bitcoinist.com

A coordinated effort to gather crypto tax records has begun in a group of jurisdictions preparing to take part in the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF).

According to official monitoring from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 48 jurisdictions committed to start collecting standardized crypto transaction and user data from January 1, 2026, with the first automatic cross-border exchanges expected to take place in 2027.

Countries Begin Collecting Data

Based on reports, service providers such as major exchanges, some broker platforms, crypto ATMs and certain custody services will be obliged to record account details, transaction histories and users’ tax residency information for reporting to domestic tax authorities.

That information will be formatted so it can be shared automatically with partner tax offices once the exchange phase starts. The OECD monitoring update lays out the kinds of fields that must be gathered and stored for future reporting.

What Exchanges Must Report

According to news outlets tracking the rollout, exchanges are already adjusting onboarding forms and internal compliance systems to verify customers’ tax residency and capture wallet-level activity.

Some jurisdictions, led by the United Kingdom, have moved faster to require platforms to keep detailed purchase and sale records for users in scope. Tax authorities will then receive yearly reports covering balances, transfers and gains for listed accounts.

Operational Strain And Privacy Questions

The new rules create practical burdens. Smaller platforms will need to upgrade systems or hire compliance staff to track the new data points.

Based on reports, privacy advocates and parts of the crypto industry are warning that the depth of data collection could raise concerns about how long sensitive transaction records are held and who can access them.

Some legal teams are already studying how domestic data-privacy laws interact with automatic information exchange.

Middle Nations Join The Second Wave

A further group of jurisdictions has said it will begin domestic collection later. Reports note that an additional 27 jurisdictions have timelines that target January 1, 2027 for starting to collect, with exchanges of information to follow in 2028 for that batch.

At least one analysis of national updates also indicates that a handful of countries are planning to stagger implementation because of local legislative calendars.

How This Will Play Out For Users

For ordinary crypto users, the immediate change will be more questions during account setup and clearer record-keeping demands from providers.

Based on official guidance, CARF itself does not create new taxes; rather, it gives tax offices the data they need to enforce existing rules. For some investors, that means past reporting gaps will be easier for authorities to spot.

Reports have disclosed that implementation will vary by country. Some tax administrations are ready to receive standardized files in 2027, while others are still finishing domestic law changes.

Observers say the rollout marks a major step toward treating crypto transactions like other financial accounts when it comes to cross-border tax transparency.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin rang in 2026 by switching his X profile image back to a Milady-style avatar and pairing it with a manifesto-like post that re-centers Ethereum’s identity around a single, old-school ambition: becoming “the world computer” for an open internet.

“Welcome to 2026! Milady is back,” Buterin wrote, before ticking through what he framed as Ethereum’s 2025 progress: higher gas limits, a larger blob count, better node software quality, and zkEVMs hitting major performance milestones. He also argued that “with zkEVMs and PeerDAS ethereum made its largest step toward being a fundamentally new and more powerful kind of blockchain.”

Ethereum Must Deliver The World Computer

But the post’s center of gravity wasn’t a victory lap. It was a warning that the network is still falling short of its own stated goals and that chasing whatever narrative is currently printing attention is not the point.

Buterin drew a bright line between Ethereum’s long-term mission and trend-driven incentives that often dominate crypto cycles. “Ethereum needs to do more to meet its own stated goals,” he wrote. “Not the quest of ‘winning the next meta’ regardless of whether it’s tokenized dollars or political memecoins, not arbitrarily convincing people to help us fill up blockspace to make ETH ultrasound again, but the mission: To build the world computer that serves as a central infrastructure piece of a more free and open internet.”

From there, he offered a description of what “world computer” should mean in practice: decentralized applications that can’t be quietly altered or shut off, and that remain usable even when the companies and infrastructure most users take for granted fail.

“We’re building decentralized applications. Applications that run without fraud, censorship or third-party interference,” he wrote. “Applications that pass the walkaway test: they keep running even if the original developers disappear. Applications where if you’re a user, you don’t even notice if Cloudflare goes down — or even if all of Cloudflare gets hacked by North Korea.”

Buterin extended that same set of expectations beyond finance, explicitly name-checking identity, governance, and “whatever other civilizational infrastructure people want to build,” and he emphasized privacy as a core property rather than a nice-to-have.

A notable thread in the post is that Buterin refuses to treat usability-at-scale and decentralization as a trade-off Ethereum can punt on. “To achieve this, it needs to be (i) usable, and usable at scale, and (ii) actually decentralized,” he wrote, arguing those requirements apply both to the base layer—“including the software we use to run and talk to the blockchain” and to the application layer.

That framing implicitly puts pressure on multiple constituencies at once: core protocol work, client diversity and quality, infrastructure that doesn’t centralize around a few providers, and dapp architectures that can survive developer abandonment while still meeting user expectations.

Buterin closed on a note of resolve rather than specifics, saying Ethereum has “powerful tools” but needs to apply them more aggressively. “All of these pieces must be improved — they are already being improved, but they must be improved more,” he wrote. “Fortunately, we have powerful tools on our side — but we need to apply them, and we will.”

At press time, ETH traded at $3,030.

Roundhill Investments has filed an amended registration statement for its XRP ETF, which it could launch as soon as January 29. Notably, the XRP fund differs from the spot XRP funds and will only seek to provide investors with income from the altcoin rather than provide spot exposure. 

Roundhill Files Form N-1A For XRP ETF

Roundhill filed a post-effective amendment for its XRP Covered Call Strategy ETF, noting that the filing was intended to delay the fund’s effectiveness until January 29. In line with this, the fund could launch this month, unless another amendment delays its effectiveness. The potential launch of Roundhill’s XRP ETF could provide a major boost for the altcoin, as the fund offers another avenue for institutional investors to gain exposure to the token.  

Roundhill’s XRP fund differs from the spot XRP ETFs, as it doesn’t provide spot exposure to the altcoin. Instead, it seeks to provide current income and exposure to the price return of one or more ETFs that provide exposure to XRP and whose shares trade on a U.S.-regulated exchange. Basically, the fund tracks the performance of other XRP ETFs that provide direct exposure to the altcoin and doesn’t invest directly in the altcoin. 

Roundhill’s XRP ETF prospectus also revealed that the Fund seeks to achieve its investment objectives through the use of a synthetic covered call strategy that provides current income. In tracking the price return of other XRP ETFs, the Fund isn’t just limited to spot XRP funds. It can also track the price return of ETFs that derive exposure to XRP through investments in exchange-traded futures contracts that utilize XRP as the reference asset. 

What The Filing Confirms For The Altcoin

In an X post, crypto pundit Richard stated that Roundhill’s XRP ETF filing confirms that XRP is an approved underlying asset for regulated derivatives. He further remarked that this means that XRP-linked options are permissible inside an ETF wrapper and that risk committees, counterparties, and clearing structures are already signed off on. 

Richard also noted that covered-call ETFs don’t appear first and only come into play after an asset is legally and structurally accepted. Meanwhile, the pundit alluded to the fact that the sole purpose of the latest filing was to delay the effectiveness. He explained that this means that the product structure is complete, that approval is not the issue, and that timing is the variable. 

