Latest Crypto News | Bitcoin, Ethereum and Altcoin Updates

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has closed its multi-year investigation into Ondo Finance’s tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs) and the ONDO governance token without filing charges. The probe, opened in 2023 to determine whether Ondo’s tokenized equities, bonds and other on‑chain RWAs and the ONDO token qualified as unregistered securities, was ended after a shift in SEC leadership and enforcement stance. Ondo reported over $500 million in tokenized assets under management by late 2024, while industry trackers show RWA tokenization exceeded $10 billion in TVL by early 2025. Traders should note the removal of a major regulatory overhang that may enable Ondo and similar platforms to expand U.S. market access, accelerate product launches (tokenized stocks, bonds) and boost liquidity in on‑chain RWA markets. The decision also offers greater clarity on the regulatory treatment of governance tokens like ONDO, reducing legal tail risk for related token listings and secondary-market activity. Primary keywords: Ondo Finance, ONDO token, RWA tokenization, SEC probe, tokenized equities.

An Ethereum whale holding over 2,500 ETH transferred 1,000 ETH (≈$9–$12M depending on price) to derivatives exchange Deribit after realizing a reported $2.7M loss, according to Outset PR citing Arkham data. The move coincides with a sharp spike in activity: ETH trading volume rose roughly 170% in 24 hours while price rebounded above $3,100 following a volatile drawdown. Transfers to Deribit more commonly indicate hedging, options positioning or collateralized derivatives activity by sophisticated traders, rather than an intent to sell on spot markets. Analysts note smart money appears to be “hedging into strength” — using improved liquidity to buy protection — amid recent liquidations and deleveraging in ETH and BTC markets. The whale’s remaining balance (2,500+ ETH) suggests retained long exposure but a cautious posture. Traders should view this as a risk-management signal from large holders rather than outright capitulation; the combination of loss realization and a move to Deribit implies selective caution and anticipation of further volatility.

Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin has climbed toward a $1.3 billion market capitalization following a targeted multi‑chain deployment across the XRP Ledger (XRPL) and Ethereum. The dual‑network strategy aims to combine XRPL’s low-cost, high‑speed settlement with Ethereum’s deep DeFi liquidity, driving demand and utility across payments and decentralized finance. Token Terminal data cited in the report places RLUSD above $1.2 billion and approaching $1.3 billion. Key commercial moves include a partnership with Gemini to enable RLUSD card settlements, expanding retail and institutional payment use-cases. Regulators in Abu Dhabi have approved RLUSD for use in the region, bolstering its appeal to compliance‑oriented institutions. Ripple CTO David Schwartz has increased involvement in XRPL infrastructure — launching an XRPL hub to monitor performance and rolling out MPT standard support to improve reliability and real‑world asset tokenization. Analysts and legal commentators cited in the article argue multi‑chain stablecoins are better positioned for long‑term adoption due to interoperability, liquidity, and scalability advantages. For traders: RLUSD’s expanding market cap, Gemini integration, regulatory approvals, and XRPL upgrades may increase on‑chain activity and cross‑network settlement flows, potentially boosting demand for XRP‑linked liquidity and trading volume in the short term while strengthening RLUSD’s role in payments and DeFi over the longer term.

Trader-focused summary: The article highlights three altcoins with catalysts that could drive significant gains in the next crypto bull run. Reactor ($REACT) is presented as the top pick: a live trading Terminal combining spot, perpetuals, yield and AI tools, with utility for reduced fees, boosted staking yields (10%→28%), early access features and a presale offering ~66% discount with ~10 million tokens sold. Kaspa ($KAS) is noted for performance-driven fundamentals: a PoW chain that raised transaction throughput after a May 2025 upgrade (daily txs rose from ~100k to ~700k) and targets further scaling via the Crescendo hard fork (Q1 2026) to increase blocks per second (1→10, long-term 100), enabling faster finality and broader use cases. Dogecoin (DOGE) is flagged for a potential supply shock: an April 2025 GitHub proposal would cut block rewards from 10,000 to 1,000 DOGE, reducing annual issuance from ~5 billion to ~500 million DOGE and lowering inflation, though critics warn about miner security risks. The article positions REACT as utility-driven, KAS as adoption/scaling-driven, and DOGE as issuance-driven opportunities. Key trading considerations: REACT presale momentum and listing risk/reward; KAS price sensitivity to Crescendo-driven on-chain activity; DOGE volatility tied to community/governance outcomes. Disclaimer: informational only, not investment advice.

