Cryptographic World

A fugitive wanted by US authorities has been given 28 days by Guernsey's government to object to her assets being confiscated.
Ruja Ignatova, 45, known as the Missing Cryptoqueen, has until 16 December to object to a forfeiture order being brought at Guernsey's Royal Court.
Ms Ignatova has not been seen in eight years, disappearing days after an arrest warrant was issued for her in the United States.
In 2014, she founded the fraudulent OneCoin cryptocurrency, which saw investors lose more than $4bn (£3.2bn), according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
The order is being sought on behalf of German authorities in the city of Bielefeld.
A Bulgaria-born German citizen, Ms Ignatova is also wanted by prosecutors there.
With the co-operation of Guernsey authorities, Bielefeld's prosecutors are seeking to recover funds from the sale of two London properties once owned by Ms Ignatova through Guernsey shell companies.
The companies were used to buy a penthouse apartment and a smaller apartment in London.
The apartments have been subject to a Guernsey Royal Court restraint order since 4 November 2021, the day after a BBC report revealed how shell companies obscured their purchases. A restraint order aims to preserve assets so that they may later be confiscated.
Bielefeld chief prosecutor Carsten Nowak confirmed Ms Ignatova's penthouse apartment in Kensington had since been sold for £10m, and the smaller apartment for £1.4m.
However, as of May 2024 only £8.8m remained due to costs, fees and taxes. The amount may have been further reduced since, he added.
"According to German law, the money is intended to compensate OneCoin victims," Mr Nowak said.
The Guernsey legal notice seeks to "realise assets held in an account with the Royal Bank of Scotland".
The application will be heard by Guernsey's Royal Court on 13 January 2026.
Ms Ignatova is also subject to a worldwide asset freeze, brought on behalf of investors seeking compensation at London's High Court.
The search for Ms Ignatova, who is on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list, has achieved global notoriety and is the subject of a popular BBC podcast and multiple TV documentaries.
A reward for information leading to her arrest was increased twenty-fold in 2024, up to $5m (£3.8m), under the US Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program.
The FBI believes Ms Ignatova travels with armed guards and may have had plastic surgery to alter her appearance.
Reports of sightings have come as recently as 2024, in South Africa.
However, that same year the BBC uncovered Ms Ignatova's ties to a suspected Bulgarian mafia boss who was in charge of her security when she disappeared and allegedly responsible for her murder.

A new data analysis of stablecoin freezing activity from 2023 to 2025 reveals major differences in scale and approach between the two leading issuers, Tether (USDT) and Circle (USDC).
Key Takeaways:
•Tether and Circle froze $3.3 billion and $109 million in crypto between 2023 and 2025.
•The data shows major differences in how the two largest issuers of dollar-pegged stablecoins police illicit finance.
•The growing scale of stablecoin freezes has stoked debate about the erosion of decentralization and privacy.
•Tether and Circle froze $3.3 billion and $109 million in crypto, respectively, from 2023 to 2025, a new analysis revealed, showing major differences in how the two largest issuers of dollar-pegged stablecoins police illicit finance.
The report, compiled by blockchain forensics outfit AMLBot and shared with Cryptonews this week, reviewed on-chain stablecoin freezing activity across the Ethereum (ERC-20) and Tron (TRC-20) blockchains.
It found that Tether, the company behind USDT stablecoin, reported by far the largest amount of frozen assets over the two years, blacklisting 7,268 crypto wallet addresses. Over 2,800 of the blocked addresses were coordinated with U.S. agencies. Altogether, the wallets hold $3.29 billion.
The report says, “Tether’s freezing and reissuance mechanisms have returned millions of dollars to victims and helped authorities seize funds tied to terrorism, human trafficking, and fraud.”
USDC stablecoin-issuer Circle blacklisted 372 addresses and froze a total of $109 million on Ethereum, it said. Adding data from Tron, the largest USDT network, USDT freezes exceed USDC by 30 times in both asset value and address count.
Tether: Proactive, High-Velocity Freezing
Slava Demchuk, CEO of AMLBot, said the massive gap in blocked funds should not be seen as a measure of relative compliance rigor.
“Freeze volume is not a direct proxy for ‘better’ or ‘worse’ compliance,” he told Cryptonews in an interview, adding:
“USDT’s numbers are larger because more illicit and high-risk activity is denominated in USDT, especially on Tron. And [because] Tether has chosen a more interventionist enforcement model that leaves an evident on-chain footprint.”
On the other hand, USDC’s “smaller footprint reflects both lower exposure to those flows and a narrower, court-driven intervention policy.”
USDT supply surpassed $191 billion in 2025, with its user base reaching 500 million for the first time in October. Circle has around $78 billion of USDC in circulation, according to data from The Block.

He said Tron-based USDT “dominates high-risk corridors,” putting Tether directly in the flow of illicit transactions and prompting a more “proactive freeze model.”
AMLBot’s data shows that more than 53%, or $1.75 billion, of the USDT Tether blocked was issued on Tron, a low-cost blockchain popular with both legitimate and scam users in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe.
Tether has long been dogged by questions of transparency over its reserves and compliance operations. The El Salvador-based company, which is reportedly raising $20 billion at about $500 billion valuation, has in recent years recast itself as an ally to global law enforcement agencies.
According to the AMLBot report, Tether operates a broad, rapid-response enforcement model, working with over 275 law enforcement agencies as well as blockchain intelligence firms in 59 jurisdictions.
Tether’s smart contracts allow it not only to freeze wallet addresses, but also to destroy, or ‘burn’, seized tokens and reissue “clean replacements” to victims, a system that has processed up to $2.7 billion in stolen funds.
For example, between September and November 2025, Tether burned up to 30M tokens. In July 2024, the firm froze $130 million in USDT, including $30 million linked to Cambodia’s Huione Group, which was blocked on Tron.

Circle: Freeze Only If Legally Required
Tether’s willingness to freeze funds without a court order, sometimes to protect users that have been hacked, is not without risk. The company needs approval from several Tether officials before it can freeze a wallet.
The process creates delays that cybercriminals have exploited, resulting in losses of about $78 million since 2017, per the AMLBot report. Privacy advocates have also criticized Tether for its “preemptive” freeze actions.
In April 2025, Texas-based firm Riverstone Consultancy Inc. sued Tether after it blocked nearly $45 million at the request of the Bulgarian Police Department, alleging the action bypassed required legal procedures.
Meanwhile, New York-based Circle takes a narrower, strictly legalistic approach. Under its Stablecoin Access Denial Policy, USDC can be frozen only to comply with court orders, sanctions, or regulatory mandates.
“This order-driven approach leads to activity appearing in tall but rare spikes (batch actions), in contrast to USDT’s more continuous daily flow of enforcement,” the report said.
Unlike Tether, Circle does not burn or reissue frozen funds. Once a wallet address is blacklisted, it cannot send or receive USDC until the restriction is lifted. Circle also publicly reports all blacklisted addresses and their token balances, with audits intended to improve transparency.