The pundit further stated that Roundhill isn’t trying to capture upside but is simply monetizing XRP’s volatility. As such, they have a different objective from the spot XRP ETFs, although the same asset and pipeline are involved for this Fund. Richard added that this is derivatives validation, not price discovery, a development he claimed occurs only when an asset is institutionally cleared.

At the time of writing, the XRP price is trading at around $1.84, down almost 2% in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap. 

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino has revealed how the company expanded its Bitcoin treasury by over 8,888 tokens during the last quarter of 2025.

Tether Has Purchased Another 8,888 Bitcoin

In a new post on X, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino has shared the blockchain details of a Bitcoin transaction that the company made during the past day. With this transfer, the firm moved exactly 8,888.8888888 BTC from the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex to its BTC reserve.

Tether is a digital asset company best known for being the issuer of the stablecoin USDT. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies that have their price pegged to a fiat currency and USDT, tied to the US Dollar, is currently the largest asset of this type in the world in terms of market cap.

Tether has been maintaining a Bitcoin reserve since 2023, when it announced that it will regularly be allocating 15% of its net realized operating profits to the number one cryptocurrency as part of a new investment strategy.

The company has since gradually been adding to the reserve, with the latest expansion announced by Ardoino corresponding to accumulation that occurred in the fourth quarter of 2025.

At the time that the transaction shared by the Tether CEO occurred, the new coins were worth $778.7 million. This latest purchase has taken the company’s total holdings to 96,370 BTC, equivalent to more than $8.46 billion.

For comparison, the second largest public Bitcoin treasury company, MARA Holdings, owns just 53,250 BTC ($4.68 billion). Thus, the firm’s BTC reserve is one of the largest in the world.

Though, while Tether’s holdings are very significant, they still pale in comparison to Strategy, the largest corporate holder of the asset. Led by co-founder and chairman Michael Saylor, the company has been accumulating the coin for years now, with the latest purchase coming just this Monday.

This buy, involving 1,229 BTC, took the treasury firm’s total holdings to 672,497 BTC to cap off 2025. At the current exchange rate, this massive reserve is worth more than $59.1 billion.

Bitcoin and the rest of the cryptocurrency sector have been experiencing a bearish phase since the top in October, but it would appear that this market shift hasn’t discouraged the likes of Tether and Strategy from accumulating more of the asset.

The bearish momentum in the sector has also affected the stablecoins. As data from DefiLlama shows, the market cap of these assets was following an uptrend between 2024 and the last quarter of 2025. Since October, though, growth has flatlined.

As mentioned before, Tether’s USDT is the most dominant stablecoin. It makes up for $187 billion of the $308 billion market cap attached to the sector.

BTC Price

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading around $87,900, down 0.5% over the last week.

A loud internal fight is spilling out across the XRP Army, with Zach Rector accusing Jake Claver of using high-certainty price narratives, most notably the “$100 XRP by end of 2025” call, to pull attention, credibility, and capital from the community.

Rector released a two-part video series on Dec 31, aimed at “addressing Jake Claver’s lies.” Claver, the CEO of Digital Ascension Group, ist one of the louder XRP bulls. While the $100 XRP call by Jan. 1, 2026 clearly failed, Rector argues that the miss wasn’t just a bad call, it was the certainty and urgency behind it, sold into a community that has spent years marinating in catalyst talk, NDA hints, and timeline debates.

The $100 XRP Call

Rector said he has challenged the $100 XRP claim throughout 2025 and was surprised Claver continued doubling down into the final days of the year. In Rector’s telling, the problem is not prediction-making, he said he has missed targets too, but the way extreme outcomes were marketed as near-certain, with the implication of privileged information.

He played a clip from Claver’s live show after Rector criticized the $100 call. When confronted, Claver did not concede, instead implying he may “know something.”

“If I was going to pivot, should have pivoted by now,” Claver said in the clip Rector quoted. “Unless I know something. Why wouldn’t I? … We’ll see what ends up happening by the end of the year. We’ll see where the price is. And I think the results will speak for themselves.”

Rector argued that this kind of messaging: NDA-coded, “trust me” signaling becomes a lever inside XRP culture, where many holders have learned to treat timelines and insider claims as tradable narratives. Rector calls this behaviour “manipulation,” saying Claver’s “business model is so reliant upon that manipulation” that he “can’t back out now.”

Addressing Jake Claver lies Part 1 pic.twitter.com/rmVMK3XtUH

— Zach Rector (@ZachRector7) December 31, 2025

Serious Allegations

Rector’s sharper allegations go beyond price talk and into what he described as XRP-focused funds offered through Digital Wealth Partners (DWP). He claimed the community has sent “so much XRP” into Claver’s orbit and that there is “a massive discrepancy from what he’s saying publicly and what investors are telling me privately.”

“Jake and his scheme, his business has grown so big they’ve taken in so much XRP from our community,” Rector said. “There’s a massive discrepancy from what he’s saying publicly and what investors are telling me privately.”

Rector said he has received fund reports and performance updates and claimed he is not sharing them publicly out of concern about retaliation, alleging investors have been warned not to share reporting and that reports are being watermarked with timestamps. He also made a specific performance claim: “one of the funds… has been losing money all year,” he said, adding it “lost over 4% on the year,” before fees, including “AUM fees of 2% in some cases.”

Addressing Jake Claver lies Part 2 pic.twitter.com/rYkmJ1jsfr

— Zach Rector (@ZachRector7) December 31, 2025

Rector’s broader point was that XRP holders are being asked to accept a “trust me bro relationship” around returns, even as he says he has not heard from any investor who can confirm “payments and distributions coming out” in a way that matches the marketing.

To explain why he views the trust gap as serious for XRP holders, Rector leaned on a prior legal dispute involving Claver and Digital Ascension. Rector said the case is public record and described it as “VeriVend versus Jacob Levi Claver and Digital Ascension Group” in the Western District of New York. He read from what he described as court filings and emphasized that the allegations and admissions, as he presented them, involve fabricated wire confirmations and impersonation.

“This is a serious deal,” Rector said, arguing the behavior he described should matter to XRP holders being asked to trust performance claims, NDAs, and time-sensitive narratives. He urged viewers to review the “answer to the complaint,” which he said includes admissions such as registering a VeriVend-related domain and fabricating purported wire transfer confirmations.

Rector also said the case settled, pointing to a “mediation certification” dated Feb. 12, 2025. He claimed, separately, that Claver paid the opposition in XRP to settle, an assertion Rector stated as a confirmation.

Rector framed his goal as containment rather than escalation, saying he wants the community “to stay together” and “not be divided,” but he also laid down an explicit remedy: third-party verification. “I want a third-party audit of those funds,” he said, arguing that absent audited financials he will not trust performance reporting tied to XRP strategies.

At press time, XRP traded at $1.85.

Crypto pundit Cryptoinsight has commented on what Ripple haters get wrong about how the company handles its XRP holdings. The pundit also explained why the altcoin is set to explode this year, even as it eyes new all-time highs (ATHs). 

What Ripple Haters Get Wrong About XRP

In an X post, Cryptoinsight stated that people who hate XRP are so close to being right, but that they miss one key step in their equation. The pundit noted that these haters accuse Ripple of selling their XRP, so they can buy real-world companies and assets, because that is how they make money. 

