Fed's 'skinny' accounts end Operation Chokepoint 2.0 — Senator Lummis

Trust Wallet on Friday announced it has launched a formal compensation process for victims of a security incident affecting its Chrome browser extension, two days after malicious code was discovered embedded in version 2.68 of the software.

Affected users can submit claims through an official support form hosted on Trust Wallet's portal. The process asks victims to provide their email address, country of residence, compromised wallet addresses, the attacker's receiving addresses, and relevant transaction hashes. Trust Wallet has pledged to compensate all affected users. 

"We are working around the clock to finalize the compensation process details and each case requires careful verification to ensure accuracy and security," Trust Wallet wrote on X. 

The wallet provider confirmed that approximately $7 million in digital assets were stolen across multiple blockchains, including bitcoin, ether, and solana. According to blockchain security firm PeckShield, more than $4 million of the stolen funds had already been moved through centralized exchanges including ChangeNOW, FixedFloat, and KuCoin, while approximately $2.8 million remained in the attacker's wallets as of Thursday.

Changpeng Zhao, founder of Binance, which acquired Trust Wallet in 2018, confirmed on X that the company will cover all affected losses. "So far, $7m affected by this hack. TrustWallet will cover," Zhao wrote, adding that user funds "are SAFU."

The incident came to light after onchain investigator ZachXBT issued an alert on Telegram on Christmas Day warning that multiple Trust Wallet users had reported funds being drained shortly after the extension's Dec. 24 update, The Block previously reported. Trust Wallet pushed a fix in version 2.69 on Dec. 25, with Trust Wallet CEO Eowyn Chen noting that users who logged into the extension before Dec. 26 at 11 a.m. UTC were potentially affected.

Chen said the company's investigation found that a leaked Chrome Web Store API key was used to publish the compromised extension on Dec. 24 at 12:32 p.m. UTC, bypassing Trust Wallet's standard internal release process. The malicious code, identified by security firm SlowMist, was designed to harvest wallet seed phrases using a modified open-source analytics library. 

Mobile app users and those running other versions of the browser extension were not affected by the incident. Trust Wallet's Chrome extension has approximately one million users according to its Web Store listing.

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According to Cryptowzrd’s latest technical outlook, Ethereum ended the session with an indecisive close, offering little clarity on immediate direction. With the weekend likely to bring thinner liquidity, patience remains key as the focus shifts to waiting for a cleaner structure and a more reliable scalp opportunity to emerge.

Tight Ranges Signal Indecision As Volatility Wanes

Cryptowzrd went on to explain that Ethereum’s daily candle closed indecisively, mirroring the lack of clear direction seen across the broader market. ETHBTC also ended the session without conviction, reinforcing the idea that momentum remains muted for now.

The uncertainty extended to the higher timeframes as well, with the weekly candle closing indecisively across most ETF and CME charts. This type of price behavior suggests hesitation among market participants, making it challenging to establish a strong directional bias in the near term.

According to the update, healthier price action from ETHBTC will be required before Ethereum can develop a clearer trend. That process may take time, as the pair often leads Ethereum’s relative strength and overall structure.

At the time of the post, Ethereum was trading close to the $2,800 support target zone. Holding this area maintains the broader structure, while a stronger bullish push in the future could open the door for a move toward the $3,700 resistance region.

For now, the focus shifts to the lower time frame charts over the weekend, where short-term scalp opportunities may emerge. However, expectations remain measured given the indecisive conditions and typically lower liquidity during weekend sessions. 

Range-Bound Action Keeps Ethereum Traders On The Sidelines

In a conclusive summary, the analyst observed that the intraday chart remains characterized by choppy and sluggish price action. The market is currently confined to a narrow range, lacking the decisive momentum required to establish a clear trend. This period of consolidation suggests a “wait-and-see” approach is necessary as the asset stabilizes between its immediate boundaries.

Specific price triggers have been identified to determine the next major move. A break below the $2,880 support level would likely signal a shift toward further bearish decline, whereas a move above the $3,060 resistance would open the door for sustained upside and new long opportunities. 

Ultimately, the analyst emphasizes the importance of patience, noting that the current market environment requires a more mature chart structure before the next high-probability trade can be executed. Until the price breaks out of this intraday range and develops a more defined pattern, the strategy remains defensive to avoid the risks associated with the current volatility.

Worldwide Google search volume for the term “crypto” is hovering above the 1-year low and has reached a 1-year low in the United States as 2025 comes to a close, indicating weak crypto investor sentiment.

The Google search volume scale ranges from 0-100, with 100 indicating the highest levels of search volume. Worldwide search volume for “crypto” hit 26 on Monday, just two points above the 1-year low of 24.

