Bitcoin Core V30 Bug Risks Fund Loss During Legacy Wallet Upgrades
Bitcoin Core developers identified a wallet‑migration bug in versions 30.0 and 30.1 that can delete an entire legacy wallet directory when pruning is enabled and a custom -walletdir is used. The flaw only triggers during migration of unnamed wallet.dat files, potentially erasing all local funds for users without backups. Developers have pulled the affected binaries and advised users to refrain from migrations until the forthcoming 30.2 release. The issue highlights the systemic risk of Bitcoin Core’s dominance, which powers roughly 78% of reachable nodes.
‘Mixed Year for IPOs’ as Crypto Pulls Down US IPO Performance
US IPOs delivered a 13.9% weighted‑average gain in 2025, lagging the S&P 500’s 16% rise, according to Bloomberg. The surge of crypto and AI listings, including Circle’s 170% first‑day jump and Gemini’s 65% decline, contributed to the underperformance. Mid‑size offerings (US$500 million‑US$1 billion)...
Bitcoin Outlook Bullish as Whales, Sharks Buy Retail Sell-Off: Santiment
Santiment reports that Bitcoin whales and sharks have accumulated 56,227 BTC since mid‑December while retail wallets under 0.01 BTC are net sellers. The cryptocurrency is trading near the upper edge of its six‑week range at about $94,800, hinting at a possible...
Ethereum Staking Sees Tidal Shift as Validator Exit Queue Clears Out
The Ethereum validator exit queue has collapsed to just 32 ETH, a 99.9% drop from its September peak, virtually eliminating backlog. At the same time, the entry queue surged to 1.3 million ETH, the highest level since mid‑November, indicating fresh staking demand. BitMine,...
US Access to Venezuelan Oil Could Make Bitcoin Mining Cheaper: Bitfinex
U.S. firms are poised to tap Venezuela’s 303 billion barrels of crude, a move that Bitfinex analysts say could drive down electricity prices for Bitcoin miners. The United States has begun seizing Venezuelan tankers and, after the recent capture of President...
NFT Paris Cancels Conferences: ‘The Market Collapse Hit Us Hard‘
NFT Paris and RWA Paris conferences were cancelled for 2026 after organizers cited a severe market collapse. The events, slated for February, will not occur as the organizers announce they are "closing this chapter" despite aggressive cost cuts. NFT sales...
Price Predictions 1/5: SPX, DXY, BTC, ETH, XRP, BNB, SOL, DOGE, ADA, BCH
Bitcoin rallied after the United States launched operations in Venezuela, nudging the Crypto Fear and Greed Index back to neutral. Institutional confidence surged as Bitcoin ETFs recorded $471.3 million of inflows, the largest weekly net purchase since late 2025. Simultaneously, most...
Grayscale Declares First Ethereum Staking Payout for US-Listed ETF
Grayscale announced the first cash payout tied to on‑chain staking for a U.S.-listed spot crypto ETF. Shareholders of the Grayscale Ethereum Trust ETF will receive roughly $0.08 per share, reflecting rewards generated since the fund activated staking on Oct. 6. The...
China’s Financial Associations Reclassify RWAs as ‘Risky‘: Report
China’s leading financial industry associations have reclassified Real‑World Asset (RWA) tokenization as a risky business model rather than a nascent technology. The notice groups RWAs, stablecoins, “air coins” and mining with illegal cryptocurrency activities, emphasizing fraud, operational and speculative risks....
Starknet Mainnet Hit by Fresh Downtime as Team Probes Cause
Starknet, Ethereum's ZK‑rollup layer‑2, experienced a fresh mainnet outage lasting just over two hours on Jan. 5, 2026. The team posted on X that engineers are actively investigating the issue, though no root cause has been disclosed yet. This disruption follows...
Japan’s Finance Minister Backs Exchanges as Gateway for Digital Assets
Japan’s finance minister Satsuki Katayama announced that traditional securities exchanges will serve as the primary gateway for crypto assets, signalling a shift from the Payment Services Act to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act. The new framework treats digital tokens...
Fake MetaMask 2FA Security Checks Lure Users Into Sharing Recovery Phrases
Crypto investors are being targeted by a new phishing campaign that impersonates MetaMask’s two‑factor authentication flow, directing users to fake domains that request their 12‑word seed phrases. Once the recovery phrase is submitted, attackers gain full control of the wallet...
