Ripple CEO Spotlights Groundbreaking XRP ETF Milestone

After breaking below $90,000 again, the next direction of the Bitcoin price is being hotly debated once again. This comes with the added burden of a number of major events coming around this week, as well as investor sentiment being stuck in the negative territory for an extended period of time. Crypto analyst, MarcPMarkets, shares his thoughts on the current state of the market and what investors should be looking out for as the next direction is determined.

The Bearish And Bullish Scenarios

In the analysis shared on the TradingView website, MarcPMarkets highlights the different scenarios that could determine where the Bitcoin price could be headed next. Cautioning investors to watch out for confirmation, the first level that the analyst highlights is the $93,500 area, where the Bitcoin price had failed to reclaim a high.

Since the price fell below $90,000 over the weekend, the next major level now lies at $88,000, and it is where bulls must protect their support. In the event that bulls lose this support and the price breaks decisively below this point, the crypto analyst warns investors to expect the Bitcoin price to crash another $10,000. Next would be the $78,000 area, where the cryptocurrency is likely to secure its next support.

On the flip side, where the Bitcoin price could turn bullish once again, the crypto analyst points to the $95,000 resistance. Investors are to pay attention to this resistance, because if broken, then it would mean that strength is building back up, completely canceling out the bearish scenario highlighted above.

The major targets in the case of a bullish takeover would first be $105,581. Above this lies the next major level of $113,213, and then finally, the $120,850 target that would be the final hit before momentum fizzles out.

Developments That Could Affect The Bitcoin Price

Beyond the price action, some events that could affect Bitcoin’s trajectory are expected to unfold this week. The FOMC meeting is drawing closer, with the Fed expected to announce its stance on the financial markets going forward.

If, at the completion of the press conference, the Fed takes on a dovish stance, then the crypto analyst expects that prices will begin to move upward again. Additionally, quantitative tightening ended at the start of December, ushering the markets into an era of quantitative easing, which has always been bullish for risk assets as new liquidity is pumped into the market.

The following article is adapted from The Block’s newsletter, The Daily, which comes out on weekday afternoons.

Happy Monday! Bitcoin opened the week above $90K as whales scooped up roughly 45,000 BTC in seven days, a surge analysts say signals quite large holder accumulation even as markets brace for a pivotal Fed decision on Wednesday.

In today's newsletter, Robinhood acquires an Indonesian crypto trading firm, BlackRock files for a staked Ethereum ETF, Strategy buys another 10,624 BTC for $963 million, and more.

Meanwhile, Binance's post confirming insider trading sends the "year of the yellow fruit" memecoin even higher.

P.S. Don't forget to check out The Funding, a biweekly rundown of crypto VC trends. It's a great read — and just like The Daily, it's free to subscribe!

Robinhood to enter Indonesia by acquiring local crypto trading firm

Robinhood is eyeing a move into Indonesia by agreeing to buy brokerage firm Buana Capital Sekuritas and crypto trading platform Pedagang Aset Kripto.

• The company is targeting Southeast Asia's largest economy as its next growth market and awaits regulatory approval to close the deals in early 2026.
• Robinhood plans to keep serving Buana Capital's existing clients while rolling out U.S. equities and crypto trading to Indonesian users.
• Head of Asia at Robinhood, Patrick Chan, framed Indonesia as a fast-growing trading market that fits the company's mission to democratize finance.
• Pieter Tanuri, the majority owner of both Buana Capital and Pedagang Aset Kripto, is expected to remain involved as a strategic advisor to Robinhood following the acquisitions.
• Meanwhile, in the U.S., Robinhood is courting high-volume crypto traders by expanding its fee tiers from three to seven, cutting rates as low as 0.03%.
• Simultaneously, EU users are gaining access to XRP, SOL, DOGE, and SUI perpetual futures with up to 7x leverage as Robinhood races to win more traders.

BlackRock moves to add staked Ethereum ETF with fresh SEC filing

BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, filed an S-1 registration statement for its iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF, moving to add a staked ETH product to its lineup.

• The filing follows a recent Delaware entity registration for the ETF, confirming expectations that a formal SEC submission was imminent.
• BlackRock said the fund aims to track the cryptocurrency's price and staking rewards from a portion of its ETH, when it can do so without triggering legal or tax risks for the trust.
• The firm's filing builds on momentum from its existing $17 billion AUM spot Ethereum ETF as more issuers race to add staking and diversify their crypto offerings under a friendlier U.S. regulatory climate.