Brevis has launched ProverNet, a decentralized physical infrastructure (DePIN) marketplace that matches provers who compute zero-knowledge proofs (ZK-proofs) with apps that need proving capacity. ProverNet currently uses USDC for payments and supports continuous-auction task distribution, prover registration, job matching and direct proof requests. Brevis plans to migrate to its native BREV token on mainnet, adding prover staking and slashing for misbehavior or missed deadlines. The firm says it has processed over 250 million proofs across 30+ partners and is gradually migrating production workloads — including a subset of Ethereum block execution proving from ETHProofs — to ProverNet. Brevis has prior integrations and partnerships with Uniswap (v4 hooks and routing rebate work), MetaMask (ZK-powered rewards), Linea, PancakeSwap and BNB Chain, and received investment from Binance in 2024. The marketplace aims to provide flexible, vendor-neutral ZK capacity to avoid vendor lock-in and better match workloads to provers’ hardware.

Rep. French Hill, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, was a central figure in U.S. crypto policy in 2025. Hill helped shepherd long-running House efforts on market-structure legislation and played a key role, alongside predecessors like Patrick McHenry, in advancing stablecoin regulation that culminated in the 2025 GENIUS Act becoming law. While Hill’s name does not appear on the GENIUS Act passed by the Senate, his Digital Asset Market Clarity Act served as a foundation for Senate market-structure proposals. If the Senate completes its market-structure bill and it reaches a floor vote before the 2026 midterms, Hill’s influence could shape final regulatory language. The article highlights Hill’s background as a former small-bank founder and frames his policy work — especially on stablecoins and market structure — as among his major legislative achievements in 2025.

President Trump’s second term accelerated a pro-crypto shift in U.S. policy through executive orders, high-level appointments and legislative pressure. Key developments include the passage of the GENIUS Act establishing a federal stablecoin framework, agency actions toward tokenization and leveraged spot products, and the appointment of crypto-friendly regulators (notably SEC Chair Paul Atkins and OCC head Jonathan Gould). The administration also pushed ideas such as federal bitcoin and token “strategic reserves” and sought broad digital-asset regulation. However, a Senate market-structure bill stalled amid procedural delays and a government shutdown, slowing some legislative progress and SEC approvals. Parallel to policy shifts, concerns about conflicts of interest emerged after reports of large family holdings in projects such as World Liberty Financial (WLFI) and ties to meme tokens like $TRUMP and $MELANIA. House Democrats flagged potential corruption; the White House denied wrongdoing. The net effect for traders: expect short-term volatility around regulatory announcements and political developments, but increased medium- to long-term regulatory clarity for stablecoins and tokenization initiatives as agencies implement rules and the SEC pivots under new leadership. Key risks remain: governance gaps, unresolved market-structure reform, and political or reputational shocks tied to conflict-of-interest allegations.

Pye Finance closed a $5 million seed round led by Variant and Coinbase Ventures, with participation from Solana Labs, Nascent and Gemini. The Solana-focused startup is building an on-chain marketplace to make time-locked staking positions tradable by tokenizing them into two assets: a principal token redeemable for the underlying SOL at term end, and a rewards token representing staking yield. The product targets ~414 million staked SOL (~$75 billion at current prices) that are currently locked in basic staking accounts and lack flexibility. Pye says validators will be able to set lockups and reward flows, enabling structured products, predictable returns and new liquidity options — allowing stakers to sell future rewards or use staked positions in DeFi while remaining staked. Founders are Erik Ashdown and Alberto Cevallos; closed alpha ran earlier in 2025 and a private beta is planned for Q1 2026.

xMoney, a regulated European payments firm, has published whitepapers for three fiat-backed stablecoins — EURXM, USDXM and RONXM — with official launches scheduled for June 2026. The assets will be 1:1 redeemable, MiCA-compliant and subject to ongoing financial audits. Initial deployment will be on the Sui Network for fast, low-cost transactions, with plans to expand to MultiversX and Ethereum. xMoney intends to integrate the stablecoins into its payment gateway and xMoney Card, improving client payment rails and cross-border flows. The firm positions the issuance as part of broader efforts to build compliant, scalable Web3 payment infrastructure bridging traditional finance and blockchain. Contact details and a marketing disclaimer note the piece is a sponsored press release.

