Weekly fund flows point to lingering caution, with investors favoring newer products and select regions over broad market exposure. Crypto exchange-traded products recorded $446 million in net outflows last week, extending a cautious trend persisting since October’s sharp market correction. According to asset manager CoinShares, the latest withdrawals bring total outflows since Oct. 10 to $3.2 billion, signaling that investor confidence has yet to recover as the year ends. The weekly outflows contrast with year-to-date (YTD) inflows of $46.3 billion, a figure broadly consistent with 2024 levels. CoinShares’ head of research, James Butterfill, said that total assets under management (AUM) have risen by just 10% YTD. He said this indicated that “the average investor has not seen a positive outcome this year once flows are taken into account.” Read more
RWA protocols have overtaken decentralized exchanges by total value locked, as tokenized Treasurys, private credit and commodities become core onchain building blocks. Real-world asset (RWA) protocols are one of decentralized finance’s (DeFi’s) winners in 2025, overtaking decentralized exchanges (DEXs) to become the fifth-largest category by total value locked (TVL), according to DefiLlama. RWAs now account for about $17 billion in TVL, up from $12 billion in Q4 2024, highlighting how quickly tokenized Treasurys, private credit and other real-world claims have moved from niche experiments to core DeFi plumbing. As DefiLlama noted, “At the start of this year, they weren’t even in the top 10 categories.” Vincent Liu, chief investment officer at Kronos Research, told Cointelegraph that RWA growth is being driven by “balance-sheet incentives rather than experimentation,” with higher-for-longer rates making tokenized Treasurys and private credit attractive as onchain, yield-bearing assets, amid improving regulat...
Bitcoin needs a return of retail and institutional demand for BTC to clear the next big hurdle at $90,000 and spark a new rally toward six figures. Bitcoin’s (BTC) end-of-year rally toward $90,000 appeared to be stalling due to a lack of demand and weak onchain activity. Still, a new technical setup suggested that momentum may increase once the BTC/USD pair breaks above $90,000. Key takeaways: Apparent demand and buying from US investors must recover to secure a new year rally for BTC. Read more