Ethereum is struggling to reclaim the $3,100 level as price action tightens and the market braces for a decisive move. After weeks of choppy trading, ETH remains caught between fading bullish attempts and persistent overhead resistance, leaving analysts sharply divided on what comes next. A minority still expects Ethereum to regain strength and eventually challenge its all-time highs, while the dominant narrative points toward a bearish 2026 marked by weaker demand and tighter liquidity conditions. Related Reading: Bitcoin Remains In A High-Risk Zone As Short-Term Holders Stay Underwater Amid this uncertainty, a CryptoQuant report offers a longer-term perspective that cuts through short-term noise. The analysis focuses on Ethereum’s Accumulating Addresses Realized Price, a metric that tracks the average cost basis of addresses that consistently accumulate ETH rather than trade it actively. Unlike momentum indicators, this measure reflects where long-term participants are willing to commit capital over extended periods. Notably, this accumulation cost has trended steadily higher since 2020. Even during the severe 2022–2023 drawdown, when ETH price corrected sharply, long-term holders largely held their ground instead of capitulating. That behavior established a durable foundation beneath the market. Today, this realized price has stabilized in the $2,700–$2,800 range, effectively forming a structural cost zone for Ethereum. As ETH hovers just above this area, the market faces a critical question: whether this long-term support continues to anchor price, or if shifting macro conditions finally challenge a regime that has held for years. Ethereum Long-Term Accumulation Regime Faces a Critical Test The report argues that the debate around Ethereum is shifting. The key issue is no longer whether the $2,700–$2,800 accumulation zone holds in the short term, but whether this long-standing accumulation regime can persist indefinitely. According to data from CryptoQuant, Ethereum stands out sharply from the broader altcoin market when viewed through this lens. Since 2022, most altcoins have suffered deep drawdowns without ever forming a durable accumulation cost base. That absence of consistent long-term buying helps explain why recoveries across the altcoin complex have been weaker and more fragile. Ethereum, by contrast, has repeatedly demonstrated an ability to retain long-term holder conviction through multiple stress periods, including 2018, 2020, 2022, and even the volatility seen in 2025. However, markets evolve, and structural regimes do not last forever. Periods of apparent stability are often when underlying assumptions are most vulnerable to change. From a forward-looking perspective, two scenarios stand out. As long as ETH price trades near or above its accumulation cost, it signals that long-term buyers remain engaged, reinforcing Ethereum’s relative resilience compared with most altcoins. On the other hand, a sustained break below this cost zone would imply a meaningful behavioral shift among long-term holders—one that could challenge the idea that Ethereum has permanently escaped its pre-2020 valuation framework. In today’s environment, short-term price swings dominate attention, but it is this structural battle beneath the surface that may ultimately define Ethereum’s next major cycle. Related Reading: Bearish Signal Emerges For Ethereum As US Spot Demand Fades Price Consolidates as Bulls Defend the $3,000 Zone Ethereum is currently consolidating around the $3,100 level after failing to reclaim higher resistance zones, reflecting a market caught between stabilization and continuation risk. The chart shows ETH trading below its short- and medium-term moving averages, with the 50-day and 100-day averages now acting as dynamic resistance rather than support. This shift confirms that the broader structure remains corrective following the rejection from the $4,000–$4,200 region earlier in the cycle. Notably, the $3,000–$3,100 area has emerged as a critical pivot. Price has repeatedly defended this zone, suggesting the presence of demand and short-term accumulation. However, upside momentum remains limited, as each bounce has been met with selling pressure near descending moving averages. This behavior is typical of markets attempting to form a base after a prolonged drawdown rather than initiating a clean trend reversal. Related Reading: Bitcoin Tests Key Resistance While $4.7B In Sell-Side Liquidity Builds From a structural perspective, ETH remains above the long-term moving average, which continues to slope upward. This indicates that the broader macro trend has not fully broken down, even though short-term momentum is weak. Volume has also declined during recent rebounds, reinforcing the idea that buyers lack conviction. For bulls, a sustained reclaim of the $3,300 level would be required to shift momentum and challenge the bearish structure. Until then, Ethereum appears locked in a consolidation phase, with downside risks persisting if the $3,000 support fails to hold. Featured image from ChatGPT, chart from TradingView.com
Crypto venture capitalists have tipped stablecoin card adoption to take off in 2026 after fintech startup Rain secured $250 million in funding to push stablecoin payments.
