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The South Korean government's forthcoming Digital Asset Basic Act will include enhanced investor protection measures, such as strict liability for virtual asset providers and new rules for stablecoin issuers, Yonhap News reported. The legislation, which represents the second phase of the country's crypto regulations, is expected to impose no-fault liability on Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) for damages resulting from hacking or system failures, similar to the country's Electronic Financial Transactions Act. The bill will also reportedly require stablecoin issuers to manage reserves in assets like deposits and government bonds and to place over 100% of the outstanding issuance in a trust or deposit with a custodian institution to insulate against bankruptcy risk. Additionally, the act aims to align VASP obligations for disclosure and advertising with the standards of the traditional finance industry and will permit the domestic sale of digital assets, provided there is sufficient information disclosure.

The market capitalization of tokenized stocks has reached an all-time high of $1.2 billion, Cointelegraph reported, citing data from Token Terminal.

The three major U.S. stock indices finished in negative territory. The S&P 500 fell 0.35%, the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.5%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.51%.

The South Korean government's proposal to institutionalize a won-denominated stablecoin is expected to be delayed until next year, Edaily reported. The bill, part of the second phase of the Digital Asset Basic Act, was initially slated for a draft by year-end with legislation to follow in early 2026. However, the timeline has been pushed back due to disagreements among government agencies. The primary point of contention is reportedly whether to restrict issuance rights exclusively to consortiums in which banks hold a majority stake of over 51%.

Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz has stated that while Bitcoin has shown a sluggish performance this year, he anticipates a positive outcome for the cryptocurrency next year, U.Today reports. He noted that crypto has underperformed expectations in 2025 and that Bitcoin, despite its gold-like narrative, has failed to move in tandem with the precious metal. Novogratz personally believes that BTC has the necessary catalysts for a rally but has simply not yet made its move. He added that the current negative public sentiment surrounding crypto makes him feel optimistic, predicting that 2026 will be a significant year for the asset class. However, he stipulated that Bitcoin would need to break the $100,000 level to generate upward momentum.

Bitcoin skeptic and prominent gold bull Peter Schiff posted on X that Strategy's average purchase price for its BTC is $75,000, with an unrealized profit of about 16%. He argued that because the company has been buying BTC over the past five years, this equates to an average annual return of just 3%. Schiff added that Michael Saylor would have been in a much better position if he had purchased other assets instead.

Cumulative dividends paid out by BlackRock's tokenized fund, BUIDL, have exceeded $100 million, making it the first tokenized U.S. Treasury product to reach this milestone, CryptoBriefing reported.

New York Stock Exchange-listed Bitcoin mining firm Cangoo (CANG) plans to secure a $10.5 million investment from its major shareholder, Enduring Wealth Capital (EWCL), according to CryptoBriefing. The investment will be structured as a purchase of seven million of the company's Class B common shares by EWCL. As of Dec. 25, Cangoo held 7,419 BTC.

Trading volume for perpetual futures on decentralized exchanges (PerpDEXs) has surpassed $1.2 trillion, signaling their emergence as a mainstream financial product, according to an analysis by David Duong, Head of Institutional Crypto Research at Coinbase. Duong noted that perpetual futures are evolving into a core component within DeFi, integrating organically with other protocols. He explained that their combination with lending protocols, for instance, enables a variety of strategic applications. Duong forecasts that these products will eventually expand to equities, becoming a prominent trading tool for retail investors.

Recent Bitcoin price movements appear to be heartbeat trades, which are unrelated to actual investor sentiment, according to Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas. The term refers to an abnormal trading pattern driven by short-term objectives like tax savings, so named because the resulting price action resembles a heartbeat. This activity often occurs when ETF managers conduct large-scale transactions to avoid capital gains taxes during asset rebalancing.

Sky Protocol (SKY), which rebranded from MakerDAO (MKR), announced it has bought back 29.3 million SKY, worth 1.9 million USDS, over the past seven days. The protocol has now spent over $96 million on SKY buybacks since the program launched in February 2025.

The cryptocurrency industry is poised to enter a more stable, institution-focused phase, even if Bitcoin enters a bear market, according to financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald. The firm noted that while the crypto market appears to be at the start of a downturn based on the four-year halving cycle theory, it does not anticipate the large-scale liquidations or structural failures seen in the past. Cantor Fitzgerald attributes this outlook to several factors, including the entry of institutional investors, growth in sectors like real-world asset (RWA) tokenization and decentralized exchanges (DEX), and fundamental market improvements driven by a changing U.S.-centric regulatory environment. The firm projected that even if prices do not rally next year, the period will be characterized by strengthening infrastructure and solidifying institutional adoption.

The spot price of silver has plummeted more than 10% from the previous trading day, falling below $71 per ounce. The sharp decline comes after the precious metal set a new all-time high above $83.75 on the morning of Dec. 29. Silver is currently trading at $70.96, a 10.53% decrease from the prior day's close.

The queue for staking Ethereum (ETH) has surpassed the queue for unstaking for the first time in six months, Cointelegraph reported. Currently, approximately 745,619 ETH is waiting to be staked, while 360,528 ETH is in the unstaking queue. Some market observers are noting the potential for a bullish ETH trend, as similar crossovers have historically preceded price increases.

