Uk Jin

Meme coins, which had been hugely popular in the digital assets market, are struggling to rebound. It is analyzed that speculative demand in the market has decreased. On the 26th (Korean time), the digital asset media Cointelegraph, citing CoinMarketCap data, reported that as of that day the total market capitalization of the meme coin market stood at about 35 billion dollars, down 65% year-on-year. Meme coins were among the main beneficiaries of last year's Santa rally (a phenomenon in which asset prices surge around Christmas). Last year the digital asset market as a whole was on an upward trend, and meme coins showed the steepest rise among them. Political meme coins that sprang up en masse after the last U.S. presidential election are representative examples. The market capitalization of the meme coin market, boosted by last year's Santa rally, approached 100 billion dollars. However, this year meme coins have not been able to avoid a correction phase as liquidity and investor demand have plunged. Analyzing trading volume, meme coins recorded total trading volume of 3.05 trillion dollars year-to-date, which is a 72% decrease compared with the same period a year earlier. A similar atmosphere continued that day. Even though the digital asset market was broadly on an upswing that day, the leading coins Dogecoin (DOGE) and OfficialTrump (TRUMP) fell 0.59% and 0.29% respectively compared with the previous day.

The world's largest decentralized exchange (DEX), Uniswap (UNI), approved a proposal centered on introducing protocol fees and burning UNI tokens. According to digital asset media CoinDesk on the 26th, the 'UNIfication' measure, jointly proposed by Uniswap Labs and the Uniswap Foundation, received about 125 million votes in favor during a five-day vote, with only 742 votes against. With the approval of the governance proposal, Uniswap will use a portion of trading fees for an on-chain burn mechanism to reduce the supply of UNI tokens. As a result, UNI is expected to transition from a governance token to a value-accrual asset directly linked to platform usage. Uniswap will also retroactively burn an additional 100 million UNI held in the foundation treasury. This is about $590 million at current prices. As of 8:32 PM that day, Uniswap was trading at $5.89, up 2.04% from the previous day according to CoinMarketCap.

Bitcoin (BTC) managed a slight rebound that day, and there was a view that a price rally due to whales' buying could come. On the 26th (Korea time), Ki Young Ju, CEO of CryptoQuant, said on X (formerly Twitter), "The cycle of the Bitcoin spot market is divided into 'retail investor buying→whale selling→price decline' and 'retail investor selling→whale buying→price increase'," adding, "Currently, it is the period when whales are buying. I expect a price increase." As of 8:17 PM that day, Bitcoin was 88,606 dollars, up 1.33% from the previous day according to CoinMarketCap.

The southern Swiss city of Lugano is drawing industry attention as it actively uses Bitcoin (BTC) as a payment method. On the 26th (Korean time), digital asset-focused outlet Cointelegraph reported that Lugano has built infrastructure that allows payments with Bitcoin and stablecoins not only for coffee and fast food purchases but also for local taxes, parking fines, and tuition. Currently, three digital assets are used in Lugano: Bitcoin, USDT, and the Swiss franc-linked token LVGA. Since 2022, the city of Lugano has been carrying out the digital asset payment project "Plan B" together with Tether (USDT). Plan B emphasizes the low payment fees of digital assets to encourage merchants and citizens to voluntarily participate in the project.

An analysis says Bitcoin (BTC) is attempting to break above $90,000. Attention is focused on whether the largest options contract expiration in history on that day could act as upward pressure. On the 26th (Korean time), according to the digital asset media Cointelegraph, Bitcoin showed gains that day, and multiple analysts suggested that a Bitcoin bull market could be approaching. BitBull said on X (formerly Twitter), "As the large options expirations complete, the hedging pressure that had suppressed the price is disappearing," adding, "After that, the price can move according to actual positions." Another analyst, Michael van de Poppe, said, "Most commodity markets are currently on the verge of a correction. Tech stocks likewise soared this year," and argued, "January is a time when asset managers rebalance assets. Bitcoin is worth watching." Meanwhile, the turning point for further upside is expected to be $95,000. Crypto Ideology said, "Daily closing prices are important to determine a bull market," adding, "If a definite breakout occurs, there is the possibility of rising to $95,000, and this point will be the real test, and there is also the possibility of a rise to $100,000, near the 50-day moving average."

