JPMorgan has reportedly frozen accounts linked to Y Combinator–backed stablecoin startups BlindPay and Kontigo after flagging exposure to sanctioned jurisdictions. JPMorgan Chase has reportedly frozen bank accounts linked to two venture-backed stablecoin startups after identifying exposure to sanctioned and high-risk jurisdictions. The accounts belonged to BlindPay and Kontigo, two stablecoin startups backed by Y Combinator that primarily operate across Latin America, according to a report by The Information. Both companies accessed JPMorgan’s banking services through Checkbook, a digital payments firm that partners with large financial institutions. Per the report, the freezes occurred after JPMorgan flagged business activity tied to Venezuela and other locations subject to US sanctions. Read more
The second half of 2026 will provide “more constructive conditions” for XRP to potentially surge, according to Nansen crypto analyst Jake Kennis. XRP’s price could continue consolidating into the new year, with a stronger upward trend dependent on more bullish catalysts, according to crypto analysts. “We maintain a view that the latter half of 2026 will provide more constructive conditions for risk assets in general, but in the short term, we have a slightly bearish tilt on altcoins until BTC consolidates or forms a bottom,” Nansen senior research analyst Jake Kennis told Cointelegraph. Kennis is holding off on specific price predictions for 2026, but pointed to several catalysts that could drive XRP’s (XRP) price higher, including potential spot ETF approvals, integration with global payment rails, and “increased efforts to make XRP a liquidity or bridge asset.” Read more
Bitcoin reached new all-time highs in October, yet Jan3 founder Samson Mow has described the year as a “bear market” and anticipates a major bull run ahead. Bitcoin could be entering a bull run lasting into 2035, following what may have been a bear market over the past 12 months, according to Jan3 founder Samson Mow. However, other analysts have argued that Bitcoin’s (BTC) all-time high of $125,100 in October marked the cycle high and 2026 could be the start of a new bear market. “2025 was the bear market,” Mow said in an X post on Friday, adding that Bitcoin may be about to record a “decade long bull run.” Mow isn’t alone in his view of the year, with Bitcoin analyst PlanC echoing a similar sentiment. “If you made it through 2025, you made it through the bear market,” PlanC said in an X post on the same day. Read more
A surge in stablecoins, tokenized RWAs and growing sovereign wealth fund interest could drive a major increase in Ethereum’s TVL in 2026, Sharplink’s co-CEO said. Ethereum’s total value locked (TVL) may surge ten-fold in 2026 as adoption expands across multiple use cases and institutional investors, according to Sharplink’s co-CEO Joseph Chalom. Sharplink Gaming is the second-largest public Ethereum treasury company, holding 797,704 ETH (ETH), worth roughly $2.33 billion at the time of publication, according to Ethereum Treasuries data. “The stablecoin market will hit $500B by the end of next year,” Chalom predicted in an X post on Friday, as the total stablecoin market capitalization currently sits at around $308.46 billion. A move to $500 billion would represent an increase of about 62%. Read more
Discounts and bundle deals were offered to mining operators, as 2025 ends on a bad note for the crypto market and the mining industry. Bitmain, the largest manufacturer of application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), the machines used to mine proof-of-work (PoW) cryptocurrencies, has reportedly slashed prices on several generations of mining hardware amid sector-wide turmoil for the mining industry. The company is offering bundle deals and discounts across the board, including on its S19 and S21 series machines that would have been considered “distressed sales” earlier in 2025 when Bitcoin (BTC) was rising in price, according to TheMinerMag. Even newer, flagship mining hardware like the S21 immersion-cooled ASICs were offered at discounts of $7 per terahash-second (TH/s), and some hardware bundles were auctioned off to mining operators that could “name their own price,” TheMinerMag said. Read more
Fundstrat’s head of research said institutional tokenization supports a $7,000–$9,000 Ether price in early 2026 and a longer-term case for $20,000. Ethereum’s growing role in institutional finance took center stage on CNBC’s Power Lunch this week, when Tom Lee, co-founder and head of research at Fundstrat Global Advisors, said Ether could climb to $7,000–$9,000 by early 2026 as Wall Street accelerates efforts to tokenize assets and move financial activity onchain. Lee said Ether’s (ETH) investment case is increasingly tied to its use as financial infrastructure, as Wall Street experiments with onchain settlement and tokenized securities. “Wall Street wants to tokenize everything,” Lee said, pointing to initiatives at Robinhood and BlackRock. The shift, he said, could bring efficiencies to traditional finance while anchoring real-world use cases on Ether. He added that Ether could eventually reach $20,000 as adoption deepens. Read more
Stani Kulechov's comments followed an uproar in the Aave community about the relationship between the Aave decentralized autonomous organization and Aave Labs. Stani Kulechov, the founder and CEO of Aave Labs, the main development company behind the Aave decentralized finance (DeFi) lending protocol, denied claims that he recently purchased $15 million of Aave (AAVE) tokens to influence a controversial community vote that failed to pass. “These tokens were not used to vote on the recent proposal, and that was never my intention. This is my life's work, and I am putting my own capital behind my conviction,” Kulechov said. He also said that Aave Labs has not clearly communicated the economic alignment between it and Aave token holders. “In the future, we'll be more explicit about how products built by Aave Labs create value for the DAO and AAVE token holders,” he added. Read more
Bitcoin’s technical and onchain market structure was robust throughout 2025, but ever-shifting macroeconomic conditions eventually put a cap on BTC price. Will the trend shift in 2026? Bitcoin’s 2024–2025 price action highlighted a disconnect between improving high-timeframe onchain structure and restrictive macroeconomic conditions. While crypto-native liquidity and supply dynamics strengthened during Bitcoin’s (BTC) 2024 rally, external variables, like elevated real yields and Federal Reserve balance sheet contraction, imposed valuation limits as the cycle progressed. Key takeaways Bitcoin rallied to above $100,000 from $42,000 in 2024 alongside rising stablecoin inflows and sustained BTC exchange outflows. Read more
Cryptocurrency markets experienced a modest recovery this week, but spot Bitcoin ETFs extended a five-day losing streak amid thin year-end liquidity. Cryptocurrency markets had a small rebound following last week’s dip, as investor activity wound down during the holidays. Bitcoin (BTC) fell to a weekly low of $86,561 on Tuesday, before bouncing back above $88,600 on Friday, according to TradingView data. Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) demand remained weak, recording $175 million in outflows on Wednesday, which marked a fifth consecutive day of net outflows, according to Farside Investors. Read more