Ripple’s 2025 acquisition spree is starting to look, in the eyes of Digital Ascension Group CEO Jake Claver, less like opportunistic dealmaking and more like an attempt to build the “Amazon of financial infrastructure,” a vertically integrated stack where XRP and Ripple’s stablecoin RLUSD sit at the settlement layer. In a video, Claver said Ripple spent roughly $2.45 billion on acquisitions in the last seven months of 2025, arguing the purchases form “pillars for a master plan” that mirrors how Amazon built dominance by owning infrastructure rather than just selling products. Why Ripple Could Be The ‘Next Amazon’ The core analogy was explicit. “Amazon’s success came from building infrastructure, not just from self products,” Claver said. “You got AWS. It became the most profitable piece of their business. That was infrastructure. They own all of the warehouses and logistics and the cloud and the marketplace.” Related Reading: How XRP Ledger Becomes The Leading Blockchain In 2026: Fintech CEO His contention is that infrastructure plays create structural advantages: lower marginal costs, faster iteration, and higher switching costs once institutions integrate. “This vertical integration is rare in financial services,” he said, arguing that most firms “specialize in one layer or partner for the rest,” which introduces friction, delays, and blame-shifting when systems fail. He also claimed the endgame resembles “winner take all dynamics,” where “network effects make the large networks exponentially more valuable than small ones” and “switching becomes cost prohibitive” once workflows are embedded. To explain the Amazon comparison, Claver mapped Ripple’s 2025 deals to what he sees as the minimum viable infrastructure bundle for an institutional “platform.” “You need custody and clearing for assets. You need treasury management for corporate operations. You need payment rails that work globally 24/7, 365,” he said. “You need a stable coin infrastructure for efficient settlements. And you need settlement assets to be able to move between all of those.” He argued Ripple has assembled those layers through a mix of older buys and 2025 mega-deals, culminating in what he called an end-to-end institutional product branded “Ripple 1.” The most prominent 2025 move, Claver said, was the $1.25 billion purchase of Hidden Road in April, now rebranded “Ripple Prime.” His framing: prime brokerage is the institutional “plumbing” that makes large-scale trading and settlement possible. “Prime brokers provide the behind-the-scenes services that make institutional trading possible,” he said. “They handle clearing. They make sure trade actually settles between counterparties. They provide custody and hold assets securely.” He added that Hidden Road served “over 300 institutional clients” and cleared “more than $3 trillion” in 2024, and claimed the business has grown “3x” since the acquisition announcement. Related Reading: XRP Retrace Is Only Temporary, What Happens Once the Uptrend Resumes He also pointed to an integration hook meant to create internal demand for Ripple’s stablecoin: “Hidden Road will use RLUSD as collateral across prime brokerage products. And this creates organic demand for Ripple stablecoin with institutional adoption.” The second pillar, he said, was Rail, acquired for about $200 million in August 2025, described as a stablecoin payments platform that operates 24/7 and reduces the need for enterprises to hold crypto directly. He claimed Rail was forecast to process “over 10%” of a $36 billion global B2B stablecoin payments market in 2025. Third came GTreasury, acquired for $1 billion after being announced in October 2025 and closing in December, which Claver described as treasury software used by large corporations and processing $12.5 trillion in annual payment volume. The strategic value, he argued, is distribution: access to CFOs and treasurers via trusted software already embedded in corporate finance workflows. The fourth, Palisade, announced in November 2025 with undisclosed terms, was framed as the “hot wallet” layer: operational wallet-as-a-service infrastructure for high-velocity transaction use cases, complementing deeper custody solutions. At press time, XRP traded at $2.10. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
Bitcoin traders’ risk sentiment turned bullish, with the proof being in this week’s futures-led advance to $95,000. Will bulls make another attempt after retesting a key underlying support level?
