous explosions.” Related Reading: Dogecoin Price Could Rally If It Reclaims This Fibonacci Level That’s the structural argument. The momentum argument is RSI, and Cryptollica is unusually direct about how they’re treating it: “Look at the RSI indicator at the bottom. The red line (~32. level) acts as a historical floor.” They add that “every single time the weekly RSI touched or hovered near this baseline (Points 1, 2, and 3), it marked a macro bottom.” Right now, in their read, “the RSI has reset back to this critical support level,” which they interpret as seller fatigue: “It indicates that the sellers are exhausted and the momentum is primed to flip.” If you’ve been around crypto markets long enough, you’ve seen this exact rhetorical move: the past as a template, the present as a rhyme, the future as a pending punchline. Cryptollica tries to pre-empt the eye-roll by insisting the setup isn’t coincidence: “This isn’t just random noise; it’s a cyclical reset.” The post argues DOGE is sitting in what they call “the ‘Golden Pocket’ for accumulation,” and suggests that if the 2020-era analog holds “like it did in 2020 (Zone 2)” then today’s price action is basically quiet loading time. The editorial machinery at TradingView itself leaned in. The platform responded publicly on Dec. 23 that the publication “has been selected as one of our Editor’s Picks and will be featured on the Home Page,” adding a line that reads like the house style for community encouragement: “Good trading plans are valuable, regardless of their outcomes, and particularly rewarding when they succeed.” Cryptollica replied in kind: “TradingView, thank you.” Related Reading: Dogecoin: Why This One Price Level Is Drawing All the Attention Still, one of the more useful parts of this whole thread is a cautionary comment from another user, ZarinSyed, who essentially says: yes, the fractal is interesting, no, that doesn’t mean it’s fate. “The fractal analysis is compelling,” they wrote, “however, while the setup does resemble prior accumulation phases, it’s worth noting that fractals are not deterministic — macro conditions and liquidity flows can alter outcomes.” They put a practical marker on what “confirmation” would look like in their view: “Watching DOGE’s weekly close above the $0.15–$0.17 range could validate the bullish thesis.” And they don’t let RSI off the hook, either. The ~32 level may signal exhaustion, they concede, but “momentum confirmation often requires a sustained move above the midline (50). Until then, the risk of prolonged sideways action remains.” They add a market-structure wrinkle that matters for 2026-style crypto narratives: “Unlike 2020, DOGE now trades in a more mature market with ETF-driven institutional flows. Retail-driven fractals may play out differently.” So what does it mean, in plain trader terms, without pretending the chart is prophecy? Cryptollica is making a high-conviction, weekly-timeframe claim that DOGE is back in an accumulation “buy zone,” with RSI near a historical floor and a rounded base that resembles prior cycle setups. ZarinSyed is basically saying: fine, now prove it, ideally with a breakout and follow-through, and keep an eye on relative metrics like DOGE/BTC dominance if you want to know whether this is a DOGE story or just another alt wobble. At press time, DOGE traded at $ Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
The malicious Trust Wallet extension has also been exporting users’ personal information, pointing to potential insider activity, according to cybersecurity company SlowMist.
Bitcoin simmered below resistance but teased a bullish breakout as the Asia trading session accompanied new all-time highs for gold and silver.
The failed vote highlights deeper tensions over token value capture, governance power and whether DAO structures can effectively manage protocol identity.
Earlier this month, the US began intercepting and seizing tankers carrying Venezuelan crude, with a first seizure reported around Dec. 10 and a second interception by Dec. 20. By Dec. 22, US officials said a third vessel was being pursued near Venezuelan waters. Caracas responded with an emergency law imposing prison terms of up to […]
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Gemini, the third-largest U.S. crypto exchange, has announced the launch of trading and custody support for BNB, the native token of the BNB Chain ecosystem. Originally issued by Binance in 2017, BNB is widely used for paying trading and network fees. With this move, Gemini joins Kraken in supporting BNB, while Coinbase has placed the …
Lithuania is known as a leading, crypto-friendly EU hub, is sending a clear message to the crypto industry: follow the rules or leave. The country’s central bank has warned that all crypto companies operating in Lithuania must secure a proper license by December 31, 2025, or face serious legal consequences starting next year. Lithuania Tightens …
A recent hack on Trust Wallet exposed nearly $7 million in crypto from users. The attack happened just after Christmas, surprising many investors and worrying the crypto community. Although the loss was smaller than some major exchange hacks, the speed and secrecy of the attack caused panic. User Funds Are “SAFU,” Says Changpeng Zhao So …
Bitcoin usually sees strong gains in the year after a halving. This cycle, however, has looked different. Instead of explosive volatility, the price has remained relatively calm, even behaving like a stable asset at times. According to Jan3 CEO and Bitcoin advocate Samson Mow, this quiet phase is temporary, and a major price move is …
Earlier this month, Ellison agreed to a 10-year ban on serving as an officer of public firms of crypto exchanges.