Crypto markets are subdued as 2025 rolls into 2026, with many assets holding local support. Bitcoin is capped by the 26 and 50 EMA on the daily chart, XRP sits on long-term weekly support near the 50- and 100-week averages, and Shiba Inu trades in a tight band around $0.000007.

Ethereum is trading below the $3,000 mark in a tight range while on-chain data shows a sharp rebuild of liquidity on Binance. In December, reserves on the exchange rose to about 4.17 million ETH as nearly 8.5 million ETH flowed in, indicating a shift toward more active positioning and potential volatility. With price capped by key moving averages and trading volume fading, ETH remains technically fragile and sensitive to renewed downside pressure.

Changpeng Zhao (CZ), the Founder of Binance, highlighted Pakistan's rapid crypto adoption and recent regulatory advances, including the first No Objection Certificates from the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority. He argued that Pakistan's young user base and policy shift could allow it to leapfrog legacy finance, while also sharing his own practice of living fully on Bitcoin and BNB as a model for a code-driven financial future.

The US Senate Banking Committee aims to hold a January 15 markup for the CLARITY Act, a wide‑ranging digital asset bill that stalled in 2025 amid disputes over DeFi, token definitions, and stablecoin yield treatment. Ahead of the session, traders are repositioning around ETH and SOL, while prediction markets and institutional staking flows reflect rising expectations that lawmakers could finally advance a federal framework for crypto assets.

On December 31 2025, the Reserve Bank of India used its Financial Stability Report to warn that risks from stablecoins to macrofinancial stability exceed their benefits and to strongly advocate for central bank digital currencies instead. India has been piloting its own digital rupee since December 2022, while maintaining strict tax rules on crypto and refusing to recognize private coins as legal tender. The report also outlined expectations for lower gross bad loans in banks by March 2027 and highlighted rising stress among non-banking financial companies under various stress-test scenarios.

On December 27, the Flow network suffered a major exploit that allowed attackers to mint a large volume of tokens, triggering a rapid response from Binance to freeze associated funds on its platform. The incident coincided with a sharp drop of about 40% in FLOW's value and, as of December 31, 2025, the token trades at $0.09 after a 48.95% weekly decline. Market data show Flow's capitalization around $142.64 million and a 43.73% fall in 24-hour trading volume to $24.57 million, while community figures have called on validators to pause transactions until a remediation plan is clarified.

On December 31, 2025, Coinbase research head David Duong released the 2026 Crypto Market Outlook, attributing 2025 progress to clearer regulation and growing institutional build‑out. The report expects stablecoins and tokenized collateral to take bigger roles in 2026. Policy chief Faryar Shirzad warned that banning rewards on US stablecoins could cede ground to China as interest on the digital yuan starts January 1, 2026.

Members of the US Senate Banking Committee are expected to hold a markup on the Responsible Financial Innovation Act in the second week of January after months of delays. The House passed a related market structure bill in July, and sources familiar with the effort expect broader consideration in early 2026. Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis said on Dec. 19 she will not seek reelection in 2026.