Ethereum continues to trade within a prolonged accumulation phase, signaling that the market may be approaching a pivotal transition. As ETH/BTC firmly defends long-term cycle support, the structure points to quiet strength building beneath the surface, often a precursor to rotation and a decisive next move. Ethereum’s Inverted Monthly Chart Signals Late-Stage Accumulation EGRAG CRYPTO made a post, showing that Ethereum’s inverted monthly chart continues to reflect a familiar cyclical pattern, though with notable evolution. Each market cycle follows a similar rhythm, but as the asset matures, volatility compresses, and price behavior becomes more controlled. Related Reading: Ethereum’s Q1 Outlook: Analyst Shares Historical Setup As Price Nears Key Resistance In the first cycle, Ethereum experienced a brief accumulation phase followed by a sharp and violent drop. The second cycle extended the accumulation period, resulting in a more gradual decline. Meanwhile, in the third and current cycle, accumulation has lasted significantly longer, suggesting that any corrective phase should be comparatively shallow. It is important to note that the chart is inverted, meaning what appears as a drop on this view actually represents a breakout on the standard price chart. In this context, the current structure suggests that accumulation is nearing completion, and the market may be approaching its next decisive move. This setup points to a less explosive move compared to earlier cycles, but more controlled. From a price roadmap perspective, initial resistance is projected between $3,800 and $4,500. A successful flip of that zone into support could open the door toward the $6,000 to $7,500 region. The primary risk scenario remains a deeper retest toward the $1,800 to $2,200 range before a broader upside continuation. Why ETH/BTC Is A Key Market Barometer Right Now In a recent post on ETH/BTC, CyrilXBT emphasized that this remains one of the most important charts to monitor. Ethereum continues to defend the 2018 cycle support, consistently printing higher lows while price action tightens just below key resistance levels. This kind of compression often signals that the market is preparing for a larger move rather than breaking down. Related Reading: Here’s The Ethereum Descending Triangle Structure That Threatens A Crash Below $2,800 Importantly, there is no sign of panic or structural damage. Sellers have failed to force a decisive breakdown, while buyers continue to step in at higher levels, reinforcing the strength of the underlying support. The longer this base holds, the more meaningful the eventual breakout or rotation becomes. At this stage of the cycle, Ethereum does not need to outperform aggressively. Simply holding its relative value is usually enough to signal the early stages of capital rotation. Historically, sustained stability on the ETH/BTC pair tends to precede periods where Ethereum begins to take the lead once momentum fully returns. Featured image from Getty Images, chart from Tradingview.com
Cryptocurrency index benchmarks and crypto index investment vehicles will grow in popularity as market complexity increases, analysts say.
Rep. Ritchie Torres introduced legislation to ban government officials from prediction markets, citing insider information concerns.
New rules from Colombia’s tax authority require crypto service providers to collect and share user and transaction data.
While Senator Cynthia Lummis hints about a circulating Banking Committee draft, the Agriculture Committee says it's still hoping for a bipartisan version.
The first thing you learn when you spend too long around Bitcoin is that everyone has a chart that “always works”, and everyone has a scar from the last time it didn’t. This week’s chart is making the rounds again, it’s the one that tracks Bitfinex margin longs, and it’s flashing a familiar change in […]
The post This Bitfinex whale “buy signal” is everywhere, but the real Bitcoin data suggests a much messier six weeks appeared first on CryptoSlate.
Democratic leaders on key committees considering crypto market structure legislation are reportedly drawing a line in the sand over elected officials profiting off the industry.
Big banks aren’t debating crypto anymore — they’re building it. From tokenized cash to ETFs, Wall Street is quietly going onchain.
DeepSeek's upcoming V4 model could outperform Claude and ChatGPT in coding tasks, according to insiders—with its purported release nearing.
Larian Studios head Swen Vincke said the upcoming RPG Divinity will not use generative AI art, though the studio still sees benefits to the tech.
