Quantum computing won’t break Bitcoin in 2026, but the growing practice of “harvest now, decrypt later” is pushing the crypto industry to prepare sooner rather than later.
Tron's rising on-chain perps volume indicates increasing DeFi interest, potentially boosting its ecosystem amid broader market stagnation.
The post Tron leads on-chain perps as WoW volume jumps 176% appeared first on Crypto Briefing.
A prison letter from Keonne Rodriguez has reignited debate over crypto privacy tools, developer liability and executive clemency.
According to reports, Joshua Dalton, founder of Triblu, has put forward a striking scenario: that XRP holders could become millionaires, billionaires, or even trillionaires if the token were used as part of a US strategic crypto reserve. Related Reading: JPMorgan Eyes Crypto Services As Institutional Demand Grows – A Boost For BTC Price? Dalton argued that XRP, because of its ties to a US-based company, is a safer fit for a national reserve than Bitcoin. The claim has energized some corners of the crypto community, but it also faces steep legal and market obstacles. Dalton’s Bold Claim And The Numbers Dalton’s case relies on hard math. Based on reports, the US national debt is about $38 trillion. Ripple’s escrow holds roughly 34.4 billion XRP. Using those figures, Dalton and others calculate that an XRP price near $883 would be needed to offset roughly 80% of that debt. Many people won’t like what I say below. “Bitcoin cannot be the official currency for the United States’ reserves because Satoshi Nakamoto is still unknown and it could be the currency operated by China. The government can ???? trust XRP because it is operated by @Ripple and ????… — Joshua Dalton (@J9Dalton) January 23, 2025 At present, XRP trades around $1.91. That would mean a rise of over 46,000% for the token. By comparison, Bitcoin is trading near $89,000 and would have to reach about $30 million per coin to meet a similar debt-offset goal if the plan focused on 1 million BTC, an idea once floated by US Senator Cynthia Lummis. That would be a gain of more than 33,000% from current levels. Legal And Market Limits US President Donald Trump signed an executive order earlier this year creating a national Bitcoin reserve and a wider crypto stockpile framework. But policymakers appear to be focused mainly on Bitcoin for the reserve role, with other coins treated as seizure assets or general holdings. Importantly, Ripple’s escrow is privately controlled and governed by contracts. It cannot be commandeered by a government without legal action and likely long court fights. Even if US authorities somehow obtained large amounts of XRP, unloading such a position on global markets would likely push the price down, not up. Markets are not built to absorb trillions of dollars without heavy distortion. Holders And Wealth Scenarios Based on wallet data, some XRP addresses would see big nominal gains at an $880 price. For example, a holder of 10,000 XRP — currently worth about $19,100 — could see that stake climb to nearly $9 million on paper. Reports show 179,546 wallets hold between 5,000 and 10,000 XRP. About 2,006 addresses sit between 500,000 and 1 million XRP. Yet most of the largest reserves are held by Ripple, its founders, or exchanges. Only 20 wallets contain between 500 million and 1 billion XRP, and six addresses hold more than 1 billion. 2026 is going to be epic! Locked in! XRP will be the star of 2026. — Coach, JV (@Coachjv_) December 23, 2025 Market Reaction And Expert Views Matthew Sigel, lead researcher at VanEck, has argued in public that Bitcoin offers the best path to large-scale fiscal uses, and other analysts remain skeptical of any single token being used to “solve” national debt. Related Reading: XRP To $1,000? Korean Researcher Lays Out 10-Year Roadmap Coach JV and other commentators have shifted attention to 2026 as a potentially strong year for XRP price action, framing the outlook as speculative and time-bound. These views are primarily sentiment-driven and rely on factors beyond government policy, such as market demand and regulatory clarity. Featured image from Pixabay, chart from TradingView
This year opened with Bitcoin (BTC) proponents expecting a clean rally, driven by halving narratives, spot ETF momentum, and a Fed pivot all stacked neatly in their favor. Instead, the year closed with BTC stuck 30% below its October peak, North Korean hackers walking away with $2 billion, and the US government quietly building a […]
The post 10 stories that rewired digital finance in 2025 – the year crypto became infrastructure appeared first on CryptoSlate.
