Bitcoin market dominance is approaching 59% as altcoins gain. BTC trades near $89,644, up 1.7% in 24 hours, while XRP rises 6% toward $2, DOGE jumps 10.51% to $0.139, and ETH advances 4.36% to $3,114. According to U.Today, strong moves in large-cap and memecoin names are pressuring Bitcoin’s share of total crypto value.

In 2025, data compiled by Cypherpunk Holdings CTO Jameson Lopp shows that the count of so‑called Bitcoin "obituaries" fell to zero for the first time since the era when Satoshi Nakamoto was active on BitcoinTalk. Historical charts highlight that media predictions of Bitcoin’s "death" peaked around 2017 and remained elevated through the 2018 "Crypto Winter", before declining sharply in later cycles.

Bitcoin is trading close to $90,000 as new Department of Labor data shows initial jobless claims falling to 199,000, below the 200,000 level many analysts had expected. The stronger-than-anticipated labor reading suggests the US economy remains resilient and may reduce pressure on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates aggressively in early 2026. This development could weigh on risk assets like Bitcoin in the short term, even as year-end labor data is often considered noisy due to seasonal factors.

In a blog post titled 'Balance of Power' published Tuesday, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin warns that scale and automation are eroding checks and balances. He advocates "mandatory diffusion" and "adversarial interoperability", and cites Lido, which holds roughly 24% of staked ETH, as a decentralized example within crypto governance.

On December 30, 2025, value investor Christopher Bloomstran criticized MicroStrategy's latest Bitcoin funding approach, arguing on X that the company has shifted from a once "smart" arbitrage to what he calls an "idiotic" strategy. He claims issuing new shares when MicroStrategy's market cap is about 82% of the value of its Bitcoin holdings now dilutes shareholders as the firm continues large BTC purchases, including a recent 1,229 BTC buy at roughly $88,568 per coin.

A leading XRP Ledger validator known as Vet argues that XRP's market is too liquid and elastic for an imminent supply shock, citing deep liquidity pools and high transaction velocity. He notes that roughly 16 billion XRP are currently held on exchanges, while researcher Leonidas Hadjiloizou disputes claims that balances have dropped to 1.5 billion XRP, pointing instead to more than 15 billion XRP available.

MicroStrategy executive chairman Michael Saylor signaled Back to Orange, a phrase tied to the firm marking completed Bitcoin purchases. According to the report, confirmations often arrive before the U.S. market opens on Monday via a Form 8-K or a press release. Even a potential $1 billion buy spread over a week would likely have limited price impact due to turnover and OTC execution.

Fidelity's macro strategist Jurrien Timmer recently suggested that both Bitcoin and gold could experience a lackluster year in 2026 after strong prior performance. He reiterated his long-term enthusiasm for the two assets but cautioned they might "take a year off" before any renewed outperformance. Gold has surged about 70% this year to a record $4,550, while Bitcoin is on track for its second-worst Q4 and is down nearly 7% year to date.

Earlier today, Bitcoin fell to an intraday low of $86,673 amid sharp volatility and later hovered near $87,208, according to CoinGecko. On December 26, 2025, trader Josh Olszewicz warned that the weekly chart is nearing a breakdown into the Ichimoku Cloud and said tax loss harvesting could add selling pressure.