Crypto Sentiment Moves Out Of ‘Extreme Fear’ But Uncertainty Stays

A widely used crypto market sentiment indicator has shaken off its “extreme fear” rating as of Friday, returning to its highest levels in 21 days despite still trading under $90,000. The index, which measures overall crypto market sentiment, recorded a “fear” score of 29 in its Friday update, climbing out of the “extreme fear” zone to its highest level since Dec. 12.  The price of Bitcoin (BTC) is $88,995 at the time of publication.  The rise in sentiment is a positive signal for the crypto community, and some analysts say…

Solana Has Institutional Momentum With RWAs Heading Into 2026

Solana appears poised to expand from its memecoin-focused, retail-dominant network this year, after posting record real-world asset tokenization activity in December.  Data from RWA.xyz shows the value of tokenized RWAs on Solana increased nearly 10% over the last month to a record-high $873.3 million, while the number of Solana RWA token holders rose over 18.4% to 126,236 over the same timeframe.  The majority of these RWAs back US Treasuries, such as the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund and the Ondo US Dollar Yield, which boast market caps of $255.4…

CARF Transaction Reporting Begins in Participating Jurisdictions

Crypto investors across 48 countries will start to have their crypto wallet transaction data recorded for tax purposes this year, as the long-awaited Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework rolls out globally.  CARF, an international tax transparency framework developed by the OECD, officially goes into effect in 2027.  However, as of Jan. 1, crypto service providers in participating jurisdictions — including centralized and certain decentralized exchanges, crypto ATMs, and brokers and dealers — are already required to begin collecting the necessary transaction data. It’s a signal that countries are moving toward more transparency…

Crypto Exchanges and Mining Now Legal in Turkmenistan

Crypto mining and trading is now legal in Turkmenistan after a new law signed by President Serdar Berdimuhamedow in late November took effect on Thursday.  Implementation of the new laws could see the Central Asian country’s economy expand beyond its heavy reliance on natural gas exports by tapping surplus energy for crypto mining, following the lead of neighboring country Kazakhstan. Turkmenistan is considered to be one of the more closed-off countries in the world, but has taken several steps to open up its economy in recent years, including to the…

Flow Remediation Plan to $3.9M Exploit Continues with EVM Progress

The Flow Foundation is continuing to implement a remediation plan in response to a $3.9 million exploit of the blockchain on Saturday, flagging concerns about large token movements on a centralized exchange. In a Thursday X post, Flow said it had made “significant progress” in its recovery plan, now entering phase two and expected to take several days. According to the platform, developers had “identified a path to restore EVM [Ethereum Virtual Machine] functionality” as it addressed its non-EVM chain, Cadence. “The Community Governance Council continues executing cleanup transactions under…

Ethereum Co-founder Pitches dApps as Solution to 2025 Cloudflare Outage

Vitalik Buterin, one of the co-founders of the Ethereum blockchain, said decentralization applications (DApps) could mitigate failures in internet infrastructure, such as when internet services provider Cloudflare experienced a massive outage in November. In a Thursday X post, Buterin said Ethereum needed to do more to achieve its mission of “[building] the world computer that serves as a central infrastructure piece of a more free and open internet.” According to the co-founder, that started with DApps that “run without fraud, censorship or third-party interference” and are usable at scale on…

Crypto Investment Themes for 2026: Bitcoin, Stablecoins and RWAs

2025 didn’t unfold the way many cryptocurrency investors expected. Although Bitcoin (BTC) peaked almost precisely in line with its historical four-year cycle, the long-anticipated blow-off top never materialized. Notably, Bitcoin’s gains failed to cascade into the broader market, leaving hopes for a full-fledged altcoin season largely unfulfilled. As a result, 2026 opens under a cloud of uncertainty. Investor sentiment is extremely negative, marked by caution and skepticism, even as the industry finds itself in an unprecedented position. For the first time in crypto’s 15-year history, institutions, corporations and regulators are…

Trust Wallet CEO Provides Update on New Chrome Web Store Wallet Extension

The Trust Wallet update includes a feature to help victims of the $7 million Christmas hack submit reimbursement claims for lost funds. The Trust Wallet browser extension for Google Chrome Web Store is “temporarily unavailable,” delaying the release of a new version that includes tools for victims of a recent hack, according to Trust Wallet CEO Eowyn Chen.  “We hit a Chrome Web Store bug while releasing a new version,” Chen said in an X post, adding that the delayed release includes a feature to help victims of the Christmas…

Compliance-Friendly Tools On The Rise

Crypto privacy entered the spotlight in 2025 as new technology clashed with regulators, a trend that is set to intensify in 2026 with developers pushing the envelope and legal battles approaching a conclusion. In its early days, Bitcoin (BTC) was often viewed as an anonymous payment tool despite its transparency. Since then, the introduction of onchain analytics and surveillance has made it increasingly apparent that transparent blockchains are far from private. This led to an arms race between pro-privacy developers, onchain surveillance organizations and regulators, culminating in high-profile legal cases.…

XRP’s 2025 Wins Failed to Deliver $5 Price: 2026 Outlook Uncertain

In 2025, the XRP community celebrated the long-awaited resolution of the SEC lawsuit, the launch of multiple US-based spot ETFs, and a surge in Ripple partnerships. Yet, the coveted $5 price target remained elusive, with XRP (XRP) price peaking at $3.66 before falling as much as 50% to a low of $1.58 in October.  Key takeaways: Some of the most bullish events for XRP occurred in 2025, yet it fell by over 50%, underperforming the market. No sustained buying and low XRP network activity signal weak demand. Technicals suggest further…