The governance vote of Aave (AAVE), a decentralized finance (DeFi) lending protocol, was ultimately rejected after facing community backlash. The vote concerned transferring control over Aave protocol's brand assets. On the 26th (Korean time), according to digital asset outlet Cointelegraph, Aave recently held a governance vote proposing to transfer Aave brand assets such as the domain, social media accounts, and naming rights to a corporation owned by the DAO, but the proposal was rejected with 55.29% voting against it. Support stood at just 3.5%, while 41.21% abstained. Several prominent industry figures also expressed discomfort with Aave's governance proposal. Evgeny Gaevoy, founder of Wintermute, said he voted against it, arguing that a serious discussion about a long-term token value capture structure is needed. Hasu, an advisor to Lido, also pointed out that a model in which a corporate/equity structure coexists separately from token governance is fundamentally inefficient.

US$24 billion (about KRW 35 trillion) worth of Bitcoin (BTC) options are set to expire soon. On the 26th (Korean time), Odaily reported that about 300,000 Bitcoin options are nearing expiration. The expiration time is 5 p.m. that day. The size of Bitcoin and Ethereum (ETH) options expiring today is US$28.5 billion, twice the size of the same period last year.

Bitcoin (BTC) short-term investors appear to be selling while accepting losses. On the 26th (Korean time), CryptoQuant contributor 'XWIN Research JAPAN' said in a report, "Currently Bitcoin is remaining in a box range after the decline," and "in particular, short-term investor SORP has remained below 1 in recent weeks." The SORP ratio is an indicator that judges whether the market is making profits or losses based on the profits investors have obtained by selling virtual assets such as Bitcoin. If SOPR is above 1, it means investors are realizing profits, and if it is below 1, it indicates they are realizing losses. The contributor said, "This December, unlike the past few years, short-term investor SOPR has consistently maintained 0.97–0.99," and added, "This is due to cycle-level stress." He went on to say, "Poor price performance compared to the beginning of the year, higher average prices after the launch of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and large liquidations in the derivatives market are the causes." However, he explained that it is difficult to conclude that additional declines will occur immediately. The contributor emphasized, "Long-term investors are still mostly on the sidelines, and movements of old digital assets are limited," and "if short-term investor SOPR recovers to 1 and the increase in realized losses slows, a pivot could occur."

Russian President Vladimir Putin is reportedly discussing a plan to jointly manage the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe's largest nuclear power plant, with the United States. Russian media reported that a plan to use the plant's power for Bitcoin (BTC) mining is also being mentioned. On the 26th (Korean time), according to Russian media outlet Kommersant, President Putin publicly mentioned consultations with the United States regarding the Zaporizhzhia plant at the State Council (Gossovet) year-end meeting held at the Kremlin on the 25th. He emphasized that consultations regarding the Zaporizhzhia plant are being held with the United States rather than Ukraine, and said that the United States in particular has shown interest in using the plant's power for digital asset mining. Putin also said that the issue of supplying power to Ukraine is being discussed at the United States' proposal, and it was reported that he explained that the Ukrainian technicians working at the Zaporizhzhia plant are still working but have obtained Russian passports and are under Russian jurisdiction.

A large amount of XRP is expected to be unlocked from the first day of 2026. On the 26th (KST), digital asset media Coindoo reported that Ripple will unlock 1 billion XRP from escrow on January 1 next year. This unlocking procedure follows Ripple's monthly escrow unlock schedule introduced in 2017. However, Coindoo said it is unclear whether the large-scale unlocking will lead to oversupply. The outlet said, "Looking at past cases, even if 1 billion XRP were released, the amount that actually flowed into the market was limited, and a large portion was re-deposited into escrow." Meanwhile, as of 3:15 PM that day, XRP was trading at $1.87, up 0.20% compared with the previous day.