Bank of America Will Allow Wealth Advisers to Recommend Bitcoin From Monday
Bank of America will allow its wealth advisers to recommend spot Bitcoin exchange‑traded funds starting Monday. The bank’s chief investment office has approved four U.S.-listed Bitcoin ETFs – Bitwise, Fidelity Wise Origin, Grayscale Mini Trust, and BlackRock’s iShares – for...
TRUMP, ONDO, BGB, HYPE Lead $5.5B in Token Unlocks in January
Tokenomist reports over $5.5 billion in cryptocurrency token unlocks slated for January. Approximately $2.5 billion will be released via cliff unlocks and $3 billion through linear schedules. The four biggest releases—Ondo (ONDO), Bitget Token (BGB), Hyperliquid (HYPE) and the Trump memecoin (TRUMP)—account for...
9 Myths About Bitcoin Energy Use Challenged by Data, ESG Expert Says
ESG researcher Daniel Batten used X to debunk nine common myths about Bitcoin’s energy consumption, citing four peer‑reviewed studies and grid‑level data. He argues that Bitcoin’s electricity use is largely independent of transaction volume and that mining can actually stabilize...
Visa Crypto Card Spending Soars 525% in 2025
Visa‑issued crypto cards surged in 2025, posting a 525% increase in net spend from $14.6 million in January to $91.3 million by year‑end. Six cards from projects such as GnosisPay, Cypher, EtherFi, Avici Money, Exa App and Moonwell drove the growth, with...
Bitcoin Devs Flocked Back to Work Amid a Big Year for Crypto
Bitcoin Core development surged in 2025, with 135 contributors—up from just over 100 in 2024—and 285,000 lines of code modified, a 3% increase. Code commits rose 1% to 2,541, while email traffic on the Bitcoin‑dev mailing list jumped 60% year‑over‑year....
Altcoins Hold 'Crucial' Support, Set for 'Big Leg' Up, Says Analyst
Altcoins, valued at about $879 billion, are holding critical support near $784 billion on the Total3 index, aligning with the 365‑day moving average. Analyst Michaël van de Poppe sees the index edging toward its prior $1.2 trillion peak, indicating a potential major upward leg....
Metaplanet Has Key Advantage over US-Based Bitcoin Treasuries: Analyst
Metaplanet has become the fourth‑largest Bitcoin treasury firm, holding about 35,102 BTC. Analyst Adam Livingston argues the company enjoys a financing edge because Japan’s yen is rapidly losing value against both the dollar and Bitcoin. The weaker yen reduces the...
Coinbase Pauses Local Fiat Rails in Argentina Less than a Year After Its Arrival
Coinbase announced a temporary pause on its Argentine peso fiat rails, ending USDC‑ARS purchases, sales, and bank withdrawals effective Jan. 31 2026. The exchange will still support crypto‑to‑crypto transactions, keeping its core trading platform operational. The pause is described as a deliberate...
Rep. Torres to Target Insider Trading on Prediction Markets After Bet on Maduro
U.S. Representative Ritchie Torres is set to introduce the Public Integrity in Financial Prediction Markets Act of 2026, aiming to bar elected officials, political appointees, and executive‑branch employees from trading prediction‑market contracts based on non‑public government information. The move follows...
Bitcoin's Price Remains Resilient Amid the US Attack on Venezuela
Bitcoin hovered around $90,000 on Saturday, briefly dipping below the mark before rebounding. The price remained above its 21‑day moving average, a technical signal that many analysts interpret as bullish for January. Despite a high‑profile U.S. airstrike on Venezuela and...
Hut 8 Finishes 2025 Strong Despite Difficult Year for Bitcoin Miners
Hut 8 expanded its credit facility with Coinbase to $200 million, reinforcing liquidity after a stellar 2025 performance. The company also sealed a $7 billion agreement with AI‑cloud provider Fluidstack to deliver 245 MW of power for a 15‑year AI data‑center contract. Its stock...
Bitcoin Price Back at $90K: Is the Bear Market Behind Us?
Bitcoin surged past the $90,000 mark, marking its highest level since mid‑December, but the rally is tempered by cautious market behavior. Options data reveal a neutral put‑call skew, indicating traders still demand premium protection against downside risk. Meanwhile, U.S. spot...
