Bitcoin Drops Below $90K as National Bank of Canada Makes Surprise Crypto Move

OSL, a publicly-listed digital asset platform and exchange in Hong Kong, has announced the listing of XRP, the fourth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.

In an official blog post, OSL Hong Kong announced that XRP is now available on the platform, with its deposits and withdrawals now open.

The recent XRP listing expands OSL HK’s token lineup, with the token available to professional investors via Flash Trade and OTC. Three XRP pairs are available for trading on the platform's Flash Trade, including XRP/HKD, and .

OSL transformed last year into a company fully dedicated to digital assets and completed $300 million of equity financing in July this year.

XRP long-term interest sustains

Despite XRP's recent slide, Santiment noted in a recent analysis that its large holders are still holding up in conviction.

According to Santiment, while XRP has erased about 32% of its market cap in the last two months alone, large investors and funds have continued adding XRP, which suggests that long-term interest has not disappeared.

XRP ETFs continue to attract inflows, sustaining their strong post-launch run. XRP funds, including those from Canary Capital, Grayscale, Bitwise and Franklin Templeton, accounted for a total net inflow of $897.35 million, according to SoSo data.

Santiment highlighted this development as bullish for XRP, noting that even with slower price action, this type of support can help keep XRP from dropping too sharply.

XRP sentiment flips from bearish

At the time of writing, XRP was down 1.83% in the last 24 hours to $2.03 and down 8.31% weekly.

Santiment added that if XRP sees more clarity in regulation and market conditions, it could find a stronger footing again. For now, the community seems patient, watching for signs of bullish momentum and wider financial use.

Analysts at Santiment noted a reversal in sentiment for XRP: while the crowd was extremely bearish on XRP before, this has now reversed to neutral, with Santiment stating it has returned to the middle ground for now.

BitMine expanded its Ethereum holdings this week with nearly $200 million in fresh purchases, deepening its lead as the largest single holder of the asset.

The move comes as ETH trades near a one-month low and follows a period of steady distribution by medium-sized wallets, according to on-chain data.

BitMine’s Acquisition Comes Amid Smaller ETH Holders Offload

Lookonchain, citing Arkham Intelligence, reported that BitMine bought 22,676 ETH from BitGo on December 6 for about $68.7 million. The transaction suggests an average purchase price of roughly $3,028 per token.

Notably, the firm had already acquired 41,946 ETH a day earlier from FalconX and BitGo for about $130.8 million.

These deals build on BitMine’s disclosure last week that it held 3.73 million ETH as of November 30. At current prices, the stash is worth more than $11 billion.

BitMine also reported holdings of 192 BTC, a $36 million position in Eightco Holdings, and $882 million in cash.

Strategy ETH Reserve data shows the company now holds more ETH than its next five peers combined, including SharpLink and the Ethereum Foundation.

The scale of its treasury places BitMine as the second-largest corporate crypto holder by value, behind only Michael Saylor-led Strategy, the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin.

The latest purchases come during a soft stretch for ETH. BeInCrypto data shows the token has fallen more than 10% over the past month to about $3,027.

Alphractal’s Ethereum Accumulation Heatmap indicates that wallets holding 1 to 10,000 ETH sold heavily near this cycle’s recent peak. Those addresses continue to offload tokens, adding pressure to the market.

However, larger whales with more than 10,000 ETH have shown limited activity, with light distribution but no strong accumulation.

Despite the weakness, several analysts maintain a bullish long-term view.

Fundstrat CEO and BitMine Chair Tom Lee said Ethereum could reach $12,000 if Bitcoin climbs to $250,000, citing the historical relationship between both assets and growing demand for tokenized real-world assets.

He added that ETH could rise as high as $62,000 if its valuation ratio to Bitcoin expands over time.

This week’s HYPE price update highlights a sharp shift in sentiment as the broader crypto market downturn pressures Hyperliquid’s native token. Despite strong revenue fundamentals and bold long-term projections, short-term weakness and declining open interest raise important questions for the HYPE price prediction outlook.

Revenue Strength Fuels Long-Term Interest in HYPE

One of the biggest drivers of attention around HYPE crypto comes from the company’s extraordinary financial profile. Hyperliquid is generating an estimated $1.15 billion in annual recurring revenue with a team of only 11 employees, making it one of the most profitable and lean operations in the sector, per David Schamis, CEO of Hyperliquid Strategies.

This level of efficiency and scale has prompted David to ambitiously project HYPE’s valuation growth trajectory significantly higher than today’s. He said in a video clip that he expects the token could achieve a 20× expansion from current market cap levels, provided the ecosystem continues compounding revenue without reliance on outside capital.

Although this narrative supports a strong long-term HYPE price forecast, the immediate challenge lies in the market environment, where macro weakness is overpowering fundamentals.

Short-Term Outlook Hinges on Key Support Levels

While long-term optimism persists, the near-term structure of the HYPE price chart is displaying decisive pressure. Technical discussions across the community highlight that the $30–$31 range is a critical support zone. If this level fails, the HYPE price USD could slide sharply toward the $20 region, reflecting broader capitulation across high-beta altcoins.

Shiba Inu lead ambassador Shytoshi Kusama remains silent on X, with his last post made Sept. 15.

The silence calls for attention, particularly in light of recent developments in the Shiba Inu ecosystem that tested its strength, including a rebase issue with the LEASH token and a brief exploit of the Shibarium bridge. In the most recent update, which was reported by U.Today, the Shibarium bridge hacker refused the bounty offer, with K9 Finance contributor Shima afterward revealing the hacker's trail to the public for necessary action to be taken by enforcement agents.

While Kusama remains silent, in his last post on X, he made it known that this should not be taken as absence, adding that he remains beside the Shiba Inu team. Kusama disclosed what he had been up to, saying he has continued in his push for AI initiatives to better Shiba Inu ecosystem tokens.

