Monero's price climbed from about $450 to near $800 within a week, pushing it past Zcash in market capitalization and reviving interest in privacy-focused cryptocurrencies. Zcash had already triggered a privacy coin comeback in late 2025 with a surge from roughly $30 to above $750, but failed to hold above $1,000. With the broader crypto market still under pressure and some altcoins recovering since early January 2026, traders are revisiting privacy coins such as Monero, Zcash, and Dash, despite ongoing regulatory and delisting risks.

Between October 10 and December 15, large Bitcoin holders and institutional wallets increasingly routed transfers above $20 million to exchange hot wallets, with roughly 65% of observed BTC flows heading there. Activity across whales and wallets linked to BlackRock and Wintermute peaked in November while Bitcoin traded below $85,000, suggesting a broad liquidity reshuffle rather than clear, targeted selling by a single player.

Large Bitcoin holders moved hundreds of millions of dollars in BTC from cold storage to exchanges throughout November and early December. Bitcoin price remains range-bound between $83,000 and $86,000, with the Crypto Fear and Greed Index falling to 9—its lowest level in years. Market participants debate whether whale movements signal distribution or strategic positioning ahead of potential liquidity expansion.

Monad (MON) opened trading at approximately $0.026, below its pre-sale price, leaving early buyers facing losses. The token briefly touched $0.035 before retreating. Community concerns focus on tokenomics allocating 50% of supply to team and insiders, while ecosystem participants received smaller-than-expected airdrop distributions.

Bitcoin (BTC) dropped below $100,000, trading at approximately $85,300 and triggering increased liquidations across the cryptocurrency market. Major cryptocurrencies declined alongside Bitcoin, with Ethereum falling 3.62% to $2,727.15, Solana dropping 5.02% to $125.95, and XRP declining 4.24% to $1.92. Cais Manai, Co-Founder and Head of Product at TEN Protocol, characterized the decline as a standard market reset following the summer rally, noting that institutional participants continue accumulating positions despite reduced retail activity.

Monad is preparing for its initial coin offering exclusively on Coinbase, drawing significant attention in the cryptocurrency sector. Industry experts have raised concerns about the token's allocation structure, with over 50% of the supply designated for the team and investors. This distribution model has prompted questions about potential selling pressure once trading commences.

Bitcoin dropped below $100,000 as exchange volumes fell to approximately $430 million from $1.3 billion on October 11, according to blockchain data. Market participants have observed persistent selling pressure without public disclosure, fueling speculation that a major holder may be reducing positions. CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju suggests long-term holders are rotating assets to institutional investors rather than exiting entirely.

Balancer DeFi protocol suffered an exploit on November 3, 2025, with estimated losses ranging from $100 million to $120 million. The attack targeted V2 Composable Stable Pools, while V3 remained unaffected. Early analysis suggests the vulnerability traces back to a similar rounding error first identified in August 2023.