The FOMC meeting is scheduled for next Tuesday (December 9-10), and the market is almost unanimous on a dovish stance from the Fed.

Polymarket traders are pricing in a 92% probability of a 25-basis-point cut, which has shifted Bitcoin price analysis from a bearish breakdown to a potential comeback.

Powell Expected to Deliver 25bps Cut Despite Inflation Concerns

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is expected to proceed with another quarter-point rate reduction this week, even as several policymakers express concern about persistent inflation.

The Fed implemented its second consecutive cut in October, responding to unexpected weakness in the summer jobs data.

Following that decision, hawkish voices emerged among officials, including five current voting members, who indicated reluctance to support further easing in December.

The tide turned on November 21 when New York Fed President John Williams suggested conditions warranted a reduction in the “near term.”

Recent Bitcoin price analysis from Cryptonews highlights a critical on-chain metric gaining momentum.

Bitcoin “liveliness” is climbing again, a pattern that has historically coincided with bull market phases, suggesting the current cycle may have substantial upside remaining.

Analyst Michaël van de Poppe outlined a bullish scenario, anticipating short-term volatility before a sustained rally.

He expects pre-FOMC selling pressure today and Monday, potentially driving prices down to $87,000 to sweep liquidity at the lows.

“After that, bounce back up, swiftly, in which the uptrend is confirmed for Bitcoin and it’s ready to break $92,000

And therefore the run towards $100,000 in the coming 1-2 weeks as the Fed is reducing QT, doing rate cuts and expanding the money supply to increase the business cycle,” van de Poppe stated.

Bitcoin Price Analysis: Technical Setup Favors $94k Breakout

Technical analysis shows Bitcoin breaking out of a long descending red channel, signalling that the strongest phase of the downtrend has likely ended.

Price is currently hovering around the $89,000 zone, which sits just beneath a key resistance-turned-support area highlighted in orange.

Until BTC closes decisively above this zone, sellers can still create short-term pressure.

The breakout attempt already shows early strength, as BTC bounced from the lower channel region near $79,000 and pushed back toward mid-trend.

The next major resistance level is around $94,600, and clearing it would confirm bullish continuation.

If that happens, the chart projects upside targets at $108,000 and eventually $116,000, which align with previous liquidity zones.

Maxi Doge Presale Capitalizes on Market Momentum

As Bitcoin positions for a potential comeback driven by Fed rate cuts, presale projects like Maxi Doge (MAXI) are attracting investor attention.

MAXI is capturing the grassroots momentum that drove Dogecoin’s extraordinary 161,000x rally.

The project has secured over $4.2 million in funding while building an active community focused on sharing trading strategies and market opportunities.

Notably, 25% of capital raised will be invested in promising plays, with returns recycled into marketing initiatives and community rewards to accelerate growth.

Investors can join the presale at $0.000272 by visiting the official Maxi Doge website.

Then connect an Ethereum-compatible wallet like Best Wallet, and purchase MAXI with ETH, BNB, or USDT.

Bank card payments are also supported for instant access.

The post Bitcoin Price Analysis: 92% Fed Rate Cut Probability Sparks Bitcoin Comeback Talk appeared first on Cryptonews.

South Korea is moving to impose bank-level liability standards on crypto exchanges following a $30.1 million hack at Upbit last month, shifting toward treating major platforms with the same regulatory rigor as traditional financial institutions.

According to The Korea Times, the Financial Services Commission is reviewing provisions that would require crypto exchanges to compensate users for losses caused by hacking or system failures, regardless of fault, mirroring rules currently applied only to banks and electronic payment firms under the country’s electronic financial transactions law.

The push follows a Nov. 27 breach at Upbit that saw over 104 billion Solana-based tokens worth 44.5 billion won ($36M) transferred to external wallets in just 54 minutes.

Despite the incident, the exchange faced minimal penalties since regulators cannot order compensation under existing laws.

Mounting System Failures Drive Regulatory Overhaul

The planned reforms come amid a pattern of platform instability across Korea’s crypto sector.

Financial Supervisory Service data shows the five major exchanges, Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, and Gopax, recorded 20 system failures between 2023 and September this year, affecting over 900 users with combined losses of 5 billion won.

Upbit alone accounted for six incidents, with more than 600 victims suffering 3 billion won in damages.

Draft legislation is expected to mandate IT security infrastructure plans, upgraded system standards, and significantly stronger penalties.

Lawmakers are considering revisions that would allow fines of up to 3 percent of annual revenue for hacking incidents, matching standards for traditional financial institutions and replacing the current 5 billion won cap.

The shift would fundamentally reshape accountability in Korea’s crypto industry by making exchanges liable to compensate victims, as banks must respond to security breaches or system failures.

The Upbit breach also exposed reporting failures, with the exchange waiting over six hours after detecting the hack at 5 a.m. to notify regulators at 10:58 a.m.

Ruling party lawmakers alleged that Dunamu deliberately delayed disclosure until after its scheduled merger with Naver Financial, which concluded at 10:50 a.m.

Broader Compliance Crackdown Intensifies Across Industry

The regulatory tightening extends beyond security requirements into comprehensive anti-money laundering enforcement.

Korea’s Financial Intelligence Unit is preparing sanctions against major exchanges following on-site inspections that examined compliance with Know Your Customer checks and suspicious transaction reporting.

The unit has already disciplined Dunamu with a three-month suspension on new customer activity and a 35.2 billion won fine, setting a precedent for penalties expected to reach hundreds of billions of won across the sector.

Authorities are simultaneously expanding the crypto travel rule to apply to transactions under 1 million won, closing a loophole that allowed users to evade identity checks by splitting transfers into smaller amounts.

“We will crack down on crypto money laundering, expanding the Travel Rule to transactions under 1 million won,” Financial Services Commission Chairman Lee Eok-won said during a National Assembly briefing.

The Financial Intelligence Unit will gain pre-emptive account-freezing powers in serious cases, while new rules will bar individuals with convictions for tax crimes or drug offenses from becoming major shareholders in licensed platforms.

Legislative amendments are expected in the first half of 2026 as Korea aligns with global standards through expanded coordination with the Financial Action Task Force.

The enforcement drive unfolds as Korea’s long-delayed crypto tax regime faces potential postponement beyond its January 2027 start date due to persistent infrastructure gaps, with no significant updates to the framework despite multiple deferrals since its 2020 approval.

Recently, lawmakers also set a December 10 deadline for the government to deliver a stablecoin regulatory framework, or face legislative action, with debates centering on whether banks should lead issuance or whether fintech firms should participate more actively.

Financial Supervisory Service Gov. Lee Chan-jin acknowledged the limits of current oversight despite the seriousness of the Upbit incident, stating that “regulatory oversight clearly has limits in imposing penalties” under existing law.

However, with the planned reforms, it aims to close these gaps as Korea positions itself to compete with major economies that have already formalized comprehensive digital asset frameworks.

The post Korea to Treat Crypto Exchanges Like Banks After Upbit Hack appeared first on Cryptonews.

Digital asset treasury companies that rushed to copy Michael Saylor’s Bitcoin strategy are now hemorrhaging shareholder value, with median stock prices down 43% year to date, even as the broader market climbs higher, as per Bloomberg.

More than 100 publicly traded companies transformed themselves into cryptocurrency-holding vehicles in the first half of 2025, borrowing billions to buy digital tokens while their stock prices initially soared past the value of the underlying assets they purchased.

The strategy seemed unstoppable until market reality delivered a harsh correction.

Strategy’s Model Spawns Industry-Wide Collapse

Strategy Inc.’s Michael Saylor pioneered the approach of converting corporate cash into Bitcoin holdings, transforming his software company into a publicly traded cryptocurrency treasury.

The model worked spectacularly through the mid-2025, attracting high-profile investors, including the Trump family.

SharpLink Gaming epitomized the frenzy. The company pivoted from traditional gaming operations, appointed an Ethereum co-founder as chairman, and announced massive token purchases.

Its stock exploded 2,600% within days before crashing 86% from peak levels, leaving total market capitalization below the value of its Ethereum holdings at just 0.9 times crypto reserves.

Bloomberg data tracking 138 U.S. and Canadian digital asset treasuries shows the median share price has fallen 43% year-to-date, dramatically underperforming Bitcoin’s modest 7% decline.

In comparison, the S&P 500 gained 6% and the Nasdaq 100 rose 10%.

Strategy shares have dropped 60% from their July highs, even as they have risen by more than 1,200% since the company began buying Bitcoin in August 2020.

“Investors took a look and understood that there’s not much yield from these holdings rather than just sitting on this pile of money,” B. Riley Securities analyst Fedor Shabalin told Bloomberg.

Debt Obligations Expose Structural Flaws

The fundamental problem plaguing these companies stems from how they fund cryptocurrency purchases.