However, Cryptoinsight believes these Ripple haters are wrong. He opined that they misunderstand entirely the business model and, more importantly, the direction of causality. The pundit admitted that Ripple may monetize some of their XRP holdings, but that the goal isn’t to replace XRP with traditional assets. 

Instead, Cryptoinsight declared that Ripple monetizes their XRP holdings to build a financial ecosystem that makes XRP more valuable over time. He further remarked that this distinction matters, as if a company holds roughly 40% of an asset that, at scale, could be worth more than their entire balance sheet, they don’t treat it like operating cash. 

The pundit further stated that such a company doesn’t just consider selling the most asymmetric asset they own just to stack normal companies. Instead, he believes that they would do the opposite, which he believes Ripple is currently doing. Cryptoinsight explained that Ripple’s model is to leverage traditional assets, infrastructure, licences, liquidity venues, and institutions to increase XRP’s value and necessity.

How Ripple’s Acquisitions Will Make XRP Explode

Cryptoinsight claimed that Ripple’s acquisitions of firms like Hidden Road, Rail, and GTreasury are not the end goal but instead multipliers. He noted that these firms will help expand institutional liquidity, improve trust and compliance, increase transaction throughput, and create real-world settlement demand. The pundit added that most importantly, it will make XRP’s status as a neutral bridge asset viable at a global scale. 

Cryptoinsight asserted that these companies are not replacing XRP but rather building the infrastructure that requires the altcoin to function efficiently. He then highlighted a flywheel, which he claimed most people miss. The pundit stated that it all starts with XRP sitting on Ripple’s balance sheet as the strategic core, and that the crypto firm then builds payments, liquidity, custody, stablecoins, and treasury access. 

Furthermore, institutions then come to Ripple because the payment stack, which involves XRP, is complete. The next part of the flywheel is that XRP becomes the most efficient neutral settlement layer, with demand compounding over time. Cryptoinsight stated that long-term price appreciation outweighs short-term sales. He then described Ripple’s XRP sales as capital deployment rather than dilution. 

Cryptoinsight stated that if Ripple’s goal were to simply become a profitable TradFi-style company, none of this would make sense. He claimed that the company wouldn’t obsess over a neutral settlement, keep XRP architecturally central, or push for XRP onto regulated institutional rails if that were the case. In line with this, the pundit declared that the endgame is not to sell XRP to buy assets but to use assets to make XRP unavoidable. 

At the time of writing, the XRP price is trading at around $1.84, down almost 2% in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

XRP is reportedly showing signs of tightening supply, with exchange balances falling to levels not seen in years. Despite this shift, the cryptocurrency’s price remains stuck below $2, highlighting an unusual disconnect between shrinking availability, slow demand, and weak price performance. 

XRP Exchanges Balances Crashes To New Lows

The supply of XRP on crypto exchanges has dropped to an eight-year low, yet the token continues to trade below $2. According to Glassnode data, XRP supply held on exchanges has fallen to 1.6 million tokens. This marks a roughly 57% decline from the 3.76 billion XRP recorded on October 8, 2025, representing the lowest level since 2018.

From a basic economic standpoint, a lower supply combined with rising demand often triggers a price surge in assets. For example, when coins are moved off crypto exchanges into private wallets, they are less available for immediate sale, which can limit supply and potentially support price appreciation. Analysts like X Finance Bull also see declines in exchange balances as a bullish signal that could create a supply shock and potentially spark a rally. 

However, despite exchange balances reaching multi-year lows in this cycle, the XRP price has struggled to maintain upward momentum and has continued to hover around $1.8. This choppy action suggests that reduced supply alone has not been sufficient to sustain a recovery or alleviate ongoing selling pressure. 

Why The Price Remains Stuck Below $2

Although XRP saw a sharp rally that briefly pushed its price above $3 earlier in 2025, that move was short-lived. Constant distributions, negative investor sentiment, and general market volatility have erased much of the gains, pushing the cryptocurrency almost 50% below its former highs. 

XRP continues to struggle to rise above $2 because its repeated breakout attempts have been rejected, keeping it below key resistance levels. This behavior points to weaker demand and lower buyer participation. Persistent selling pressure has also weighed heavily on price. In recent months, accelerated sell-offs have intensified market declines, preventing any meaningful or sustained reversal. 

On-chain metrics also provide extra context for the ongoing weakness. Notably, the portion of XRP’s supply currently in profit has also declined. Over half of the circulating supply is now underwater, increasing the risk of panic selling and reinforcing the ongoing downtrend. 

Broader market conditions also appear to be amplifying XRP’s price struggles. Major cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, and Solana, are trending lower, reflecting a broader market slowdown that has also weighed on the price.

The combination of these market factors and declining investor sentiment has significantly affected the XRP price, driving it into a downward spiral. While market analysts remain optimistic about the cryptocurrency’s potential for a strong price recovery, XRP remains in the red, having closed 2025 lower and extending its downtrend into 2026 with no immediate rebound in sight. 

According to a CFTC press release, Amir Zaidi has been named Chief of Staff at the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), effective December 31, 2025. The agency said Chairman Michael S. Selig made the announcement and noted Zaidi’s long history with the regulator.

Bitcoin: Experienced Regulator Returns

Zaidi first joined the commission in 2010 and served in various roles through 2019. He spent his last two years at the agency as Director of the Division of Market Oversight, a post he took on in 2017.

Reports have disclosed that in that role he helped shape the policy steps that led to the launch of regulated Bitcoin futures in the US during US President Donald Trump’s first term.

I’m grateful for Amir Zaidi’s willingness to return to the @CFTC as chief of staff. Amir was instrumental in the historic launch of CFTC-regulated bitcoin futures contracts during @POTUS President Trump’s first term. With Congress poised to send digital asset market structure… https://t.co/Oft6NLc4Uv

— Mike Selig (@MichaelSelig) December 31, 2025

What He Did Outside Government

After leaving the commission in 2019, Zaidi moved to the private sector. He joined TP ICAP as Global Head of Compliance in September 2019, a role in which he oversaw a large compliance team and reported to senior legal leadership at the firm. That experience gave him direct exposure to broker-dealer operations and market structure issues.

Why The Move Matters

Based on reports, Zaidi returns at a time when Congress and federal agencies are focused on clearer rules for digital assets. Some lawmakers are expected to advance a market structure bill in early January that could give agencies more defined roles over crypto trading and derivatives. That timing puts a spotlight on the CFTC’s leadership choices.

A Look At His Track Record

Zaidi’s years at the commission included work on exchange oversight, swap data, and market monitoring. The TP ICAP materials describe him as having led a team of about 90 staff across multiple offices while at the CFTC, an operational detail tied to his DMO role. That mix of policy and hands-on management is what the agency emphasized when announcing his return.

Regulators will likely move quickly to set priorities for 2026. Market participants and lawmakers will watch how the new chief of staff helps the CFTC coordinate with other agencies and respond to incoming legislation.

Featured image from Flowcarbon, chart from TradingView

After several months of inactivity, Metaplanet Inc., a Japanese Bitcoin treasury company, has expanded its BTC reserves, adding thousands of new coins to its already extensive portfolio. The company announced the completion of its 2025 quarterly accumulation cycle just two days before the new year, acquiring additional BTC as prices declined.