The coming year will see perfect parallel processing, big increases in the gas limit and number of data blobs, and 10% of Ethereum’s network switching to ZK.
Bitcoin's declining RSI suggests potential for a prolonged bearish trend, impacting investor confidence and shifting focus to traditional assets.
The post Bitcoin correction enters watch zone as RSI breaks below average: CryptoQuant appeared first on Crypto Briefing.
Ethereum (ETH) is approaching a pivotal derivatives deadline as billions of dollars in options contracts near expiration, placing the $3,000 price level firmly in focus for traders. While traders are betting on a move higher, Ethereum’s near-term price action remains uncertain. The outcome of this options expiry could help shape ETH’s next big move, either to the upside or down to lower levels—particularly as investors reassess their expectations following November’s volatility and choppy conditions. The price of Ethereum is currently sitting above $2,900 as a massive options expiration worth roughly $6 billion approaches. This event is expected to play a major role in shaping short-term price action and could influence investor sentiment heading into 2026. Ethereum Options Set To Expire This Friday Data from the derivatives platform Laevitas show that $6 billion in ETH options will expire on Friday, 26 December, with call positions outnumbering puts by more than 2.2 times. Despite this imbalance, bears still hold the edge unless Ethereum’s price moves decisively above $3,100. Related Reading: Ethereum Exchange Supply Just Crashed To New Lows, Why This Is Bullish For Price Earlier this year, many traders had positioned for Ethereum to surge significantly by year-end. However, those bullish expectations were undermined by a massive November decline, leaving ETH’s current options expiry vulnerable to further downside pressure. While call options still dominate Open Interest (OI), many of these positions would expire worthless if the Ethereum price fails to recover and push higher. This creates a fragile setup and leaves the market in a delicate position, where overly optimistic bets could quickly unwind if key price levels do not hold. Notably, the $3,100 price level has emerged as a critical pivot ahead of the options expiration set for this Friday. Traders have called this level “max pain,” as it represents the price at which the most options contracts would expire worthless. A close below this zone could give bears control and potentially open the door to further price declines. On the other hand, a clean break above $3,100 could flip momentum rapidly. Presently, around $3.8 billion in ETH options are expected to expire on Deribit, the world’s largest Bitcoin and Ethereum options exchange. In addition, more than $23.6 billion in Bitcoin options are scheduled to expire on Friday, potentially adding significant volatility to the already fragile market. Analyst Expect Further Volatility For Ethereum With the massive $6 billion Ethereum options expiry on the horizon, traders appear to be bracing for significant market volatility, as the event could trigger a sharp, decisive move in ETH’s price. Separately, crypto analyst Ted Pillows anticipates further volatility for ETH if its price moves in either of two key directions. Related Reading: Major Ethereum Metric Just Hit A New All-Time High – Can Price Reclaim $3,000? He says that Ethereum is currently in a no-trading zone; however, volatility could occur if the price reclaims the $3,000 level or retests the $2,700-$2,800 zone. Featured image from Pixabay, chart from Tradingview.com
The FSTB and SFC concluded consultations on virtual regimes and plan to introduce new bill to LegCo next year.
Crypto derivatives trading surged to $86 trillion in 2025, averaging $265 billion per day, as Binance captured almost 30% of global volume, CoinGlass reported.
Zhao urged the blockchain industry to adopt new security measures, including scam address blacklist, after an investor lost $50 million to an address poisoning scheme.