Western Union is developing a USD-pegged prepaid “stable card” and plans to issue a USD-backed stablecoin named USDPT on Solana to protect remittances in high-inflation markets. Announced by CFO Matthew Cagwin at the UBS Global Technology and AI Conference, the card lets users hold dollar-denominated value instead of rapidly depreciating local currencies. Western Union’s Digital Asset Network (DAN), a fiat-crypto bridge connecting service providers, is expected to launch in early 2025 to enable smoother currency exchange; USDPT is targeted for release in the first half of 2026 and will be distributed via exchange partners. The move follows broader sector momentum: PayPal’s PYUSD and Ripple’s RLUSD have seen sizable supplies on-chain, and industry players are building stablecoin clearing and rails. Regulators and institutions, including the IMF, warn issuer-backed dollar stablecoins could cause capital outflows from emerging markets and centralize trust in issuers rather than code. For traders: this ties a major legacy remittance operator to Solana, likely increasing on-chain dollar-denominated liquidity and potential demand for SOL and stablecoin trading pairs. Key trading considerations include shifts in stablecoin flows toward consumer-focused chains, liquidity migration on exchanges, increased fiat-crypto on/off-ramp activity, and regulatory/macro risk that could affect issuer-backed stablecoin liquidity and sentiment.

Bitcoin (BTC) has extended a seven-day recovery, rising about 7% as traders position ahead of the Federal Reserve’s expected December 10 rate cut. Despite being roughly 10% down for the month, BTC broke above a key $91,000 resistance zone, with momentum indicators signaling strength: the MACD histogram turned positive and the RSI sits in a moderate 44–49 range, leaving room before overbought levels. Market participants widely anticipate a 25 basis-point Fed cut, driven by softer jobs data and cooling inflation — an outcome likely to boost liquidity and favor risk assets such as Bitcoin. Analysts warn that a dovish Fed would reinforce BTC’s liquidity-driven rally, while a surprise pause or hawkish commentary could quickly dampen momentum and raise short-term volatility given elevated leverage on exchanges. The piece also highlights Outset PR’s data-driven approach to crypto communications but notes macro policy remains the dominant catalyst for Bitcoin’s next decisive move.

Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) and its native token XRP are described as catalyzing a structural shift in global cross-border liquidity. ODL converts fiat to XRP, transmits value across Ripple’s ledger in 3–5 seconds, then converts XRP to the destination currency — reducing settlement time from days to seconds and cutting fees to fractions of a cent. Since its 2018 launch, ODL expanded to nearly 40 payout markets and reportedly covers about 90% of the FX landscape, serving remittances, corporate treasury flows, vendor and payout services across Africa, Latin America, Asia and Europe. The article argues that by eliminating pre-funded nostro/vostro accounts, ODL frees capital, lowers counterparty risk and operational costs, and improves financial inclusion for emerging markets. As real liquidity demand grows on Ripple’s rails, XRP’s utility shifts from speculative asset to infrastructure token, potentially redirecting capital flows away from legacy banking rails. The piece cautions readers this is an opinion and not financial advice.

Solana (SOL) has weakened from recent highs and is trading near the 200-week moving average around $120–$130; a break below that level risks deeper losses toward sub-$100. Market rotation is evident: capital is moving away from richly valued Layer‑1s like Solana into application-layer banking and payments projects. Digitap’s presale token TAP has surged roughly 170% since launch (presale price ~ $0.033–$0.036), as the project markets an omni-bank app with Visa-compatible cards, sub‑1% global transfers, a multi‑rail routing engine (crypto and traditional rails), crypto-to-fiat interoperability, app store availability, and on‑chain utility such as deposits, swaps and IBANs. Digitap touts $2.2M in whale allocations, no‑KYC onboarding, presale staking (high APY advertised) and tokenomics that allocate 50% of platform profits to burns and staking rewards. For traders the headlines are clear: SOL faces elevated short‑term downside risk and volatility around the 200‑week MA; TAP presents a high‑risk/high‑reward presale exposure tied to payments adoption and potential spillover from SOL momentum. The thematic trade: banking/payment tokens could outperform into 2026 if real‑world adoption continues. Disclaimer: this content was paid and is not investment advice.

