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Is More Downside Coming As XRP Price Rests Multi-month Support?
XRP price is edging closer to losing a key trendline support that has historically served as a strong floor, from which previous rebounds have often begun.
Summary
XRP price has fallen nearly 14% over the past week.
Traders are watching a key trendline support level at $2.
Stablecoin supply and cumulative spot XRP ETF inflows have surged in recent weeks.
According to data from crypto.news, XRP (XRP) price was off to a strong start for this year, rallying nearly 30% from Jan. 1 to $2.39 on Jan. 6 amid a market rebound across all cryptocurrencies, especially owing to the January effect that played a key role.
However, as is common with most other cryptocurrencies that experienced similar double-digit surges, it lost part of these gains as investors began profit-taking. The cooling sentiment intensified as expectations of a hawkish Fed policy sent the market back into fear mode. At press time, XRP price was trading at $2.06, down 13.6% from last week’s high.
With traders now scaling back bets on interest rate cuts for the first half of 2026, the fifth-largest cryptocurrency is testing critical demand zones near $2.00 to see if bulls can maintain their grip on the short-term trend.
You might also like: Ethereum price forms symmetrical triangle as whales sell, will it crash?
The daily chart shows that a drop below $2 would risk losing a key multi-month descending trendline that it recently turned from resistance to support. Additionally, $2 has served as a horizontal trendline support multiple times since December 2024, making it a very crucial psychological and technical floor for the asset.
XRP price is testing the $2 support level — Jan. 13 | Source: crypto.news
At press time, momentum indicators showed signs that bears were at an advantage. Notably, the MACD line was at the brink of forming a bearish crossover with the signal line, while the RSI had formed a bearish divergence as it dropped from overbought levels to touch the neutral threshold.
As such, a sharp drop below $2 could trigger further downside to meet the December low at $1.77, which is down nearly 14% from the current price. However, if bulls manage to push XRP price past the $2.2 psychological resistance level, the bearish setup would likely be invalidated.
Bullish fundamentals still at play
Despite the bearish prediction, it must be noted that XRP price still has multiple catalysts building in the background.
For one, data from DeFiLlama shows that the stablecoin supply on the XRP Ledger network has increased by over 10% in the past seven days, largely driven by the growth of Ripple USD (RLUSD), which recently crossed a $1.3 billion market cap.
A stronger stablecoin supply means more liquidity for decentralized finance protocols on the chain, which in turn could boost the utility of XRP as a bridge asset for these transactions.
Also, demand for spot XRP ETFs, while having one weaker period of late, has persisted since their launch. These investment vehicles now hold $1.23 billion in net inflows since their debut.
As institutional demand for regulated crypto exposure continues to build, it could also drive follow-through demand from retail investors who view these inflows as a sign of long term stability, potentially boosting the token’s price over the longer run.
Read more: Lighter price drops 20% as breakdown below $2.30 confirms trend reversal
Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.
Summary
XRP price has fallen nearly 14% over the past week.
Traders are watching a key trendline support level at $2.
Stablecoin supply and cumulative spot XRP ETF inflows have surged in recent weeks.
According to data from crypto.news, XRP (XRP) price was off to a strong start for this year, rallying nearly 30% from Jan. 1 to $2.39 on Jan. 6 amid a market rebound across all cryptocurrencies, especially owing to the January effect that played a key role.
However, as is common with most other cryptocurrencies that experienced similar double-digit surges, it lost part of these gains as investors began profit-taking. The cooling sentiment intensified as expectations of a hawkish Fed policy sent the market back into fear mode. At press time, XRP price was trading at $2.06, down 13.6% from last week’s high.
With traders now scaling back bets on interest rate cuts for the first half of 2026, the fifth-largest cryptocurrency is testing critical demand zones near $2.00 to see if bulls can maintain their grip on the short-term trend.
You might also like: Ethereum price forms symmetrical triangle as whales sell, will it crash?
The daily chart shows that a drop below $2 would risk losing a key multi-month descending trendline that it recently turned from resistance to support. Additionally, $2 has served as a horizontal trendline support multiple times since December 2024, making it a very crucial psychological and technical floor for the asset.
XRP price is testing the $2 support level — Jan. 13 | Source: crypto.news
At press time, momentum indicators showed signs that bears were at an advantage. Notably, the MACD line was at the brink of forming a bearish crossover with the signal line, while the RSI had formed a bearish divergence as it dropped from overbought levels to touch the neutral threshold.
As such, a sharp drop below $2 could trigger further downside to meet the December low at $1.77, which is down nearly 14% from the current price. However, if bulls manage to push XRP price past the $2.2 psychological resistance level, the bearish setup would likely be invalidated.
Bullish fundamentals still at play
Despite the bearish prediction, it must be noted that XRP price still has multiple catalysts building in the background.
For one, data from DeFiLlama shows that the stablecoin supply on the XRP Ledger network has increased by over 10% in the past seven days, largely driven by the growth of Ripple USD (RLUSD), which recently crossed a $1.3 billion market cap.
A stronger stablecoin supply means more liquidity for decentralized finance protocols on the chain, which in turn could boost the utility of XRP as a bridge asset for these transactions.
Also, demand for spot XRP ETFs, while having one weaker period of late, has persisted since their launch. These investment vehicles now hold $1.23 billion in net inflows since their debut.
As institutional demand for regulated crypto exposure continues to build, it could also drive follow-through demand from retail investors who view these inflows as a sign of long term stability, potentially boosting the token’s price over the longer run.
Read more: Lighter price drops 20% as breakdown below $2.30 confirms trend reversal
Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.
Why Can’t Companies Stop Social Engineering Attacks? | Opinion
Disclosure: The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to the author and do not represent the views and opinions of crypto.news’ editorial.
Over the past year, most of the biggest exploits in crypto have had the same root cause: people. In the past several months alone, Ledger urged users to pause on-chain activity after npm maintainers were duped and malicious packages propagated; Workday disclosed a social-engineering campaign that accessed data in a third-party CRM; and North Korea–linked operators continued fake-job lures against crypto teams to deliver malware.
Summary
Crypto isn’t being hacked — it’s being talked into giving itself away. Most breaches now come from phishing, fake updates, and impersonation, not broken code, making “people” the primary attack surface.
Programmable money turns small mistakes into catastrophic losses. A single leaked key or approved request can drain funds instantly and irreversibly, making social engineering a systemic risk, not a user error.
Until operational security is treated like core infrastructure, exploits will keep scaling. Audits and code reviews can’t stop human deception — only enforced device, access, and training standards can.
Despite billions spent on cybersecurity, companies keep getting beaten by simple social engineering. Teams pour money into technical safeguards, audits, and code reviews while neglecting operational security, device hygiene, and basic human factors. As more financial activity moves on-chain, that blind spot becomes a systemic risk to digital infrastructure.
The only way to slow the surge of social-engineering attacks is a broad, sustained investment in operational security that reduces the payoff of these tactics.
You might also like: DeFi’s promised to replace TradFi, not sit on top of them | Opinion
Social engineering is the Achilles’ heel of cybersecurity
Verizon’s 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report ties the “human element” of cybersecurity (phishing, stolen credentials, and everyday mistakes) to roughly 60% of data breaches.
Social engineering works because it targets people, not code, exploiting trust, urgency, familiarity, and routine. These types of exploits can’t be eliminated through a coding audit and are difficult to defend with automated cybersecurity tools. Code review and other common cybersecurity practices can’t stop an employee from approving a fraudulent request that looks like it came from a manager, or downloading a fake Zoom update that seems legitimate.
Even highly technical teams get caught; human weakness is universal and stubborn. And as a result, social engineering continues to drive real-world incidents.
Crypto raises the stakes
Programmable money concentrates risk. In web3, compromising a seed phrase or an API token can be equivalent to breaching a bank vault. The irreversible nature of crypto transactions amplifies mistakes: once funds move, there is often no way to reverse the transaction. A single lapse in device security or key handling can wipe out assets. Web3’s decentralized design means there is often no help desk to reach out to, leaving users to fend for themselves.
Hackers, including state-backed mercenaries, have noted the effectiveness of social engineering attacks and adapted accordingly. Operations attributed to North Korea’s Lazarus Group lean heavily on social engineering: fake job offers, poisoned PDFs, malicious packages, and tailored phishing that prey on human vulnerabilities.
These exploits are startlingly effective and simple to execute, and tech companies seem unable to defend against them. Unlike zero-day exploits, which are quickly patched (forcing hackers to find new exploit strategies), hackers are able to leverage the same social engineering tactics over and over, autonomously, spending more time hacking and less time on R&D.
Companies need to invest in operations security
Too many organizations still treat security as a compliance exercise — an attitude reinforced by permissive regulatory standards. Companies routinely pass audits and publish spotless reports even while harboring glaring operational risks: administrator keys stored on personal laptops, credentials shared over chat and email, stale access privileges that never rotate, and travel laptops repurposed as development machines.
Fixing this failure of discipline requires explicit, enforced operational security. Teams should use managed devices, strong endpoint protection, and full-disk encryption; company logins should leverage password managers and phishing-resistant MFA; and system managers should carefully manage privileges and access. These controls are not a catch-all, but they add to making social engineering attacks more difficult and help mitigate the impact of potential exploits.
Most importantly, teams need to invest in operational security training; employees (not cybersecurity teams) are the first line of defense against social engineering attacks. Companies should spend time training their teams to spot likely phishing attacks, practice safe data hygiene, and understand operational security practices.
Critically, we can’t expect organizations to adopt hardened cybersecurity postures voluntarily; regulators must step in and set enforceable operational baselines that make real security non-optional. Compliance frameworks should move beyond documentation and require demonstrable proof of secure practices: verified key management, periodic access reviews, endpoint hardening, and simulated phishing readiness. Without regulatory teeth, the incentive will always favor optics over outcomes.
Social engineering is only getting worse
It’s critical to invest in operational security now because the rate of attacks is growing exponentially.
Generative AI has changed the economics of deception. Attackers can now personalize, localize, and automate phishing at an industrial scale. Campaigns that once focused on a single user or enterprise can now be used to target thousands of businesses with little extra cost. Phishing attacks can be personalized with just a few clicks, incorporating intimate details to make a spoofed email feel legitimate.
AI also accelerates reconnaissance. Public footprints, leaked credentials, and open-source intelligence can be mined and assembled into “briefs” on each victim, helping hackers develop deeply convincing attacks.
Slowing the rate of attacks
Social engineering thrives where implicit trust and convenience override verification and prudence. Organizations need to adapt a more defensive posture and (correctly) assume that they are under the constant threat of a social engineering attack.
Teams should adopt zero-trust principles in daily operations and incorporate operational security principles throughout the company. They should train employees on operational security to stop attacks early and keep their team up to date on the latest social engineering tactics.
Most importantly, companies need to find where trust still lives in their operations (wherever an attacker can impersonate an employee, a piece of software, or a customer) and add extra safeguards.
Social engineering will not disappear, but we can make it far less effective and far less catastrophic when attacks occur. As the industry hardens itself against these attacks, social engineering will become less lucrative for hackers, and the rate of attacks will drop, finally bringing a real end to this breathless cycle of exploits.
Read more: Corporate treasuries are getting Bitcoin wrong | Opinion
Author: Jan Philipp Fritsche
Dr. Jan Philipp Fritsche is the managing director of Oak Security, a cybersecurity firm specializing in web3 audits. Prior to his role at Oak Security, Dr. Fritsche amassed extensive experience in econometric and risk modeling, holding positions at institutions such as the European Central Bank and DIW Berlin. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Humboldt University of Berlin.
Over the past year, most of the biggest exploits in crypto have had the same root cause: people. In the past several months alone, Ledger urged users to pause on-chain activity after npm maintainers were duped and malicious packages propagated; Workday disclosed a social-engineering campaign that accessed data in a third-party CRM; and North Korea–linked operators continued fake-job lures against crypto teams to deliver malware.
Summary
Crypto isn’t being hacked — it’s being talked into giving itself away. Most breaches now come from phishing, fake updates, and impersonation, not broken code, making “people” the primary attack surface.
Programmable money turns small mistakes into catastrophic losses. A single leaked key or approved request can drain funds instantly and irreversibly, making social engineering a systemic risk, not a user error.
Until operational security is treated like core infrastructure, exploits will keep scaling. Audits and code reviews can’t stop human deception — only enforced device, access, and training standards can.
Despite billions spent on cybersecurity, companies keep getting beaten by simple social engineering. Teams pour money into technical safeguards, audits, and code reviews while neglecting operational security, device hygiene, and basic human factors. As more financial activity moves on-chain, that blind spot becomes a systemic risk to digital infrastructure.
The only way to slow the surge of social-engineering attacks is a broad, sustained investment in operational security that reduces the payoff of these tactics.
You might also like: DeFi’s promised to replace TradFi, not sit on top of them | Opinion
Social engineering is the Achilles’ heel of cybersecurity
Verizon’s 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report ties the “human element” of cybersecurity (phishing, stolen credentials, and everyday mistakes) to roughly 60% of data breaches.
Social engineering works because it targets people, not code, exploiting trust, urgency, familiarity, and routine. These types of exploits can’t be eliminated through a coding audit and are difficult to defend with automated cybersecurity tools. Code review and other common cybersecurity practices can’t stop an employee from approving a fraudulent request that looks like it came from a manager, or downloading a fake Zoom update that seems legitimate.
Even highly technical teams get caught; human weakness is universal and stubborn. And as a result, social engineering continues to drive real-world incidents.
Crypto raises the stakes
Programmable money concentrates risk. In web3, compromising a seed phrase or an API token can be equivalent to breaching a bank vault. The irreversible nature of crypto transactions amplifies mistakes: once funds move, there is often no way to reverse the transaction. A single lapse in device security or key handling can wipe out assets. Web3’s decentralized design means there is often no help desk to reach out to, leaving users to fend for themselves.
Hackers, including state-backed mercenaries, have noted the effectiveness of social engineering attacks and adapted accordingly. Operations attributed to North Korea’s Lazarus Group lean heavily on social engineering: fake job offers, poisoned PDFs, malicious packages, and tailored phishing that prey on human vulnerabilities.
These exploits are startlingly effective and simple to execute, and tech companies seem unable to defend against them. Unlike zero-day exploits, which are quickly patched (forcing hackers to find new exploit strategies), hackers are able to leverage the same social engineering tactics over and over, autonomously, spending more time hacking and less time on R&D.
Companies need to invest in operations security
Too many organizations still treat security as a compliance exercise — an attitude reinforced by permissive regulatory standards. Companies routinely pass audits and publish spotless reports even while harboring glaring operational risks: administrator keys stored on personal laptops, credentials shared over chat and email, stale access privileges that never rotate, and travel laptops repurposed as development machines.
Fixing this failure of discipline requires explicit, enforced operational security. Teams should use managed devices, strong endpoint protection, and full-disk encryption; company logins should leverage password managers and phishing-resistant MFA; and system managers should carefully manage privileges and access. These controls are not a catch-all, but they add to making social engineering attacks more difficult and help mitigate the impact of potential exploits.
Most importantly, teams need to invest in operational security training; employees (not cybersecurity teams) are the first line of defense against social engineering attacks. Companies should spend time training their teams to spot likely phishing attacks, practice safe data hygiene, and understand operational security practices.
Critically, we can’t expect organizations to adopt hardened cybersecurity postures voluntarily; regulators must step in and set enforceable operational baselines that make real security non-optional. Compliance frameworks should move beyond documentation and require demonstrable proof of secure practices: verified key management, periodic access reviews, endpoint hardening, and simulated phishing readiness. Without regulatory teeth, the incentive will always favor optics over outcomes.
Social engineering is only getting worse
It’s critical to invest in operational security now because the rate of attacks is growing exponentially.
Generative AI has changed the economics of deception. Attackers can now personalize, localize, and automate phishing at an industrial scale. Campaigns that once focused on a single user or enterprise can now be used to target thousands of businesses with little extra cost. Phishing attacks can be personalized with just a few clicks, incorporating intimate details to make a spoofed email feel legitimate.
AI also accelerates reconnaissance. Public footprints, leaked credentials, and open-source intelligence can be mined and assembled into “briefs” on each victim, helping hackers develop deeply convincing attacks.
Slowing the rate of attacks
Social engineering thrives where implicit trust and convenience override verification and prudence. Organizations need to adapt a more defensive posture and (correctly) assume that they are under the constant threat of a social engineering attack.
Teams should adopt zero-trust principles in daily operations and incorporate operational security principles throughout the company. They should train employees on operational security to stop attacks early and keep their team up to date on the latest social engineering tactics.
Most importantly, companies need to find where trust still lives in their operations (wherever an attacker can impersonate an employee, a piece of software, or a customer) and add extra safeguards.
Social engineering will not disappear, but we can make it far less effective and far less catastrophic when attacks occur. As the industry hardens itself against these attacks, social engineering will become less lucrative for hackers, and the rate of attacks will drop, finally bringing a real end to this breathless cycle of exploits.