Can a digital asset like XRP realistically sit at a few dollars if it is expected to serve as an important liquidity layer for the global financial system? That question is at the center of a growing debate around XRP’s market value and is the basis of comments shared on X by Jesse of Apex Crypto. His argument challenges the idea that XRP can function as a worldwide liquidity instrument through Ripple’s framework while maintaining a relatively low valuation around $3, which he says doesn’t make sense. The Liquidity Argument Behind XRP’s Valuation Debate XRP’s price history shows a clear ceiling that it has struggled to overcome. Since launch, the token has never sustained a move above the $4 level, with its highest recorded peak sitting around $3.65 in mid-July. Recent weeks have been even more challenging, as XRP has been trading under $2 with the entire crypto market going through a weak phase. Related Reading: $130 Million XRP Fumble: Analyst Reveals What Went Wrong Despite this, some bullish analysts continue to speculate about scenarios where the price revisits the $3 region. That outlook, however, was directly challenged by Jesse of Apex Crypto, who asserted that even a $3 valuation fundamentally misses the point of what XRP is designed to become. Jesse’s position is built around XRP’s intended role in global finance. According to him, if XRP grows into a primary liquidity source for cross-border settlements like it was intended to be, then a valuation around $3 would not align with that responsibility. In his video commentary, he questioned what XRP would ultimately be backed by or pegged to, pointing to a structure tied to vast pools of global financial assets. These include fiat currencies, potential central bank digital currencies, and even commodities such as gold or silver. He noted that such a framework would imply that the total value represented by XRP tokens would correspond to the combined value of these underlying assets. In simple terms, if roughly 100 billion XRP were expected to support or represent liquidity linked to trillions of dollars in global assets, then a single-digit price per token would appear mathematically inconsistent. From this perspective, XRP’s valuation would need to reflect the scale of the assets it helps move. Institutional Adoption Versus Price Reality The valuation debate is much more complex when placed alongside Ripple’s growing institutional footprint. Ripple has continued to expand partnerships with banks, payment providers, and financial institutions across multiple regions, which strengthens the case that its technology is gaining traction within traditional finance. Related Reading: Dogecoin Price Could Rally If It Reclaims This Fibonacci Level At the corporate level, Ripple’s valuation and funding activity point to strong confidence from large investors, a factor Jesse of Apex Crypto believes should provide a valuation floor for XRP. However, XRP’s market price has not mirrored this institutioacnal momentum. Even with XRP-related investment products gaining attention and steady inflows, the price action is still limited, and the cryptocurrency might continue trading at low valuations in the near term. Featured image created with Dall.E, chart from Tradingview.com
Market data showed shrinking participation across NFTs, with fewer buyers, sellers and transactions signaling fading speculative interest.
2025 delivered a brutal lesson in market structure for Bitcoin. The year began with political momentum and drifted into a summer of aggressive policy signals. Yet, it snapped into one of the sharpest boom-to-bust sequences in the asset’s history. By December, the price had round-tripped, leaving the asset flat for the year. But the flat […]
The post Bitcoin’s 2025 review: The “violent transformation” hidden behind the year’s deceptively flat price chart appeared first on CryptoSlate.
