Crypto

High concentration in major wallets, particularly for shiba inu, contributed to potential volatility in the market.

How an onchain investigator linked a Coinbase impersonation scam to $2 million in losses and why social engineering remains the real risk. A convincing “Coinbase support” impersonation campaign was linked by onchain investigator ZachXBT to roughly $2 million in stolen crypto. The attribution relied on corroboration across multiple signals, including onchain activity and Telegram or social media footprints rather than a single “magic” transaction. Coinbase says its real support team will never ask for your password or 2FA codes or request that you move funds to a so-called “safe” address. Read more

XRP price gained in the first five days of 2026 as chart breakouts and steady ETF inflows produced targets near $3, with longer-term projections as high as $7-$8. Key takeaways: XRP’s technical setup is turning bullish, with breakout patterns signaling trend continuation. Institutional demand is absorbing supply, as ETF inflows and falling exchange balances tighten liquidity. Read more

XRP trades at $2.15 after a 12% weekly rise as analysts watch the $2.5 level, which could decide whether the rally continues or fades.

The Michael Saylor-led company added 1,287 BTC and $62 million in cash via the sale of common stock.

Privacy-focused coins including Midnight, Canton Network and Monero have slipped as investors rotate capital out of defensive holdings.

Starknet, an Ethereum ZK‑rollup network used for decentralized finance and gaming, is facing mainnet downtime following previous outages in 2025. Starknet, an Ethereum layer‑2 network that uses zero‑knowledge (ZK) rollups, is experiencing fresh mainnet disruption as the project enters 2026. In an X post, the Starknet team said the network was facing downtime and that engineers were “actively investigating the issue and working to restore full functionality as quickly as possible,” without immediately disclosing a root cause. At the time of writing, the network had been experiencing downtime for just over two hours. ​Starknet is a ZK‑rollup–based layer 2 that batches transactions offchain and posts cryptographic proofs to Ethereum, aiming to deliver higher throughput and lower fees for smart contracts, decentralized finance and gaming applications while inheriting Ethereum’s base‑layer security.  Read more

Ledger is dealing with a new data exposure incident involving its third-party payment processor, Global-e.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has stated that the blockchain network must decide between chasing speculative trends or fulfilling its original promise as a neutral “world computer.” In two separate detailed posts on the social media platform X, Buterin reflected on 2025 as a year of significant technical progress. However, he cautioned against the network’s growing […] The post Vitalik Buterin declares Ethereum solved crypto Trilemma, yet his 2030 roadmap exposes a massive ideological risk appeared first on CryptoSlate.

The move is deemed a "deliberate pause" and not a full exit, with Coinbase planning to reassess and return with a stronger product.

Your look at what's coming in the week starting Jan. 5.

Your day-ahead look for Jan. 5, 2026

Japan’s finance minister signaled that crypto’s future lies inside regulated exchanges as Japan advances tax, disclosure and market reforms. Japan appears to be moving to bring cryptocurrencies deeper into its traditional market rulebook, signaling that regulators want digital assets handled through established exchanges and securities-style oversight rather than a parallel system. The direction was underscored on Monday by Finance Minister and Financial Services Minister Satsuki Katayama, who publicly backed traditional securities exchanges and market infrastructure as the primary gateway for blockchain-based assets.  Speaking at the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s New Year opening ceremony, Katayama framed 2026 as Japan’s first year of full-scale digitalization. Her remarks echoed a broader regulatory shift that has been steadily aligning crypto with traditional capital markets.  Read more

According to SlowMist, attackers are impersonating MetaMask, aiming to steal users’ secret recovery phrases. Crypto investors are being targeted by a new phishing campaign that impersonates MetaMask and tricks users into handing over their wallet recovery phrases, according to the blockchain security firm SlowMist. The attackers are impersonating a two-factor authentication (2FA) security verification flow, which redirects users to fraudulent domains through fake security warnings that request users’ seed phrases. When a user shares a wallet recovery phrase, the funds from the wallet are stolen, warned SlowMist's chief security officer, 23pds, in a Monday X post. Read more

Ethereum, XRP, and Solana funds posted massive growth in 2025 while Bitcoin flows dropped, signaling a major rotation in investor appetite.

RENDER is today's top performer, following an 18% surge.

Bank of America will enable advisers across Merrill and its private bank to recommend four spot Bitcoin ETFs, expanding beyond client-led access. Bank of America is making crypto a more routine part of its US wealth business, allowing advisers across Merrill, the Bank of America Private Bank and Merrill Edge to proactively recommend spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds. Bank of America’s chief investment office (CIO) has approved four US-listed spot Bitcoin funds for coverage: Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB), Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC), Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust (BTC) and BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT). These four ETFs are among the largest and most liquid spot Bitcoin (BTC) products on the market, which makes them easier for the bank to underwrite from an operational and regulatory risk perspective than smaller, more complex or leveraged vehicles. Read more

Bitcoin trades near $92.5K after five-day rally, as analysts say Gold’s slowdown could open a 1.5–2 year breakout window for crypto.

Altcoins, led by Ether, XRP and Solana, drove crypto ETP growth in 2025, while Bitcoin fund inflows fell 35%. Cryptocurrency investment products pulled in about $47 billion of inflows in 2025, just shy of 2024’s total amid new crypto exchange-traded fund (ETF) launches in the US. Crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs) logged $47.2 billion in inflows last year, 3% below 2024’s record of $48.7 billion, according to European crypto asset manager CoinShares. Bitcoin (BTC) inflows fell sharply in 2025, with a 35% drop from $41.7 billion in 2024 to around $27 billion, while Ether (ETH), XRP (XRP) and Solana (SOL) ETPs saw substantial gains. Read more

When the futures market opened Monday, the screens told a story that felt backward. The U.S. had just captured Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, in a weekend operation that jolted geopolitics and dominated headlines. And yet oil did not spike. It slipped. At the same time, Bitcoin held its ground, then pushed higher. It traded around […] The post Oil prices just did the unthinkable after the Venezuela raid, and it hands Bitcoin a rare advantage appeared first on CryptoSlate.