Citigroup has issued optimistic 12-month price forecasts for Bitcoin and Ethereum, citing easing regulatory pressures and rising institutional adoption as key catalysts. In a research note released Thursday, the Wall Street firm noted that improving policy clarity could encourage greater institutional participation and renewed capital inflows into digital assets.
CNBC has spotlighted the remarkable performance of XRP ETFs amid the ongoing bear market, as investors seek alternatives to Bitcoin and Ethereum. While other cryptocurrencies have struggled, XRP ETFs have attracted billion-dollar inflows from institutional and individual investors.
The integration highlights a shift towards decentralized finance, enhancing liquidity and accessibility in prediction markets through blockchain.
The post Kalshi taps TRON to expand on-chain liquidity for prediction markets appeared first on Crypto Briefing.
Busch's investment may signal confidence in American Bitcoin's strategy, potentially influencing market perceptions and investor sentiment.
The post American Bitcoin board member Richard Busch buys $290,500 in ABTC shares appeared first on Crypto Briefing.
On-chain analytics platform Glassnode has revealed the number of Bitcoin supply that is currently sitting at a loss. This comes as the BTC price continues to trade below the psychological $90,000 level following its crash, which began last month.
In a report, Glassnode revealed that the Bitcoin supply in loss has risen to 6.7 million BTC, marking the highest level of loss-bearing supply observed in this cycle. The analytics platform further noted that this represents 23.7% of the circulating supply, which is currently underwater. 10.2% of this supply is held by long-term holders and 13.5% by short-term holders.
Glassnode stated that this distribution suggests that, much like in prior cycle transitions into deeper bearish regimes, the loss-bearing Bitcoin supply accumulated by recent buyers is gradually maturing into the long-term cohort.
Meanwhile, the analytics platform noted that the 6-7 million range, which has been at a loss since mid-November, mirrors early transitional phases of prior cycles, where mounting investor frustration came before a shift toward more bearish conditions and intensified capitulation at lower Bitcoin prices.
Notably, the Bitcoin price has dropped to levels last seen in 2024, erasing its year-to-date (YTD) gains. Glassnode stated that this has left behind a dense supply cluster accumulated by top buyers in the $93,000 to $120,000 range. The resulting supply distribution is said to reflect a top-heavy market structure where recovery attempts are capped by heavy overhead sell pressure, especially in the early stages of a bearish phase.
Glassnode declared that as long as the Bitcoin price remains below this range and fails to reclaim key thresholds, most notably the Short-Term Holder Cost Basis at $101,500, the risk of further corrective downside persists.
Glassnode revealed that the Bitcoin spot market flows continue to reflect an uneven demand profile across major venues. The Cumulative Volume Delta bias is said to show periodic bursts of buy-side activity, but has failed to develop into sustained accumulation, especially during the recent BTC price pullbacks.
The on-chain analytics platform noted that the Coinbase spot CVD remains relatively constructive, indicating steadier participation from US-based investors. On the other hand, Binance and aggregate Bitcoin flows remain choppy and largely directionless. Glassnode stated that these dispersion points point to selective engagement rather than coordinated spot demand.
Meanwhile, the platform alluded to recent Bitcoin price declines, which it pointed out have not triggered decisive expansion in positive CVD. Glassnode noted that this suggests dip-buying remains tactical and short-term. In the absence of sustained accumulation across all venues, Bitcoin’s price action continues to rely more on activity in the derivatives market and liquidity conditions rather than organic spot demand.
At the time of writing, the Bitcoin price is trading at around $86,800, up in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
Ethereum’s price may be hampered by selling pressure, but the leading network continues to experience heavy utilization from developers and users. After robust interaction from the participants, the blockchain giant emerged once again as the leader in Decentralized Finance (DeFi) lending.
A recent report has underscored Ethereum’s growing dominance within the blockchain sector. The network is solidifying its position as the financial foundation for decentralized finance lending, and the data is starting to present a convincing picture.
