Matt Hougan, chief investment officer at Bitwise Invest, outlined three key conditions that must be met for cryptocurrency markets to extend their early 2026 rally and transition from a bounce into a sustained uptrend.

What Happened: Crypto markets have started 2026 strong, with Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) and Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) both up roughly 7% year-to-date, while higher-beta altcoins have significantly outperformed.

Hougan said the rally can continue if three major boxes are checked:

No major market blowups

The biggest near-term risk has been another forced liquidation event similar to the Oct. 10, 2025 deleveraging that erased nearly $19 billion.

Hougan noted that this risk has largely…

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Bitcoin trading around $90,000 as crypto sentiment remains neutral and ETFs see heavy outflows; liquidations stand at $465.67 million over the past 24 hours.   

Bitcoin ETFs saw $486 million in net outflows on Wednesday, while Ethereum ETFs reported $98.5 million in net outflows.

Time For Bitcoin To Push Higher Again?

Michael van de Poppe said Bitcoin is at a key inflection point after testing the 21-day moving average. Holding this level keeps a move toward $94,000 next week in play, while losing it could trigger a liquidity sweep of recent lows before continuation.

Crypto trader Jelle noted the Federal Reserve expanded its balance sheet for the first time in nearly three years, a…

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Leading digital asset manager Grayscale Investments highlighted on Wednesday Bittensor (CRYPTO: TAO) as the token embodying Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang’s vision of a currency that transforms excess energy into AI models.

Does Bittensor Really Fit The Bill?

Grayscale reacted to Huang’s remarks made at the Bipartisan Policy Center on Sept. 27, 2024, where he discussed the intersection of energy and cryptocurrency.

Huang started by giving the example of Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) mining and how the process takes “excess energy” and stores it into a new form.

He later extended the thesis to include data centers and high-performance computing.

“Transfer that energy, compress…

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Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ:COIN) CEO Brian Armstrong expressed concerns on Wednesday over the competitiveness of dollar-pegged stablecoins in light of China’s decision to pay interest on its central bank digital currency.

Armstrong Questions Policymakers

In an X post, Armstrong argued that China’s move to pay interest on its official digital currency, Digital Yuan, gives it a “competitive advantage.”

“Rewards [or even paying interest] benefits ordinary people just like community lending does. We have to let the market do both,” Armstrong said.

The cryptocurrency mogul said the U.S. is “missing the forest through the trees” and risks losing the competitive edge if…

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Tyler Winklevoss, co-founder of Gemini Space Station, Inc. (NASDAQ:GEMI), slammed the state of California and Governor Gavin Newsom on Wednesday for approving a bill that lets authorities take control of unclaimed cryptocurrency.

Winklevoss Targets Newsom

In an X post, Winklevoss alleged that the “failed state” of California wants to “steal” the Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) that people had held for long periods.

The cryptocurrency mogul said that the state administration is trying to feed its “money pit grift machine” with the move.

Notably, Tyler and his twin brother Cameron are primarily based in New York City, where Gemini and their venture capital firm, Winklevoss Capital…

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The official X account tied to meme cryptocurrency Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) celebrated the rescue of a German Shepherd on Wednesday after a community member was initially stopped from adopting the dog.

Dogecoin Community To The Rescue Of Sherman?

Dogecoin credited community pressure for the release of the dog, named “Sherman.”

“We did it,” the handle wrote. “People power works.”

The controversy began when Doge Van, a well-known member of the DOGE community and dog rescuer, claimed that the Downey Animal Shelter in Los Angeles canceled the adoption, citing a “clerical error” on Sherman’s aggression status.

Doge Van denied that the dog was “aggressive,” adding that the…

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President Donald Trump-backed World Liberty Financial announced Wednesday that it has applied for a U.S. national banking license to issue and custody its dollar-pegged World Liberty Financial USD (USD1) stablecoin.

A Federally-Regulated Stablecoin Bank?

The decentralized finance platform stated that its subsidiary, WLTC Holdings LLC, applied to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish World Liberty Trust Company, National Association, a banking entity designed for stablecoin operations.

The proposed trust company is designed to serve institutional clients, including cryptocurrency exchanges, market makers and investment firms. Besides issuing and redeeming the $2.8…

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