ETF flows showed divergence across major cryptocurrencies last week. Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) experienced net outflows from exchange-traded funds, marking a red week for the two largest tokens. In contrast, Solana (SOL) and XRP saw net inflows into their ETF or investment products, delivering positive flows for those ecosystems. The article highlights the relative performance of ETF-linked products, signaling shifting institutional and retail appetite: BTC and ETH recorded withdrawal pressure, while SOL and XRP attracted fresh capital. Traders should note that ETF flows can reflect sentiment and influence liquidity and short-term price action, though they are only one of several market drivers.

Binance has suspended an employee after an internal audit found the individual allegedly used the official Binance X (formerly Twitter) account to promote a newly launched token, appearing on the Binance Futures handle within a minute of the token’s on-chain launch. Binance opened an immediate investigation, suspended the employee for abusing their position, notified relevant authorities, and said further disciplinary action is pending. The exchange announced a $100,000 whistleblower reward to be split equally among five verified reporters ($20,000 each) for the earliest valid submissions via its official audit email (audit@binance.com). Binance confirmed some community reports were received via social media but clarified only official whistleblower submissions qualify for the bounty. The company framed the move as part of an ongoing zero-tolerance policy toward insider abuse; it cited a prior March incident where a Binance Wallet employee was suspended for buying tokens before a Token Generation Event. Key items for traders: possible reputational and compliance scrutiny for Binance, heightened attention on new token listings and exchange social channels, and potential short-term volatility for the token in question and related BNB Chain listings.

XRP has dropped about 31% over two months and Santiment’s social sentiment metrics show fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) at levels last seen in late November. Social commentary has plunged into a “Fear Zone” where negative messages dominate, a pattern that preceded a rapid 22% three-day rally for XRP in late November. XRP is trading near $2.07–$2.10 and faces a key psychological support at $2.00. Traders should view Santiment’s readings as a potential contrarian indicator rather than a standalone buy signal: confirm with on-chain activity, volume, liquidity and technical support. If $2.00 holds and social sentiment flips back to bullish, a short-term double-digit rebound is plausible; a break below $2.00 could accelerate downside. Emphasize tight risk management, position sizing and confirmation from volume and structural support before entering trades.

Lawmakers and political actors are increasingly entwined with the cryptocurrency industry, bringing regulatory scrutiny, lobbying battles and reputational risk to crypto firms. The article outlines how crypto companies, industry groups and influential figures are engaging with politicians and political causes to shape policy and public perception. It highlights conflicts over campaign donations, lobbying expenditures, and the use of crypto assets in political activity. The piece notes rising governmental investigations and proposed regulations aimed at greater transparency, anti-money‑laundering compliance, and restrictions on crypto-funded political spending. Market implications include heightened compliance costs, potential restrictions on token use in political contexts, and increased volatility as legislators propose new rules. Traders should watch legislative calendars, enforcement actions, and headline risk tied to major firms or political events, since news-driven flows and regulatory uncertainty can prompt rapid price swings in crypto markets.

UBS updated its deep-dive on the global data-center equipment market, saying capacity expansion shows no signs of cooling. Evidence Lab data: ~25 GW under construction and ~105 GW operational. UBS now expects market growth (power, cooling, IT equipment) of 20–25% in 2026 after a 25–30% rise in 2025, with 2027–2029 easing to 15–20% and 10–15% annual growth in 2028–2030. Low vacancy rates across regions (North America 1.8%, Europe 3.6%, APAC 5.8%) and strong cloud capex underpin the outlook. Liquid cooling stands out: UBS forecasts cooling segment CAGR ~20% to 2030, with liquid-cooling growing ~45% — driven by higher AI chip power density. AI data centers raise per-MW facility costs ~20% and IT-equipment costs 3–4x versus traditional centers, reducing tenant price sensitivity and benefiting upstream suppliers. UBS estimates GenAI-related annual recurring revenue (ARR) ~US$17bn, signaling early monetization and countering “AI bubble” narratives. Constraints include power and grid bottlenecks (notably in Europe) and delivery risks; UBS views these as value-supporting rather than cycle-ending. Technological shifts (rack power density to 100kW+, move toward 800V DC distribution) will create winners and losers among MV/LV equipment vendors. Key takeaways for traders: sustained high capex by hyperscalers through at least 2027, accelerating adoption of liquid cooling and AI-specific infrastructure, and rising demand for chips, IT hardware, power and cooling suppliers — supportive for hardware, infrastructure and select cloud-equipment stocks.