A look at the data shared by Leon Waidmann, a market expert and the head of research at On-Chain Foundation, shows that ETH is now the revenue center of DeFi lending. This implies that most of the revenue flowed through the ETH ecosystem, outpacing other major chains like Base, Plasma, and Arbitrum.
From borrowing fees to interest paid by active users, the ETH network continues to be the key settlement layer where value is persistently created. ETH is at the center of the revenue outlines the network’s usage in addition to its ongoing dominance as the fundamental infrastructure driving DeFi’s most lucrative lending activity.
As seen on the chart, Ethereum mainnet steadily secured over 80% to 90% of all DeFi lending revenue and activity, reinforcing its increasing role in the financial landscape. Interestingly, this share has remained a dominant force even with the vigorous expansion of the Layer 2 and alt-Layer 1 chains.
Data shows that usage may be fragmented, but fees do not. Meanwhile, at the protocol layer, Waidmann highlighted that concentration is quite stronger. Amid this rising DeFi revenue lending, Aave is the core revenue engine on the Ethereum mainnet, attracting more than 50% of the total lending funds.
This part of the network was also responsible for over 60% of all active loans on ETH. In the end, the project generated approximately $885 million in fees in 2025 alone, reflecting the significant usage of the network.
While Ethereum mainnet secures balance sheets and profits, layer 2s are optimizing execution and User Experience (UX). Waidmann noted that where confidence and liquidity are greatest, DeFi credit markets converge. “Ethereum Mainnet is not being disrupted, but is being reinforced,” the expert added.
Another instance of robust engagement across the Ethereum network is a spike in active wallet addresses. Joseph Young, a crypto enthusiast, previously highlighted that the active users on the network are drawing close to its all-time high. Such a rise in active addresses suggests a resurgence of interest and conviction among larger and retail investors.
At the time of the post, about 2.4 million wallet addresses were actively interacting with the network every week. This is an indication that tokenization, stablecoins, and privacy infrastructure are all converging on Ethereum. Currently, Young stated ETH is dominating the big three metas, while expressing his conviction in the network’s prospects.
Bitcoin Magazine
Bitcoin Price Will Jump to $143,000 Next Year, Says Citi Bank
The bitcoin price could climb to $143,000 next year as continued adoption through exchange-traded funds and a more accommodating U.S. regulatory backdrop draw new capital into the market, according to a new forecast from Citi.
Analysts at the Wall Street bank set $143,000 as their base-case target for the bitcoin price over the next 12 months. They outlined a bullish scenario that places the price above $189,000, while their bearish case sees the bitcoin price falling to around $78,500 if macroeconomic conditions deteriorate, according to MarketWatch reporting.
The bitcoin price was trading near $88,000 on Friday, down roughly 30% from its late-October peak. The pullback followed a sharp wave of selling after the rally earlier this year, though Citi noted that outflows from spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds have moderated in recent weeks.
“Our forecasts, in particular for bitcoin, rest on an assumption that investor adoption continues with flows into ETFs of $15 billion boosting token prices,” the analysts wrote. The note was led by Alex Saunders, Citi’s head of global quantitative macro strategy.
JUST IN:
— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) December 19, 2025
Citi also pointed to potential regulatory clarity in the United States as a key driver of future demand. The U.S. Senate is negotiating its own version of the House-passed Clarity Act, legislation that would place bitcoin under the oversight of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The analysts said clearer rules could encourage broader institutional participation.
The bank’s bearish scenario assumes recessionary pressures and weaker appetite for risk assets. The bitcoin price fell to multi-month lows in November as concerns over high technology valuations and broader macro risks weighed on markets.
The cryptocurrency shed more than $18,000 that month, marking its largest dollar decline since May 2021 amid heavy investor withdrawals.
Two weeks ago, the Bank of America told its wealth management clients to allocate 1% to 4% of their portfolios to digital assets, signaling a major shift in its approach to Bitcoin exposure.
