Crypto’s late-day mood was a strange mix of whiplash, quiet conviction, and a few big “finally” moments. Let’s start with the headline drama. World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the Trump-linked crypto project trying to brand itself as a populist on-ramp to digital assets, spent the day in damage control. Before even properly launching, the firm was hit with a phishing-related security breach that compromised user wallets. In response, WLFI moved funds into secure wallets, froze affected addresses, and burned over 166 million WLFI tokens. The company insists its smart contracts weren’t at fault, but the optics are tough: political spotlight, retail-facing brand, and an early stumble that’s already drawing scrutiny from both regulators and critics. Zooming out, one of the biggest undercurrents driving risk sentiment is still AI. Nvidia’s blowout Q3 earnings once again reset expectations, calming fears that AI is just a bubble and pumping fresh risk-on energy into tech and crypto alike. Bitcoin (BTC) and other major coins caught a rebound bid as traders leaned into the idea that if AI spending is real and durable, so is the infrastructure and liquidity supporting digital assets. But that optimism had to share the stage with some very real stress in the Bitcoin market. BTC took a heavy hit, sliding from around $126,000 to below $90,000 amid panic selling and billions in liquidations. Both short- and long-term holders were unloading, and key technical levels gave way, rattling confidence in the “institutional wall of money” narrative. ETF flows, once the hero of every bull case slide deck, have cooled, leaving prices more exposed to forced selling and sentiment shocks. Still, the picture isn’t entirely bleak. Another set of on-chain and behavioral data suggests we may be closer to a bottom than a blow-off. Bitcoin miners have turned into net buyers, short-term holders have largely capitulated, and firms like Fidelity are flagging early signs of seller exhaustion. Add in a new “Bitcoin for America” bill in Congress — which would allow BTC to be used to pay federal taxes and build a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve — and you have a weird mashup of fear, forced selling, and slow-motion mainstreaming all at once. Even Ray Dalio, who still only keeps about 1% of his portfolio in BTC and remains skeptical about its reserve status, hasn’t walked away. Ethereum (ETH) had a more surgical kind of pain. The price dipped below $3,000, into a key Fibonacci support zone, tagging its lowest levels since July. Yet under the hood, the setup is more constructive: technical structure is hinting at a short-term rebound, whales are accumulating, and some analysts are still floating long-term targets in the $15,000–$17,000 range. Not everyone is buying those moonshot numbers, but the idea that ETH is building a base rather than collapsing is gaining traction. Elsewhere in blue-chip land, Solana (SOL) quietly flexed its institutional muscles. SOL-focused ETFs have now logged 17 straight days of inflows, led by Bitwise’s BSOL product. Price is hovering around $140–$144, essentially catching its breath after heavy volatility. With steady ETF demand and ongoing accumulation, traders are watching for a push back toward and above $160 if broader market conditions don’t completely unravel. The ETF story didn’t stop with BTC and SOL. Ripple’s ecosystem stole a lot of attention today. Bitwise finished its filings and is rolling out a spot XRP ETF (XRP) on NYSE Arca, giving traditional investors yet another regulated way to access one of crypto’s most controversial large caps. Early data on U.S. spot XRP ETFs has been strong: inflows are notable, sentiment is brighter, and some analysts are even tossing around numbers like $10 billion in potential first-month demand. That’s fueling speculation about supply squeezes, staking add-ons, and, more ambitiously, whether XRP could ever seriously challenge Ethereum. Inside the Ripple orbit, the technical roadmap also moved forward. Ripple engineers, including CTO David Schwartz, are discussing native XRP staking and DeFi features for the XRPL. The design being floated uses a two-tier staking model meant to boost security and utility while avoiding a future where Ripple itself controls the network. It’s an attempt to balance decentralization, yields, and governance without re-litigating XRP’s long-running centralization debate. On the periphery, Bitwise continued its ETF offensive with an XRP product and a broader call on where the market is headed. CIO Matt Hougan is already talking about a 2026 world where the U.S. has reopened the door to crypto and regulatory clarity has matured enough to unleash a wave of index-based crypto ETFs. In that vision, crypto exposures are as boring and ubiquitous as S&P 500 trackers are today — deep liquidity, cleaner rules, and a more durable, institutional investor base. Privacy also had a breakout moment. Zcash (ZEC) is acting like it’s in its own bull market, up over 1,500% this year and popping another ~10% today as Binance support and a looming inverse head-and-shoulders breakout energized the chart watchers. At the same time, Aztec Network lit up a different corner of the privacy stack with the launch of Ignition Chain, a fully decentralized, privacy-focused Layer 2 on Ethereum (ETH). Aztec is pitching Ignition as the first truly decentralized privacy L2 live on mainnet, a notable milestone for those who still think “on-chain” and “privacy” can coexist without sacrificing either compliance or usability. Regulated access keeps widening too, especially in Europe and the Nordics. Nasdaq Stockholm saw a fresh wave of crypto ETPs from Deutsche Digital Assets and 21Shares, including cross-listed products tied to assets like ADA, AAVE, DOT, LINK and diversified baskets (HODLX, HODL). It’s another incremental step toward making crypto exposure feel like just another ticker on a traditional brokerage screen. In emerging markets and payments, stablecoins took center stage. India announced plans for a fully collateralized, rupee-pegged ARC