$675M Lighter Airdrop Becomes 10th Largest in Crypto History

Lighter, a decentralized exchange (DEX) that offers perpetual futures trading, carried out one of the biggest token giveaways in crypto history, even as critics continued to question how the project split its token supply. Lighter airdropped a total of $675 million worth of Lighter Infrastructure Tokens (LIT) to early participants on Tuesday, according to blockchain…

Perpetuals DEX Volume Hit $7.9T in 2025 as Onchain Trading Scales

Perpetuals decentralized exchanges are closing 2025 with cumulative trading volume reaching $12.09 trillion, up from $4.1 trillion at the start of the year.  DefiLlama data shows that about $7.9 trillion of this lifetime total volume was generated in 2025. This means that 65% of all perp DEX trading volume occurred in a single calendar year….

Ethereum Network Activity Surges as Transaction Fees Fall to 17 Cents

The Ethereum mainnet clocked 2.2 million transactions in a single day in a new record this week, while fees have fallen to just 17 cents on average. The layer-1 blockchain recorded its new transaction milestone on Tuseday, according to block explorer Etherscan.  Transaction fees have also dropped considerably over time.  The highest transaction fees on Ethereum…

Make-or-Break BTC Charts to Watch in 2026

Key takeaways: Bitcoin is consolidating as gold leads, a pattern seen before past BTC rallies. $84,000–$85,000 and the 100-week EMA are key levels to watch. Bitcoin (BTC) failed to rise above the $90,000 mark in December, with sharp rejections toward the $85,000-87,000 area on each attempt. BTC/USD hourly chart. Source: TradingView The sideways price action…

Coinbase Warns Stablecoin Rules Could Hand China an Edge

A senior executive at Coinbase warned that changes to the US stablecoin framework could weaken Washington’s position in the global race for digital payments, just as China moves to make its central bank digital currency (CBDC) more competitive. In a post on X, Faryar Shirzad, Coinbase’s chief policy officer, said the debate over whether US-issued…

Winklevoss twins-backed Cypherpunk holds 1.7% of supply after $28 million buy

Cypherpunk Technologies (CYPH), a digital asset treasury firm backed by the Winklevoss twins, said it bought $28 million worth of privacy coin zcash ZEC$524.71, taking its overall holdings to 290,062 ZEC ($152 million). The Nasdaq-listed company said in a Tuesday press release that it purchased 56,418 tokens at an average price of $514.02 per token,…

Bullish Trigger for 2026 Rally?

XRP (XRP) held above a key demand zone that has provided support for its price throughout 2025. Will holding this level and a reducing balance on exchanges trigger the start of a sustained recovery in 2026? Key takeaways: XRP supply on exchanges has dropped to an eight-year low, signalling reduced selling pressure. XRP price bulls…

Pakistan Could Become World Crypto Leader by 2030

Pakistan’s ability to “move fast” with crypto regulation and adoption could make it a world leader in crypto by 2030, according to former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao.  In a recent interview with Pakistan Crypto Council CEO Bilal bin Saqib, CZ credited Pakistan’s leadership for recognizing the demand for digital assets among its relatively young…

BitMine Capitalized on Year-End Tax-Loss Selling With $98M ETH Buy

Ethereum treasury company BitMine Immersion Technologies scooped up $97.6 million worth of Ether on Tuesday as the crypto market remains muted in the final days of 2025. Nansen data shows BitMine purchased 32,938 Ether (ETH). Other data shows its total holdings are now 4.07 million ETH, worth $12 billion. BitMine also staked another 118,944 ETH,…

Crypto Lags Gold and Stocks, but 2026 May Spark Catch-Up Rally

The crypto market will be bleeding into 2026 depsite other major assets gaining; however, there will be a chance for crypto to play catch-up in the new year, according to market intelligence platform Santiment. In an X post on Tuesday, analysts from Santiment said that Bitcoin (BTC) is trailing gold and the S&P 500 stock…