Strategy and its imitators issued massive amounts of convertible bonds and preferred shares, raising over $45 billion across the industry to acquire digital tokens that generate no cash flow.

These debt instruments carry substantial interest and dividend obligations that cryptocurrency holdings cannot service, creating a structural mismatch between liabilities that require regular payments and assets that produce zero income.

Strategy faces annual fixed obligations of approximately $750 million to $800 million tied to preferred shares.

Companies that avoided Bitcoin for smaller, more volatile cryptocurrencies suffered the steepest losses.

Alt5 Sigma, backed by two Trump sons and planning to purchase over $1 billion in World Liberty Financial’s WLFI token, has crashed more than 85% from its June peak.

Strategy attempted to address funding concerns by raising $1.44 billion in dollar reserves through stock sales, covering 21 months of dividend payments.

Saylor Admits Potential Bitcoin Sales

The industry now faces its defining moment. Strategy CEO Phong Le acknowledged the company would sell Bitcoin if needed to fund dividend payments, specifically if the firm’s market value falls below its cryptocurrency holdings.

Those comments sent shockwaves through the digital asset treasury sector, given Saylor’s repeated insistence that Strategy would never sell, famously joking in February to “sell a kidney if you must, but keep the Bitcoin.“

At December’s Binance Blockchain Week, Saylor outlined the revised approach, stating that “when our equity is trading above the net asset value of the Bitcoin, we just sell the equity,” but “when the equity’s trading below the value of the Bitcoin, we would either sell Bitcoin derivatives, or we would just sell the Bitcoin.“

The reversal raises fears of a downward spiral where forced crypto sales push token prices lower, further pressuring treasury company valuations and potentially triggering additional selling.

Strategy’s monthly Bitcoin accumulation has collapsed from 134,000 BTC at the 2024 peak to just 9,100 BTC in November, with only 135 BTC added so far in December.

The company now holds approximately 650,000 BTC, valued at over $56 billion, representing more than 3% of Bitcoin’s maximum supply.

Market participants worry that leveraged traders using borrowed money to invest in these companies could face margin calls, forcing broader market selloffs.

Strategy has created a $1.4 billion reserve fund to cover near-term dividend payments, but shares remain on track for a 38% decline this year despite the company’s massive Bitcoin holdings.

The post Michael Saylor’s Bitcoin Playbook Backfires on 100+ Companies appeared first on Cryptonews.

Bitcoin may be holding slightly below $90,000, but data imply that the $100K year-end target is still alive as analysts point out that three Bitcoin Price Prediction indicators are flashing a green signal.

The 3-Key Drivers For Bitcoin $100k Year-end Target

The first and most critical driver is the shift in Federal Reserve monetary policy.

After months of reducing liquidity through quantitative tightening, where the central bank stopped reinvesting proceeds from maturing bonds and Treasury holdings, the Fed ended this program on December 1.

Markets are now positioning for an easing cycle.

Data from the CME FedWatch Tool reveals that traders see an 87% likelihood of a rate reduction at the upcoming Wednesday meeting, with three additional cuts anticipated by September 2026.

This policy shift comes as tech sector borrowing costs rise amid substantial AI infrastructure debt, creating conditions where investors may seek alternative stores of value.

The combination of these factors could provide the momentum needed for Bitcoin to cross the six-figure threshold in the coming weeks.

The second driver is liquidity structure.

According to order-book data from CoinGlass, Bitcoin currently has two significant liquidity clusters: the downside liquidity around $90,000, which is currently being tested, and upside liquidity near $94,500.

If the latter is breached, a rally toward $100,000 becomes highly probable.

Bitcoin Price Prediction: Rising Channel Points to $100k Breakout

The third driver comes from technical analysis, which suggests a $100,000 recovery if BTC breaches the $95,000 resistance.

The 4-hour chart shows Bitcoin trading inside a rising channel, though the latest rejection near mid-range has pushed price back toward the lower trendline.

The key support level holding the structure together is $84,000. If BTC stays above that line, the overall channel remains intact, and a rebound toward $95,000 resistance becomes likely.

A breakout above $95,000 would flip the structure bullish and open the path toward the $100,000 region, the next major liquidity target.

However, RSI has cooled off sharply and is leaning bearish, indicating weakened momentum.

If Bitcoin loses $84,000, the rising channel breaks down, and price could slide toward longer-term support around $80,000.

Maxi Doge Presale Gains Traction

While Bitcoin awaits bullish confirmation, Maxi Doge (MAXI) is emerging as a notable Ethereum-based meme coin with ambitions to replicate Dogecoin’s success story.

MAXI is channeling the community-driven energy that propelled DOGE from $0.00008547 in 2015 to its current $0.138 price, a remarkable +161,800x gain.

While replicating that exact trajectory may be ambitious, analysts believe Maxi Doge can deliver a modest 10-50x return for early adopters.

MAXI has now raised over $4.2 million and is building a vibrant community where holders share trading setups, early opportunities, and alpha insights.

Beyond the meme appeal, 25% of raised funds will be deployed into high-potential plays, with profits reinvested directly into marketing to fuel exponential growth and community rewards.

To join the presale at the current $0.0002715 price, visit the official Maxi Doge website.

Then connect an Ethereum-compatible wallet like Best Wallet, and pay with ETH, BNB, or USDT.

You can swap existing crypto or use a bank card to invest in seconds.

The post Bitcoin Price Prediction: Year-End $100K Target Alive – Here Are the Three Drivers That Matter appeared first on Cryptonews.

CoinShares head of research James Butterfill has dismissed insolvency concerns surrounding Tether following warnings from BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes, who claimed a 30% drop in the stablecoin issuer’s Bitcoin and gold holdings could wipe out its equity.

Butterfill’s December 5 market update affirmed that Tether maintains over $181 billion in total reserves against roughly $174.45 billion in liabilities, leaving a surplus of approximately $6.78 billion.

The dismissal comes as crypto markets navigate turbulence in Japanese government bonds and softer US employment data that showed a -32,000 print versus forecasts of +10,000.

Hayes sparked controversy on November 30 by arguing Tether is “running a massive interest rate trade” that positions the company for Federal Reserve rate cuts while exposing it to dangerous volatility through its $22.8 billion allocation to gold and Bitcoin.

Tether CEO Counters Insolvency Claims with Financial Data

CEO Paolo Ardoino swiftly refuted Hayes’s assessment with detailed disclosures showing Tether Group’s total assets reach approximately $215 billion.

The executive explained that the company holds roughly $7 billion in excess equity on top of its stablecoin reserves, plus another $23 billion in retained earnings as part of Tether Group equity.

Bitcoin and gold represent just 12.6% of total reserves, with over 70% held in short-term U.S. Treasuries.

“S&P made the same mistake of not considering the additional Group Equity nor the ~$500M in monthly base profits generated by U.S Treasury yields alone,” Ardoino stated, suggesting critics are “either bad at math or have the incentive to push our competitors.“

The company generated more than $10 billion in profit this year from interest income on reserve assets, making it one of the most efficient cash-generating businesses globally with just 150 employees.

His defense followed S&P Global’s November 26 downgrade of USDT’s peg-stability rating from 4 to 5, citing increased exposure to “high-risk” assets and “persistent gaps in disclosure.”

Ardoino responded defiantly, declaring, “We wear your loathing with pride,” while positioning Tether as “the first overcapitalized company in the financial industry, with no toxic reserves.”

The rating action carries profound implications under MiCA regulations, which prohibit USDT from EU exchanges with a “5” rating, potentially shifting institutional liquidity toward competitors like Circle’s USDC.

Industry Veterans Challenge Hayes’s Fundamental Analysis

Joseph Ayoub, former head of digital asset research at Citi, noted Hayes overlooked critical distinctions between Tether’s disclosed reserves and total corporate holdings.

The analyst explained that Tether maintains a separate equity balance sheet comprising mining operations and corporate reserves that aren’t publicly reported under the company’s “matching philosophy” for reserve disclosure.

“Tether isn’t going insolvent, quite the opposite; they own a money printing machine,” Ayoub concluded, pointing to the company’s roughly $120 billion in interest-yielding Treasuries generating approximately 4% returns since 2023.

Banks operate on significantly lower fractional reserves of 5-15% in liquid assets compared to Tether’s overcollateralized structure. However, traditional institutions benefit from central bank lender-of-last-resort support that Tether lacks.

Hunter Horsley, CEO of Bitwise Invest, characterized Tether’s structure as “better than fractional banking reserves,” while CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju dismissed Hayes’s warning as motivated by trading position management.

Former FT Alphaville editor Izabella Kaminska offered a deeper structural analysis, suggesting Tether’s thick equity buffer and retained earnings model creates “a capital structure that looks a lot like the banking model academic Anat Admati advocates: much thicker equity buffers, far less leverage, and minimal maturity mismatch.“

Kaminska noted that if Tether’s depositor base proves willing to redeem directly in gold during stress situations, the metal becomes “the natural last-resort funding asset for its shadow/grey exposures and a hard-asset substitute for the lender-of-last-resort support that banks get from central banks.”