Despite continuous net inflows into the exchange-traded fund (ETF) launched last November, XRP has failed to shake off its weakness. The selling pressure from whales was pointed out as the cause of the weakness. On the 20th (Korean time), CryptoQuant contributor 'PelinayPA' wrote in a report, "It was expected that buying pressure would flow into XRP due to the ETF listing, but after the ETF was listed, XRP has instead recorded weakness," and analyzed, "This is because whales who had been waiting for the ETF listing sold large amounts to individual investors." The contributor explained, "Looking at the amount of XRP inflows to Binance, most exchange deposits were '100,000–1,000,000' and 'over 1,000,000'," adding, "These are not amounts from individual investors." He went on, "After inflows to exchanges surged, supply is overwhelming demand," and, "This is because there are no new spot buyers in the market to absorb the large supply." The contributor identified '$1.82' as a major support level. He said, "The first major support range is located at $1.82–$1.87. There was buying by individual investors in this range," but added, "If large-scale supply continues to flow into exchanges, XRP could fall further to $1.50–$1.66."

There is a possibility that the timing for applying separate taxation to income from digital asset transactions such as Bitcoin (BTC), which the Japanese government is pursuing, will be delayed from the original schedule. On the 20th (KST), CoinPost reported that an official familiar with the matter said, "It is true that the Japanese government plans to discuss an amendment to include digital assets in the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (FIEA) at the regular Diet session in 2026," but added, "However, the timing of the shift to a different taxation method for digital asset income is increasingly likely to be postponed to January 2028, not January 2027." The official explained that, in addition to applying the FIEA, investor protection measures and the organization of the tax reporting system are necessary to introduce separate taxation. As related system preparations are delayed more than expected, the timing of the tax transition could also be postponed. Currently in Japan, income from digital asset transactions is classified as 'miscellaneous income' and subject to comprehensive taxation, and the top combined rate of income tax and resident tax reaches 55%. In contrast, stock or foreign exchange (FX) transactions are subject to a flat separate taxation of 20.315% and loss carryforward deductions are also allowed, so issues of tax fairness have been continuously raised among digital asset investors. The industry expects that if separate taxation is introduced, a single tax rate of about 20% will be applied to digital asset transactions, and that netting of gains and losses and loss carryforward deductions will also become possible.

A Chinese man who lured investors by saying he would exchange cash for stablecoins (a digital asset whose value is linked to fiat currency) stole 410 million won and was arrested. On the 20th (Korean time), according to the industry, the Seoul Jungbu Police Station booked A, a man in his 30s of Chinese nationality, on theft charges on the 19th. A is accused of luring two people near Shilla Duty Free in Jung-gu, Seoul at around 8 p.m. the previous day by saying he would exchange cash for Tether (USDT), then taking a money bag containing cash and fleeing. A took the cash but did not transfer the Tether. The police urgently arrested A and recovered all of the stolen funds.

Global asset manager VanEck filed an amended registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the launch of an Avalanche (AVAX)-based exchange-traded fund (ETF). On the 20th (Korea time), according to Cryptodnis, VanEck recently submitted an amendment for the Avalanche ETF to the SEC. The key point of this amendment is the introduction of a staking function. VanEck designed it so that a significant portion of the Avalanche held by the fund can be staked on the network to generate on-chain rewards. Staking will be operated by 'Coinbase Crypto Services'. If approved, the ETF would be listed on Nasdaq as 'VAVX'.

A digital asset investor mistakenly copied a malicious wallet address from their transaction history and sent USDT worth $50 million to the wrong address. On the 20th (Korean time), digital asset media outlet Cointelegraph reported that an anonymous investor copied a malicious address from their transaction history and sent 49,999,995 USDT tokens to the wrong address. The victim suffered an address spoofing incident. Address spoofing is a technique that inserts an address similar to the original into a digital asset transaction record. According to data, the victim first made a small test transfer to the correct address, but a few minutes later fell for spoofing during a real transfer of about $50 million. Cos, founder of SlowMist, said of the incident, "The first 3 characters and the last 4 characters of the address are the same," and explained, "The similarity of the addresses is subtle, so even experienced users can be easily deceived." The spoofing attacker exchanged the stolen USDT for Ethereum (ETH) and then laundered it through Tornado Cash.