On-chain data show a significant amount of Shiba Inu still held on exchanges, putting the SHIB price at risk of a decline due to sell-offs. This comes amid a positive increase in net flows, indicating that more coins are flowing into exchanges, likely to offload them. SHIB Price At Risk With 82 Trillion Shiba Inu On Exchanges CryptoQuant data shows that the Shiba Inu exchange reserve is at 82 trillion coins. This indicates higher selling pressure, especially as the value has risen from around 81 trillion at the start of the year. Amid this development, the SHIB price has trimmed some of its year-to-date gains, with the meme coin dropping from a high above $0.000009 just as the exchange reserve rose. Related Reading: Here’s Why The Shiba Inu Price Jumped Over 13% Another bearish indicator for Shiba Inu at the moment is the exchange netflow. Further data from CryptoQuant show that the exchange netflow has turned positive, indicating that more coins are being deposited into exchanges than removed. As such, the meme coin is likely currently facing more selling pressure than buying pressure, putting the SHIB price at risk of a decline. Notably, the Shiba Inu exchange netflow turned positive just as the SHIB price reached its yearly high above $$0.000009. The recent bearish sentiment in the broader crypto market has likely contributed to these sell-offs for SHIB, with the Bitcoin price dropping back to $90,000 after rising above $94,000 at the start of the year. Activity in the Shiba Inu derivatives market also paints a bearish picture for the SHIB price. CoinGlass data shows that trading volume has dropped by just over 5%, to $203 million. SHIB’s open interest is also down over 7%, dropping to $108 million. However, a positive is that most traders are still bullish on the meme coin, with the long/short ratio above 1. An Increase In SHIB Whale Transactions A positive for the SHIB price is that whales still appear to be bullish on the meme coin. On-chain analytics platform Santiment recently pointed out a 111% spike in Shiba Inu’s whale transactions. Thanks to this development, SHIB ranks among the tokens with a market cap of at least $500 that have seen an increase in whale transactions above $100,000. Related Reading: Shiba Inu End Of Year Predictions Remain Bearish, High Volatility Expected Meanwhile, CryptoQuant data show that the number of daily Shiba Inu active addresses has climbed since the start of the year and has remained above the 3,000 threshold. This is a positive as it indicates that attention is now returning to the SHIB ecosystem, which could positively impact the SHIB price once the crypto market rebounds again. At the time of writing, the Shiba Inu price is trading at around $0.000008752, down in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Featured image from Sketchfab, chart from Tradingview.com
The crypto market structure bill is unlikely to come up for a second vote in 2026 if it fails to pass in a vote next week, analyst Alex Thorn said.
The notorious crypto crash on October 10 of last year sent shockwaves through the market, resulting in the largest liquidation event in history with nearly $20 billion in losses. This catastrophic event ignited significant criticisms and fears among investors regarding the stability of the cryptocurrency market. However, the upcoming crypto market structure bill, known as the CLARITY Act, is being touted as a potential safeguard against future crashes. Market Manipulation In Crypto Could Plummet Market expert Crypto Rover recently took to social media to express optimism about the CLARITY Act as the Senate prepares for a markup on January 15. According to Rover, this crypto bill could reduce market manipulation in the crypto space by an impressive 70% to 80%. Related Reading: 3 Vital Factors Needed For A Lasting 2026 Crypto Surge, Bitwise CIO Unveils He noted the devastating effects of the October 10 event, describing it as a “massacre” for crypto holders, many of whom lost their life savings without clear answers about who was ultimately responsible for the chaos. Rover is confident that with the implementation of the CLARITY Act, the cryptocurrency market could begin operating more like traditional financial markets (TradFi). Institutional Investment Set To Surge Once the CLARITY Act passes in the Senate, Rover asserts that it will move to the floor for a full vote before returning to the House for final approval and eventually reaching President Trump’s desk. He further suggested that this entire process could take one to two months, potentially allowing the CLARITY Act to be signed into law by March 2026. Related Reading: VanEck Predicts Bitcoin Could Reach $2.9 Million In New Long-Term Capital Report Should this come to fruition, it is expected to open the floodgates for institutional investment in the crypto market, fundamentally changing the alleged “daily market manipulation” witnessed in the sector. At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $90,357, having erased some of the gains seen at the beginning of the week when the market’s leading crypto surged towards a two-month high of $94,800. Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com
Nasdaq and CME relaunch crypto index as NCI to support institutional adoption with trusted benchmarks, governance, and transparency.
The post Nasdaq and CME relaunch crypto index to meet rising demand for trusted benchmarks appeared first on Crypto Briefing.