Ondo Finance’s native token ONDO spiked after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) closed a confidential investigation into the company without filing charges. The announcement removed a regulatory overhang that had begun in 2024, when the probe examined whether ONDO constituted a security and whether Ondo’s tokenization of real-world assets and U.S. Treasuries complied with federal rules. ONDO rose from $0.4697 to $0.4999 (over 6%) immediately following the news and traded around $0.4843 after a small intraday pullback. Twenty-four-hour trading volume jumped more than 300%, reflecting renewed trader interest. Ondo said the cleared investigation paves the way for broader tokenization of Treasuries and equities in U.S. capital markets and highlighted its recent acquisition of licensed Oasis Pro Markets and an upcoming New York Summit on Feb. 3, 2026. The piece notes a wider regulatory shift in the U.S. toward engagement and clarity under new leadership, citing recent SEC case closures and a softer enforcement tone. For traders: expect heightened short-term volatility and volume in ONDO as markets repriced regulatory risk; longer-term implications include improved sentiment for tokenized RWA projects if regulators continue to favor engagement over enforcement.

KubeCon + CloudNativeCon NA 2025 in Atlanta emphasized practical, operations-focused integration of AI with cloud-native infrastructure. Speakers—including Adobe’s Joseph Sandoval and platform engineering advocates like Abby Bangser—argued that AI adoption requires hardened platforms, better observability, and reduced developer toil rather than hype-driven tooling. Key announcements included the CNCF launch of Kubernetes AI Conformance and KServe’s graduation to incubating status. Industry trends highlighted at the event: eBPF (notably Cilium) as a modern networking and observability backbone; Gateway API maturing as a successor to Ingress NGINX (whose retirement announcement raises migration concerns); OpenTelemetry adoption; and emerging Kubernetes API extensions such as Dynamic Resource Allocation (DRA) and Model Context Protocol (MCP). Practical AI/ML sessions showed increased demand for HPC networking features (RDMA, MPI) in Kubernetes. The conference framed platform engineering as essential to operationalizing AI workloads—balancing autonomy with trust, security, and failure containment. For traders: the conference signals continued enterprise investment in cloud-native tooling and AI-ready infrastructure, with potential vendor wins for projects and vendors that enable production-grade AI operations.

After a turbulent 2025, security has become the primary selection factor for crypto traders choosing exchanges for 2026. The article ranks five platforms likely to stand out for global users: Binance, BYDFi, Coinbase, OKX, and Kraken. Key themes: stronger security and user protections, hybrid CEX+DEX models gaining traction, transparent fees, wide asset support, and improved trading tools. Binance remains dominant on liquidity, asset selection and advanced features and is rolling out wallet upgrades. BYDFi is highlighted for its CEX+DEX dual-engine (MoonX), no-KYC access, Proof of Reserves, low fees, demo accounts, and rising user base. Coinbase offers regulatory clarity, beginner-friendly design, FDIC-insured USD balances, and strong security practices. OKX attracts users with advanced trading tools, CEX+DEX integration and institutional-grade infrastructure. Kraken is noted for regulatory compliance, security focus, and services for pro and institutional traders. Traders are advised to prioritise platform security, fee structures, supported assets and tools, and to match exchange choice to risk tolerance and trading goals. (Main keyword: crypto trading platforms)