Read more: Corporate treasuries are getting Bitcoin wrong | Opinion
Author: Jan Philipp Fritsche
Dr. Jan Philipp Fritsche is the managing director of Oak Security, a cybersecurity firm specializing in web3 audits. Prior to his role at Oak Security, Dr. Fritsche amassed extensive experience in econometric and risk modeling, holding positions at institutions such as the European Central Bank and DIW Berlin. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Humboldt University of Berlin.
Pi Network Price Forms an Alarming Pattern As Daily Volume Tumbles
Pi Network price remained in a tight range today, January 12, continuing a trend that has been going on since the second week of December.
Summary
Pi Network price remained in a tight range on Monday.
The daily volume dropped to just $6 million.
It has formed a rising wedge pattern, pointing to more downside.
Pi Coin (PI) token was trading at $0.2075, much lower than the all-time high of ~$3, which it reached shortly after the mainnet launch.
The ongoing consolidation is largely because of the waning demand among investors. Data compiled by CoinMarketCap shows that its volume in the last 24 hours was just $6 million, a tiny amount for a cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of over $1.7 billion. Its volume was much lower than other smaller cryptocurrencies like Render, Cosmos, and Official Trump.
Pi Network’s volume waned even after the developers launched new tools to make it faster for its developers to incorporate payments to their applications. The new tools include the Pi SDK and backend APIs to ensure that they can integrate these payments within minutes.
You might also like: Dubai bans Monero, Zcash as DIFC slams door on privacy tokens and tightens stablecoins
Pi’s team is also working on the decentralized exchange, automated market, and token creation tools, which will be launched later this year. They hope that these tools will help to boost Pi’s utility over time.
There are a few reasons why Pi Network’s volume has dropped in the past few months. First, unlike most tokens, Pi is not listed in most mainstream exchanges like Coinbase and Binance.
Second, there are concerns about the daily token unlocks, which are increasing its supply. The network will unlock over 1.2 billion tokens this year.
Further, Pi is a highly centralized network in the crypto industry, with the obscure Pi Foundation holding billions of tokens.
Pi Network price is at risk of a deeper dive
Pi Coin price chart | Source: crypto.news
The daily chart shows that the Pi Coin has formed highly bearish chart patterns, pointing to more downside. It is in the process of forming a rising wedge pattern, which is made up of two ascending and converging trendlines. These two lines are nearing their convergence, which will lead to a bearish breakout.
The coin has also formed a bearish pennant pattern, a common continuation sign. It remains below the 50-day Exponential Moving Average and the Supertrend indicator.
Therefore, the most likely Pi forecast is bearish, with the next key target being at $0.1918, its lowest level in December. A drop below that target will raise odds of it reaching its all-time low.
Read more: Bitcoin price forms bullish reversal pattern while weekly ETF outflows hit $681M
Summary
Pi Network price remained in a tight range on Monday.
The daily volume dropped to just $6 million.
It has formed a rising wedge pattern, pointing to more downside.
Pi Coin (PI) token was trading at $0.2075, much lower than the all-time high of ~$3, which it reached shortly after the mainnet launch.
The ongoing consolidation is largely because of the waning demand among investors. Data compiled by CoinMarketCap shows that its volume in the last 24 hours was just $6 million, a tiny amount for a cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of over $1.7 billion. Its volume was much lower than other smaller cryptocurrencies like Render, Cosmos, and Official Trump.
Pi Network’s volume waned even after the developers launched new tools to make it faster for its developers to incorporate payments to their applications. The new tools include the Pi SDK and backend APIs to ensure that they can integrate these payments within minutes.
You might also like: Dubai bans Monero, Zcash as DIFC slams door on privacy tokens and tightens stablecoins
Pi’s team is also working on the decentralized exchange, automated market, and token creation tools, which will be launched later this year. They hope that these tools will help to boost Pi’s utility over time.
There are a few reasons why Pi Network’s volume has dropped in the past few months. First, unlike most tokens, Pi is not listed in most mainstream exchanges like Coinbase and Binance.
Second, there are concerns about the daily token unlocks, which are increasing its supply. The network will unlock over 1.2 billion tokens this year.
Further, Pi is a highly centralized network in the crypto industry, with the obscure Pi Foundation holding billions of tokens.
Pi Network price is at risk of a deeper dive
Pi Coin price chart | Source: crypto.news
The daily chart shows that the Pi Coin has formed highly bearish chart patterns, pointing to more downside. It is in the process of forming a rising wedge pattern, which is made up of two ascending and converging trendlines. These two lines are nearing their convergence, which will lead to a bearish breakout.
The coin has also formed a bearish pennant pattern, a common continuation sign. It remains below the 50-day Exponential Moving Average and the Supertrend indicator.
Therefore, the most likely Pi forecast is bearish, with the next key target being at $0.1918, its lowest level in December. A drop below that target will raise odds of it reaching its all-time low.
Read more: Bitcoin price forms bullish reversal pattern while weekly ETF outflows hit $681M
Tether Freezes $182M in USDT Across Tron Wallets Likely Linked to Illegal Activity
Tether has carried out one of its largest single-day enforcement actions, freezing a significant amount of USDT on the Tron network.
Summary
Tether froze about $182 million in USDT across five Tron wallets on January 11, 2026.
The action, linked to U.S. law enforcement, highlights issuer control over stablecoin freezes.
Critics say centralized freeze power demonstrates fundamental differences between stablecoins and decentralized assets like Bitcoin.
In an action that appears to be linked to law enforcement, Tether has blocked a significant amount of USDT on the Tron blockchain.
On Jan. 11, Tether froze roughly $182 million in USDT across five Tron (TRX) based wallets in a single day, according to data from on-chain tracker Whale Alert. The holdings in each wallet that were targeted by the freezes ranged from roughly $12 million to $50 million.
Massive freeze executed with law enforcement cooperation
The actions appear to have been carried out in coordination with U.S. authorities, including the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. However, Tether has not publicly detailed the precise reasons for the freezes.
Such moves typically follow investigations into scams, hacks, sanctions evasion, or other illegal uses of crypto.
❄ ❄ An address with a balance of 50,000,003 #USDT (49,967,047 USD) has just been frozen!https://t.co/J0645eyxA2
— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) January 10, 2026
You might also like: Crypto scammer caught up in record-breaking drug seizure
Tether retains special administrative keys in the USDT smart contracts it issues, which let the company freeze tokens at the issuer level. This capability is part of how fiat-backed stablecoin issuers comply with legal requests and anti-money-laundering rules.
The latest freezing event is one of the largest seen for USDT in a single day. For context, analytics firm AMLBot reports that Tether has frozen over $3 billion in assets from over 7,000 addresses between 2023 and 2025, a scale far beyond what other stablecoin issuers have done.
Centralization sparks debate amid market dominance
The freeze comes as discussions around the centralized control of stablecoins grow. USDT is widely used across crypto markets, with more than $80 billion circulating on the Tron blockchain.
Unlike decentralized assets such as Bitcoin (BTC), stablecoins like USDT can be halted or blocked by their issuers when legal pressure arises.
Chainalysis data shows stablecoins accounted for around 84 % of illicit crypto activity by the end of 2025, reflecting how dollar-pegged tokens have become the medium of choice in many on-chain frauds and sanctions-linked movements.
Critics point out that this “kill switch” model makes stablecoins fundamentally different from decentralized cryptocurrencies and could push some governments or institutions to favor assets that cannot be frozen, such as Bitcoin or gold.
Read more: Will the CLARITY Act trigger a crypto market rally?
Summary
Tether froze about $182 million in USDT across five Tron wallets on January 11, 2026.
The action, linked to U.S. law enforcement, highlights issuer control over stablecoin freezes.
Critics say centralized freeze power demonstrates fundamental differences between stablecoins and decentralized assets like Bitcoin.
In an action that appears to be linked to law enforcement, Tether has blocked a significant amount of USDT on the Tron blockchain.
On Jan. 11, Tether froze roughly $182 million in USDT across five Tron (TRX) based wallets in a single day, according to data from on-chain tracker Whale Alert. The holdings in each wallet that were targeted by the freezes ranged from roughly $12 million to $50 million.
Massive freeze executed with law enforcement cooperation
The actions appear to have been carried out in coordination with U.S. authorities, including the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. However, Tether has not publicly detailed the precise reasons for the freezes.
Such moves typically follow investigations into scams, hacks, sanctions evasion, or other illegal uses of crypto.
❄ ❄ An address with a balance of 50,000,003 #USDT (49,967,047 USD) has just been frozen!https://t.co/J0645eyxA2
— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) January 10, 2026
You might also like: Crypto scammer caught up in record-breaking drug seizure
Tether retains special administrative keys in the USDT smart contracts it issues, which let the company freeze tokens at the issuer level. This capability is part of how fiat-backed stablecoin issuers comply with legal requests and anti-money-laundering rules.
The latest freezing event is one of the largest seen for USDT in a single day. For context, analytics firm AMLBot reports that Tether has frozen over $3 billion in assets from over 7,000 addresses between 2023 and 2025, a scale far beyond what other stablecoin issuers have done.
Centralization sparks debate amid market dominance
The freeze comes as discussions around the centralized control of stablecoins grow. USDT is widely used across crypto markets, with more than $80 billion circulating on the Tron blockchain.
Unlike decentralized assets such as Bitcoin (BTC), stablecoins like USDT can be halted or blocked by their issuers when legal pressure arises.
Chainalysis data shows stablecoins accounted for around 84 % of illicit crypto activity by the end of 2025, reflecting how dollar-pegged tokens have become the medium of choice in many on-chain frauds and sanctions-linked movements.
Critics point out that this “kill switch” model makes stablecoins fundamentally different from decentralized cryptocurrencies and could push some governments or institutions to favor assets that cannot be frozen, such as Bitcoin or gold.
Read more: Will the CLARITY Act trigger a crypto market rally?
Optimism Submits Proposal to Use 50% of Superchain Revenue for OP Buybacks
Optimism is proposing a structural change that ties its token directly to network activity and Superchain revenue.
Summary
Optimism proposes using 50% of Superchain revenue for OP buybacks.
The program would launch in February pending a Jan. 22 governance vote.
OP tokens bought would return to the treasury for future governance use.
Optimism is moving towards a model that would see OP transition from a purely governance token.
In a Jan. 8 blog post, the Optimism Foundation outlined a governance proposal that would direct half of all incoming Superchain revenue toward buying Optimism (OP) tokens on a recurring basis, with the program set to begin in February if approved.
Turning Superchain revenue into OP demand
The proposal centers on revenue generated by the Superchain, a growing network of layer-2 chains built using the OP Stack. These include Base, OP Mainnet, Unichain, World Chain, Ink, Soneium, and others. Each chain contributes a share of sequencer revenue back to Optimism under existing agreements.
A proposal for the next chapter of Optimism 🔴The Optimism Foundation is putting forward a proposal to align the OP token with growing Superchain demand by directing 50% of incoming Superchain revenue to regular OP buybacks https://t.co/VSDazlbRdX pic.twitter.com/jBQoJyxDCF
— Optimism (@Optimism) January 8, 2026
You might also like: Bitcoin holds $90k as jobless claims signal cooling as top Fed official pushes for rate cuts
Over the past 12 months, that revenue totaled 5,868 ETH, all of which has flowed into a governance-controlled treasury. As Superchain usage has expanded, that pool has grown alongside it. The Foundation now wants to formalize a link between that activity and the OP token.
Under the plan, 50% of new monthly revenue would be used to buy OP tokens over a 12-month pilot period. The remaining half would continue to fund Foundation operations and ecosystem growth.
Purchases are expected to be executed in a way that limits market disruption, with tokens returned to the Collective’s treasury rather than distributed immediately.
Governance would retain control over what happens next. Options include burning the tokens, allocating them to future staking programs, or using them for other ecosystem incentives as the Superchain matures.
A shift in OP’s role
Until now, OP has largely functioned as a governance token, with value tied loosely to adoption of the OP Stack. The Foundation argues that this structure no longer fits the scale Optimism has reached.
The Superchain currently accounts for more than 60% of layer 2 fee market share and processes about 13% of total on-chain transactions. The proposal frames buybacks as a way to let that usage feed directly back into OP, rather than stopping at treasury accumulation.
The Foundation described the move as an early step, not a final design. Future changes could expand OP’s role into areas such as shared infrastructure coordination or sequencer-related functions, with the buyback mechanism positioned as a starting point rather than a complete overhaul.
Discussion around the proposal is ongoing in Optimism’s governance forum. A community call with Optimism leadership is scheduled for Jan. 12, ahead of a formal vote on Jan. 22. If approved, the buyback program would begin shortly after.
OP is down 87% year-over-year and more than 90% from its 2024 all-time high. The new proposal could help boost the token’s price.
Read more: Ex-Zcash devs to launch CashZ wallet after mass resignation
Summary
Optimism proposes using 50% of Superchain revenue for OP buybacks.
The program would launch in February pending a Jan. 22 governance vote.
OP tokens bought would return to the treasury for future governance use.
Optimism is moving towards a model that would see OP transition from a purely governance token.
In a Jan. 8 blog post, the Optimism Foundation outlined a governance proposal that would direct half of all incoming Superchain revenue toward buying Optimism (OP) tokens on a recurring basis, with the program set to begin in February if approved.
Turning Superchain revenue into OP demand
The proposal centers on revenue generated by the Superchain, a growing network of layer-2 chains built using the OP Stack. These include Base, OP Mainnet, Unichain, World Chain, Ink, Soneium, and others. Each chain contributes a share of sequencer revenue back to Optimism under existing agreements.
A proposal for the next chapter of Optimism 🔴The Optimism Foundation is putting forward a proposal to align the OP token with growing Superchain demand by directing 50% of incoming Superchain revenue to regular OP buybacks https://t.co/VSDazlbRdX pic.twitter.com/jBQoJyxDCF
— Optimism (@Optimism) January 8, 2026
You might also like: Bitcoin holds $90k as jobless claims signal cooling as top Fed official pushes for rate cuts
Over the past 12 months, that revenue totaled 5,868 ETH, all of which has flowed into a governance-controlled treasury. As Superchain usage has expanded, that pool has grown alongside it. The Foundation now wants to formalize a link between that activity and the OP token.
Under the plan, 50% of new monthly revenue would be used to buy OP tokens over a 12-month pilot period. The remaining half would continue to fund Foundation operations and ecosystem growth.
Purchases are expected to be executed in a way that limits market disruption, with tokens returned to the Collective’s treasury rather than distributed immediately.
Governance would retain control over what happens next. Options include burning the tokens, allocating them to future staking programs, or using them for other ecosystem incentives as the Superchain matures.
A shift in OP’s role
Until now, OP has largely functioned as a governance token, with value tied loosely to adoption of the OP Stack. The Foundation argues that this structure no longer fits the scale Optimism has reached.
The Superchain currently accounts for more than 60% of layer 2 fee market share and processes about 13% of total on-chain transactions. The proposal frames buybacks as a way to let that usage feed directly back into OP, rather than stopping at treasury accumulation.
The Foundation described the move as an early step, not a final design. Future changes could expand OP’s role into areas such as shared infrastructure coordination or sequencer-related functions, with the buyback mechanism positioned as a starting point rather than a complete overhaul.
Discussion around the proposal is ongoing in Optimism’s governance forum. A community call with Optimism leadership is scheduled for Jan. 12, ahead of a formal vote on Jan. 22. If approved, the buyback program would begin shortly after.
OP is down 87% year-over-year and more than 90% from its 2024 all-time high. The new proposal could help boost the token’s price.
Read more: Ex-Zcash devs to launch CashZ wallet after mass resignation
Ex-Zcash Devs to Launch CashZ Wallet After Mass Resignation
The former Zcash development team is moving forward under a new company after a full resignation from Electric Coin Company, the entity that oversees the privacy project.
Summary
Former Electric Coin Company staff resigned and formed a new for-profit startup called CashZ.
The team plans to launch a new Zcash wallet built from the existing Zashi codebase.
Developers say the move allows faster development while staying focused on Zcash.
The core development team behind Zcash’s flagship wallet is preparing to relaunch its work under a new company after resigning en masse from Electric Coin Company.
On Jan. 8, former ECC chief executive officer Josh Swihart announced the creation of a new for-profit startup, CashZ, formed by the same team that built the Zashi wallet and contributed to recent Zcash (ZEC) protocol development. The company plans to release a new Zcash wallet, code-named cashZ, using the existing Zashi codebase.
Why the team walked away from ECC
The move follows what Swihart described as a “constructive discharge” stemming from disputes with Bootstrap, the nonprofit that oversees ECC. According to Swihart, changes imposed by a majority of Bootstrap’s board made it impossible for the team to continue operating effectively within the nonprofit structure.
Despite the split, Swihart emphasized that the team remains fully committed to Zcash. No new token is being launched, and the group says its sole focus is scaling Zcash adoption rather than building a separate ecosystem.
We are all in on Zcash.We need to scale Zcash to billions of users.Startups can scale, but nonprofits can't.That's why we created a new Zcash startup.https://t.co/ZurjfTxnPi pic.twitter.com/ksnwLewpPp
— Josh Swihart 🛡 (@jswihart) January 8, 2026
You might also like: Former BitMEX CEO Hayes predicts Zcash could reach $1,000 on privacy demand
In a lengthy public statement, Swihart argued that nonprofit governance has become a limiting factor for fast-moving crypto development teams. He said startups are better suited to execute, raise capital, and remain aligned around clear incentives, particularly as regulatory pressure on non-profit entities increases.
