The largest corporate Ethereum holders continue seeking passive yield through staking, effectively reducing the sellable Ether supply on the open market. Corporations are increasingly turning to Ethereum staking to earn passive yield, a shift that is tightening the amount of Ether available for sale on the open market. BitMine Immersion Technologies, the largest corporate Ether (ETH) holder, staked 342,560 ETH worth over $1 billion in the two days leading up to Sunday, according to blockchain data platform Lookonchain. Staking involves locking ETH into Ethereum’s proof-of-stake network to secure the blockchain in exchange for a passive annual percentage yield (APY) of about 3%–5%. Read more
Onchain data shows activity holding up on Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum and Avalanche even as fee revenue declines across the crypto sector. Several of the biggest blockchain networks handled more transactions in December even as user fees fell, a sign that recent scaling upgrades are increasing capacity and easing competition for block space, according to data compiled by Nansen. Data from Nansen showed that Bitcoin, Tron, Ethereum, Arbitrum, Polygon, Avalanche and The Open Network (TON) recorded month-over-month increases in transactions, while fee revenue declined sharply across the same period. Ethereum transactions increased by 16% despite a 57% decline in fee revenue. Polygon showed a similar divergence, with transaction counts jumping 82% while fees dropped 47%. Arbitrum and Avalanche also showed a very notable transactions-up, fees-down pattern. Read more
Bitcoin failed to flip $90,000 to support at the start of the last week of 2025, but Bitfinex whale long positions built on their highest levels in nearly two years. Bitcoin (BTC) heads into year-end 2025 stuck around $90,000 as stocks and precious metals roar higher. Bitcoin sees only a modest uptick after its last weekly close of the year, as liquidity analysis warns of a fresh dip. Traders’ cost bases form the backbone of support reclaim targets heading into 2026. Read more
Trend Research founder Jack Yi pledged to continue buying Ether, claiming more financial and regulatory tailwinds will drive crypto valuations in 2026. Update Dec. 29, 1:40 p.m. UTC: This article has been updated to include the latest $48 million Ether buy from Trend Research. Hong Kong-based investment firm Trend Research has continued accumulating Ether even as one of the biggest corporate ETH holders expects a sharp drawdown during the first quarter of 2026. Trend Research acquired $35 million in Ether (ETH), pushing its holdings above 601,000 ETH worth about $1.83 billion, according to blockchain data platform Lookonchain. Read more
Digital asset treasury companies such as Tom Lee’s BitMine have contributed to the increase in the entry queue, but the network’s Petcra upgrade may have also helped. Ethereum’s staking queue has flipped the exit line for the first time in six months, with almost twice as much ETH now lined up to be staked as ETH trying to leave the network. The entry queue for validators has roughly 745,619 Ether (ETH) with a nearly 13-day wait, while the exit line has around 360,518 ETH and an eight-day wait, according to the blockchain explorer Ethereum Validator Queue. The flippening happened on Saturday, when both queues were around 460,000, but the entry queue has gone vertical since, while some argue the exit queue is trending towards zero. Read more
Silver’s recent price surge mirrors Bitcoin’s trademark volatility. The precious metal is swinging wildly on rate cut bets and shifting industrial demand. The price of silver continues to notch new highs amid a precious metals market boom, with the asset trading in a very crypto-like fashion over the weekend with sharp volatility. Silver hit a new all-time high of almost $84 on Sunday, with demand for gold also driving the price up to new heights of around $4,530. Meanwhile, the crypto market continues to stutter. As highlighted in a post on Sunday by markets publication The Kobeissi Letter, silver saw extreme volatility over the weekend, spiking 6% and then dumping 10% in the span of an hour. Read more
Bitcoin is helping reinforce the US dollar’s reserve currency status by acting as a market check on excessive inflation and deficit spending, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has claimed Bitcoin provides healthy competition for the US dollar, which in turn pressures policymakers to maintain fiscal discipline and helps preserve the greenback’s dominance. “[Bitcoin] provides a check and balance on the dollar in the sense of if there's too much deficit spending or inflation in the US, people will flee to Bitcoin in times of uncertainty,” Armstrong argued in an interview on Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin on Thursday. “It might be okay to have 2-3% inflation if the economy is growing at 2-3% but if inflation outstrips the growth of the economy, you'll eventually lose the reserve currency status, and that would be a massive blow to the United States.” Read more
Crypto executives, including Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley and Castle Island Ventures founding partner Nic Carter, have pushed back against a proposed billionaire tax in California. A proposed 5% tax on billionaires' wealth in California has drawn a strong response from crypto executives, who argue it would trigger an exodus of entrepreneurs and capital flight, and would be wasted anyway. The ballot initiative, known as the 2026 Billionaire Tax Act, proposes a 5% tax on net wealth above $1 billion to help fund the health care system and state assistance programs, according to the SEIU United Healthcare Workers West union. As the proposed wealth tax is partly assessed against unrealized gains, some billionaires may need to sell stock or parts of their businesses to raise funds to pay the tax, which would either be payable in one installment, or over five years with interest payments. Read more
A server-wide hack flooded Rainbow Six Siege with billions in credits, forcing an emergency shutdown and a major rollback operation. French video gaming giant Ubisoft has been forced to halt the live services of Rainbow Six Siege after hackers breached the game and dished out 2 billion in-game credits to every player. The exploit was initially confirmed by the team via X on Dec. 27, with a series of updates following, ultimately leading to a suspension of the game’s servers and marketplace the following day. Reports from players on social media indicate that hackers were able to take control of the major parts of the game’s online systems, with players reporting that everyone was receiving 2 billion in-game R6 credits upon logging in, alongside rare items such as skins and guns. Read more