The AMLBot report notes that stablecoin freezes have become a critical tool for investigators, allowing authorities to stop illicit flows that would otherwise be hard to intercept in traditional cash-based systems.
But Demchuk warned that current practices remain patchy. “We see that today’s freeze and recovery mechanisms genuinely help law enforcement … but the system is still maturing,”
Companies freeze stablecoins – a type of cryptocurrency designed to maintain a fixed value, usually pegged to the U.S. dollar — when issuers blacklist an address, making the tokens stored in the wallet unusable.
Decentralization In Focus As Crypto Freezes Soar
AMLBot’s findings come as stablecoins face increasing scrutiny from policymakers. Regulators in the United States and European Union have revealed plans to tighten oversight around issuer compliance standards, real-time reporting and consumer safeguards.
Moreover, the growing scale of crypto asset freezes by the likes of Tether and Circle has stoked debate about the erosion of decentralization and privacy, core foundational principles of the crypto industry.
Dmytro Tarasiuk is the product director at self-regulatory crypto platform Core3. He told Cryptonews that it would be “misleading and unfair” to judge crypto’s ideological roots by examining the behavior of Tether and Circle, which he described as “inevitably centralized players.”
Tarasiuk argued that as the crypto market grew, its unregulated nature became a magnet for both scammers and genuine innovators, pushing the sector toward traditional business models, including government engagement.
“Stablecoins have become the most important element of the entire crypto ecosystem,” Tarasiuk stated. “When we talk about adoption, we’re talking about stablecoin transactions. Nothing in crypto is as familiar to non-crypto people globally as USDT on TRC-20.”
“When we talk about institutional capital, stablecoins are the entry point for all tokenized assets and off-chain investment flows,” he added. “And when we talk about governmental interest, Circle and Tether, now the 8th largest holder of U.S. Treasury bills if compared to countries.”
In that context, says Tarasiuk, freezes and blacklisting “are not random or ideological betrayals, they are signs of the institutionalization of the market.”
#BTCVSGOLD

The new article stipulates a fine of $1,650 to $8,250 for violators or imprisonment from two to eight years.
The Tajikistan parliament has approved revisions to the Criminal Code, introducing Article 253(2), which imposes penalties on miners minting crypto using stolen electricity.
The article stipulates a fine of $1,650 to $8,250 for violators or imprisonment from two to five years. However, for the illegal use of power for crypto mining on an “especially large scale,” the prison term is from five to eight years, per a local media report.
On December 3, members of the Tajik parliament reviewed and adopted the amendments to the Criminal Code, presented by Attorney General Khabibullo Vokhidzoda.
Counsel Vokhidzoda also warned that electricity theft by crypto miners in several cities has already contributed to regional power outages.
“The illegal circulation of virtual assets facilitates a number of crimes, such as the theft of electricity, material damage to the state, money laundering, and other offences,” Vokhidzoda said.
He previously flagged damages from illegal mining operations, causing 32 million somoni (nearly $3.52 million), which led to four to five criminal cases, according to The Diplomat.
Tajikistan Reports Winter Power Shortages
The Central Asian nation, which sources nearly 95% of its electricity from hydropower, is grappling with winter power pressures with low reservoir and river flows.
Besides, following China’s crypto mining ban in 2021, many operators, including those from Russia, moved to Central Asia, attracted by low energy costs and relaxed regulation.
As of August 2025, Tajikistan has been pursuing 190 criminal cases related to the illegal use of electricity. Further, the Diplomat report added that these cases involved 3,988 individuals who allegedly caused damages worth $4.26 million.
MP Shukhrat Ganizoda emphasized that miners connect thousands of ASIC crypto mining devices to Tajikistan’s power grid.
“Those committing such crimes seek to use electricity without meters or through other illegal means to produce such assets,” he explained.
Criminal Code Amendments Prevent Crypto Tax Violations
According to Shukhrat Ganizoda, the new legislation aims to prevent tax evasion schemes and unauthorized electronic encryption.
Additionally, the revisions will also deter attempts to circumvent commodity tracking systems. The bill will be effective after President Emomali Rahmon signs it into law.

A MAN was tortured and executed in a ‘crypto-kidnapping’ horror on the Costa del Sol.
Police have revealed the terrifying final hours of the victim, who was ambushed in Mijas by a ‘commando-style’ gang dressed head-to-toe in black.
The nightmare began in April when the victim and his partner were cornered by three or four hooded figures wearing balaclavas and gloves.
When the man tried to run for his life, the hitmen opened fire, shooting him in the leg to stop him in his tracks.
Bleeding and overpowered, he was dragged into a getaway vehicle alongside his partner and driven to a secret ‘safe house’.
There, the couple were held hostage for hours while the gang tried to force them to hand over the passwords to their cryptocurrency ‘wallets’.
Investigators believe the gang used extreme violence during the interrogation.
When police later raided the gang’s hideouts in Madrid and Malaga, they discovered a blood-stained pair of trousers and an extendable steel baton – suggesting the victim was tortured while held captive.In a chilling twist, the kidnappers decided to free the woman, dumping her on the streets at midnight.
Her partner, however, was never seen alive again.
His body was later discovered dumped in a wooded area of Mijas. Police reported the corpse showed ‘evident signs of violence’ far beyond the initial gunshot wound to his leg.
Detectives have now smashed the ring, which has deep ties to Denmark.
A total of nine suspects have been identified. Five were arrested in Spain, while four have been charged in Denmark – two of whom are already behind bars there.
During the raids, agents seized a real firearm, a replica pistol, and the evidence that linked the suspects to the bloody safe house.

Cold wallets keep assets offline and safer but slower to move, while online hot wallets enable fast transfers yet remain far more vulnerable to hacks.
South Korea’s largest crypto exchange, Upbit, is pushing almost all customer assets into cold storage after a major hack on its Solana hot wallet, in one of the most aggressive security pivots yet by a big trading platform.
Operator Dunamu said it will lift the share of user funds held in cold wallets to 99% and cut hot wallet exposure to effectively 0%, after hackers stole 44.5B won, about $30m, from a connected wallet.
The overhaul takes Upbit well beyond South Korea’s Virtual Asset User Protection Act, which requires exchanges to keep at least 80% of customer deposits offline.
Upbit Pushes Hot Wallet Usage Down After Security Review
Cold wallets store digital assets while disconnected from the internet, making them far harder to breach but also slower to move. Hot wallets sit online to process deposits and withdrawals in real time, which makes them convenient for users but a prime target for attackers.

For traders, a 99% cold ratio means a much smaller pool of funds is exposed if a hot wallet is ever compromised again.
In a press statement on Wednesday, Dunamu disclosed that as of the end of Oct. 2025, Upbit held 98.33% of customer assets in cold wallets and 1.67% in hot wallets.
Even before the hack, that was the lowest hot wallet share among domestic exchanges, with rivals keeping cold ratios in a range of roughly 82% to 90%, according to data released by lawmaker Heo Young.
Upbit said it maintained its cold share above 98% despite rising crypto prices and heavier flows from new listings, and has now completed a review and overhaul of its wallet infrastructure.
The company plans to drive the hot wallet ratio down to zero as it tightens its security posture.
Attack Involving Solana Assets Forces Emergency Security Response
This move follows a hack worth initially about 54B won, roughly $36M, on the Solana network, which Upbit later refined to a loss estimate of 44.5B won after an internal review.
A detailed breakdown put 38.6B won, about $26.2M, down as direct user losses, which the company has pledged to fully reimburse from its own reserves.
Tokens affected in the attack included Solana’s SOL as well as ORCA, RAY and JUP, the exchange said. Once abnormal withdrawals were detected, Upbit halted activity, shifted remaining assets into cold storage and began a forensic investigation of its systems and on chain flows.
Proposed Standards Would Require Compensation For Hacks Regardless Of Fault
Oh said engineers discovered a weakness in the exchange’s wallet software that could have allowed attackers to infer private keys by analysing public blockchain data, although Upbit has not confirmed whether that specific vulnerability was used in the breach. The company’s response suggests it is treating hot wallet exposure itself as a systemic risk that needs to be minimised, not just patched.
For the wider industry, the episode is feeding into a regulatory rethink. South Korea’s Financial Services Commission is considering rules that would impose bank-level liability standards on major crypto exchanges after the Upbit incident, including mandatory compensation for hacking and system failures regardless of fault, mirroring obligations already placed on banks and electronic payment firms under the country’s electronic financial transactions law.
If those rules take shape, exchanges operating in Korea will need both stronger security architectures and deeper capital buffers to absorb losses, bringing them closer to the expectations placed on traditional financial institutions.
Upbit’s near total shift to cold storage shows how far a leading platform is now willing to go to reassure users that their coins will not be left sitting online as an easy target.
#CryptoBewareofhackers