He framed the transition as a structural change rather than an ideological break, noting that the Zcash protocol itself is open source and unaffected by the team’s departure. Development, he said, will continue under the new company with the same technical goals.
The cashZ wallet will be a direct continuation of Zashi. Existing Zashi users will be able to migrate with minimal friction once the new wallet goes live, according to the company. A public waitlist is already open.
Market reaction and broader context
ZEC prices responded swiftly to the news of the resignation. The market fell for a short while as confusion and rumors circulated on social media, with some users even claiming the project had been abandoned.
Later, the team stepped in to clarify the situation, re-assuring investors that Zcash’s development is still moving forward under a different structure.
This episode reflects a common struggle in crypto. Foundations tend to move slowly, while startups move fast. Zcash has seen real technical progress in recent months. Still, the CashZ launch shows that how a project is organized can matter more than the protocol itself when it comes to scaling.
Read more: Morgan Stanley plans digital wallet, crypto trading push in 2026
Summary
Former Electric Coin Company staff resigned and formed a new for-profit startup called CashZ.
The team plans to launch a new Zcash wallet built from the existing Zashi codebase.
Developers say the move allows faster development while staying focused on Zcash.
The core development team behind Zcash’s flagship wallet is preparing to relaunch its work under a new company after resigning en masse from Electric Coin Company.
On Jan. 8, former ECC chief executive officer Josh Swihart announced the creation of a new for-profit startup, CashZ, formed by the same team that built the Zashi wallet and contributed to recent Zcash (ZEC) protocol development. The company plans to release a new Zcash wallet, code-named cashZ, using the existing Zashi codebase.
Why the team walked away from ECC
The move follows what Swihart described as a “constructive discharge” stemming from disputes with Bootstrap, the nonprofit that oversees ECC. According to Swihart, changes imposed by a majority of Bootstrap’s board made it impossible for the team to continue operating effectively within the nonprofit structure.
Despite the split, Swihart emphasized that the team remains fully committed to Zcash. No new token is being launched, and the group says its sole focus is scaling Zcash adoption rather than building a separate ecosystem.
We are all in on Zcash.We need to scale Zcash to billions of users.Startups can scale, but nonprofits can't.That's why we created a new Zcash startup.https://t.co/ZurjfTxnPi pic.twitter.com/ksnwLewpPp
— Josh Swihart 🛡 (@jswihart) January 8, 2026
You might also like: Former BitMEX CEO Hayes predicts Zcash could reach $1,000 on privacy demand
In a lengthy public statement, Swihart argued that nonprofit governance has become a limiting factor for fast-moving crypto development teams. He said startups are better suited to execute, raise capital, and remain aligned around clear incentives, particularly as regulatory pressure on non-profit entities increases.
He framed the transition as a structural change rather than an ideological break, noting that the Zcash protocol itself is open source and unaffected by the team’s departure. Development, he said, will continue under the new company with the same technical goals.
The cashZ wallet will be a direct continuation of Zashi. Existing Zashi users will be able to migrate with minimal friction once the new wallet goes live, according to the company. A public waitlist is already open.
Market reaction and broader context
ZEC prices responded swiftly to the news of the resignation. The market fell for a short while as confusion and rumors circulated on social media, with some users even claiming the project had been abandoned.
Later, the team stepped in to clarify the situation, re-assuring investors that Zcash’s development is still moving forward under a different structure.
This episode reflects a common struggle in crypto. Foundations tend to move slowly, while startups move fast. Zcash has seen real technical progress in recent months. Still, the CashZ launch shows that how a project is organized can matter more than the protocol itself when it comes to scaling.
Read more: Morgan Stanley plans digital wallet, crypto trading push in 2026
Tribes Draw a Line As Prediction Markets Encroach on Native American Gaming
A growing legal clash is unfolding between Native American tribes and Silicon Valley-backed prediction markets, as tribal leaders warn that new forms of online wagering threaten the economic backbone of Indigenous communities across the U.S.
Summary
At the center of the dispute are Kalshi Inc. and its partner Robinhood Markets Inc.
The prediction-based trading products allow users to gamble with crypto on real-world events.
Tribes argue that they amount to illegal gambling conducted outside established federal, state, and tribal gaming frameworks.
According to Bloomberg, a coalition of Native American organizations and tribes has filed a legal brief backing the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin in its lawsuit against Kalshi and Robinhood.
These companies undermine a hard-won system that has allowed tribes to fund essential government services, social programs, and economic development through gaming revenue, the Native nations argue.
The decision marks an escalation of a broader fight over the future of prediction markets. The brief, supported by groups including the Indian Gaming Association and the National Congress of American Indians, maintains that gaming is not simply a commercial activity for tribes but an existential one tied directly to tribal sovereignty and self-determination.
Tribes have historically dominated gaming outside Las Vegas due to legal carve-outs allowing gambling on Indigenous land, creating a critical revenue stream. They contend that Kalshi and Robinhood’s offerings bypass these protections and violate longstanding law. Kalshi maintains that its regulation by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission overrides state and tribal authority, while Robinhood says its products operate within a compliant framework.
Despite mounting legal resistance from tribes and states such as Nevada, prediction markets continue to gain traction. Competitors like Polymarket are striking media partnerships, and major exchanges, including Intercontinental Exchange and CME Group, are moving into the space—signaling that the regulatory battle is only beginning.
Read more: Blink plugs into crypto: EV charging gets a stablecoin test drive
Summary
At the center of the dispute are Kalshi Inc. and its partner Robinhood Markets Inc.
The prediction-based trading products allow users to gamble with crypto on real-world events.
Tribes argue that they amount to illegal gambling conducted outside established federal, state, and tribal gaming frameworks.
According to Bloomberg, a coalition of Native American organizations and tribes has filed a legal brief backing the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin in its lawsuit against Kalshi and Robinhood.
These companies undermine a hard-won system that has allowed tribes to fund essential government services, social programs, and economic development through gaming revenue, the Native nations argue.
The decision marks an escalation of a broader fight over the future of prediction markets. The brief, supported by groups including the Indian Gaming Association and the National Congress of American Indians, maintains that gaming is not simply a commercial activity for tribes but an existential one tied directly to tribal sovereignty and self-determination.
Tribes have historically dominated gaming outside Las Vegas due to legal carve-outs allowing gambling on Indigenous land, creating a critical revenue stream. They contend that Kalshi and Robinhood’s offerings bypass these protections and violate longstanding law. Kalshi maintains that its regulation by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission overrides state and tribal authority, while Robinhood says its products operate within a compliant framework.
Despite mounting legal resistance from tribes and states such as Nevada, prediction markets continue to gain traction. Competitors like Polymarket are striking media partnerships, and major exchanges, including Intercontinental Exchange and CME Group, are moving into the space—signaling that the regulatory battle is only beginning.
Read more: Blink plugs into crypto: EV charging gets a stablecoin test drive
Crypto’s Downward Spiral: Echoes of the Dot-com Era Boom & Bust | Opinion
Disclosure: The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to the author and do not represent the views and opinions of crypto.news’ editorial.
During the dot-com boom in the late 1990s, the stock market resembled a free-for-all where investors — both retail and institutional — were scrambling to buy up shares of just about any internet startup they could get their hands on. The general consensus was that the internet was “the future” and these new online startups were just months away from trampling over traditional industries and putting them all out of business.
Summary
The dot-com bubble mirrors today’s crypto market: hype, FOMO, and sky-high valuations detached from fundamentals led to inevitable corrections once earnings failed to justify prices.
Crypto is entering its valuation reckoning: as tokens mature and generate measurable revenue, many now resemble 100x+ earnings bets, exposing overvaluation just as in the dot-com bust.
Consolidation will define the next phase: weak projects will fail, but fundamentally sound protocols may survive the downturn and lay the groundwork for a durable web3 era—just as Amazon and Google emerged from the dot-com crash.
The hype was real, and the dreaded “fear of missing out” took hold as investors eyed enormous 100x-200x gains, losing all sense of logic in the process. Very few looked at the fundamentals — as long as a company had “dot-com” somewhere in its name, it was destined for greatness. Or so they thought.
But once they had millions of dollars in funding locked down, companies like Pets.com, Webvan, Kozmo.com, and eToys.com had to try to build a business. Customers were signing up, and the profits began to trickle in, and that’s when things began to get messy. The problem was, although they had some revenue, it wasn’t nearly as much as what had been promised, and it quickly became apparent to investors they’d paid as much as 100x or 200x earnings for their shares. It was bad news.
You might also like: The internet never had a value protocol — in 2026, that finally changes | Opinion
Historically, the average price-to-earnings ratio of companies in the S&P 500 Index hovers at around 15-25 times earnings, which is considered healthy. So when an investor is paying 100x or 200x, it means the shares they’re holding are massively overvalued. When the realization set in, investors tried to sell, crashing the market and transforming the dot-com boom into a bust.
It took years for the stock market to recover, but it wasn’t a total disaster. The dot-com era companies that survived didn’t just pull through – they ultimately grew into monsters, and the likes of Amazon.com and Google are now among the most valuable companies on Earth with multitrillion-dollar market caps.
Is crypto in a bubble too?
Today, many investors and analysts liken what happened in the dot-com era to today’s artificial intelligence market, which is currently at the crest of a similar wave of enthusiasm. But few have noticed that the dot-com bubble more accurately reflects today’s crypto market.
At the beginning of the year, as Donald Trump entered the White House for his second term on the back of promises to make the U.S. the world’s “crypto capital”, crypto enjoyed unprecedented gains. The bull market was in full swing, and the price of Bitcoin (BTC) skyrocketed, reaching multiple new all-time highs, while assets such as Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL) enjoyed similar gains. Altcoins went into overdrive as that familiar sense of “FOMO” took hold again.
That was until a couple of months ago, when crypto suddenly hit a wall. Bitcoin struggled to grow beyond its new ATH of around $126,000 in October, and the mood began to sour. Prices started to decline, slowly at first, before dropping much more quickly, and just two months later, Bitcoin lost almost a third of its value. Its decline had a cascading effect on altcoins, and many were hit even harder, with some low-cap coins losing more than 50% of their value in the last two months.
There’s a lot of debate about what has caused this dip, with many experts pointing to uncertainty over the economy and AI bubble fears, but the maturity of the crypto market has also had an effect.
During the early days of the dot-com bubble, it was hard to assess the value of the most prominent startups of the day, and the same was true of cryptocurrencies. However, as the market has matured, many tokens have begun to establish viable use cases and revenue streams. ETH, for instance, generates revenue for holders through staking rewards and DeFi activities like restaking and lending. These revenues have become predictable, thanks to the transparent nature of blockchain fees and daily user activity.
Just like we saw in the dot-com era, once a project starts to generate a stable revenue stream, anyone can perform a crude analysis to work out a rough price-to-earnings ratio for that token. Early investors in startups like Pets.com were horrified to discover they had massively overpaid for the shares they held, and many crypto investors have made the same shocking discovery.
Although it is tricky to establish an exact P/E ratio for any cryptocurrency due to the non-traditional nature of their earnings, many tokens look overvalued due to their promises of high future utility and rewards, which contrast with their current earnings potential. When we look at the staking revenue of some tokens, there’s a strong argument to be made that many investors easily paid over 100x their earnings potential, just like the eager investors caught up in the madness of the dot-com bubble in early 2000.
The dawn of the web3 era
It’s difficult to know the exact dynamics driving the crypto market’s ups and downs, but the current downturn bears more than a few similarities to what happened during the dot-com era. However, if this analogy is true, it means we can make some predictions about what happens next.
When the dot-com bubble burst, the most unprofitable startups quickly folded, leading to massive losses for unlucky investors. But not all of the dot-com companies disappeared. In fact, those with sound business models didn’t just survive; they took control of the market and soon began to thrive. The likes of Amazon and Google laid the groundwork for web2 and, ultimately, the rise of social media, cloud computing, smartphone applications, streaming, and online business.
The crypto industry now stands at a similar crossroads. The prospect of a real bear market is growing by the day, and further declines will likely kill off any token that lacks real utility or purpose. As we head into 2026, it’s looking like we’ll see a year of consolidation for crypto. There’s going to be a lot of pain as the most questionable projects fold, but the strong will not only survive, but perhaps even build the foundations of the long-awaited web3 era, where individuals take back control and opportunities abound for us all.
Read more: Silence and invisibility are how crypto wins people’s hearts | Opinion
Author: Stephen Wundke
Stephen Wundke is the strategy and revenue director at Algoz Technologies. He joined Algoz in late 2022 and pioneered the unique SMA structure for an off-exchange settlement product called Quant Pro, using Zodia Custody and Bitfinex.
During the dot-com boom in the late 1990s, the stock market resembled a free-for-all where investors — both retail and institutional — were scrambling to buy up shares of just about any internet startup they could get their hands on. The general consensus was that the internet was “the future” and these new online startups were just months away from trampling over traditional industries and putting them all out of business.
Summary
The dot-com bubble mirrors today’s crypto market: hype, FOMO, and sky-high valuations detached from fundamentals led to inevitable corrections once earnings failed to justify prices.
Crypto is entering its valuation reckoning: as tokens mature and generate measurable revenue, many now resemble 100x+ earnings bets, exposing overvaluation just as in the dot-com bust.
Consolidation will define the next phase: weak projects will fail, but fundamentally sound protocols may survive the downturn and lay the groundwork for a durable web3 era—just as Amazon and Google emerged from the dot-com crash.
The hype was real, and the dreaded “fear of missing out” took hold as investors eyed enormous 100x-200x gains, losing all sense of logic in the process. Very few looked at the fundamentals — as long as a company had “dot-com” somewhere in its name, it was destined for greatness. Or so they thought.
But once they had millions of dollars in funding locked down, companies like Pets.com, Webvan, Kozmo.com, and eToys.com had to try to build a business. Customers were signing up, and the profits began to trickle in, and that’s when things began to get messy. The problem was, although they had some revenue, it wasn’t nearly as much as what had been promised, and it quickly became apparent to investors they’d paid as much as 100x or 200x earnings for their shares. It was bad news.
You might also like: The internet never had a value protocol — in 2026, that finally changes | Opinion
Historically, the average price-to-earnings ratio of companies in the S&P 500 Index hovers at around 15-25 times earnings, which is considered healthy. So when an investor is paying 100x or 200x, it means the shares they’re holding are massively overvalued. When the realization set in, investors tried to sell, crashing the market and transforming the dot-com boom into a bust.
It took years for the stock market to recover, but it wasn’t a total disaster. The dot-com era companies that survived didn’t just pull through – they ultimately grew into monsters, and the likes of Amazon.com and Google are now among the most valuable companies on Earth with multitrillion-dollar market caps.
Is crypto in a bubble too?
Today, many investors and analysts liken what happened in the dot-com era to today’s artificial intelligence market, which is currently at the crest of a similar wave of enthusiasm. But few have noticed that the dot-com bubble more accurately reflects today’s crypto market.
At the beginning of the year, as Donald Trump entered the White House for his second term on the back of promises to make the U.S. the world’s “crypto capital”, crypto enjoyed unprecedented gains. The bull market was in full swing, and the price of Bitcoin (BTC) skyrocketed, reaching multiple new all-time highs, while assets such as Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL) enjoyed similar gains. Altcoins went into overdrive as that familiar sense of “FOMO” took hold again.
That was until a couple of months ago, when crypto suddenly hit a wall. Bitcoin struggled to grow beyond its new ATH of around $126,000 in October, and the mood began to sour. Prices started to decline, slowly at first, before dropping much more quickly, and just two months later, Bitcoin lost almost a third of its value. Its decline had a cascading effect on altcoins, and many were hit even harder, with some low-cap coins losing more than 50% of their value in the last two months.
There’s a lot of debate about what has caused this dip, with many experts pointing to uncertainty over the economy and AI bubble fears, but the maturity of the crypto market has also had an effect.
During the early days of the dot-com bubble, it was hard to assess the value of the most prominent startups of the day, and the same was true of cryptocurrencies. However, as the market has matured, many tokens have begun to establish viable use cases and revenue streams. ETH, for instance, generates revenue for holders through staking rewards and DeFi activities like restaking and lending. These revenues have become predictable, thanks to the transparent nature of blockchain fees and daily user activity.
Just like we saw in the dot-com era, once a project starts to generate a stable revenue stream, anyone can perform a crude analysis to work out a rough price-to-earnings ratio for that token. Early investors in startups like Pets.com were horrified to discover they had massively overpaid for the shares they held, and many crypto investors have made the same shocking discovery.
Although it is tricky to establish an exact P/E ratio for any cryptocurrency due to the non-traditional nature of their earnings, many tokens look overvalued due to their promises of high future utility and rewards, which contrast with their current earnings potential. When we look at the staking revenue of some tokens, there’s a strong argument to be made that many investors easily paid over 100x their earnings potential, just like the eager investors caught up in the madness of the dot-com bubble in early 2000.