This cross-border redemption channel operates without dependence on synchronized regulatory frameworks.

The controversy emerges as Tether expands beyond stablecoin issuance into commodity trade lending, having deployed approximately $1.5 billion in credit across oil, cotton, wheat, and agricultural markets.

The company’s Q3 attestation showed USDT issuance increased by more than $17 billion during the quarter, lifting circulating supply above $174 billion, with October figures surpassing $183 billion.

The post CoinShares Debunks Tether Collapse Fears After Hayes Warning appeared first on Cryptonews.

Federal prosecutors are demanding a 12-year prison sentence for Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon for orchestrating the fraud that triggered TerraUSD’s catastrophic $40 billion collapse in 2022.

According to Bloomberg, the government described Kwon’s crimes as “colossal in scope” in a Thursday filing before US District Judge Paul Engelmayer, pointing to cascading market failures that ultimately contributed to FTX’s downfall.

Kwon will face sentencing on December 11, with his own legal team requesting just five years behind bars.

The 34-year-old South Korean entrepreneur pleaded guilty in August to conspiracy and wire fraud charges under an agreement capping prosecutorial recommendations at 12 years.

However, the statutory maximum reaches 25 years for his role in the algorithmic stablecoin fraud.

Prosecutors Highlight Systemic Market Damage

The Justice Department’s sentencing memorandum emphasizes that Kwon’s fraudulent statements to customers triggered a chain reaction across cryptocurrency markets.

Prosecutors specifically cited the collapse’s contribution to Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX implosion as evidence of broader systemic damage beyond Terra’s immediate investor losses.

Kwon admitted in court that between 2018 and 2022, he “knowingly agreed to participate in a scheme to defraud purchasers of cryptocurrencies” from Terraform Labs.

He acknowledged making false statements about TerraUSD’s peg restoration mechanisms and concealing Jump Trading’s secret role in propping up the stablecoin during a May 2021 depeg event that foreshadowed the larger catastrophe.

The timing carries added significance, as the Trump administration has largely eased the tough-on-crypto enforcement actions, as the Biden administration did before.

Most recently, President Donald Trump pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao on October 23 after his conviction for anti-money laundering program failures at the world’s largest crypto exchange.

Although the administration defended the pardon, claiming it was reviewed “with the utmost seriousness.”

Defense Cites Montenegro Detention and Dual Prosecution

Kwon’s attorneys argue that nearly three years in what they describe as “brutal conditions in Montenegro” should factor heavily into sentencing calculations.

His legal team emphasizes that more extended imprisonment proves “far greater than necessary” to achieve justice, particularly given the substantial punishment already endured during extended foreign detention.

The defense filing highlights Kwon’s agreement to forfeit over $19 million and multiple properties under the plea deal reached with prosecutors in the Southern District of New York.

His lawyers further note that Kwon still faces trial in South Korea for identical conduct, where prosecutors are seeking a 40-year prison term that creates additional consequences warranting consideration in the American sentence.

Prosecutors notably aren’t pursuing restitution from the millions of investors who lost $40 billion, citing the excessive complexity of determining individual losses across global markets.

US authorities have indicated they will support Kwon serving the second half of his sentence in South Korea if he complies with the plea terms and qualifies under international transfer programs.

Sentencing Disparities Raise Deterrence Questions

The contrasting approaches to major crypto fraud cases have sparked debate over the consistency of punishment.

Bankman-Fried received 25 years, plus an $11 billion restitution order, after a trial conviction on all counts, though recent reports indicate that four years were later reduced from that sentence.

Kwon’s guilty plea significantly reduced his exposure despite Terra’s larger $40 billion loss compared to FTX’s $8 billion fraud.

Legal experts note that federal sentencing guidelines for fraud at Terra’s magnitude would typically suggest advisory ranges approaching life imprisonment before statutory caps, making Kwon’s five-year request face steep odds.

The Judge handling his case, Engelmayer, is known for the strict handling of financial fraud cases, and most observers expect sentences of 15 to 20 years, given the massive victim impact.

The December 11 hearing will determine whether cooperation through guilty pleas significantly reduces punishment compared to trial convictions, as in Bankman-Fried’s case.

Kwon was arrested in Montenegro in March 2023 while traveling under a fake passport, triggering a lengthy extradition battle between US and South Korean authorities.

He spent nearly two years detained in the Balkan nation before being sent to America in January, where his case became one of the most closely watched legal battles in cryptocurrency’s brief history.

The post Do Kwon Sentencing: US Wants 12 Years for Terra’s $40 Billion Crash appeared first on Cryptonews.

Polymarket is recruiting staff for an internal market-making team that would trade against its own customers, mirroring a controversial feature already used by rival Kalshi that has drawn criticism and legal challenges.

According to Bloomberg, the New York-based prediction market startup has approached traders, including sports bettors, to join the new unit, people familiar with the matter said, requesting anonymity because the plans remain private.

Polymarket declined to comment on the recruitment effort.

The move comes as the platform prepares its full U.S. relaunch after securing regulatory clearance from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, having paid a $1.4 million penalty in 2022 for operating an unregistered derivatives exchange.

Kalshi’s Market-Making Unit Faces Legal Scrutiny

Kalshi already operates an in-house trading arm, Kalshi Trading, which places bids on the exchange and effectively takes opposing positions to customers’ bets.

Company executives have defended the unit as necessary to create liquidity and improve the user experience.

Still, critics argue it creates inherent conflicts of interest and makes Kalshi resemble a traditional sportsbook rather than a neutral peer-to-peer platform.

Some are now claiming that the company is a gambling company and not a prediction company.

“Let’s just call a spade a spade, it’s gambling, lots of things are gambling,” a X user said.

A proposed class action lawsuit filed last month alleges that Kalshi Trading sets betting lines that disadvantage customers, claiming “consumers place bets on Kalshi, they face off against money provided by a sophisticated market maker on the other side of the ledger.“

Kalshi co-founder Luana Lopes Lara dismissed the lawsuit as a “pure smear campaign” on social media.

She stated that Kalshi Trading operates unprofitably and receives “no preferential access or treatment.”

However, the legal challenge shows mounting concerns about whether prediction markets function as advertised, neutral platforms where users with differing opinions trade directly with each other.

Push for Market-Making Comes Amid Rapid U.S. Expansion

Polymarket’s decision to build an internal trading desk arrives as the company executes its return to American markets following years offshore.

In December, the CFTC issued a no-action letter covering QCX LLC and QC Clearing LLC, two entities Polymarket acquired earlier in 2025 for $112 million to gain licensed designated contract market status and regulated clearing capabilities.

The agency granted temporary relief from certain swap data reporting requirements, allowing the platform to operate within the same framework governing federally supervised U.S. trading venues.

Founder and CEO Shayne Coplan confirmed receiving “the green light to go live in the USA” and credited CFTC staff for completing the process in record time.

The regulatory clearance caps a lengthy journey that intensified in November 2024 when the FBI raided Coplan’s Manhattan residence and seized electronic devices as part of an investigation into whether Americans continued accessing the site through VPNs despite the 2022 ban.

Despite being barred from U.S. operations since 2022, Polymarket expanded aggressively overseas, recording roughly $6 billion in wagers during the first half of 2025 alone.

The platform gained global attention during the 2024 presidential election cycle, as its markets closely tracked Donald Trump’s odds of winning.

Market Makers and Growing Institutional Interest

Prediction markets rely heavily on market makers willing to take less popular trades, as the platforms match buyers with sellers on binary yes-or-no contracts.

Both Polymarket and Kalshi have offered incentives rewarding heavy users who provide liquidity, while a small number of traditional financial trading firms, including Susquehanna International Group and Jump Trading, have begun serving as external market makers on Kalshi.

Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital is currently in talks with both platforms to become a liquidity provider, with Novogratz telling Bloomberg that the firm is “doing some small-scale experimenting with market-making on prediction markets.“

The broader debate centers on whether prediction markets genuinely differ from traditional gambling operations.

During a public appearance last month, Coplan called conventional sportsbooks a “scam” that “rip off the consumer,” positioning Polymarket as a transparent alternative where users trade against each other rather than facing house odds designed to extract profits.

The post Polymarket to Launch In-House Trading Desk That Bets Against Users: Report appeared first on Cryptonews.

The crypto market is bleeding as leveraged liquidations intensify, sending Bitcoin back below $90,000.

Analysts are warning that if bulls fail to defend the critical $84,000 support level, Bitcoin’s price prediction could tilt into a full-blown bear market.

$200M Wiped Out As Crypto Liquidations Trigger Market-Wide Selloff

Over the last four hours, more than $200 million in leveraged positions have been liquidated across the crypto market.

