Bitcoin spiked above $90,000 heading into the first weekend of 2026, even as spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs recorded net outflows this week.

Notable Statistics:

Coinglass data shows 105,578 traders were liquidated in the past 24 hours for $381.05 million.        

SoSoValue data shows net outflows of $348.1 million from spot Bitcoin ETFs on Wednesday. Spot Ethereum ETFs saw net outflows of $72 million.

In the past 24 hours, top losers include Pepe, Floki and Pudgy Penguins.

Notable Developments:

Trader Notes: CryptoCon said Bitcoin has opened the year with a Pi Cycle “death cross,” a signal that historically gains relevance later in the cycle.

According to halving-cycle…

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Strategy Inc. (NASDAQ:MSTR) executive chairman Michael Saylor says Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) makes the stock “interesting,” but Polymarket traders bet 76% the company gets booted from MSCI by March 31.

Options Activity Dwarfs Mega-Cap Peers

Saylor on Frida pointed to MSTR’s options interest-to-market cap ratio, which now sits at 86.2%—far exceeding derivatives exposure at Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) at 22%, Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) at 10.4%, and Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) at 7.2%.

Tech giants like Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Amazon Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), and Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) cluster much lower around 3-4%, highlighting how extreme MSTR’s…

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Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) recorded 1.87 million daily transactions on Dec. 31 but remains trapped under resistance as another failed breakout attempt dashed bulls’ hopes.

Network Activity Explodes To Record Highs

Ethereum’s 7-day moving average of daily transactions hit 1.87 million on Dec. 31, surpassing the previous ATH of 1.61 million from May 2021 during the NFT and DeFi mania according to The Block.

The network also logged 728,904 active addresses—the highest since May 12, 2021—and added 270,160 new addresses in a single day, the biggest daily surge since early 2018.

Nick Ruck, director of LVRG Research, credited the spike to network upgrades that slashed fees, boosted scalability,…

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Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) continues to struggle below $90,000, leaving investors uncertain whether 2026 will begin with prolonged consolidation or a decisive macro-driven move.

What Happened: According to CryptoQuant, Bitcoin has entered the new year stuck in a volatile range rather than a clearly defined bull or bear trend.

The on-chain analytics firm outlined three potential scenarios for 2026:

High probability — Range-bound (“twisted range”): Bitcoin trades broadly between $80,000 and $140,000, with $90,000–$120,000 acting as the core zone. This outcome would be driven by uneven capital flows, ETF-driven trading, and derivatives activity.

Medium probability — Macro shock: A… Read more on Benzinga

President Donald Trump pardoned three high-profile crypto figures between January and October 2025, triggering allegations that personal financial ties influenced executive clemency decisions.

Ross Ulbricht: The Silk Road Founder

Trump granted a full and unconditional pardon to Ross Ulbricht on Jan. 21, 2025, freeing the creator of the Silk Road marketplace after more than a decade behind bars.

Ulbricht had been serving a double life sentence since 2013 for operating an online marketplace that prosecutors said facilitated roughly $1 billion in illegal transactions involving drugs such as heroin, cocaine, and LSD, largely settled in Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC).

Trump announced the pardon on Truth…

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XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) is attempting to reclaim $2 as technical indicators turn constructive, exchange supply tightens and spot XRP ETFs record fresh inflows.

Cryptocurrency
Ticker
Price
Market Cap
7-Day Trend

XRP
(CRYPTO: XRP)
$1.89
$115.1 billion
+1.1%

Bitcoin
(CRYPTO: BTC)
$89,240.56
$1.78 trillion
+0.4%

Ethereum
(CRYPTO: ETH)
$3,049.31
$368 billion
+2.3%

Trader Notes: Web3Niels noted that while XRP’s price action remains subdued, a significant supply shift is unfolding beneath the surface.

Exchange balances have fallen sharply from about 3.76 billion XRP in October to roughly 1.6 billion today, pushing available supply to seven-year lows.

This reduction…

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Is 2026 crypto’s year of consolidation? After a decade of fragmentation and protocol sprawl, deal activity across exchanges, platforms and infrastructure is on the up. 

Coinbase’s (NASDAQ:COIN)  $2.9 billion purchase of Deribit adds to a growing list of blockchain buyouts that suggest money is moving toward scale. What’s emerging is an industry that’s still open in code but increasingly consolidated in ownership. This year will test which platforms live long enough to absorb the rest.

Snapshot
Exchanges are consolidating power – Coinbase and Kraken are using M&A to secure derivatives, liquidity and regulatory reach, reinforcing scale advantages that smaller venues struggle to… Read more on Benzinga