Cointelegraph.com
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Cointelegraph.com - 18:00 Dec 31, 2025
The 2024 US election saw more money and support from the crypto and blockchain industry than ever before, with some experts predicting a repeat in the midterms. Following the 2024 elections, in which an estimated 270 lawmakers with favorable views on digital assets won seats in the US Congress, many cryptocurrency-affiliated organizations and political action committees show no signs of slowing their progress in the next significant election, the 2026 midterms. Likely boosted by advocacy work from organizations — such as the Coinbase-affiliated Stand With Crypto group and whose campaigns were supported by media buys from political action committees (PACs) — a majority of lawmakers in the 119th session of the US Congress took office in January having already expressed views signaling that they would support pro-crypto legislation and policies. In the last year, some of Congress’s work supported that theory. The US House of Representatives passed three significant bills in July as part of the Republicans’ “Cry... -
Cointelegraph.com - 17:01 Dec 31, 2025
While Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire increased his net worth by a reported 149%, others like Changpeng Zhao and the Winklevosses saw declines. Strategy executive chairman Michael Saylor and other prominent cryptocurrency executives lost billions of dollars in 2025, partially as a result of losses in an October flash crash. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index released on Wednesday, Saylor lost $2.6 billion over the previous 12 months, reducing his net worth to $3.8 billion. Gemini co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao also saw significant losses due to a “massive slide” in the crypto market in October. “[Strategy’s Bitcoin treasury strategy] generated huge returns through early October, when Bitcoin hit fresh highs,” Bloomberg. “However, things began to turn south soon after as a slump in Bitcoin’s value sent Strategy’s stock price plunging by more than half, dragging Saylor’s net worth down nearly $6 billion from its high-water mark in the process.” Read mo... -
Cointelegraph.com - 16:10 Dec 31, 2025
The market carnage will likely extend into 2026, with price bottoming out in Q4, but it isn't all bad news, according to early BTC adopters. Bitcoin is likely headed for a challenging 2026, with many analysts expecting the cryptocurrency to extend its late-2025 downturn. Yet even as prices soften, early adopters say the coming year could mark a turning point for Bitcoin’s real-world utility, as payment infrastructure continues to mature and using BTC as a medium of exchange becomes simpler and more accessible. The price of Bitcoin (BTC) may bottom out at about $60,000 in Q4 2026, presenting a buying opportunity, according to early Bitcoin investor Michael Terpin. Terpin forecast: Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 15:15 Dec 31, 2025
Several analysts remain bullish on Bitcoin, expecting it to surge to a new all-time high as early as in the first quarter of 2026. Key points: Bitcoin has been lagging behind gold and the S&P 500 since November, but analysts expect a rally to a new all-time high in 2026. Several major altcoins are showing signs of starting a short-term recovery. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 14:20 Dec 31, 2025
Fake band exposed by hoax spokesman, turning ChatGPT evil, and a vending machine calls the FBI over $2. The weirdest AI stories of 2025. Every two weeks throughout 2025, the AI Eye column has rounded up all the important and groundbreaking developments in artificial intelligence… and then ignored them completely to focus instead on weird and wonderful stories of LLM’s going rogue, deep fakes upon deep fakes, and the unexpected ramifications of unleashing this alien technology upon a society that’s not even close to being ready for it. Here are nine of the weirdest highlights from the past year of AI Eye: AI safety researchers accidentally turned GPT-4o into a Hitler-loving supervillain who wants to wipe out humanity. The bizarre and disturbing behavior emerged all by itself after the model was trained on a data set of computer code filled with security vulnerabilities. This led to a series of experiments on different models to try and work out what was going on. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 14:00 Dec 31, 2025
From Bitcoin to Dogecoin, major AI models predict price ranges and the catalysts that could shape crypto markets in the year ahead. Artificial intelligence is no longer just a research tool for investors. It’s increasingly being used as a market oracle, used to model scenarios, price ranges and sector-level shifts across global asset classes. In 2025, AI adoption accelerated across crypto markets and asset management companies, with funds and analysts using large language models to interpret macro signals, onchain data and regulatory developments. To test how these systems interpret the upcoming year, Cointelegraph asked leading AI models what crypto prices could look like in 2026. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 14:00 Dec 31, 2025