U.S. employment data for December was mixed, while inflation expectations edged higher, and the U.S. Supreme Court did not deliver a ruling on the Trump Administration's tariffs.
There are red-line demands from decentralized finance — and backed by the rest of crypto — that remain unknowns as senators finish the draft they'll vote on.
The bill came after a Polymarket user netted more than $400,000 on a contract related to the removal of then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, fueling concerns about insider trading.
The Federal Reserve is expected to continue with its interest rate cut in 2026, amid the high executive pressures. As President Donald Trump prepares to name his pick for the Fed Chair to replace Jerome Powell, Wall Street analysts are now forecasting at least a 50 bps rate cut in 2026. Morgan Stanley and Citigroup …
Metaplanet stock jumps 35% YTD as its Bitcoin treasury hits 35,000 BTC, extending gains despite shares still down from 2025 highs.
The post Metaplanet jumps 5% today, pushing 2026 gains to 35% appeared first on Crypto Briefing.
The cryptocurrency exchange reported sharp growth in automated trading as volatility narrowed across major crypto assets.
The initiative mirrors deposit balances on a private blockchain to speed up settlement and unlock liquidity.
Pump.fun says creator fees worked for organized project teams but had little impact on typical memecoin deployers.
A cryptocurrency analyst has pointed out how Bitcoin could risk a crash to $69,230 if the support level of this Bear Pennant doesn’t hold up. Bitcoin Might Need To Hold Above $87,200 In a new post on X, analyst Ali Martinez has talked about a support level that BTC might have to hold in order to avoid a steep drop. The level in question is the lower line of a Bear Pennant. A Pennant is a pattern from technical analysis (TA) that’s similar to a Flag. Both of these patterns are characterized by an initial sharp move (commonly known as the “pole”) and a subsequent phase of consolidation. But unlike Flags, which involve a parallel consolidation channel, Pennants involve a triangular channel instead. Related Reading: $460M Crypto Longs Squeezed As Bitcoin Slips Below $90,000 When the price is trading inside the consolidation portion of the Pennant, it encounters resistance at the upper line and support at the lower one. A breakout of either of these levels may signal a sustained move in that direction. Pennants are generally considered to be continuation patterns, so a move may be more likely to take place in the same direction as the pole. In a Bear Pennant, the pole is represented by a downward move, implying that a bearish continuation could succeed the pattern. Now, here is the chart shared by Martinez that shows the Bear Pennant that Bitcoin has been trading inside on the daily timeframe over the last couple of months: As displayed in the above graph, Bitcoin retested the upper line of the Pennant’s consolidation region when its price surged above $94,000. This retest ended up in rejection, and the coin has since retraced to lower levels. If the current trajectory in the cryptocurrency continues, it’s possible that a retest of the support level could take place, which is situated around $87,200. Since the pattern involved here is a Bear Pennant, BTC failing a retest of this line could signal a bearish breakout. Pennant breakouts are usually considered to lead to a move that’s similar to the pole in length. Based on this, BTC’s breakout target from the current pattern could lie near $69,000. “Bitcoin $BTC must hold above $87,200 to avoid a drop toward $69,230,” explained the analyst. Bitcoin is currently also trading near an important on-chain level: the Active Realized Price. This indicator keeps track of the average cost basis of the active network participants. According to data from on-chain analytics firm Glassnode, the Active Realized Price is located at $87,700 right now, meaning that the active investors are in a slight amount of net profit. Related Reading: CryptoQuant CEO Expects Boring Bitcoin Action, Not Major Crash BTC Price At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading around $90,400, up more than 1% over the last week. Featured image from Dall-E, chart from TradingView.com
Bitcoin steadied near $90,000 as ETF flows turned negative, altcoins continued a valuation reset and DeFi markets showed pockets of renewed activity.
The crypto market is flashing early signals of a first-quarter recovery as the dust finally settles on December’s sharp sell-off. According to a new analysis from Coinbase, four structural indicators suggest the correction was a temporary setback rather than a regime shift. Fresh inflows into spot ETFs, a drastic reduction in systemic leverage, improved order […]
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Pump.fun founder returns to X after 65 days, unveiling plans to overhaul creator fees in 2026 as $PUMP jumps 10%.
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