The dawn of the web3 era
It’s difficult to know the exact dynamics driving the crypto market’s ups and downs, but the current downturn bears more than a few similarities to what happened during the dot-com era. However, if this analogy is true, it means we can make some predictions about what happens next.
When the dot-com bubble burst, the most unprofitable startups quickly folded, leading to massive losses for unlucky investors. But not all of the dot-com companies disappeared. In fact, those with sound business models didn’t just survive; they took control of the market and soon began to thrive. The likes of Amazon and Google laid the groundwork for web2 and, ultimately, the rise of social media, cloud computing, smartphone applications, streaming, and online business.
The crypto industry now stands at a similar crossroads. The prospect of a real bear market is growing by the day, and further declines will likely kill off any token that lacks real utility or purpose. As we head into 2026, it’s looking like we’ll see a year of consolidation for crypto. There’s going to be a lot of pain as the most questionable projects fold, but the strong will not only survive, but perhaps even build the foundations of the long-awaited web3 era, where individuals take back control and opportunities abound for us all.
Read more: Silence and invisibility are how crypto wins people’s hearts | Opinion
Author: Stephen Wundke
Stephen Wundke is the strategy and revenue director at Algoz Technologies. He joined Algoz in late 2022 and pioneered the unique SMA structure for an off-exchange settlement product called Quant Pro, using Zodia Custody and Bitfinex.
WPA Hash Cloud Mining to Facilitate Stable Value Conversion of BTC in 2026
Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.
As BTC enters a new phase, WPA Hash offers investors a cloud mining path for stable, long-term value conversion.
Summary
As BTC matures into a long-term allocation asset, WPA Hash offers cloud mining as a stable value participation model.
With clearer regulation and slower price cycles, investors turn to WPA Hash to improve BTC holding efficiency.
WPA Hash supports BTC’s shift from price speculation to value management through structured cloud mining.
As the most representative asset in the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin (BTC) is entering a new stage of development. With the expansion of the market, changes in the participant structure, and a clearer regulatory environment, the investment logic for BTC is constantly evolving.
Looking ahead to 2026, more and more investors are beginning to consider a deeper question: how to achieve a more stable and sustainable value conversion for BTC during long-term holding?
Under this trend, WPA Hash’s cloud mining model is providing BTC investors with a more mature participation path.
BTC is transitioning from a “price asset” to a “value asset”
Early BTC investment emphasized price elasticity and cyclical fluctuations. Now, with the expansion of BTC’s market capitalization, its price trend is gradually becoming more rational, and market consensus is becoming more solid.
This means:
The profit model relying solely on price increases is weakening.
Long-term investors are focusing more on asset efficiency and usage.
The investment goal is shifting from “betting on the right market” to “managing value.”
BTC is gradually evolving from a “trading asset” to an “allocation asset.”
Key changes investors focus on in 2026
In the new market environment, BTC investors’ focus has clearly changed:
Whether it generates continuous value during the holding period
Whether the source of returns is smoother
Whether the investment process reduces emotional and operational pressure
Whether it has long-term feasibility
This has also driven the further development of structured participation methods such as cloud mining.
You might also like: A brand-new cloud mining system has been launched, with WPA Hash helping crypto assets achieve sustained growth
The value logic of WPA Hash cloud mining
WPA Hash does not change the underlying consensus mechanism of BTC, but rather allows ordinary investors to participate more efficiently in the value release process related to the BTC network through cloud computing power integration and systematic management.
Its core advantages are:
Lowered entry barrier: No need to deploy or maintain mining equipment yourself.
Centralized hashrate management: Improves overall efficiency through intelligent scheduling.
Clearer profit structure: Helps investors plan long-term returns more intuitively.
In this way, the value of BTC is no longer just reflected in the price curve, but gradually transforms into a more rhythmic profit performance.
WPA Hash stable value conversion steps:
1. Register an Account
Visit the WPA Hash official website, create a free account, and receive a $15 reward.
2. Deposit XRP
Select XRP in the “Deposit Center,” and the system will provide a dedicated wallet address. Copy this address and transfer cryptocurrency from a wallet or exchange.
3. Select a Mining Contract
Choose a suitable cloud mining plan (short-term/long-term/high-yield) according to personal preferences and confirm the purchase.
Contract Type Contract Price Contract duration Daily income Total revenue (New User Experience Contract) $100 2 $3 $100 + $6 Basic computing power: No. 1656 $500 5 $6.00 $500 + $30 Intermediate computing power: No. 2542 $1,000 12 $13.00 $1000+ $156 Intermediate computing power: No. 2745 $3,000 18 $42.00 $3000+ $756 Intermediate computing power: No. 2935 $5,000 22 $75.00 $5000+ $1650 Advanced Hashrate: No. 3242 $8,000 28 $128.00 $8000+ $3584
[Click here to view the complete contract]
4. Enjoy the Profits
After the contract starts, the system will automatically distribute mining profits to the account balance daily, supporting withdrawal or reinvestment at any time.
2026: BTC investment enters an efficiency competition phase
As the market matures, the focus of competition in BTC investment is shifting from information advantage to asset management capabilities and participation efficiency.
WPA Hash cloud mining is a product of this phase — helping investors continuously participate in the value released by the BTC network without increasing operational burden through a platform and systematic approach.
Conclusion: Embracing a new phase for BTC with a more mature approach
In 2026, Bitcoin will no longer be just a story of “price fluctuations,” but a question of how to realize value transformation through long-term holding.
In this process, choosing the right participation method is often more important than frequently judging the market.
WPA Hash cloud mining provides BTC investors with a more stable and clearer path, allowing the long-term value of BTC to gradually manifest over time.
As the market matures, real opportunities often come from more efficient participation methods.
For more information, visit the official website.
Official email: info@wpahash.com
Read more: The 2026 Bitcoin mining architecture based on WPA Hash officially released
Disclosure: This content is provided by a third party. Neither crypto.news nor the author of this article endorses any product mentioned on this page. Users should conduct their own research before taking any action related to the company.
As BTC enters a new phase, WPA Hash offers investors a cloud mining path for stable, long-term value conversion.
Summary
As BTC matures into a long-term allocation asset, WPA Hash offers cloud mining as a stable value participation model.
With clearer regulation and slower price cycles, investors turn to WPA Hash to improve BTC holding efficiency.
WPA Hash supports BTC’s shift from price speculation to value management through structured cloud mining.
As the most representative asset in the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin (BTC) is entering a new stage of development. With the expansion of the market, changes in the participant structure, and a clearer regulatory environment, the investment logic for BTC is constantly evolving.
Looking ahead to 2026, more and more investors are beginning to consider a deeper question: how to achieve a more stable and sustainable value conversion for BTC during long-term holding?
Under this trend, WPA Hash’s cloud mining model is providing BTC investors with a more mature participation path.
BTC is transitioning from a “price asset” to a “value asset”
Early BTC investment emphasized price elasticity and cyclical fluctuations. Now, with the expansion of BTC’s market capitalization, its price trend is gradually becoming more rational, and market consensus is becoming more solid.
This means:
The profit model relying solely on price increases is weakening.
Long-term investors are focusing more on asset efficiency and usage.
The investment goal is shifting from “betting on the right market” to “managing value.”
BTC is gradually evolving from a “trading asset” to an “allocation asset.”
Key changes investors focus on in 2026
In the new market environment, BTC investors’ focus has clearly changed:
Whether it generates continuous value during the holding period
Whether the source of returns is smoother
Whether the investment process reduces emotional and operational pressure
Whether it has long-term feasibility
This has also driven the further development of structured participation methods such as cloud mining.
You might also like: A brand-new cloud mining system has been launched, with WPA Hash helping crypto assets achieve sustained growth
The value logic of WPA Hash cloud mining
WPA Hash does not change the underlying consensus mechanism of BTC, but rather allows ordinary investors to participate more efficiently in the value release process related to the BTC network through cloud computing power integration and systematic management.
Its core advantages are:
Lowered entry barrier: No need to deploy or maintain mining equipment yourself.
Centralized hashrate management: Improves overall efficiency through intelligent scheduling.
Clearer profit structure: Helps investors plan long-term returns more intuitively.
In this way, the value of BTC is no longer just reflected in the price curve, but gradually transforms into a more rhythmic profit performance.
WPA Hash stable value conversion steps:
1. Register an Account
Visit the WPA Hash official website, create a free account, and receive a $15 reward.
2. Deposit XRP
Select XRP in the “Deposit Center,” and the system will provide a dedicated wallet address. Copy this address and transfer cryptocurrency from a wallet or exchange.
3. Select a Mining Contract
Choose a suitable cloud mining plan (short-term/long-term/high-yield) according to personal preferences and confirm the purchase.
Contract Type Contract Price Contract duration Daily income Total revenue (New User Experience Contract) $100 2 $3 $100 + $6 Basic computing power: No. 1656 $500 5 $6.00 $500 + $30 Intermediate computing power: No. 2542 $1,000 12 $13.00 $1000+ $156 Intermediate computing power: No. 2745 $3,000 18 $42.00 $3000+ $756 Intermediate computing power: No. 2935 $5,000 22 $75.00 $5000+ $1650 Advanced Hashrate: No. 3242 $8,000 28 $128.00 $8000+ $3584
[Click here to view the complete contract]
4. Enjoy the Profits
After the contract starts, the system will automatically distribute mining profits to the account balance daily, supporting withdrawal or reinvestment at any time.
2026: BTC investment enters an efficiency competition phase
As the market matures, the focus of competition in BTC investment is shifting from information advantage to asset management capabilities and participation efficiency.
WPA Hash cloud mining is a product of this phase — helping investors continuously participate in the value released by the BTC network without increasing operational burden through a platform and systematic approach.
Conclusion: Embracing a new phase for BTC with a more mature approach
In 2026, Bitcoin will no longer be just a story of “price fluctuations,” but a question of how to realize value transformation through long-term holding.
In this process, choosing the right participation method is often more important than frequently judging the market.
WPA Hash cloud mining provides BTC investors with a more stable and clearer path, allowing the long-term value of BTC to gradually manifest over time.
As the market matures, real opportunities often come from more efficient participation methods.
For more information, visit the official website.
Official email: info@wpahash.com
Read more: The 2026 Bitcoin mining architecture based on WPA Hash officially released
Disclosure: This content is provided by a third party. Neither crypto.news nor the author of this article endorses any product mentioned on this page. Users should conduct their own research before taking any action related to the company.
From the FBI to Crypto Defense: Stephanie Talamantez on Tracing Stolen Assets and Navigating Digi...
Stephanie Talamantez, former FBI Special Agent and now Senior Managing Director at Guidepost Solutions, has spent over a decade at the intersection of law enforcement and financial fraud.
Summary
Drawing on a decade at the FBI, Talamantez says her investigative background helps her spot fraud patterns and compliance gaps in digital assets that are often missed/
Social-engineering scams—including pig-butchering and fake customer-support schemes—now dominate crypto fraud.
Talamantez highlights weak KYC/AML and transaction monitoring as key industry gaps, and urges firms to prepare in 2026 for tighter stablecoin rules and stronger fraud-prevention frameworks.
Having led investigations that resulted in more than $350 million in asset forfeitures and now helping recover over $450 million in stolen digital assets, she brings a rare perspective to the fast-evolving digital asset landscape.
In this Q&A, Talamantez shares her insights on the latest crypto fraud trends, how illicit funds are traced across blockchains, compliance gaps she sees in the industry, and what companies and institutions must do to protect themselves — balancing innovation with risk mitigation in a global, decentralized financial ecosystem.
You spent years at the FBI leading crypto and financial fraud investigations. How did your experience there shape your approach to digital asset risk and compliance today?
Talamantez: The expertise I acquired and built during my tenure at the FBI has been foundational to how I view and evaluate digital asset risk and compliance today. Having spent years leading cryptocurrency and financial-fraud investigations, I have a unique vantage-point, and I’ve seen both sides of the digital asset ecosystem. I’ve witnessed how these technologies can be exploited as vehicles for fraud, but I’ve also seen their importance and the legitimate utility and the real innovation they enable.
I began investigating cryptocurrency related crimes in 2014. I was there on the ground floor, which gave me a front-row seat to the evolution of the digital asset space. I witnessed not only the innovation, rapid expansion, and development of groundbreaking technology, but also the parallel creation and use of these technologies to obfuscate criminal proceeds and activities, and I’ve witnessed their role in facilitating the victimization of others. That perspective allows me to identify risks that others may overlook. The experience I gained at the FBI enabled me to spot vulnerabilities and patterns that aren’t always obvious from the outside.
While compliance in the digital-asset space is still evolving, there are foundational principles that can help companies navigate global regulatory expectations. Some standards are universal, even if they haven’t always been applied consistently in crypto. It is possible to preserve innovation and decentralization while ensuring that platforms aren’t used for fraud, victimization, or money laundering. Nothing will ever be 100% effective against combatting determined bad actors, but thoughtful controls and risk-focused approaches can significantly limit how they operate.
What are the most prevalent types of crypto-related fraud you’re seeing right now, and how have they evolved over the past few years?
Talamantez: In recent years, social engineering-based frauds and scams have surged. Beyond the many variations of pig-butchering schemes, which can range from romance-based manipulation to fraudulent investment opportunities, there has been a significant rise in other forms of social-engineering scams targeting digital-asset holders. Bad actors often leverage information gathered from a person’s online presence, data breaches, or other points of vulnerability to convincingly engage with victims.
Armed with enough personal details, these criminals can make victims believe they are speaking with customer support or someone who legitimately has access to their accounts. This deception either grants the bad actors with direct access to the victims’ accounts, enabling them to transfer the crypto themselves, or leads victims to unknowingly move their assets under the guise of “securing” them, when in reality they are facilitating their own theft.
These schemes have become so sophisticated that even highly knowledgeable and financially savvy individuals have fallen victim.
Can you walk us through how investigators trace illicit funds across blockchains, and what tools or methodologies have proven most effective?
Talamantez: Tracing is both an art and a science, especially when it comes to chain hopping, decentralized exchanges, bridges, and other asset swapping platforms. There are various blockchain explorers, as well as commercially available tools that can help analyze and track illicit funds. However, effective tracing often requires using multiple methods and data points. Some bridges and swapping platforms have their own internal explorers, but investigators need to know how to use them effectively.
Certain explorers will even list all hot wallets associated with a DeFi exchange, allowing you to trace transactions through the platform by aligning USD values and timestamps of the swaps. This is why it is critical for investigators to constantly update the tools they rely on and remain flexible in each analytic approach.
On-chain analytics does not have a one-size-fits-all solution. Different schemes will often appear different on-chain, so understanding what you’re looking at, what patterns to look for, and which analytical tools or techniques to apply is critical to successfully tracing illicit activity across blockchain environments.
What are the most common gaps you encounter in digital asset compliance programs, and how can institutions address them before they become regulatory or financial risks?
Talamantez: The digital asset industry has often been hesitant to adopt the same compliance standards applied in traditional banking. Yet, because digital assets inevitably interact with banks or correspondent banks, these institutions remain subject to established regulatory requirements. Common gaps typically appear in Know Your Customer/Anti-Money Laundering (KYC/AML) procedures and transaction monitoring.
Many decentralized platforms lack robust controls, and financial institutions may not have the tools or resources to fully trace transactions and ensure that funds fall within the regulatory guidelines and within their internal risk appetite. This can reduce a bank’s willingness to engage in a partnership or onboard digital assets. Additionally, many digital asset companies are taking a “wait and see” approach due to the shifting regulatory landscape over the past few years. This could potentially lead to vulnerabilities for these companies down the road.
Given that crypto is inherently global, how do cross-border investigations and recoveries typically work, and what are the biggest challenges?
Talamantez: Cryptocurrency related frauds are without question a global issue. Investigations often span multiple continents, and achieving a successful outcome requires international collaboration. Digital assets move quickly, making reliance on the traditional treaty processes (MLATs), impractical. While many digital asset exchanges will comply with international subpoenas, they do not always honor third-party requests, meaning law enforcement must be involved. Some exchanges may temporarily freeze assets if notified of their connection to fraud, but law enforcement must lead any recovery efforts.
When it comes to digital asset recovery, strong collaborative efforts between the public and private sectors are critical. Recent large-scale seizures tied to major fraud schemes have shown just how effective these partnerships can be. One of the biggest challenges we are currently facing in recovery efforts is lack of resources. Digital asset fraud schemes have expanded rapidly over the past few years, and law enforcement simply does not have the capacity to pursue all these cases. This can leave many victims without meaningful avenues for recourse. Private firms like Guidepost Solutions can help bridge that gap by tracing funds and supporting efforts to freeze assets, but the actual return of those assets ultimately requires law-enforcement action.
Heading into 2026, what key regulatory priorities or changes should crypto firms and financial institutions be preparing for?
Talamantez: Over the past year, regulatory attention has been heavily focused on stablecoins, leaving much of the broader digital asset space in a gray area. While there has been a clear shift away from enforcement-driven regulation, that approach could shift again in a few years. I expect that in 2026, the regulatory focus will remain once again on stablecoins. The GENIUS Act outlined a framework for stablecoins, with an effective date 18 months after its signing, which will land in early 2027. As a result, 2026 will largely center on preparing for and implementing those rules. Meanwhile, other regulatory guidance has appeared to stall, and is not expected to regain traction in 2026, posing challenges for sectors outside the stablecoin ecosystem.