Michael Saylor's Strategy buys another 10,624 BTC for $963 million

Strategy bought another 10,624 BTC for $963 million at an average price of $90,615 per bitcoin between Dec. 1 and Dec. 7, according to an 8-K filing with the SEC on Monday — its largest purchase block since July.

• Strategy now holds a total of 660,624 BTC — worth around $60 billion — bought at an average price of $74,696 per bitcoin for a total cost of around $49.4 billion, according to the company's co-founder and executive chairman, Michael Saylor.
• The firm funded the latest purchases through fresh at-the-market sales of its MSTR common stock and STRD perpetual preferred shares.
• The haul pushes Strategy's paper gains above $10 billion, while its recently established $1.44 billion USD Reserve gives it runway to meet dividend and debt obligations for the next 12 to 24 months.

Vitalik Buterin pushes for trustless gas futures market to hedge Ethereum fees

Vitalik Buterin proposed a trustless onchain gas futures market to let users hedge future Ethereum fee spikes and gain clearer visibility into expected base fee levels.

• Industry leaders pushed back, with Flashbots' Hasu arguing the market lacks a natural short side and would struggle to scale meaningfully.
• Buterin floated the idea of the protocol itself taking the short side, but other critics said Ethereum's burn mechanism and incentive design still make viable shorting difficult.
• The debate follows recent network upgrades — including Fusaka and a higher block gas limit — as the Ethereum community advances broader work on cost structure, privacy, and scaling.

Paradigm bets $13.5 million on stablecoin startup Crown in first Brazil investment

Paradigm made its first investment in Brazil by backing stablecoin startup Crown with $13.5 million at a $90 million valuation as the crypto VC firm targets the country's fast-growing digital asset market.

• Crown claims its BRLV token, pegged to the Brazilian real and backed by government bonds, has already become the world's largest emerging-market stablecoin with strong institutional demand.
• Crown's co-founders said they built BRLV to offer native yield and institutional-grade safety, positioning the stablecoin to scale toward an ambitious R$1 trillion circulation target over the next decade.

In the next 24 hours

• It's quiet on the economic calendar front.
• Movement is among the crypto projects set for token unlocks.
• Bitcoin MENA concludes in Abu Dhabi.

Never miss a beat with The Block's daily digest of the most influential events happening across the digital asset ecosystem.

Disclaimer: This article was produced with the assistance of OpenAI’s ChatGPT and reviewed and edited by our editorial team.

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.

Ripple’s recent $500 million share sale attracted top Wall Street investors, but its structure showed just how carefully traditional finance now treads in digital assets.

Citadel Securities, Fortress Investment Group, Marshall Wace, Brevan Howard, Galaxy Digital, and Pantera Capital participated in the November round. The deal valued Ripple at $40 billion, a record for a privately held crypto company.

Several funds assessed that at least 90% of Ripple's net asset value is derived from XRP, the cryptocurrency closely tied to the company, Bloomberg reported, adding that Ripple held $124 billion worth of XRP as of July. Much of that remains locked up and releases gradually.

Volatile Market Tests Valuations

Investors reportedly negotiated the right to sell shares back to Ripple after three or four years and received a guaranteed 10% annualized return. If Ripple forces a buyback, the return jumps to 25%. A liquidation preference clause gives new shareholders priority over existing ones in a sale or bankruptcy.

XRP has since dropped roughly 40% from its mid-July peak, with the token falling about 16% since late October, when Ripple announced the funding. The decline came during the sharpest crypto selloff since 2022.

Despite the drop, Ripple's XRP holdings still exceed the company's valuation. The treasury stood at $83.3 billion as of early December, assuming no changes since July. Ripple would owe investors $732 million if it repurchases shares after four years at the guaranteed rate, according to Bloomberg calculations.

Broader Crypto Funding Wave

Meanwhile, the payments-focused platform has since expanded through acquisitions this year. It acquired treasury software provider GTreasury for $1 billion in October. These moves could reduce XRP's weight in Ripple's overall valuation over time.

Recently, Ripple expanded its institutional services in the U.S. with the launch of its digital asset spot prime brokerage offering, giving professional investors a single platform to trade, clear, and finance their crypto positions. The rollout followed the company’s integration of Hidden Road, the multi-asset brokerage it acquired earlier this year and has since rebranded as Ripple Prime.

Under the Ripple Prime banner, institutional clients in the U.S. can now execute OTC spot transactions across a wide range of digital assets. The service also covers trades involving XRP, Ripple’s native token, as well as its U.S. dollar–backed stablecoin, RLUSD.