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Ethereum Rises As Altcoin Season Fear Eases And Select Tokens Join The Move

✇Cryptonews
By: Hongji Feng

Sentiment across the market shows a mild improvement today, with the Fear and Greed Index rising to 30 after spending much of the past two weeks in the lower twenties and briefly touching extreme fear levels that had pushed many participants into defensive positioning.

Bitcoin is trading near $92,000 after a stretch of uneven activity that began in late November, and the steadier tone around the largest asset has created a backdrop in which a small group of altcoins can advance without relying on abrupt, flow-driven bursts.

Bitcoin Price (Source: CoinMarketCap)

Ethereum sits at the center of that shift as its performance often sets expectations for how much risk the market is willing to take.

Ethereum Extends Its Climb On Firmer Market Structure

Ethereum (ETH) is currently trading around $3,330, up by about 7% over 24 hours, and the increase is supported by an improvement in both spot and derivatives participation, with deeper books and steadier bidding in ranges that had previously struggled to hold during last week’s retreat.

Activity across major venues indicates that traders who had reduced exposure during the November drawdown are gradually re-entering positions, not because sentiment has shifted dramatically, but because the asset’s day-to-day usage and continued demand for block space provide a degree of stability even when the wider environment remains cautious.

This pattern allows Ethereum to function as an early gauge of whether the current relief has staying power, since its liquidity and scale often give it the ability to recover before smaller assets regain enough confidence to follow.

Monero Gains As Privacy Demand Holds Steady

Monero (XMR) is trading near $404, up by roughly 12% in 24 hours, and the climb aligns with periods in which privacy-oriented tokens receive renewed attention from communities that maintain consistent usage regardless of broader sentiment shifts.

The MAGIC Monero Fund has started a second fundraiser to further increase Monero's fuzzing harnesses!

'The goal of this proposal is to continue working with AdaLogics to improve the overall code coverage of Monero in general.' https://t.co/8QMBp9XeVm

— Monero (XMR) (@monero) December 8, 2025

Depth across several exchanges shows more orderly conditions than last week, with a distribution of bids that implies steady interest rather than isolated buying, which is notable because privacy assets often strengthen when markets search for tokens with established user bases and reliability rather than speculative catalysts.

Mantle Tracks Layer 2 Engagement As Liquidity Improves

Mantle (MNT) is trading near $1.20, up by about 7% in 24 hours, supported by consistent throughput and engagement across the Layer 2 ecosystem that underpins its value.

The token has climbed back above ranges that came under pressure during last week’s downturn, and turnover now sits noticeably higher than the levels seen during the most severe portion of the recent selloff.

This behavior aligns with the tendency for infrastructure and scaling tokens to recover earlier than many smaller assets when sentiment begins to ease, because they rely on live activity and measurable network growth rather than short-term narrative swings.

Altcoin Season Still Out Of Reach Despite Signs Of Relief

The rise in the market sentiment and today’s scattered gains among Ethereum, Monero, and Mantle demonstrate that the market is willing to experiment with selective positioning, yet the structure of flows suggests that a broad altcoin season remains distant.

Bitcoin continues to anchor sentiment near $92,000, and most major tokens remain confined to narrow ranges while participants wait for clearer macro signals, steadier global liquidity conditions, and confirmation that the recent improvement does not fade with the next shift in funding or equities.

For now, the recovery resembles the early-stage attempt to stabilize rather than the altcoin season ready for wide rotation, although the presence of consistent activity in a few established networks shows that the market has not fully retreated from altcoin exposure even as caution remains the prevailing influence.

The post Ethereum Rises As Altcoin Season Fear Eases And Select Tokens Join The Move appeared first on Cryptonews.

Strategy Challenges MSCI Plan to Exclude Digital Asset Treasury Firms from Key Indexes

✇Cryptonews
By: Tanzeel Akhtar

Strategy Inc., the world’s largest Bitcoin treasury company, has submitted a detailed response to MSCI’s consultation on how to classify Digital Asset Treasury Companies (DATs).

Strategy has submitted its response to MSCI’s consultation on digital asset treasury companies. Index standards should be neutral, consistent, and reflective of global market evolution. Read our letter and share your support: https://t.co/QVmKAkwRCP

— Strategy (@Strategy) December 10, 2025

MSCI has proposed excluding from its Global Investable Market Indexes any company whose digital asset holdings represent 50% or more of total assets.

In a letter dated December 10, sent by Executive Chairman Michael Saylor and CEO Phong Le, Strategy argues the move is “misguided” and would have “profoundly harmful consequences” for capital markets, innovation, and U.S. leadership in digital assets.

“DATs Are Operating Companies, Not Investment Funds”

The core of Strategy’s argument is that DATs like itself are operating businesses, not passive investment funds. Strategy stresses that it does not simply sit on a Bitcoin hoard; instead, it runs a Bitcoin-backed corporate treasury and capital markets program, issuing a range of equity and fixed-income instruments that provide investors with varying degrees of Bitcoin exposure.

It compares this model to banks and insurers that capture a spread between financing costs and returns on underlying assets.

The company notes that many traditional firms—such as oil majors, REITs, timber companies and media groups—are also heavily concentrated in a single asset type, yet are not treated as funds or excluded from indices. Singling out digital-asset-heavy balance sheets, it says, would be discriminatory and inconsistent.

Strategy Warns of Index Instability and Policy Bias

Strategy contends that MSCI’s proposed 50% digital asset threshold is both arbitrary and unworkable. Given crypto price volatility and divergent accounting standards (GAAP vs. IFRS), companies could “whipsaw on and off” MSCI indices as market values fluctuate, undermining index stability and investor confidence.

The letter also accuses MSCI of improperly injecting policy judgments into index construction, departing from its stated role as a neutral provider of “exhaustive” benchmarks that reflect market evolution rather than deeming certain business models “good or bad.”

Excluding DATs, Strategy argues, would structurally under-represent a fast-growing segment of the economy and call into question the neutrality of MSCI’s indices.

Conflict with U.S. Digital Asset Strategy and Call for Extended Review

Strategy further argues that the proposal conflicts with the current U.S. administration’s pro-innovation digital asset agenda, including initiatives like a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and efforts to expand access to digital assets in retirement plans.

Excluding DATs from major benchmarks, the company says, would choke off access to passive capital, chill innovation, and weaken U.S. competitiveness in a strategically important sector.

Concluding, Strategy urges MSCI to reject the proposal outright or, at minimum, extend the consultation and undertake a longer, more deliberate review as digital asset treasury models continue to mature. “The wiser course,” the letter states, “is for MSCI to remain neutral and let the markets decide the course of DATs.”

The post Strategy Challenges MSCI Plan to Exclude Digital Asset Treasury Firms from Key Indexes appeared first on Cryptonews.

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