Metaplanet Closes Year With Extra Bitcoin

Bitcoin appeared to be on discount as Metaplanet ramped up its accumulation efforts at the close of 2025. The treasury company completed another round of BTC purchases, taking advantage of market weakness and BTC’s price sitting below $100,000, to expand its holdings.

On December 30, Metaplanet released a report detailing its recent Bitcoin buy and overall accumulation strategy, outlining its total holdings to date, along with the aggregate cost basis and average purchase price. During the Fourth Quarter (Q4) of 2025, the treasury company acquired 4,279 BTC at an average price of ¥16,325,148 per coin. The total investment for this purchase reached ¥69.855 billion.

Following the acquisition, Metaplanet’s total BTC holdings increased to 35,102 BTC. The treasury company’s cumulative BTC investment hit ¥559.727 billion, with the average price per Bitcoin across all holdings standing at ¥15,945,691. The treasury company has revealed that the recent purchase is part of its ongoing Bitcoin Treasury Operations, which include strategic and targeted buying through the sale of BTC options. 

In US dollar terms, Metaplanet reported purchasing additional BTC during Q4 2025 for approximately $451.06 million at an average price of around $105,412 per BTC. As of December 30, 2025, the company’s total Bitcoin position was acquired for roughly $3.78 billion at an average price of roughly $107,606 per coin.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Metaplanet, Simon Gerovich, reported on X that the company has achieved a BTC yield of 568.2% Year-to-Date (YTD) for 2025. This yield reflects the cumulative result of the BTC treasury’s acquisition activities throughout the previous year. 

Metaplanet Reports Strong But Slowing BTC Returns

In the report, Metaplanet achieved a BTC Yield of 309.8% from October to December 2024 and 95.6% from January to March 2025. The company maintained momentum with a 129.4% BTC Yield from April to June before growth slowed to 33% in the third quarter. From October to December 2025, Metaplanet’s BTC Yield further declined to 11.9%, reflecting a gradual deceleration in Bitcoin’s performance. 

The treasury company explained that BTC Yield measures the percentage change in Total Bitcoin Holdings relative to fully Diluted Shares Outstanding and serves as a key performance indicator of its BTC acquisition strategy. The report also disclosed that Metaplanet calculates its BTC Gain by applying the BTC Yield to Total Bitcoin Holdings at the start of each period.  

Charles Hoskinson rang in 2026 from his Wyoming ranch with a message that sounded, at first blush, like an exit. It wasn’t. The Cardano founder said he is “not leaving the cryptocurrency space,” but he is walking away from day-to-day life on X and retooling how he shows up publicly, arguing that his visibility has become a liability for Cardano and Midnight adoption.

Cardano Founder Plans To Move Into The Background

Hoskinson opened the New Year’s livestream titled “Happy New Year and Farewell” with a post-mortem on 2025, framing it as a year in which parts of the industry chased success faster than it built systems capable of delivering on crypto’s broader promises. In his telling, the space “lost our way” by letting incentives and spectacle override first principles.

He was also explicit about what the “farewell” refers to and what it does not. “So, to get this right off the bat, I’m not leaving the cryptocurrency space,” Hoskinson said. “I’m cognizant and aware that every single time I make a live stream or I say something, it gets misconstrued. So, let’s just definitively put that on the table. I’m not going anywhere. I’m not leaving.”

Instead, he described a strategic retreat from hyper-online discourse, claiming that the “weaponization” of his persona creates a barrier for would-be users who might otherwise participate in Cardano or Midnight.

The problem, he argued, is that public perception increasingly substitutes for product evaluation: “We don’t ask what it do. We ask who made it… If we hate them, what that thing is is evil and wrong. If we love them, what that thing is must be good.”

The clearest operational change is his decision to step back from X entirely. “I’ve outgrown X,” he said. “So it’s my farewell to that platform and I’ll turn it over to curators and AI. It’ll go into silent mode for probably a few weeks to a few months as we build up that infrastructure because I have more important things to do, but I’m going to uninstall the app and never think of it again.”

Hoskinson said he plans to focus instead on “long form writing,” AMAs, livestreams, and experimenting with new media formats, floating Twitch as one possible outlet. The goal, as he framed it, is to preserve community connection while reducing the surface area for what he described as increasingly hostile, toxic cycles during down markets.

Beyond the social pivot, Hoskinson emphasized a shift into “deep focus,” saying he has returned to a level of product specificity he hasn’t had “in a very long time.” He cited drafting a “specification for a zkVM,” working on “adding privacy to intents,” and thinking through “chain abstraction” and the roles across “application and permission and solver and settlement” layers.

He repeatedly anchored that renewed focus to scale targets, explicitly tying his 2026 mindset to Midnight’s longer-term arc. “Every day I wake up and I ask, ‘How do I build something a million people can use?’ And then I ask, ‘How do I build something a billion people can use?’” he said, adding that he has been thinking through what it would take for Midnight to reach “a billion users and a trillion dollars of transactions on the platform by 2030.”

Happy New Year and Farewell https://t.co/lfCJ2T09h0

— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) January 1, 2026

Personal Changes For 2026

Hoskinson also made the personal operational changes unusually concrete. He said he traveled “more than 260 days” in 2025, averaged “only five and a half hours of sleep a night,” and described that pace as unsustainable. After Japan and Hong Kong, he said, he intends to travel less and spend more time at his ranch or farm, focusing on health, reading, and calmer reflection.

The closing stretch blended motivation with ecosystem-specific claims about the year ahead: he said “we finally launched Midnight,” pointed to RealFi efforts that “gave out a million loans over the last 18 months” in Uganda and Kenya, and framed 2026 as the year “Leios ships,” “Hydra gets good,” and Cardano’s “decentralized governance becomes hardened” as the community gains “full agency.”

But he also delivered a blunt cultural critique that doubles as a signal to his audience about what he wants his next chapter to optimize for. “If all you can think about is the price, you’ve already lost,” Hoskinson said. “Even if it goes up, you’ve lost. Not just at crypto, but at life.”

At press time, ADA traded at $0.34.

CoinFund President Christopher Perkins is betting 2026 will be defined less by shiny new token narratives and more by balance sheets, regulation-enabled product launches, and the messy maturation of crypto into an industry that buys, sells, and consolidates itself. In a Dec. 31 thread on X, Perkins laid out seven predictions:

#1 Crypto ‘M&A Summer’ And A $25 Billion Deal Year

Perkins’ first and loudest call: 2026 will be “the year of crypto M&A.” He pegged 2025 M&A activity at roughly $8.6 billion in total deal value, then projected 2026 will “reach $25bn,” framing it as a step-change rather than a modest grind higher.

He sketched consolidation pressure across multiple fronts, from “DAT/Labs/Foundation consolidation” to “DAT vs DAT (mNAV reckoning),” plus a two-way bridge between traditional finance and crypto. The direction of travel, in his telling, is straightforward: TradFi firms trying to catch up and crypto firms buying their way into regulated capabilities.

