Michael Saylor’s Strategy acquires 10,645 bitcoin for $980 million, bringing total treasury holdings to 671,268 BTC

By Steve Goldstein

Howard Marks, co-chairman and co-founder of Oaktree Capital Management, authored his most recent investment memo last week.

Howard Marks has been writing investment memos for 35 years - and the one thing you'll never read is him making the case for gold or bitcoin.

"Well, you know, look, I and Oaktree consider ourselves value investors," he said during a podcast interview with "We Study Billionaires." Marks is co-chairman of Oaktree Capital Management, the largest investor in distressed investments worldwide.

"And what the value investor does is you look at a situation, whether it's a stock, a company, a bond, a building - whatever it might be - and you try to figure out its intrinsic value. And then you see how the price today compares to that intrinsic value," he said.

"But if you're doing bitcoin or gold or diamonds or paintings, there is no intrinsic value," he added.

Marks noted that while gold (GC00) has had a strong year, it has lagged behind the S&P 500 SPX going back to 2010, with returns of about 7.7% per year versus 12.7% per year for the U.S. equity index. "So it's not that gold was a disaster, but you shouldn't be distracted by the gains of the last month. It has been a lackluster," Marks said.

Ever-volatile bitcoin (BTCUSD) has declined 4% this year and is off 29% from its late October peak.

As a bond-market investor, Marks has been inclined first to avoid companies that he said are likely to fail.

He recalled first getting angry reading the description by Benjamin Graham and David Dodd that bond investing was a "negative art" - but then he agreed. "If there are 100 bonds out there, and they're all 8% bonds, and you know that 90 will pay and 10 will default, it doesn't matter which of the 90 that pay you buy because they're all 8% bonds, they all give the same return. The only thing that matters is that you don't buy any of the 10 that default," he said.

Marks's most recent memo, released last week, focused on whether the current AI mania was a bubble. He clearly, though not definitely, argued that it was.

One key difference now between the dot-com bubble is that people had a stronger sense about how the technology would be disruptive, he said.

"So it just feels to me like we had a vision of how that was going to work out and it mostly came true. Today, I think we have less of that," said Marks. "I've never heard anybody tell me how AI is going to change the world. We know it's a powerful source that can think. It can process data. It has access to all the data that's ever been compiled. Exactly what it's going to do, how that's going to be a business, how people are going to make money at it, how it's going to impact life, I think is less clear," he said.

Even if the main way AI will change the economy is as a labor saver, it's not yet clear who will profit from that, he added.

-Steve Goldstein

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

December is shaping up to be a big month for Ripple and the XRP Ledger ecosystem, marked by major announcements, acquisitions, upgrades and expansion. In a recent tweet, Ripple executive Reece Merrick hints at continued momentum while teasing a big week ahead.

At the start of December, Ripple announced that the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) had approved an expanded scope of payment activities for the Major Payment Institution (MPI) license held by its Singapore subsidiary, Ripple Markets APAC Pte. Ltd. (RMA). 

In December, Ripple announced the completion of a $1 billion acquisition of GTreasury, marking a significant expansion into the multi-trillion-dollar corporate finance arena, as well as that of Rail.

Gemini crypto exchange also announced it had added support for RLUSD, expanding the stablecoin's exposure. 

In the most recent milestone, Ripple revealed it had received conditional approval from the OCC to charter Ripple National Trust Bank, a massive step forward for RLUSD stablecoin. 

Momentum continues

In a tweet, Ripple's Senior Executive Officer and Managing Director, Middle East & Africa, Reece Merrick highlights continued momentum while teasing a big week ahead. 

Ripple USD stablecoin (RLUSD) marked a major milestone in the Middle East at the close of November, being approved for use as lending collateral within Abu Dhabi's ADGlobalMarket.

According to Merrick, this year has seen some awesome momentum for Ripple in the Middle East. The Ripple executive hinted at expanding on these solid foundations as 2026 approaches.

Big week ahead?

The coming days will be watched for potential signals, moves and announcements that could shape 2026. 

This week will welcome Spot-Quoted XRP futures on the world's leading derivatives marketplace. Spot-Quoted XRP futures are anticipated to launch on the CME Group platform on Dec. 15, pending regulatory review.

More XRP products are also expected to launch following the 21Shares XRP ETF, the fifth spot XRP ETF in the U.S., which launched in the past week.

Global crypto investment products managed by asset managers such as BlackRock, Bitwise, Fidelity, Grayscale, ProShares, and 21Shares witnessed net inflows of $864 million last week, according to CoinShares' data.

