Meme coins are low-key back to start the year, with pepe taking the early lead in 2026 gains

The meme-based pepe is the fastest horse in the crypto race in the new year so far, with the price of the cryptocurrency increasing 34% in the last 24 hours.

The price swing resulted in the liquidation of nearly $9.9 million worth of pepe short positions in the last 24 hours, data from CoinGlass shows.

The frog-based coin has seen a 24-hour trading volume of nearly $1.6 billion and is not the only meme coin outpacing the broader crypto market.

Dogecoin, shiba inu, and PUMP have each risen between 8.4% and 10.9% in the last 24 hours, joining pepe as the top gainers in the period, a sign of life for meme tokens, which as a category lost more than half their value last year.

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Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy

12/29/25

Citi analysts set bitcoin bull case at $189,000 in 2026

Citi’s base case 12-month forecast for bitcoin is $143,000, which is well above the asset’s current all-time high.

Cryptocurrencies Gain Popularity In Hong Kong

$1.2B

Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy12/15/25

XRP ETFs have now crossed $1 billion in assets since the funds launched, according to SoSoValue, which shows total assets of $1.18 billion.

In September, the SEC approved generic listing standards, which paved the way for speedier listings and opened the floodgates for these products, and shortly after, Rex-Osprey launched the first spot XRP ETF available in the US.

Canary followed suit in November, launching an ETF trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker XRPC, which saw a record $58.5 million in trading volume on its first day. It’s the largest XRP ETF in the US, with $342 million in assets.

Grayscale, Bitwise, and Franklin Templeton also launched their own XRP ETFs in November. On December 11, 21Shares joined the XRP fund party.

It’s a noteworthy green shoot in the crypto space, as bitcoin and its ETFs have struggled, and XRP itself is down nearly 15% over the past month.

Jake Hanley, managing director and senior portfolio specialist at Teucrium Investment Advisors — which launched the first-ever XRP-based ETF in April, the 2x Long Daily XRP ETF — told Sherwood News that he is not surprised to see this level of interest in the XRP ETFs.

“We have long held that XRP and the Ripple ecosystem present a unique investment case among crypto assets. Crossing the $1 billion mark is yet another signal of the significant vote of confidence investors have in this increasingly important asset and ecosystem,” Hanley said.

Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy

12/10/25

Bitcoin rebounds but FOMC will set tone for Santa rally

Sage D. Young12/9/25

New bitcoin AfterDark ETF will be bitcoin at night, Treasurys by day

Tidal Trust II submitted form N-1A with the SEC to register a bitcoin ETF designed to systemically capture the cryptocurrency’s overnight return profile, a time window that delivered a significant portion of bitcoin’s upside last year.

The Nicholas Bitcoin and Treasuries AfterDark ETF provides long bitcoin exposure during US overnight hours, from the closing bell until the following morning’s market open, when the fund intends to unwind its positions, according to a document filed with the SEC on Tuesday.

To gain that exposure, the ETF may use a number of methods, including bitcoin futures contracts, US-listed ETFs, or exchange-traded options on such bitcoin underlying funds. When the market is open and daytime trading is active, the fund’s portfolio will consist of US Treasury securities and other cash equivalents.

In 2024, most of bitcoin’s gains occurred after-hours, senior Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas reported:

We looked at this last year and found most of the gains are in fact after hours. Doesn't mean the ETFs aren't having impact. Some of this is positioning bc of the ETFs etc or derivatives based on flows etc etc. But yeah, bitcoin After Dark ETF could put up better reutrns, we'll… pic.twitter.com/BTpV51cQfl
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) December 9, 2025

The AfterDark ETF filing comes as bitcoin crossed $94,000 on Tuesday, rising 4.5% in the last 24 hours. Even though spot bitcoin ETFs saw nearly $60.5 million in outflows on Monday, the investment vehicles have a cumulative net inflow of $57.6 billion, per SoSoValue.

Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy

12/8/25

Bitcoin will “snapback or chop ahead of the Fed” decision

Traders on prediction markets are divided, giving an equal chance that bitcoin drops below $80,000 or rises above $100,000 this year.

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