Analysts warn that a hawkish Fed message could weigh on equities and cap Bitcoin’s year-end momentum, with some arguing politics may be shaping the rate cut.
Bitcoin edged up toward $92,000 on Wednesday while Asian stocks slipped, as traders braced for the US Federal Reserve’s final rate decision of the year and tried to gauge how hawkish the central bank will sound after an almost certain cut.
Equity markets across the region tracked a soft lead from Wall Street. The S&P 500 ended slightly lower on Tuesday, with JPMorgan acting as the biggest drag after the bank warned of hefty expenses in 2026, adding another layer of caution to a market already on edge about policy signals.
The Fed began its two-day meeting on Tuesday, and futures markets still point to a quarter percentage point cut, even though inflation remains above the 2% target.
2.8%
Traders Brace For Hawkish Messaging Even As A Cut Appears Likely
For crypto traders, the question is less about whether the Fed moves this week and more about what Chair Jerome Powell signals on the path ahead.
Some in the market see politics creeping into the calculus. Ruslan Lienkha, chief of markets at YouHodler, said an expected cut amid slightly rising inflation “may be driven more by political considerations than by sound economic reasoning.”
He added that he expects Powell to try to offset the move with hawkish language, a mix he believes could weigh on risk assets. “A hawkish message could increase selling pressure on the already fragile US equity markets, which could, in turn, negatively affect BTC and the broader crypto market,” he said.
Others are already tempering their year-end Bitcoin hopes. Nic Puckrin, investment analyst and co founder of The Coin Bureau, said, “If Powell does indeed deliver a hawkish speech, the likelihood of a Santa rally for Bitcoin diminishes.”
He noted that momentum has not been on Bitcoin’s side recently despite fresh purchases from Michael Saylor’s firm, and said the market “may well finish 2025 under $100,000.”
Inflation And Labor Data Add To Confusion Over Policy Direction
The macro backdrop is not offering much clarity. Fed officials have sent mixed messages, with some warning that inflation could reaccelerate and others sounding more concerned about the labour market.
A Labor Department report on Tuesday showed job openings rising only marginally in October and hiring still subdued, while a separate survey from the National Federation of Independent Business pointed to plans for new hiring in the months ahead.
That tension has pushed more attention onto the Fed’s dot plot, its economic projections and every line of Powell’s press conference. Swings around rate decisions have become one of the main drivers of equity volatility over the past six weeks, often overshadowing debates about an AI bubble or the impact of President Donald Trump’s trade policies on corporate earnings and risk sentiment.
Slower Easing Path Threatens Liquidity Trade That Crypto Relies On
Pricing in money markets shows how expectations have cooled. Traders now see around two cuts in 2026 after a likely quarter point reduction on Wednesday, a pullback from the more optimistic views that circulated only weeks earlier.
For Bitcoin and other digital assets, a slower easing path can mean tighter dollar liquidity and more pressure on the “liquidity trade” that helped fuel previous rallies.
Personnel questions at the Fed are also in the mix. Kevin Hassett, viewed as the frontrunner in Trump’s search to replace Powell, said at an event on Tuesday that he sees room to lower rates substantially, and even more than a single quarter point move.
His comments fed speculation that the longer term policy stance could shift if the White House reshapes the central bank’s leadership in 2026.

Key Takeaways
CLMMs allow liquidity providers to set specific price ranges for their assets instead of spreading them across all possible prices.
This model can offer better efficiency by concentrating funds where trading actually happens, meaning providers can earn more fees with the same amount of capital.
Unlike traditional models, CLMMs require users to watch the market more frequently. If the price leaves the custom set range, they stop earning fees.
While potential returns are higher, the risk of impermanent loss can also be greater if the market moves quickly against your position.

Introduction
In the early days of decentralized finance (DeFi), providing liquidity was mostly passive. You deposited your tokens into a liquidity pool, and the underlying smart contract spread your liquidity across every possible price. This model, known as the standard Automated Market Maker (AMM), was easy to use but not very efficient.
Imagine trying to sell water. In the standard AMM model, you would set up a shop on every single mile of a highway crossing the entire country, even in deserted areas where no one drives. Concentrated Liquidity Market Makers (CLMMs) changed this. They allow you to set up your "shops" only on the busy sections of the highway.
What Is Concentrated Liquidity?
In short, concentrated liquidity is liquidity that is allocated within a custom price range. In earlier versions of AMMs (like Uniswap V2), liquidity was distributed uniformly. This meant that a large portion of the assets in a pool was never actually used for trading, especially for stablecoin pairs where prices rarely move much.
With CLMMs (like Uniswap V3), you can choose to allocate your capital solely to a specific price interval. For example, providing liquidity for a stablecoin pair only between $0.99 and $1.01. This makes the liquidity "concentrated" around the current market price, where it’s most needed.
How Do CLMMs Work?
1. Ticks
To make custom ranges possible, CLMMs break down the price spectrum into small, distinct steps called ticks. You can think of ticks as the boundaries between different price areas. When you create a position, you choose a lower tick and an upper tick to serve as the borders for your liquidity.
2. Active liquidity
Your liquidity is only "active" when the current market price stays within the range you selected. As long as the price is inside your range, you earn trading fees.
However, if the price moves up or down and crosses your tick boundaries, your position becomes inactive. At this point, your liquidity is no longer earning fees.
3. Capital efficiency
The biggest benefit of CLMMs is capital efficiency. Because you aren't spreading your money across distant prices, you can provide less total capital to earn the same amount of fees as someone in a standard AMM.
For example, a user providing liquidity in a concentrated range might earn the same daily fees with $1,000 as a user in a traditional pool earns with $5,000, simply because the concentrated money is being utilized more effectively.
The Risks: It’s Not "Set and Forget"
While CLMMs offer better returns, they are more difficult to manage than standard AMMs.
Going out of range: If the price exits your chosen interval, your liquidity effectively converts into one of the two assets and sits idle. You stop earning fees until the price comes back or you manually move your position.
Impermanent loss: Because your liquidity is concentrated, the impact of price changes is amplified. If the market moves against you, you may experience impermanent loss much faster than in a standard pool.
Complexity: Standard AMM pools are easier to manage; you deposit and walk away. CLMMs require you to analyze the market and decide on a strategy. Some users even use game-theoretic strategies to optimize their positions, updating them frequently based on market movements.
Closing Thoughts
Concentrated Liquidity Market Makers have made DeFi markets deeper and more efficient. They allow traders to enjoy better prices and liquidity providers to earn higher yields on their assets. However, they transform liquidity provision from a passive income stream into an active investment strategy. If you are new to DeFi, consider starting with small amounts or simply stick to standard AMMs until you are comfortable with the concepts of CLMM ranges and ticks.
#WriteToEarnUpgrade #LearnWithBinance

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) jumped to hover above $94,000 on Tuesday, but strategists grew cautious of a year-end crypto rally amid growing expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut rates this week, while signaling a potential pause in future policy easing.
Markets widely expect the central bank to deliver a 25 basis point rate reduction at the end of its two-day policy meeting on Wednesday. But both the CME FedWatch and Polymarket show growing bets that Fed Chair Jerome Powell's post-meeting remarks could signal a pause in January as policymakers try to balance containing inflation with a cooling labor market.
"If Powell does indeed deliver a hawkish speech, the likelihood of a Santa rally for Bitcoin diminishes," Coin Bureau investment analyst and co-founder Nic Puckrin wrote in a note on Tuesday.

"Momentum hasn't been on Bitcoin's side lately, despite fresh purchases by Michael Saylor's Strategy (MSTR), so we may well finish 2025 under $100,000," he added.
However, Puckrin expects crypto to rebound once President Trump announces his pick to replace Powell when his term ends in May. The leading candidate is Kevin Hassett, who is viewed as industry-friendly.
"With ultra-dovish Kevin Hassett looking like the frontrunner to replace Powell next year, markets could very quickly switch from depression to euphoria in 2026," Puckrin said.
Bitcoin has struggled to rebound in recent weeks after crashing from its October high of around $126,000.
"As BTC trades near the high-end of its recent $81-94k range, we remain cautious towards chasing breakouts here," Compass Point analyst Ed Engel wrote in a note on Tuesday morning.

The analysts noted buyers who purchased within the past six months did so at a cost basis of around $103,000 per token.

"When BTC trades below this cost basis, investors are more likely to 'sell the rip' than 'buy the dip,'" Engel said.

Bitcoin has slipped 2% so far this year, setting it up for its worst yearly showing since the 2022 crypto winter wiped out over 64% of its value.

The token is also diverging sharply from stocks for the first time since 2014 as the S&P 500 (^GSPC) powers ahead with a 16% gain.

At the moment, a couple of cryptocurrencies in particular have a tendency to steal the spotlight. There's XRP, (CRYPTO: XRP) Ripple's fintech coin targeted at banks and financial institutions, and Zcash, (CRYPTO: ZEC) a privacy coin that's essentially a copy of Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) in most respects.#BTCVSGOLD
But which coin is the better place to allocate $1,500 right now? Let's dive in and evaluate the case for each.
This coin offers plenty of financial utility
XRP lives on the XRP Ledger (XRPL), a blockchain developed by Ripple and built to move value quickly and cheaply, especially across currencies, and therefore across borders. The core reason to consider buying it now is that Ripple is heavily incentivized to continue to develop the XRPL to be a platform that generates demand for XRP, as XRP is at the heart of the financial services that the company uses the chain to provide.
The ledger has a built-in decentralized exchange (DEX) and cheap transaction fees, so that capital can easily flow from one asset to another without leaving the platform. With the help of a slew of recent acquisitions, Ripple is layering on a product suite on top of those pillars, including tools for making payments, treasury management, and providing stablecoin-based flows targeted at banks and fintech companies.
If more financial institutions route payments over XRPL or use Ripple's products, that activity should show up as ongoing demand for XRP to pay fees and bridge between currencies. That essentially forces users to hold XRP as part of their working capital instead of holding a variety of different currencies, which tends to benefit them. This is because it's simpler operationally, and it also compresses all of the different currency value fluctuation risks into one cryptocurrency.
For a long-term investor, that mix of real-world usage, scale, and a still-meaningful growth runway is exactly what you want to see.
Zcash's next act might be its greatest yet
Zcash takes a very different approach, and as a result it serves a pretty different niche in a portfolio compared to XRP.
In terms of its supply dynamics, it's a copy of Bitcoin, with a capped supply of 21 million coins and a proof-of-work (PoW) design. But in addition to that, it adds the capability for making wallet addresses and transactions private using a type of cryptographic proofs called zk-SNARKs. You don't need to think too much about the technical details here, just know that the zk-SNARKs let fully encrypted transactions remain valid on-chain without revealing sender, receiver, or amounts, and that the proofs themselves were invented well after Bitcoin's debut. That latter point is important, as privacy has long been one of the features thought to be missing from Bitcoin.
On paper, all of that makes Zcash a candidate to be privacy-first digital gold. In practice, it is much smaller and more constrained. Zcash's market cap is roughly $6 billion. That is tiny next to Bitcoin's multi-trillion-dollar footprint and even modest compared with XRP's market cap of $125 billion.
The bigger issue is regulatory posture. Privacy coins have drawn sustained scrutiny from policymakers who worry about money laundering and sanctions evasion. Some major crypto exchanges have restricted or delisted parts of the privacy-coin segment altogether (though at least one exchange recently relisted Zcash specifically), and institutional platforms often simply exclude privacy coins. That makes it a bit harder for Zcash to grow into a mainstream store-of-value asset like Bitcoin, even if its tech is decent.
What's the right call?
I own both XRP (via an exchange-traded fund) and Zcash. But for most investors, there's not much of a contest here for determining where to allocate $1,500.
Zcash asks you to bet that regulators will eventually embrace or at least tolerate strong on-chain privacy at scale, and that large pools of capital will eventually be willing to adopt what today is a relatively small asset as a store of value. Those are both shaky propositions.
In contrast, XRP asks you to bet that Ripple will continue to sign up banks and fintechs and build out the XRPL's features, thereby supporting coin demand. The potential upside is probably a bit higher for Zcash, but it's significantly riskier, and it isn't as though XRP is a low-risk investment, either.
Therefore, for most long-term investors, XRP has a clearer path, more potential users, and fewer structural barriers, so it's significantly more likely to pay off. And that's what makes it the better cryptocurrency to buy with $1,500.

Should you invest $1,000 in XRP right now?
Before you buy stock in XRP, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and XRP wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $540,587!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,118,210!*

Dec 9 (Reuters) - Shares of crypto treasury firm Twenty One Capital plunged on their first day of trading on Tuesday following the completion of the company's planned merger with a blank-check firm as crypto-related stocks face mounting pressure.
The new company, trading under the ticker "XXI" on the NYSE, was last down 24.3% at $10.8.
Twenty One is majority-owned by stablecoin giant Tether and crypto exchange Bitfinex, with minority stakes held by Japanese technology investor SoftBank Group (9984.T), opens new tab. It was formed by merging into blank-check vehicle Cantor Equity Partners (CEP.O), opens new tab in a deal first announced in April.
The new company holds over 43,500 bitcoins , making it the world's third-largest corporate holder of the cryptocurrency, according to crypto publication The Block.
Its holdings are worth more than $3.97 billion based on bitcoin's last closing price of $91,350.84, according to Reuters' calculations.
Cantor Equity is a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) backed by Cantor Fitzgerald, an investment banking and brokerage firm chaired by Brandon Lutnick, the son of U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick.
SPACs merge with privately held startups, offering them an alternative route to go public. Cantor Equity shares had surged as much as 380% for the year in April before paring much of those gains, and are now up just 3.9% year-to-date.
Twenty One joins public markets as cryptocurrencies are facing selling pressure, with bitcoin itself having fallen more than 28% from its record high of $126,223.18 on October 6.
"Digital asset treasury" or DAT companies have lost ground amid the broader crypto drawdown, stoking concerns over stress in the niche but fast-growing sector, with focus also on the "mNAV" metric, a company's enterprise value relative to its crypto holdings.
"It's becoming harder for DATs to raise capital and we are in an environment now where DATs need to show material differentiation to warrant the mNAV multiples they were trading at earlier in 2025," said John Todaro, senior research analyst at Needham.
Buoyed by U.S. President Donald Trump's crypto-friendly stance and inspired by Michael Saylor's Strategy (MSTR.O), a number of publicly traded companies have started investing in cryptocurrencies in hopes of higher returns.