The move allowed over 15,000 advisers across Merrill, Bank of America Private Bank, and Merrill Edge to proactively recommend crypto to clients.
Last week, PNC Bank launched direct spot bitcoin trading for eligible Private Bank clients, allowing them to buy, hold, and sell bitcoin natively through its own digital banking platform without using an external exchange. The move was powered by Coinbase’s Crypto-as-a-Service infrastructure.
Bitcoin’s latest sell-off underscores a market stuck in consolidation, where positive macro catalysts fail to translate into sustained upside.
After briefly testing $89,000 on cooler-than-expected U.S. inflation data, bitcoin slid back toward the $84,000 range, extending a correction now entering its second month. The pattern has become familiar: sharp, data-driven rallies followed by quick retracements as sellers defend resistance below $90,000.
Macro signals offer mixed support. November CPI eased to 2.7% year over year, with core inflation at 2.6%, strengthening the case for eventual Federal Reserve rate cuts in 2026. That backdrop helped spark the intraday rally. Yet rising U.S. unemployment and uneven job growth complicate the outlook, reinforcing expectations that the Fed will move cautiously. Markets appear reluctant to price in aggressive easing.
A key drag remains U.S.-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs, which have shifted from consistent inflows to net redemptions. The outflows remove a stabilizing bid that previously absorbed sell pressure, making breakouts harder to sustain even on positive news.
Technically, the bitcoin price is range-bound. Resistance sits just below $90,000, while support near $84,000 is weakening. A decisive break lower could open a move toward the $72,000–$68,000 zone, where analysts expect stronger demand.
Extreme fear readings suggest potential undervaluation, but near-term momentum still favors sellers.
At the time of writing, the bitcoin price is dancing around the $88,000 level.
This post Bitcoin Price Will Jump to $143,000 Next Year, Says Citi Bank first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.
Altcoin blockchains are preparing for long-term quantum risk, while influential Bitcoin voices disagree over how and when it should be addressed.
Bubblemaps says 23 wallets tied to the Ava deployer sniped 40% of the AVA supply at launch. The Solana AI token later fell 96% from its peak.
Amid recent bullish developments surrounding Ripple, discussions around whether the firm's strategy centers on XRP have re-emerged. For context, Ripple has completed several high-profile acquisitions, including GTreasury, Metaco, and Hidden Road, launched its RLUSD stablecoin, and secured conditional approval for a national trust bank charter.
XRP community figures have highlighted statements by Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse suggesting that no one can manipulate XRP's price. This comes as XRP faced fresh selling pressure over the past day, briefly dropping to $1.77, its lowest level this month.
ENA has gone down by over 22% in the past week and has recently retested its all-time low. One trader favors a bearish Ethena price prediction as the token has dropped below a key weekly support.
Since August 2024, data from DeFi Llama shows that the protocol’s earnings have been steadily declining, moving from $4 million back then to just $50,000 in November as mint fees have declined sharply.
Ethena’s USDe circulating supply has suffered a strong setback, declining from a peak of $15 billion in mid-October to just $6.7 billion at the time of writing.
It seems that, during times of market turmoil, investors prefer to rely on well-established names in the stablecoin space like Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC. Hence, this protocol could be suffering the consequences of a flight-to-safety move.
Crypto analyst ChiefraT shared an interesting chart that shows a bearish breakout below Ethena’s long-standing weekly support.
$ENA is testing All Time Lows on the weekly chart.
— ChiefraT (@ChiefraFba) December 18, 2025
Close below this and downside price discovery begins! pic.twitter.com/dzwnhRYgaU
This worsens the token’s situation, as the market could be ready to dump the token to discover how low the price needs to go for buyers to show up.
Trading volumes for ENA have increased by 33% in the past 24 hours and currently account for 20% of the token’s circulating market cap as the price struggles to stay above the $0.20 level.
