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BitMine Immersion Technologies is asking shareholders to approve a dramatic increase in its authorized common stock from 500 million to 50 billion shares, with a vote scheduled for January 14. Chairman Tom Lee says the proposal is about preserving long-term flexibility rather than signalling immediate dilution, allowing the company to pursue selective capital raises, potential mergers, and future stock splits as needed. The move is closely tied to BitMine’s shift toward holding Ethereum as its primary treasury asset, a strategy that has made its share price increasingly correlated with ETH.
The company has rapidly expanded its Ethereum holdings, most recently spending $97.6 million to acquire 32,938 ETH on December 31, 2025, bringing total reserves to around 4.07 million ETH valued at roughly $12 billion. Lee’s outlook assumes strong long-term growth for Ethereum driven by institutional adoption and tokenization, with scenarios that could push BitMine’s share price far higher and require stock splits to keep shares accessible to retail investors. This strategy is being pursued despite Ethereum’s weak performance in 2025, as BitMine positions itself for what it expects to be a significant rebound in the asset’s role within global finance. Source
Metaplanet may hold a structural financial advantage over US-based Bitcoin treasury companies due to the persistent weakness of the Japanese yen, according to analyst Adam Livingston. Japan’s debt-to-GDP ratio sits near 250%, forcing continued currency issuance that erodes the yen’s value over time. This depreciation has amplified Bitcoin’s gains when measured in yen terms, with BTC rising about 1,704% against JPY since 2020 compared with 1,159% in US dollar terms, highlighting the impact of currency weakness on asset performance.
Because Metaplanet’s liabilities are denominated in yen, its real financing costs decline relative to Bitcoin and the dollar, giving it cheaper effective leverage than peers borrowing in stronger currencies. Livingston notes that while Metaplanet pays a 4.9% coupon in a weakening currency, US-based firms like Strategy pay higher coupons in dollars, causing their liabilities to erode more slowly. Despite this advantage, Metaplanet’s stock has declined alongside the broader crypto treasury sector, even as it has accumulated 35,102 BTC and become the fourth-largest Bitcoin treasury company following a recent $451 million purchase of 4,279 BTC. Source
Coinbase Institutional believes stock perpetual futures are emerging as a major new access point for retail traders, driven by the maturation of perpetual contracts within decentralized finance. According to Coinbase Institutional research head David Duong, perps are no longer limited to high-risk, isolated leverage tools and are increasingly becoming foundational components of DeFi ecosystems. Their ability to trade continuously without expiration has enabled deeper integration with lending protocols, allowing them to support more advanced financial strategies such as hedging liquidity pools, forming the basis for interest rate products, and serving as collateral with dynamic risk profiles.
Duong argues that the next phase of growth will come from integrating perps with equities, opening the door for tokenized stock exposure that operates around the clock. As global retail participation in US equities rises, equity perps could combine constant market access, capital efficiency, and leverage with strong demand for major stock indices and blue-chip shares. This shift could reshape how retail traders engage with traditional markets, particularly outside normal trading hours, positioning stock perps as a preferred vehicle for a new generation seeking flexible, low-friction exposure to equities through crypto-native infrastructure. Source
Bitcoin Core development activity increased notably in 2025, with more contributors and a higher volume of code changes, according to Jameson Lopp. A total of 135 developers contributed to the Bitcoin Core codebase during the year, up from just over 100 in 2024, continuing a recovery trend from previous declines, though still below the 2018 peak. Developers also modified roughly 285,000 lines of code, marking a year-over-year increase of more than 3%, reflecting renewed engagement with the software that underpins most Bitcoin network nodes.
This rise in development coincided with a strong year for Bitcoin itself, as the asset reached new price highs and attracted increased institutional interest. Code commits rose modestly to 2,541, while discussion activity on the Bitcoin Development Mailing List surged 60% compared with the prior year, signalling more active debate and coordination despite remaining below historical highs. The year also included significant milestones such as changes to the OP_RETURN data limit and Bitcoin Core’s first third-party security audit, which found the software to be mature and free of serious vulnerabilities. Source
Bitwise Asset Management has submitted registration statements to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for 11 new cryptocurrency strategy exchange-traded funds that would trade on NYSE Arca if approved. The proposed ETFs are designed to track individual altcoins, including Aave, Zcash, Sui, Uniswap, Starknet, Near, Bitensor, Hyperliquid, Ethena, Canton and Tron, expanding regulated market access beyond the currently approved Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs.
Each fund plans to allocate a substantial portion of its assets directly to the underlying digital token, while also using related exchange-traded products and derivatives to provide compliant exposure. Bitwise frames the move as part of a broader push to bring both institutional and retail investors into a wider range of digital assets, with company leadership predicting a sharp increase in crypto ETF launches as early as 2026, potentially exceeding 100 new products in the United States as regulatory conditions continue to evolve. Source
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin says the network has effectively overcome the long-standing blockchain trilemma by achieving decentralization, security and scalability at the same time. He points to the combination of peer data availability sampling and zero-knowledge Ethereum virtual machines as the key breakthroughs, describing Ethereum as a fundamentally more powerful decentralized network. PeerDAS, introduced with the Fusaka upgrade, significantly expands Ethereum’s data-handling capacity, while zkEVMs bring compatibility with zero-knowledge proofs alongside the existing Ethereum virtual machine, enabling more efficient and scalable validation.