U.S. crypto investors now have just over two weeks to execute any final sales before sweeping IRS reporting rules go live on January 1, 2026.
What Happened: Beginning in 2026, centralized exchanges will be required to follow the same cost-basis reporting rules as traditional brokerages.
This means platforms must report both purchase and sale cost basis details for every U.S. customer's digital asset transaction.
Don’t Miss: If there was a new fund backed by Jeff Bezos offering a 7-9% target yield with monthly dividends would you invest in it?
With less than a month before the new rules kick in, traders may want to evaluate whether certain sales should be completed under the 2025 system, where exchanges still do not report cost basis to the IRS, Protos reported.
The transition to mandatory cost-basis reporting is expected to complicate tax situations for investors who trade across multiple centralized and decentralized exchanges.For instance, if someone bought one BTC at a higher price on Coinbase and another at a lower price on Kraken, then later sold one BTC on Kraken, today they could choose the higher Coinbase purchase as their cost basis to reduce taxable gains.
But starting in 2026, Kraken will be required to report its own (lower) cost basis to the IRS, potentially increasing the reported taxable gain.
Why It Matters: For 2025 transactions, exchanges only need to file Form 1099-DA for gross proceeds, they are not required to report cost basis. Beginning with 2026 trades, cost basis reporting becomes mandatory under rules created by the 2021 Infrastructure Bill, aimed at tightening crypto tax compliance.
Until December 31, 2025, U.S. taxpayers selling Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), XRP (CRYPTO: XRP), stablecoins, or any other digital assets must continue to calculate and report their own cost basis on Form 8949.
Building Wealth Across More Than Just the Market
Building a resilient portfolio means thinking beyond a single asset or market trend. Economic cycles shift, sectors rise and fall, and no one investment performs well in every environment. That's why many investors look to diversify with platforms that provide access to real estate, fixed-income opportunities, professional financial guidance, precious metals, and even self-directed retirement accounts. By spreading exposure across multiple asset classes, it becomes easier to manage risk, capture steady returns, and create long-term wealth that isn't tied to the fortunes of just one company or industry.
Arrived
Backed by Jeff Bezos, Arrived Homes makes real estate investing accessible with a low barrier to entry. Investors can buy fractional shares of single-family rentals and vacation homes starting with as little as $100. This allows everyday investors to diversify into real estate, collect rental income, and build long-term wealth without needing to manage properties directly.
Worthy Bonds
For those seeking fixed-income style returns without Wall Street complexity, Worthy Property Bonds offers SEC-qualified, interest-bearing bonds starting at just $10. Investors earn a fixed 7% annual return, with funds deployed to small U.S. businesses. The bonds are fully liquid, meaning you can cash out anytime, making them attractive for conservative investors looking for steady, passive income.
IRA Financial
Self-directed investors looking to take greater control of their retirement savings may consider IRA Financial. The platform enables you to use a self-directed IRA or Solo 401(k) to invest in alternative assets such as real estate, private equity, or even crypto. This flexibility empowers retirement savers to go beyond traditional stocks and bonds, building diversified portfolios that align with their long-term wealth strategies.
Moomoo Idle Cash
Moomoo isn't just for trading — it's also one of the most attractive places to park cash. New users can earn a promotional 8.1% APY on uninvested cash, combining a 3.85% base rate with a 4.25% booster once activated. On top of that, eligible new users can also score up to $1,000 in free Nvidia stock—but the real draw here is the ability to earn bank-beating interest rates without having to move into riskier assets.
American Hartford Gold
For investors concerned about inflation or seeking portfolio protection, American Hartford Gold provides a simple way to buy and hold physical gold and silver within an IRA or direct delivery. With a minimum investment of $10,000, the platform caters to those looking to preserve wealth through precious metals while maintaining the option to diversify retirement accounts. It's a favored choice for conservative investors who want tangible assets that historically hold value during uncertain markets.

Dec 9 (Reuters) - With a series of record highs and crushing sell-offs, 2025 has been a rollercoaster ride for bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, which is at risk of ending the year with its first annual decline since 2022.
The world's main stock benchmarks have also had a turbulent year, repeatedly hitting record peaks and then pulling back as worries over tariffs, interest rates and a possible AI bubble whipsawed markets. While equities are mostly up year-to-date, bitcoin's overall correlation with share prices has strengthened markedly this year.
Analysts say bitcoin's gyrations increasingly tracked stock market sentiment as traditional retail and institutional investors jumped into cryptocurrencies, which next year may be even more closely tethered to factors driving stocks and other risk assets, such as monetary policy shifts and nervousness over the lofty valuations of AI-related stocks.
"Crypto reacting to broader equities has been a consistent theme in 2025," said Jasper De Maere, desk strategist at crypto algorithmic trading firm Wintermute.
Bitcoin was hovering around $89,000 on Monday.

After soaring earlier this year with the election of crypto-friendly U.S. President Donald Trump, cryptocurrencies - along with stocks - plummeted in April on his tariff announcements, but quickly rebounded. Bitcoin went on to hit an all-time peak above $126,000 in early October.
But just days later, on October 10, the market plunged again when Trump announced a new tariff on Chinese imports and threatened export controls on critical software. That sparked more than $19 billion worth of liquidations across leveraged crypto market positions, the largest liquidation in crypto history.
Bitcoin has struggled to regain its footing ever since and in November experienced its biggest monthly drop since mid-2021, although options market bearishness has ebbed a little in recent weeks, according to options platform Derive.xyz.
Traders as of late last week had assigned a 15% probability that bitcoin will finish the year below $80,000, compared with the 20% probability they had assigned just a few weeks ago.
That's still a blow for crypto bulls, including Michael Saylor's Strategy, the world's biggest bitcoin hoarding company, which had projected as recently as October 30 that the token would hit $150,000 this year. Analysts at Standard Chartered last year forecast bitcoin would hit $200,000 by the end of 2025, due in part to flows into bitcoin exchange-traded funds.
In a change of tune, Strategy CEO Phong Le warned on a podcast last month of a possible "bitcoin winter." In October, Standard Chartered forecast bitcoin would fall below $100,000 but said that may be the last time it will hit that low, according to media reports.
Saylor, speaking to Reuters last week, said his company could survive a 95% fall in the price of bitcoin.
EQUITIES CORRELATION
Those April and October plunges highlighted the growing correlation between bitcoin and equities, and in particular, artificial intelligence stocks, which share similar attributes and have been hit by worries that valuations are in bubble territory.
Historically, bitcoin and stocks did not move in tandem because crypto was seen as an alternative investment. But with broader crypto adoption by traditional retail investors and some institutions, the correlation looks to be strengthening, analysts said.
Correlation is measured from -1 to 1, with figures above zero indicating a positive correlation. In 2025, the average correlation between bitcoin and the S&P 500 (.SPX), opens new tab - which tracks a broad basket of companies - was 0.5, compared with an average correlation in 2024 of 0.29, LSEG data shows.

For the tech-heavy NASDAQ 100 index (.NDX), opens new tab, the average correlation this year was 0.52, compared with 0.23 in 2024, according to LSEG data.
Crypto has grown especially sensitive to AI stock moves partly because they have been drivers of broader equity markets, and partly because, like crypto, they are currently seen as somewhat speculative investments, largely dependent on investor sentiment and risk appetite, analysts said.
"Crypto (was) already a little weak after October 10," said Cosmo Jiang, a general partner at Pantera Capital, a crypto investor. "Things really started to break in risk markets in the recent weeks, because of the AI bull case coming under question."

Cryptocurrencies declined in the past 24 hours amidst caution ahead of the Federal Open Markets Committee's interest rate decision due to be announced on Wednesday afternoon. Markets focused on both the rate cut decision as well as the potential forward guidance. Labor market updates due from the U.S. on Tuesday morning also added to the market's anxiety and reluctance to assume any major event risk ahead of the Fed's decision.

The CME FedWatch tool shows the likelihood of a quarter percentage rate cut that would slash the target funds rate to 3.50-3.75 percent at 89.4 percent versus 86.2 percent a day ago, 88 percent a week ago, and 66.9 percent a month ago.

The expected probability of a further reduction in the rates to 3.25-3.50 percent is currently only 21.8 percent for the January FOMC, 37 percent for the Fed's rate decision in March and 39.9 percent for the April FOMC. With uncertainty surrounding the Fed's plans for 2026, crypto market sentiment remained weak.