XRP (XRP) appears to be recording an overwhelming share among U.S.-based digital assets. On the 20th (Korean time), Finbold, citing CoinGecko data, reported that the total market capitalization of U.S.-based digital assets is approximately $380.42 billion, of which XRP has a market capitalization of $115.62 billion, accounting for 30.39% of the entire U.S.-based digital asset market. It was followed by Solana ($70.85 billion), USDC ($77.11 billion), Cardano ($13.67 billion), and Chainlink ($8.89 billion). As of 7:00 p.m. that day, XRP was trading at $1.95, up 4.73% from the previous day.

About 1,000,000 bitcoins (BTC) that can be obtained through mining remain. On the 20th (Korean time), digital asset (cryptocurrency) specialized media Cointelegraph reported via X (formerly Twitter), "There are currently 1,035,659.4 mineable bitcoins remaining." As of 5:18 PM that day, Bitcoin was trading at 88,275 dollars, up 0.42% from the previous day according to CoinMarketCap.

BlackRock's Bitcoin (BTC) spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) IBIT has recorded large inflows of capital this year. On the 20th (Korean time), according to Eid News, IBIT recorded a total net inflow of 25.4 billion dollars during 2025, achieving the sixth-largest annual net inflow among U.S. ETFs. This is considered a meaningful outcome despite the overall weakness of the digital asset market this year. Currently, IBIT's year-to-date (YTD) return is -9.6%. It is the only ETF among the top 25 U.S. stock ETFs by inflows in 2025 to record a negative annual return. This is interpreted as reflecting continued demand for regulated Bitcoin investment products. The outlet said, "The large inflows into IBIT reflect investors' strategies for long-term positioning," adding, "There is a clear tendency to treat price declines as buying opportunities rather than as short-term obstacles."

A leading pro-digital-asset U.S. politician, Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis, announced she will not seek re-election. On the 20th (KST), according to Cryptopolitan, Lummis said in a statement posted on her X (formerly Twitter), "The intense workload and the shutdown fight have been a heavy burden on my energy," adding, "I do not have the energy to endure another six years. I have decided to retire." Since entering the Senate in 2020, Lummis had gained substantial support by taking a position to avoid excessive federal intervention in digital-asset regulation. In particular, she drew industry attention by introducing the United States' strategic Bitcoin (BTC) reserve bill, the 'BITCOIN Act.' Lummis's term runs through early 2027. The Wyoming Republican Party is looking for a candidate to succeed her. Wyoming has traditionally been a Republican stronghold. Lummis won the 2020 election by more than 46 points. Currently, Wyoming representative Harriet Hageman is being mentioned as a leading successor to Lummis.

Spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for XRP and Solana (SOL) listed on U.S. exchanges recorded net inflows. On the 19th (local time), according to SoSoValue, the U.S. XRP spot ETF recorded net inflows of 13.21 million dollars. Cumulative net inflows are 1.007 billion dollars. By fund, 21Shares TOXR led inflows with 7.64 million dollars, followed by Canary XRPC (+2.64 million dollars), Grayscale GXRP (+1.85 million dollars), and Bitwise XRP (+1.07 million dollars). The Solana ETF recorded net inflows of 3.57 million dollars that day. Bitwise BSOL and Fidelity FSOL recorded net inflows of 1.67 million dollars and 1.49 million dollars, respectively.

