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After a volatile 2025, investors are rethinking crypto cycles. Here are three investment themes that will shape the market's next phase in 2026.

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Despite reaching $126,000, Bitcoin's late-year sell-off led to its first post-halving annual loss.

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Vitalik Buterin has urged Ethereum builders to turn 2025 scaling gains into apps that survive fraud, censorship, and developer exit. He has framed Ethereum as a world computer that should run even if Cloudflare fails, while defending layer-2 strategy and broader decentralization goals as 2026 dawns.

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Bitcoin spot ETFs concluded 2025's final trading session with $348 million in net outflows while BTC settled at $87,496, marking a 6% decline from its December 2024 close as institutional caution offset regulatory optimism.

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Tether's $876 million bitcoin acquisition in Q4 2025 elevated its holdings to 96,185 BTC, securing the stablecoin issuer's position as the fifth-largest bitcoin wallet globally while corporate treasuries continue accumulating despite market volatility.

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Bitcoin's long-observed four-year market cycle is facing renewed skepticism after the asset closed 2025 lower than it opened, a first for a post-halving year.

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XRP is reportedly showing signs of tightening supply, with exchange balances falling to levels not seen in years. Despite this shift, the cryptocurrency's price remains stuck below $2, highlighting an unusual disconnect between shrinking availability, slow demand, and weak price performance.

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The Bitcoin price has closed its yearly candle with a shooting-star-like pattern, raising concerns that selling pressure near highs could signal a broader bearish shift ahead.

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The year 2025 will be remembered as the moment crypto futures trading stopped being a theoretical risk and became a measurable systemic failure. By year's end, more than $154 billion in forced liquidations had been recorded across perpetual futures markets, according to aggregated data from Coinglass, translating to an average of $400–500 million in daily losses.

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Cryptocurrency shifts from supply-driven to liquidity-driven market as traditional cycle ends

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Bitcoin at $200,000? Massive volatility?

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Buterin reviews 2025 progress while urging network to prioritize decentralization over trends

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Ethereum just closed the fourth worst Q4 in its history. According to CoinGlass data shared by Wu blockchain, Ethereum closed Q4 2025 with a 28.28% loss to mark the fourth worst Q4 performance in its history.

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A major institutional player in global finance has made its position on XRP clear, placing the cryptocurrency at the center of its digital asset strategy. Franklin Templeton, an asset management firm handling over $1.6 trillion worth of assets, used a recent post on the social media platform X to explain why it is going deep into XRP as an asset, while also drawing attention to its Spot exchange-traded product, XRPZ.

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The market is mainly falling on the first day of the new year, according to CoinStats.

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In his latest social media post, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin argues the network must now pass the "walkaway test" and avoid becoming just another subscription service.

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Sellers are dominating over buyers at the beginning of 2026, according to CoinStats.

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Peter Schiff has questioned whether Strategy can join the S&P 500 as MSTR ended 2025 down about 49%. Strategy kept buying Bitcoin, holding 672,497 BTC at an average near $75,000, while critics say the firm trades like a Bitcoin proxy rather than an operating business. The S&P 500 rose 17.3% in 2025.

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After major technical gains in 2025, Ethereum's co-founder says the network must double down on usability and decentralization to meet its original goals.

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In this Q&A, Jill Ford offers a clear-eyed view on mining economics, the growing overlap between Bitcoin and AI infrastructure, and why not every trend is worth chasing.

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XRP supply on exchanges has fallen to an eight year low as ETF inflows exceed $1.4B and circulation slows. Price remains above key support at $1.80, with analysts from Standard Chartered expecting XRP to rise over 300% in 2026 amid growing institutional accumulation.

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Ripple has observed an increase in institutional interest in cryptocurrency markets, driven by regulatory clarity, advancements in tokenization, and heightened demand for stablecoins, ETFs, and XRP-related products. This development is considered a significant momentum booster as the new year approaches, according to Reece Merrick, Managing Director for Asia-Pacific at Ripple.

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According to a CFTC press release, Amir Zaidi has been named Chief of Staff at the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), effective December 31, 2025. The agency said Chairman Michael S.

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El Salvador reaffirmed its Bitcoin strategy by committing fully to Bitcoin and artificial intelligence leadership.

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Analysts see Bitcoin entering 2026 supported by long-term demand but constrained by macro and derivatives pressure.