Bitcoin whale deposits to Binance fell sharply in December, a shift CryptoQuant framed as a constructive near-term signal because it implies less immediate sell-side supply moving onto the market’s biggest exchange venue. Bitcoin Selling Pressure Is Fading For Now CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost wrote on Dec. 24 that “the latest data shows a clear decline in Bitcoin inflows to Binance coming from whales over the month of December.” He said monthly whale inflows dropped from roughly $7.88 billion to $3.86 billion, “effectively being halved within just a few weeks,” calling it “a significant slowdown in BTC deposits to Binance by the largest holders.” The bullish read is mostly mechanical. Exchange inflows are not the same thing as selling, but they are a prerequisite for selling at scale, and Binance remains the dominant exchange in exchange-related flows in CryptoQuant’s framing. Darkfost put it plainly: “In the current environment, the observed trend remains constructive. Binance continues to capture the largest share of exchange-related flows. When inflows from influential participants such as whales decline on this platform, it generally suggests a reduction in their selling pressure.” Related Reading: Bitcoin Price Trading Near ‘Fair Value,’ Says On-Chain Model He also cautioned that a downtrend in aggregate deposits does not eliminate the risk of sudden, market-moving transfers. “That said, this broader trend does not rule out the occurrence of occasional significant movements,” Darkfost wrote. “Some inflows can still impact the market, even if they remain relatively isolated.” As an example, he pointed to a recent $466 million spike across the 100 BTC to 10,000 BTC cohorts, alongside more than $435 million in inflows coming specifically from the 1,000 to 10,000 BTC range. Related Reading: The Macro Conditions For Bitcoin In 2026: Analyst Breaks Them Down Those bursts matter because they can reintroduce volatility even if the baseline is calmer. “These sudden movements are a reminder that whales retain the ability to influence volatility at any time, even within a broader slowdown,” Darkfost said, adding that when large holders “move thousands of BTC in single transactions,” they can trigger sharp moves “whether through sudden volatility spikes or deeper corrections, depending on the volumes deposited and potentially sold.” BTC Whale Capitulation On Pause A separate CryptoQuant update on Dec. 23 echoed the idea that the most acute stress may have eased. “Whale Capitulation on Pause,” the firm wrote, saying realized losses from “new whales” “significantly impacted the price drop from $124K to $84K.” Since the recent low, CryptoQuant said, those realized losses “have declined and are now flat.” Put together, the message is that one key source of near-term supply pressure,large deposits onto Binance,has cooled, while the realized-loss impulse tied to “new whales” is no longer intensifying. The caveat is the same one Darkfost emphasized: the market can look quiet in aggregate and still get rattled by a handful of large deposits if whales decide to move size again. At press time, BTC traded at $87,792. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
A new report by blockchain analytics firm AMLBot has revealed major differences in how the two largest stablecoin issuers, Tether and Circle, handle the freezing of crypto assets linked to illegal activity. According to the report, between 2023 and 2025, Tether froze around $3.3 billion worth of USDT, while Circle froze about $109 million in …
Bitcoin ETF performance stayed negative on Christmas Eve as a short final US trading session produced another $175 million in net outflows.
The biggest single-day exit came from BlackRock’s IBIT, which saw $91.37 million leave the fund. Grayscale’s GBTC followed with a $24.62 million outflow.
XRP remains in a $1.85–$1.91 range, with strong selling near $1.90 and consistent bids near $1.86, suggesting a potential decisive break ahead.
Crypto hackers took social engineering to a whole other level this year, and advances in artificial intelligence mean scams are about to get even harder to detect.
Elon Musk added that “triple-digit” economic growth could even be possible by 2030; however, some Bitcoiners worry about a 2026 bear market.
The number of crypto deals reportedly skyrocketed this year and hit a record total value of $8.6 billion, led by Coinbase’s record-breaking acquisition of Deribit.
Such sudden price changes are often due to thin liquidity and can be exacerbated by fewer active traders during quieter hours.