stablecoin, set to launch in early 2026 in partnership with Polygon (MATIC,POL) and fintech firm Anq. The goal: modernize public debt financing and keep stablecoin liquidity onshore rather than watching capital leak into offshore dollar-pegged tokens. In Latin America, Tether (USDT) deepened its footprint by investing in Parfin to push institutional USDT settlement, RWA tokenization, and cross-border payments across the region. On the user side, Opera’s Celo-based MiniPay wallet rolled out a “Pay like a local” feature for roughly 10 million users in Argentina and Brazil. It lets people spend USDT through local rails like PIX and Mercado Pago, paying merchants in local currency without needing a bank account, exchange account, or local residency. It’s a small but powerful example of how stablecoins and familiar apps can merge into something that feels like a normal payments experience. Regulation and enforcement weren’t far behind. In the UK, the Serious Fraud Office arrested two men tied to the $28 million Basis Markets scheme — a project that raised money in 2021 and never launched. Victims are now being urged to come forward as the investigation ramps up. In parallel, the Core Foundation scored a legal win in the Cayman Islands, securing an injunction to block Maple Finance’s syrupBTC (SYRUP) product over alleged trade secret misuse tied to their lstBTC partnership. The ruling halts syrupBTC’s launch for now and underscores how fiercely firms are willing to protect their institutional yield products. Security risks kept rearing their head on the user level as well. A WhatsApp-based malware campaign in Brazil is spreading the Eternidade Stealer trojan, designed to swipe banking logins and crypto wallet credentials. It’s a reminder that even as infrastructure matures and institutional rails harden, end users remain a primary attack surface — especially in high-adoption, mobile-first markets. On the DeFi and lending front, leverage is back, but in a more structured way. Crypto-collateralized lending hit a record $73.6 billion in Q3 2025, up about 38.5% and beating 2021’s frothiest levels. Roughly two-thirds of all crypto-backed debt is now on-chain, and DeFi lending alone climbed 55% to $41 billion. At the same time, Coinbase leaned further into this trend by offering ETH-backed loans via Morpho, letting users borrow up to $1 million in USDC at up to 75% LTV. It extends Coinbase’s BTC-backed product and speaks directly to long-term holders who want liquidity without triggering a tax event. Treasury management, however, is under more pressure. FG Nexus and other crypto-heavy public firms are selling sizeable Ethereum (ETH) stacks to fund share buybacks and corporate restructuring. Many of these companies are now trading below the value of their on-chain holdings, forcing awkward decisions: support the stock, or hold the coins. Altcoins had a few bright spots amid the volatility. Pi Network (PI) caught a double tailwind: a new MiCA-aligned whitepaper and regulatory framework aimed at full EU compliance, and a roughly 10% price pop after a long consolidation. PI has stayed green on daily and weekly timeframes even as much of the market sold off, helped by the idea that a MiCA-compliant structure could finally open doors to listings on regulated European exchanges. Aster (ASTER) also stepped into the spotlight with its Coinbase listing, as derivatives positioning, cleared shorts, and rising funding rates set the stage for a potential breakout as U.S. spot traders gain access. Institutional infrastructure quietly marched forward too. VerifiedX announced an expanded partnership with Crypto.com, which will handle custody, liquidity, and OTC services for $1.5 billion in VerifiedX assets. The market liked it: VFX token jumped 69%, a nod to how much investors still value credible custody and deep liquidity in a post-FTX world. On the stock side, Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest spent the day buying the dip, scooping up about $39 million in shares of Circle, Bullish, and BitMine during a 9% slide in crypto-related equities. It’s a classic ARK move: lean into volatility if you believe the long-term thesis is intact. And through all the noise, the Bitcoin core stack itself got a quiet but important vote of confidence. Bitcoin Core passed its first independent, third-party security audit from Quarkslab, with no high or medium-severity vulnerabilities found. The report highlighted the maturity of critical components like the P2P layer and block validation. In a week where prices were anything but stable, it was a reminder that the base protocol remains one of the more battle-tested pieces of software in finance. Taken together, today’s tape looked messy: panic selling next to record lending, legal crackdowns alongside ETF launches, and quiet infrastructure wins hiding under loud headlines. But the through line is clear enough: the market is wobbling, not vanishing, and the rails, rules, and products around crypto continue to harden even as prices swing.
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📈💰The Federal Reserve announced today that it will maintain its current interest rates, citing a strong job market and moderate economic growth. This decision comes as no surprise to those in the crypto community, as many have been anticipating this outcome for weeks. However, this news may have some investors feeling slightly disappointed, as they were hoping for a rate cut to boost the market.💸💻Crypto tickers such as BTC, ETH, and XRP have been trending upwards in recent weeks, with many investors hoping for a continued bull run. However, with the Fed's decision to keep interest rates steady, some may be wondering if this will have a negative impact on the market. While it's impossible to predict the exact effect on crypto prices, it's important to remember that the Fed's decision is based on a variety of factors and not solely on the crypto market.📉🌎The Fed's decision also has implications for the stock market, with many investors closely watching the anno...
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