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Jim Cramer, the host of CNBC's Mad Money, has predicted a bear market for Bitcoin, according to a post on X by CryptoQuant CEO Ju Ki-young. Ju noted that Cramer is widely mocked in the stock and crypto communities as a contrarian indicator whose market forecasts often turn out to be incorrect.

Coinglass has released its 2025 annual report on the crypto derivatives market, with key findings summarized by on-chain analyst AmberCN. The report highlights that 2025 was the year of DATs, as these companies increased their BTC holdings from 600,000 at the start of the year to 1.05 million by November, accounting for about 5% of the total Bitcoin supply. Total trading volume in the crypto derivatives market reached approximately $85.7 trillion for the year, with a daily average of $264.5 billion. The total notional value of liquidated long and short positions amounted to $150 billion, with daily liquidations averaging between $400 million and $500 million, primarily concentrated in October and November. Among centralized exchanges, Binance, OKX, Bitget, Bybit, and Gate were ranked as the top five platforms. The report also noted significant growth in crypto prediction markets, which are expected to exceed $52 billion in cumulative trading volume, and a sharp rise in market interest for on-chain U.S. stock tokens within the RWA sector. Furthermore, decentralized derivatives are projected to move beyond the proof-of-concept phase to actively compete for market share.

Phong Le, CEO of Strategy (MSTR), has expressed optimism for Bitcoin's prospects in 2026, despite its recent drop below $87,000, according to The Daily Hodl. The downturn in BTC's price led to an 8.5% fall in Strategy's stock. However, Le emphasized that Bitcoin is a unique asset, describing it as a generational technological invention that combines innovations in macroeconomics and capital markets. He acknowledged that Bitcoin could exhibit short-term volatility similar to other risk assets. Still, Le said he anticipates a more accommodative stance from the Fed, a risk-on environment during the midterm election season, and wider adoption by banks and state governments.

The NFT market has fallen to its lowest level of 2025 after failing to secure a year-end rally, Cointelegraph reported, citing data from CoinGecko. The total market capitalization for NFTs in December stood at $2.5 billion, a 72% decrease from the January peak of $9.2 billion. For the first three weeks of December, weekly NFT sales consistently remained below $70 million. According to CryptoSlam, the number of unique buyers fell from the 180,000s to the 130,000s, while the number of sellers dropped below 100,000. This downturn has impacted major collections, with the floor prices for CryptoPunks and the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) falling by 12% to 28% over the past 30 days.

An analysis by DeFi analytics platform Sentora, formerly IntoTheBlock, shows that eight of the top 10 companies by digital asset treasury size are based in the United States. The U.S.-based firm Strategy leads the list, holding 671,268 BTC. It is followed by MARA Holdings with 53,250 BTC and Twenty-One Capital (XXI) with 43,514 BTC.

LD Capital founder Jack Yi is currently facing an unrealized loss of $143 million on his holdings of 645,000 ETH, according to on-chain analyst Ai Yi. In a post on X, the analyst explained that Yi's average purchase price is $3,150. Ai Yi anticipates that once a planned $1 billion fund investment is completed, the average purchase price for the ETH holdings will stabilize at around $3,050.

A newly created address withdrew 50,000 ZEC, worth approximately $22.17 million, from Binance earlier today, according to a report from Onchain-Lenz. Meanwhile, ZEC is trading at $446.56, up 9.93%, data from CoinMarketCap shows.

Bybit has announced that it remains over-collateralized, with reserve ratios for 40 cryptocurrencies ranging from 100% to 160% as of Dec. 17. According to an update on its official website, key reserve ratios include 105% for BTC, 101% for ETH, 101% for XRP, 103% for SOL, 102% for USDT, and 112% for USDC.

South Korean crypto exchange Upbit has announced it will temporarily suspend digital asset and Korean won (KRW) deposits and withdrawals for a regular audit of its assets and deposits. The suspension for digital assets will run from 11:00 a.m. UTC on Dec. 31 to 11:00 p.m. UTC the same day. KRW transactions will be restricted from 5:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. UTC on Dec. 31.

Russia's two leading stock exchanges, the Moscow Exchange (MOEX) and the Saint Petersburg Exchange (SPB), have completed preparations to launch cryptocurrency trading, according to a report from Wu Blockchain. The exchanges stated they are ready to begin offering crypto trading as soon as a legal framework is established. Under the proposed regulations, both retail and institutional investors would be able to participate. Retail investors would be permitted to trade up to 300,000 rubles (approximately $4,000) annually. Institutional investors are expected to face no specific trading limits, with the exception of privacy coins. This development follows an earlier Bloomberg report that the Russian government was advancing legislation to allow cryptocurrency investments for the general public.

The following are the 24-hour long/short position ratios for BTC perpetual futures on the world's top three cryptocurrency futures exchanges by open interest: Overall: Long 50.19% / Short 49.81% 1. Binance: Long 50.08% / Short 49.92% 2. OKX: Long 50.29% / Short 49.71% 3. Bybit: Long 51.01% / Short 48.99%

Whale Alert reported that 300,000,000 USDC has been transferred from an unknown wallet to Binance. The transaction is valued at about $300 million.

