Large players are actively accumulating Ethereum: 220,000 tokens purchased in a week for a total of $660 million

Market Situation

Volatility and Liquidations

In the last 24 hours, the cryptocurrency market experienced a wave of mass liquidation of positions totaling $138 million. Of these, $90 million were long positions (longs), and the rest were short positions (shorts). Bitcoin faced liquidations of $31 million, while Ethereum was liquidated for $23 million.

The current Bitcoin price at $92,970 (down 2.10% over the day) is in a critical zone. Liquidation map analysis shows that in the $88,000–$90,000 range, there is a large concentration of shorts with significant leverage (50-100x). If the price breaks above this level, a mass closing of short positions and further price growth are possible.

Ethereum is trading at $3,220, down 3.03% over the day, with a trading volume of $655 million over 24 hours. During the Christmas holidays, the US stock market temporarily halted operations.

Activity of Major Players

Major players in the crypto market have significantly adjusted their portfolios. Over the past week, institutions and whales accumulated 220,000 Ethereum worth approximately $660 million. Meanwhile, net Bitcoin outflows from financial instruments amounted to $124 million, and for Ethereum — $72.36 million.

On the spot market, there is a slight negative trend: in the last 24 hours, Bitcoin inflow was $119 million, but outflow exceeded this by $127 million, indicating a general trend of fund withdrawals.

Project Developments and Protocol Updates

DeFi Management and Updates

The Uniswap community voted to activate the fee mechanism in the (proposal called UNIfication), which paves the way for new monetization models for the platform.

A heated discussion has erupted around the Aave ecosystem regarding protocol governance. Founder Wintermute sharply opposed the current proposal due to the lack of clear governance mechanisms and the unclear logic of value capture. An analyst urged the community to stop politicizing the issue and focus on fundamental questions of governance structure and token value distribution.

Innovations and Startups

HodlHer, a project from the Injective ecosystem, raised $1.5 million in a funding round to develop an AI-oriented Web3 operating system.

Regarding token unlocks and releases: Humanity unlocked 105 million tokens worth about $14.8 million, and Plasma released 88.89 million tokens worth $11.7 million.

Security and Risks

Digital Wallet Incident

Investigation revealed that a popular digital wallet extension was targeted by a coordinated supply chain attack. Malicious actors inserted harmful code into an update that stole users’ mnemonic phrases and private keys. The result was a mass theft of over $6 million from affected users. This incident underscores the critical importance of security checks in the crypto supply chain.

Macroeconomic Situation and Forecasts

Geopolitical Factors and Development Paths

BTSE analysts expressed concern that Bitcoin could fall to $70,000 if the US Federal Reserve keeps the interest rate unchanged throughout the first quarter of 2026.

CryptoQuant data indicate that Bitcoin’s RSI is approaching a critical bearish market threshold. Historically, breaking the 4-year moving average line often signals a potential shift into a deeper market decline.

Mass Expenditure via AI Crypto Tokens

Crypto assets with an AI theme are going through tough times. Since the beginning of 2024, they have significantly corrected downward, and in 2025, a 75% decline with a loss of $5.3 billion in market capitalization has been recorded. In December alone, assets lost about $1 billion.

Price Forecasts and Development Scenarios

Crypto analyst Ali Charts conducted a historical analysis of Bitcoin cycles. According to his calculations, the time from the peak to the trough averages 364 days. If this trend continues, the bottom could be reached at around $37,500 in October 2026.

Outlook for 2026

Predictions from Leading Investment Funds

Research team Pantera Capital published twelve key forecasts for the industry’s development in 2026:

Crypto lending will gain momentum as a new service combining on-chain and off-chain lending models with AI-driven behavior learning and modular design. Forecast markets will split into two main directions: “financial” (integration with DeFi, supporting longs and staking), and “cultural” (localized target audiences with long-tail interests).

Payment infrastructure based on x402 will expand, and Solana may potentially surpass competitors in transaction volume. Artificial intelligence will become the primary interface for interacting with crypto assets — AI-assisted trading and analytics will become mainstream, although trading based on LLMs remains experimental.

Tokenized gold will establish itself as a popular active asset for inflation protection and addressing issues related to the US dollar.

Institutionalization and Regulation

In 2025, the US faced a record number of filings with the SEC related to Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies overall. This surge in regulatory activity promotes greater institutionalization of online assets. The majority of requests concern Bitcoin, reflecting active expansion of institutional crypto products following the launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs.

Ethereum Development

The Ethereum network plans several hard forks in 2026, including Glamsterdam and Hegota. These updates could raise the gas limit to 200 million, significantly improving network throughput.

Macroeconomic Materials

Precious metals markets show interesting trends. Spot silver surpassed $75 per ounce, setting a new all-time high, while gold rose to $4,504 per ounce.

According to CoinGlass, in 2025, liquidation volume in the crypto sector will reach $150 billion, averaging 4 to 5 billion dollars daily — an impressive indicator of market volatility.