“TradFi → Crypto (ugh, I’m behind and need to catch up),” he wrote. “Crypto (DATs, Exchanges) → TradFi (we need operating companies, securities capabilities and licenses, too!).” He also flagged “Asia→US” as a theme, arguing that a clearer regulatory environment will pull international players toward the US market.

“2021 was stablecoin summer; 2026 is going to be M&A summer,” Perkins concluded.

#2 Stablecoins To $600 Billion

Perkins’ second prediction is a market-cap doubling in stablecoins, “surpassing $600bn (2x).” His reasoning hinges less on retail use and more on issuer economics and market plumbing.

“For every stablecoin, someone is making net interest income. Who wouldn’t want one?” he wrote. “As markets tokenize, you’ll need stablecoins to buy and sell them. Watch the growth accelerate in 2026.”

The subtext is that stablecoins become the default settlement asset for on-chain financial activity—especially if more real-world assets and market structures migrate on-chain—while issuer incentives remain strong.

#3 A $2 Billion-Plus Crypto Hack As A Policy Catalyst

Perkins also forecast a major security event: “A major hack >$2bn will shake confidence, lead to a drawdown and catalyze to policy changes.” He pointed to what he described as worsening trends, citing $3.4 billion in hacking during 2025, “a 51% increase,” then argued the attack surface grows as tokenization and stablecoins bring “hundreds of billions more” on-chain.

He went further than the usual call for better security practices, floating a provocative historical reference as a possible policy direction. “Maybe it’s time for a new change to policy, like Letters of Marque and Reprisal,” he wrote. “Just sayin’….” The implication: if losses scale up, the policy response could become more aggressive—and less abstract.

#4 Regulated Derivatives Return

On market structure, Perkins predicted US crypto derivatives will come “back to the US in a major way,” with a “big battle for marketshare” as “new players enter the space.” Even as he expects the US share of global derivatives volume to triple, he argued CME’s slice of US crypto futures could fall amid broader competition.

His thesis is rooted in regulatory momentum and institutional trading behavior. “Now that the regulatory path is clear, there will be a proliferation of new regulated futures products launched in the US,” Perkins wrote. “As crypto enters its institutional era, demand will be off the charts because basis trading will be their first step. This will breathe life back into alts.”

#5 No Market-Structure Bill

Not everything is acceleration. Perkins’ fifth prediction: a comprehensive market structure bill “will not be passed,” blaming political calendar gravity. “Sorry guys, this one is going to be too difficult. Midterms will take the oxygen out of the room,” he wrote.

#6 New ATHs For Bitcoin And ETH

Despite that, he still expects new highs in the majors, calling for bitcoin at $150,000 and ether above $5,000. “BTC and $ETH will hit ATHs,” Perkins wrote. “BTC hits $150,000; ETH makes passes $5,000. Institutional adoption makes this possible.”

#7 NFTs Return, But Not As Jpegs

Finally, Perkins forecast an NFT revival with a format change. “NFTs will make a comeback, but version 2.0 will not be jpegs,” he wrote, carving out an exception for CryptoPunks while dismissing a broader JPEG-led resurgence. Instead, he expects “financial, non-fungible tokens,” potentially tied to “individualized, tokenized security/yield vaults.”

At press time, the total crypto market cap stood at $2.94 trillion.

After China’s latest move with its Digital Yuan, multiple crypto industry executives have cautioned that the US banks’ push to prohibit all interest payments on stablecoins could give a major advantage to their global rivals.

US Risks Giving China A Major Global Advantage

On Tuesday, Coinbase’s Chief Policy Officer (CPO), Faryar Shirzad, warned the US Congress that banning interest payments on the digital assets could risk diminishing the legislative efforts and victories obtained this year with the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act.

In an X post, Shirzad affirmed that “tokenization is the future and the GENIUS Act was a visionary move by POTUS and Congress to ensure US dollar stablecoins issued under US rules would be the primary settlement instrument of the future.”

However, Shirzad noted that the “sobering and timely” announcement by the People’s Bank of China of its plan to pay interest on the Digital Yuan could pose a bigger problem to the US than investors think.

As reported by Bitcoinist, China is about to start paying interest on its Digital Yuan (e-CNY). Deputy Governor at the People’s Bank of China, Lu Lei, recently shared a new framework that will redefine the rules of virtual currency, giving it the same legal status as deposits held at banks.

Under the new framework, commercial banks that manage Digital Yuan wallets will be able to pay interest to clients based on the amount of e-CNY they hold, starting from January 1, 2026.

Based on this, Shirzad cautioned that “If this issue is mishandled in Senate negotiations on the market structure bill, it could hand our global rivals a big assist in giving non-US stablecoins and CBDCs a critical competitive advantage at the worst possible time.”

Stablecoin Rewards: A ‘Matter Of National Security’

Coinbase’s CPO added that although “lobbyists for entrenched incumbents will always fight change,” it’s crucial for Congress to “protect the primacy of the US dollar and the US financial system, “not just incumbent interests.”

Similarly, other crypto executives agreed with Shirzad’s statement, including Coinbase’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Brian Armstrong and Variant’s Chief Legal Officer (CLO) Jake Chervinsky.

Armstrong emphasized that US “stablecoins must remain competitive on a global stage. Meanwhile, Chervinsky asserted that banks’ push to ban stablecoin rewards “isn’t just a matter of incumbents seeking a regulatory moat. It’s a matter of national security.”

To the lawyer, revisiting the issue of interest payments on USD-pegged tokens would weaken the victory that the GENIUS Act gave to US dollar dominance worldwide and “hand that win to China.”

Notably, the banking sector has criticized the US’s landmark stablecoin legislation over the past few months, arguing that it has loopholes that could pose risks to the financial system.

The crypto framework, which was signed into law by President Trump in July, prohibits interest payments on the holding or use of payment-purpose stablecoins. Nonetheless, the prohibition only addresses issuers, meaning that it could be “easily circumvented” by exchanges or affiliates providing rewards.

Earlier this year, multiple banking associations across the US sent a joint letter to the Senate Banking Committee urging Congress to amend the law. The banking groups claimed that interest payments would distort market dynamics and could affect credit creation. Therefore, they suggested extending the prohibition to include digital asset exchanges, brokers, dealers, and related entities.

Shirzad, alongside multiple crypto industry players, has rejected these concerns over the past several months, stating that the banking sector’s proposals could threaten to create an uncompetitive environment for USD-denominated tokens.

In October, Coinbase’s CPO slammed the financial institution’s narrative that stablecoins would destroy bank lending, concluding that it “ignores reality” and misreads the crucial moment.

On-chain data shows Dogecoin, Solana, and other altcoins are currently seeing half the weekly Trading Volume compared to the end of 2024.

Dogecoin, Solana, & Others Have Seen A Decline In Volume Recently

In a new post on X, on-chain analytics firm Santiment has talked about the latest trend in the Trading Volume for the various assets in the cryptocurrency sector. This indicator measures, as its name suggests, the total amount of a given token that became involved in trading activities on exchanges over the past week.

When the value of the metric rises, it means trading activity related to the asset is going up. Such a trend can be a sign that interest in the cryptocurrency is increasing.

On the other hand, the indicator going down can imply investors are shifting their attention away from the coin as they are participating in a lower amount of trading.