XRP 'wrapped version' released 'Multi-chain' strategy steps up Expectations for synergy with the DeFi ecosystem Solana also positive amid meme coin·dApp weakness Institutional asset inflows expected to accelerate Expectations are growing for collaboration between Solana (SOL) and XRP (XRP). Because Solana and XRP each have distinct strengths, analysts say the synergy could be significant. According to the industry on the 18th, custody provider Hex Trust has recently begun issuing 'wrapped XRP (wXRP)', collateralized 1:1 with native XRP. Native XRP refers to the XRP token on Ripple's own blockchain, the XRP Ledger (XRPL). The blockchain on which wrapped XRP will first be issued is Solana. Hex Trust plans to sequentially issue wrapped XRP on other blockchains such as Ethereum (ETH), Optimism (OP), and HyperEVM. This is the first time XRP will be tradable on blockchains outside of Ripple. That is why analysts say collaboration between Solana and XRP may be getting underway. Although the two parties have not yet signed official MOUs, wrapped XRP could become a starting point to strengthen connectivity between the Solana and XRP ecosystems. A senior Ripple official giving a positive assessment of collaboration with Solana at a public event also raised expectations. Luke Judges, Global Partner Lead at Ripple Labs, recently attended 'Solana Breakpoint 2025' held in Abu Dhabi, UAE, and said, "Solana is a key infrastructure for global expansion," and "Through Solana, Ripple can scale payment, settlement, and real-economy linkage services at large scale." Ripple highly evaluated Solana's scalability and low-cost structure. Judges said, "Solana is one of the few public blockchains that can quickly process large-scale transactions," and "the millions of users using Solana wallets provide a foundation to spread new financial applications (apps)." Solana expressed a similar stance. Vibhu Norby, Head of Product Marketing at the Solana Foundation, said via X on the 12th of this month, "XRP is an asset with fast payment performance and long-term maintained stability," and "in particular, XRP liquidity is very important." Norby had originally been critical of the XRP ecosystem, including the XRP Ledger. What synergy could Solana and XRP produce? ① Expansion of XRP usability The market's biggest expectation is the expansion of XRP's usability. XRP has long been regarded as an asset specialized for global payments and remittances. However, the narrative around XRP has been greatly weakened this year as stablecoins have rapidly emerged as global payment and remittance instruments. Although XRP ranks among the top 5 by market capitalization, questions about XRP's utility have been continuously raised within and outside the industry for this reason. In fact, the XRP ecosystem has been weakening. According to DeFiLlama, the XRPL's total value locked (TVL) is measured at $63 million as of this date. That is about a 47.5% decline from the all-time high in July ($120 million). Compared to XRP's market cap (about $111.3 billion), it is remarkably low. This means on-chain usage is limited relative to asset size. Analysts say wrapped XRP could serve as a turning point that not only increases XRP's use cases but also strengthens its narrative. If wrapped XRP is launched on Solana, XRP can officially enter Solana-based decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystems. Solana's DeFi ecosystem is home to major DEXs such as Jupiter (JUP), Raydium (RAY), and Meteora (MET). There are also many DeFi protocols such as Kamino (KAMINO) and Centum (CLOUD). Gobyung-ho, CEO of Catalyze Research, said, "Solana is currently the fastest-growing blockchain ecosystem in terms of developer activity, user count, and on-chain liquidity," and "If XRP enters the Solana ecosystem, it could quickly accumulate real use cases." He added, "Choosing Solana as the first step for XRP's (usability) expansion is a reasonable decision." ② Solana: expectations for institutional inflows ↑ Collaboration with XRP is also positive for Solana. Solana's growth has slowed recently due to contraction in the meme coin market and weakness in the dApp ecosystem. According to DeFiLlama, Solana's TVL is $8.485 billion as of this date, nearly a 36% decline compared to the all-time high in September ($13.2 billion). The industry expects that Ripple Labs' institutional network, which issues XRP, could significantly strengthen Solana's investor base. Japan's largest financial firm, SBI Holdings, is one of Ripple's notable institutional partners. SBI Holdings is a major shareholder with 9% of Ripple and has directly invested in XRP. In addition, Ripple has been building institution-centered infrastructure by acquiring companies such as global treasury management system GTreasury, B2B payment platform Rail, and institutional wallet and custody service provider Palisade. Go said, "Ripple and XRP's strengths are regulatory friendliness and high institutional credibility," and "Solana can expect synergies in institutional asset inflows and increased credibility through collaboration with Ripple." Token price rally is 'not yet' Despite these developments, Solana and XRP prices have continued to underperform. XRP is trading at $1.86 on CoinMarketCap as of 8:29 PM (KST), down 2.26% from the previous day. Solana is trading at $123.32, down 3.13% from the previous day. Both Solana and XRP prices are about half of their all-time highs. However, if the crypto market enters a rebound phase, Solana and XRP could be among the first to be revalued. An industry source said, "Currently, the crypto market is directly affected by macroeconomic factors such as interest rates, liquidity, and regulatory uncertainty more than by individual issues," and "If the DeFi ecosystem recovers and XRP's practical usability in the Solana ecosystem is proven, it will ultimately have a positive impact on token prices."