Discounts and bundle deals were offered to mining operators, as 2025 ends on a bad note for the crypto market and the mining industry.
According to Charles Hoskinson, the race between Solana and Ethereum looks different depending on the time frame. Solana may win ground quickly because it moves fast. Ethereum looks set to aim for a broader, slower build that could matter more later. Related Reading: Could XRP Make Trillionaires? Tech Firm Founder Thinks It’s Possible Short-Term Gains For Solana Solana’s appeal is plain. Its network pushes a lot of transactions every day and it can adopt upgrades more quickly, Hoskinson said. That speed has helped projects bring tokenized stocks and other finance tools onto the chain. Reports have disclosed that the total value of tokenized equities on Solana recently hit about $185 million. Platforms such as xStocksFi, Superstate, and Remora Markets are among those building there. For traders and some institutions, low fees and high throughput are hard to ignore. A Large Financial Gap Remains Still, there are big differences under the surface. Solana’s total value locked and stablecoin use sit at about 10% of Ethereum’s levels. That gap means the kinds of financial activity seen on Ethereum are not yet matched on Solana. The size of a chain’s financial ecosystem affects what kinds of services and markets can grow on it. So while adoption on Solana is growing, the scale of on-chain lending, staking and stablecoin volumes is still much smaller when compared with Ethereum. Ethereum’s Research-First Approach Ethereum’s work is focused on research and longer-term upgrades, especially in areas like zero-knowledge proofs and advanced scaling methods. Reports have suggested that Ethereum is aiming to move more of its validation to cryptographic proof systems so it can act as a verification layer for many networks. Speed Now, Strategy Later Hoskinson framed the difference as one of timing. Solana’s leadership and design allow quicker decisions and faster rollout of new features. Ethereum’s path is marked by heavy research and slow coordination. This means Solana may capture use and attention in the near term, while Ethereum’s technical direction could shape broader infrastructure over a longer span. Both approaches come with trade-offs. One focuses on quick adoption, the other on building systems that rely on stronger mathematical proofs. Tokenized stocks on Solana reach a new All-Time High with ~$185M in total value. Solana stands as the institutional infrastructure of choice for leading tokenized stock platforms like – @xStocksFi – @SuperstateInc’s Opening Bell – @RemoraMarkets pic.twitter.com/xr7q54sucs — Capital Markets (@capitalmarkets) December 24, 2025 Related Reading: Ethereum’s 2026 Overhaul Aims To Cut Costs, Boost Speed, Limit Censorship What This Means For Markets For investors and builders, the split is clear: architects chasing rapid growth may prefer Solana today, while those betting on deep financial stacks and broad verification may stick with Ethereum. The $185 million milestone for tokenized stocks on Solana signals rising trust in blockchain-based equity products, but it is small compared with traditional markets. Reports and comments from industry figures like Hoskinson help explain why different teams pick one chain over another. In the end, both chains are being tested by real use, and their paths will be measured by what users and institutions choose to run on them. Featured image from Equiti, chart from TradingView
Fundstrat’s head of research said institutional tokenization supports a $7,000–$9,000 Ether price in early 2026 and a longer-term case for $20,000.
On a cold ‘Betwixmas' December morning, the mood around Bitcoin feels familiar and strange at the same time. Familiar, because the story still swings between euphoria and anxiety. Strange, because the people watching the chart now include a different crowd. Some are still the veterans who lived through 2017 and 2021, some are newer, the […]
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This year also saw the launch of networks like Aztec's Ignition chain, apps like Privacy Pools, and corporate experiments like Circle's USDCx.
Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has stepped forward to address swirling rumors that he dumped his ADA holdings, sparking concerns about his potential role in the altcoin’s dramatic 80% price crash. Amid speculation and social media chatter, Hoskinson firmly denies the claims, insisting he did not personally contribute to the decline by offloading his assets. Cardano Founder Denies Claims Of Selling ADA Despite the festive holiday season, Hoskinson was bombarded with accusations of contributing to ADA’s 80% price crash over the past four years. Initially, the Cardano founder took to X on December 25 to share an optimistic message for 2026, encouraging holders and community members not to lose hope. Related Reading: What The New Mightnight Launch Means For The Cardano Network He emphasized that despite the challenges of the past years, there is much to look forward to in 2026. He extended holiday greetings and expressed appreciation for the Cardano community, including members like @injective_pie, who has been vocal about ADA’s price performance and its blockchain’s progress over the years. While many responded positively to Hoskinson’s messages and holiday greetings, @injective_pie confronted him directly, accusing him of dumping ADA. The community member questioned the Cardano founder about selling his ADA at $3 and not buying back at lower levels around $0.3, suggesting that such actions could undermine trust in the crypto project. Hoskinson swiftly dismissed these allegations, insisting that he did not dump his ADA and that false narratives do not change reality. The member’s response highlighted the tension between the Cardano founder and some skeptical segments of the community. It also underscored the ongoing dissatisfaction with the current price of ADA. Notably, frustration among ADA investors has been growing over the years, as the cryptocurrency has failed to regain its all-time highs. Since its 2021 peak, the Cardano price has steadily declined, most recently dropping toward $0.35 after crashing by over 3% this week. Year-to-date, the altcoin has fallen by more than 50%, underscoring the prolonged challenges facing the network despite its strong community support. Cardano’s underperformance stands in contrast to other major cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, which reached new ATHs this year. Even with its surging daily trading volume of more than 96%, ADA has yet to show any significant upward momentum, declining even more as the broader market navigates ongoing bearish pressures. ADA Price Weakens Further As Open Interest Drops Amidst sluggish price action, data from Coinglass shows that ADA Futures Open Interest (OI) has declined from $1.72 billion in October 2025 to $651 million as of December 26. This massive change represents a steep decline of more than 62% in less than three months. Related Reading: Cardano Founder Reveals “Game Plan” For 2026, But Can ADA Price Still Recover? With key fundamentals deteriorating and market sentiment weakening, additional pressure has been placed on ADA’s price. On-chain data also shows that Cardano’s Fear & Greed Index stands at 37, firmly placed in the fear zone, as the price continues to trend lower. Featured image from Unsplash, chart from Tradingview.com
Stani Kulechov's comments followed an uproar in the Aave community about the relationship between the Aave decentralized autonomous organization and Aave Labs.
Bitcoin’s technical and onchain market structure was robust throughout 2025, but ever-shifting macroeconomic conditions eventually put a cap on BTC price. Will the trend shift in 2026?
Got holiday cash to spend? A wave of standout indie games is bucking rising hardware and AAA prices, giving players plenty to check out for $20 or less.
Cryptocurrency markets experienced a modest recovery this week, but spot Bitcoin ETFs extended a five-day losing streak amid thin year-end liquidity.
XRP’s chart is telling a two-speed story right now. While short-term price action remains heavy and key resistance levels are still capping upside, the broader structure continues to quietly mature beneath the surface. This tension between near-term pressure and a slowly building macro setup is what makes the current phase especially critical for what comes next. A Multi-Year Compression Is Reaching Its Endgame In a recent update, crypto analyst EGRAG CRYPTO emphasized that the XRP macro triangle is far more than just market noise; it is a definitive roadmap. Analyzing the asset on a 2-month timeframe, the analyst noted that this massive structural formation has been developing for years, serving as a primary indicator of where the price is headed in the long term. Related Reading: XRP Price To Surge: Analyst Shares ‘Interesting Chart’ That Has Previously Led To A Rally EGRAG was among the first to identify this specific breakout setup in its early stages. What the broader market might view as stagnation or random volatility is a multi-year triangle reaching its final apex on the macro chart, signaling that a major move is being prepared. The analyst stressed that this technical preparation is not based on “hopium,” but on a disciplined interpretation of long-term price action. Basically, this macro view provides a structured look at the market, stripping away the distractions of lower timeframes to reveal the significant accumulation and pressure building within the triangle’s boundaries. This tiered roadmap is designed to guide investors through the potential breakout phases, offering a strategic perspective on how XRP is expected to unfold as it finally exits this historic consolidation pattern. Double Bottom Falters As Buyers Struggle To Follow Through According to a post by Umair Crypto, the market is still showing signs of hesitation, with the double-bottom structure failing to gain meaningful traction. On the 4-hour chart, the recent bounce from the $1.84 area aligns closely with the golden pocket of the $1.772–$1.962 Fibonacci retracement, which helps explain the temporary reaction seen so far. Related Reading: Why The Current XRP Valuation Doesn’t Make Sense For momentum to shift, price needs to start closing above the $1.96 level. A move beyond that zone would allow the daily RSI trendlines to flip, marking the first real step toward regaining bullish momentum. The next and more critical hurdle sits at the $2.00 mark, where a breakout would also mean reclaiming the daily 50 SMA, a key signal that bullish structure is returning. Until those resistance crucial levels are recovered, the broader outlook remains bearish. Thus, the altcoin is vulnerable to further downside, and the risk of printing lower lows stays on the table as long as buyers fail to assert control above these key thresholds. Featured image from Getty Images, chart from Tradingview.com
The USX stablecoin briefly slipped below its dollar peg on Solana DEXs before recovering after its issuer injected liquidity into secondary markets.
