Bitcoin briefly spiked to $90,600 on Wednesday before retreating after the US Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged, underscoring the market's macro sensitivity. Traders are now watching the $93,500 level, where over $4.5 billion in short positions could face liquidation and potentially trigger a sharp upside move. However, negative Coinbase premiums, risk-off indicators, and neutral whale activity point to fragile momentum driven mainly by leverage rather than strong spot buying.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's civil case against Gemini Trust Company and Genesis Global Capital has been dismissed with prejudice; according to court filings, the parties jointly moved to dismiss in the Southern District of New York. Filed in January 2023, the matter still requires approval from a federal judge to become final. Once finalized, the SEC cannot reassert the same claims.

Since January 6, ETH net taker volume has posted a $390 million positive imbalance, the largest buy-side skew since January 2023. CVD stands at -3,676 ETH and price is holding above $3,000, while Hyblock reports roughly $540 million in net longs near $3,100. These signals indicate renewed futures participation, with trend resilience hinging on daily closes above $3,000.

Industry security leaders warn that close to 80% of crypto projects hit by major exploits fail to regain stability, with the outcome hinging on how teams act in the first hours. Immunefi CEO Mitchell Amador and Kerberus' Alex Katz argue that operational breakdowns and trust erosion, not just stolen funds, drive long-term damage. In 2025, reported hack-related losses reached $3.4 billion, and a single Bybit incident accounted for $1.4 billion.

Santiment's Brian Quinlivan said in a YouTube video published Saturday that Ethereum's social sentiment has dropped to levels similar to those before its 2025 surge. He pointed to the Aug 23 move back to the 2021 peak of $4,878 after an April low of $1,472 and a near 70% four-month climb. Ether traded around $3,089, roughly 36% below its high, amid broader risk aversion.

XRP has maintained a crucial support band between $1.60 and $1.84 through most of 2025 while exchange balances have fallen to levels last seen in August 2018. Glassnode data shows XRP reserves on exchanges slid from 3.76 billion to about 1.6 billion tokens between October 8 and this week, amid large outflows often linked to institutional accumulation and reduced selling pressure. Analysts suggest holding the $1.78 zone could open the way for a potential move toward $3.79, although losing this level may keep the asset trading sideways.

On Christmas Day, a coordinated exploit against Trust Wallet's browser extension version 2.68 led to around $7 million in user losses, with the company urging an urgent upgrade to version 2.89. Security researchers said the backdoor was prepared from early December, while Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao pledged that affected users would be fully compensated. The incident has intensified debate over wallet security and potential insider involvement across the crypto industry.

In the month leading up to December 15, Bitcoin's network hashrate fell by 4%, a development VanEck analysts Matt Sigel and Patrick Bush characterize as a historically bullish contrarian signal for future price action. Since 2014, Bitcoin has recorded positive 90-day forward returns 65% of the time after a 30-day hashrate decline, compared with 54% when hashrate rose, and negative 90-day hashrate growth has preceded positive 180-day returns 77% of the time with an average gain of 72%. Bitcoin trades around $88,400, while mining profitability is shifting as electricity breakeven costs drop and roughly 1.3 gigawatts of capacity in China allegedly shut down, with some energy potentially redirected toward artificial intelligence demand.

Bitcoin demand growth slipped below trend from early October 2025, pointing to a potential bearish turn. This cycle saw three distinct demand waves, ETFs reduced holdings in Q4 2025, and price remains under the 365‑day moving average near $98,172. Derivatives funding rates fell to their lowest since December 2023, signaling weaker leveraged long appetite.