Crypto

Binance has said the user base has exceeded 300M and trading volume reached $34T. It has reported 125% YoY growth;$162.8B in user assets via proof-of-reserves and a 96% cut in illicit exposure from 2023 to 2025. Alpha 2.0 has processed $1T with 17M users and $782M in airdrop rewards in 2025 overall. The post Binance Says User Base Hits 300M as Trading Volume Reaches $34T appeared first on Cryptonews.

North Korea’s record-breaking Bybit hack changed how exchanges handle security and even influenced FATF’s global crypto recommendations. Cryptocurrency exchange Bybit suffered a $1.4 billion hack in February 2025 that exposed structural weaknesses in custody systems long considered industry standards, such as cold storage and multisignature wallets. At the time, the exploit was the largest known hack in crypto history, though that distinction was later eclipsed by findings that Chinese mining pool LuBian lost $3.5 billion in 2020. “The [Bybit] hack showed that cold storage and multisig labels are meaningless if the approval flow, transaction visibility, or signer environment can be manipulated,” said Ishai Shoham, head of product at crypto infrastructure company Utila. “After Bybit, custody architecture became a first-order risk topic, not a back-office detail.”  Read more

The South Korean regulator slapped Korbit with a compliance penalty as the crypto exchange conducts talks to be bought by Mirae Asset.

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.

South Korea's FIU has fined Korbit ₩2.73B and issued institutional warning after an on-site inspection in Q4 found about 22,000 AML breaches including ID lapses, trading before verification, and 19 transfers with unregistered overseas platforms. The CEO has received a caution. Mirae Asset talks go on. The post South Korea Fines Crypto Exchange Korbit $1.9M After AML Breaches appeared first on Cryptonews.

The October flash crash exposed how fragile bitcoin’s rally had become. It also illustrated a fundamental change in how BTC is perceived.

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.

Gold fractals, Bitcoin cost basis heatmap, and long-term moving averages offer clues on where BTC’s next major move may emerge in 2026. Key takeaways: Bitcoin is consolidating as gold leads, a pattern seen before past BTC rallies. $84,000–$85,000 and the 100-week EMA are key levels to watch. Read more

The exchange-traded funds will invest both directly and indirectly in the tokens.

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

ETFs tied to altcoins need to pull in deeper liquidity to match BTC's chill.

Trading activity concentrated in the second half of the year as Hyperliquid’s early lead faced increasing pressure from Aster and Lighter. Perpetuals decentralized exchanges are closing 2025 with cumulative trading volume reaching $12.09 trillion, up from $4.1 trillion at the start of the year.  DefiLlama data shows that about $7.9 trillion of this lifetime total volume was generated in 2025. This means that 65% of all perp DEX trading volume occurred in a single calendar year. This concentration highlights how rapidly onchain derivatives scaled in 2025.  In December alone, perpetuals trading volume reached $1 trillion, carrying momentum that started in October, when monthly volumes first reached $1 trillion.  Read more

CC is once again among the top performers as well.

2025 was supposed to be crypto's maturation year, with regulatory clarity, institutional adoption, and infrastructure built to last. In fact, the foundation for all these topics was laid down. Yet, it also delivered a master class in how quickly narratives collapse when opacity meets price discovery. Tokens that launched with maximum hype, extracted maximum fees, […] The post The 10 biggest crypto losers of 2025 (and what went wrong) appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Bubblemaps said Lighter airdropped $675 million in LIT, one of crypto’s biggest ever, as data shared on X suggested about 75% of recipients were still holding. Lighter, a decentralized exchange (DEX) that offers perpetual futures trading, carried out one of the biggest token giveaways in crypto history, even as critics continued to question how the project split its token supply. Lighter airdropped a total of $675 million worth of Lighter Infrastructure Tokens (LIT) to early participants on Tuesday, according to blockchain data visualization platform Bubblemaps. “$675M airdropped to early participants. $30M withdrawn from Lighter (only),” wrote Bubblemaps in a Tuesday X post. The $675 million total makes the Lighter airdrop the 10th largest airdrop by US dollar value in cryptocurrency history, according to crypto data aggregator CoinGecko. Read more

US spot Bitcoin ETFs pulled in $355 million, snapping a 7-day outflow streak that saw $1.12 billion withdrawn from the products. US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) ended a seven-day run of net outflows, pulling in $355 million as traders pointed to early signs of improving global liquidity. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) led the rebound with $143.75 million in inflows on Tuesday, followed by the Ark 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) at $109.56 million and Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) with $78.59 million, according to data from SoSoValue. Bitwise’s Bitcoin ETF (BITB) added $13.87 million, while smaller inflows were recorded by Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC) with $4.28 million, and VanEck’s Bitcoin ETF (HODL) with $4.98 million. The turnaround came as spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs recorded $1.12 billion in cumulative net outflows during the prior seven trading days. The heaviest selling occurred on Friday, when funds shed about $275.9 million. Read more

Cypherpunk Technologies boosted its zcash bet with a $28 million token purchase, lifting its holdings to 1.7% of ZEC’s circulating supply.

NFT minting accelerated even as buyers spent less, pushing the market toward a high-volume, low-price dynamic. The non-fungible token (NFT) market expanded in total supply, but saw significantly lower sales in 2025 compared with previous years.  CryptoSlam data shows that the total number of NFTs in circulation climbed to more than 1.34 billion this year, marking a 25% increase from the one billion supply in 2024. The increased supply came in parallel with falling sales.  According to CryptoSlam data, NFT sales reached about $5.63 billion in 2025, down by about 37% from the $8.9 billion recorded last year. Average sale prices also declined year-on-year, slipping to $96 from $124.  Read more

Altcoins like ETH and SOL are seeing more than a 50% drop in weekly volume compared with last year’s holidays.

Bitwise is seeking SEC approval for 11 single‑token “strategy” ETFs tied to major altcoins, expanding its product shelf deeper into the altcoin market. Crypto fund manager Bitwise has filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to launch 11 single‑token “strategy” crypto exchange‑traded funds (ETFs), extending the company’s crypto ETF footprint deeper into the altcoin market. The proposed funds would offer targeted exposure to assets including Aave (AAVE), Uniswap (UNI), Zcash (ZEC), Bittensor (TAO), Sui (SUI) and Near (NEAR), among others, giving investors a regulated route into tokens that so far have mostly traded on crypto exchanges. According to the filing, each product is designed as a “Strategy ETF” rather than a plain spot vehicle, following a rules‑based playbook for how it gets exposure to the underlying asset. Read more