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В новом году интеграция с глобальными платежными системами и одобрение спотовых ETF на XRP могут подтолкнуть цену альткоина вверх, предположил аналитик ончейн-платформы Nansen Джейк Кеннис (Jake Kennis).

В 2026 году ожидается как минимум два крупных обновления сети Эфириума, сообщили разработчики. Одно запланировано на первую половину года, второе — на конец. Это значит, что блокчейн будет обновляться быстрее, чем Эфириум это делал ранее.

Bitcoin’s network has become slightly harder to mine, with the latest difficulty rising to a little over 148 trillion. Block times are currently averaging about 9.95 minutes, a little below the network’s 10-minute goal, prompting the adjustment to slow mining slightly.

Projected Difficulty Rise

Bitcoin adjusts its mining difficulty every 2016 blocks, roughly every two weeks, to keep the average block time near 10 minutes. When blocks are added too quickly, the network raises difficulty; when they fall behind, it lowers it.

Right now, miners are adding blocks a bit faster than the target, which means the network will increase the challenge to keep production steady.

Based on CoinWarz estimates, the next adjustment on January 8, 2026, at block 931,392, is expected to push the difficulty to past 148 trillion.

Historical Context And Market Moves

Mining difficulty has climbed to new highs during 2025, with two sharp jumps in September coinciding with Bitcoin’s price surge earlier in the year.

Bitcoin hit $125,100 in October before experiencing a significant drop. As prices rise, more mining rigs enter the network, which increases total computing power and prompts difficulty to adjust upward.

Miners’ Costs And Network Security

Higher difficulty means miners need more computing power and energy to solve blocks. This raises costs and can squeeze profit margins, especially for smaller operations.

At the same time, the system protects the network from centralization. If one miner or a group controlled too much computing power, they could dominate block production or even attempt a 51% attack. By adjusting difficulty, the network keeps mining distributed and secure.

Outlook From The Investment Side

According to Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan, Bitcoin may deliver steady growth over the next 10 years rather than massive yearly gains.

He told CNBC that he expects “strong returns” with moderate ups and downs. Hougan also maintains that 2026 is likely to be a positive year for Bitcoin, reflecting the network’s resilience after recent highs and volatility.

The rise to above 148 trillion is not dramatic but will slightly tighten miners’ margins. Tracking block times, hash rate, and difficulty can give insight into short-term mining profitability.

For investors, difficulty trends also indicate the real-world effort securing Bitcoin, which influences supply and potential selling pressure.

The network’s difficulty adjustments are routine but vital. They ensure coins are released steadily, miners remain challenged, and Bitcoin’s decentralized design is preserved.

Featured image from Pixabay, chart from TradingView

В январе нисходящий тренд на крипторынке может сломаться — у главных монет появился шанс «уйти в бычий прорыв», заявили эксперты сервиса блокчейн-аналитики 10x Research.

Количество смарт-контрактов, развернутых в сети Эфириума за три последних месяца 2025 года, достигло исторического максимума в 8,7 млн, говорят данные платформы Token Terminal.

Похищенные хакерами криптоаккаунты в даркненте стоят в среднем по $105 каждый, подсчитали аналитики «Лаборатории Касперского». Чаще всего ценовой диапазон для криптоадресов составляет $60–400. Для сравнения: данные банковской карты или счета стоят дороже, в среднем $350.

The current XRP drawdown is accompanied by a notable jump in exchange inflows, a setup CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost (@Darkfost_Coc) says is consistent with rising sell pressure and a market that has not yet transitioned into accumulation.

XRP Selling Pressure Intensifies

In an X post, Darkfost wrote that “recent data point to a clear intensification of selling pressure on XRP,” placing it in the context of a sharp drawdown. “This dynamic comes in the context of a sharp correction, with the price dropping by around 50%, falling from a peak near $3.66 to an area around $1.85,” he said.

Darkfost’s main signal is exchange inflows, with an emphasis on Binance, which he called the venue that “continues to concentrate the largest trading volumes among all exchanges.” The underlying idea is simple but often effective: when inflows ramp up quickly, the market is seeing more coins positioned where they can be sold.

