Vanguard Exec Says Bitcoin Is Like ‘A Digital Labubu’

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) returned to the center of Wall Street’s credibility debate after a senior Vanguard executive dismissed the asset as a speculative “digital toy.”

Vanguard Executive Doubles Down On Bitcoin Skepticism

Vanguard Group Global Head of Quantitative Equity John Ameriks said Bitcoin lacks the income, compounding, and cash-flow characteristics the firm seeks in long-term investments.

Speaking at Bloomberg’s ETFs in Depth conference in New York on Thursday, Ameriks compared Bitcoin to a viral plush toy collectible, calling it a “digital Labubu.”

Absent evidence that the technology delivers durable economic value, Ameriks said it is difficult to view Bitcoin as anything beyond…

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Bitcoin Falls To $90k, Vanguard Exec Calls BTC A Digital Toy

The bitcoin price was trading in the $92,000 range earlier today but has now dropped back toward $90,000, reflecting continued volatility despite the U.S. Federal Reserve’s 25-basis-point rate cut. 

After briefly spiking above $93,000 yesterday, the crypto fell below $90,000 and stabilized around $90,600 at the time of writing.

The pullback comes amid mixed signals from the Fed. While the rate cut to 3.50%–3.75% was widely anticipated, Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s cautious remarks and a 9–3 split among FOMC members — one favoring a deeper 50-basis-point cut and two opposing any reduction — tempered enthusiasm for risk assets, including BTC.

Analysts described the decline as a…

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OCC Grants Conditional Approvals To 5 Crypto Firms

The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has granted conditional approvals for five digital asset firms — Ripple, Circle, Fidelity Digital Assets, BitGo, and Paxos — to become federally chartered national trust banks, marking a major milestone in the integration of cryptocurrency into traditional finance.

The approvals, announced Friday, allow the firms to convert from state-level trust charters to federal status, subject to meeting the OCC’s conditions. 

Once finalized, these institutions will join roughly 60 other national trust banks regulated by the OCC, gaining the ability to offer fiduciary and custody services nationwide. 

Unlike larger national…

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Why Trump Should Pardon The Developers Of Bitcoins Non Custodial Samourai Wallet

On December 18th, days before Christmas, Keonne Rodriguez, co-founder of the Bitcoin Samourai Wallet, will have to surrender to prison. His crime? Creating a software tool that gave Bitcoin users comparable privacy to that which banks are expected to provide. Samourai Wallet, the brand and technology stack built by Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill, was shut down by the U.S. Government in April 2024 on a variety of charges, including money laundering, but only one charge stuck after a high-profile trial, the weakest charge of all, “unlicensed money transmission”.

What does it mean to transmit money? According to prosecutors, custodial control over user funds is no longer a…

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Sangha Opens Bitcoin 20MW Bitcoin Mining Facility In Texas

Sangha Renewables announced the energization of its 19.9-megawatt bitcoin mining facility in Ector County, West Texas today, in partnership with Links Genco and TotalEnergies.

The project operates behind-the-meter on a 150-megawatt solar farm, combining renewable energy generation with digital infrastructure to explore new revenue streams for the energy sector.

The facility, developed with support from Links Genco, uses bitcoin mining to provide dispatchable industrial demand that aligns with variable renewable output. 

Links Genco provided energy structuring and grid compliance services, helping Sangha configure a load profile that complements solar generation while mitigating…

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Pakistan Rolls Out 2 Bold Crypto Exchange Deals

Pakistan is moving to formalize its place in the global digital-asset economy, signing a memorandum of understanding with Binance to explore the tokenization of up to $2 billion in state-owned assets while granting early regulatory clearances to both Binance and HTX. 

Together, the initiatives reflect one of the country’s most ambitious pushes yet to merge sovereign finance with blockchain-based infrastructure.

According to Pakistan’s finance ministry, the MoU with Binance will allow the government to assess tokenising sovereign bonds, treasury bills, and commodity reserves — including oil, gas, and metals — as it seeks new tools to boost liquidity and expand market…

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3 Macro Factors Driving The Bitcoin Drawdown From $120,000 To $90,000

Bitcoin’s (CRYPTO: BTC) months-long range-bound trading, and a 12% pullback that’s keeping it from reclaiming $100,000, has traders digging into what’s driving the weakness.

What Happened: Pseudonymous macro researcher Capital Flows elaborated in a detailed X thread that three key macro forces are behind Bitcoin’s drawdown:

Bitcoin is acting as a risk-asset release valve: BTC remains highly sensitive to shifts in risk appetite. While it typically tracks equities, it has recently diverged because it responds more quickly to changes in macro liquidity and the broader risk curve.

Real interest rates now dominate price action: despite Fed rate cuts, what truly matters is net liquidity…. Read more on Benzinga

Bitcoin Price Forecast Tools And Cycle Valuation Metrics

The Bitcoin Magazine Pro Price Forecast Tools chart provides a comprehensive framework for identifying potential price floors during bear cycles and forecasting upside targets based on on-chain fundamentals and network-derived data points. By aggregating multiple metrics, this methodology has historically called Bitcoin market cycle peaks and bottoms with remarkable accuracy. Can these tools continue to provide a basis for reliable BTC price forecasting over the next 12 months and beyond?

CVDD & Balanced Price: Bitcoin Price Cycle Low Indicators

The Cumulative Value Days Destroyed (CVDD) metric has historically called Bitcoin price cycle lows almost to perfection across…

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YouTube To Roll Out PayPal Stablecoin Payout Option For US Creators – PayPal Holdings (NASDAQ:PYPL)

YouTube, owned by Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), will now allow U.S. creators to receive their payouts in stablecoins.

What Happened: Creators can opt to receive earnings in PayPal’s (CRYPTO: PYUSD) stablecoin, PayPal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PYPL) head of crypto May Zabaneh confirmed.

The feature uses PayPal’s existing payouts infrastructure, meaning YouTube itself never handles any crypto directly.

The move comes as Big Tech increasingly embraces stablecoins amid clearer regulation and rising mainstream adoption, The Fortune reported.

PayPal first enabled payouts in PYUSD for general recipients early in Q3.

Soon after, YouTube adopted the same capability for creators earning revenue on the…

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Coinbase Reportedly To Rival Polymarket, Kalshi With In-House Prediction Market – Coinbase Global (NASDAQ:COIN)

Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ:COIN) is reportedly planning to unveil prediction markets and tokenized equities next week, while its stock continues to trade inside a broader downtrend.

Coinbase Plans Prediction Markets And Tokenized Equities Launch

Bloomberg on Friday cited a person familiar with the matter saying that Coinbase is developing the tokenized equities offering in-house without external partners.

A Coinbase spokesperson invited users to tune into a Dec. 17 livestream but did not confirm specific product details. 

Screenshots circulating on X in recent days appeared to show early versions of the features inside the Coinbase app, adding to speculation ahead of the event.

This move…

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