Amidst lackluster trading action ahead of the Fed's decision, overall cryptocurrency market capitalization has decreased 1.1 percent overnight to $3.08 trillion. The decline was accompanied by a drop of more than 8 percent in the 24-hour trading volume to $118 billion.

At current prices, 12 of the top 100 cryptocurrencies are trading with overnight gains of more than 1 percent while 52 have slipped more than 1 percent during the past 24 hours.

Bitcoin has slipped 1.6 percent in the past 24 hours to trade at $90,250.50. The current price is around 28 percent below the all-time high of $126,198.07 recorded on October 7. The original cryptocurrency has gained 3.1 percent in the past week but is still saddled with losses of 3.4 percent on a year-to-date basis.

Ethereum lost 1.3 percent overnight to trade at $3,112.90. The leading alternate coin is still trading 37 percent below the all-time-high of $4,953.73 and is grappling with year-to-date losses of around 6.6 percent.

Market leader Bitcoin traded between $92,099.35 and $89,586.98 during the past 24 hours while leading alternate coin Ethereum ranged between $3,174.83 and $3,083.34 during the same time period.

Bitcoin is currently ranked 9th rank and Ethereum 39th rank in the global ranking of all assets as per market capitalization published by companiesmarketcap.com.

4th ranked XRP slipped 1.4 percent overnight dragging its current trading price to $2.06.

5th ranked BNB also lost 2.8 percent overnight resulting in price decreasing to $883.45.

The price of 7th ranked Solana dropped 4.5 percent overnight to $132.39.

TRON ranked 8th overall lost 1.8 percent overnight and is currently changing hands at $0.2805.

9th ranked Dogecoin erased 1.5 percent overnight and is currently changing hands at $0.1415.

10th ranked Cardano however leaped 3.4 percent overnight to trade at $0.4495.

16th ranked Zcash (ZEC) topped overnight gains among the top 100 cryptocurrencies with a surge of 11.4 percent.

81st ranked SPX6900(SPX) topped overnight losses among the top 100 cryptocurrencies with a decline of 8.5 percent.

Ezeebit, a stablecoin and cryptocurrency payment infrastructure company regulated by the FSCA, has just secured $2.05 million in a seed funding round to expand its payment network across Africa.
Founded by 3 brothers, Daniel, David, and Jonathan Katz, the company allows merchants to accept cryptocurrency payments with instant stablecoin settlement and next-business-day local fiat payouts. Since its launch in 2023, it has processed over 30,000 transactions, totaling millions of dollars in gross merchandise value. Its clients include iStore, Le Creuset, Scoin, Tintswalo Lodges, Amiri, and Diesel.
“African merchants are tied to slow, expensive payment rails, while consumers increasingly hold crypto for remittances and savings but lack a safe way to spend it,” explains Daniel Katz, CEO and Co-Founder of Ezeebit. “We bridge this gap by connecting decentralized and traditional finance with a compliant stablecoin settlement layer. This funding empowers us to provide that vital infrastructure, allowing millions to participate fully in the global digital economy.”
Addressing consumer needs & merchant costs
Africa is experiencing a convergence of structural tailwinds. These include lingering inflation in some countries fueling the demand for stablecoins, negligible credit card penetration (just 4% of adults in Sub-Saharan Africa hold credit cards), and mobile money increasing the comfort of hundreds of millions to pay digitally via QR codes. In addition, smartphone adoption will approach 90% by 2030, expanding the addressable market.
According to the 2025 Geography of Cryptocurrency Report, between July 2024 and June 2025, Sub-Saharan Africa received over $205 billion in on-chain value, an increase of 52% from the previous year, making it the third fastest-growing region in the world, behind APAC and Latin America.
While there is strong growth in traditional digital payment adoption, African merchants face immediate challenges, including high fees (around 2–3% or more for card transactions), multi-day settlement (between three and five days), frequent declines, and limited cross-border options.
Ezeebit merchants enjoy fees of 1% or less, amounting to a 68% saving compared to traditional card payments, along with instant stablecoin settlement and next-business-day local fiat payouts, eliminating volatility risk.
“Mobile money has already sensitized hundreds of millions of consumers to pay digitally via QR and account-to-account transfers. Stablecoins are the logical next step. What’s more, at 8.78%, Sub-Saharan Africa remains the most expensive region in the world to receive remittances, making crypto rails a compelling alternative. And, once consumers have received crypto, they are eager to spend it on goods and services, creating a reinforcing growth loop,” Katz says.
David Frankel, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Founder Collective, says, “What’s happening in Africa is extraordinary. Millions of people hold crypto but can’t spend it; merchants need faster, cheaper rails, but legacy systems keep them locked out. Ezeebit is building the bridge. This team has an uncommon gift for integrating modern financial technology with a grounded understanding of the dynamics shaping the markets they serve.”
“What excites us most is how Ezeebit makes something complex feel simple. They’ve built real infrastructure, including wallet orchestration, instant hedging, and compliance tooling, that makes crypto payments work like tapping a card. In markets where half the population is unbanked, Ezeebit isn’t just processing transactions; they’re opening access and building a trusted brand in the space.” Amanda Herson, General Partner at Founder Collective, added.

“Looking ahead to early 2026, the official announcement of Kevin Hassett as the next Fed Chair should be bullish for crypto,” says Aurelie Barthere, Principal Research Analyst at Nansen.
After starting the week with an increase, the crypto market is down today, with the cryptocurrency market capitalisation falling by 1.2%. It currently stands at $3.17 trillion. 86 of the top 100 coins have gone down over the past 24 hours. At the same time, the total crypto trading volume is at $116 billion.
Crypto Winners & Losers
At the time of writing, all top 10 coins per market capitalization have seen their prices decrease over the past 24 hours.
Bitcoin (BTC) is down by 1.1% since this time yesterday, currently trading at $90,480.

Ethereum (ETH) is down by 0.3%, meaning that it’s practically unchanged, now changing hands at $3,122. This is the category’s smallest drop.
The highest fall among the ten is 2.1% by Tron (TRX), currently trading at $0.2811.
Solana (SOL)’s 1.9% is behind it, now standing at $133.
Looking at the top 100 coins, 86 have dropped over the past day.
At the red top we find Hyperliquid (HYPE), which fell 6.1% to the price of $28.2.
It’s followed by Internet Computer (ICP)’s 4.7% to $3.37.
The two best performers yesterday are also the two best performers today.
Zcash (ZEC) saw a 12.8% increase to the price of $419.
Canton (CC) is up 9.8%, now changing hands at $0.07446.
Traders are focused on the US Federal Reserve and the speed at which it will cut rates following the expected announcement, set for this week. That said, many argue that the cut is priced in.
Meanwhile, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has launched a pilot that lets Bitcoin, Ether, and USDC serve as collateral in derivatives markets.
$91,000 Resistance Level
Aurelie Barthere, Principal Research Analyst at Nansen, commented that “all eyes are on Bitcoin’s $91,000 resistance level.” This is where the 20-day EMA meets the downward trend from last October.
“Following the FOMC+ meeting, I expect BTC to hover around this level without a decisive break,” the analyst says.
Nansen expects a rate cut, which is already priced into markets, and guidance from the Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell emphasizing a data-dependent path forward.
“With a two-month lag in labor-market data, the Fed is likely to maintain a wait-and-see stance,” Barthere says. “In the Summary of Economic Projections, I’m expecting the terminal rate to hold near 3.0%, reflecting a Committee still divided between hawks and doves.”
Barthere concludes that “looking ahead to early 2026, the official announcement of Kevin Hassett as the next Fed Chair should be bullish for crypto, and it’s notable that this decision, originally expected this year, has been delayed.”
Levels & Events to Watch Next
At the time of writing on Tuesday morning, BTC stood at $90,480. There was a notable plunge earlier in the day from the intraday high of $92,203 to the low of $89,735. It then recorded another smaller peak at $91,353 before pulling back to the current price.
BTC is still green in the 7-day time frame, having appreciated 4.1% and moving between $86,418 and $93,855.
A drop below $85,000 could lead to the $78,000 which would open doors for further decreases. However, if BTC recovers above $95,000 and then $102,000, it could proceed to the $108,000 level.