Coinbase Exec Defends CLARITY Act Delay: 'I Completely Understand'
Coinbase Institutional head John D’Agostino told CNBC he understands the delay of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, calling it a foundational bill for crypto’s growth. He contrasted its complexity with the simpler Genius Act and highlighted global regulatory momentum,...
After Bitter Vote, Aave Founder Pitches a Bigger Future for DeFi Lending Giant
Aave founder Stani Kulechov responded to a contentious governance vote that rejected transferring the protocol’s brand and IP to the DAO, outlining a broader vision that goes beyond core DeFi lending. He highlighted opportunities in real‑world assets, institutional lending, and...
'Hundreds' Of EVM Wallets Drained in Mysterious Attack: ZachXBT
An on‑chain investigator reports that hundreds of Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) wallets across multiple networks have been drained, with each victim losing less than $2,000. The likely entry point was a spoofed MetaMask email that delivered a phishing payload, according...
BitVentures Makes First Crypto Mining Move Weeks After Nasdaq Rebrand
BitVentures Limited, formerly Santech Holdings, rebranded on Dec. 24 and within two weeks entered cryptocurrency mining by acquiring Bitmain Antminer hardware. The company secured 0.5 MW of power capacity across U.S. data centers to mine Bitcoin, Litecoin and Dogecoin, with deployment slated...
Changing Regulations: What Users Should Know Before Buying Crypto in 2026
In 2026, crypto regulation tightens across major markets as the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation proposes a framework for banks to issue dollar‑pegged stablecoins, while the Federal Reserve lifts its ban on bank‑provided crypto services. Congress is set to pass...
Cash-Like Privacy Is Among Digital Euro’s 'Hardest Political Tradeoffs'
The EU Council has endorsed the European Central Bank’s design for a digital euro that combines online and offline functionality. A key political hurdle is balancing cash‑like privacy with anti‑money‑laundering requirements, prompting lawmakers to seek a compromise. Holding‑limit rules remain...
What Crypto Exchanges Are Watching in 2026, According to OKX’s Rafique
Crypto exchanges are pivoting from speculative growth to regulated, sustainable offerings in 2026. OKX, now licensed in the EU, US, Singapore, Dubai and several Latin American markets, aims to leverage its on‑shore footprint for compliant derivatives and tighter fiat on‑ramps....
The 5 Busiest Blockchains of 2025 and What Powered Their Growth
Onchain analytics firm Nansen identified Solana, BNB Chain, Base, Tron and NEAR Protocol as the five busiest blockchains in 2025, with Solana topping the list at 23.01 billion transactions. Retail‑focused activities, especially low‑fee DEX trading and memecoin hype, accounted for the...
PEPE, BONK Post Double-Digit Gains: Are Memecoins Back?
Memecoins surged on Friday, pushing the sector’s market cap 8% higher to $39.45 billion, a two‑week peak. PEPE led the rally with a 23.6% gain, while BONK and DOGE rose 10% and 8% respectively. Open interest and derivative trading volume spiked...
Coinbase Bets on Stablecoins, Base and 'Everything Exchange' For 2026
Coinbase’s 2026 roadmap centers on stablecoins, its Ethereum layer‑2 Base, and an "everything exchange" that bundles crypto, stocks, prediction markets and perpetual futures. The company rebranded its wallet as an "everything app" and launched stock trading and on‑chain prediction markets...
Bitcoin ETF Momentum Builds in South Korea as Regulation Lags Behind
Korea Exchange (KRX) announced it is operationally prepared to list crypto exchange‑traded funds and derivatives, signaling a push to modernise South Korea’s capital markets. The exchange’s readiness comes even as regulators have not yet classified digital assets as eligible securities,...
DeFi Pioneer Coughs up $50K After Making a Pretty Bad Bet on Ether
Crypto executive Kain Warwick wagered that Ether would reach $25,000 by the end of 2025, a bet he lost, obliging him to pay $50,000 to Multicoin partner Kyle Samani. Ether finished the year around $2,980, 13.7% lower than its January...
Crypto Sentiment Shifts Off Extreme Fear, but ‘Mixed Emotions’ Persist
The Crypto Fear & Greed Index rose to 29 on Friday, exiting the "extreme fear" zone and reaching its highest level in 21 days, the first such move since Dec. 12. Bitcoin was priced at $88,995, still under the $90,000 threshold....
