Bitcoin pushed back above $90,000 on Friday, trading near $90,742 (+3.2%) during New York hours after persistent Q4 2025 selling. Buying accelerated around 09:30 ET, and U.S. spot proxies also firmed. The shift follows year-end tax-loss dynamics that pressured BTC through Q4.

As 2026 begins, Bitcoin is holding near $88,228.47, with on-chain indicators showing balance rather than conviction. SOPR sits at 0.994 and the Coinbase Premium Index at -0.09, while Coinglass reported 2,949.67 BTC net outflows on December 22, 2025. XWIN Research Japan projects a likely $80,000–$140,000 trading band through much of 2026.

On December 31, 2025, Coinbase's head of investment research David Duong posted a year-end outlook on X saying ETFs, stablecoins, and tokenization will mutually reinforce and speed crypto adoption in 2026. He highlighted progress on the U.S. GENIUS Act and Europe’s MiCA, and cited adoption data ranging from 10.3% in Q1 2023 to 9.9% in Q1 2025.

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 Tuesday, Bitcoin traded around $88,224, up 1.12%, while Ethereum hovered near $2,967 as major altcoin volumes slid to their lowest levels of 2025. Over the weekend, BitMine Immersion Technologies staked 342,560 ETH, worth about $1 billion, tightening Ethereum's validator entry queue. At the same time, a proposed 5% annual tax on net wealth above $1 billion in California, including unrealized crypto gains, has raised concerns about capital outflows from the state's digital asset sector.

According to CoinShares’ latest fund flows report, digital asset products lost $446 million last week, while XRP vehicles attracted $70.2 million. Bitcoin funds recorded $443 million in outflows and Ethereum products shed $59.3 million, as Solana ETPs took in $7.5 million. U.S.-listed products saw $460 million in withdrawals versus $35.7 million of inflows in Germany.

Indian police in Hyderabad have arrested a former Coinbase customer support agent over an alleged role in the crypto exchange's data breach that began in December 2024 and exposed information for 69,461 users. Coinbase declined to pay a $20 million ransom, instead incurring $307 million in related costs and offering bounties while also facing a shareholder lawsuit over its handling of the incident.

According to on-chain data, Bitcoin wallets holding 10,000–100,000 BTC reduced balances by 36,500 BTC since the start of December. The coins moved or sold total roughly $3.37 billion as BTC traded in a choppy $85,000–$94,000 range. At the time of writing, Bitcoin was near $89,646.

Hilbert Group, a Sweden-based algorithmic crypto investment firm, has agreed to purchase high-frequency trading platform Enigma Nordic in a $32 million transaction. The deal combines newly issued shares and performance-based earn-outs, with Enigma required to generate $40 million in net income to unlock the full payout. Enigma has reported over 50 billion SEK (around $5.4 billion) in 2025 trading volume and a Sharpe ratio above 3.0, as Hilbert prepares to integrate the platform into its hedge fund and proprietary trading operations.