After reaching the $120,000-$125,000 range in October 2025 and then dropping to the mid-$80,000s, Bitcoin is trading around $87,700 as traders eye profit-taking into January. Historical monthly data show January has often delivered positive returns for BTC, with notable gains in 2020, 2023 and 2025, even though some past years posted steep losses. The analysis suggests that if BTC enters January below its 2025 high and under the $90,000 mark, the greater risk could be exiting too late rather than too early.

Cardano creator Charles Hoskinson posted "a storm is coming" on December 20, 2025 alongside Midnight branding, sparking speculation around the so-called "new ADA" project. The associated NIGHT token recently traded at $0.09324 with weekly gains of 43.22%, a market cap of $1.54B and 24-hour volume of $5.56B, giving a striking 357.73% volume-to-market-cap ratio.

Into the week's close, XRP is still trading above its monthly mid Bollinger Band, leaving a potential move toward about $3.6 on the table while defending the $1.82 area. Midnight (NIGHT), often framed as a "new Cardano" narrative play, has climbed roughly 40% over the past week, and Vitalik Buterin-linked wallets have been offloading BNB and other tokens into USDC and ETH amid a wider "crypto winter" tone. Traders are watching whether XRP can maintain this structure, NIGHT can clear $0.10 without losing key supports, and Buterin's wallets keep a defensive posture.

According to U.Today, developer Ed Hennis filed XRPL Amendment idea #420 to let XRP Ledger accounts rotate a single-use signing key on every transaction. On December 20, 2025, Vet noted the "Quantum Safe" draft, which assumes XRPL's validation speed could limit attackers even if a public key is briefly exposed. Proposed field names include "SingleUseKey" and "QuantumSafeKey", and the feature is positioned as an optional security upgrade.

XRP is aiming to close 2025 above $2, but current daily Bollinger Bands on the XRP/USDT chart show price still trading below the central band around $2.0189. With the lower band near $1.8187 and a recent sweep low at $1.77, any move toward $2 is confronting a strong technical ceiling until daily closes begin to form above roughly $2.02.

Shiba Inu ended 2025 with a quarterly loss of -37.3%, after recording negative monthly returns in 10 out of 12 months and Q4 declines of -15.2%, -16.2% and -11.6%. SHIB is trading near $0.00000745, with traders watching the $0.00000678 floor and a possible move toward $0.000008–$0.000009 in early 2026.

YoungHoon Kim, who presents himself as having an IQ of 276, posted three strongly bullish views on XRP, including a claim that prices below $2 are "nearly free". He framed XRP Ledger as a settlement layer and liquidity rail rather than a speculative chip, and said he plans never to sell his XRP. His comments highlight both a utility-focused thesis for the network and a deliberate "no-sell" mentality around the token.

On Friday, Bitcoin rebounded toward $88,279 after a CPI-driven swing, while Ethereum rose to $2,938 and Shiba Inu (SHIB) advanced 5% to about $0.00000739. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse publicly objected to Coinbase describing XRPL issues as a "Ripple Network" incident, just as a key fixDirectoryLimit amendment was activated on the XRP Ledger. On-chain data also showed a wallet many link to an early Bitcoin holder transferring 5,152 BTC, valued near $444.73 million, to Binance, raising questions about potential weekend selling pressure.

On Dec. 17, 2025, Michael Saylor responded to Bitcoin's sharp price swings from above $90,000 into the high $80,000s by stating his Strategy was "built for this." The company holds 671,268 BTC at an average cost of about $74,978 per coin, a position that remains roughly 16.65% in profit and valued near $58.7 billion, with its enterprise value close to $61 billion. Saylor's stance highlights that Strategy's exposure is structured for volatility rather than short-term price comfort, leaving little premium to unwind during market pullbacks.