Now, here is the chart shared by Santiment that shows the trend in the Trading Volume for nine major assets: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, Cardano, Solana, BNB, XRP, Tron, and Chainlink.

As displayed in the above graph, the Trading Volume has witnessed a plunge across the sector over the last couple of weeks. Bitcoin, Dogecoin, and other assets have all shown price consolidation in this period, so the cooldown in trading activity could partly be due to traders getting bored.

Generally, investors like to trade more when price action is “exciting.” Volatile moves like rallies or crashes especially attract attention to the market. In phases of sideways price action, though, interest tends to die down.

There is also another reason behind the recent decline in the Trading Volume besides the price action: the holidays. From the chart, it’s visible that the holiday period at the end of 2024 also saw the indicator have a similarly low value for Bitcoin.

There has been one big difference in market behavior between now and then, however. As the analytics firm has explained:

Ethereum and other altcoins like Solana, Cardano, and Dogecoin were still seeing significant movement. This year, they have less than half the weekly trading volume.

What could be the consequence of this low activity? While hard to say for certain, price action usually tends to be muted when there is a lack of trading interest, as moves fail to build momentum in either direction.

Thus, it’s possible that the current phase of consolidation could stretch for the market, unless some surprise news drops that becomes a trigger for volatility.

DOGE Price

Dogecoin saw a surge to $0.128 earlier in the week, but the memecoin’s price has declined since then as it’s back at $0.122.

Prenetics, the Nasdaq-listed health sciences group backed by soccer star David Beckham, has paused its plan to keep buying Bitcoin for the company treasury.

According to reports, the firm stopped its daily purchases on December 4, 2025, and will hold the coins it already owns rather than add more. The company still retains roughly 510 BTC on its books.

The move comes after a stretch of weak crypto markets and a recent $48 million equity raise that executives say will be used to back its consumer health brand.

Prenetics Halts Daily Bitcoin Buying

According to Bloomberg and other news outlets, Prenetics had been testing a treasury approach similar to models used by other public firms that purchased Bitcoin as a reserve asset.

The company began accumulating Bitcoin earlier in 2025, but management signaled a change in course as market conditions grew harder.

Reports have disclosed that the board and leadership looked at the math and decided pausing purchases would better protect cash and shareholder value while preserving the existing crypto holding.

IM8 Growth Takes Center Stage

Based on reports, a large part of the shift is driven by the rapid growth of IM8, Prenetics’ consumer health and nutrition brand co-founded with Beckham. The company has said IM8 reached over $100 million in annualized recurring revenue within 11 months of operations.

Management has also provided guidance that IM8 could generate about $180 million–$200 million in revenue in fiscal 2026, numbers that have helped persuade investors the business can stand on its own.

The $48 million round completed in October 2025 was seen as funding to both back IM8 expansion and to support the earlier Bitcoin plan; now the emphasis is being redirected.

Market Reaction

Shares of Prenetics have shown relative stability even after the announcement, reflecting some investor support for the health business strategy.

Analysts and market watchers say the company’s decision mirrors a wider reassessment among several firms that had adopted crypto treasury strategies earlier in the year.

Where some companies doubled down, others chose caution as Bitcoin fell from its highs and volatility persisted.

Reports point out that holding the existing 510 BTC lets Prenetics keep potential upside without committing fresh capital while it focuses on product growth.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView

Bitcoin has managed to reclaim the $88,000 level, yet it continues to struggle below the key $90,000 threshold, failing to sustain any meaningful breakout since early December. Despite several recovery attempts, upside momentum remains weak, reinforcing a broader sense of indecision across the market.

As fear and apathy dominate investor behavior, a growing number of analysts are now openly calling for a bear market to unfold in 2026, arguing that the current structure lacks the conditions needed for a renewed bullish phase.

This cautious outlook is reinforced by on-chain data shared by top analyst Axel Adler. According to his latest report, short-term holders (STHs) are firmly underwater, with Bitcoin trading well below their average cost basis. The STH Realized Price continues to trend lower, a signal that new demand entering the market is weak and increasingly price-insensitive.

Adler notes that this environment reflects pressure from above rather than outright capitulation. While sellers are active, the market has not yet reached the type of forced liquidation typically associated with cycle lows.

Instead, Bitcoin appears trapped in a prolonged stress regime, where confidence erodes gradually and rallies are sold into rather than followed through. Until short-term holder profitability improves, sentiment is likely to remain constrained.

Short-Term Holder Stress Persists

Adler’s latest analysis of Short-Term Holder (STH) Realized Price highlights why Bitcoin remains locked in a stress regime despite recent attempts to stabilize. The chart compares BTC price with the STH Realized Price—the average cost basis of coins held for less than 155 days—alongside stress indicators and weekly changes in that cost basis.

In this framework, the black line represents Bitcoin’s market price, while the orange line tracks the STH Realized Price. Additional overlays, including the STH Stress Score and weekly percentage changes, help contextualize shifts in short-term positioning.

According to Adler, Bitcoin has traded consistently below the STH Realized Price since October 17, confirming that stress mode remains active. The weekly change in STH Realized Price has stayed in negative territory and recently reached local lows, signaling that short-term holders continue to redistribute coins at lower prices rather than accumulate at higher levels. This behavior reflects weak incoming demand and reinforces overhead pressure.

Price performance across timeframes remains mixed. While Bitcoin has shown modest stabilization over shorter horizons—up roughly 0.9% on the week and 2.3% on the month—the broader picture remains fragile.

The 90-day performance is deeply negative at −26.7%, indicating that stress dominates across all major timeframes. Adler’s forecast model points to continued downside pressure, with an expected weekly decline of around 3% if current conditions persist.

Crucially, the declining STH Realized Price lowers the resistance “ceiling,” reducing the distance required to return to healthier conditions. However, it also underscores persistent weakness in new demand. A meaningful improvement would require the STH Realized Price to stabilize and turn higher while Bitcoin holds current price levels.

Bitcoin Holds Structure But Remains Capped Below Resistance

The weekly Bitcoin chart highlights a market caught between long-term structural support and persistent overhead resistance. BTC is trading near the $88,000–$89,000 zone, a level that has acted as a pivot since late November. While price has managed to reclaim this area, it has repeatedly failed to sustain a breakout above $90,000, signaling hesitation rather than renewed bullish momentum.

From a trend perspective, Bitcoin remains above its 200-week moving average, which continues to slope upward and currently sits well below price, preserving the broader bullish market structure. The 100-week moving average is also rising and has provided dynamic support during recent pullbacks, reinforcing the idea that long-term buyers are still defending key levels. However, the 50-week moving average has flattened and now acts as immediate resistance, aligning with the broader supply zone between $90,000 and $95,000.

After a surge in activity during the sharp correction from October highs, recent weeks show declining volume, suggesting reduced participation and growing apathy among market participants. This environment often precedes a directional move but does not yet favor a clear upside resolution.

Technically, as long as Bitcoin holds above the rising 100-week moving average, downside risk appears structurally contained. However, failure to reclaim the 50-week average keeps the market vulnerable to extended consolidation or a deeper corrective phase before any sustainable recovery can develop.

