Bitcoin price has started to show clear signs of weakness, and the recent move back below six figures has forced a reassessment of the near-term outlook. With several important technical and on-chain levels now lost, I have recalibrated my base case so that the probability of retesting new all-time highs in the coming weeks has fallen below 50%. That can change quickly if major levels are reclaimed, but until then, the conditions resemble a market shifting away from trending strength and toward a deeper corrective phase.

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Growing concerns over privacy and financial surveillance in the crypto sector have pushed the U.S. SEC’s Crypto Task Force to schedule a major roundtable on December 15. The meeting will gather SEC officials and top industry leaders to discuss rising privacy risks across the ecosystem. While no direct policy recommendations are expected, the discussion aims to address shared challenges and highlight the crypto community’s demand for stronger privacy protections.

Recent legal actions have intensified these concerns. The partial guilty verdict for Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm, the sentencing of the Samourai Wallet developer, and sharp gains in privacy-token prices have all renewed calls for safeguarding user anonymity. Advocates like Naomi Brockwell warn that weakened privacy empowers authoritarian abuse, underscoring privacy’s foundational role since the cypherpunk origins of cryptocurrency.

Legal experts say recent prosecutions send a troubling signal to developers building privacy-focused, open-source tools. Responding to backlash, DOJ official Matthew Galeotti clarified that the department will not prosecute developers solely for writing code, emphasizing that innovation should not be criminalized absent malicious intent.

Citi and Swift have completed a landmark trial showing that payments between fiat and digital currencies can be safely and efficiently settled using a new hybrid Payment-versus-Payment (PvP) model. By enhancing Swift’s existing global infrastructure with blockchain connectors, smart contracts, and orchestration tools, the partners demonstrated seamless interoperability between traditional banking systems and Distributed Ledger Technology.

The test used Circle’s USDC tokens on the Ethereum Sepolia testnet to simulate real-world conditions, introducing an escrow mechanism to address the irreversible nature of blockchain transactions. Leaders from both organizations said the successful trial highlights how blockchain can boost speed, transparency, and security for cross-currency settlements while reducing risk.

The initiative marks a major step toward scalable, institutional-grade digital asset solutions as stablecoin use surges worldwide. Citi and Swift plan to refine the model with industry partners to establish unified standards that support the growing demand for efficient fiat-to-digital currency settlement across global financial networks.

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Strategy — the original “bitcoin-on-NASDAQ” proxy — is now facing its most consequential structural risk since Michael Saylor began converting the firm into a leveraged BTC holding vehicle five years ago.

A new JPMorgan research note warns that Strategy is “at risk of exclusion from major equity indices” as MSCI approaches a key January 15 decision on whether companies with large digital-asset treasuries belong in traditional stock benchmarks.

MSCI is weighing a rule that would remove companies whose digital-asset holdings exceed 50% of total assets — a category in which Strategy sits at the extreme. 

With the company’s market cap hovering around $59 billion and nearly…

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Billionaire investor Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, reiterated his cautious stance on Bitcoin this week, revealing that he holds only a small fraction of the cryptocurrency in his portfolio. 

Speaking on CNBC’s Squawk Box, Dalio said, “I have a small percentage of Bitcoin… I’ve had it forever, like 1% of my portfolios,” underscoring his committed and limited exposure to the asset.

Dalio, long known for his macroeconomic insights and somewhat dubious Bitcoin takes, emphasized that Bitcoin faces structural challenges that hinder its adoption as a global reserve currency. 

He pointed to Bitcoin’s transparency and traceability as major constraints,…

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Bitcoin price is trading at lows of $86,610, down over 1% over the past 24 hours, with a 24-hour trading volume of $87 billion. 

The top cryptocurrency is currently 5% below its seven-day high of $92,944 but is currently making new seven-day and seven-month lows. With a circulating supply of 19,950,600 BTC out of a maximum of 21 million, the global Bitcoin market cap is $1.78 trillion, reflecting a 1% decline over the past day.

The bitcoin price traded above $92,000 overnight but sharply dumped in early eastern-time zone trading to lows in the $86,000s range.

The Bitcoin Fear and Greed Index currently sits in “Extreme Fear.”

The U.S. labor market showed unexpected…

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