Worldwide search volume collapsed during the crypto market crash in April, due to US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff policy. US Google search volumes for “crypto” followed the same pattern but fell to a 1-year low of 26 on Monday. Mario Nawfal said:

XRP traders have been faced with an unexpected wipeout that has largely affected bull traders in the last 24 hours.

During its last daily liquidation session, about $2 million in positions were liquidated, and longs carried almost all of it as XRP’s trading price continues to plunge deeper.

Despite the broad expectations of a brief price rebound, $1.62 million in long positions were wiped against only $365,680 in shorts, according to data provided by CoinGlass.

This unequal wipeout has triggered an unexpected 342.9% liquidation imbalance against XRP traders betting for its potential upswing, while bearish traders suffered very little.

XRP eyes negative 2025 close

While XRP has failed to recover its positive mid-year levels, it appears that the asset is on track to end 2025 in the deep red territory as it continues to face renewed pressure.

With its last liquidation session showing a sharp imbalance between bullish and bearish positions, the growing uncertainty surrounding XRP’s near-term trajectory suggests a negative close for the asset as the year wraps up.

Despite the multiple recovery attempts, XRP has faced severe price corrections for the most part of Q3, and its broader 2025 performance has remained underwhelming as its price has struggled to maintain sustained upside.

While the massive liquidation imbalance has come as XRP’s 2025 performance remains firmly in the red, its year-to-date performance shows that XRP has lost all gains achieved during its bullish cycles, and is down 11.3%, having fallen from a yearly high of $3.65 to recent lows near $1.65.

While the asset is still showing no sign of recovery in the near term, XRP might be closing the year in the deep red territory. XRP ETFs have also seen a slowdown in their positive performance as no inflow was recorded during their last trading session.

As Bitcoin continues to underperform in the fourth quarter of 2025, its investors have had multiple reasons to offload and shave off their holdings. Among these investors is a certain cohort, its short-term holders (STHs), who have been facing heat over an extended period.

STH MVRV In Deep Red For 60 Consecutive Days

In a recent post on the X platform, market quant Burak Kesmeci revealed an interesting perspective regarding the current market condition for Bitcoin’s most reactive investors — the short-term holders. Kesmeci’s post revolves around the STH MVRV (Market Value to Realized Value) metric. 

For context, this metric compares the market value of BTC to its realized value, thus serving as a means to track whether Bitcoin’s short-term investors are, on average, in profit or at a loss. 

A reading less than the neutral “1” level typically indicates that the STHs are in the red. Depending on the depth of this value, it could also foreshadow capitulation events. On the other hand, values above 1 reveal that short-term investors are in profit. The higher the value, the more probable it is for profit-taking events to follow.

In his post on X, the online pundit shared that the STH MVRV has been in deep red territory for a full period of 60 days. Kesmeci explained that the flagship cryptocurrency’s short-term investors are now facing the highest level of “patience test” that they have ever witnessed throughout 2025.

Notably, prolonged periods of negative MVRV readings have often correlated with heightened market stress. Seeing as the market’s most-reactive investor cohort is the one concerned, the Bitcoin price could witness the effect of capitulation-driven sell-offs.

However, the opposite is also possible. In the scenario where bearish pressure eases off completely, prolonged negative readings could be a sign of imminent market stabilization.

Bitcoin Stays Beneath 111-Day SMA — What This Means For Price

To lend more weight to his on-chain revelation, Kesmeci also followed up with a key technical observation of Bitcoin’s price action. According to the analyst, Bitcoin has been trading below the 111-day simple moving average (SMA 111) within the same period.

This alignment between on-chain and technical analysis thus functions to reinforce a clear narrative; Bitcoin is either currently at a consolidatory or corrective phase. This is contrary to the belief that the premier cryptocurrency might be at the start of a significant upward trend.

From a broader perspective, Bitcoin’s future trajectory is not completely clear. Macro events, alongside renewed spot demand, could prove pivotal for the cryptocurrency in the future.

This market phenomenon could determine whether BTC plunges deeper to the downside or begins its recovery journey. As of this writing, Bitcoin is valued at around $87,380, with no significant movement in the past day.

The tokenized real-world asset (RWA) market will continue to grow in 2026, fueled by adoption in emerging market economies, according to Jesse Knutson, head of operations at crypto exchange Bitfinex. 

Emerging market economies experience “friction” in capital formation and attracting foreign investment, Knutson told Cointelegraph

Tokenizing real-world assets, the process of representing physical or traditional assets on blockchain networks, fixes this by enabling onchain capital formation and bypassing traditional financial intermediaries, he said. Kunston added: