Max Pain Price for Shiba Inu Bulls Revealed: Might It Be Golden Opportunity for SHIB?

Bitwise Asset Management is moving forward with its Hyperliquid exchange-traded fund (ETF) application, as indicated by its recent filing. The asset manager has submitted an amendment filing for its proposed Bitwise Hyperliquid (HYPE) ETF with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Bitwise amends Hyperliquid ETF application

Bloomberg Senior ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas shared the details of the new filing with his followers on X. He noted that the amendment filing includes a Form 8-A registration statement that requires securities to be listed on exchanges like NYSE and Nasdaq.

It is often one of the final steps before an ETF can start trading, as it registers shares for the exchange listing. Balchunas added that the amendment also disclosed a management fee of 0.67%.

This is the annual expense ratio investors would pay. For context, many spot crypto ETFs have fees of approximately 0.20 to 1.5%. Hence, a 0.67% fee is competitive but still on the higher side for altcoin ETFs.

In addition to the fee disclosure, the Bitwise HYPE ETF amendment proposed BHYP as the trading symbol. Similar to Form 8-A registrations, tickers are finalized late in the process and are a strong indicator of readiness.

Therefore, Balchunas has referenced the amendment as a signal that Bitwise is positioned for a quick HYPE ETF launch. 

Bitiwise shows support for altcoins

Notably, a spot ETF that would allow investors to invest in HYPE, the native token of Hyperliquid, without directly holding the asset. Hyperliquid is a high-performance layer-1 blockchain and decentralized perpetual futures exchange (DEX) known for fast and low-cost trading of crypto derivatives.

The Bitwise HYPE ETF launch is expected to bring more institutional money into the Hyperliquid ecosystem. This could lead to surges in the price of HYPE, which is currently experiencing a downtrend.

As of press time, HYPE is trading around $29.27, down 1.7% over the past 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the HYPE ETF amendment comes shortly after Biwise launched its Solana and XRP ETFs. These launches suggest the asset manager is confident in the future price direction of the top altcoins.

So far, these ETFs have seen increased institutional adoption as indicated by weeks of consistent inflows. Specifically, the Bitwise Solana ETF registered 17 days of consecutive inflows as investors actively engaged the product.

Likewise, the Bitwise XRP ETF saw $107 million in inflows on its first day of trading despite a broad crypto market slowdown.

As the price of gold and silver continues to shine green while Bitcoin is in a "sea of red," Peter Schiff is back to doing what brings him the most popularity — reminding crypto investors that confidence can disappear faster than price charts can be updated. 

Gold is now trading above $4,300 per ounce, and silver is approaching $65. Meanwhile, Bitcoin is moving in the opposite direction, drifting below the $89,000 area after failing to hold recent highs.

It is no surprise that the longtime Bitcoin critic used the metals rally to pinpoint his critique, arguing that assets with physical demand and a monetary history are being accumulated, while Bitcoin remains trapped in a cycle of belief, attention and fragile liquidity.BINANCE:BTCUSD by TradingView">

Perhaps the most eye-catching line from Schiff was that Bitcoin holders risk going broke overnight if sentiment flips and buyers disappear.

Bitcoin short-term fraud, warns Schiff

At the same time, Schiff strongly rejected the idea that time protects Bitcoin investors. He argued that time only increases exposure because the cryptocurrency produces no yield, has no industrial use and has no fallback value once confidence is lost. 

According to him, gold and silver do not need stories to survive. They rely on demand that persists even when headlines fade.

Bitcoin supporters continue to dismiss Schiff as permanently bearish, pointing to long-term adoption, digital scarcity and past recoveries from deep drawdowns. They view the current weakness as just another pause in a major cycle rather than a structural problem.

Fair to say, Schiff’s argument is not about slow decay. It is about speed, and If Bitcoin stumbles again, his "overnight" warning will not sound so theoretical.

Bitcoin continues to grind lower as bullish momentum fades. After failing to break the key $95K resistance level last week, sellers are slowly regaining control. The price action remains choppy and indecisive, while on-chain signals hint at deeper stress building in the background.Technical Analysis

By ShayanThe Daily Chart

The daily chart shows BTC still trapped in the clear descending channel. The asset recently failed again at the higher boundary of the channel and the bearish order block near $95K, acting as a major supply zone. Since then, it has rolled over, printing lower candle closes.

Both the 100-day and 200-day MAs are overhead and sloping downward just above the $100K mark, reinforcing the bearish structure. The RSI also remains weak, struggling to climb back above 50. Unless buyers reclaim $95K with volume, this looks more like a dead-cat bounce inside a downtrend. On the other hand, if the current short-term support level at $88K breaks, the next key demand zone is around $80K.

The Shiba Inu engineering manager, who goes by "Johndoeshib" on X, recently revealed he would be stepping away from his role on the Shiba Inu team. This decision has sparked a response on X from Shiba Inu developer Kaal Dhairya.