Bitcoin is down over 3%, while Ethereum has plunged over 4%. The bloodbath has wiped out over $100 billion in total market capitalization today.

The carnage follows today’s massive options expiry event, which traders had been monitoring closely.

A staggering $3.357 billion worth of BTC options with a max pain point at $91,000 expired today, alongside $668 million worth of ETH options with a max pain at $3,050.

Prominent trader TraderThanos is leaning heavily bearish as the 5-day candle closes below $93,000.

“Maybe we get another retest of 93k-93.2k. That would align more perfectly with my current bias. The next leg down takes us to 76k,” he warned.

Thanos highlighted a critical technical breakdown: “This is the first time price is trading under those Moving Averages since June/July of 2023,” referring to the 100 EMA and 100 MA on the 5-day timeframe.

If price stays beneath these moving averages, he expects a drop to the $72,000-$76,000 range.

Adding to the bearish sentiment, the odds of Bitcoin hitting $80,000 by year-end have now surpassed 40% on Polymarket.

Bitcoin Price Prediction: Bulls Must Hold $84K or Face $76K

Bitcoin is trading below all major moving averages on the 4-hour chart, keeping the broader structure tilted bearish.

The 200-MA near $95,000 remains the key resistance that must be reclaimed to restore bullish momentum, but repeated rejections show sellers aggressively defending that zone.

Immediate support sits around $84,000, which stabilized the price during the last flush.

However, if Bitcoin fails to bounce strongly from this level, the broader corrective structure could extend toward deeper support near $76,000, where a more meaningful reversal becomes likely.

Bitcoin’s direction remains biased lower as long as it stays capped under $95,000.

A reclaim of that level would signal trend restoration, but until then, indicators point toward continued weakness.

Bitcoin Hyper Presale Surges Past $29M Amid BTC Weakness

As Bitcoin struggles, investors are turning to Bitcoin Hyper ($HYPER), a project working on bringing speed and affordability to Bitcoin’s blockchain for decentralized applications.

Built on Solana-based architecture, Bitcoin Hyper accelerates transaction speeds while slashing network fees.

This enables developers to deploy DeFi platforms, meme coins, and payment solutions that Bitcoin holders can access without abandoning the original blockchain.

The presale has raised over $29 million, with tokens priced at $0.013375 and strong institutional interest driving momentum.

Early investors can benefit from presale pricing at the current $0.013385 price, with some analyses suggesting potential 10-15X ROI by 2026.

To buy $HYPER at its discounted presale price, head to the official Bitcoin Hyper website and link your wallet, such as Best Wallet.

Then connect a wallet (Best Wallet, MetaMask, or Coinbase Wallet) and select payment (ETH, USDT, BNB, SOL, or USDC).You can also use a bank card for instant access.

The post Bitcoin Price Prediction: $200M in Leveraged Liquidations Pushes BTC Under $90K — Can Bitcoin Avoid a Breakdown Below $84K? appeared first on Cryptonews.

Wall Street is preparing to welcome a major player to the New York Stock Exchange as Twenty One Capital moves toward its public debut.

This Bitcoin price prediction examines what the landmark listing could mean for BTC’s trajectory amid ongoing market volatility.

Historic Bitcoin Treasury Firm Goes Public

Bitcoin treasury firm Twenty One Capital, Inc., has received shareholder approval for its business combination with Cantor Equity Partners (CEP).

The transaction is expected to close around December 8, with the merged entity’s Class A common stock anticipated to begin trading on December 9 under the ticker symbol XXI.

“Game on. See you at the NYSE on Tuesday,” Twenty One CEO and co-founder Jack Mallers posted on X.

In July, Twenty One Capital announced it would hold about 43,500 BTC, currently worth approximately $4 billion, when it begins trading, following an addition of 5,800 BTC from stablecoin giant Tether.

This positions the firm as potentially the third-largest corporate Bitcoin holder, trailing only Strategy and Bitcoin miner MARA.

Twenty One, which was first announced in April, is a collaborative venture between Tether, Bitfinex, Cantor Fitzgerald, and SoftBank.

The company’s name refers to Bitcoin’s total possible supply of 21 million coins, with about 19.95 million BTC mined to date.

Bitcoin Price Prediction: BTC Eyes $81K Drop as Sellers Dominate $94K Resistance

Bitcoin is showing signs of weakening after failing to break through the $94,000 rejection block, which has acted as a strong ceiling throughout the past month. The chart clearly shows a sequence of lower highs forming right beneath this level, indicating that sellers are still in control.

Even though price briefly formed a higher high on the most recent bounce, momentum quickly faded, and the market slipped back below the key mid-range structure.

The bullish double-bottom that launched the prior rally has now run into resistance strong enough to stall the trend, and the current lower-high structure points toward exhaustion on the buyer side.

If Bitcoin loses strength below $90,000, the next support sits around $87,000. However, the major downside target remains the liquidity pocket between $82,000 and $81,400.

Unless price reclaims $94,000 with conviction, the structure favors a downside sweep toward $81,000 before any meaningful rebound materializes.

New Dogecoin-Themed Meme Coin Raises $4.2 Million in Presale

As Bitcoin consolidates, Maxi Doge ($MAXI) is surging in popularity as an Ethereum-based meme coin fusing gym-bro culture with high-leverage futures trading utility.

Priced at just $0.0002715 in its ongoing presale, the token has raised over $4.2 million, drawing interest from whales amid Dogecoin’s momentum.

Audited by Coinsult and SOLIDProof, $MAXI enters its final presale stages with imminent price hikes before exchange listings.

To buy $MAXI at $0.0002715, visit the official presale site and connect an Ethereum-compatible wallet like Best Wallet.

You can pay using crypto or a bank card to complete the purchase in seconds.

Buy $MAXI Here.

The post Bitcoin Price Prediction: Wall Street to List $4 Billion Bitcoin Firm – How High Can BTC Go? appeared first on Cryptonews.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis released long-delayed September PCE inflation data showing headline PCE at 2.8% year-over-year, matching expectations and ticking up from 2.7% in August. Core PCE—the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge—improved to 2.8% from 2.9%, beating the 2.9% forecast.

Bitcoin held steady around $92,000 on the release, with the in-line data keeping December rate cut odds anchored at 86% for the Fed’s December 9-10 FOMC meeting.

The core PCE decline is encouraging for dovish policymakers, though the headline increase shows inflation remains above the Fed’s 2% target.

Coming on the heels of today’s shockingly strong jobless claims (191K vs 219K expected), the Fed faces conflicting signals—inflation cooling gradually but employment showing unexpected resilience.

Alternative data provider Truflation noted the disconnect between the delayed September official data and current conditions, reporting their real-time PCE at just 2.13% and core PCE at 2.6% using “millions of price data points from real purchases, as opposed to surveyed prices.”

The gap highlights the challenge facing Fed Chair Powell—September’s data is already two months old, collected before the government shutdown, and may not reflect current economic conditions.

Markets are now weighing whether improving core inflation (2.8% vs 2.9%) combined with QT that ended December 1 justifies a rate cut, or whether today’s robust labor market data (191K jobless claims, lowest since 2022) argues for patience.

Bitcoin’s muted reaction suggests crypto traders are taking a wait-and-see approach into next week’s blackout period before the December 9-10 Fed meeting.

The technical setup shows resistance at $93,000 and the descending trendline that’s capped rallies since November 11, with support holding at $92,000.

The total crypto market cap sits at $3.1 trillion as traders weigh whether the combination of cooling core inflation and strong employment creates the “goldilocks” scenario for risk assets, or whether the Fed interprets resilient labor markets as justification to pause easing.

With core PCE moving in the right direction but still 80 basis points above target, the December rate cut remains probable but not guaranteed—especially if policymakers view today’s 191K jobless claims as evidence the economy doesn’t need additional stimulus.

PCE Inflation Meets Expectations: Fed Gets Mixed Signals

The post [LIVE] Bitcoin Price Watch: September PCE Inflation Hits 2.8% as Expected—Will Fed Cut Rates in December? appeared first on Cryptonews.

Interest in crypto among US investors has cooled significantly, with fewer considering new purchases despite maintained ownership levels, according to a comprehensive study released by the FINRA Investor Education Foundation.

The findings reveal a broader retreat from high-risk investment behaviors as market conditions and investor attitudes shift dramatically from the pandemic-era surge.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority study, based on survey data from 2,861 US investors with non-retirement investment accounts, found that while 27% still hold cryptocurrency, unchanged from 2021, only 26% are now considering purchasing digital assets, down sharply from 33% three years earlier.

New Investors Retreat as Market Enthusiasm Wanes

The pace of Americans entering the investment market has slowed dramatically since the cryptocurrency boom years.

Only 8% of current investors began investing within the past two years, a steep drop from 21% who started during the two years preceding the 2021 study.