In their role, financial institutions should be preparing their infrastructure to start accepting and/or doing business with entities that accept stablecoins. They should be establishing a new risk matrix and beefing up their KYT in preparation for the 2027 implementation.
Guidepost has helped recover hundreds of millions in stolen digital assets. Are there particular cases or lessons that illustrate the importance of proactive fraud prevention?
Talamantez: Fraud prevention is critical, especially if you hold crypto assets. Changing passwords and securing any cloud-based data is essential. Technology is great; until it isn’t. The fear of one losing their digital assets has created the perfect environment for social engineering attacks. That anxiety causes people to act quickly, which is exactly what bad actors are counting on. When these fraudsters contact unsuspecting victims, they are often so convincing and knowledgeable that they can override a victim’s initial hesitation. It’s usually only hours or even a day later, once the adrenaline fades and the situation is re-evaluated, that victims realize something was off, and that they may have been victimized. Unfortunately, by then, it is already too late.
In addition to proactive fraud-prevention measures, the most important advice I can give is: Pause before you act. Hang up, step back, and take a moment to reassess the situation. Avoid clicking on links from unsolicited messages or emails, and if you need to verify something, contact the company using a known, trusted number. Giving yourself a few moments to pause can make all the difference in preventing fraud.
For companies entering the digital asset space, what are the top strategies or practices you recommend to safeguard against fraud and regulatory risk?
Talamantez: Regulatory risk can be minimized by establishing a strong compliance framework from the onset. Once the framework is in place, consider engaging a third party to stress-test and evaluate its effectiveness, while continuously reviewing and updating company policies and guardrails to ensure they remain effective and aligned with evolving regulations.
Training is essential because, at the corporate level, most fraud incidents are driven less by technology or infrastructure gaps and more by human factors. Employees can inadvertently become the weakest link by clicking on phishing links, sharing sensitive information, falling for social-engineering schemes, or using their company email and password to sign up on other sites that may be exposed to data breaches, allowing their credential pairs to fall into the wrong hands.
Read more: Metaplanet boosts Bitcoin holdings with $451m Q4 purchase
Summary
Drawing on a decade at the FBI, Talamantez says her investigative background helps her spot fraud patterns and compliance gaps in digital assets that are often missed/
Social-engineering scams—including pig-butchering and fake customer-support schemes—now dominate crypto fraud.
Talamantez highlights weak KYC/AML and transaction monitoring as key industry gaps, and urges firms to prepare in 2026 for tighter stablecoin rules and stronger fraud-prevention frameworks.
Having led investigations that resulted in more than $350 million in asset forfeitures and now helping recover over $450 million in stolen digital assets, she brings a rare perspective to the fast-evolving digital asset landscape.
In this Q&A, Talamantez shares her insights on the latest crypto fraud trends, how illicit funds are traced across blockchains, compliance gaps she sees in the industry, and what companies and institutions must do to protect themselves — balancing innovation with risk mitigation in a global, decentralized financial ecosystem.
You spent years at the FBI leading crypto and financial fraud investigations. How did your experience there shape your approach to digital asset risk and compliance today?
Talamantez: The expertise I acquired and built during my tenure at the FBI has been foundational to how I view and evaluate digital asset risk and compliance today. Having spent years leading cryptocurrency and financial-fraud investigations, I have a unique vantage-point, and I’ve seen both sides of the digital asset ecosystem. I’ve witnessed how these technologies can be exploited as vehicles for fraud, but I’ve also seen their importance and the legitimate utility and the real innovation they enable.
I began investigating cryptocurrency related crimes in 2014. I was there on the ground floor, which gave me a front-row seat to the evolution of the digital asset space. I witnessed not only the innovation, rapid expansion, and development of groundbreaking technology, but also the parallel creation and use of these technologies to obfuscate criminal proceeds and activities, and I’ve witnessed their role in facilitating the victimization of others. That perspective allows me to identify risks that others may overlook. The experience I gained at the FBI enabled me to spot vulnerabilities and patterns that aren’t always obvious from the outside.
While compliance in the digital-asset space is still evolving, there are foundational principles that can help companies navigate global regulatory expectations. Some standards are universal, even if they haven’t always been applied consistently in crypto. It is possible to preserve innovation and decentralization while ensuring that platforms aren’t used for fraud, victimization, or money laundering. Nothing will ever be 100% effective against combatting determined bad actors, but thoughtful controls and risk-focused approaches can significantly limit how they operate.
What are the most prevalent types of crypto-related fraud you’re seeing right now, and how have they evolved over the past few years?
Talamantez: In recent years, social engineering-based frauds and scams have surged. Beyond the many variations of pig-butchering schemes, which can range from romance-based manipulation to fraudulent investment opportunities, there has been a significant rise in other forms of social-engineering scams targeting digital-asset holders. Bad actors often leverage information gathered from a person’s online presence, data breaches, or other points of vulnerability to convincingly engage with victims.
Armed with enough personal details, these criminals can make victims believe they are speaking with customer support or someone who legitimately has access to their accounts. This deception either grants the bad actors with direct access to the victims’ accounts, enabling them to transfer the crypto themselves, or leads victims to unknowingly move their assets under the guise of “securing” them, when in reality they are facilitating their own theft.
These schemes have become so sophisticated that even highly knowledgeable and financially savvy individuals have fallen victim.
Can you walk us through how investigators trace illicit funds across blockchains, and what tools or methodologies have proven most effective?
Talamantez: Tracing is both an art and a science, especially when it comes to chain hopping, decentralized exchanges, bridges, and other asset swapping platforms. There are various blockchain explorers, as well as commercially available tools that can help analyze and track illicit funds. However, effective tracing often requires using multiple methods and data points. Some bridges and swapping platforms have their own internal explorers, but investigators need to know how to use them effectively.
Certain explorers will even list all hot wallets associated with a DeFi exchange, allowing you to trace transactions through the platform by aligning USD values and timestamps of the swaps. This is why it is critical for investigators to constantly update the tools they rely on and remain flexible in each analytic approach.
On-chain analytics does not have a one-size-fits-all solution. Different schemes will often appear different on-chain, so understanding what you’re looking at, what patterns to look for, and which analytical tools or techniques to apply is critical to successfully tracing illicit activity across blockchain environments.
What are the most common gaps you encounter in digital asset compliance programs, and how can institutions address them before they become regulatory or financial risks?
Talamantez: The digital asset industry has often been hesitant to adopt the same compliance standards applied in traditional banking. Yet, because digital assets inevitably interact with banks or correspondent banks, these institutions remain subject to established regulatory requirements. Common gaps typically appear in Know Your Customer/Anti-Money Laundering (KYC/AML) procedures and transaction monitoring.
Many decentralized platforms lack robust controls, and financial institutions may not have the tools or resources to fully trace transactions and ensure that funds fall within the regulatory guidelines and within their internal risk appetite. This can reduce a bank’s willingness to engage in a partnership or onboard digital assets. Additionally, many digital asset companies are taking a “wait and see” approach due to the shifting regulatory landscape over the past few years. This could potentially lead to vulnerabilities for these companies down the road.
Given that crypto is inherently global, how do cross-border investigations and recoveries typically work, and what are the biggest challenges?
Talamantez: Cryptocurrency related frauds are without question a global issue. Investigations often span multiple continents, and achieving a successful outcome requires international collaboration. Digital assets move quickly, making reliance on the traditional treaty processes (MLATs), impractical. While many digital asset exchanges will comply with international subpoenas, they do not always honor third-party requests, meaning law enforcement must be involved. Some exchanges may temporarily freeze assets if notified of their connection to fraud, but law enforcement must lead any recovery efforts.
When it comes to digital asset recovery, strong collaborative efforts between the public and private sectors are critical. Recent large-scale seizures tied to major fraud schemes have shown just how effective these partnerships can be. One of the biggest challenges we are currently facing in recovery efforts is lack of resources. Digital asset fraud schemes have expanded rapidly over the past few years, and law enforcement simply does not have the capacity to pursue all these cases. This can leave many victims without meaningful avenues for recourse. Private firms like Guidepost Solutions can help bridge that gap by tracing funds and supporting efforts to freeze assets, but the actual return of those assets ultimately requires law-enforcement action.
Heading into 2026, what key regulatory priorities or changes should crypto firms and financial institutions be preparing for?
Talamantez: Over the past year, regulatory attention has been heavily focused on stablecoins, leaving much of the broader digital asset space in a gray area. While there has been a clear shift away from enforcement-driven regulation, that approach could shift again in a few years. I expect that in 2026, the regulatory focus will remain once again on stablecoins. The GENIUS Act outlined a framework for stablecoins, with an effective date 18 months after its signing, which will land in early 2027. As a result, 2026 will largely center on preparing for and implementing those rules. Meanwhile, other regulatory guidance has appeared to stall, and is not expected to regain traction in 2026, posing challenges for sectors outside the stablecoin ecosystem.
In their role, financial institutions should be preparing their infrastructure to start accepting and/or doing business with entities that accept stablecoins. They should be establishing a new risk matrix and beefing up their KYT in preparation for the 2027 implementation.
Guidepost has helped recover hundreds of millions in stolen digital assets. Are there particular cases or lessons that illustrate the importance of proactive fraud prevention?
Talamantez: Fraud prevention is critical, especially if you hold crypto assets. Changing passwords and securing any cloud-based data is essential. Technology is great; until it isn’t. The fear of one losing their digital assets has created the perfect environment for social engineering attacks. That anxiety causes people to act quickly, which is exactly what bad actors are counting on. When these fraudsters contact unsuspecting victims, they are often so convincing and knowledgeable that they can override a victim’s initial hesitation. It’s usually only hours or even a day later, once the adrenaline fades and the situation is re-evaluated, that victims realize something was off, and that they may have been victimized. Unfortunately, by then, it is already too late.
In addition to proactive fraud-prevention measures, the most important advice I can give is: Pause before you act. Hang up, step back, and take a moment to reassess the situation. Avoid clicking on links from unsolicited messages or emails, and if you need to verify something, contact the company using a known, trusted number. Giving yourself a few moments to pause can make all the difference in preventing fraud.
For companies entering the digital asset space, what are the top strategies or practices you recommend to safeguard against fraud and regulatory risk?
Talamantez: Regulatory risk can be minimized by establishing a strong compliance framework from the onset. Once the framework is in place, consider engaging a third party to stress-test and evaluate its effectiveness, while continuously reviewing and updating company policies and guardrails to ensure they remain effective and aligned with evolving regulations.
Training is essential because, at the corporate level, most fraud incidents are driven less by technology or infrastructure gaps and more by human factors. Employees can inadvertently become the weakest link by clicking on phishing links, sharing sensitive information, falling for social-engineering schemes, or using their company email and password to sign up on other sites that may be exposed to data breaches, allowing their credential pairs to fall into the wrong hands.
Read more: Metaplanet boosts Bitcoin holdings with $451m Q4 purchase
Pi Network Price Forms a Bullish Pattern Despite Waning Demand
Pi Network price remained in a tight range on Monday as it lagged behind other altcoins during the ongoing crypto market rally.
Summary
Pi Network price has formed a double-bottom pattern on the daily chart.
This pattern points to a potential rebound in the coming weeks.
The token’s volume has waned as it lacks a clear catalyst.
Pi Coin (PI) was stuck at $0.2115, a few points above the crucial support at $0.1952, its lowest level in October and December last year. It remains over 90% below its all-time high.
Pi token has retreated as demand remained weak. Data compiled by CoinMarketCap shows that the volume rose by 30% in the last 24 hours to just $16 million, a tiny amount for a coin worth over $1.7 billion.
One reason for the low volume is that the Pi Network is only available in a handful of cryptocurrency exchanges like OKX, Gate, and MEXC. It is not available in the most popular exchanges like Coinbase, Kraken, and Upbit.
You might also like: Bitcoin price attracts bullish bid into $93,300 resistance: Breakdown ahead?
The demand has remained weak because of the ongoing token unlocks. Data showed that the network will unlock over 117 million later this month and 97 million in the coming month. It will unlock over 1.24 billion tokens in the next 12 months.
The token has also remained on edge because it is widely seen as a ghost chain with no activity. Unlike Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL), there are no popular dApps that are leveraging its token. The developers started to boost its ecosystem in the past few months by launching a hackathon and making investments in CiDi Games and in OpenMind.
Pi Network is also working to introduce smart contracts to its network by moving to Stellar’s v23 and Rust smart contracts. Also, the developers are working on decentralized exchanges and automated market maker tools.
Pi Network price technical analysis
Pi Coin price chart | Source: crypto.news
The daily timeframe chart shows that the Pi Coin price bottomed at $0.1952, its lowest level in October and December last year. It has formed a double-bottom pattern whose neckline is at $0.2823.
The token has formed a bullish divergence pattern as the Percentage Price Oscillator and the Relative Strength Index have continued rising in the past few weeks.
Therefore, the token will likely rebound, and possibly hit the important resistance level at $0.2500. A drop below the key support level at $0.1952 will invalidate the bearish outlook.
You might also like: BNB Chain targets 20,000 TPS with 2026 roadmap as sub-second finality looms
Summary
Pi Network price has formed a double-bottom pattern on the daily chart.
This pattern points to a potential rebound in the coming weeks.
The token’s volume has waned as it lacks a clear catalyst.
Pi Coin (PI) was stuck at $0.2115, a few points above the crucial support at $0.1952, its lowest level in October and December last year. It remains over 90% below its all-time high.
Pi token has retreated as demand remained weak. Data compiled by CoinMarketCap shows that the volume rose by 30% in the last 24 hours to just $16 million, a tiny amount for a coin worth over $1.7 billion.
One reason for the low volume is that the Pi Network is only available in a handful of cryptocurrency exchanges like OKX, Gate, and MEXC. It is not available in the most popular exchanges like Coinbase, Kraken, and Upbit.
You might also like: Bitcoin price attracts bullish bid into $93,300 resistance: Breakdown ahead?
The demand has remained weak because of the ongoing token unlocks. Data showed that the network will unlock over 117 million later this month and 97 million in the coming month. It will unlock over 1.24 billion tokens in the next 12 months.
The token has also remained on edge because it is widely seen as a ghost chain with no activity. Unlike Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL), there are no popular dApps that are leveraging its token. The developers started to boost its ecosystem in the past few months by launching a hackathon and making investments in CiDi Games and in OpenMind.
Pi Network is also working to introduce smart contracts to its network by moving to Stellar’s v23 and Rust smart contracts. Also, the developers are working on decentralized exchanges and automated market maker tools.
Pi Network price technical analysis
Pi Coin price chart | Source: crypto.news
The daily timeframe chart shows that the Pi Coin price bottomed at $0.1952, its lowest level in October and December last year. It has formed a double-bottom pattern whose neckline is at $0.2823.
The token has formed a bullish divergence pattern as the Percentage Price Oscillator and the Relative Strength Index have continued rising in the past few weeks.
Therefore, the token will likely rebound, and possibly hit the important resistance level at $0.2500. A drop below the key support level at $0.1952 will invalidate the bearish outlook.
You might also like: BNB Chain targets 20,000 TPS with 2026 roadmap as sub-second finality looms
MetaMask Users Targeted By Fake 2FA Phishing Scam That Steals Seed Phrases
MetaMask users are at risk of a new “2FA verification” phishing scam that steals their seed phrase under the guise of improving security.
Summary
MetaMask users are being targeted by a phishing campaign involving a fake 2FA verification process.
The new campaign comes on the heels of a large-scale wallet exploit and the Trust Wallet Chrome extension incident.
According to blockchain security firm SlowMist, MetaMask users are receiving a spoofed email that creates a false sense of urgency by prompting them to enable Two-Factor Authentication. The message is MetaMask-branded and appears convincing at first glance. (See below.)
A spoof email sent by attackers | Source: X/im23pds
Notably, the malicious notifier also comes with a countdown timer, which increases pressure on the user and attempts to force a quick response.
Upon clicking the “Enable 2FA Now” button, users are redirected to a fake page hosted by the attacker. However, in reality, the entire process is a sham. The main goal is to trick MetaMask users into entering their mnemonic phrase, which attackers can use to access and transfer funds from their wallets. (See below.)
Malicious website asking users to input their seed phrase | Source: X/im23pds
You might also like: Metaplanet benefits from weak yen as Bitcoin holdings outperform
While at first glance a less cautious user may fall for this scheme, the spoof email contains several giveaways that can help users spot the fraud.
For instance, such phishing messages often include subtle typos or design inconsistencies that can reveal their true nature. In this case, the URL to which MetaMask users were redirected was spelled as “mertamask” instead of “metamask.” In some cases, these emails are also sent from completely unrelated email accounts, or from addresses using public domains like Gmail. (See below.)
Typos within spoof emails | Source: X/im23pds
Lastly, it is important to remember that MetaMask does not send unsolicited emails asking users to verify their accounts or perform security updates. Any such requests are typically scams.