The Bitcoin price slump at the end of the year hasn’t discouraged Michael Saylor’s Strategy from buying over 22,000 BTC in December alone. Bitcoin’s price continued to fall as 2025 neared its end, declining 4% in December. Despite a slump in markets, Strategy capped off the year with massive Bitcoin buys. In December alone, the software company turned Bitcoin investment vehicle picked up over 22,000 Bitcoin (BTC). In the US, prediction markets are inking deals with major media outlets and scoring approvals from major federal agencies. However, in 11 states, gambling and gaming regulators are taking legal action against platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket. Watchdogs state that such markets constitute a form of gambling, a claim the companies themselves dispute. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 13:32 Dec 31, 2025
Ether trades sideways as spot ETF outflows, weak bullish leverage demand, and low Ethereum network fees cap recovery prospects going into 2026. Key takeaways: ETH remains capped below $3,000 as repeated breakout failures weaken trader confidence and suppress short-term momentum. A sustainable ETH rally will require stronger network activity and DApp demand to offset weak leverage and ETF flows. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 13:29 Dec 31, 2025
Arkham data shows wallets associated with the Official Trump meme team pulling about $94 million in USDC from TRUMP liquidity pools in December and routing the funds to Coinbase. Onchain analysts tracking the Official Trump (TRUMP) memecoin on Solana have flagged large transfers from wallets labeled as parts of the “Official Trump Meme” cluster moving about $94 million in USDC from TRUMP liquidity pools over the past month. The most recent movement, highlighted by blockchain data platform Arkham, involved 33 million USDC (USDC) being withdrawn from liquidity on Tuesday and sent to an entity labeled Fireblocks, which then routed funds to wallets labeled as belonging to Coinbase. Public Solana records on Solscan corroborate the large USDC outflows from TRUMP‑linked wallets. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 13:00 Dec 31, 2025
North Korea’s record-breaking Bybit hack changed how exchanges handle security and even influenced FATF’s global crypto recommendations. Cryptocurrency exchange Bybit suffered a $1.4 billion hack in February 2025 that exposed structural weaknesses in custody systems long considered industry standards, such as cold storage and multisignature wallets. At the time, the exploit was the largest known hack in crypto history, though that distinction was later eclipsed by findings that Chinese mining pool LuBian lost $3.5 billion in 2020. “The [Bybit] hack showed that cold storage and multisig labels are meaningless if the approval flow, transaction visibility, or signer environment can be manipulated,” said Ishai Shoham, head of product at crypto infrastructure company Utila. “After Bybit, custody architecture became a first-order risk topic, not a back-office detail.” Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 11:30 Dec 31, 2025
Gold fractals, Bitcoin cost basis heatmap, and long-term moving averages offer clues on where BTC’s next major move may emerge in 2026. Key takeaways: Bitcoin is consolidating as gold leads, a pattern seen before past BTC rallies. $84,000–$85,000 and the 100-week EMA are key levels to watch. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 11:15 Dec 31, 2025
Bitcoin faces clashing forecasts for 2026: tempered institutional targets around $150,000 versus bearish charts warning of major declines. Looking to 2026, Bitcoin (BTC) forecasts clash with historical chart patterns and evolving market realities, as traditional finance plays a bigger role in the cryptocurrency space. Key takeaways: Standard Chartered and Bernstein forecast Bitcoin to hit $150,000 in 2026, revising down earlier higher targets due to slower ETF inflows. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 11:12 Dec 31, 2025
Trading activity concentrated in the second half of the year as Hyperliquid’s early lead faced increasing pressure from Aster and Lighter. Perpetuals decentralized exchanges are closing 2025 with cumulative trading volume reaching $12.09 trillion, up from $4.1 trillion at the start of the year. DefiLlama data shows that about $7.9 trillion of this lifetime total volume was generated in 2025. This means that 65% of all perp DEX trading volume occurred in a single calendar year. This concentration highlights how rapidly onchain derivatives scaled in 2025. In December alone, perpetuals trading volume reached $1 trillion, carrying momentum that started in October, when monthly volumes first reached $1 trillion. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 10:22 Dec 31, 2025
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. Lighter, a decentralized exchange (DEX) that offers perpetual futures trading, carried out one of the biggest token giveaways in crypto history, even as critics continued to question how the project split its token supply. Lighter airdropped a total of $675 million worth of Lighter Infrastructure Tokens (LIT) to early participants on Tuesday, according to blockchain data visualization platform Bubblemaps. “$675M airdropped to early participants. $30M withdrawn from Lighter (only),” wrote Bubblemaps in a Tuesday X post. The $675 million total makes the Lighter airdrop the 10th largest airdrop by US dollar value in cryptocurrency history, according to crypto data aggregator CoinGecko. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 09:53 Dec 31, 2025