The shift suggests the tide of pandemic-era market participation has entirely ebbed, with younger adults particularly affected by the reversal.

Young investors under 35 saw their participation rate fall from 32% in 2021 to 26% in 2024, erasing gains made during the market surge.

Similarly, investment rates declined among people of color and men, reversing increases observed just three years earlier.

The median age of investors who entered the market around 2019-2021 rose from 31 to 38, indicating many younger participants left the market entirely.

Beyond slower entry rates, investors pulled back from various high-risk positions. Cryptocurrency is now viewed as extremely or very risky by 66% of those aware of digital assets, up from 58% in 2021.

The percentage holding penny stocks, REITs, private placements, and structured notes all declined to 2018 levels after brief increases.

Risk Appetite Shrinks Across Demographics

Investors’ willingness to embrace substantial portfolio risk dropped to just 8% in 2024 from 12% in 2021, with the decline most pronounced among younger market participants.

Among investors under 35, those willing to take substantial risks fell from 24% to 15%, creating a notable contradiction; 62% of this age group still believe they need big risks to reach financial goals.

“The latest FINRA Foundation research on investors provides rich insights into how market conditions, technology and generational shifts are changing the profile of investing and reshaping investor behaviors and attitudes,” said Jonathan Sokobin, FINRA Foundation Chair and Chief Economist.

Despite reduced risk appetite, younger investors continue to engage in behaviors that carry greater potential losses.

43% of those under 35 trade options, compared to 10% of investors 55 and older, while 22% make margin purchases, versus just 4% of older participants.

Meanwhile, 13% of all investors report buying meme stocks or viral investments, including 29% of those under 35.

The crypto decline appears most dramatic among new investors. Those with less than 2 years’ experience who are considering digital assets dropped from 61% in 2021 to 48% in 2024, while consideration among experienced investors fell less sharply.

Among investors under 35 specifically, cryptocurrency consideration plummeted from 62% to 49%, compared to smaller declines in older age groups.

Social Media Influence Grows Despite Market Caution

The study found social media “Finfluencers” now guide investment decisions for 26% of investors, rising to 61% among those under 35.

YouTube remains the dominant platform for investment information, with 30% overall usage, rising to 61% among younger investors.

Word of mouth from friends and family emerged as the top information source for 85% of investors under 35, surpassing recommendations from financial professionals at 67%.

Concern over investment fraud has risen somewhat, with 37% of investors worried about losing money to scams, up from 31% in 2021.

However, the vast majority, 89%, do not believe they have been targeted in investment fraud.

When presented with a fraudulent offer promising “guaranteed, risk-free 25% annual returns,” half of investors said they would invest, revealing significant gaps in fraud awareness.

FINRA Foundation President Gerri Walsh emphasized the continuing importance of investor education.

“They still struggle with gaps in investing knowledge and risk assessment, which can leave them vulnerable to costly missteps,” Walsh said. “Investor education efforts remain critically important.“

Notably, the findings oppose broader market trends showing that crypto adoption continues to grow, with separate surveys indicating that over 50 million American adults now own digital assets.

Another also links declining homeownership affordability to increased crypto speculation among younger generations seeking alternative wealth-building strategies.

The post Crypto Interest Fades Among US Investors as Risk Tolerance Declines: FINRA Study appeared first on Cryptonews.

Ethereum’s Fusaka upgrade executed flawlessly on December 4, 2025, marking a historic milestone as the network achieved zero downtime while implementing its most significant expansion of data availability since EIP-4844.

However, within hours of activation, a critical bug in the Prysm consensus client threatened network stability, causing validation issues that slowed block finalization before client diversity safeguards prevented a potential crisis.

The incident unfolded as Prysm nodes experienced denial-of-service-like conditions triggered by excessive historical state generation.

Prysm core developer Terence Tsao explained that “historical state generation is compute and memory heavy, and a node can be dos’ed by a large number heavy, and a node can be dos’ed by a large number of state replays happening in parallel.”

Over two hours, a spike in stale attestations targeting checkpoint roots from off-slots forced affected nodes to reconstruct historical states, pushing systems into compromised operating conditions.

The Ethereum Foundation quickly issued emergency guidance, while ten other consensus clients maintained network operations, preventing any service disruption.

Client Diversity Proves Its Value During Crisis

While Prysm operators scrambled to implement the emergency workaround flag –disable-last-epoch-targets, alternative clients, including Lighthouse, Teku, Nimbus, and Lodestar, continued validating blocks without interruption.

The network maintained consensus throughout the incident, with finalization continuing despite affected validators experiencing participation issues.

Lido Finance reported minimal impact compared to other staking solutions, attributing its resilience to distributed validator operations where Prysm powers approximately 15% of node operators.

The protocol’s Q3 2025 metrics demonstrate balanced client usage as a deliberate strategy to mitigate single-client failure risks.

Most Lido-operated Prysm setups recovered within hours after applying the recommended configuration changes or temporarily switching to alternative clients.

The incident reinforced long-standing arguments for client diversity as Ethereum’s primary defense against consensus failures.

Developer Kydo captured the significance, noting that the upgrade simultaneously reinforced four critical narratives:

• Zero-downtime operations
• Layer-2 scaling capability through PeerDAS activation
• Client diversity protection
• Revenue-generating potential.

Ethereum briefly hit $3.2 billion annual run rate during the incident as blob fee mechanisms adjusted to new pricing parameters.

PeerDAS and Blob Scaling Transform Data Availability

Beyond the Prysm incident, Fusaka delivered transformative upgrades to Ethereum’s data layer through the PeerDAS implementation and the Blob Parameter Only (BPO) fork mechanism.

PeerDAS introduced data availability sampling, enabling nodes to store only 1/8 of the blob data while maintaining security guarantees.

This architectural shift enables throughput increases up to 8x current capacity while keeping hardware requirements manageable for independent operators.

Vitalik Buterin emphasized the upgrade’s historical significance, stating, “PeerDAS in Fusaka is significant because it literally is sharding.“

He celebrated the achievement as a dream dating back to 2015, noting “Ethereum is coming to consensus on blocks without requiring any single node to see more than a tiny fraction of the data.“

The implementation represents a breakthrough first proposed in 2017, though Buterin acknowledged remaining challenges, including distributed block building and sharded mempool development.

The BPO mechanism enables Ethereum to increase blob capacity between major upgrades rather than waiting for coordinated hard forks.

Fusaka maintains the current 6-blob target initially, but scheduled adjustments will raise limits to 10/15 on December 9, 2025, and 14/21 on January 7, 2026.

This addresses mounting pressure as layer-2 demand pushed Ethereum’s blob capacity toward saturation throughout 2024.

EIP-7918 ties blob base fees to execution costs, preventing market collapse. Blob fees jumped 1,500x immediately after activation, rising from 1 wei to 1,500 wei.

Developer Kydo explained this increase “restores a functioning fee market for blobs, so the protocol can actually use price to steer blob demand instead of being stuck at 1 wei.“

The change ensures that layer-2 operators pay meaningful costs for the computational resources their operations impose on network nodes.

Notably, Matt Hougan, CIO at Bitwise, also praised the momentum, noting, “Ethereum delivering two major upgrades in one year is impressive. The giant is awake and doing the right things.“

Among major L2s, according to information shared with Cryptonews, Optimism has announced plans to adopt Fusaka features into the OP Stack in early 2026, with Base, Soneium, and other layer-2 teams contributing to testing throughout development.

The post Ethereum Bug Nearly Triggers Network Crisis After Fusaka Upgrade appeared first on Cryptonews.

The European Commission formally proposed transferring direct supervision of all crypto asset service providers to the European Securities and Markets Authority.

This supervision was previously placed under the Markets in Crypto-Assets framework, with the licensing authority working with national regulators.

The legislative package aims to eliminate regulatory fragmentation across 27 member states by granting ESMA powers comparable to those of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over U.S. markets.

The proposal arrives just nine months after its announcement in the Savings and Investments Union strategy.

The strategy highlighted the political urgency behind capital markets integration as Europe confronts competitive pressures from U.S. financial markets.

Centralized Powers Target Cross-Border Efficiency

ESMA would gain authority to directly authorize crypto firms seeking to operate across the bloc, replacing the passporting system, where companies secure approval in one jurisdiction before expanding throughout the EU.

The regulator would also assume oversight of significant trading venues, central counterparties, and central securities depositories alongside its expanded crypto mandate.

The Commission’s framework introduces “Pan-European Market Operator” status to streamline corporate structures into a single licensing format while enhancing ESMA’s coordination role in asset management.

Officials positioned the changes as essential for responding to emerging risks and addressing inconsistencies from fragmented national approaches.

The package simultaneously addresses barriers to distributed ledger technology by amending the DLT Pilot Regulation to increase proportionality and provide legal certainty for blockchain adoption.