An on-chain pricing model for Bitcoin suggests that the cryptocurrency is currently neither overvalued nor undervalued, trading right around its “fair value.” Bitcoin Is Trading Near Its On-Chain Fair Value In a new post on X, cycle analyst Root has shared an update on how Bitcoin is looking from the perspective of the On-chain Value Map. This BTC valuation model was created by Root using three on-chain metrics: Realized Cap, Liquid Supply, and Coin Days Destroyed. Related Reading: XRP Retail Turns Fearful Again—A Classic Contrarian Setup? First, the “Realized Cap” is a capitalization model that calculates the cryptocurrency’s total value by assuming that the value of each token in circulation is equal to the spot price at which it was last transacted on the blockchain. In simple terms, what this indicator reflects is the amount of capital that the investors as a whole used to purchase the BTC supply. The second metric, the “Liquid Supply,” tracks the part of the BTC supply that’s held by investors who often move their coins. Basically, this is the supply that’s likely to return back into circulation, rather than being “HODL’d” Finally, the “Coin Days Destroyed” (CDD) measures the number of coin days being reset across the network. A “coin day” is a quantity that 1 BTC accumulates after 1 day of dormancy. When a token carrying some number of coin days is transacted, its coin days counter resets back to zero, and the coin days that it was holding are said to be “destroyed.” The CDD is useful for spotting periods where long-term holders are participating in distribution. These diamond hands hold for long spans, so they naturally accumulate a large amount of coin days, which, when destroyed, produce a spike in the CDD. Now, here is the chart for the On-chain Value Map shared by Root, which combines the data of all these Bitcoin indicators to define a few different valuation levels: As displayed in the above graph, Bitcoin spiked above the “overvalued” level as it set its all-time high (ATH) back in October. Since then, the cryptocurrency has notably declined, with its price returning to the level corresponding to “fair value” on the model. Related Reading: Bitcoin Perps Heat Up Again As Leveraged Longs Rise Thus, it would appear that, at least from the perspective of the On-chain Value Map, the asset is currently neither undervalued nor overvalued, but pretty much neutral. Given this trend, it remains to be seen which direction the coin will head from here. BTC Price Bitcoin has been in a phase of consolidation since its low in November, but its price hasn’t diverged much from the On-chain Value Map’s fair value during this period. Currently, it’s trading around $87,600. Featured image from Dall-E, BitcoinStrategyPlatform.com, chart from TradingView.com
Some Polymarket users reported that their accounts had been breached and drained, which the prediction market blamed on a third-party provider.
Evernorth's significant losses highlight the volatility and risk inherent in cryptocurrency investments, impacting investor confidence and market stability.
The post Ripple-backed Evernorth faces $220M drawdown as XRP struggles appeared first on Crypto Briefing.
Dragonfly’s Rob Hadick says “there’s a lot of room” in crypto for more than one blockchain as networks race to win market share of tokenized assets.
Blockchain tokenization is radically expanding the definition of money, enabling anyone to trade, save, and spend in virtually any asset they like, says Kraken’s Mark Greenberg.
The Ethereum price has struggled to reclaim the critical $3,000 mark for the past 48 hours, raising concerns about potential declines in the cryptocurrency’s value if this essential support level is not regained by the end of the week. Analyst Predicts Further Downside Market analyst Ted Pillows pointed out on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) that without a quick recovery above $3,000, Ethereum could face further downside pressures, possibly dropping toward the $2,800 range in the near term. This scenario would indicate an additional retracement of approximately 5% from its current trading price, which hovers just above $2,940. This ongoing struggle adds to the 16% decline recorded in the monthly time frame, highlighting the precarious situation for broader cryptocurrency prices. Related Reading: This Friday’s Bitcoin Options Expiry Could Shake Up The Market: What To Look Out For Another analyst, Columbus, sought to understand Ethereum’s lackluster performance relative to Bitcoin (BTC). He noted that Ethereum continues to trade below its Volume Weighted Average Price (VWAP), struggling to gain traction above this critical metric. The bounce observed from the $2,800 to $2,850 range appears more responsive than impulsive, in the analyst’s words, suggesting that while there are buying interests, conviction in the rally remains weak. Columbus further remarked that there is considerable liquidity layered overhead, particularly within the $3,050 to $3,250 