Pi Network (PI) price declined to $0.22 on Dec. 8, its lowest since Nov. 16 and about 23% below the Nov. 28 high, after details of a U.S. lawsuit became public. Plaintiff Harro Moen accuses Pi Community Company, SocialChain and founders Chengdiao Fan and Nikolas Kokkalis of “massive fraud,” alleging secret sales of 2 billion tokens, deceptive token transfers, delayed migrations and centralisation via three company-controlled validator nodes. Pi’s team has not responded. Despite legal pressure, on-chain data show a major whale increased holdings: moving 1.62 million PI from OKX three days earlier and 430,536 PI on Sunday, plus smaller transfers from Gate.io, bringing the whale’s total to about 390.97 million PI (~$86 million). Technical indicators are bearish: PI trades below the 50-day EMA, the Relative Strength Index is under 50, and price is attempting to move below the Supertrend; immediate support is near $0.20. Longer-term analysts note a possible Wyckoff-style accumulation phase, suggesting rebound potential if accumulation continues. Key takeaways for traders: heightened legal risk can amplify volatility and selling pressure; whale accumulation may provide a floor or signal expectation of recovery; monitor on-chain whale flows, exchange withdrawals, legal developments and technical levels (support $0.20, resistance near recent highs) to time entries and manage risk.

Blockchain prediction markets such as Polymarket are drawing both retail speculators and professional traders by offering highly asymmetric, leveraged payoffs — for example, “Yes” shares trading near $0.01 on a BNB $1,500-by-year-end market, implying ~100x returns versus ~1.65x spot upside from holding BNB. A 10X Research report and platform observations highlight that a small number of accounts have posted unusually high win rates and concentrated profits: one account, “AlphaRaccoon,” reportedly won 22 of 23 bets and earned about $1M in a day; another, “ilovecircle,” reportedly made $2.2M in two months. Observers suspect these outcomes stem from advanced data/AI-driven strategies, cross-niche arbitrage bots, or possibly access to privileged information, creating steep information asymmetry that disadvantages casual bettors. Regulators are reacting to parallel concerns in prediction products: Connecticut has ordered KalshiEX, Robinhood Derivatives and Crypto.com to stop offering unlicensed sports prediction markets in the state. Implications for traders: prediction markets present attractive arbitrage and high-reward opportunities suitable for quantitative strategies, but they carry elevated counterparty and information‑asymmetry risks, potential market distortions if dominant players scale up, and regulatory uncertainty that could reduce liquidity or force platform changes. Traders should manage position sizing, monitor order-book and liquidity shifts, and treat prediction markets as distinct from spot exposure due to concentrated player advantages and legal risk.

MicroStrategy purchased 10,624 BTC for about $962.7 million at an average price of $90,615, bringing its corporate treasury to 660,624 BTC with an aggregate acquisition cost of roughly $49.35 billion. The company financed the latest buy mostly via equity issuance — approximately $928.1 million from common stock sales plus $34.9 million from STRD preferred stock — continuing a pattern of raising capital to fund bitcoin accumulation. Chairman Michael Saylor is actively marketing Bitcoin to institutional investors in the Middle East and promoting a related “digital credit” concept. The purchase comes amid softer flows into digital asset treasuries (DATs), with November inflows down to $1.32 billion (a 34% month-on-month decline). MicroStrategy’s stock has underperformed recently (roughly 51% down over 12 months), though the firm raised capital (about $1.44–$1.96 billion in recent raises across filings) to manage debt-service and preferred dividends. Bitcoin traded near $94,000 around the report, roughly 3% higher in the 24‑hour window. Key metrics: 10,624 BTC bought; $962.7M spend; avg price $90,615; total holdings 660,624 BTC; aggregate cost ≈$49.35B; estimated market value ≈$60B; November DAT inflows $1.32B.

XRP is showing signs of a sustained bullish run as institutional and retail demand increases. CoinShares reported $245M of inflows into XRP exchange-traded products (ETPs) in the week ending Dec. 5, bringing year-to-date inflows to $3.1B. Spot XRP ETFs recorded 15 consecutive days of net inflows, adding $10.23M on Friday and pushing cumulative inflows toward $900M with AUM around $861.3M. Over 400 million XRP are locked in these products. On derivatives markets, funding rates flipped positive (0.0189%), and Binance long/short ratios show 72% of accounts long, signalling bullish leverage positioning. Trading platform data from Beacon/Hyperliquid corroborates a 72% long exposure (~$94.5M long vs $37.6M short). Technically, XRP trades above a four-hour symmetrical triangle; a close above the upper trendline near $2.15 targets a measured move to $2.65 (about 27% upside). A bullish daily close above $2.30 would further confirm structure break and open a potential path to $2.58, provided $2 holds as support. Risks include liquidation from crowded long positions and typical market volatility. This is market reporting, not investment advice.