Member states will see directives converted into regulations to reduce national discretions that enable regulatory gold-plating.

Member States Split Over Sovereignty Concerns

France backed the centralization push after Bank of France Governor François Villeroy de Galhau warned that the current passporting model creates regulatory loopholes due to uneven oversight.

“This framework would benefit from much stricter regulation of the multi-issuance of the same stablecoin within and outside the European Union, to reduce arbitrage risks in times of stress,” he said in October.

Germany also recently signaled openness to expanded ESMA powers following years of opposition, while ECB President Christine Lagarde endorsed centralized supervision as essential for European competitiveness against the United States.

Just last month, ESMA Chair Verena Ross highlighted the inefficiency of national regulators building 27 separate crypto frameworks when centralized resources could achieve better alignment.

While others seem to be geared toward the idea, Luxembourg Finance Minister Gilles Roth rejected the shift, stating that his country prefers “supervisory convergence rather than creating a costly and ineffective centralized model.“

In fact, Malta’s Financial Services Authority warned that centralization would introduce bureaucratic layers that would hinder competitiveness, at a time when the EU is striving to enhance its global position.

Industry groups raised concerns about disrupting MiCA’s rollout before it is fully implemented.

“Reopening MiCA at this stage would introduce legal uncertainty, risk delaying the authorization process, and divert attention and resources from the practical task of consistent implementation,” said Robert Kopitsch, secretary general of Blockchain for Europe.

Implementation Timeline Faces Political Hurdles

The European Parliament and Council must approve the proposals through negotiations, where maintaining package unity remains crucial for establishing a genuine single market across the investment chain.

Officials expect Parliament to adopt a legislative framework position by May 2026, while member states aim for general agreement by year-end.

ESMA will begin overseeing equity and bond price consolidation, alongside ESG ratings, from 2026 onward, with oversight of cryptocurrency extending the regulator’s authority as Europe pursues tighter market integration.

The Commission emphasized that the reforms address fragmentation that raises costs for cross-border trades, a significant obstacle for startups scaling in Europe rather than the U.S.

The initiative forms part of broader efforts to complete the EU’s capital markets union, after data-sharing rules published on November 26 established strict requirements for how crypto firms must collect, store, and report user information to tax authorities, starting January 2026.

The Transfer of Funds Regulation, which extends the travel rule to crypto, takes effect on December 30 and requires exchanges to identify transaction participants, including self-hosted wallet interactions.

The post EU Wants ESMA to Oversee Crypto Like the SEC Does in US appeared first on Cryptonews.

Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, disclosed that several sovereign wealth funds are quietly buying BTC “incrementally,” a development analysts believe could push Bitcoin price prediction back into bullish territory.

“I know they bought more in the 80k level. And they’re establishing a longer position. This is not a trade. You own it for a purpose,” Fink stated during a DealBook event alongside Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.

Sovereign Wealth Funds Intensify Bitcoin Accumulation Charge

Fink, whose “thought process has evolved” on crypto, explained Bitcoin’s entire use case to a room full of Wall Street elites.

He framed Bitcoin as protection against physical insecurity, financial instability, and long-term debasement, noting that leveraged players rather than fundamentals drove the recent crash.

While Fink didn’t reveal specific sovereign wealth funds, recent reports show growing institutional adoption.

Luxembourg recently chose Bitcoin for its Intergenerational Sovereign Wealth Fund of Luxembourg (FSIL) and has already allocated 1% of its assets, approximately €7 million, to Bitcoin.

Speaking at Bitcoin Amsterdam 2025, Luxembourg’s Finance Minister Gilles Roth emphasized that the nation is keen to be among the first to adopt BTC through its sovereign wealth fund.

Meanwhile, Kazakhstan’s central bank is reportedly preparing to invest up to $300 million in crypto assets, though the final allocation could range from $50 million to $250 million, depending on market conditions.

Bitcoin Price Prediction: FVG Analysis Points To $100K Breakout

Bitcoin is moving inside a well-defined ascending channel, and despite the recent pullback from the upper boundary, the structure remains bullish as long as the price holds the mid-range and lower channel support near $90,500–$91,000.

The rejection at the top of the channel aligns with the fair-value gap left over from late November, creating short-term exhaustion.

However, buyers quickly absorbed the sell-off around the FVG region, showing momentum remains in their favor.

The projected bear flag breakdown failed to gain follow-through, which typically flips into a continuation pattern in the opposite direction, strengthening the case for upward expansion.

If Bitcoin retests the lower channel boundary once more, it would likely act as a springboard for the next leg higher.

Given the current market structure, the path of least resistance remains toward the upper channel line around $97K–$99K, with a breakout opening the door to the broader target zone around $100K and above.

Pepenode Presale Gains Traction

Bitcoin’s return to bullish territory signals positive momentum for meme coins like Pepenode(PEPENODE)

This gamified mine-to-earn meme coin presale on Ethereum has raised around $2.26 million since launching months ago.

Pepenode offers virtual mining nodes and facility upgrades within a browser-based mining game and requires no hardware.

It features a deflationary token model with 70% of mining tokens burned, aiming to provide sustainable value through gameplay and staking rewards.

Early stakers enjoy APYs around 572%, encouraging longer-term holding.

To buy Pepenode at the current price of $0.001178, visit the official presale site, connect an Ethereum-compatible wallet like Best Wallet.

Then choose to pay in ETH, BNB, or USDT in just a few seconds.

You can also make use of a credit/debit card to join the presale.

The post Bitcoin Price Prediction: BlackRock’s Larry Fink Says Sovereign Wealth Funds Are Quietly Buying Bitcoin — Will Their Bid Push BTC Past $100K? appeared first on Cryptonews.

Concerns around quantum computing have resurfaced, with some analysts warning it could pose a serious threat to Bitcoin’s future.

While K33 Research believes these fears are overblown, the long-term Bitcoin price prediction could shift dramatically if this view proves wrong.

According to Vetle Lunde, Head of Research at K33, roughly 6.8 million BTC may be at risk if quantum machines advance far enough to break current encryption standards.

Bitcoin Quantum Threats Dismissed by Experts

However, Lunde emphasized that “the timeline for such breakthroughs remains uncertain, and exchanges are unlikely to allow compromised coins to circulate freely.”

Blockstream CEO and cypherpunk Adam Back, who was cited in the original Bitcoin white paper, shares this measured view.

The longtime cryptographer stated that Bitcoin is unlikely to face meaningful quantum threats for at least two to four decades.

Back noted that current fears circulating on social media about an imminent “quantum attack” are overstated, pointing out that the National Institute of Standards and Technology has already approved post-quantum encryption standards that Bitcoin could adopt well before quantum computers pose realistic risks to SHA-256.

Popular Bitcoin trader The White Whale offered a comprehensive breakdown, noting that “every few weeks the same tired narrative resurfaces.”

He acknowledged that early Bitcoin’s P2PK outputs, including Satoshi-era coins, expose public keys on-chain, making them vulnerable if quantum computers eventually run Shor’s algorithm at scale.

However, the White Whale emphasized that the timeline of the threat is completely false.

“A machine capable of breaking Bitcoin’s signatures doesn’t exist. Not in prototype form. Not in secret. Not in a lab somewhere,” he stated.

Institutions including NIST, NSA, CNSA-2, MIT, and Google’s quantum researchers are unanimous that Bitcoin faces no vulnerability this decade or next.

The earliest plausible window sits around 2045–2055.

Bitcoin Price Prediction: Resistance at $93K Flips Into Support

Despite the quantum FUD, Bitcoin has broken cleanly above $93,000 resistance, converting it into short-term support.

Trading firmly above the monthly open around $90,500, the market structure has shifted bullish after December’s pullback.

The 9-period SMA is curling upward beneath the price, signaling strengthening momentum on the 4-hour timeframe.

As long as Bitcoin holds the breakout zone between $92,500 and $93,000, the chart suggests a continuation toward the next major liquidity area around $101,000.

A brief consolidation or retest is likely once that level is reached, but the broader trend now favors a push into the higher resistance cluster between $107,500 and $113,000.

However, a loss of the $93k level would shift focus back to the monthly open around $90k.

Maxi Doge Presale Gains Momentum

Bitcoin’s push back into bullish territory is sparking renewed interest in early-stage meme coins, and Maxi Doge ($MAXI) is quickly becoming one of the most talked-about presales of the cycle.

Positioned as a high-energy, community-driven project, Maxi Doge has already raised over $4.27 million since July.

The team is building more than just a token. They’re creating a space where traders can share early opportunities, trading alpha, and compete in fun contests like Maxi Ripped and Maxi Gains.

Up to 25% of the presale funds will be used for high-conviction market plays, with the profits reinvested into promoting the $MAXI ecosystem.

The token is currently priced at $0.0002715 and offers an attractive staking APY of 72% for early buyers.