Featured image from ChatGPT, chart from TradingView.com 

XRP price may be stabilizing above recent lows, but underlying signals suggest the asset remains structurally vulnerable. While short-term price action shows marginal recovery, market analyst Ali Martinez argues that weakening network fundamentals, large-holder distribution, and fragile technical support indicate downside risk has not been neutralized. In his view, if these conditions persist, XRP could still face a sharp drawdown toward the $0.80 region, implying a potential 56% decline from current levels.

XRP’s Weak Network And Whale Selling Undermine Demand

In a series of recent tweets, Martinez outlined multiple converging risks that could push XRP into a deeper decline. Central to his assessment is a visible deterioration in on-chain participation, which he views as an early warning signal for further downside. Daily active addresses on the XRP Ledger have fallen sharply, dropping from roughly 46,000 to about 38,500 within a single week.

This contraction reflects reduced transactional engagement and softer organic demand, conditions that weaken price resilience during periods of broader market uncertainty. In practical terms, fewer active users translate into lower baseline buying pressure, making the asset more vulnerable to sell-side shocks.

Compounding this issue is a notable shift in whale behavior. Martinez highlights that large holders have offloaded more than 40 million XRP over the same timeframe. When high-conviction capital moves to the sell side, it alters supply dynamics quickly, especially in markets already experiencing muted retail participation. Whale distribution typically acts as a leading indicator of trend exhaustion, as concentrated supply entering the market absorbs demand that would otherwise support price stability. Together, declining network activity and whale selling form a reinforcing feedback loop that erodes confidence and increases downside exposure.

XRP Price Faces Elevated Downside Risk

From a market structure standpoint, XRP’s technical setup remains precarious despite modest short-term gains. The asset is currently trading around $1.87, down 8.6% over the past month, even after recovering 0.3% in the last 24 hours and 1.1% over the past week. These incremental rebounds, however, have not altered the broader risk profile. According to Martinez, the $1.77 level represents a critical support zone that must hold to prevent deeper losses.

A decisive break below $1.77 would invalidate the current consolidation structure and expose XRP to its next meaningful support near $0.79–$0.80. This level is not arbitrary; it represents a historically significant demand zone where price previously stabilized after prolonged declines. If selling pressure from whales persists while on-chain activity remains subdued, the probability of testing this lower band increases substantially. In this scenario, the projected move would amount to a roughly 56% decline, aligning with Martinez’s risk assessment.

In sum, while XRP is not in freefall, the asset is operating on thin structural support. Until network activity recovers, whale behavior stabilizes, and key technical levels are decisively defended, XRP remains exposed to a high-impact downside scenario that investors cannot afford to ignore.

Ethereum continues to struggle to regain bullish momentum as apathy and persistent selling pressure dominate the broader crypto market. Price action remains subdued, with ETH failing to sustain moves above key resistance levels, reinforcing the perception that investors are still cautious.

Many analysts argue that the market has yet to fully reset, pointing to weak risk appetite, declining liquidity, and a lack of strong spot demand. As a result, Ethereum, like most major assets, remains trapped in a consolidation phase marked by hesitation rather than conviction.

Despite this gloomy backdrop, a growing group of optimists believes Ethereum could be approaching a cyclical bottom. Their view is based less on short-term price action and more on structural and behavioral signals that tend to emerge during late-stage bearish phases. One of the most notable developments comes from on-chain data.

According to data from Arkham shared by Lookonchain, Bitmine acquired another 32,938 ETH worth approximately $97.6 million just a few hours ago. Bitmine is a large institutional Ethereum-focused entity known for accumulating ETH at scale and deploying it across staking and long-term strategies rather than short-term trading. With this latest purchase, Bitmine now holds roughly 3.357 million ETH, valued at around $10 billion, making it one of the largest known Ethereum holders.

Bitmine Deepens Long-Term Commitment

Ethereum’s near-term price action remains fragile, but institutional behavior continues to diverge from market sentiment. Over the past few hours, Bitmine staked an additional 118,944 ETH, worth approximately $352.16 million, according to data from Arkham reported by Lookonchain. This move follows Bitmine’s recent spot accumulation and reinforces its long-term positioning strategy rather than a short-term speculative approach.

Staking at this scale effectively removes a significant amount of ETH from liquid circulation, tightening available supply on exchanges. Unlike transfers to centralized platforms, staking reflects a high-conviction view that prioritizes yield generation and long-term network participation over immediate liquidity.

For analysts tracking structural supply dynamics, this behavior contrasts sharply with the current price trend, which continues to show limited bullish follow-through.

Despite these developments, the broader market remains unconvinced. Ethereum has struggled to reclaim key resistance levels, and momentum indicators still point to weakness. As a result, analysts are increasingly divided when assessing the outlook for 2026.

Some interpret ongoing institutional accumulation and staking as early positioning ahead of a longer-term recovery cycle. Others caution that macro uncertainty, muted demand, and persistent risk aversion could keep ETH range-bound or under pressure for longer than expected.

In this context, Bitmine’s actions stand out as a signal of long-term confidence, but not necessarily an immediate catalyst. For now, Ethereum’s price remains weak, while the strategic behavior beneath the surface continues to quietly reshape the supply landscape.

Ethereum Remains Range-Bound Below Key Resistance

Ethereum continues to trade in a consolidation range after failing to reclaim higher levels, with price hovering around the $3,000 zone. The chart shows ETH capped below the declining 100-day and 200-day moving averages, which now act as dynamic resistance around the $3,400–$3,600 area. This alignment reinforces the broader bearish structure that has been in place since the November breakdown.

After peaking near the $4,800 region earlier in the cycle, ETH entered a clear downtrend, marked by lower highs and expanding sell-side volume during corrective phases. The sharp sell-off into late November pushed the price toward the $2,800 area, where buyers stepped in to defend support. Since then, Ethereum has stabilized but failed to generate sustained upside momentum, suggesting demand remains cautious rather than aggressive.

Volume has declined noticeably during recent rebounds, indicating a lack of strong conviction from buyers. This behavior is typical of late-stage corrective phases, where price compresses while market participants wait for clearer signals. As long as ETH remains below the 200-day moving average, upside attempts are likely to face selling pressure.

On the downside, the $2,800–$2,900 zone stands out as a key support area. A clean break below this range would increase the risk of a deeper retracement. Conversely, reclaiming $3,300 with strong volume would be the first sign that Ethereum is transitioning out of its current corrective structure.

Featured image from ChatGPT, chart from TradingView.com 

A crypto expert has predicted that 2026 could mark a breakthrough year for XRP, with strong demand and significant price growth on the horizon. He suggests that several market factors and structural developments could align to drive this surge, creating a favorable environment that could position XRP for significant gains and lasting market impact. 

XRP Price And Demand Set To Skyrocket In 2026

In a recent X post, crypto analyst ‘X Finance Bull’ outlined the key catalysts from 2025 that could drive XRP demand and price in 2026. He emphasized that while everyone is watching price action, institutions are closely monitoring custody, compliance, and payment corridors, which are crucial for laying the groundwork for the cryptocurrency’s future growth.