zone. This liquidity has successfully capped any attempts to push prices higher. Unless Ethereum can reclaim this area and achieve consistent acceptance above it, upward movements are likely to be more about short-term rotations into supply rather than genuine trend continuation. On the downside, a failure to hold the $2,850 mark could expose Ethereum to deeper losses, potentially leading to a downturn toward lower liquidity levels between $2,400 and $2,700, where the bulk of liquidity is concentrated. Will Ethereum Drop To $1,300 In 2026? Looking further into the future, market expert CryptoBullet painted a more somber picture of Ethereum’s potential trajectory for 2026. He has introduced a new fractal model for Ethereum that suggests bearish outcomes for investors anticipating a bull run next year. In a social media post, CryptoBullet presented a daily chart of Ethereum, outlining key price targets and indicating that while a price recovery might occur in January and February, subsequent months could see a significant downturn. Related Reading: These Five Key Drivers Could Boost XRP To $5 By 2026, Claims Top Analyst According to this analysis, Ethereum’s brief recovery could falter against existing resistance levels between $3,600 and $3,800, potentially culminating in a dramatic decline to a target price of $1,385. If this fractal model mimics Ethereum’s performance in 2022, it could signify a staggering 63% drop in value for the leading altcoin. Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com
After failing to turn the $90,000 area, Bitcoin (BTC) continues to move within its local range with apparent no clear direction. Some market observers have suggested that the flagship crypto will remain rangebound until next year, when its potential moment of truth will come. Related Reading: More Pain For Ethereum? Head And Shoulder Pattern Signals $2,400 Breakdown Bitcoin Takes Holiday Break On Christmas Eve Day, Bitcoin continued with its sideways trajectory, trading between the $86,000-$87,000 levels throughout the day. The cryptocurrency has been hovering within the $80,000-$94,000 levels since the late November correction, failing to break out of its one-month range despite earlier attempts. Notably, BTC’s price has been trading around the mid-zone of its range, moving between the $84,000-$90,000 levels for nearly two weeks. Analyst Ted Pillows noted that Bitcoin “is still in no trading zone,” arguing that if the price doesn’t reclaim the $90,000 resistance area, the price could risk another retest of the $84,000 support. However, if the support and resistance levels don’t break, it will continue to move within its range until the market’s momentum returns. Meanwhile, Daan Crypto Trades highlighted that December has been “a very boring month all things considered.” In an X post, he explained that there the broader crypto market had “no major narratives, no major moves. Just a lot of up days followed by down days. With alts bleeding lower in the end and BTC & ETH roughly stable.” The trader also asserted that it hasn’t been BTC’s best year despite reaching new highs this quarter. He pointed out that “this year was abysmal, especially looking at the risk adjusted returns.” Nonetheless, he noted that “during years like these, we are taking big steps towards distributing coins from OG large holders and get a more evenly spread supply. Regardless of price action in the short term, that’s always a good thing to see.” BTC To Breakout Or Breakdown In 2026? Daan affirmed that Q1 2026 will be the moment where Bitcoin can “try and prove itself” and when everyone will be closely watching the cryptocurrency’s performance to determine whether the cycle is over or not. Other market watchers have suggested two potential scenarios for BTC’s early 2026 performance. Ted Pillows highlighted that BTC appears to be mirroring its 2021-2022 fractal, which suggests that the flagship cryptocurrency is ultimately entering a bear market. Per the chart, Bitcoin saw a significant pullback after topping in late 2021. This was followed by brief recovery period at the start of 2022 before the price continued its descending trajectory. Based on this, the analyst forecasted a rally towards $100,000 at the start of 2026 before its next leg down, which could target the $60,000-$70,000 area. On the contrary, Eljaboom pointed out that BTC could be repeating its performance from the start of the year. Related Reading: XRP ETFs Record 25-Day Streak As Price Eyes Key Resistance Level As he noted, BTC displays a multi-month falling wedge pattern on the three-day chart similar to the one that formed between Q4 2024 and Q2 2025 and led to the Q3 3035 rally. If history repeats, the cryptocurrency could retest the pattern’s lower boundary in the coming weeks before breaking out of the formation and potentially moving to new highs by Q2 2026. As of this writing, Bitcoin trades at $87,350, a 0.5% decline in the daily timeframe. Featured Image from Unsplash.com, Chart from TradingView.com