U.S. spot Ethereum (ETH) ETFs recorded net outflows of $52.8 million on Dec. 24, marking the second consecutive day of withdrawals, according to data from Farside Investors. Grayscale's ETHE led the outflows with $33.8 million, while BlackRock's ETHA saw $22.3 million in net outflows. The remaining ETFs reported no net inflows or outflows for the day.

U.S. Bitcoin spot ETFs recorded net outflows of $175.3 million on Dec. 24, marking the fifth consecutive trading day of withdrawals, according to data from Farside Investors. BlackRock's IBIT led the outflows with $91.4 million. Other funds with significant outflows included Grayscale's GBTC ($24.6 million), Fidelity's FBTC ($17.2 million), Bitwise's BITB ($13.3 million), Ark Invest's ARKB ($9.9 million), VanEck's HODL ($8 million), the Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust (BTC) ($5.8 million), and Franklin's EZBC ($5.1 million). No ETFs reported net inflows for the day.

Bitcoin experienced a temporary flash crash to $24,111 on Binance's BTC/USD1 trading pair on Wednesday before recovering to $87,880, Wu Blockchain reported. USD1 is a stablecoin issued by World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a firm associated with the family of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Over the past 24 hours, liquidations in the cryptocurrency perpetual futures market were as follows: BTC liquidations totaled $49.83 million, with long positions accounting for 50.98%. ETH liquidations reached $30.32 million, with 74.67% from long positions. PIPPIN saw $10.59 million in liquidations, of which 87.18% were short positions.

Mark Greenberg, head of Kraken's consumer division, told CNBC that tokenization allows anything to become money and is changing the very concept of the term. He argued that the era of money being limited to just fiat or local currencies is over. Greenberg explained that tokenization enables nearly any asset to be stored and transferred instantly between platforms, facilitating immediate settlement for stock trades. He assessed that this will overcome the limitations of a securities infrastructure that has remained largely unchanged for the past 50 years.

Kraken plans to launch a prediction market in 2026, Mark Greenberg, the exchange's head of global consumer, told CNBC. The move follows similar announcements from other exchanges, including Coinbase and Gemini.

Multicoin Capital appears to have purchased $30 million worth of Worldcoin (WLD) from the project's team in an over-the-counter (OTC) transaction, according to a report from AmberCN. The report cites on-chain data showing that an address suspected of belonging to Multicoin Capital, which starts with 0xf000, transferred 30 million USDC to a Worldcoin team address. Seven hours ago, the same address received 60 million WLD, valued at $29.06 million.

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao posted on X, asking followers if they have ever regretted not buying Bitcoin before it reached its all-time high. He noted that those who bought in early did so not when prices were at their peak, but when the market was rife with fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD). Zhao concluded his message with a "Merry Christmas" greeting.

CoinMarketCap's Altcoin Season Index has fallen by one point to 17 from the previous day. The index is calculated by comparing the price performance of the top 100 coins by market capitalization, excluding stablecoins and wrapped coins, against Bitcoin. An "altcoin season" is indicated when 75% of these top 100 coins outperform Bitcoin over the preceding 90 days. Conversely, a period where Bitcoin outperforms is considered a "Bitcoin season." A score closer to 100 suggests an altcoin season.

A whale address starting with 1N8x4, which had been dormant for eight years, has deposited 400 BTC, worth $34.92 million, to the crypto exchange OKX, according to Onchain-Lense. The transaction realized a profit of $30.4 million.

The Crypto Fear & Greed Index has fallen one point from the previous day to 23, maintaining its extreme fear status, according to data from Alternative. The index measures market sentiment on a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 signifies extreme fear and 100 represents extreme greed. The index is calculated using several factors, including volatility (25%), market volume (25%), social media mentions (15%), surveys (15%), Bitcoin's market dominance (10%), and Google search trends (10%).

According to CoinNess market monitoring, BTC has risen above $88,000. BTC is trading at $88,014.99 on the Binance USDT market.

Several venture capitalists have identified the crypto market's biggest winners and losers for 2025. In a recent podcast, Pantera Capital partner Mason Nystrom, Hash3 co-founder Hootie Rashidifard, and Variant partner Alana Levin named the year's top performers and those who negatively impacted the industry. Among the winners, the VCs cited Robinhood for rapidly capturing market share once regulatory clarity was established. Stablecoins were also highlighted for their surging trade volumes and issuer profitability, with Tether being noted for having one of the highest productivity rates per employee in the world. Prediction markets were named the fastest-growing category of the year, with Polymarket securing a $2 billion investment from Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the NYSE. A year ago, both Polymarket and its competitor Kalshi were valued at under $1 billion. The list of losers included Do Kwon, the co-founder of Terraform Labs. He was identified as the central figure in the $40 billion collapse of the Terra-Luna ecosystem and was recently sentenced to 15 years in prison in the U.S. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under the previous administration was also criticized for its years of hostile enforcement actions, which the VCs said were politically motivated and caused many crypto founders to move overseas.