Bitwise crypto researcher André Dragosch said, “We’re staring at a similar macro setup” for Bitcoin as during the COVID-19 pandemic. Bitcoin may have significant upside from here as its current price appears to be out of step with the forward macroeconomic outlook, according to a crypto researcher. “The last time I saw such an asymmetric risk-reward was during COVID,” Bitwise Europe head of research André Dragosch said in an X post on Friday, referring to March 2020 when global pandemic fears sent Bitcoin’s (BTC) price tumbling from around $8,000 to below $5,000. Dragosch said that while Bitcoin’s current setup mirrors the extreme risk-reward conditions seen during the COVID pandemic, it is also “pricing in the most bearish global growth outlook since 2022,” pointing to a period marked by aggressive quantitative tightening from the US Federal Reserve and the collapse of crypto exchange FTX. Read more
The UK will require crypto platforms to report all activity from domestic users starting in 2026, as global tax authorities worldwide tighten oversight of digital assets. The United Kingdom will require domestic crypto platforms to report all transactions from UK-resident users starting in 2026, expanding the scope of the Cryptoasset Reporting Framework (CARF). The change will give His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) — the UK’s tax authority — automatic access to both domestic and cross-border crypto data for the first time, tightening tax compliance ahead of CARF’s first global information exchange in 2027. CARF, designed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), is a framework for the automatic cross-border exchange of crypto transaction data between tax authorities worldwide. Its rules require crypto asset service providers to perform due diligence, verify user identities, and report detailed transaction information on an annual basis. Read more
Analysts expected more Solana ETFs to go live in 2025, as investors chase yield-bearing opportunities through staking and network validation. Asset manager CoinShares withdrew its Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) application for a staked Solana exchange-traded fund (ETF) on Friday. The structuring deal and asset purchase behind the proposed fund were never completed, according to the SEC filing, which states: The first staked Solana (SOL) ETF, issued by REX-Osprey, debuted in the United States in June, followed by investment company Bitwise’s staked SOL ETF in October. Read more
Cleanspark, Riot, Cipher and Circle rose higher as the odds of a US rate-cut in December reached its highest level of the month on the prediction market. Several crypto-linked stocks climbed on Friday as prediction-market odds of a December rate cut surged to 87% on Polymarket, the highest level this month. Three US-listed Bitcoin miners led the rally, with Cleanspark, Riot Platforms and Cipher Mining all rising in the session and showing double-digit gains over the past five days. Yahoo Finance data showed Circle, the issuer of USDC, jumped nearly 10% in early trading, while Michael Saylor’s Strategy and Coinbase notched more modest increases at the time of writing. Read more