The Russell 2000 Index is approaching a new high.
The Russell 2000 includes 2,000 small US companies and often moves in tandem with altcoins.
Both markets peaked in November 2021, experienced a prolonged bearish trend, and are now testing those levels again.

The International Monetary Fund has stated that stablecoins could accelerate currency substitution in countries with weak monetary systems, potentially undermining central banks' control over capital flows.
The rapid rise in popularity of dollar-denominated stablecoins, coupled with their ease of cross-border use, could encourage households and businesses to abandon local currencies, especially in conditions of high inflation or low confidence.

Former SEC Chairman Gary Gensler stated that the crypto market is currently experiencing exactly the situation he feared during his tenure as chairman: global public interest in digital assets is at odds with their fundamental principles.
Gensler again warned investors about the risks associated with cryptocurrencies, calling most assets "highly speculative," while praising Bitcoin.
Regarding ETFs, Gensler noted that finance "has been moving toward centralization since ancient times," so the integration of blockchain into the traditional financial system was not a surprise to him.

The Fusaka upgrade has been activated on the Ethereum mainnet, a new upgrade designed to improve the network's scalability, efficiency, and security.

The Ethereum ecosystem is testing the Zero Knowledge Secret Santa (ZKSS) protocol, which provides complete anonymity in gift exchanges using cryptography. It hides the sender and recipient of transactions, which can be used for anonymous voting, private airdrops, and secure DAO systems.
ZKSS creates a mechanism that keeps all participants invisible while maintaining the fairness and verifiability of the distribution process.

10 of the 12 widely used models suggest Ethereum is undervalued, according to CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju. The combined "fair value" is approximately $4,836, more than 60% above the current price.
At the same time, 2 metrics favor overvaluation: fair values ​​of $1,071 and $677.

The global money supply (M2) continues to expand, which, according to analysts, could positively impact the cryptocurrency market. If the link between M2 and BTC remains, the crypto market could see significant growth.

Renowned economist and Bitcoin critic Peter Schiff noted that silver rose 16.5% in November, while BTC fell 17.5%.
He also emphasized that since the beginning of 2025, silver has risen 95%, while BTC has fallen 4%.
"If silver continues to rise, its 'mirror image' will likely collapse."

A sharp increase in ETH buying.
The total volume of aggressive buying reached 120.6 million ETH, indicating increased long positions and increased demand for buying at the market.
This surge is typically seen when traders anticipate further price movements and are ready to buy without waiting for a pullback.

Vitalik Buterin supported the developers of the private messaging apps Session and SimpleXChat by donating 128 ETH each.
Encrypted messages are critical to maintaining our digital privacy.
Two next important steps in this area are creating public accounts and ensuring metadata privacy.

The market capitalization of Ethena's USDe stablecoin plummeted by 50% in a month, from $14.8 billion to $7.2 billion.
This decline occurred amid a decline in annual yields to 5.1%, down from double-digit levels at the beginning of the year.
Meanwhile, the coin's actual usage continues to grow, with on-chain transaction volume reaching $50 billion in the last month. USDe remains among the top three largest stablecoins.

The pressure on Bitcoin's price is due to institutional investors' reaction, as Wall Street newcomers were unprepared for sharp price fluctuations, said Anthony Pompliano, founder of Pomp Investments.
VanEck data confirms that the recent drop to $82,000 was triggered by the U.S. trading session.
Pompliano emphasized that experienced industry participants consider price fluctuations an indicator of market health.

The Winklevoss brothers have been actively withdrawing funds from their Bitcoin address throughout 2025, and this process has only intensified in the last month.
The Winklevosses, pioneers of the crypto industry, have already recorded over $1 billion in profit.

At the current stage, a major Bitcoin crash is unlikely, as the market hasn't yet reached the "euphoria" phase, according to macroeconomist Lyn Alden.
According to Alden, investors should stop viewing bullish cycles as inevitable. Market results "rarely correspond to the extremes traders imagine," the expert emphasized.
The macroeconomist expects the leading cryptocurrency to return to $100,000 in 2026 and set new highs by the end of 2027.

Bitcoin is in a profit-taking phase. This is indicated by the PnL Index, noted Crypto Quant founder and CEO Ki Young Ju.
However, he believes that an influx of macroeconomic liquidity, as happened in 2020, could reverse the trend.
A trader under the handle EgyHash also believes that increased institutional investor activity is necessary for a bullish reversal.

Bitcoin has reached its highest oversold level in over two years, but hopes for growth are severely limited. Some altcoins have fallen to levels seen during the previous bear market.
CryptoQuant CEO Kim Young-Joo emphasized that, from a technical perspective, the bullish phase ended earlier this year, when Bitcoin first broke $100,000. To form a cyclical bottom, the cryptocurrency will need to return to its realized price of around $56,000.
"However, given that players like Strategy are unlikely to sell their assets, and their coins have effectively been withdrawn from the market, I doubt we'l

The unprecedented pace of institutional investor accumulation of Ethereum poses fundamental threats, Vitalik Buterin stated.
The first challenge is the loss of developers. According to the Ethereum co-founder, the core community, which has spent years developing the decentralized infrastructure, is unlikely to want to work with Wall Street.
The second risk is pressure on technical development. Investors could lobby for changes to the underlying protocol that benefit them but harm ordinary users.

Vitalik Buterin has suggested that modern cryptography could be broken using quantum computing before the next US presidential election in 2028.
He called on the Ethereum community to transition to quantum-resistant security methods, using the L2 layer for innovation and turning L1 into the most stable computation and security layer.
He estimates that Ethereum has a maximum of four years to build its security.

Vitalik Buterin unveiled Kohaku, a set of tools for enhancing privacy and security in the Ethereum ecosystem. It's an open-source project creating a modular stack for developing secure, privacy-enhanced wallets.
The ecosystem could eventually include tools such as mixnets for network-level anonymity and browsers using ZK technology.

Newbie and retail crypto investors suffered devastating losses due to the market correction.
According to CryptoQuant, investors with balances of less than 1 BTC sold approximately 148,241 BTC at prices below $100,000, despite their entry price being in the $102,000-$107,000 range.