Ethereum is currently changing hands at $3,122. It saw a lot choppier trading day than BTC. It decreased from the day’s high of $3,171 to the low of $3,093, the level it hit twice today.
Over the past week, ETH has outperformed BTC again, having increased by 11.3%. It traded in the $2,796–$3,222 range.
If it continues falling, the price could retreat below $3,000 and towards $2,850. On the other hand, if it reclaims the $3,300 level, it may keep rising to $3,450 and $3,560.

Meanwhile, the crypto market saw a minor increase on Tuesday morning, staying within the fear territory. The crypto fear and greed index rose to 25 today compared to 24 yesterday.
That said, it’s been moving in a tight range over the past 30 days, occasionally dropping into the extreme fear zone.
This highlights notable caution and indecisiveness, much in line with the market conditions overall.

ETFs Post Another Mixed Day, Strategy Buys More BTC
The ETF week has begun in the red. On Monday, the US BTC spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recorded $60.48 million in outflows. With this, the total net inflow pulled back to $57.65 billion.

Of the twelve BTC ETFs, one recorded inflows, and three saw outflows. BlackRock accounts for the entirety of the positive flows, adding $28.76 million.

At the same time, Grayscale saw the highest outflows of $44.03 million, followed by Fidelity’s $39.44 million and VanEck’s $5.76 million.

Moreover, the US ETH ETFs posted positive flows on 8 December, breaking a brief red streak with $35.49 million in outflows. The total net inflow now stands at $12.91 billion.

Of the nine funds, two recorded inflows, and none saw outflows. BlackRock took in $23.66 million, and Grayscale took in $11.83 million.

Meanwhile, Michael Saylor’s company Strategy has purchased additional 10,624 BTC for approximately $962.7 million at an average price of $90,615 per coin. The move has many wonder if the company is expecting a notable rally.

This latest acquisition brings Strategy’s total holdings to 660,624 BTC, bought for $49.35 billion at an average price of $74,696.

Recent industry reports, combined with a new regulatory filing in India, led to speculation that Coinbase may be increasing its involvement with India’s largest exchange, CoinDCX.
CCN covered these developments as part of broader reporting on the increased activity surrounding the two companies.
However, Coinbase has since reached out with a clarification.
Coinbase’s Clarification
Earlier industry speculation suggested that Coinbase may have been exploring an acquisition of CoinDCX.
CCN covered these developments as part of broader reporting on the increased activity surrounding the two companies.
However, Coinbase has since reached out with a clarification.
Coinbase’s Clarification
Earlier industry speculation suggested that Coinbase may have been exploring an acquisition of CoinDCX.
In July, CCN reported rumors to that effect, which CoinDCX co-founder Sumit Gupta had definitively dismissed at the time.
Coinbase reiterated in its outreach that the recent filing with India’s Competition Commission (CCI) is not evidence of a new deal or acquisition attempt.
Instead, the filing is a required procedural step related to an investment already in the public domain.
Rather than signaling a buyout or a new deal, the filing is part of completing the minority investment Coinbase announced in October.
Coinbase first backed CoinDCX in 2020, followed by additional rounds in 2022 and in 2025.
These investments bring Coinbase’s stake to roughly 2.34% and value CoinDCX at $2.45 billion post-money.
India’s Crypto Market Continues To Defy Uncertainty
Coinbase’s filing comes shortly after the exchange re-registered with India’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), ending a year-long operational freeze triggered by regulatory disputes.
India remains one of the most coveted crypto markets globally for a simple reason: its scale.
With a population of 1.4 billion—more than half of whom are under 30—the country has topped global crypto adoption rankings for three consecutive years, according to multiple independent indexes.
The contradictions, however, are stark:
High adoption, but no comprehensive crypto law.
Booming exchanges, but a 30% tax on gains and a 1% TDS on every trade.
Rapid startup growth, but persistent government skepticism.
Still, the domestic sector has produced several crypto unicorns since 2017, and foreign exchanges continue to show strong interest despite the regulatory headwinds.
Growing Foreign Interest Could Pressure India Toward Regulation
While New Delhi has been reluctant to introduce a full crypto bill—calling digital assets “speculative” and maintaining steep taxes—market participants believe sustained interest from major global players may eventually force incremental policymaking.
Coinbase’s latest move reinforces that trend.
With global exchanges aggressively expanding into India and pushing for compliance frameworks, lawmakers may face renewed pressure to shift from ambiguity to structured regulation.

A year after Binance relaunched in India, Coinbase is following suit, as the country’s crypto-skeptic regulators grant global exchanges access to the domestic market.
Other major players also see an opportunity.
Now that the door is open, some of the world’s biggest crypto exchanges have formed a queue.
Coinbase Returns to India
Coinbase initially entered the Indian market with optimism in April 2022, launching its exchange app with fiat integration via the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
However, just days after launch, UPI support was disabled following pressure from regulators, leading Coinbase to wind down its operations in the country.
By September 2023, the exchange had halted all services for Indian users, asked customers to withdraw their funds, and suspended new signups.
After two years in exile, Coinbase registered with India’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) earlier this year, a crucial step that had paved the way for Binance to reenter the country several months earlier.
In October, the Coinbase app quietly on-boarded its first new Indian users since 2023, and has since opened up access more broadly, according to a report by TechCrunch on Sunday, Dec. 7.
While trading is currently limited to crypto pairs, local currency support is expected to launch in 2026, according to Coinbase’s APAC director, John O’Loghlen, who told the publication.
Kraken and Bitget Eye Indian Market
Binance and Coinbase aren’t the only global exchanges with their sights on India’s crypto market.
After paying a million-dollar FIU penalty for anti-money laundering violations, Bybit restored full access for Indian users in September.
Meanwhile, Kraken, which shut down its operations in the country last year, is actively planning its Indian comeback.
The American company has recruited a local advisor and is seeking to engage with authorities to secure the relevant approvals, The Economic Times reported in February.
Finally, Bitget is in the process of registering with the FIU and expects to receive approval in 2026, according to Ignacio Aguirre Franco, Chief Marketing Officer.
A $15 Billion Opportunity
As global exchanges jostle for position, India’s crypto market has all the right ingredients for significant growth.
Fueled by a large population of increasingly digital young people, the country has ranked first in Chainalysis’ crypto adoption index for the last three years.From around $2.6 billion in 2025, India’s crypto market is projected to reach $15 billion in the next decade.
Although the Reserve Bank of India and financial regulators continue to enforce strict controls on the sector, which is viewed with skepticism by senior officials, recent developments at the FIU suggest the previous crackdown that forced platforms to exit the Indian market has now been lifted.

Bitcoin (BTC) is trading marginally above $92,000 at the time of writing on Monday, supported by improving market sentiment ahead of the Federal Reserve (Fed) monetary policy decision on Wednesday.
Altcoins, including Ethereum (ETH) and Ripple (XRP), are edging higher following in Bitcoin’s footsteps. Ethereum is closing in on $3,200, while XRP edges up above $2.10 after bouncing off support at around $2.00.
Data spotlight: Bitcoin rises amid ETF inflows, low retail demand
Bitcoin spot Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) resumed inflows on Friday, with nearly $55 million streaming in after two days of consecutive outflows of $195 million on Thursday and $15 million on Wednesday, according to data from SoSoValue.
The cumulative total inflow volume stands at $57.62 billion, with net assets of $117 billion. Continued inflows underpin positive market sentiment, which helps bolster Bitcoin’s uptrend.