Trend Research, a subsidiary of LD Capital, withdrew an additional 13,462 ETH, valued at $39.31 million, from Binance a short time ago, according to on-chain analyst ai_9684xtpa. The associated address has withdrawn a total of 46,036 ETH in a single day. It currently holds approximately 626,071 ETH, worth $1.83 billion, acquired at an average price of $3,105.5. The position has an estimated unrealized loss of $110 million.

According to CoinNess market monitoring, BTC has risen above $88,000. BTC is trading at $88,010.91 on the Binance USDT market.

The three major U.S. stock indexes have opened lower. The S&P 500 is down 0.44%, the Nasdaq Composite has fallen 0.74%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average has slipped 0.17%.

The Web3 industry suffered hacking losses totaling $3.95 billion in 2025, an increase from the previous year, according to blockchain security firm Hacken. In a recent report cited by Cointelegraph, Hacken noted that the damages were heavily concentrated in the first quarter, which saw over $2 billion in losses. The analysis attributed more than half of the total amount to hacking groups linked to North Korea. The report also found that most security breaches stemmed from a lack of operational security discipline rather than smart contract vulnerabilities, with code-related losses amounting to only $512 million. Hacken projects that security standards across the industry are likely to improve starting next year as regulatory recommendations become mandatory.

Nasdaq-listed company Tron (TRON) has announced an $18 million equity investment from Justin Sun, the founder of the Tron (TRX) blockchain. The company stated it plans to use the investment to expand its holdings of TRX.

Approximately 30% of the 1.7 million addresses on the prediction market platform Polymarket have realized a profit, according to an analysis by blockchain analyst defioasis. The findings, posted on X, indicate that profits are heavily concentrated, with fewer than 0.04% of all addresses accounting for over 70% of total gains, amounting to $3.7 billion. While the majority of profitable addresses (63.5%) earned between $0 and $1,000, their collective earnings represented just 0.86% of all realized profits. An address earning over $1,000 placed in the top 4.9% of users. The analyst also noted that large-scale losses were uncommon, with just over 140 addresses losing more than $1 million.

Bitmine purchased an additional 44,463 ETH, valued at $130 million, last week, according to Onchainlens. The company now holds a total of 4,115,250 ETH, worth approximately $12.04 billion.

Binance Alpha has announced the addition of OOOO on Dec. 30. The platform, an on-chain trading service within the Binance Wallet, focuses on listing early-stage coins.

Strategy announced the purchase of an additional 1,229 BTC for $108.88 million. As of Dec. 28, the company's total holdings have reached 672,497 BTC, valued at $50.44 billion. Strategy's year-to-date return is 23.2%.

Crypto media outlet Wu Blockchain has compiled a list of 2026 Bitcoin price predictions from key industry figures and firms, revealing a wide spectrum of outlooks. Bullish forecasts include: - Tom Lee, Chairman of Fundstrat, predicts a rise to between $200,000 and $250,000 by the end of next year, driven by increased institutional investment and inflows from ETFs. - Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse expects BTC to reach $180,000 by the end of next year. - JPMorgan estimates a fair value upper limit of $170,000 based on its volatility-adjusted Bitcoin-to-gold valuation framework. - Standard Chartered forecasts a price of $150,000, recently revised down from a previous estimate of $300,000. - Bernstein, a Wall Street investment bank, also set a target of $150,000 for next year, stating that the recent downturn does not signal the end of the bull market. - Catherine Dowling, CEO of Bitcoin Standard Treasury Company, anticipates a price of $150,000 by the end of next year. - Citigroup projects a target of $143,000. - Arthur Hayes, co-founder of BitMEX, sees a range between a minimum of $124,000 and a maximum of $200,000. - Jocy, founding partner of IOSG, expects a rise to between $120,000 and $150,000 within the next six months. - Lily Liu, President of the Solana Foundation, predicts a price above $100,000. - Grayscale anticipates a new all-time high within the first half of next year. Conversely, some analysts offer more bearish or cautious outlooks: - Fundstrat, a U.S. market research firm, noted the possibility of a significant correction in the first half of next year, with a BTC price target of $60,000 to $65,000 and an ETH target of $1,800 to $2,000. - CryptoQuant suggests a potential drop to as low as $56,000, citing a significant slowdown in Bitcoin demand and the possibility that the market has already entered a bear phase. - Prominent U.S. trader Peter Brandt forecasts a decline to the $25,000 level, arguing that Bitcoin's parabolic growth structure has collapsed. - Mike McGlone, Senior Macro Strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence, warned of a potential sharp drop to $10,000. Other firms expect a period of consolidation. British investment bank Barclays stated that the market is likely to move sideways or show weakness next year. Similarly, investment management firm VanEck expects sideways movement as the market digests previous volatility, without sharp increases or decreases.

Trend Research, a subsidiary of LD Capital, purchased an additional 6,748 ETH ($19.77 million) approximately five minutes ago, according to on-chain analyst ai_9684xtpa. Over the past seven hours, the firm has acquired a total of 27,598 ETH ($83.05 million). Its current holdings now stand at 607,598 ETH, valued at $1.77 billion.