To join, visit the official Maxi Doge website and connect a compatible wallet, such as Best Wallet.

You can complete your purchase using existing crypto or a bank card.

The post Bitcoin Price Prediction: Quantum Threats Dismissed by Experts – But What If They’re Wrong? appeared first on Cryptonews.

U.S. initial jobless claims plunged to 191,000 for the week, crushing expectations of 219,000 and marking the lowest reading since September 2022.

Bitcoin showed little reaction to the surprise data, holding steady around $92,000 as traders digest what the strength means for Fed policy.

The 28,000-person beat signals the labor market isn’t in distress despite recent recession fears that drove crypto’s $1 trillion market cap loss in November, but the robust employment creates a critical dilemma, markets now face conflicting signals as December rate cut odds sit at 86%, yet strong jobless claims data typically reduces urgency for Fed easing at next week’s December 9-10 FOMC meeting.

The question traders are asking: does Fed Chair Powell view this as confirmation that the economy can handle higher rates for longer, or simply proof that October’s rate cut worked without breaking the labor market?

Initial claims at 191K represent a sharp drop from recent weeks and suggest hiring remains resilient despite government shutdown disruptions and slower payroll growth reported in September’s delayed jobs report.

For crypto, stronger economic data reduces recession risk but also dims the rate cut expectations that fueled Bitcoin’s recovery from last Monday’s $88,500 low.

The Fed ended quantitative tightening on December 1 and has signaled a dovish pivot, but hawkish policymakers could use today’s data to argue against December easing.

Bitcoin needs to break and hold above $100,000 to confirm bullish momentum, with resistance at the descending trendline that’s capped rallies since November 11.

The total crypto market cap sits at $3.2 trillion as the market weighs whether strong employment signals a bullish (no recession) or bearish (no rate cuts) outlook.

With the Fed’s blackout period starting imminently before next week’s meeting, today’s jobless claims print is one of the final data points policymakers will consider, and it argues against aggressive easing.

Support holds at $93,000, but if the Fed skips December’s cut, citing labor strength, Bitcoin could retest the $88,000-$90,000 zone that marked November’s capitulation low.

Jobless Claims Shock: Labor Market Shows Unexpected Strength

The post [LIVE] Bitcoin Price Alert: U.S. Jobless Claims Crash to 191K: Will Strong Labor Data Kill Fed Rate Cuts? appeared first on Cryptonews.

The Federal Reserve is poised to deliver another 25-basis-point cut at its December meeting, which would reduce the federal funds rate to approximately 3.50-3.75%, while forward markets price at least three additional cuts through 2026 that could push rates into the low-3% range by year-end.

Delphi Digital noted that with quantitative tightening ending December 1, a Treasury General Account drawdown ahead, and the Reverse Repo Program fully depleted, “this is the first net-positive liquidity backdrop since early 2022—turning policy in 2026 from a headwind to a mild tailwind.“

The research firm emphasized that 2026 represents “the year policy stops being a headwind and becomes a mild tailwind,” favoring duration, large caps, gold, and digital assets with structural demand, like Bitcoin.

Fed Forced to Cut Despite Inflation Pressures

Markets widely anticipated the December cut, with CME FedWatch pricing 88% probability ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

The decision came despite limited economic data; October’s inflation and employment figures weren’t released due to the government shutdown, forcing policymakers to rely on alternative indicators showing mixed signals.

The Kobeissi Letter starkly framed the Fed’s dilemma, noting that “even as inflation hits 3%, the Fed MUST cut rates to ‘save’ US consumers.”

The analysis highlighted a K-shaped economy in which “consumers are struggling while large cap tech stocks are soaring,” forcing the Fed to cut rates “into one of the hottest stock markets in history.”

With retail sales rising only 0.3% in September and the S&P 500 up 17.8% year-to-date through December, the wealth gap widens as “Americans need the support as a labor market deteriorates.“

Goldman Sachs chief economist Jan Hatzius projects the Fed will pause in January before delivering cuts in March and June, pushing rates to a terminal level of 3-3.25%.

In fact, according to Reuters, Bank of America shifted its December forecast from hold to cut, stating that “by cutting rates next week, we think the Fed would increase the risk of pushing policy into accommodative territory, just as fiscal stimulus kicks in.”

The backdrop extends beyond rate cuts. Quantitative tightening’s end removes roughly $60 billion in monthly balance sheet reductions that drained liquidity throughout 2023 and 2024.

Divided Committee Shows Market Volatility

Growing divisions within the Federal Open Market Committee complicate the outlook.

October’s meeting produced unusual dissent, with members voting both for no cut and for a more aggressive 50-basis-point reduction, a rare occurrence in Fed history with only 28 prior instances of opposing dissents.

According to Forbes, Minutes revealed sharp disagreements, stating: “Many participants were in favor of lowering the target range for the federal funds rate at this meeting, some supported such a decision but could have also supported maintaining the level of the target range, and several were against lowering the target range.“

Political factors add pressure. Reports emerged that the Trump administration canceled interviews for Fed chair finalists, fueling expectations that Kevin Hassett might replace Jerome Powell next May.

Bank of America cited leadership change as the primary driver of its forecast for two additional 2026 cuts in June and July, noting that its “forecast of additional cuts next year is due to the change in leadership, not our read on the economy.“

Keith Buchanan, senior portfolio manager at Globalt Investments, observed that markets are betting “the Federal Reserve will have ammo to lay off the hawkish tone that we saw a couple of weeks ago and perhaps lean more dovish into what looks to be disappointing and weakening labor data.“

Asian Currencies Positioned for Easing Benefits

Asian currencies stand to benefit from December’s cut and potential 2026 easing, according to Reuters.

India’s rupee, which breached 90 per dollar for the first time, faces relief from reduced pressure, while Indonesia’s rupiah, South Korea’s won, and the Philippine peso, all down over 4% this quarter, could stabilize as Fed policy turns accommodative.

Source: Bloomberg.

As per Bloomberg, traders now price over 90% probability for the quarter-point December cut based on swaps data.

Wee Khoon Chong, senior Asia Pacific market strategist at BNY, expects that “further Fed easing is likely to be supportive for Asia FX in general.“

The post Fed Rate Cuts Could Turn 2026 Into Crypto’s First Tailwind Year: Delphi Digital appeared first on Cryptonews.

Solana Mobile confirmed it will launch SKR, a governance token for its Seeker smartphone ecosystem, in January 2026, with a total supply of 10 billion tokens distributed across airdrops, partnerships, and community initiatives.

The company positioned the token as a mechanism to decentralize platform ownership and align incentives across device holders, developers, and network validators known as Guardians.

The announcement comes amid a hardware security controversy, as Ledger researchers disclosed an unfixable vulnerability in the MediaTek Dimensity 7300 chip used in Seeker devices that could enable a complete device takeover and private key theft through physical access.

Token Distribution Targets Early Adopters

SKR’s 10 billion token supply allocates 30% to airdrops targeting Seeker and original Saga phone holders, while 25% supports growth initiatives and partnerships with ecosystem participants.

Another 10% funds are used for initial liquidity and launch operations, with an additional 10% reserved for community treasury governance.

Solana Mobile receives 15% of the supply, and Solana Labs holds the remaining 10%.

The token employs linear inflation, starting at 10% in year one and declining by 25% annually until stabilizing at a 2% terminal rate.

Solana Mobile said this structure incentivizes early participants who stake tokens to secure the network and support platform development during critical growth phases.

Guardians, who are validators responsible for device authentication, dApp review, and community standards enforcement, will include Solana Mobile at launch, with committed partners Helius, DoubleZero, Triton, Jito, and Anza joining throughout 2026.

Users can stake SKR to Guardians, back builders, secure devices, and curate the dApp Store, with ecosystem value flowing back to active participants.

Security Flaw Shadows Launch Momentum

Hours before the token announcement, Ledger disclosed a critical hardware vulnerability in the MediaTek Dimensity 7300 chip powering Seeker devices and other smartphones across multiple manufacturers.

Security researchers Charles Christen and Léo Benito successfully executed electromagnetic fault injection attacks during the chip’s boot phase, gaining what they described as “full and absolute control” of compromised handsets.

The attack bypasses memory protections and overwrites security controls embedded in the system-on-chip, enabling the extraction of cryptographic keys and sensitive data.

While individual attack success rates range from 0.1% to 1%, Ledger estimates that repeated attempts can compromise a device within minutes for attackers with physical device access.

Ledger disclosed the flaw to MediaTek in early May after beginning tests in February, prompting the chipmaker to notify affected device vendors.

MediaTek responded that the Dimensity 7300 was designed for consumer smartphones rather than secure financial infrastructure, stating that manufacturers handling sensitive cryptographic material should implement specific physical attack protections.

The company added that the vulnerability falls outside the chip’s original design scope, leaving affected devices permanently exposed since no software patch can resolve hardware-level flaws.

