In a December 29, 2025 post on X, Coinbase researcher David Duong said onchain perpetual futures trading surpassed $1 trillion in monthly volume as leverage demand grew amid a muted altcoin season. Decentralized venues such as Aster and Hyperliquid gained share, and Duong highlighted equity perpetuals as a likely next growth segment for onchain derivatives.

South Korea’s push for a comprehensive crypto law has been postponed to 2026 as regulators clash over who may issue stablecoins. According to Yonhap, the FSC’s draft would require 100% reserves held with licensed custodians, while the Bank of Korea wants bank-controlled consortia with at least 51% ownership.

By the end of 2026, Haseeb Qureshi of Dragonfly expects at least one major Big Tech company to launch or acquire a crypto wallet and for banks and fintechs to deploy more modular, permissioned blockchains. He also forecasts Bitcoin trading above $150,000 with falling market dominance, continued strength for Ethereum and Solana, and a roughly 60% expansion of the $312 billion stablecoin market as Tether's share slips.

Nasdaq-listed crypto firm ALT5 Sigma, backed by Trump-linked World Liberty Financial, has come under pressure after appointing Victor Mokuolu CPA PLLC as its new auditor while the firm's license is inactive. State filings cited in the FT indicate the auditor's license expired in August and had not been renewed by late December, adding to ALT5 Sigma's missed Q3 filing deadline, past regulatory penalties for the auditor, a more than 77% stock decline in 2025, and rising Nasdaq delisting concerns. Governance questions intensified following a board resignation, executive removals and Eric Trump taking only an observer role instead of joining the board.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said on the Tetragrammaton podcast with Rick Rubin that Bitcoin pressures US policymakers to maintain fiscal discipline and can bolster the dollar’s long-term standing. He warned that inflation exceeding growth risks reserve currency status, noting rising debt is pushing some investors toward Bitcoin and gold.

At the end of 2025, Ethereum's staking flow has flipped, with new deposits surpassing withdrawals for the first time in six months and the entry queue expanding sharply. Around 745,619 ETH is now waiting to be staked versus roughly 360,518 ETH queued for exit, while some analysts see the shrinking withdrawal line and large deposits from firms like BitMine as signs of easing sell pressure and stronger long-term conviction.

Bitcoin’s mining difficulty climbed to 148.2 trillion in the final 2025 adjustment and is projected to rise toward about 149 trillion around January 8, 2026, at block height 931,392. Faster-than-target block times and pressure on miner profitability are driving tighter conditions, while Bitmain responds with steep discounts on S19 XP+ Hydro hardware slated to ship in January 2026.

Speaking on CNBC on Friday, Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan said Bitcoin is entering a 10-year "grind up" featuring strong yet steadier, lower-volatility returns. He maintained a bullish 2026 outlook after October's all-time high of $125,100, while Bitcoin trades around $87,800 and is down about 3.8% over the past 30 days, according to CoinMarketCap.

Google Trends data shows global searches for "crypto" slipping to 26, just above the yearly low of 24, while the U.S. reading fell to 26, a one-year trough. An April sell-off and an October flash crash coincided with waning retail interest; the Fear and Greed Index hit 10 in November and has recovered to 28.