CoinDesk Indices reports the CoinDesk 20 Index rose 3.3% to 2,934.99 (up 93.38 points) since 4 p.m. ET on Friday, with all 20 constituent assets trading higher. Notable gainers over the weekend were NEAR Protocol (NEAR), up 6.5%, and Aave (AAVE), up 6.4%. The weakest performers were Polkadot (DOT) and Hedera Hashgraph (HBAR), each up about 1.0%. The update is a routine market snapshot from CoinDesk Indices highlighting short-term sector performance and providing traders with index-level and constituent movement data. Primary keywords: CoinDesk 20, crypto index, NEAR, AAVE. Secondary keywords: market update, index performance, cryptocurrency trading.

Blockchain investigator ZachXBT announced a $5,000 bounty to scrape user data from InfoFi platforms — including Kaito Yaps, Galxe, Layer3, Cookie, Wallchain and Xeet — aiming to document alleged AI-driven spam, coordinated attention farming and low-quality posts that reward volume over insight. The bounty requests usernames, user IDs, on-chain addresses and activity scores; ZachXBT later expanded to per-platform rewards after Xeet’s dataset (about 144,000 X accounts) was reportedly delivered. Critics argue InfoFi reward models and algorithmic scoring have encouraged automated replies and “reply mercenaries,” diluting organic engagement. Supporters of InfoFi say the systems democratize access to research and incentivize participation. The controversy has sparked calls for better moderation and quality metrics across reward-based information platforms, and raises questions about authenticity, token distribution dynamics after token-generation events (TGEs), and potential regulatory scrutiny. Key SEO keywords: InfoFi, AI spam, Kaito Yaps, Galxe, Layer3, Xeet, bounty, user data.

BitMine Immersion Technologies accelerated Ethereum accumulation over the last week, purchasing 138,452 ETH (≈$435M) and raising its treasury to 3.86 million ETH — roughly 3.2% of circulating supply. This weekly buy is the largest in over a month and follows prior weekly purchases of about 54k, 97k and 70k ETH. Management cited the upcoming Dec. 3 Fusaka upgrade and expected supportive macro moves (an anticipated Fed rate cut and end of quantitative tightening) as reasons for stepping up accumulation. The firm also increased cash reserves to about $1.0 billion (from $882M), bringing combined crypto-and-cash assets to roughly $13.2 billion including a small BTC holding and equity in ORBS. BitMine remains highly traded (≈$1.8B average daily volume) but sits on substantial unrealized losses on its ETH position, estimated near $3 billion at current prices. For traders: the buy signals stronger institutional demand for ETH and could provide short-term price support and reduce immediate sell-side liquidity. However, the concentration of holdings and large unrealized losses add tail risk; forced selling or portfolio rebalancing by BitMine would likely increase volatility. Key SEO keywords: BitMine, Ethereum, ETH accumulation, Fusaka upgrade, institutional buying.

Prediction markets recorded a historic surge in November, with aggregated trading volume exceeding $13 billion — more than three times the peak seen during the 2024 U.S. presidential election. The rise reflects broader market diversification beyond politics into finance, technology, geopolitics and entertainment, and improved accessibility as blockchain-based platforms (notably decentralized venues such as Polymarket) become faster, cheaper and easier to use. Key drivers: global uncertainty, matured blockchain infrastructure, and a wider range of tradable questions (Fed rate bets, S&P levels, AI model launches, geopolitical outcomes, box office and awards). Implications for traders include materially improved liquidity and market efficiency, enabling easier entry/exit and more reliable crowd-sourced probabilities. Industry-level effects point to stronger product-market fit and growing mainstream interest, though regulatory uncertainty and security/user-education risks remain. The development positions prediction markets as an increasingly important tool for forecasting and risk allocation, with likely continued volume growth as technology and adoption advance.