Buterin notes that while zkEVMs are already production-ready in terms of performance, further security work is still needed before they are fully integrated, with a multi-year rollout expected. He outlined a roadmap extending through the end of the decade that includes major gas limit increases, structural changes to the network, and zkEVMs becoming the primary method for block validation. He added that reaching this stage has taken roughly 10 years of development, contrasting Ethereum’s progress with networks like Bitcoin that prioritize decentralization and security but face scalability constraints. Source
The crypto industry has gained unprecedented political influence, but that rise is setting the stage for a potential clash with traditional finance in 2026. Major Wall Street firms, led by Citadel Securities, have begun pushing back against recent regulatory gains made by crypto, warning the SEC that granting exemptions could weaken investor protections and arguing that decentralized finance activity should fall under stricter oversight. Industry policy leaders believe these signals point toward looming legal challenges, with lawsuits seen as likely even if regulators become more supportive of crypto.
At the same time, traditional finance is divided on how to respond, with some institutions viewing crypto as an existential threat while others increasingly adopt blockchain to reduce costs and gain strategic advantages. The banking lobby’s unsuccessful opposition to stablecoin-related legislation highlights crypto’s growing influence, but unresolved tensions remain. Observers expect the conflict to peak during SEC and CFTC rulemaking processes next year, with outcomes ranging from reluctant coexistence to a direct confrontation between Wall Street and the crypto sector. Source
The Markethive Founding Share Token is positioned as a core element of the Markethive ecosystem, designed to support both platform development and community participation through its connection to the Initial Loan Procurement program. The tokens play a role in capital formation for Markethive, helping fund expansion, platform enhancements and long-term strategic goals, while also allowing community members to gain a direct stake in the platform’s growth. By distributing ownership and rewards among users rather than relying solely on traditional investors, Markethive aims to create a shared economic model where participants benefit alongside the company as adoption and revenue increase.
Only 1,000 Founding Share Tokens are being issued through the ILP, granting holders priority access to interest payments drawn from a fixed share of net monthly profits, creating a clear link between platform performance and holder returns. Structured as a blockchain-based debt instrument rather than equity, the ILP emphasizes transparency, transferability and regulatory compliance, while offering fractional ownership and liquidity through future exchange mechanisms. This approach is framed as combining predictable interest-based rewards with long-term value potential, aligning early supporters with the financial success and expansion of the Markethive network. Source
Ethereum processed more than $8 trillion in stablecoin transfers during the fourth quarter of 2025, setting a new all-time high and nearly doubling the volume recorded in the second quarter. Stablecoin issuance on the network grew significantly over the year, rising from $127 billion to $181 billion, highlighting accelerating use of Ethereum as a global payments and settlement layer rather than a purely speculative platform.
The surge in stablecoin activity coincided with record network usage, as daily transactions reached about 2.23 million in late December and active monthly addresses climbed to 10.4 million, with over one million unique addresses active daily as senders or receivers. Ethereum continues to dominate stablecoins and real-world asset tokenization, accounting for the majority of on-chain RWA value and more than half of all stablecoins issued, with Tether remaining the largest stablecoin and a substantial portion of its supply settled on Ethereum. Source
Crypto firms suffered a record $2.72 billion in losses from hacks and breaches in 2025, surpassing the previous year despite weaker market conditions. The year began with the largest exploit in crypto history when North Korean-linked hackers stole up to $1.5 billion from Bybit, compromising assets held in cold multi-signature wallets through a compromised developer machine. Security analysts noted that attacks throughout the year became faster, more coordinated, and increasingly professional, with state-sponsored actors and organized criminal groups expanding both their technical sophistication and operational scale.
Major centralized exchanges and DeFi platforms were hit across the year, exposing a wide range of vulnerabilities. Coinbase disclosed a data breach involving bribed overseas contractors that exposed customer information and could cost the firm up to $400 million, while DeFi protocols such as Cetus and UPCX lost hundreds of millions through smart contract flaws and compromised keys. Additional attacks on Nobitex, BtcTurk, and Upbit highlighted ongoing geopolitical and systemic risks, with North Korean groups repeatedly implicated and retail users often bearing the consequences of security failures across both centralized and decentralized platforms. Source
Visa-issued crypto cards experienced explosive growth in 2025, with total net spend rising 525% from $14.6 million in January to $91.3 million by December. The increase was led by EtherFi, whose card accounted for $55.4 million of total spend, far surpassing other competitors like Cypher at $20.5 million. The surge highlights growing adoption of crypto cards as practical tools for everyday transactions, reflecting users’ increasing comfort with integrating digital assets into routine payments.