Forced liquidations in the crypto derivatives market reached about $150 billion in 2025, according to CoinGlass data. On its face, the figure looks like a year of persistent crisis. For many retail traders, watching price feeds turn red became shorthand for chaos. In practice, it captured something more mundane and structural: the notional value of […]
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Regulatory clarity in the United States and the likelihood of falling interest rates will push the crypto ETF market higher in 2026.
Investor flows continue to favor traditional hedges and equities, as bitcoin ETFs extend outflows despite broader markets rising.
The privacy narrative is positioned for continued relevance into 2026, driven by practical adoption needs rather than speculative momentum.
The mainnet rollout follows the Fermi testnet activation in November, further reducing block times on the layer-1 blockchain network.
In an exclusive Cointelegraph interview, the crypto analyst pointed to macro headwinds, muted sentiment and cycle dynamics shaping Bitcoin’s path into 2026.
Banks have mostly stayed on the sidelines when it comes to holding XRP directly, even as interest in digital assets continues to increase. That hesitation has not been due to a lack of utility or demand but to strict regulatory capital rules that made holding XRP economically impractical for regulated institutions. However, a small adjustment in how XRP is treated under global banking rules could remove that barrier and change how banks interact with the cryptocurrency. Why Banks Can’t Hold XRP The main obstacle preventing banks from holding XRP has been its treatment under the global banking framework known as Basel III. Basel III is an international regulatory framework developed after the 2008 financial crisis that introduces higher quality and quantity of capital requirements in the international banking sector. Right now, XRP currently falls into the Type 2 crypto exposure under Basel III, which is set up with rules for assets that pose higher risks. Under these rules, most cryptocurrencies, including XRP, fall into a high-risk category that carries a punitive capital requirement. Banks are required to apply a 1,250% risk weight to such assets, implying they must set aside far more capital than the value of the XRP itself. This means that under the Basel III framework, for every $1 of XRP exposure, a bank must hold $12.50 in capital. This dynamic was recently explained by a crypto commentator with the name Stern Drew on the social media platform X. In a post on X, Drew explained that this capital inefficiency alone accounts for years of institutional hesitation. The issue has not been demand nor technology, but the regulatory capital treatment that made holding XRP irrational from a balance sheet perspective. The Regulatory Inflection Point The conversation around XRP’s regulatory status is becoming increasingly important to its long-term outlook. Interestingly, Drew’s analysis goes further by pointing to what he describes as an inflection point that markets may be overlooking. Now that legal and regulatory clarity surrounding cryptocurrencies is improving, XRP could be reclassified into a lower-risk category under Basel III. The endgame is that XRP is on a clear path to becoming a Tier-1 digital asset for global institutions, which is mostly for tokenized traditional assets and stablecoins with strong mechanisms. If that reclassification occurs, the economics will change immediately. XRP would become acceptable for direct balance sheet exposure, allowing banks to custody, deploy, and settle using the asset without the need of excessive capital. This is not a discussion about short-term price movements but about capital mechanics that determine whether large pools of institutional money can participate in holding XRP at all. In this case, liquidity provisioning of XRP by banks would change from off-balance-sheet usage to direct institutional ownership. Featured image created with Dall.E, chart from Tradingview.com
The event underscores the risks of high leverage in crypto trading, where rapid price shifts can trigger cascading liquidations and market instability.