Metric Suggests Bitcoin Has Been in a Bear Market for 2 Months
CryptoQuant researcher Julio Moreno says Bitcoin entered a bear market two months ago, as the Bull Score Index turned bearish in early November. The price has slipped below its one‑year moving average, currently trading around $88,500. Moreno projects the bear‑market...
Polymarket Traders See Just 21% Chance of Bitcoin Hitting $150K This Year
Prediction‑market platform Polymarket shows traders assigning a 21% probability that Bitcoin will reach $150,000 before the end of 2024, with 45% odds for $120,000 and an 80% chance of hitting $100,000. The odds decline sharply at higher price levels, reflecting...
Turkmenistan Rings in New Year with Crypto Exchanges, Miners
Turkmenistan has legalized crypto mining and trading after President Serdar Berdimuhamedow signed a new law that took effect on Thursday. The legislation allows both domestic and foreign miners to operate once registered and requires crypto exchanges to obtain licenses, implement...
Losses From Crypto Hacks Down 60% in December: PeckShield
PeckShield reports crypto‑related hack losses fell to about $76 million in December, a 60 percent drop from November’s $194 million. The month saw 26 major exploits, with the largest incidents being a $50 million address‑poisoning scam and a $27.3 million private‑key leak in a multi‑signature...
Ethereum Co-Founder Pitches DApps as Solution to 2025 Cloudflare Outage
Ethereum co‑founder Vitalik Buterin argues that decentralized applications (DApps) can shield users from large‑scale internet outages like the November Cloudflare failure, which knocked out about 20% of hosted sites. He emphasizes Ethereum’s mission to become a "world computer" that delivers censorship‑free,...
Happy New Year, Mark Cuban: Judge Dismisses Lawsuit over Voyager Digital
A federal judge in Florida dismissed the class‑action lawsuit filed by former Voyager Digital investors against Mark Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks, ruling the plaintiffs lacked personal jurisdiction. The suit alleged false representations about Voyager’s risks tied to the 2021...
Crypto Privacy in 2026: Compliance-Friendly Tools Take Center Stage
Crypto privacy entered 2025’s regulatory spotlight and will intensify in 2026 as developers launch compliance‑friendly tools. Legal battles against mixers like Tornado Cash and Samourai Wallet highlight regulators’ view of non‑custodial services as money‑transmitters. In response, a new “pragmatic privacy” stack is...
SOL Accumulation Tops Crypto Trends on New Year’s Day: Santiment
Santiment flagged Solana whale accumulation as the top crypto trend on New Year’s Day 2026, noting repeated purchases of 10 or more SOL by large wallets. Despite a 46% price decline over the past three months, liquidity remains strong and...
Bithumb Flags $200M in Dormant Crypto Assets Across 2.6M Inactive Accounts
South Korean exchange Bithumb has identified over $200 million in dormant crypto assets spread across 2.6 million inactive accounts, some untouched for up to twelve years. The largest single dormant balance is about $2.84 million, and certain holdings have posted gains exceeding 61,000 %...
Tether Snaps up Another 8,888 BTC, Now Fifth-Largest Bitcoin Wallet
Tether announced on New Year’s Eve that it purchased an additional 8,888 Bitcoin, bringing its disclosed holdings to more than 96,000 BTC. The acquisition, valued at roughly $780 million, cements the stablecoin issuer as the fifth‑largest Bitcoin address worldwide and the...
Trader Bags $1M From ‘Abnormal’ BROCCOLI714 Memecoin Activity on Binance
Trader Vida claims a $1 million profit by exploiting abnormal activity in the BROCCOLI714 memecoin on Binance. The token surged then reversed after unusually large spot buy orders, prompting a long‑short strategy. Binance denied any hack, stating its risk controls operated...
Final Nail in the 4-Year Cycle? BTC Ends Year After Halving in the Red
Bitcoin closed 2025 in the red, falling more than 30% from its $126,080 all‑time high and marking the first post‑halving year the cryptocurrency ended lower than it began. The April 2024 halving, which traditionally triggers a multi‑year bull run, failed...
Crypto Forces to Compound in 2026, Accelerating Adoption: Coinbase
Coinbase’s head of investment research, David Duong, predicts that the forces driving crypto adoption in 2025—spot exchange‑traded funds, stablecoins, and tokenization—will compound in 2026. He cites faster ETF approvals, expanding stablecoin use in delivery‑vs‑payment (DvP) structures, and broader acceptance of...