Recent phishing campaigns targeting crypto users
Late last week, cybersecurity researcher Vladimir S. flagged a similar campaign that pushed a fake MetaMask app update. It is believed to be connected to an ongoing wallet-draining exploit.
According to on-chain sleuth ZachXBT, the incident resulted in losses of less than $2,000 per wallet but affected a wide range of users across several EVM-compatible networks. However, it has not been confirmed whether the two campaigns are definitely connected.
The incident was also linked to the Trust Wallet hack that occurred on Christmas Day, where losses climbed to roughly $7 million.
The attacker managed to gain access to the wallet’s browser extension source code and uploaded a malicious version of the extension to the Chrome Web Store. Trust Wallet has vowed to compensate all users affected by the incident.
Separately, Cardano users were also warned about a different ongoing attack that circulated emails promoting a fraudulent Eternl Desktop application.
Despite these events all happening within less than two weeks, a recent Scam Sniffer report showed that total losses from crypto phishing campaigns dropped nearly 88% in 2025 from the previous year.
Read more: Crypto phishing losses plunge 83% to $84M, report finds
Summary
MetaMask users are being targeted by a phishing campaign involving a fake 2FA verification process.
The new campaign comes on the heels of a large-scale wallet exploit and the Trust Wallet Chrome extension incident.
According to blockchain security firm SlowMist, MetaMask users are receiving a spoofed email that creates a false sense of urgency by prompting them to enable Two-Factor Authentication. The message is MetaMask-branded and appears convincing at first glance. (See below.)
A spoof email sent by attackers | Source: X/im23pds
Notably, the malicious notifier also comes with a countdown timer, which increases pressure on the user and attempts to force a quick response.
Upon clicking the “Enable 2FA Now” button, users are redirected to a fake page hosted by the attacker. However, in reality, the entire process is a sham. The main goal is to trick MetaMask users into entering their mnemonic phrase, which attackers can use to access and transfer funds from their wallets. (See below.)
Malicious website asking users to input their seed phrase | Source: X/im23pds
You might also like: Metaplanet benefits from weak yen as Bitcoin holdings outperform
While at first glance a less cautious user may fall for this scheme, the spoof email contains several giveaways that can help users spot the fraud.
For instance, such phishing messages often include subtle typos or design inconsistencies that can reveal their true nature. In this case, the URL to which MetaMask users were redirected was spelled as “mertamask” instead of “metamask.” In some cases, these emails are also sent from completely unrelated email accounts, or from addresses using public domains like Gmail. (See below.)
Typos within spoof emails | Source: X/im23pds
Lastly, it is important to remember that MetaMask does not send unsolicited emails asking users to verify their accounts or perform security updates. Any such requests are typically scams.
Recent phishing campaigns targeting crypto users
Late last week, cybersecurity researcher Vladimir S. flagged a similar campaign that pushed a fake MetaMask app update. It is believed to be connected to an ongoing wallet-draining exploit.
According to on-chain sleuth ZachXBT, the incident resulted in losses of less than $2,000 per wallet but affected a wide range of users across several EVM-compatible networks. However, it has not been confirmed whether the two campaigns are definitely connected.
The incident was also linked to the Trust Wallet hack that occurred on Christmas Day, where losses climbed to roughly $7 million.
The attacker managed to gain access to the wallet’s browser extension source code and uploaded a malicious version of the extension to the Chrome Web Store. Trust Wallet has vowed to compensate all users affected by the incident.
Separately, Cardano users were also warned about a different ongoing attack that circulated emails promoting a fraudulent Eternl Desktop application.
Despite these events all happening within less than two weeks, a recent Scam Sniffer report showed that total losses from crypto phishing campaigns dropped nearly 88% in 2025 from the previous year.
Read more: Crypto phishing losses plunge 83% to $84M, report finds
Why Pepe Coin Price Is Going Up?
Pepe coin price has begun the new year with a bang as it rose nearly 30% on Dec. 2 after a well-followed trader made a bullish prediction for the Pepe the Frog-inspired meme coin.
Summary
Pepe coin’s price rallied 30% just a day after the New Year.
A popular Hyperliquid trader predicted PEPE’s market cap to go up to $69 billion by year’s end.
A bullish reversal pattern was confirmed on the daily chart.
According to data from crypto.news, Pepe (PEPE) coin shot up 30% to an intraday high of $0.0000052 on Friday, Dec. 2, before stabilizing at around $0.0000051. At this price, the 2nd largest meme coin by market cap stood nearly 45% above last year’s low.
Since July of last year, Pepecoin price has remained in a steady decline, primarily driven by a sector-wide retreat in meme coin valuations. The situation was further complicated by trade tensions between the U.S. and China, which effectively sidelined investor interest in speculative trades.
As crypto.news reported earlier, traders also rotated away from the meme coin after it confirmed a multi-year head and shoulders pattern, which is viewed as a bearish indicator.
You might also like: Bitcoin price bulls shrug off XRP’s $1B escrow unlock memo scare
Moving on to today, Pepe coin’s stark gains were likely triggered by a very bullish prediction for the meme coin by James Wynn, a well-followed Hyperliquid trader with over 484,000 followers on X.
In his recent forecast, he noted that PEPE could reach a market cap of up to $69 billion by the end of 2026.
For the uninitiated, Wynn previously predicted that PEPE’s market cap would go to billions when it was at just $600k. Reports show he earned as much as $25 million from his bet on the meme coin.
In a series of X posts, he reinforced his outlook as he compared PEPE to another well-known meme coin, Shiba Inu (SHIB), which surged 11.7x from nearly $3.5 billion to over $41 billion within a month during the previous altcoin cycle.
As per the trader, PEPE’s social strength stands much stronger than other leading meme tokens like SHIB and could therefore achieve a similar performance this year.
“If Shib can do $41bn, PEPE can do much higher. Keep in mind $DOGE did $88bn. So my target for PEPE is $69bn,” Wynn wrote on X.
Following his prediction, Pepe coin’s market cap rose from $1.72 billion to $2.2 billion within 24 hours, as it sparked heavy buying from community members.
At press time, Pepe coin’s market cap was hovering around $2.15 billion. Based on Wynn’s prediction, it could rise nearly 32 times.
Pepe coin price analysis
Moving on to the daily chart, Pepe coin price has broken out of an decending parallel channel pattern, which often tends to be a precursor to further upside.
Pepe coin price has broken out of a descending parallel channel pattern on the daily chart — Jan. 2 | Source: crypto.news
At the same time, momentum indicators also showed that bulls are at an advantage. Notably, the MACD lines have pointed upwards while still staying below the zero line. Meanwhile, the RSI had formed a bullish divergence.
For now, $0.0000056 appears to be the next key resistance level that traders should be keeping an eye on. It aligns with the 23.6% Fibonacci retracement level and has served as a strong barrier multiple times during Q3 2025.
A decisive breakout from that level could push the price towards $0.0000074, the next retracement level in the series. The target lies nearly 45% above current price levels.
Read more: BNB Chain’s 2025 upgrades slash fees 98% as daily users hit 4.8m
Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.
Summary
Pepe coin’s price rallied 30% just a day after the New Year.
A popular Hyperliquid trader predicted PEPE’s market cap to go up to $69 billion by year’s end.
A bullish reversal pattern was confirmed on the daily chart.
According to data from crypto.news, Pepe (PEPE) coin shot up 30% to an intraday high of $0.0000052 on Friday, Dec. 2, before stabilizing at around $0.0000051. At this price, the 2nd largest meme coin by market cap stood nearly 45% above last year’s low.
Since July of last year, Pepecoin price has remained in a steady decline, primarily driven by a sector-wide retreat in meme coin valuations. The situation was further complicated by trade tensions between the U.S. and China, which effectively sidelined investor interest in speculative trades.
As crypto.news reported earlier, traders also rotated away from the meme coin after it confirmed a multi-year head and shoulders pattern, which is viewed as a bearish indicator.
You might also like: Bitcoin price bulls shrug off XRP’s $1B escrow unlock memo scare
Moving on to today, Pepe coin’s stark gains were likely triggered by a very bullish prediction for the meme coin by James Wynn, a well-followed Hyperliquid trader with over 484,000 followers on X.
In his recent forecast, he noted that PEPE could reach a market cap of up to $69 billion by the end of 2026.
For the uninitiated, Wynn previously predicted that PEPE’s market cap would go to billions when it was at just $600k. Reports show he earned as much as $25 million from his bet on the meme coin.
In a series of X posts, he reinforced his outlook as he compared PEPE to another well-known meme coin, Shiba Inu (SHIB), which surged 11.7x from nearly $3.5 billion to over $41 billion within a month during the previous altcoin cycle.
As per the trader, PEPE’s social strength stands much stronger than other leading meme tokens like SHIB and could therefore achieve a similar performance this year.
“If Shib can do $41bn, PEPE can do much higher. Keep in mind $DOGE did $88bn. So my target for PEPE is $69bn,” Wynn wrote on X.
Following his prediction, Pepe coin’s market cap rose from $1.72 billion to $2.2 billion within 24 hours, as it sparked heavy buying from community members.
At press time, Pepe coin’s market cap was hovering around $2.15 billion. Based on Wynn’s prediction, it could rise nearly 32 times.
Pepe coin price analysis
Moving on to the daily chart, Pepe coin price has broken out of an decending parallel channel pattern, which often tends to be a precursor to further upside.
Pepe coin price has broken out of a descending parallel channel pattern on the daily chart — Jan. 2 | Source: crypto.news
At the same time, momentum indicators also showed that bulls are at an advantage. Notably, the MACD lines have pointed upwards while still staying below the zero line. Meanwhile, the RSI had formed a bullish divergence.
For now, $0.0000056 appears to be the next key resistance level that traders should be keeping an eye on. It aligns with the 23.6% Fibonacci retracement level and has served as a strong barrier multiple times during Q3 2025.
A decisive breakout from that level could push the price towards $0.0000074, the next retracement level in the series. The target lies nearly 45% above current price levels.
Read more: BNB Chain’s 2025 upgrades slash fees 98% as daily users hit 4.8m
Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.
Vertalo CEO Dave Hendricks on Stablecoins, RWAs, and How the Crypto Industry ‘loses Its Collectiv...
As stablecoins dominate regulatory headlines and tokenization edges closer to institutional reality, the real work of bringing traditional assets on-chain is happening quietly in the background.
Dave Hendricks, founder and CEO of Vertalo, has been building that infrastructure for years. A serial entrepreneur with prior exits including LiveIntent and CheetahMail, and experience at Oracle and Arthur Andersen, Hendricks leads Vertalo’s push to modernize transfer agency and tokenization for real-world assets at scale.
In this Q&A, he cuts through the noise around crypto policy, explains why stablecoins became the on-ramp in 2025, and outlines what it will take for tokenized securities and private assets to reach their next phase.
You might also like: XRP trades below key technical level, analysts point to historical rally patterns
When we first spoke in 2023, you offered a reaction to PayPal’s launch of a new stablecoin built on the Ethereum blockchain. Fast-forward to this month, and Visa is launching a stablecoin advisory. What’s your take on how far we’ve come when it comes to RWAs, tokenized securities, stablecoins etc.?
Hendricks: Obviously, we have come a long way since early 2023. Three years ago the commentary about stablecoins was still rooted in the previous cycle’s usage model within DeFi borrowing/lending protocol, whereas now in late Stablecoins have emerged as the most contentious issue in crypto, specifically in the wake of the Genius Act, which prohibit banks from paying interest on Stablecoins.
RWAs have come a long way, but they are still a small fraction of the addressable markets, with vigorous activity in the shoulder categories, which I classify as Institutional (Treasuries and Private Permissioned REPOs and other similar activity) and Marginal (L1s issuing non-recourse tokens with no underlying collateral).Institutional RWA is in the lead, but most of this is mostly federated and private-permissioned and not accessible or investable by the vast majority of the addressable market for RWAs, meaning RIAs or individual investors. I would argue that most of the Marginal RWA is accessible to anyone who knows their way around a wallet, but I would not consider these products to be investable for anyone looking to protect principal or lock in stable returns.
While tokenized equities will likely be a much bigger story in 2026 (thanks for the SEC and the upcoming Clarity Act), stablecoins have become the main story in 2025 as the easiest way for large institutions — banks and non-banks — to enter the so-called crypto market due to Genius. As banks are focused on deposits and payments, their attraction to stablecoins isn’t very surprising, but oddly they now find themselves locked out of issuing yield-bearing stablecoins. Ironic considering so many believed that the Genius Act was a gift to banks and their lobbyists.
Vertalo maintains a store of ETH for paying fees related to the creation of tokenized share ledgers on Ethereum. What’s changed for the firm over the past year?
Hendricks: As one of if not the only true software company focused on digital transfer agency and integrated tokenization, Vertalo continues to pursue a different approach to the market than the majority of so-called Tokenization firms. Because Vertalo is not a broker-dealer, and we do not produce investment instruments on our own account — only for our clients — we have seen massive influx of inbound interest that do not want to work with a firm that might trade against them. Clients come to Vertalo with specific problems that 3rd party websites and consulting firms can’t solve, and when clients work with us they can be confident that — as a software company — we are not eating into their fees by taking BPS on every transaction.
We have not wavered from this approach since we embarked on our Enterprise Software focus in mid-2022.
What current trends interest you heading into 2026?
Hendricks: The most interesting trend is the renewed interest in tokenizing and packaging private equity. As a firm that primarily focuses on transforming illiquid investments into tradeable and transferable (and fractional) instruments, we are buoyed that the market is finally seeing what we saw almost 10 years ago, namely that Distributed Ledger Technology is a game-changing step function improvement for asset and wealth management, and specifically for the transference and distribution of these novel financial instruments.
This year, the White House’s crypto-related announcements —a federal Bitcoin reserve (that went nowhere), an end to SEC oversight of crypto, digital assets in 401(k)s—have nothing to do with the core mission of Bitcoin or other blockchain networks. Has the sector lost its way?
Hendricks: Every couple of years, the ‘crypto’ industry loses its collective mind over some new thing, everyone drops what they were doing, the ape-in, the space gets crowded, some people get rekt, some names are called, and people complain that things are different than when they started, so they are unhappy. This happens in each cycle, and this one is no different. The administration is helping normalize normal activities, and sketchy players will continue to rise and fall. Nothing new!
Read more: Will the crypto market crash or rally in 2026? Potential catalysts to watch
Dave Hendricks, founder and CEO of Vertalo, has been building that infrastructure for years. A serial entrepreneur with prior exits including LiveIntent and CheetahMail, and experience at Oracle and Arthur Andersen, Hendricks leads Vertalo’s push to modernize transfer agency and tokenization for real-world assets at scale.
In this Q&A, he cuts through the noise around crypto policy, explains why stablecoins became the on-ramp in 2025, and outlines what it will take for tokenized securities and private assets to reach their next phase.
You might also like: XRP trades below key technical level, analysts point to historical rally patterns
When we first spoke in 2023, you offered a reaction to PayPal’s launch of a new stablecoin built on the Ethereum blockchain. Fast-forward to this month, and Visa is launching a stablecoin advisory. What’s your take on how far we’ve come when it comes to RWAs, tokenized securities, stablecoins etc.?
Hendricks: Obviously, we have come a long way since early 2023. Three years ago the commentary about stablecoins was still rooted in the previous cycle’s usage model within DeFi borrowing/lending protocol, whereas now in late Stablecoins have emerged as the most contentious issue in crypto, specifically in the wake of the Genius Act, which prohibit banks from paying interest on Stablecoins.
RWAs have come a long way, but they are still a small fraction of the addressable markets, with vigorous activity in the shoulder categories, which I classify as Institutional (Treasuries and Private Permissioned REPOs and other similar activity) and Marginal (L1s issuing non-recourse tokens with no underlying collateral).Institutional RWA is in the lead, but most of this is mostly federated and private-permissioned and not accessible or investable by the vast majority of the addressable market for RWAs, meaning RIAs or individual investors. I would argue that most of the Marginal RWA is accessible to anyone who knows their way around a wallet, but I would not consider these products to be investable for anyone looking to protect principal or lock in stable returns.
While tokenized equities will likely be a much bigger story in 2026 (thanks for the SEC and the upcoming Clarity Act), stablecoins have become the main story in 2025 as the easiest way for large institutions — banks and non-banks — to enter the so-called crypto market due to Genius. As banks are focused on deposits and payments, their attraction to stablecoins isn’t very surprising, but oddly they now find themselves locked out of issuing yield-bearing stablecoins. Ironic considering so many believed that the Genius Act was a gift to banks and their lobbyists.
Vertalo maintains a store of ETH for paying fees related to the creation of tokenized share ledgers on Ethereum. What’s changed for the firm over the past year?
Hendricks: As one of if not the only true software company focused on digital transfer agency and integrated tokenization, Vertalo continues to pursue a different approach to the market than the majority of so-called Tokenization firms. Because Vertalo is not a broker-dealer, and we do not produce investment instruments on our own account — only for our clients — we have seen massive influx of inbound interest that do not want to work with a firm that might trade against them. Clients come to Vertalo with specific problems that 3rd party websites and consulting firms can’t solve, and when clients work with us they can be confident that — as a software company — we are not eating into their fees by taking BPS on every transaction.