In a Dec. 12 tweet, "Johndoeshib" announced that his time being part of the Shiba Inu team had reached its natural conclusion and he was stepping away, immensely proud of the utility Shiba Inu has built and the resilience of the community.

"Johndoeshib" added he was moving on to new endeavors, while remaining a long-term observer of the Shiba Inu ecosystem, confident in the team's decentralized vision.

The tweet sparked responses from the Shiba Inu community, with some expressing gratitude for his work with the Shiba Inu team, while saying that he will be missed.

In another tweet, which caught the attention of Shiba Inu developer Kaal Dhairya, "JohnDoeShib" revealed a renewed focus as he plans for the strategic iteration of his next project. His X bio has also been updated to reflect his departure from the Shiba Inu team and now reads "ex-Engineering Manager at Shib."

Shiba Inu developer Kaal Dhairya, in response to JohnDoeShib's tweet, thanked him for his work at Shib and wished him well in his future endeavors.

Shiba Inu continues building

Shiba Inu continues to quietly build as recent events test the resilience of traders and its community.

As reported, Shiba Inu lead ambassador Shytoshi Kusama broke several days of silence on social media, which he hinted at as being necessary in order to stay focused and reinvest in himself for the next phase of growth.

Kusama also changed his X location to "reemerging," sparking speculation of a potential SHIB comeback.

The crypto market remains in a weakened position, with the resilience of traders continually tested. In the last 24 hours, nearly $245 million in leveraged positions have been wiped out across the crypto market as the majority of cryptocurrencies saw losses.

Shiba Inu managed to return to green, up 0.16% in the last 24 hours to $0.000008211.

By Nate Wolf

Strategy added almost $1 billion worth of Bitcoin last week, snapping up the cryptocurrency for a second week following a brief pause in its purchases.

The world's largest corporate holder of Bitcoin bought 10,645 tokens in the period from Dec. 8 to Sunday at an average price of $92,098, the company disclosed in a regulatory filing Monday. The $980.3 million haul follows $962.7 million in purchases the previous week.

Strategy, formerly known as MicroStrategy, added only 130 tokens in the last two weeks of November. But the return to buying hasn't boosted Strategy's stock.

Shares were down 0.3% in premarket trading Monday, as investors shrugged at last week's purchases. The stock is now in the red since the start of last week and down 39% on the year.

As is always the case with Strategy, the price of Bitcoin itself will determine where shares go next. The world's flagship cryptocurrency has plummeted 29% since its October record, stagnating at around $90,000 per token since late November.

Strategy bought its $50.3 billion worth of total Bitcoin holdings at an average price of $74,972, so it hasn't lost money at this point. But shareholders waiting for returns will need Bitcoin to break that $90,000 ceiling.

Another rate cut by the Federal Reserve could help, meaning traders will be closely watching the Bureau of Labor Statistics' October and November jobs data on Tuesday and its consumer price index reading on Thursday. Lower interest rates tend to encourage buying of riskier assets, such as cryptocurrencies.

Write to Nate Wolf at nate.wolf@barrons.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

Ripple is planning to launch its RLUSD stablecoin on Layer 2 blockchains next year with the help of Wormhole, the company said on Monday.

"The future of crypto is undeniably multichain, and to truly serve both institutional finance and the growing onchain economy, stablecoins must exist wherever demand and utility are," Ripple said in a statement. 

Ripple has tapped Wormhole and its Native Token Transfers (NTT) token standard to test RLUSD on Optimism, Base, Ink, and Unichain and plans to officially launch on the new blockchains next year, pending regulatory approval.

RLUSD, which launched last December on XRP Ledger (XRPL) and Ethereum, has a total supply of over $1 billion, according to CoinGecko data.

“By launching RLUSD — the first U.S. trust-regulated stablecoin on these layer-2 networks — we’re expanding utility while setting a clear standard for how compliance and on-chain efficiency can work together,” said Jack McDonald, Ripple’s SVP of stablecoins. “Stablecoins are the gateway to DeFi and institutional adoption, and RLUSD is designed to be a trusted, liquid on-ramp into the broader digital-asset economy.”

Path to regulatory certainty

This isn’t Ripple’s first tie-in with the cross-chain interoperability provider. In June, the company expanded XRP Ledger’s multichain interoperability through an integration with Wormhole.

The move was part of Ripple's broader strategy to position XRPL as an integral component of onchain, institutional finance. 

The company appears to be on the path to secure added regulatory certainty, as last week the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) said it had conditionally approved a national trust bank charter for Ripple National Trust Bank. 

If Ripple can secure the final approval from the OCC, it will "provide RLUSD with both state and Federal oversight — a dual regulatory structure that no stablecoin currently holds," the company said.

In November, Ripple raised $500 million at a $40 billion valuation, in a round led by investors from Fortress and Citadel Securities, and joined by Galaxy Digital, Pantera, Brevan Howard, and Marshall Wace.

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