“One way to visualize this selling pressure is by analyzing XRP inflows to exchanges, particularly Binance,” he wrote. “These inflows are generally interpreted as a potential intent to sell, especially when they increase rapidly.”

He described the shift as starting mid-month. “After a relatively calm period marked by moderate and stable inflows, the situation shifted noticeably starting on December 15,” he said. “Since then, XRP inflows to Binance have risen sharply, with daily volumes ranging from 35 million XRP to a significant peak of 116 million XRP recorded on December 19.”

The implication is less about a single spike and more about the persistence of elevated prints. In that framing, repeated large inflows during a drawdown tend to read like ongoing distribution rather than a clean washout.

Darkfost argued the inflow regime also maps to a behavioral change across cohorts. “This change in dynamics also suggests a shift in investor behavior,” he wrote. “While a large portion of the market had been following a holding strategy since October, the trend over the past two weeks points to a move toward profit taking for older positions, as well as capitulation and loss selling from more recent entrants.”

He was explicit about what would need to change before “accumulation” becomes a defensible label. “As long as these elevated inflows persist or intensify further, it will be difficult for XRP to establish a true accumulation phase,” he said. “If this selling pressure continues, the current correction could not only extend in time but also deepen further.”

The Macro Backdrop

In separate posts, Darkfost tied the XRP signal to a wider market condition he characterized as liquidity constrained. “The crypto market continues to suffer from a lack of liquidity,” he wrote, adding that “the market cap of the main stablecoins has been stagnating for the past few weeks.”

He offered a specific interpretation of what that means for marginal demand. “There is no longer any fresh liquidity entering the market (fiat → crypto),” he said, while also arguing that “liquidity is still present within the market and is not leaving it.” The catch, in his view, is that available liquidity is staying sidelined: “However, this liquidity is not being deployed either, if we look at current stablecoin inflows to exchanges.”

Darkfost quantified the slowdown using exchange inflow averages. “Between September and today, the average monthly inflow to exchanges has been cut in half, dropping from $136B to around $70B,” he wrote, adding that “the annual average has also started to decline over the past few weeks.”

Sentiment Turning Bearish

Darkfost also said sentiment in the entire crypto market has swung negative, based on a composite he tracks. “The general consensus has turned bearish,” he wrote, saying the indicator is “based on media articles, data from X, and several other sentiment indicators.” He noted that “when a shared consensus forms, the market tends to reverse and prove the majority wrong,” citing similar setups he observed between July and October 2024 and between February and April 2025.

At the same time, he warned against treating the signal as a timing tool, especially if broader conditions deteriorate. “These phases can last for some time, especially when the market enters a prolonged bear market phase,” he wrote. “We have only started to enter this period since early November, so there is no need to rush, but it is probably already a bit late to turn bearish.”

At press time, XRP traded at $1.90.

Сооснователь Fundstrat Global Advisors и председатель компании BitMine Immersion Technologies Том Ли (Tom Lee) составил прогноз курса, по которому могут торговаться в 2026 году две крупнейшие по рыночной капитализации криптовалюты: биткоин и эфир.

Глава компании-оператора криптокошелька Trust Wallet Эовин Чен (Eowyn Chen) заявила, что из-за недавней кибератаки пострадало 2596 адресов. Однако в службу поддержки поступило уже примерно 5000 заявок на возмещение ущерба.

Согласно данным, предоставленным сервисом Google Trends, количество поисковых запросов со словом «криптовалюта» резко сократилось в уходящем году.

Федеральный суд Австралии обязал криптовалютную компанию NGS Crypto прекратить работу из-за нарушений в бухгалтерской отчетности и отсутствия лицензии на ведение финансовой деятельности.

С 1 января коммерческие банки Китая, которые обслуживают кошельки с цифровыми юанями, должны начать выплачивать владельцам кошельков проценты. Доходность будет зависеть от баланса кошелька, сообщил заместитель управляющего Народного банка Китая Лу Лэй (Lu Lei).