We have not wavered from this approach since we embarked on our Enterprise Software focus in mid-2022.
What current trends interest you heading into 2026?
Hendricks: The most interesting trend is the renewed interest in tokenizing and packaging private equity. As a firm that primarily focuses on transforming illiquid investments into tradeable and transferable (and fractional) instruments, we are buoyed that the market is finally seeing what we saw almost 10 years ago, namely that Distributed Ledger Technology is a game-changing step function improvement for asset and wealth management, and specifically for the transference and distribution of these novel financial instruments.
This year, the White House’s crypto-related announcements —a federal Bitcoin reserve (that went nowhere), an end to SEC oversight of crypto, digital assets in 401(k)s—have nothing to do with the core mission of Bitcoin or other blockchain networks. Has the sector lost its way?
Hendricks: Every couple of years, the ‘crypto’ industry loses its collective mind over some new thing, everyone drops what they were doing, the ape-in, the space gets crowded, some people get rekt, some names are called, and people complain that things are different than when they started, so they are unhappy. This happens in each cycle, and this one is no different. The administration is helping normalize normal activities, and sketchy players will continue to rise and fall. Nothing new!
Read more: Will the crypto market crash or rally in 2026? Potential catalysts to watch
Pi Network Price Prediction: How High Could Pi Coin Go in January 2026?
Owing to its mobile mining model and millions of users, Pi Network continues to attract attention. However, Pi Coin’s price has struggled since the early excitement faded. As we approach January 2026, investors seek answers.
Table of Contents
Current market performance of Pi Coin
Key drivers that will shape Pi’s future value
Pi Network price prediction for January 2026
Conclusion
This Pi Network price prediction breaks down Pi’s current price, short-term outlook, and the main factors that could shape its future.
Summary
Pi Coin is trading around $0.2026 as of December 30, 2025, down nearly 18% over the past month and over 93% below its all-time high.
Key factors shaping Pi’s future include the January 2026 token unlock (134 million tokens), exchange listings, real-world use cases, and regulatory developments.
Short-term forecasts are mixed: CoinCodex predicts a drop to $0.1519, DigitalCoinPrice expects around $0.20 with a 2026 range of $0.39–$0.49, and WalletInvestor sees $0.180–$0.195 through mid-January.
Current market performance of Pi Coin
Trading at roughly $0.2026 as of December 30, 2025, Pi Coin (PI) has seen little short-term movement. A modest 0.26% weekly increase hasn’t offset the nearly 18% monthly decline, and the price remains more than 93% below its all-time high.
PI 1-day chart, December 2025 | Source: crypto.news
Locked coins and weak liquidity due to missing top-tier listings continue to pressure the market.
Key drivers that will shape Pi’s future value
Pi’s price direction will depend on a few major developments. The most immediate is the token unlock scheduled for January 2026, which will release 134 million tokens valued at more than $27 million. A surge in supply could lead to selling pressure if buyers don’t step in.
You might also like: What next for the Pi Network price ahead of the 134M unlock in January?
Exchange listings are another major driver. Limited access to top-tier platforms keeps liquidity low, while a strong listing could dramatically improve the Pi outlook.
Long-term growth depends on real-world use cases and supportive regulation, particularly in large markets such as the U.S., India, and Europe.
Pi Network price prediction for January 2026
Forecasts for Pi’s short-term price remain uncertain, with analysts offering mixed views.
CoinCodex warns of additional downside, projecting a 25.06% decline to around $0.1519 by late January 2026.
Meanwhile, DigitalCoinPrice provides a more neutral Pi Coin price forecast, placing Pi near $0.20 in January and forecasting a $0.39–$0.49 range for 2026.
WalletInvestor remains conservative, predicting that Pi will trade between $0.180 and $0.195 through mid-January.
Conclusion
The Pi Network price prediction for January 2026 remains uncertain. Near-term outlooks are cautious, but the broader Pi forecast will depend on what actually gets built. Managing token releases, expanding real-world use cases, securing major listings, and navigating regulations will determine whether Pi can move past its sharp decline (it’s down about 77% for the year).
Source: CoinGecko
Read more: Pi Network price risks crash on Christmas Day as 8.7M token unlock looms
Table of Contents
Current market performance of Pi Coin
Key drivers that will shape Pi’s future value
Pi Network price prediction for January 2026
Conclusion
This Pi Network price prediction breaks down Pi’s current price, short-term outlook, and the main factors that could shape its future.
Summary
Pi Coin is trading around $0.2026 as of December 30, 2025, down nearly 18% over the past month and over 93% below its all-time high.
Key factors shaping Pi’s future include the January 2026 token unlock (134 million tokens), exchange listings, real-world use cases, and regulatory developments.
Short-term forecasts are mixed: CoinCodex predicts a drop to $0.1519, DigitalCoinPrice expects around $0.20 with a 2026 range of $0.39–$0.49, and WalletInvestor sees $0.180–$0.195 through mid-January.
Current market performance of Pi Coin
Trading at roughly $0.2026 as of December 30, 2025, Pi Coin (PI) has seen little short-term movement. A modest 0.26% weekly increase hasn’t offset the nearly 18% monthly decline, and the price remains more than 93% below its all-time high.
PI 1-day chart, December 2025 | Source: crypto.news
Locked coins and weak liquidity due to missing top-tier listings continue to pressure the market.
Key drivers that will shape Pi’s future value
Pi’s price direction will depend on a few major developments. The most immediate is the token unlock scheduled for January 2026, which will release 134 million tokens valued at more than $27 million. A surge in supply could lead to selling pressure if buyers don’t step in.
You might also like: What next for the Pi Network price ahead of the 134M unlock in January?
Exchange listings are another major driver. Limited access to top-tier platforms keeps liquidity low, while a strong listing could dramatically improve the Pi outlook.
Long-term growth depends on real-world use cases and supportive regulation, particularly in large markets such as the U.S., India, and Europe.
Pi Network price prediction for January 2026
Forecasts for Pi’s short-term price remain uncertain, with analysts offering mixed views.
CoinCodex warns of additional downside, projecting a 25.06% decline to around $0.1519 by late January 2026.
Meanwhile, DigitalCoinPrice provides a more neutral Pi Coin price forecast, placing Pi near $0.20 in January and forecasting a $0.39–$0.49 range for 2026.
WalletInvestor remains conservative, predicting that Pi will trade between $0.180 and $0.195 through mid-January.
Conclusion
The Pi Network price prediction for January 2026 remains uncertain. Near-term outlooks are cautious, but the broader Pi forecast will depend on what actually gets built. Managing token releases, expanding real-world use cases, securing major listings, and navigating regulations will determine whether Pi can move past its sharp decline (it’s down about 77% for the year).
Source: CoinGecko
Read more: Pi Network price risks crash on Christmas Day as 8.7M token unlock looms
Pi Network Halts Payment Requests Due to Rising Scam Incidents
Pi Network has temporarily disabled wallet payment requests after a surge in scam incidents targeting users with large balances.
Summary
Pi Network has temporarily disabled wallet payment requests after scammers exploited the feature to steal PI tokens.
The scams relied on social engineering, not a protocol flaw, with attackers impersonating trusted contacts to trick users into approving transfers.
PI token trades near $0.20, under pressure from low liquidity and ongoing token unlocks.
In a Dec. 30 post on X, the Pi Core Team warned users that scammers have been abusing the payment request feature to steal tokens. Because wallet balances are publicly visible on the Pi blockchain, attackers can identify accounts holding significant amounts of PI and send deceptive payment requests.
The tokens are instantly transferred to the con artist and cannot be retrieved once a user grants such a request. The team emphasized that this is a result of users approving transactions without verification rather than a protocol flaw.
To limit further losses, Pi Network (PI) has suspended payment requests while it evaluates additional safeguards. The pause is temporary, but the feature is currently disabled across the network.
Special announcement to all #Pioneers.Stay alert.Hello #Pioneers, Scammers can find your wallet address on the blockchain and clearly see how many Pi coins you have in your wallet. Once they know your Pi coin balance, they will send you a payment request. As soon as you click… pic.twitter.com/xhJPNCLH6M
— Pi Network Alerts (@PiNetworkAlerts) December 30, 2025
You might also like: What next for the Pi Network price ahead of the 134M unlock in January?
How the scam works and why it escalated
According to community reports, scammers scan the public blockchain to locate wallets with high PI balances. They then send payment requests while impersonating trusted contacts, friends, family members, or even official Pi-related accounts.
Several coordinated attacks have been identified. One widely shared case shows a single scammer wallet receiving more than 838,000 PI in December 2025 alone. Cumulatively, users are estimated to have lost millions of tokens throughout the year.
Pi Network emphasized that users only lose funds if they approve these requests themselves. Still, the scale of the attacks prompted the team to intervene. Regardless of the sender’s identity, community moderators have advised users to reject all payment requests.
Broader context and market impact
The payment request pause follows a busy December for the Pi ecosystem. Earlier this month, the network integrated additional AI tools into its KYC process, cutting wait times by roughly half. Pi also revealed the winners of its inaugural Open Network hackathon, which received over 215 submissions.
Despite recent advancements, PI continues to encounter market challenges. The token’s price at the time of writing was $0.203, up 0.8% for the day but about 10% less than it was a month earlier. Compared with its all-time high of $2.99 in February, PI has lost about 93% of its value.
Sentiment is still affected by ongoing token unlocks. In December, about 105 million PI tokens were unlocked, increasing supply in a market with comparatively low liquidity. The daily trading volume has stayed low, averaging between $8 million and $30 million.
For now, analysts expect PI to remain range-bound between $0.15 and $0.25 unless network usage and investor confidence improve.
Read more: Why XRP price is stuck in a two-year trading range as it eyes $1.58
Summary
Pi Network has temporarily disabled wallet payment requests after scammers exploited the feature to steal PI tokens.
The scams relied on social engineering, not a protocol flaw, with attackers impersonating trusted contacts to trick users into approving transfers.
PI token trades near $0.20, under pressure from low liquidity and ongoing token unlocks.
In a Dec. 30 post on X, the Pi Core Team warned users that scammers have been abusing the payment request feature to steal tokens. Because wallet balances are publicly visible on the Pi blockchain, attackers can identify accounts holding significant amounts of PI and send deceptive payment requests.
The tokens are instantly transferred to the con artist and cannot be retrieved once a user grants such a request. The team emphasized that this is a result of users approving transactions without verification rather than a protocol flaw.
To limit further losses, Pi Network (PI) has suspended payment requests while it evaluates additional safeguards. The pause is temporary, but the feature is currently disabled across the network.
Special announcement to all #Pioneers.Stay alert.Hello #Pioneers, Scammers can find your wallet address on the blockchain and clearly see how many Pi coins you have in your wallet. Once they know your Pi coin balance, they will send you a payment request. As soon as you click… pic.twitter.com/xhJPNCLH6M
— Pi Network Alerts (@PiNetworkAlerts) December 30, 2025
You might also like: What next for the Pi Network price ahead of the 134M unlock in January?
How the scam works and why it escalated
According to community reports, scammers scan the public blockchain to locate wallets with high PI balances. They then send payment requests while impersonating trusted contacts, friends, family members, or even official Pi-related accounts.
Several coordinated attacks have been identified. One widely shared case shows a single scammer wallet receiving more than 838,000 PI in December 2025 alone. Cumulatively, users are estimated to have lost millions of tokens throughout the year.
Pi Network emphasized that users only lose funds if they approve these requests themselves. Still, the scale of the attacks prompted the team to intervene. Regardless of the sender’s identity, community moderators have advised users to reject all payment requests.
Broader context and market impact
The payment request pause follows a busy December for the Pi ecosystem. Earlier this month, the network integrated additional AI tools into its KYC process, cutting wait times by roughly half. Pi also revealed the winners of its inaugural Open Network hackathon, which received over 215 submissions.
Despite recent advancements, PI continues to encounter market challenges. The token’s price at the time of writing was $0.203, up 0.8% for the day but about 10% less than it was a month earlier. Compared with its all-time high of $2.99 in February, PI has lost about 93% of its value.
Sentiment is still affected by ongoing token unlocks. In December, about 105 million PI tokens were unlocked, increasing supply in a market with comparatively low liquidity. The daily trading volume has stayed low, averaging between $8 million and $30 million.
For now, analysts expect PI to remain range-bound between $0.15 and $0.25 unless network usage and investor confidence improve.
Read more: Why XRP price is stuck in a two-year trading range as it eyes $1.58
Will the Crypto Market Crash or Rally in 2026? Potential Catalysts to Watch
After a brutal 2025 that wiped more than $1.2 trillion from the crypto market, investors are now looking to 2026 as a make-or-break year—one that could either mark the industry’s recovery or deepen what many already consider its worst downturn since the last major cycle.
Summary
The crypto market crash has erased over $1.2 trillion in value in the past few months.
There are numerous catalysts that may fuel a crypto market rally in the coming year.
These catalysts will need to overcome the multiple bearish technicals.
The crypto market experienced a steep decline over the last two quarters, with Bitcoin (BTC) and most altcoins falling by double digits from their highest levels this year.
Bitcoin declined from the year-to-date high of $126,200 to the current $88,000, while the market capitalization of all tokens fell from the year-to-date high of $4.3 trillion to the current $2.9 trillion.
This article examines key factors that will determine whether the crypto market crash accelerates or a rally ensues.
Crypto market to react to the CLARITY Act
One of the key catalysts for the crypto market will be regulations, especially the CLARITY Act that is being debated in the Senate.
The bill, which has already passed the House of Representatives, aims to provide greater certainty in the crypto industry by allocating responsibilities between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
If it passes, it will be the second major bill by the current Congress. The last one was the GENIUS Act, which focused on regulating the stablecoin industry, which is now valued at over $308 billion.
In addition to CLARITY, the SEC, under Paul Atkins, has vowed to be more friendly to the crypto industry. Indeed, in January, the agency will grant an industry exemption to launch products without following the full regulatory process.
You might also like: Dogecoin price flips key support as DOGE ETF headwinds rise
Retirement accounts investing in cryptocurrencies
Another potential catalyst for the crypto market will be the approval of employer-sponsored plans to invest in cryptocurrencies and other private assets, such as private equity and credit.
President Donald Trump has proposed this, and it may become feasible in 2026. Such a move will be bullish for the crypto market as it will unlock trillions of dollars that may flow to the industry.
Another policy that may be bullish is the proposed tariff dividend, which would distribute checks to Americans. Additionally, Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have promised to offer the largest tax refund to Americans.
These policies will increase demand for risky assets such as stocks and cryptocurrencies, thereby boosting their prices over time.
Federal Reserve interest rate cuts
Other potential catalysts for the crypto market rally in 2025 will be actions by the Federal Reserve. The initial catalyst will be Trump’s appointment of a Fed chairman.
Trump has indicated that he will appoint a Federal Reserve official who would be comfortable cutting interest rates to 1%. That Fed Chair will be more different from Jerome Powell, who has demonstrated his independence.
Analysts expect the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates several times in 2026, a move that will push the U.S. M2 money supply well above the current $22 trillion. Bitcoin and other altcoins often do well when the M2 money supply is soaring.
Bitcoin price needs to overcome bearish technicals
Bitcoin price chart | Source: crypto.news
Technicals suggest that the crypto market crash has more room to run in the coming year. The weekly timeframe chart indicates that Bitcoin has formed a large rising wedge pattern and is now forming a bearish pennant.
Bitcoin has also moved below the Supertrend indicator on the weekly chart, indicating further downside in the coming year. Therefore, the fundamentals highlighted here must overcome these bearish chart patterns to prevent a crypto market crash.
Read more: Why XRP price is stuck in a two-year trading range as it eyes $1.58
Summary
The crypto market crash has erased over $1.2 trillion in value in the past few months.
There are numerous catalysts that may fuel a crypto market rally in the coming year.
These catalysts will need to overcome the multiple bearish technicals.
The crypto market experienced a steep decline over the last two quarters, with Bitcoin (BTC) and most altcoins falling by double digits from their highest levels this year.
Bitcoin declined from the year-to-date high of $126,200 to the current $88,000, while the market capitalization of all tokens fell from the year-to-date high of $4.3 trillion to the current $2.9 trillion.
This article examines key factors that will determine whether the crypto market crash accelerates or a rally ensues.
Crypto market to react to the CLARITY Act
One of the key catalysts for the crypto market will be regulations, especially the CLARITY Act that is being debated in the Senate.
The bill, which has already passed the House of Representatives, aims to provide greater certainty in the crypto industry by allocating responsibilities between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
If it passes, it will be the second major bill by the current Congress. The last one was the GENIUS Act, which focused on regulating the stablecoin industry, which is now valued at over $308 billion.
In addition to CLARITY, the SEC, under Paul Atkins, has vowed to be more friendly to the crypto industry. Indeed, in January, the agency will grant an industry exemption to launch products without following the full regulatory process.
You might also like: Dogecoin price flips key support as DOGE ETF headwinds rise
Retirement accounts investing in cryptocurrencies
Another potential catalyst for the crypto market will be the approval of employer-sponsored plans to invest in cryptocurrencies and other private assets, such as private equity and credit.