However, retail demand remains significantly low despite a slight increase in futures Open Interest (OI) to $57.16 billion on Monday from $56.32 billion the previous day. Still, OI is far from the record high of $94.12 billion seen on October 7, before the flash crash on October 10. Low retail demand often reflects a weak tailwind, as investors are not convinced that Bitcoin price can sustain an extended uptrend.

Ethereum, unlike Bitcoin, experienced outflows of $75 million on Friday and $42 million on Thursday. BlackRock’s ETHA was the only US-listed ETH spot ETF in the red on Friday, with the rest remaining quiet. Meanwhile, the cumulative inflow volume remains at $12.88 billion, with net assets of $18.94 billion.

XRP spot ETFs, on the other hand, are on a stellar performance streak, with 15 consecutive days of inflows. SoSoValue data shows that XRP ETFs recorded $10 million in inflows on Friday and have not experienced outflows since their debut on November 13. The cumulative total inflow stands at $897 million, with net assets of $861 million.

Chart of the day: Bitcoin bulls push to regain control
Bitcoin is trading slightly above $92,000 at the time of writing on Monday, as bulls aim to retain control of the trend. The upswing is supported by the buy signal from the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator on the daily chart seen on November 26. Green histogram bars are expanding above the zero line, backing a positive thesis.
The Relative Strength Index (RSI) on the same chart is at 48, suggesting that bullish momentum is gradually increasing. An RSI extension above the midline would add to the positive outlook, increasing the odds of a swing toward $100,000.

Still, Bitcoin price holds below the down-trending 50-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) at $97,238, the 100-day EMA at $102,593 and the 200-day EMA at $103,953, all of which may cap rebounds. A reversal below $90,000 could accelerate the downtrend and test a short-term support level at $87,719, which was tested on Sunday.
Altcoins update: Ethereum, XRP rise above key support
Ethereum is extending its recovery above $3,100, as bulls push to tighten their grip and break a descending trendline resistance. The RSI on the daily chart crossed above the 50 midline.
The MACD on the same chart has maintained a buy signal since November 25. ETH’s trend could remain bullish if the histogram bars continue to expand above the mean line and the indicator crosses into the bullish region.
A break above the 50-day EMA at $3,316 could bolster Ethereum’s bullish bias. However, traders must be aware of the 200-day EMA at $3,459 and the 100-day EMA at $3,521, where ETH could encounter resistance and slow down the uptrend toward $4,000.

Meanwhile, XRP rises above $2.10 on Monday after bulls defended support at $2.00 on the previous day. Buyers are pushing to retain control as the RSI on the daily chart tries to reach the neutral level of 50.

The 50-day EMA is holding at $2.27, the 100-day EMA at $2.43 and the 200-day EMA at $2.47, all of which could slow down XRP’s uptrend. Buyers must flip the moving averages into support to reinforce the bullish grip, and an extended move above the descending trendline would further bolster it. Still, XRP is not out of the woods yet amid the growing risk of another swing below the pivotal $2.00 level.

Ripple’s $500 million share sale in November drew some of Wall Street’s biggest names and marked a milestone in crypto’s evolution from fringe asset class to mainstream finance. Investors including Citadel Securities LLC and Fortress Investment Group backed the firm at a $40 billion valuation, a record for a privately held digital-asset company.
But the structure of the deal also highlights the careful approach some institutional investors are taking as they wade deeper into the volatile sector. It included crucial protections: the right to sell shares back to Ripple at a guaranteed return and preferential treatment should a major event like a bankruptcy or sale occur.
To some of the investors, Ripple was essentially a bet on a single cryptocurrency. Two of the funds that put in money assessed that at least 90% of the company’s net asset value derived from a crypto token called XRP, according to people with knowledge of the matter. As of July, Ripple held $124 billion worth of the token, much of it subject to lockups and gradual release.
XRP has fallen about 16% since Oct. 31, shortly before the deal was announced, amid the worst cryptocurrency selloff since 2022. It is down more than 40% from a mid-July high. Ripple operates several business lines, including a stablecoin and a prime brokerage.
The group of Ripple investors, which also included funds affiliated with Marshall Wace, Brevan Howard, Galaxy Digital and Pantera Capital, negotiated safeguards ensuring a minimum upside — illustrating how traditional finance is adopting its playbook to manage risk in an industry defined by big price swings.

Crypto companies have raised some $23 billion in venture capital deals and IPOs this year, data from PitchBook show, capitalizing on a favorable political climate after Donald Trump’s return to the White House. That’s not counting stablecoin issuer Tether Holdings SA, which is raising as much as $20 billion and has held talks with big-name investors like SoftBank Group Corp. and Ark Investment Management LLC, Bloomberg reported earlier.
The deals spree has given a wider set of investors — from individuals to giant state-backed funds — increased exposure to one of the most volatile asset classes. Several crypto companies that went public in 2025, from stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group Inc. to a slew of digital-asset accumulators, have seen their shares fall sharply in the past few months in a sign of how quickly the industry’s fortunes can turn. Even the Trump family hasn’t been spared. Shares in American Bitcoin Corp., co-founded by Trump’s son Eric, crashed more than 50% in just minutes on Dec. 2.
The funds investing in Ripple were given the option to sell their shares back to Ripple after three or four years at a guaranteed annualized return of 10%, unless Ripple goes public within that time frame, according to the people. Ripple, in turn, can decide to repurchase the shares at the same junctures — but must then offer the investors a 25% annualized return, the people said, asking not to be named discussing confidential terms.
Ripple President Monica Long said in a November interview that the company has “no plan, no timeline” for an IPO.
Terms of the deal also included a so-called “liquidation preference” clause that gives the new investors priority over other shareholders in an event such as a sale or a bankruptcy, the people said.
Ripple didn’t respond to questions. The funds declined to comment.
Ripple’s Potential Cost
Terms that offer a put option with a guaranteed return are “not very common and tend to appear more with investors who aren’t typical venture capitalists,” said Kyle Stanford, director of US venture capital research at PitchBook.
“Such situations might force the company to use its cash or seek additional funding rounds to liquidate those investors’ rights, which can reduce funds available for operations and growth,” he said.
Ripple said in a statement announcing the investment that it has bought back more than 25% of its outstanding shares in recent years, “returning meaningful value to employees and early investors.”
It would cost Ripple $732 million to buy back the shares from the investor group after four years at a 10% annual return, Bloomberg calculations show.
Unlike some of the biggest digital-asset companies, much of Ripple’s perceived value derives from a crypto token it owns. Binance Holdings Ltd. and Coinbase Global Inc., for example, are exchanges whose business depends on trading volumes. Tether collects yields on the massive reserves backing its $185 billion stablecoin, USDT.

This year has seen Ripple ramp up acquisitions to expand its footprint across crypto and wider financial markets, a push that could make XRP less relevant to its valuation over time. In April, it agreed to purchase prime brokerage Hidden Road for $1.25 billion in its biggest takeover. In October, it announced the $1 billion acquisition of treasury management software provider GTreasury.
Still, an executive at one of the investors said his firm judged that the XRP coins Ripple owns account for almost all of its valuation. Citadel, by contrast, didn’t share the assessment that Ripple’s value hinged predominantly on XRP, another person said.
Even after the recent declines, the value of Ripple’s XRP hoard remains comfortably above the share-sale valuation. As of Sunday, it stood at $83.3 billion, assuming the number of tokens Ripple owns has remained constant since July 31.
Steve McLaughlin, CEO of fintech-focused investment bank FT Partners, said speaking in general terms that while funding deals that guarantee a minimum return for shareholders aren’t uncommon, “you wouldn’t see this typically with a red-hot, high-growth company.”