Bitcoin | Crypto

With trading-hour extensions and digital finance upgrades underway, Korea Exchange is positioning for crypto ETFs while approvals remain stalled. South Korea’s securities and derivatives exchange operator, Korea Exchange (KRX), plans to increase its new investment products, including crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and derivatives, as part of a broader push to modernize capital markets.  Speaking at the first trading day ceremony of the new year, KRX chairman Jeong Eun-bo signaled the exchange was operationally prepared to support crypto ETFs, even as regulators continued to deliberate whether such products could be approved under existing securities regulations.  Jeong framed the move as part of South Korea's efforts to move beyond the “Korea discount,” a phenomenon where domestic stocks trade at lower valuations than global peers. The dynamic is different in crypto, where Bitcoin often trades at a premium on local exchanges compared with overseas platforms. Read more

Based on Bitcoin's realized price and past performance, CryptoQuant’s Julio Moreno predicts that Bitcoin will bottom around $56,000 to $60,000 in 2026. Bitcoin may already be two months into a bear market, according to certain metrics such as the one-year moving average, says CryptoQuant’s head of research. During an episode of the Milk Road show on Thursday, CryptoQuant’s Julio Moreno said most of the metrics he uses for the bull score index turned bearish in early November and have yet to recover. The index measures market conditions using indicators like network activity, investor profitability, Bitcoin demand, and liquidity, and ranges from 0 to 100. Read more

Polymarket traders are holding back their optimism back for Bitcoin this year, despite many analysts tipping the price to hit $150,000 and above. Prediction market traders on Polymarket are tipping 21% odds of Bitcoin hitting $150,000 this year, despite many analysts seeing 2026 as a belated bull year for Bitcoin.  According to the current market, “What price will Bitcoin hit before 2027?” Polymarket shows 45% odds of Bitcoin reaching $120,000, a price point below its all-time high. The odds fall further at $130,000, with just a 35% probability, while $140,000 has a 28% chance and $150,000 has a 21% chance.  Read more

Bitcoin cash-and-carry trades faded toward the end of the year, leading funds to shift to Bitcoin options for yield. Is the strategy putting a cap on BTC price? Key takeaways: Covered calls gained traction as cash-and-carry returns collapsed, but data shows they are not structurally suppressing Bitcoin’s price. Stable put-to-call ratios and rising put demand suggest hedging and yield strategies coexist with bullish positioning. Read more

Bitcoin entered a "new era" as the 2025 yearly candle closed red, said analysis, with BTC price volatility signals firing into the new year. Bitcoin (BTC) opened 2026 at $87,500 as markets geared up for the year’s first Wall Street trading session. Key points: Bitcoin lies in wait at $87,500 for the start of TradFi trading on global markets. Read more

After a volatile 2025, investors are rethinking crypto cycles. Here are three investment themes that will shape the market’s next phase in 2026. 2025 didn’t unfold the way many cryptocurrency investors expected. Although Bitcoin (BTC) peaked almost precisely in line with its historical four-year cycle, the long-anticipated blow-off top never materialized. Notably, Bitcoin’s gains failed to cascade into the broader market, leaving hopes for a full-fledged altcoin season largely unfulfilled. As a result, 2026 opens under a cloud of uncertainty. Investor sentiment is extremely negative, marked by caution and skepticism, even as the industry finds itself in an unprecedented position. For the first time in crypto’s 15-year history, institutions, corporations and regulators are largely moving in the same direction, laying the groundwork for broader adoption rather than actively resisting it. Read more

Bitcoin at $200,000? Massive volatility? Experts predict where the markets are headed—and it's probably not another winter.

Analysts see Bitcoin entering 2026 supported by long-term demand but constrained by macro and derivatives pressure.

2025 delivered at least four distinct “crypto is dead” episodes: a January AI-induced flash crash, the October tariff liquidation that erased $19 billion in leveraged positions, months of altcoin carnage, and a fourth quarter slump that wiped out the year's price gains. Mainstream outlets dusted off “crypto winter” language each time. Bitcoin logged more obituaries […] The post Bitcoin “died” four times in 2025, but a hidden infrastructure boom proves the skeptics completely wrong appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Bitcoin historically turns positive in early January, which gives the crypto asset a 2/3 chance of gaining 10% next week.

If you followed Bitcoin ETFs day to day in 2025, you probably developed the same habit everyone did: you checked the print at night, read one sentence about “risk-on” or “risk-off,” then tried to map a clean story onto a messy market. The problem is that daily flows are noisy by design. They're the residue […] The post Bitcoin ETF fatigue is real, ignoring noise, these are the 10 days that mattered in 2025 appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Tether closed out 2025 with an 8,888 BTC purchase, increasing its disclosed Bitcoin holdings to more than 96,000 BTC. Tether picked up 8,888 Bitcoin (BTC) on New Year’s Eve, increasing its disclosed Bitcoin stash to more than 96,000 to close out 2025, its CEO Paolo Ardoino said. The USDt (USDT) stablecoin issuer has become one of the biggest active Bitcoin holders, placing the company’s Bitcoin address as the fifth-largest behind Binance, Robinhood, and Bitfinex and ranking second among privately held corporate BTC treasuries. The move is part of a pattern of Tether’s quarterly Bitcoin accumulations. The company has been funneling up to 15% of its earnings into Bitcoin every three months. The latest batch was worth about $780 million at the time of acquisition. Read more

Amir Zaidi’s return signals a strengthening of crypto oversight as the agency prepares for new digital asset laws. The key policy maker who oversaw the launch of regulated Bitcoin futures in the US has returned as the Commodities Futures Trading Commission’s chief of staff after a six-year hiatus.  In a Wednesday announcement, the CFTC welcomed back Amir Zaidi with chairman Michael Selig emphasizing the wealth of experience Zaidi will bring.  “I’m grateful for his willingness to return as chief of staff and for his continued dedication and service to both the CFTC and our stakeholders. Amir was instrumental in the historic launch of CFTC-regulated bitcoin futures contracts during President Trump’s first term,” Selig said. Read more

There is a particular kind of Bitcoin holder who only shows up when the noise gets loud. They are the people who watched 2021 melt into 2022, who kept their keys anyway, who learned to live with the idea that the line on the chart can drop faster than their mood. When the price is […] The post Bitcoin long-term holders just stopped selling, but a broken chart signal hides the truth appeared first on CryptoSlate.

A divorced investor’s tragic loss reveals how emotional manipulation, combined with AI technology, has weaponized crypto scams into a billion-dollar crime. A recently divorced Bitcoin investor lost his entire retirement fund, one full Bitcoin, to an AI-powered romance scam orchestrated by a sophisticated criminal using deepfakes. Pig butchering scams are relationship-based frauds that rely on emotional manipulation and AI-generated deepfakes to build trust before extracting maximum financial value from victims. The scammer used AI to create synthetic portraits and conduct real-time deepfake video calls, making the fabricated relationship virtually indistinguishable from reality. Read more

The market carnage will likely extend into 2026, with price bottoming out in Q4, but it isn't all bad news, according to early BTC adopters. Bitcoin is likely headed for a challenging 2026, with many analysts expecting the cryptocurrency to extend its late-2025 downturn. Yet even as prices soften, early adopters say the coming year could mark a turning point for Bitcoin’s real-world utility, as payment infrastructure continues to mature and using BTC as a medium of exchange becomes simpler and more accessible. The price of Bitcoin (BTC) may bottom out at about $60,000 in Q4 2026, presenting a buying opportunity, according to early Bitcoin investor Michael Terpin. Terpin forecast: Read more

The Bitcoin price slump at the end of the year hasn’t discouraged Michael Saylor’s Strategy from buying over 22,000 BTC in December alone. Bitcoin’s price continued to fall as 2025 neared its end, declining 4% in December. Despite a slump in markets, Strategy capped off the year with massive Bitcoin buys. In December alone, the software company turned Bitcoin investment vehicle picked up over 22,000 Bitcoin (BTC). In the US, prediction markets are inking deals with major media outlets and scoring approvals from major federal agencies. However, in 11 states, gambling and gaming regulators are taking legal action against platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket. Watchdogs state that such markets constitute a form of gambling, a claim the companies themselves dispute. Read more

It started the way these things often do: a screenshot, a red circle, a big number, and a timeline that makes your stomach do a tiny flip. On Dec. 29, the Federal Reserve’s overnight repo line item jumped to $16 billion after printing close to zero on most days. It then slid back to $2.0 […] The post Banks just demanded $26 billion in emergency cash but Bitcoin traders are missing a critical warning signal appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Bitcoin nears the end of a 6-week triangle pattern, with traders watching for a breakout toward $100K or a drop to the $70K–$75K range.

Bitcoin faces clashing forecasts for 2026: tempered institutional targets around $150,000 versus bearish charts warning of major declines. Looking to 2026, Bitcoin (BTC) forecasts clash with historical chart patterns and evolving market realities, as traditional finance plays a bigger role in the cryptocurrency space. Key takeaways: Standard Chartered and Bernstein forecast Bitcoin to hit $150,000 in 2026, revising down earlier higher targets due to slower ETF inflows.  Read more