US spot Bitcoin ETFs pulled in $355 million, snapping a 7-day outflow streak that saw $1.12 billion withdrawn from the products. US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) ended a seven-day run of net outflows, pulling in $355 million as traders pointed to early signs of improving global liquidity. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) led the rebound with $143.75 million in inflows on Tuesday, followed by the Ark 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) at $109.56 million and Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) with $78.59 million, according to data from SoSoValue. Bitwise’s Bitcoin ETF (BITB) added $13.87 million, while smaller inflows were recorded by Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC) with $4.28 million, and VanEck’s Bitcoin ETF (HODL) with $4.98 million. The turnaround came as spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs recorded $1.12 billion in cumulative net outflows during the prior seven trading days. The heaviest selling occurred on Friday, when funds shed about $275.9 million. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 09:29 Dec 31, 2025
NFT minting accelerated even as buyers spent less, pushing the market toward a high-volume, low-price dynamic. The non-fungible token (NFT) market expanded in total supply, but saw significantly lower sales in 2025 compared with previous years. CryptoSlam data shows that the total number of NFTs in circulation climbed to more than 1.34 billion this year, marking a 25% increase from the one billion supply in 2024. The increased supply came in parallel with falling sales. According to CryptoSlam data, NFT sales reached about $5.63 billion in 2025, down by about 37% from the $8.9 billion recorded last year. Average sale prices also declined year-on-year, slipping to $96 from $124. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 08:48 Dec 31, 2025
Bitwise is seeking SEC approval for 11 single‑token “strategy” ETFs tied to major altcoins, expanding its product shelf deeper into the altcoin market. Crypto fund manager Bitwise has filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to launch 11 single‑token “strategy” crypto exchange‑traded funds (ETFs), extending the company’s crypto ETF footprint deeper into the altcoin market. The proposed funds would offer targeted exposure to assets including Aave (AAVE), Uniswap (UNI), Zcash (ZEC), Bittensor (TAO), Sui (SUI) and Near (NEAR), among others, giving investors a regulated route into tokens that so far have mostly traded on crypto exchanges. According to the filing, each product is designed as a “Strategy ETF” rather than a plain spot vehicle, following a rules‑based playbook for how it gets exposure to the underlying asset. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 07:41 Dec 31, 2025
A Coinbase executive said changes to the GENIUS Act could weaken US dollar stablecoins as China moves to boost the digital yuan by allowing interest-bearing wallets. A senior executive at Coinbase warned that changes to the US stablecoin framework could weaken Washington’s position in the global race for digital payments, just as China moves to make its central bank digital currency (CBDC) more competitive. In a post on X, Faryar Shirzad, Coinbase’s chief policy officer, said the debate over whether US-issued stablecoins can offer “rewards” under the GENIUS Act could hurt US dollar stablecoins’ global competitiveness. He pointed to a recent announcement from China’s central bank as evidence that rival financial systems are moving quickly to enhance the appeal of state-backed digital money. The People’s Bank of China, China’s central bank, this week outlined a framework that will allow commercial banks to pay interest on balances held in digital yuan wallets starting Jan. 1, 2026. Lu Lei, a deputy governor at ... -
Cointelegraph.com - 06:38 Dec 31, 2025
Ethereum transactions were the most costly in May 2022 when fees were over $200 per transaction on average. They have been declining since. The Ethereum mainnet clocked 2.2 million transactions in a single day in a new record this week, while fees have fallen to just 17 cents on average. The layer-1 blockchain recorded its new transaction milestone on Tuesday, according to block explorer Etherscan. Transaction fees have also dropped considerably over time. The highest transaction fees on Ethereum were recorded in May 2022, when users had to spend over $200 per transaction. Read more -
Cointelegraph.com - 05:26 Dec 31, 2025
Google Trends search for “Bitchat” in Uganda shows a spike from 0 to 100 on Wednesday, the day after opposition leader Bobi Wine urged people to download it. Ugandan politician and opposition leader Bobi Wine is encouraging his constituents to download Jack Dorsey’s decentralized peer-to-peer messaging service, Bitchat, in the lead-up to the country’s election, alleging the ruling party will try to cut off communication services. During the 2016 election, long-time Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni blocked internet and social media access for the entire population, citing security and safety concerns, and again in 2021, according to a report from the Pan-African Human Rights Defenders Network. Wine alleged in a X post on Tuesday that a similar action is on the agenda in the lead-up to the Uganda 2026 presidential election, which is scheduled for Jan. 15. Read more
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