Mixed Sentiment on Token Utility

Social media commentary revealed divided perspectives on SKR’s value proposition and long-term viability.

Critics questioned the token’s fundamental utility, noting the lack of clarity regarding revenue sharing or governance rights beyond platform coordination.

One observer described the launch as “backwards,” arguing that without defined revenue entitlements, SKR functions essentially as a meme coin rather than a legitimate governance infrastructure.

Others outlined airdrop farming strategies, recommending daily device usage, wallet swaps, validator staking, dApp interactions, and the deployment of the DePIN application to maximize allocation from the 30% airdrop pool.

Tech creator Ashen noted the 10 billion supply represents unusually “high inflation” compared to standard 1 billion token launches. “Solana REALLY loves inflation lmfaoo,” he said.

However, he expressed cautious optimism given the Solana team’s backing and the substantial 30% airdrop allocation for approximately 100,000 Seeker holders.

Market observers also cited Solana’s broader ecosystem momentum, including recent partnerships like the KRW-pegged stablecoin collaboration with Korean infrastructure firm Wavebridge, and institutional validation evidenced by continued ETF inflows despite recent market volatility.

Solana Foundation President Lily Liu recently emphasized at Binance Blockchain Week that stablecoin market capitalization has surged 50% this year, and positioned the blockchain as infrastructure for global improvements in capital efficiency.

The post Solana Mobile to Launch SKR Native Token in January appeared first on Cryptonews.

Former Citadel employees Ian Krotinsky and Aashiq Dheeraj have secured $17 million in funding for Fin, a stablecoin-powered payments app designed to enable instant cross-border money transfers without the complexity of traditional crypto platforms.

According to a Fortune report, Pantera Capital led the round, with participation from Sequoia and Samsung Next, as the startup prepares to pilot with import-export businesses next month.

The funding arrives amid explosive growth in the stablecoin sector, which now exceeds $300 billion in total market capitalization.

Krotinsky and Dheeraj discovered the friction in international payments while building side projects at Citadel, when they attempted to pay $50 to users who reached the front page of a Reddit-like platform they created.

Building Payment Infrastructure for Large Transfers

Fin targets a gap in existing payment systems by focusing on large-value transactions in the hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars.

The app allows users to send money to other Fin users, bank accounts, or crypto wallets, leveraging stablecoin rails to reduce transfer fees compared to traditional banking channels dramatically.

Krotinsky described the platform as “built as the payments app of the future,” emphasizing that it leverages the benefits of stablecoins “without all the complexity” and will work anywhere in the world.

The startup shared an exclusive walkthrough with Fortune, revealing a simple yet elegant design prioritizing user-friendliness over technical jargon.

Traditional wire transfers through commercial banks can take several days and incur substantial fees, particularly for international transactions between countries with different financial systems.

Fin aims to disrupt this model by offering near-instant settlement for scenarios such as Swiss watch dealers selling to US customers or domestic transfers exceeding the limits imposed by Venmo and Zelle, which cannot process payments of $100,000 instantly due to delays or verification holds.

Revenue Model and Competitive Positioning

The company plans to generate revenue through transaction fees, though these will remain cheaper than alternatives, plus interest earned on stablecoins held in Fin wallets.

While the app has not launched publicly, the pilot program with businesses in the import-export space represents the first step toward broader commercial availability.

Krotinsky positioned his startup against major commercial banks like JPMorgan Chase and Barclays rather than crypto-native competitors.

He argued that large financial institutions have built payment products incorrectly for decades and will struggle to migrate existing systems onto stablecoin rails.

“I think we have the opportunity of being the next largest payments app in the world,” Krotinsky said. “People are going to be surprised at how quickly we move to get there.“

Stablecoin Sector Attracts Traditional Finance Giants

Fin’s funding follows major institutional moves into stablecoin infrastructure.

Citadel Securities, the market maker founded by Ken Griffin, invested $200 million in crypto exchange Kraken at a $20 billion valuation in November, deepening Wall Street’s commitment to digital assets after years of hesitation over regulatory uncertainty.

The firm also participated in Ripple’s $500 million funding round alongside Fortress Investment Group, which shows traditional finance is showing interest in established crypto platforms as regulatory clarity improves under the Trump administration.

Most recently, ten major European banks formed a consortium to launch a euro-backed stablecoin by mid-2026, addressing concerns about overwhelming reliance on dollar-denominated tokens, which currently account for 99.58% of the global stablecoin market.

Sony Bank is also reportedly preparing to issue a GENIUS-regulated US dollar stablecoin for American customers as early as fiscal 2026, aiming to reduce payment fees across its gaming and anime businesses.

While there is a massive ongoing innovation in stablecoins with big firms positioning themselves for what they see as the next wave of financial revolution, Standard Chartered recently warned that over $1 trillion could flow from emerging-market banks into stablecoins by 2028 as global adoption accelerates.

In fact, Federal regulators are also advancing implementation of the GENIUS Act, with the FDIC expected to publish its first stablecoin rule framework later this month.

Acting FDIC Chair Travis Hill confirmed the agency is drafting rules for how stablecoin issuers will apply for approval, with separate prudential standards planned for early next year.

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A 21-year-old Ukrainian student was tortured and burned alive in Vienna after attackers forced him to reveal passwords to his crypto wallets, emptying his digital accounts before setting him on fire in his father’s Mercedes.

According to local reports, two suspects, a fellow student aged 19 and a 45-year-old Ukrainian national, fled to their home country with large amounts of cash but were arrested days later by Ukrainian authorities.

The victim, Danylo K., was the son of Kharkiv’s deputy mayor. His body was discovered on November 26 in a burned-out vehicle on Marlen-Haushofer-Weg in Vienna’s Donaustadt district after fire alarms alerted residents to the blaze around 12:30 a.m.

The charred remains were found in the back seat of a Mercedes S 350D bearing Ukrainian license plates beneath the Ostbahn railway line.

Torture Began in Hotel Garage, Ended in Flames

The attack started hours earlier in the underground parking garage of the Sofitel “SO/Vienna” hotel on Praterstraße, where the 19-year-old suspect ambushed his fellow student following a loud confrontation.

A hotel guest alerted reception after hearing the altercation, prompting police to be notified.

Passersby later noticed a large pool of blood in the stairwell leading to the parking area.

Investigators say Danylo was beaten severely in the garage before being forced into his father’s black Mercedes.

The assailants drove him to the Donaustadt location while subjecting him to extended torture to extract his crypto wallet passwords.

His teeth were knocked out during the assault as the violence escalated over several hours.

After gaining access to two crypto accounts, the attackers doused Danylo with gasoline purchased earlier from a Wagramer Strasse station.

He was set ablaze while crouched in the back seat, suffocating on his own blood and dying from head injuries and burns that consumed 80 percent of his body.

Colonel Gerhard Winkler of the State Criminal Police Office confirmed the autopsy findings indicated suffocation or heatstroke as the decisive factors. Forensic teams recovered a melted gasoline canister from the vehicle.

International Manhunt Tracked Suspects to Ukraine

Vienna police identified both suspects through surveillance footage captured at the hotel garage and the gas station where they purchased fuel canisters.

The pair crossed into Ukraine at precisely 9:07 a.m. the morning after the murder, triggering an international manhunt.

Ukrainian authorities arrested the suspects on November 29 after finding them in possession of enormous amounts of U.S. dollar bills.

Investigators believe the crypto was rapidly converted to cash following the robbery.

Austrian officials have transferred the case to Ukrainian jurisdiction, as extradition is not possible under existing agreements between the countries.

Police confirmed that Danylo’s crypto accounts were completely emptied after his murder, though authorities declined to specify the total sum stolen.

His family in Ukraine had reported him missing on November 25 after losing contact with him and discovering his digital wallets had been drained.

The wealthy student, who had been living temporarily in a luxurious apartment in Vienna’s Triiiple Tower on Landstrasse’s Danube Canal, was residing with his partner and their child at the time of his death.

Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov declined to offer a detailed comment but acknowledged the tragedy, saying, “This is a human tragedy,” while noting the loss remained a family matter for his deputy.

Physical Crypto Crimes on The Rise

The murder marks Austria’s entry into a fast-escalating pattern of violent attacks targeting cryptocurrency holders worldwide.

Security researcher Jameson Lopp has documented over 60 such “wrench attacks” in 2025, representing a 169% surge since February and a 33% increase over all of 2024.

France leads global incidents with 14 confirmed cases, while violent robberies have been reported across Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom this year.

Last week, a British Columbia court detailed a 2024 home invasion where attackers tortured a family and stole $1.6 million in crypto after demanding 200 Bitcoin.

Similar patterns emerged in an Oxford robbery where masked assailants forced victims to transfer £1.1 million in crypto during a car ambush.

Analysts attribute the surge to rising crypto values, which have made holders high-value targets for criminals.

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