Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson is promoting the Midnight sidechain and its NIGHT token after more than 200% gains in the first two weeks of trading and a new integration with XRP’s larger DeFi ecosystem. NIGHT has recently added 21% while the broader XRP and Cardano decentralized finance landscape still holds under $315 million, and both ADA and XRP have slipped about 2% over the past week.

From December 29, 2025 to January 5, 2026, a wave of token releases will hit Solana, Sui, TRUMP and HyperLiquid. The schedule includes SOL at $61.62M (484.67K), SUI at $67.29M (46.41M), and TRUMP at $24.11M (4.89M), with HYPE near $252M. Volumes come via cliff and linear unlocks.

XRP's derivatives leverage on Binance has fallen to about $453 million in open interest, the lowest level since late 2024, as noted by CryptoQuant. This sharp reduction follows multiple speculative surges above $1 billion in early and mid-2025 and coincides with XRP retreating from its $3.65 high while Bitcoin struggles near $85K. With leverage being flushed out and CMF turning negative, XRP's next major test is reclaiming the $2 psychological level on the back of renewed spot demand and whale buying.

During BlackRock's Q3 2025 results discussion, CEO Larry Fink described Bitcoin as one of the year's biggest investment opportunities, highlighting the firm's focus on digital assets. BlackRock's IBIT spot Bitcoin ETF has attracted about $25 billion in inflows, even as it recently saw over $100 million in value decline across several December trading days while Bitcoin traded near $88,000.

On December 21, 2025, analyst Ali Martinez flagged a bearish crossover on Cardano's monthly MACD. He noted the previous occurrence preceded an 81% ADA decline, while the latest signal has coincided with a 32% drop. Additional gauges cited include EMA near $0.38, CMF in negative territory, and StochRSI deeply oversold.

On December 22, 2025, Flare launched earnXRP, an XRP-denominated yield vault that uses FXRP and is built on Upshift’s infrastructure with a strategy curated by Clearstar Labs. The product deploys FXRP across multiple on-chain smart contracts, combining carry trades, staking via Firelight, and concentrated AMM liquidity to generate return. Users receive earnXRP tokens when they deposit FXRP and later burn them to withdraw compounded XRP back to self-custodial wallets.

On December 8, 2025, Cardano’s Midnight sidechain went live, and its NIGHT token has climbed 507% since December 9 while securing listings on major exchanges. Over the same period, ADA slid 3.5% to $0.3788, with one analyst eyeing a potential return to the $0.72 area by year-end 2025 despite Cardano’s TVL falling to $230 million from nearly $1 billion a year earlier.

On December 11, 2025, Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon was sentenced in a New York federal court to 15 years in prison for fraud tied to the 2022 Terra ecosystem collapse. Witnesses described around $500 million in lost savings, while Terra-linked tokens LUNC and LUNA fell by 25% after the ruling but LUNC remains 35% higher over the past month.

Since early February 2025, total daily fees on the XRP Ledger have fallen about 89% from 5,900 XRP to 650 XRP, according to on-chain metrics. Despite this multi-year low in network activity and ongoing negative sentiment, some technical analysts say XRP could be preparing for a move higher as long as support around $1.90 holds near the current $2 area. They are watching for a possible retest of resistance around $3.60 if that support zone remains intact.