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Bitcoin's late-year slump has revived a familiar online refrain that the market is “controlled” and price is being suppressed but Strategy CFO Andrew Kang said the manipulation thesis doesn't square with Bitcoin's scale, and that even large, highly liquid public vehicles struggle to move the needle.

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Stablecoins on Ethereum ended the year with near-record activity for user wallets. USDC emerged as the asset transferring the biggest share of financial value, due to its status as a fully regulated stablecoin.

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Standard Chartered is forecasting a major XRP breakout as institutional interest drives over one billion dollars into new spot ETFs. CoinDesk's Jennifer Sanasie unpacks how XRP could achieve a 2026 rally in today's "Chart of the Day," presented by Crypto.com.

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XRP has struggled to regain momentum after failing to reclaim the $2.00 level. Broader market uncertainty has capped upside, keeping price action constrained.

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Bitcoin continues to trade below $88,000 heading into 2026 even as ETF flows turned positive into year-end. Cryptocurrency Ticker Price Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) $87,745.12 Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) $2,979.79 Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) $125.17 XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) $1.85 Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) $0.1206 Shiba Inu (CRYPTO: SHIB) $0.056956 Notable Statistics: Coinglass data shows 88,263 traders were liquidated in the past 24 hours for $131.74 million.

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U.S. initial jobless claims have once again come in below market expectations, signaling resilience in the labor market and reducing the likelihood of an imminent Federal Reserve rate cut. This macroeconomic development is drawing attention across financial markets, particularly crypto, where expectations of monetary easing have historically fueled Bitcoin rallies.

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If you're thinking about Bitcoin in 2026, these are 3 themes to follow to be prepared to what the new year could bring to its market.

 

As 2026 begins, XRP traders are bracing for another closely watched event: Ripples scheduled release of 1 billion XRP from escrow on January 1. While headlines highlight the sheer size of the unlockworth roughly $1.9 billion at the current XRP price of $1.88the real market impact is likely far more nuanced than the numbers suggest.

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The industry is realizing that Bitcoin was deliberately designed to prioritize simple, deterministic validation over complex on-chain execution. This design choice minimizes resource requirements, preserves decentralization, and reduces systemic risk even if it means pushing complex logic, programmability, and heavy computation to higher layers or external systems.

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Ethereum price rose by around 1.5% today, briefly moving above the key psychological resistance level of $3,000. Although ETH is still technically within a broader bear market structure, growing signs of accumulation and improving technical indicators have fueled optimism among analysts who believe further upside is possible in the near term.

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The crypto market is showing renewed signs of strength as it heads into the final days before 2026, supported by a major liquidity injection from the U.S. Federal Reserve and a reversal in Bitcoin ETF flows. These developments have improved overall market sentiment and raised expectations for a potential year-end relief rally across digital assets.

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With multiple milestones and advancements in 2025, the Cardano (ADA) network is ending the year on a successful note. After experiencing periods of growth and drawdowns, a growing number of analysts believe that the leading network could be set for a more successful and bullish 2026.

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Crypto analyst Benjamin Cowen says 2025 reinforced a hard truth for the market: macroeconomic forces, not hype-driven cycle narratives, continue to dominate crypto price action. What Happened: In his 2025 "Reflections" video, Cowen argued that while the traditional four-year Bitcoin cycle still technically held, with a post-halving peak forming in Q4, the drawdown that followed looked far more like 2019 than the sharp crashes seen in prior cycles.

 

Bitcoin is trading in a $86,500–$90,000 range into Dec 31 as holiday liquidity has thinned and spot volume has slid to around $34B. CoinShares has recorded $446M weekly outflows, while Farside has shown a $355M ETF inflow led by BlackRock's IBIT, yet price has stayed below $90,000. Funding is muted.

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Solana shakes up the crypto market with a massive liquidation in just one hour. All details in this article.

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On-chain data shows that trading XRP and SOL was twice as volatile compared to BTC in 2025, reflecting a lack of maturity in altcoins.

 

Welcome to the US Crypto News Morning Briefing—your essential rundown of the most important developments in crypto for the day ahead.

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Bitcoin's Lightning Network, a layer-2 payment system aimed at enhancing transaction speed and reducing costs, has achieved a new record in capacity. According to data from AMBOSS, the network's capacity reached approximately 5,637 BTC, surpassing its previous peak noted in March 2023.

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U.S. crypto ETFs pulled in $443 million on Dec. 30 as Bitwise and Grayscale filed for Bittensor (CRYPTO: TAO) ETFs targeting AI and DeFi for 2026. Bitcoin Snaps Seven-Day Bleed With $355M Inflow Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) ETFs reversed a seven-day outflow streak with $355 million in net inflows, according to SoSoValue data.

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The CFTC is slated to have a more influential role overseeing the crypto industry as lawmakers look to pass a bill that would give bolstered authority to the agency.

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The Ethereum blockchain recorded its strongest operational year in history in 2025, processing record transaction volumes and securing the vast majority of the DeFi market. However, the crypto asset that powers the network failed to mirror that growth, posting double-digit losses for the year.

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Bitcoin Magazine Unregistered Bitcoin Mining in Russia May Soon Come With Up to Two Years of Forced Labor Russia is planning criminal penalties, including forced labor, to curb widespread unregistered bitcoin mining after legalization. Unregistered Bitcoin Mining in Russia May Soon Come With Up to Two Years of Forced Labor Micah Zimmerman.

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Bitcoin Magazine Riot Platforms Opens $500M Stock Offering as Bitcoin Production Falls Riot Platforms launched a new $500 million stock offering as November bitcoin output fell, while the miner continued selling most of its production to fund expansion despite analysts seeing long-term upside. Riot Platforms Opens $500M Stock Offering as Bitcoin Production Falls Micah Zimmerman.

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Dogecoin (DOGE) is entering January 2026 in a state of consolidation, with prices hovering around $0.1218 amid lingering volatility. After a challenging three-month period that saw the cryptocurrency drop more than 50%, analysts suggest that DOGE may be poised for a technical recovery if key support levels hold and bullish momentum returns.

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Dogecoin, ASTER, and HYPE are among the tokens that have significant token unlocks over the next week. This comes amid the crypto market downtrend, with these unlocks likely to add more selling pressure on these tokens.