Zoltan Vardai

DeFi and smart contract-tied cryptocurrencies fell by over 66% during 2025, but analysts are pointing to maturing digital asset valuations due to incoming institutional capital.

The investment banking giant is seeking to capture additional yield from the proposed ETF’s Ether holdings via staking, as institutional investors launch more regulated crypto funds.

The investment banking giant’s filings for Bitcoin and Solana ETFs follow an uptick in investor demand for regulated crypto investment vehicles, driven by the new year’s “clean-slate” effect.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs have hauled in $1.1 billion in the first two trading days of 2026, with analysts pointing to a new year “clean-slate effect” driving digital asset demand.

Strategy bought 1,283 BTC for $116 million, lifting holdings above 673,000 BTC, while reporting a $17.4 billion unrealized Q4 loss in an SEC filing Monday.

According to SlowMist, attackers are impersonating MetaMask, aiming to steal users’ secret recovery phrases.

Bubblemaps said Lighter airdropped $675 million in LIT — one of crypto’s biggest ever — as data shared on X suggested about 75% of recipients were still holding.

Russia’s Justice Ministry proposed fines and prison for illegal crypto mining, as officials say most miners still haven’t joined the tax register.

An $11 billion Bitcoin whale is betting hundreds of millions of dollars on price increases of Bitcoin, Ether and Solana, while "smart money" traders remain net short on leading tokens.

Altcoins lagged Bitcoin in 2025, but XRP, Zcash and Algorand outperformed on regulatory clarity, privacy demand and tokenization.

China’s central bank will let banks pay interest on digital yuan wallets from Jan. 1, 2026, reshaping e-CNY as deposit-like money as the US bans CBDCs.

The largest corporate Ethereum holders continue seeking passive yield through staking, effectively reducing the sellable Ether supply on the open market.

Trend Research founder Jack Yi pledged to continue buying Ether, claiming more financial and regulatory tailwinds will drive crypto valuations in 2026.

Cryptocurrency markets experienced a modest recovery this week, but spot Bitcoin ETFs extended a five-day losing streak amid thin year-end liquidity.

Tokenized commodities are increasing amid growing investor demand for more accessible onchain financial products, following new all-time highs for gold and silver.

The malicious Trust Wallet extension has also been exporting users’ personal information, pointing to potential insider activity, according to cybersecurity company SlowMist.

Zhao urged the blockchain industry to adopt new security measures, including scam address blacklist, after an investor lost $50 million to an address poisoning scheme.

The USD1 stablecoin added $150 million to its market capitalization after Binance announced an incentive program offering up to 20% yield.

Kraken’s pending IPO and the wave of crypto companies seeking public listings may help the industry attract more TradFi capital.

Concerns about code vulnerabilities are fading in the crypto space, but more sophisticated scam tactics are emerging as protocol security improves.

Crypto funds broke three weeks of net positive flows, after US investor sentiment took a hit following delays to the long-awaited CLARITY Act, set to reach the Senate in January 2026.

Cantor Fitzgerald is predicting a HYPE rally to $200 by 2035, but rival DEXs are attracting a growing share of crypto traders as they emerge with lucrative reward farming systems.

The volatility of the cryptocurrency market is threatening the stability of corporate crypto treasury companies, resulting in larger swings in their net asset value that threaten their fundraising abilities.

Bubblemaps says 23 wallets tied to the Ava deployer sniped 40% of the AVA supply at launch. The Solana AI token later fell 96% from its peak.

Fidelity’s director of macro is predicting a Bitcoin bottom near $65,000 in 2026, but remains a “secular bull” despite predicting an end to the current four-year cycle.

Bitcoin’s Taproot usage is declining, signaling wider concerns around its quantum future, as the leading cryptographers race to solve the quantum threat in 2026.

ZachXBT warned about Soulja Boy’s new Base memecoin after Jesse Pollak shared a receipt, reviving past allegations of rug pulls and promotions.

An investor willingly sent his hard-earned Bitcoin retirement fund to a scammer, losing his entire stash after falling for a pig butchering scam despite repeated warnings.

Bitcoin briefly topped $94,000 following Strategy’s largest investment since July, but investor risk appetite remained muted even after the widely expected US interest rate cut.

Crypto investor demand for memecoins remains at lows not seen since 2024, despite a growing speculative appetite that has boosted TradFi leveraged ETFs to a record $239 billion.