The $0.18 area is the key support to watch for ENA as the token will hit the lower bound of its descending price channel if it touches that threshold.
The Relative Strength Index (RSI) remains heavily depressed at 32, indicating that negative momentum has accelerated.
Meanwhile, if the selling spree continues and ENA is pushed down to break below this trend line support, nothing would prevent a much stronger correction to $0.10. This means a total downside risk of 50% for the token in the near term.
Although ENA’s outlook is quite bearish, top crypto presales like Maxi Doge ($MAXI) continue to capture investors’ attention as this type of project can deliver the highest upside potential once cryptos start to recover.
Maxi Doge ($MAXI) rallies traders together under a well-known flag – the viral Doge meme. This Ethereum meme coin embodies the spirit of bull markets and the energy that retail traders bring to the table with its “up only” motto.
The project fosters community engagement via fun competitions like Maxi Ripped and Maxi Gains, designed to reward top traders with the highest ROI.
In addition, $MAXI holders get exclusive access to a hub where they can share ideas, insights, and trading setups with other like-minded ‘degens’ to tap into the community’s “collective hive mind” to make the most out of this market.
To buy $MAXI and become one with the pump, simply head to the official Maxi Doge website and link up your favorite wallet (e.g. Best Wallet).
You can either swap USDT or ETH for this token or use a bank card instead to buy.
Visit the Official Maxi Doge Website HereThe post Ethena Price Prediction: ENA Price Experiences Huge 22% Drop in 7 Days, What’s Next? appeared first on Cryptonews.
ETH has climbed by nearly 4% in the past 24 hours as the crypto market bounced strongly following a positive inflation report in the United States. Does this favor a bullish Ethereum price prediction that sees the token breaking past $3,200 before Christmas?
Trading volumes increased by 42% during this period, currently accounting for 10% of the token’s circulating market cap, meaning that the buying pressure has increased significantly.
Crypto trader Ted Pillows, whose X account is followed by more than 250,000 users on X, sees the price of ETH rising past $3,200 as long as the $2,700 – $2,800 support holds.
$ETH tapped the $2,700-$2,800 support zone and is now bouncing back.
— Ted (@TedPillows) December 19, 2025
As long as Ethereum holds this level, a rally towards $3,100-$3,200 could happen.
Losing this level means ETH will retest the $2,500 level. pic.twitter.com/DW41nUtoeU
The market’s mood continues to be sour as the Fear and Greed Index currently sits at 21. This indicates that investors are fearful as volatility has spiked in the past few weeks.
Nonetheless, long-term short-term readings seem to show that the sell-off has already gone too far, possibly favoring a bullish Ethereum price prediction for the next few weeks.
The 4-hour price chart for Ethereum shows that the token recently bounced strongly off the $2,800 level and rapidly climbed to retest the upper bound of a descending price channel that has been forming for weeks.
In this lower time frame, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) has hit oversold territory already. The last two times this happened, the price rallied strongly and surpassed the $3,000 level shortly afterward.
If this pattern repeats, we could see ETH breaking past the $3,000 level in the next couple of days. The first stop could be around $3,050 for a confirmed trend reversal, followed by a strong push to $3,400. This implies a 15% upside potential based on where ETH is trading today.
As cryptocurrencies seem ready to make a comeback, the most promising crypto presales like Pepenode ($PEPENODE) could outperform well-established tokens. This mine-to-earn (M2E) project makes crypto mining hassle-free, fun, and highly rewarding.
Mining cryptocurrencies has never been easier, now that Pepenode ($PEPENODE) is getting ready to launch its fun M2E.
Players can easily set up a virtual server and fire up as many mining rigs as they want by simply buying $PEPENODE tokens. They can also upgrade their existing setups to ramp up their output and compete for attractive rewards.
Top miners will receive handsome airdrops of the best meme coins in the market, like Bonk ($BONK) and Pepe ($PEPE), while up to 70% of the tokens invested in upgrading rigs will be burned forever.