That marked the third consecutive week of net inflows after attracting $716 million the prior week, which CoinShares Head of Research James Butterfill said reflects a cautious yet increasingly optimistic investor base.

"Despite the recent interest rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve, price performance has been subdued, with trading days following the cut showing mixed sentiment and uneven flows," Butterfill wrote in a Monday report.

Weekly crypto asset flows. Image: CoinShares.

BTC fell 2.4% last week, currently trading for $85,579, while ETH gained 2.1% to trade at around $3,153, according to The Block's price page.

US, Germany and Canada dominate in 2025

Regionally, U.S.-based crypto funds witnessed $796 million in net inflows last week, with products in Germany and Canada also adding $68.6 million and $26.8 million, respectively. The three countries have dominated the market this year, accounting for more than 98% of inflows in 2025, Butterfill noted.

Global Bitcoin-based ETPs again led the flows in terms of underlying assets, adding $522 million last week. That brought year-to-date inflows back to $27.7 billion, but still substantially lower than the $41.6 billion recorded in 2024.

Meanwhile, short-Bitcoin products saw outflows of $1.8 million in what Butterfill described as another signal of recovering sentiment.

The U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds accounted for $286.6 million of last week's net inflows, according to data compiled by The Block, led by around $214.1 million into BlackRock's IBIT.

Ethereum products also witnessed net inflows of $338 million globally last week, bringing year-to-date inflows to $13.3 billion — an increase of 148% compared to 2024. The U.S.-based spot Ethereum ETFs saw inflows of $209.1 million, again led by BlackRock's ETHA fund.

Solana product inflows remain lower at $3.5 billion year-to-date after adding $65 million last week, Butterfill noted, though that still marks a tenfold increase from 2024. XRP-based funds attracted $46.9 million in weekly inflows to reach nearly $3.2 billion for the year. Aave and Chainlink-based products recorded net inflows of $5.9 million and $4.1 million, respectively, while Hyperliquid funds posted $14.1 million in net outflows.

Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.

© 2025 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Young Hoon Kim — a social-media personality who describes himself on X as the “IQ 276” holder — said XRP could rise to $100 over the next five years, offering a fresh bullish target that drew a mix of enthusiasm and criticism across Crypto Twitter.

Kim Doubles Down On XRP

“Based on my personal view, XRP could potentially reach $100 over the next 5 years. (NFA/DYOR),” the superbrain posted via X on Dec. 14. The post showed roughly 133,300 views.

Notably, Kim didn’t stop at the five-year call, either. In an earlier post on Saturday, he said: “In my view, XRP has a strong possibility of reaching a new ATH by the end of this year.”

Neither post included a detailed methodology or valuation framework. The reaction, accordingly, centered less on the specific target and more on the absence of supporting analysis — and on Kim’s public persona, which has become part of the conversation around his market calls.

Software engineer Vincent Van Code responded by asking for the underlying math in a joking tone: “Ok mr brain, please share with us your calculations. I too agree, I have calcs I shared using my 20 IQ brain.”

JD (@jaydee_757), a chart analyst popular in the XRP community, framed the post as momentum-driven: “Sounds like this boy bought the hype lol!” Gordon (@GordonGekko) added: “The smartest man in the world says XRP could hit $100 by 2030. Do you think this is a possible target?”

Larger trading and chart-focused accounts were more direct. Ali Martinez (@alicharts) wrote, “You can have the highest IQ and still be dumb AF,” while IncomeSharks asked, “Has one prediction you’ve said come true?” Both comments were posted in response to Kim’s XRP-related statements circulating over the weekend.

The posts are a continuation of a narrative that gained traction at the end of last week. As reported on Dec. 12, Kim’s first ever XRP related post on X — “I buy #XRP from now on” — came after a period of frequent Bitcoin-related posting.

Notably, Kim not only posted about XRP but also World Liberty Financial, the decentralized finance (DeFi) platform backed by the Trump family, over the weekend. On Sunday, Kim posted via X: “I personally buy WLFI every day, because I believe it is significantly undervalued based on my own assessment.” Again, there was no explanation or technical analysis. Just a provocant claim.

Already on October 24, Kim claimed that WLFI is more valuable than Bitcoin. “As the World’s Highest IQ Record Holder (by World Memory Championships & Official World Record®), I predict WLFI will soon reach a market cap of $5B. WLFI is the only crypto more valuable than Bitcoin,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, his Bitcoin price prediction for 2026 is not less sensational. “My analysis suggests that Bitcoin reaching 300K in early 2026 is a logical scenario,” he wrote on Dec. 11.

At press time, XRP traded at $1.99.