Kusama started stepping back from X activity in late July after the release of the AI-focused paper. While the Shiba Inu lead ambassador hinted at signals as to what he was up to with his public location and bio changing, however this still remains without comment.

Will Shytoshi Kusama break his silence in December?

In previous Decembers, a trend was noticed with Kusama's activity on X seemingly increasing. This is as he caps off the developments in the year while revealing expectations for the incoming year.

At the end of December 2024, Kusama launched a 44-episode podcast series titled "Shy Speaks," which provided in-depth, personal insights into the Shiba Inu project, its technology, philosophy and community.

In December 2023, Kusama ignited buzz on X as he highlighted developments for Shibarium, which launched in the same year, while revealing expectations ahead.

Six days into December 2025, Kusama extends his silence, citing an intense focus on a personal, AI-driven mission he was working on.

What the SHIB lead ambassador has planned for December remains unknown, or maybe he will continue with his silence until 2026.

After a turbulent few weeks in the crypto market, Digital Asset Treasury (DAT) companies have been thrust back into the spotlight, and not for the reasons they’d hoped.

Bitcoin, Ethereum, and the broader market have suffered sharp declines amid macro fears, including a potential unwind of the yen carry trade if the Bank of Japan lifts rates. Add rising volatility, cascading liquidations, and aggressive short positioning from major institutions, and you get the perfect recipe for investor panic.

DAT stocks have been hit especially hard. Companies that once traded at multiples of their modified net asset value (mNAV) — 3x, 5x, even 10x over the summer, are now languishing at or below parity. The fear is simple: as prices fall, will treasuries be forced to dump their crypto to service loans, defend equity valuations, or simply stay solvent?

According to James Butterfill, Head of Research at CoinShares, the situation is fragile, but not doomed.

If prices continue to slide, shorts could deepen their attack, especially on companies whose treasuries hold large, illiquid, or highly correlated digital asset reserves.

A December Turnaround?

The question now is whether DAT firms face a forced-selling doom loop… or the setup for an explosive short squeeze. Butterfill believes the latter remains a strong possibility.

Markets may be approaching a pivotal moment. Inflation is cooling, bond markets have stabilised, and speculation is growing that central banks, including the Fed, could deliver a rate cut in December.

A cut would weaken the dollar, ease liquidity stress, and potentially trigger a strong rebound across digital assets.

That may be all DAT companies need to survive the current storm.

DATs Must Now Evolve — or Die

Even if a recovery arrives, Butterfill argues the industry must confront uncomfortable structural flaws.

Investors have grown far less tolerant of:

• shareholder dilution
• ultra-high asset concentration
• firms with large crypto treasuries but no real revenue
• Companies using public markets to accumulate tokens rather than build products

This behaviour, he says, has damaged the entire sector’s credibility.

The DAT Model of the Future

Butterfill predicts a cleansing cycle, one that filters out momentum-driven firms and rewards those building real economic value.

The winners of the next cycle, he says, will look far more like the DATs originally envisioned:

• global companies
• diversified revenue streams
• digital assets used strategically, not opportunistically
• long-term balance sheet management, not speculative treasury expansion

If markets stabilise, or even turn upward, companies that held the line instead of liquidating may find themselves positioned for strong recovery. In that environment, any asset managers that have a broad short strategy targeting DAT stocks could rapidly unwind, amplifying upside volatility.

A December rate cut could be the catalyst.

Veteran trader Peter Brandt remains cautious about Bitcoin’s outlook. In his latest post on X, he stated that the recent rally might be the only retest of the broadening top pattern that traders will get. 

The formation, often called a megaphone pattern, is widely viewed in technical analysis as a warning sign that an uptrend could be approaching a bearish reversal.

“This week's rally may be all the retesting of the broadening top we will see. Of course, we will see,” the seasoned trader wrote. 

Bitcoin price to drop below $70,000?

According to Brandt, Bitcoin failed to reach the upper boundary of its long-term price channel during this year’s advance. In earlier market cycles, the same kind of behavior often preceded a decline toward the lower boundary of the channel. 

That area begins below $70,000 and stretches into the mid $45,000, which is why Brandt treats that entire region as a realistic target rather than a dramatic scenario.

Brandt assigned a 30% probability that Bitcoin had already topped in the current cycle. If the top comes in the second half of September, it could even be remembered as the "Brandt Top," he said. The comment was made right at the time when Bitcoin was trading at approximately $120,000.

In late November, Peter Brandt revisited the chart with a hand-drawn "dead cat bounce" figure, which usually describes a temporary recovery within a broader bearish trend. The setup sees Bitcoin's two-week drop from above $120,000 to the low $80,000s as a full five-wave correction, with nothing more than a basic rebound on the other side.Peter Brandt/X">

The chart shows the same zone that traders have been stuck in for days: around $88,000 to $92,000. According to Brandt, the $88,000–$92,000 range is the only one that matters right now. 

Will Bitcoin recover in 2025?

Bitcoin started December near 85,000 dollars but staged a sharp rebound that pushed it up to the 94,000 dollar area. This move revived hopes among traders that a seasonal Christmas rally could still emerge. 

Retail investors have been eyeing 97,000 dollars as an important resistance level and a potential point to take profit, yet the market has not been able to reach that target.CoinMarketCap">

Despite the recent volatility, Bitcoin continues to dictate direction for the broader market. Most major altcoins tend to mirror its movements, and sentiment across the sector usually adjusts in response. 

For now, market participants remain cautious but optimistic as they wait for a decisive breakout to set the tone going into 2025.

On the bright side, the “extreme fear” state of the past two months is starting to shift, as the Fear & Greed index moves from the red zone into orange.