As the game’s popularity increases, so will the demand for $PEPENODE. This positions early buyers to reap the highest returns once the token jumps to the spotlight.
To buy $PEPENODE before the next price increase, simply head to the official Pepenode website and link up a compatible wallet like Best Wallet.
You can either swap USDT or ETH for this token or use a bank card to buy.
Visit the Official Pepenode Website HereThe post Ethereum Price Prediction: Can the ETH Price Reclaim $3,200 Before Christmas? appeared first on Cryptonews.
Bitcoin remains under pressure as global markets digest a further shift away from ultra-loose monetary policy in Japan. At its December meeting, the Bank of Japan raised its short-term policy rate to around 0.75% from 0.5%, citing growing confidence that inflation will remain near its 2% target, according to official statements.
The decision reflects stronger wage growth and persistent price pressures. Japan’s headline inflation stays around 2.9% in November, whereas, core inflation held above target for a 44th straight month, based on reported government data. Policymakers emphasised that real rates remain deeply negative, signaling any further tightening will be gradual and data-dependent.
In response to the news, Japanese government bond yields surged higher, with long-dated yields hovering near recent highs. Whereas, the Japanese yen weakened modestly, suggesting the interest rate hike was largely priced in. Broader risk assets remained cautious rather than reactive.
Crypto markets, however, stayed under pressure. Bitcoin has slipped around 7% in the last seven days, while Ethereum has fallen by more than 10%, according to market data, reflecting weak risk appetite rather than Japan-specific flows.
For Bitcoin, the relevance lies less in the immediate response and more in the global liquidity backdrop. Japan has long functioned as a key funding market, and higher yields could gradually tighten global financial conditions. Investors are now watching whether continued BoJ normalization feeds into risk assets over time.
Against this backdrop, Bitcoin’s ability to reclaim higher levels will depend on technical confirmation, as traders balance tightening signals against longer-term adoption and structural demand trends.
Recent candles show selling pressure fading. Long lower wicks followed by small bodies suggest dip buying rather than forced liquidation. Momentum supports that view, with RSI recovering toward 52 after leaving oversold territory, pointing to stabilization rather than continuation lower.
Price action now resembles base formation, not a reversal. On TradingView’s path projection, the preferred scenario is a slow push back toward the channel midline if Bitcoin reclaims the $88,200–$89,200 pivot zone.
A sustained move above the pivot would open upside toward $92,000, then $94,200, the prior range high. Failure to hold $84,500 shifts focus to $80,600, where the ascending channel base sits.
From a trading perspective, structure favors patience. Acceptance above $89,200 offers upside setups toward the low-$90,000s, while risk remains defined below recent lows. For now, the correction looks like consolidation, not breakdown.
PEPENODE is gaining momentum as a next-generation meme coin that blends viral culture with interactive gameplay. With over $2.36 mn raised and the presale approaching its cap, interest is building fast as the countdown enters its final stretch.
What makes PEPENODE stand out is its mine-to-earn virtual ecosystem. Instead of passive holding, users can build digital server rooms using Miner Nodes and facilities, earning simulated rewards through a visual dashboard. The concept brings gamification and competition into the meme coin space, giving holders something to do before launch.
The project also offers presale staking, allowing early participants to earn boosted rewards ahead of the token generation event. Leaderboards and bonus incentives are planned post-launch to keep engagement high.
With 1 $PEPENODE priced at $0.0012016 and limited allocation remaining, the presale is entering its final opportunity window for early buyers.
Click Here to Participate in the PresaleThe post Bitcoin Price Prediction: Can the BTC Price Push Above $90,000 With the Latest BoJ Rate Hikes? appeared first on Cryptonews.
Rieder's potential appointment could signal a shift towards integrating digital assets into mainstream financial policy, impacting global markets.
The post Bitcoin-friendly Rick Rieder to be interviewed for US Fed chair role at Mar-a-Lago appeared first on Crypto Briefing.
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