President Donald Trump has proposed this, and it may become feasible in 2026. Such a move will be bullish for the crypto market as it will unlock trillions of dollars that may flow to the industry.
Another policy that may be bullish is the proposed tariff dividend, which would distribute checks to Americans. Additionally, Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have promised to offer the largest tax refund to Americans.
These policies will increase demand for risky assets such as stocks and cryptocurrencies, thereby boosting their prices over time.
Federal Reserve interest rate cuts
Other potential catalysts for the crypto market rally in 2025 will be actions by the Federal Reserve. The initial catalyst will be Trump’s appointment of a Fed chairman.
Trump has indicated that he will appoint a Federal Reserve official who would be comfortable cutting interest rates to 1%. That Fed Chair will be more different from Jerome Powell, who has demonstrated his independence.
Analysts expect the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates several times in 2026, a move that will push the U.S. M2 money supply well above the current $22 trillion. Bitcoin and other altcoins often do well when the M2 money supply is soaring.
Bitcoin price needs to overcome bearish technicals
Bitcoin price chart | Source: crypto.news
Technicals suggest that the crypto market crash has more room to run in the coming year. The weekly timeframe chart indicates that Bitcoin has formed a large rising wedge pattern and is now forming a bearish pennant.
Bitcoin has also moved below the Supertrend indicator on the weekly chart, indicating further downside in the coming year. Therefore, the fundamentals highlighted here must overcome these bearish chart patterns to prevent a crypto market crash.
Read more: Why XRP price is stuck in a two-year trading range as it eyes $1.58
DAG Network AMA Maps Leadership Shakeup, Partial Centralization, and Presale End
DAG Network’s AMA detailed new leadership, pending audits, a centralized launch phase, and conditional BDAG presale and listing timelines.
Summary
BlockDAG named Nick Vandenberg CEO and Jeremy Harkness CTO, while founder Gurhan Kiziloz said he will step back from day-to-day operations into a funding and oversight role.
Harkness said the core network and ASIC mining work in a dev environment, but staking, audits, and full miner distribution remain unfinished as the team targets a late‑January presale close and February listings.
The chain is set to launch in a partially centralized mode with closed mining, phased hardware rollout, and a community oversight committee whose governance powers remain undefined.
DAG Network conducted a public question-and-answer session on December 29, 2025, addressing leadership changes, technical development status, and anticipated launch timelines for its blockchain project, according to statements made during the event.
The cryptocurrency project announced executive leadership changes during the session. Nick Vandenberg was introduced as Chief Executive Officer, while Jeremy Harkness was confirmed as Chief Technology Officer, according to representatives speaking at the AMA.
DAG network expands
Gurhan Kiziloz, identified as the project’s founder, appeared during the session and stated he provided approximately $14 million in initial funding and assembled a technical team for the blockchain’s development. Kiziloz said he would transition from day-to-day operations to a background role focused on funding support and oversight participation.
The founder acknowledged that a previous CEO, Antony Turner, had been appointed in an attempt to separate the project from his earlier ventures, which Kiziloz described as unsuccessful.
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Harkness stated the core blockchain network is operational in a development environment with functional ASIC mining capabilities. However, he confirmed that the staking mechanism remains incomplete and third-party audits have not been finalized, according to his remarks during the session.
The project plans to conclude its BDAG token presale on January 26, with a token generation event potentially occurring approximately one week later, followed by exchange listings targeted for early to mid-February, according to statements made during the AMA. Representatives characterized these dates as conditional, dependent on audit completion and technical readiness.
BlockDAG representatives stated that ASIC mining devices, including X10 and X100 units, have not been fully distributed to participants. Kiziloz stated that payments for mining hardware procurement would be completed within the week.
Harkness said the blockchain is expected to launch in a partially centralized configuration, with initial mining conducted on a closed network controlled by the project. Mining access would be expanded after hardware distribution to participants, according to the technical description provided.
The project announced plans to establish an oversight committee including community members. Kiziloz invited two individuals, identified as Reed and Muhammad, to participate in the proposed structure, describing them as long-time contributors to community coordination and technical discussions.
No formal governance framework or decision-making authority for the oversight committee was detailed during the session. Representatives stated additional AMA sessions would be held before the planned launch milestones, with updates expected on audits, mining hardware, and network readiness.
Read more: Lighter DEX launches LIT token with 25% community airdrop
Summary
BlockDAG named Nick Vandenberg CEO and Jeremy Harkness CTO, while founder Gurhan Kiziloz said he will step back from day-to-day operations into a funding and oversight role.
Harkness said the core network and ASIC mining work in a dev environment, but staking, audits, and full miner distribution remain unfinished as the team targets a late‑January presale close and February listings.
The chain is set to launch in a partially centralized mode with closed mining, phased hardware rollout, and a community oversight committee whose governance powers remain undefined.
DAG Network conducted a public question-and-answer session on December 29, 2025, addressing leadership changes, technical development status, and anticipated launch timelines for its blockchain project, according to statements made during the event.
The cryptocurrency project announced executive leadership changes during the session. Nick Vandenberg was introduced as Chief Executive Officer, while Jeremy Harkness was confirmed as Chief Technology Officer, according to representatives speaking at the AMA.
DAG network expands
Gurhan Kiziloz, identified as the project’s founder, appeared during the session and stated he provided approximately $14 million in initial funding and assembled a technical team for the blockchain’s development. Kiziloz said he would transition from day-to-day operations to a background role focused on funding support and oversight participation.
The founder acknowledged that a previous CEO, Antony Turner, had been appointed in an attempt to separate the project from his earlier ventures, which Kiziloz described as unsuccessful.
You might also like: Whales pull BTC from Binance as leverage and Schiff’s warning split sentiment
Harkness stated the core blockchain network is operational in a development environment with functional ASIC mining capabilities. However, he confirmed that the staking mechanism remains incomplete and third-party audits have not been finalized, according to his remarks during the session.
The project plans to conclude its BDAG token presale on January 26, with a token generation event potentially occurring approximately one week later, followed by exchange listings targeted for early to mid-February, according to statements made during the AMA. Representatives characterized these dates as conditional, dependent on audit completion and technical readiness.
BlockDAG representatives stated that ASIC mining devices, including X10 and X100 units, have not been fully distributed to participants. Kiziloz stated that payments for mining hardware procurement would be completed within the week.
Harkness said the blockchain is expected to launch in a partially centralized configuration, with initial mining conducted on a closed network controlled by the project. Mining access would be expanded after hardware distribution to participants, according to the technical description provided.
The project announced plans to establish an oversight committee including community members. Kiziloz invited two individuals, identified as Reed and Muhammad, to participate in the proposed structure, describing them as long-time contributors to community coordination and technical discussions.
No formal governance framework or decision-making authority for the oversight committee was detailed during the session. Representatives stated additional AMA sessions would be held before the planned launch milestones, with updates expected on audits, mining hardware, and network readiness.
Read more: Lighter DEX launches LIT token with 25% community airdrop
GameFi Funding Sinks 55% in 2025 As Web 2.5 Games Gain Ground — Can GALA, AXS, ENJ Bounce Back?
After a heated run in previous cycles, 2025 saw a massive decline in funding for GameFi projects, forcing many studios to close down as incentives dried up.
Summary
GameFi funding fell 55% YoY in 2025 as weak token models and poor retention wiped out studios
Gaming tokens underperformed crypto broadly, with many down 80%+ from recent highs
Web2.5 games using blockchain quietly, often without tokens, are gaining traction
GameFi’s funding collapse in 2025 exposed broken token models, while a quieter shift toward revenue-first Web2.5 gaming began to take shape.
As per Delphi Digital’s latest report, venture funding fell more than 55% year over year, mirroring the wider crypto slowdown but hitting gaming harder than most sectors.
GameFi’s funding crash exposes structural cracks
After pulling in over $147 million in Q1, funding slid to $73 million in Q2, briefly rebounded to $129 million in Q3, then dried up almost entirely by year-end. The fallout was severe. Dozens of studios ran out of runway as token prices collapsed and treasuries emptied.
CoinGecko data shows the gaming sector’s total market cap near $6.1 billion, with many tokens down 70%–95% from all-time highs. GALA is has fallen 82% year-over-year, Axie Infinity is down 86%, and Enjin has declined 87%.
2025 was a rough year for GameFi.Funding is down over 55% YoY. The most anticipated launches underdelivered and enthusiasm is muted.But the overall picture is more nuanced.We are seeing the quiet rise of Web2.5 games. These are games that treat blockchain as pure… pic.twitter.com/99655FSG3E
— Delphi Digital (@Delphi_Digital) December 29, 2025
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Poor retention worsened the damage. Many titles saw 60% player drop-off within 30 days, while inflationary play-to-earn models rewarded bots and extractive behavior rather than real players.
In Q2 alone, more than 300 gaming dApps shut down, and DappRadar, an analytics platform, declared it would close after seven years.
Web2.5 games gain ground as tokens lose relevance
The situation isn’t totally dire. While speculative GameFi faded, Web2.5 games quietly gained popularity. These studios use blockchain as infrastructure rather than a selling point, completely foregoing tokens in favor of revenue.
Teams like Fumb Games, Mythical Games, and Wemade/Wemix continue generating meaningful income by using blockchain to improve margins, increase engagement, or add new payment rails. Stablecoin adoption is accelerating this shift, making nano-transactions, global payments, and reward systems easier to deploy without forcing speculation onto players.
Even traditional brands are experimenting carefully. FIFA abandoned Algorand (ALGO) and introduced FIFA Rivals, a mobile and blockchain game powered by Avalanche (AVAX), bringing partners like Adidas to the ecosystem.
Although Web3-native games still make six- to seven-figure profits, their user bases are modest and driven by incentives. As rewards subside, their ecosystems often register waning engagement.
Industry voices now describe 2025 as a necessary reset after the 2021–2022 hype cycle, when billions flowed in with little lasting value. Whether tokens like GALA, AXS, and ENJ recover may depend less on speculation, and more on whether gaming finally delivers products people want to play.
Read more: Pi Network invests in CiDi Games to expand crypto gaming ecosystem
Summary
GameFi funding fell 55% YoY in 2025 as weak token models and poor retention wiped out studios
Gaming tokens underperformed crypto broadly, with many down 80%+ from recent highs
Web2.5 games using blockchain quietly, often without tokens, are gaining traction
GameFi’s funding collapse in 2025 exposed broken token models, while a quieter shift toward revenue-first Web2.5 gaming began to take shape.
As per Delphi Digital’s latest report, venture funding fell more than 55% year over year, mirroring the wider crypto slowdown but hitting gaming harder than most sectors.
GameFi’s funding crash exposes structural cracks
After pulling in over $147 million in Q1, funding slid to $73 million in Q2, briefly rebounded to $129 million in Q3, then dried up almost entirely by year-end. The fallout was severe. Dozens of studios ran out of runway as token prices collapsed and treasuries emptied.
CoinGecko data shows the gaming sector’s total market cap near $6.1 billion, with many tokens down 70%–95% from all-time highs. GALA is has fallen 82% year-over-year, Axie Infinity is down 86%, and Enjin has declined 87%.
2025 was a rough year for GameFi.Funding is down over 55% YoY. The most anticipated launches underdelivered and enthusiasm is muted.But the overall picture is more nuanced.We are seeing the quiet rise of Web2.5 games. These are games that treat blockchain as pure… pic.twitter.com/99655FSG3E
— Delphi Digital (@Delphi_Digital) December 29, 2025
You might also like: GameFi Alliance connects builders and capital in Singapore
Poor retention worsened the damage. Many titles saw 60% player drop-off within 30 days, while inflationary play-to-earn models rewarded bots and extractive behavior rather than real players.
In Q2 alone, more than 300 gaming dApps shut down, and DappRadar, an analytics platform, declared it would close after seven years.
Web2.5 games gain ground as tokens lose relevance
The situation isn’t totally dire. While speculative GameFi faded, Web2.5 games quietly gained popularity. These studios use blockchain as infrastructure rather than a selling point, completely foregoing tokens in favor of revenue.
Teams like Fumb Games, Mythical Games, and Wemade/Wemix continue generating meaningful income by using blockchain to improve margins, increase engagement, or add new payment rails. Stablecoin adoption is accelerating this shift, making nano-transactions, global payments, and reward systems easier to deploy without forcing speculation onto players.
Even traditional brands are experimenting carefully. FIFA abandoned Algorand (ALGO) and introduced FIFA Rivals, a mobile and blockchain game powered by Avalanche (AVAX), bringing partners like Adidas to the ecosystem.
Although Web3-native games still make six- to seven-figure profits, their user bases are modest and driven by incentives. As rewards subside, their ecosystems often register waning engagement.
Industry voices now describe 2025 as a necessary reset after the 2021–2022 hype cycle, when billions flowed in with little lasting value. Whether tokens like GALA, AXS, and ENJ recover may depend less on speculation, and more on whether gaming finally delivers products people want to play.
Read more: Pi Network invests in CiDi Games to expand crypto gaming ecosystem
What Next for the Pi Network Price Ahead of the 134M Unlock in January?
The Pi Network price has moved sideways over the past six days as demand waned and traders waited for another large token unlock in the new year.
Summary
The Pi Network price has remained under pressure over the past few weeks and is now at a critical support level.
The network will unlock 134 million tokens in January next year.
The pace of unlocks will then decline in the subsequent months.
Pi Coin (PI) token was stuck at $0.2025, down by more than 93% from its all-time high. Its liquidity has largely dried, with trading volume falling to $10 million, a small amount for a cryptocurrency valued at over $1.6 billion.
Pi Network price will react to the upcoming token unlocks in January next year. Data shows that 134 million tokens worth over $27 million will be unlocked in January.
While that is a big number, it will be much lower than the 190 million tokens that were unlocked in December. Most importantly, the pace of unlocks will continue falling in the first half of the year, which will lead to a lower inflation rate.
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Meanwhile, Pi Network’s team is working on several initiatives to boost its price over time. It has already invested in two companies — CiDi Games and OpenMind — using part of the $100 million ecosystem fund launched in May this year.
Additionally, they are currently running a trial of their decentralized exchange and automated market maker tools, with the mainnet scheduled to launch in 2026. The goal of this platform is to provide greater utility to the Pi token and potentially increase its price over time.
The developers also recently held a hackathon at which they pitched their ideas. Blind Lounge, a privacy-first social and dating platform in which users connect anonymously and then connect when they mutually agree, was the winner.
Starmax, the second-place winner, is a loyalty app that enables companies to offer loyalty programs using the Pi token.
Pi Network price technical analysis
Pi Coin price chart | Source: crypto.news
The three-day timeframe chart indicates that the Pi token price has been sideways over the past few days. It has remained at the key support level at $0.2021, its lowest level on Nov. 3, and the neckline of the double-top pattern at $0.2823.
The token has remained below the 50-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA), while the Supertrend indicator has turned red.
Therefore, the most likely Pi Coin price forecast is bearish, with the next key support level to watch being at $0.1514, its lowest level in October and its all-time low. This price is about 25% below the current level.
Read more: Bitcoin price hits $90k wall—and the floor may be $80k
Summary
The Pi Network price has remained under pressure over the past few weeks and is now at a critical support level.
The network will unlock 134 million tokens in January next year.
The pace of unlocks will then decline in the subsequent months.
Pi Coin (PI) token was stuck at $0.2025, down by more than 93% from its all-time high. Its liquidity has largely dried, with trading volume falling to $10 million, a small amount for a cryptocurrency valued at over $1.6 billion.
Pi Network price will react to the upcoming token unlocks in January next year. Data shows that 134 million tokens worth over $27 million will be unlocked in January.
While that is a big number, it will be much lower than the 190 million tokens that were unlocked in December. Most importantly, the pace of unlocks will continue falling in the first half of the year, which will lead to a lower inflation rate.
You might also like: Here’s why PayPal stock was the fifth-worst Nasdaq 100 constituent in 2025
Meanwhile, Pi Network’s team is working on several initiatives to boost its price over time. It has already invested in two companies — CiDi Games and OpenMind — using part of the $100 million ecosystem fund launched in May this year.
Additionally, they are currently running a trial of their decentralized exchange and automated market maker tools, with the mainnet scheduled to launch in 2026. The goal of this platform is to provide greater utility to the Pi token and potentially increase its price over time.
The developers also recently held a hackathon at which they pitched their ideas. Blind Lounge, a privacy-first social and dating platform in which users connect anonymously and then connect when they mutually agree, was the winner.
Starmax, the second-place winner, is a loyalty app that enables companies to offer loyalty programs using the Pi token.
Pi Network price technical analysis
Pi Coin price chart | Source: crypto.news
The three-day timeframe chart indicates that the Pi token price has been sideways over the past few days. It has remained at the key support level at $0.2021, its lowest level on Nov. 3, and the neckline of the double-top pattern at $0.2823.
The token has remained below the 50-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA), while the Supertrend indicator has turned red.
Therefore, the most likely Pi Coin price forecast is bearish, with the next key support level to watch being at $0.1514, its lowest level in October and its all-time low. This price is about 25% below the current level.
Read more: Bitcoin price hits $90k wall—and the floor may be $80k
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