Altseason Or Not, ETH, BNB, XRP, SOL And DOGE Could Lead

The cryptocurrency market witnessed pockets of outperformance from select altcoins in 2025, but a broad-based altcoin rally failed to materialize. According to CoinMarketCap data, Bitcoin (BTC) did not breach its yearly low dominance of 55.5% hit on Jan. 5, 2025, signaling that traders did not abandon BTC and rush into altcoins. Glassnode said in a recent post on X that nearly all crypto sectors had underperformed BTC over the past 3 months, signaling “a market environment where capital concentration favors BTC.” Could the major altcoins make a comeback in 2026?…

Gnosis Announces Hard Fork to Recover Funds from Balancer Exploit

Gnosis chain operators executed a hard fork to recover funds tied to a $116 million Balancer exploit in November. In a Tuesday X post following a notice for node operators, Gnosis said it executed a hard fork to recover some of the funds from a significant exploit of Balancer. The project said the funds were “out of the hacker’s control,” signaling a partial or full recovery. The hard fork, executed on Monday, followed a majority of validators adopting a soft fork in November in response to the Balancer exploit affecting…

DWF Labs Settles First Physical Gold Trade

DWF Labs, a cryptocurrency-focused market maker, has expanded into physical commodities after settling its first physical gold transaction, a rare move for a crypto-native company as precious metal prices continue to break record highs. On Monday, managing partner Andrei Grachev said DWF Labs had “just settled our first gold trade,” describing it as a test tranche involving a single 25-kilogram gold bar. Grachev said the company plans to scale the operation, with ambitions to trade physical silver, platinum and cotton. Notably, the transaction was completed using conventional bullion custody and…

IMF confirms El Salvador Government will Sell Chivo Bitcoin Wallet

The International Monetary Fund’s mission chief for El Salvador issued a statement confirming that government authorities were proceeding with negotiations for the sale of the country’s Chivo Bitcoin wallet. In a Monday statement, the IMF said El Salvador’s government was continuing to discuss its Bitcoin (BTC) project with the fund’s officials, and “negotiations for the sale of the government e-wallet Chivo are well advanced.” The announcement signaled that the government may be preparing to sell some or all of its crypto holdings in the Chivo wallet. Source: IMF The statement…

How Bhutan Is Using Hydropower to Build a Green Bitcoin Economy

Key takeaways Bhutan is using surplus, carbon-free hydropower to mine Bitcoin, converting excess electricity into a liquid digital export rather than curtailing generation. Mining and custody are handled by the sovereign investment arm, Druk Holding and Investments (DHI), and confined to designated jurisdictions, limiting retail exposure. Officials describe mined Bitcoin as a foreign-currency liquidity buffer that has already supported government finances. The central bank permits crypto activity only under a phased, sandbox-style framework linked to Gelephu Mindfulness City, with an emphasis on risk control and transparency. Bhutan’s pitch to the…

Crypto Hack Counts Fall but Supply Chain Attacks Reshape Threat Landscape

Crypto hackers stole $3.3 billion in 2025, but the number of attacks fell sharply as losses became concentrated in fewer, more sophisticated supply-chain exploits, according to new data from blockchain security firm CertiK shared with Cointelegraph. While total losses remained elevated, the decline in incident counts and a drop in median theft sizes suggest that protocol-level security is improving, pushing attackers away from simple code vulnerabilities and toward phishing and infrastructure-level attacks. CertiK said supply-chain breaches emerged as the most damaging threat, accounting for $1.45 billion in losses across just…

Russia’s Central Bank Signals Shift Toward Retail Crypto Access

The Bank of Russia put forward a policy proposal that would allow non-qualified investors to buy certain cryptocurrencies. According to a Tuesday announcement, the central bank’s proposal would allow both qualified and non-qualified investors to buy most crypto, but with limitations. Non-qualified investors would be limited to a yet-to-be-defined set of liquid crypto after passing a knowledge test, capped at 300,000 rubles ($3,834) a year. Qualified investors would gain broad market access excluding privacy coins, also subject to a knowledge test. Russian residents will also be able to acquire crypto…

Lighter Airdrop Fuels Polymarket Bets, Hyperliquid Lists LIT

Lighter, a perpetual decentralized exchange (perp DEX) and a major rival to Hyperliquid, is fueling airdrop speculation as Polymarket traders bet on a token launch before year’s end. Sebas, also known as Babastianj, a core contributor to the Lighter DEX, announced on the project’s Discord channel Monday that the platform is finalizing key processes ahead of the highly anticipated token generation event (TGE). “We’re in the final stretch of Season 2 and are running data science to remove Sybil, self-trading, and wash-trading points,” he said, adding that all slashed and…

South Korea’s BC Card Completes Stablecoin Payments Pilot for Foreigners

South Korean payments processor BC Card has completed a pilot project that enabled foreign users to pay local merchants using stablecoins. BC Card’s pilot project was announced Tuesday and was conducted with blockchain company Wavebridge, wallet provider Aaron group and cross-border remittance provider Global Money Express. The companies had foreign users convert their stablecoins held in overseas wallets, which were partnered with BC Card, into digital prepaid cards. The company said this pilot was not a short-term project, but part of preparations to implement a stablecoin payment structure. The change…

OKX Reports 53x Surge in Regulated Trading After US, EU Expansion

Crypto exchange OKX said volume in its licensed and regulated markets increased 53-fold in 2025, driven by its expansion into the United States and the European Economic Area. Citing internal data, the exchange said daily active wallets doubled over the past year, with an average of about 190,000 new wallets created each day, while decentralized exchange volume on its platform rose 262% globally and centralized trading increased 16% over the same period. The company attributed its market growth to an operating model focused on licensed access to regulated markets. OKX…