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Cryptocurrency prices moved lower as the broader market cooled, even though no major negative news triggered the drop. The total crypto market value slipped to about $2.94 trillion, down roughly 1.5% over the past day. Bitcoin Pulls Back After Recent Strength Bitcoin fell to around $87,100, giving up earlier gains. Trading data shows that Bitcoin …
Bitcoin and several major altcoins attempted to start a relief rally, but higher levels continue to attract strong selling by the bears.
Gold, silver, platinum and copper all surged to new records as metals — not bitcoin — attracted capital on the debasement trade and geopolitical tension.
Regulators are entering a second year of sweeping change under the Trump administration, with the SEC and CFTC set to have a busy 2026.
Beneath the Mediterranean, physicists at the Cubic Kilometre Neutrino Telescope Initiative built a cathedral of glass spheres that listens for cosmic whispers—and this year, it heard the most energetic neutrino humanity has ever recorded.
Diversification into AI and HPC infrastructure drove sharp outperformance for miners, while pure-play bitcoin miners lagged.
Tokens must demonstrate tangible value to remain competitive as the crypto market shifts towards business-driven fundamentals.
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Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has reignited debate around blockchain infrastructure after commenting on recent moves by traditional finance firms into tokenization. Responding to news around the Canton Network, Hoskinson said legacy finance is trying to recreate systems that XRP and Cardano-linked projects are already building, but at a much smaller scale. Hoskinson argued that platforms …
Crypto analyst Skipper has drawn attention to a significant development for XRP, even as it continues to trade below the psychological $2 level. Based on this development, the selling pressure could be easing for the altcoin, while ETFs continue to contribute to buying pressure as they maintain their inflow streak. Analyst Reveals XRP’s Stochastic RSI Has Hit 0.0 In an X post, Skipper revealed that XRP’s stochastic RSI has hit 0.0 for only the second time ever. This came as he noted that the altcoin has had a rough run, as it is down 35% in this quarter, 10% this year, marking its first yearly loss since 2022. The analyst added that XRP is also below the key $2 level. Related Reading: XRP Price Must Stay Above This Level Or Crash To $0.9 However, Skipper suggested that analyst Steph’s discovery about XRP’s Stoch RSI hitting 0.0 on the 3-week chart provides some optimism. He noted that this has only happened once before, which was in 2020, right before the altcoin bottomed at $0.28 during the Terra LUNA crash. Skipper also pointed to Steph’s statement that this could mean selling pressure is almost gone for XRP, though a quick bounce may not occur. The altcoin notably stayed flat for months in 2022 before it recovered. The analyst also mentioned that the drop in the stoch RSI marks cycle lows, not short-term trades. While the selling pressure looks to be cooling, XRP continues to see significant buying pressure from the XRP ETFs, which marks a positive for the altcoin. SoSo Value data shows that these funds have recorded daily net inflows since they launched. As a result, they hold net assets of $1.25 billion, which is almost 1% of XRP’s market cap. XRP Supercycle To Happen Next Year Self-acclaimed largest IQ holder YoungHoon Kim stated in an X post that the XRP supercycle will happen next year. Kim had earlier predicted that the altcoin could reach $10 or higher next year, which would mark new all-time highs (ATHs). This looks to be based on his belief that “all crypto will eventually connect with XRP.” Related Reading: Pundit Explains Why This Changes Everything For XRP In The Long Term In the meantime, crypto analyst Crypto King has stated that patience is key as XRP looks to reclaim key levels. The analyst noted that the price is holding just above the $1.85 critical support and that a strong bounce and a reclaim of $1.98 would signal a momentum shift. He added that if that price level breaks, the first upside target is the first resistance at $2.58. Meanwhile, there is also room for the altcoin to rally to as high as $3.66 next. At the time of writing, the XRP price is trading at around $1.86, down in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Featured image from iStock, chart from Tradingview.com
The crypto exchange’s tokenization, AI tools, and stablecoin revenue help it stand out in ‘transition year’ for crypto equities, said Clear Street's Owen Lau.