For 2026, the analyst points to several factors that could shape XRP’s price growth and future development. He highlighted XRP Spot ETF  accumulation as a key driver, emphasizing that over 350 million XRP are currently held in ETFs, providing a solid base of regulated institutional ownership. 

X Finance Bull disclosed that XRP ETFs are already attracting institutional capital, reducing liquidity and signaling rising demand for the cryptocurrency as a regulated digital asset. He noted that ETF inflows represent structural buying that often precedes notable price appreciation.

XRP’s supply dynamics are also expected to play a significant role in fueling a price surge. X Finance Bull explained that with fewer XRP available on exchanges, this could create structural pressure that may influence future price behavior. Combined with steady demand, this tightening supply could lay the groundwork for potential price gains in 2026.   

Another major factor highlighted by X Finance Bull is the growing utility of the XRP Ledger (XRPL). The analyst noted that XRPL currently supports stablecoins, tokenization, and institutional DeFi—all features that could drive increased adoption and long-term growth of the cryptocurrency. He emphasized that increasing on-chain activity could drive transactional usage and position XRP as a bridge asset for settlements, liquidity routing, and broader financial infrastructure. 

Other Factors That Could Influence XRP’s Growth Next Year

In his post, X Finance Bull also pointed to XRP’s current market structure as a supporting factor that could drive its price and demand upward. He explained that regulated crypto products, improved global risk sentiment, and the need for faster settlements are encouraging institutional adoption. He also stated that an increase in capital flows often precedes significant price movements, making institutional positioning a critical indicator for future market trends.

In addition, the analyst mentioned Ripple’s expanding institutional infrastructure as a key driver that could boost the XRP price by making it easier for banks, payment providers, and enterprises to use the token. Finally, X Finance Bull noted that the resolution of Ripple’s legal battle with the US SEC has created much-needed regulatory clarity, opening the door for broader adoption and stronger demand. 

Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) lost their dominance and momentum in the final quarter of 2025 as investors shifted focus to less risky assets. New data shows that several privacy-focused cryptocurrencies quietly delivered significant gains in Q4, standing out during an otherwise cautious period for digital assets.

Privacy Tokens Overtake Bitcoin And Ethereum In Q4

Grayscale, the world’s largest digital asset manager, is ending the quarter with the release of a new report titled “Crypto Sectors Quarterly: A Preference for Privacy.” Published on December 29, the report highlighted investors shifting in Q4 2025, from risk-on assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum to cryptocurrencies with more specific use cases that could withstand market pressure. 

The asset management firm began by noting that Q4 2025 saw a slowdown in crypto momentum after a strong Q3. Overall market returns fell as investors reassessed expectations, but performance varied significantly across segments. While all six crypto sectors outperformed in Q3, they ultimately turned negative in Q4. 

Grayscale noted that only a small group of assets posted positive risk-adjusted returns during the quarter. This was a sharp contrast to the previous period, when large-cap cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Chainlink, BNB, and Avalanche led the market higher. 

In this challenging environment, the Currencies sector stood out, mainly driven by privacy-focused tokens that offered investors a defensive option. According to the report, privacy tokens were among the top performers and the dominant investment theme in Q4 2025. 

Assets like ZCash (ZEC), Monero (XMR), Decred (DCR), Dash (DASH), Beldex (BDX), and Basic Attention Token (BAT) frequently appeared in the top twenty rankings. Their strong performance reflected growing interest in privacy-focused blockchain solutions.

Notably, narrative momentum played a major role in these gains. Grayscale revealed that increased activity on privacy networks such as ZCash and Dash had supported stronger price action, as users and developers turned to tools that limit public exposure of financial activity. 

Overall, the trends observed in Q4 2025 suggest that privacy tokens were the most dominant performers and could continue to play a key role in shaping the crypto landscape. As volatility rises and market downturns occur, investors may increasingly diversify into other assets to protect their holdings from sharp price swings and uncertainty. 

Why And How Privacy Tokens Outperformed In Q4

In Grayscale’s report, ZCash was highlighted as the leading example of the crypto growth trend for Q4 2025. The network offers optional shielded transactions, and the rising share of balances this year pointed to growing demand for its privacy-focused features. 

Monero, which is the largest privacy crypto network, also outperformed during Q4 by relying on stealth addresses and confidential transaction data. Additionally, Decred drew attention by integrating governance with enhanced privacy via its Coinshuffle++ protocol. At the same time, Dash stood out with its digital payments platform, as daily transactions more than doubled, reflecting growing adoption and demand for private, fast payments. 

Notably, the BAT token benefited from the Brave Browser ecosystem, which surpassed 100 million monthly users in Q4. Meanwhile, Beldex made gains through privacy-focused services, including encrypted messaging, private browsing, and confidential payments. 

Ethereum is showing slight upward momentum once again, but the price still remains below the $3,000 level. Despite the fluctuating price actions in the past few weeks, certain structures and narratives that bolster the leading altcoin’s value are still holding strong, raising the potential for a major upswing.

Rising TVL Reinforces ETH’s Price Foundation

In the dynamic cryptocurrency landscape, Ethereum’s Total Value Locked (TVL) is still emerging as a subtle but powerful anchor for the altcoin’s long-term price stability and the growth of its evolving ecosystem. Over the past few years, this narrative has held strong, bolstering ETH’s price.

While short-term price action still varies with overall market sentiment, ETH’s core value is being reinforced by the consistent concentration of capital throughout the network. Milk Road, a crypto and macro researcher, stated that the price of the altcoin has increasingly tracked the amount of capital that is present on the network.

The development suggests that ETH’s valuation is becoming more structurally supported and less speculative. As a result, the network is maturing to a phase where price floors are primarily determined by utilization rather than hype.

According to the expert, if the TVL expands meaningfully, the network’s economy simultaneously sees noticeable growth. This implies deeper liquidity, stronger collateral base, and more durable demand for block space and the network’s security.

Milk Road highlighted that non-speculative capital, such as stablecoins, treasuries, Real-World Assets (RWAs), and on-chain asset management, are likely the major drivers of the rising TVL. Meanwhile, as the capital flowing from these areas continues to scale, ETH’s floor also rises outside of bull markets.

However, it appears to be more difficult to break into bear markets. It is worth noting that the broader ecosystem’s resilience is strengthened when this occurs, and also improves the long-term valuation anchor.

Why You Shouldn’t Be An ETH Bear

After examining the value of ETH vs. the size of the Ethereum ecosystem chart, Emperor Osmo, a data analyst and researcher, declares that being an ETH bear now is not an ideal choice despite the current bearish state of the market.

Osmo’s bold statement hinges on the major shift in Ethereum network fees. As blockspace becomes commoditized, the expert highlighted that ETH has moved from generating 90% of fees generated by Layer 1s to 2%. Despite this massive shift, the network continues to dominate in TVL and ecosystem growth.

The chart shows that ETH trades are at $353.2 billion while the ecosystem built on top of the network trades at $330 billion, representing a 1.1x premium. According to Osmo, this trend makes the assumption that there is no growth, no value capture, and no liquidity inflows.

At the time of writing, the Ethereum price was trading near the $3,000 mark, after recording a nearly 1% increase over the last 24 hours. Its trading volume is moving in the opposite direction to ETH’s price, dropping by more than 13% in the past day.