The spike in usage also underscores Visa’s strategic push into the crypto and stablecoin space, as the company expands support across four blockchains and forges partnerships to broaden access for retail and institutional clients. By launching a stablecoin advisory team in December, Visa is positioning itself to help banks, merchants, and fintechs deploy and manage stablecoin products, signaling that crypto is becoming an integral part of its global payment ecosystem. Source
Coinbase plans to expand its stablecoin offerings and increase global onchain adoption in 2026, aiming to become the largest financial app in the world. CEO Brian Armstrong highlighted the company’s focus on payments, crypto, equities, prediction markets, and commodities, along with investments in automation and product quality. The exchange intends to leverage its Ethereum layer-2 network, Base, and Base App to facilitate broader blockchain use, while continuing to build regulatory clarity and institutional adoption into its growth strategy.
Industry experts note that Coinbase’s ambitions may be more long-term than immediately achievable, emphasizing that real adoption relies on solving practical problems rather than merely moving users onchain. Coinbase’s strengths in custody and fiat infrastructure position it as a critical onramp for retail and institutional participants, but widespread success will depend on interoperability, regulatory alignment, and enabling user-centric applications. Analysts predict that 2026 will focus on practical, non-speculative uses of crypto, including tokenized assets, cross-border rewards, supply chain verification, and secure healthcare data management. Source
PwC decided to grow its digital asset services following clearer regulatory signals in the US, including new leadership at agencies like the SEC and progress on stablecoin legislation such as the GENIUS Act. CEO Paul Griggs highlighted that these developments increased the firm’s confidence in expanding its crypto offerings, including tokenization services. The company has positioned itself to serve a broad spectrum of clients in the sector, from exchanges and traditional financial institutions entering crypto to governments, central banks, and regulators.
The firm already provides a wide range of crypto-related services, including accounting, cybersecurity, wallet management, and regulatory advice, and has been steadily expanding its internal resources to meet growing demand. PwC joins the other Big Four firms in entering the crypto space, with Deloitte, Ernst & Young, and KPMG offering similar services such as blockchain strategy, audits, tax support, and advisory networks. The move reflects broader institutional adoption of digital assets and the increasing importance of professional services in navigating the evolving crypto ecosystem. Source
Meme coins like Pepe, Bonk, and Shiba Inu have surged with double-digit gains, leading a speculative upswing as Bitcoin climbed past $90,000. Pepe has posted a weekly rally of 70%, Bonk 48%, and Dogecoin 22%, reflecting renewed interest in riskier crypto assets. Analysts point to stabilizing Bitcoin, rising open interest, and macroeconomic factors such as potential rate cuts, disinflation, and new access to Venezuelan oil as supporting a possible shift toward risk-on sentiment in 2026.
Despite the gains, experts caution that meme coin rallies may not reliably signal broader market trends due to low liquidity and small circulating floats. Retail sentiment appears optimistic, with prediction markets showing a high probability of Bitcoin reaching $100,000, but the Crypto Fear & Greed Index indicates that the wider market remains cautious. Other altcoins, including Hyperliquid, Hedera, Aster, and XRP, have also seen modest gains, suggesting selective recovery rather than a full market-wide shift. Source
ESG researcher Daniel Batten argues that many common criticisms of Bitcoin mining’s energy use are contradicted by peer-reviewed studies and grid-level data. Claims that Bitcoin destabilizes power grids, consumes excessive resources per transaction, or raises electricity costs for consumers are largely unsupported. Studies show that Bitcoin’s energy use is independent of transaction volume, can stabilize grids through flexible load management, and in some cases helps lower electricity prices. Comparisons of Bitcoin’s energy consumption to entire countries are misleading, as the focus should be on energy source transformation rather than absolute usage, and Bitcoin mining is reported to have surpassed a 50% sustainable energy threshold.
Batten also challenges the idea that proof-of-stake blockchains are inherently better for the environment, noting that proof-of-work Bitcoin supports methane mitigation, grid stability, and renewable energy utilization. Projects like Gridless in Africa demonstrate that mining can expand access to renewable energy, and studies show it significantly reduces renewable energy curtailment, improving microgrid economics. Overall, Batten concludes that many negative claims about Bitcoin’s energy use are myths or value judgments, as mining can provide tangible environmental and grid-related benefits. Source
BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust experienced its largest single-day inflow in nearly three months, attracting $287.4 million as investors increased exposure to crypto-linked funds. Overall, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs pulled in $471.3 million on Friday, the highest combined daily total since mid-November, driven by portfolio rebalancing at the start of the year and a shift from tax loss harvesting to maintaining long positions. Bitcoin traded at $92,670 amid continued institutional appetite and a fourth consecutive daily gain, reflecting growing confidence in digital assets as a strategic investment.
Analysts noted that geopolitical developments, including the U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, contributed to market optimism by reinforcing Bitcoin’s perceived value as a non-censorable store of value amid global uncertainty. Experts also highlighted that the Trump administration’s pro-crypto stance and broader “America First” policy expectations encouraged institutional inflows, with funds from Fidelity, Bitwise, and Grayscale also seeing substantial gains. The combination of geopolitical events, regulatory sentiment, and portfolio rebalancing helped sustain inflows and underpin Bitcoin’s performance. Source
Disclaimer: These articles are provided for informational purposes only. They are not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or any other advice.
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