Ripple had a busy 2025, highlighted by acquisitions, the end of a years-long court battle, and a burst to new heights for XRP.
The high tide of liquidity that has recently supported Bitcoin prices appears to be receding rapidly. The market is now grappling with significant net outflows, as data confirms that investment flows have turned decisively negative. This shift represents a stark turnaround in market dynamics, where selling pressure is currently overwhelming buying interest across major platforms. Why Markets Move Before Narratives Catch Up In an X post, a trader and investor in stocks and crypto, WealthManager, revealed that since December 8th, Bitcoin has recorded approximately $716 million in net outflows. Over the past two weeks, flows have been dominated almost entirely by outflows, reflecting a market that has lost momentum rather than conviction. Related Reading: New Bitcoin Crash Incoming? Twenty One Capital Moves 43,500 BTC Amid Major Losses Currently, the cryptocurrency market is not the preferred destination for momentum-driven capital. That momentum has rotated into gold, silver, and broader metals, but the rotations are temporary by nature. However, the opportunity remains in crypto, and the momentum will shift back into the sector at some point. “The lower BTC goes, the bigger the opportunity would become,” WealthManager noted. Analyst Cipher2X has offered an insight into why he is accumulating Bitcoin ahead of 2026. According to Cipher2X, BTC has never waited for perfect conditions to do its most important work. It builds its foundations when liquidity is tight and expectations are low. At this stage, price action is misleading, but the structure is not. On-chain data has shown that supply is increasingly locked up with long-term holders, while access to BTC through regulated channels is becoming routine rather than exceptional. At the same time, micro uncertainty continues to reinforce BTC’s role as a hedge against policy risk, not as a speculative bet on growth. This setup is the kind of environment where BTC intends to move sideways, frustrate the traders, and quietly shift ownership from impatient hands to committed ones. Cipher2X explains that the purpose of accumulating BTC isn’t a short-term catalyst, but because the next regime tends to reward those who have positioned early, not those who have reacted late. 2026 isn’t about the hype; it’s about who was already holding the asset. What Falling Volatility Says About Bitcoin’s Maturity The Bitcoin chart has shown the implied volatility on the BTC options over the past few years. A full-time crypto trader and investor, Daan Crypto Trades, pointed out that aside from a few short spikes of volatility, there’s a clear trend down on this part. BTC is maturing as its market cap is growing over time, and the market is becoming more institutionalized. Related Reading: Bitcoin’s Long Game Is Winning, Even If The Short Term Looks Messy—CEO Daan concluded that the days of seeing multiple 10%+ candles in a row are behind us. Presently, if a single 10% move in one day happens, it would already be considered a big exception. Featured image from Getty Images, chart from Tradingview.com
As AI blurs the line between real and synthetic media, strategies for restoring user trust online are still taking shape as we enter 2026.
Japan’s FY2026 tax reform outline proposes reclassifying crypto assets as financial products under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act, cutting the tax rate on gains from up to 55% to a flat 20.315%. Spot, derivatives, and ETF profits would face separate taxation with up to a three-year loss carryforward, aligning with stocks. Staking, lending, and …
Tokenized commodities are increasing amid growing investor demand for more accessible onchain financial products, following new all-time highs for gold and silver.
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.
Polymarket and Kalshi achieved multi-billion dollar valuations as investors bet the companies will scale exponentially.
The lowdown on how the switchover to ZK-proofs is expected to work this year as part of Ethereum’s plan to scale to 10,000 TPS.
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
Every Boxing Day, I make the same cup of tea, check the same price chart, and ask the same question: What story is Bitcoin telling this year? Line up the December 26 close from the start of the exchange era to today, and a pattern appears. The holiday reveals the mood that carried us into […]
The post Bitcoin just missed its $95k Boxing Day record, triggering signal that demands immediate attention appeared first on CryptoSlate.
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: …
Once a barometer of retail hype, memecoins are closing the year with shrinking liquidity, weaker participation and fading speculative momentum.
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 …
From hacks and macro shocks to stablecoin regulation and market-structure upgrades, 2025 reshaped how crypto operates and what mainstream adoption really means.
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 …