On December 26, the Cryptocurrency market continued to decline, with Bitcoin falling below $96,000. As of the time of writing, $Bitcoin (BTC.CC)$down 3.7% to $95,746.85; $Ethereum (ETH.CC)$down 4.11% to $3,353.25.

Key focus

• Russian Finance Minister: Russia has started using Bitcoin in foreign trade.

On Wednesday (December 25) local time, Russian Finance Minister Siluanov stated that Russian companies have begun using Bitcoin and other Digital Currency in international payments. This year, Russia has relaxed restrictions on Cryptos, allowing their use in foreign trade and legalizing Cryptocurrency mining.

• Pantera Capital CEO: Predicts that the Bitcoin bull market cycle will peak in August 2025.

Pantera Capital CEO Dan Morehead predicts that the next bull market cycle in the cryptocurrency market will peak in 2025. In a Bankless podcast, he elaborated on the basis of this prediction: Bitcoin follows a four-year halving cycle, and the halving of miner rewards leads to a decrease in supply, which historically has resulted in a significant increase in Bitcoin prices both before and after these events. The last halving occurred in April 2024, and Morehead predicts that Bitcoin will reach its cyclical peak in August 2025 based on historical trends.

He emphasized that despite the current market conditions being relatively mild, the upcoming upward trend is still worth looking forward to. Morehead stated: "The outlook for 2025 is very optimistic, not only because of the halving event but also because political and macroeconomic factors align with the development of cryptocurrency." He predicts the price of Bitcoin at its peak will be $117,000, which is 18% higher than the current price.

He further pointed out that historical data shows the impact of halving events usually begins to manifest 400 days prior, with the peak occurring about 480 days later. Looking back at 2022, when Bitcoin was trading at $17,000, Pantera Capital accurately predicted it would reach $28,000 ahead of the halving event. Now, Morehead is confident in his prediction that Bitcoin will reach $117,000 in August 2025.

• Bloomberg: Bitcoin rises driven by MicroStrategy's plan to increase stock issuance.

News from December 26: According to Bloomberg, on Thursday, the price of Bitcoin rose after the digital asset "hoarder" MicroStrategy announced plans to split and issue more stock, which would allow it to buy more Bitcoin. MicroStrategy announced it would issue more stock next year to purchase more Bitcoin, which pushed up the price, according to Sean McNulty, the trading director at liquidity provider Arbelos Markets. The market is full of anticipation for MicroStrategy's actions in purchasing Bitcoin, which is one of the major reasons driving the market up. Keeping track of news related to MicroStrategy has become an important part of my daily work.

• Since December 19, the net outflow of funds from Bitcoin spot ETFs has reached 1.52 billion dollars.

According to CoinGlass data, on December 24, Blackrock's iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) saw an outflow of 0.1887 billion USD, surpassing the record of 72.7 million USD set on December 20. The total outflow from all 12 US spot Bitcoin ETFs reached 0.3384 billion USD on Christmas Eve. Since December 19, these funds have experienced a total net outflow of 1.52 billion USD.

• The holdings of Bitcoin spot ETFs in the USA have surpassed 1.13 million BTC, taking less than a year.

According to Bitcoin.com, the position of US Bitcoin spot ETFs surpassed 1.13 million BTC in less than a year, with Blackrock leading with 0.553 million BTC; Fidelity and Grayscale each hold about 0.2 million BTC.

• On December 25, the net outflow of Bitcoin ETFs in the USA was 2,258 BTC, while the net inflow for Ethereum ETFs was 12,445 ETH.

According to Lookonchain monitoring, on December 25, ten US Bitcoin ETFs experienced a net outflow of 2258 BTC (0.22247 billion USD), among which Blackrock had an outflow of 1933 BTC (0.19053 billion USD). Currently, Blackrock holds 551122 BTC, valued at approximately 54.31 billion USD; nine Ethereum ETFs experienced a net inflow of 12445 ETH (43.27 million USD), with Blackrock inflowing 12721 ETH (44.23 million USD). Currently, Blackrock holds 1056877 ETH, valued at approximately 3.67 billion USD.

• This year, 9 new Bitcoin ETFs in the USA and MicroStrategy have collectively increased their holdings by over 1.1 million BTC.

According to HODL15 Capital monitoring, since the launch of Bitcoin spot ETFs in the USA, over 1.1 million BTC have been transferred to "strong(er) hand" this year, including 9 new ETFs and $MicroStrategy (MSTR.US)$ . In addition, Grayscale sold a total of 373,787 BTC via GBTC/BTC, the German government sold 0.05 million BTC, and mining produced 209,683 BTC.

• Robinhood CEO: Trump's presidency will accelerate the transfer of RWA assets to the blockchain.

According to The Daily Hodl, Robinhood's CEO Vlad Tenev predicted in a recent interview with investor Anthony Pompliano that stocks and Other traditional financial (TradFi) assets will eventually move on-chain like Cryptos. The elected president of the USA, Donald Trump, and his administration will formulate policies to accelerate the transfer of stocks, private companies, and real-world assets (RWA) to the chain through tokenization.

• Blackrock: Compared to launching new altcoin ETFs, the focus is more on providing Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs to clients.

According to The Block, Jay Jacobs, head of Blackrock's US-themed and actively managed ETFs, stated, "For Bitcoin, especially Ethereum, we are indeed just scratching the surface. Compared to launching new altcoin ETFs, Blackrock's clients currently only hold a small portion of the Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded funds IBIT and ETHA, so this is our focus."

• Pitchbook: It is expected that venture capital investment in the crypto sector will reach 18 billion USD by 2025.

The venture capital database Pitchbook predicts in a 2025 corporate technology outlook report that venture capital firms will double their investment in digital currency next year, with investments exceeding 18 billion USD, almost double the investment amount of 9.9 billion USD in 2024.

Pitchbook analysts state that as comprehensive venture capital firms return to the blockchain and cryptocurrency sector, along with the participation of large financial institutions, venture capital companies focused on digital currency will be strengthened; although the investment amount of 18 billion USD is far lower than the 24.7 billion USD in 2021 and 29.8 billion USD in 2022, the participation of major traditional financial institutions such as Blackrock, Franklin Templeton, and Goldman Sachs is expected to continue to enhance investor confidence in the cryptocurrency market.

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Editor/rice