Shiba Inu's Shytoshi Kusama to Break Silence in December? Here Are Chances

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. 

The crypto market is back on the downside and so is the Dogecoin futures market as its open interest volume over the last day shows a notable decline, according to data from CoinGlass.

The data shows that Dogecoin has seen its futures open interest decline by 5.55% over the last day. This decline shows a massive slowdown as traders appear to be taking caution amid the negative market trend.

9,820,000,000 DOGE committed amid market slump

Following the plunge in the metric, the total number of active futures contracts involving Dogecoin that have not been settled has dropped significantly to 9.82 billion DOGE worth approximately $1.37 billion per DOGE’s current trading price.

Although the data shows Dogecoin’s derivatives trend over the last day, the DOGE open interest volume has remained significantly low since the past days compared to levels seen before the huge Oct. 10 market crash.

The negative trend shows that traders are becoming less willing to commit their holdings to its futures contract amid rising uncertainty spurred by the reoccurring market correction.

Nonetheless, what’s interesting is that the DOGE open interest volume saw a mild increase in the last hour, suggesting a decent shift in sentiment as interest might be returning to the Dogecoin derivatives market.

What's next for DOGE price?

It is important to note that the decline in Dogecoin’s open interest has coincided with the unexpected reversal witnessed in the price of Dogecoin.

The downtrend, which is witnessed across the broad crypto market, has seen prices of altcoins and meme tokens mirror the broader market downturn led by Bitcoin and Ethereum.

As such, Dogecoin has declined by 3.14% over the last day, and its price is trading at $0.1395 over the last day.

The decline in its futures activity coinciding with a decline in its trading price suggests that traders are increasingly exiting leveraged positions, providing no positive outlook for the asset in the near term.

The Bitcoin price has had a mixed performance over the past week, with both sides of the market divide struggling to establish dominance. In the latest battle between the bulls and bears, the premier cryptocurrency appears to be succumbing to pressure from the latter group.

As this weekend approached, the Bitcoin price retreated from its latest local high of around $94,000 to beneath the psychological $90,000 level. This latest correction has prompted questions in the crowd, with investors wondering whether it is just a brief obstacle or the end of the recovery.

Why $80,500 Could Be The Next Local Low For BTC

In a December 5 post on the social media platform X, Alphractal CEO and founder shared insight into the latest Bitcoin price decline below $90,000. The on-chain expert revealed that losing the $89,800 level is the more relevant occurrence in the latest price downturn.

In a previous post on X, Wedson evaluated the likely trajectory of the Bitcoin price should it lose the $89,800 level. The crypto pundit revealed that losing this price mark could lead to an accumulation pattern for the bulls or a redistribution phase for the bears.

While the accumulation period for the bulls would initially coincide with lower prices, it eventually leads to a Bitcoin price return to above the latest local high. Meanwhile, a redistribution phase could see the bears push the flagship cryptocurrency to around the $70,000 mark.

According to the Alphractal CEO, the price of BTC also failed to hold the key on-chain levels, strengthening the probability of a broader price sideways phase. “Sideways action is the cause — the big pumps or dumps are just the effect,” Wedson had earlier stated in his previous X post.

Furthermore, Wedson noted that the next level to watch is $86,500, which, if lost, opens the very high possibility for the formation of a new local low around $80,500. This local low could provide a perfect spot for investors to buy the dip and enter the market.

Bitcoin Price Overview 

As mentioned earlier, the past week has been one of highs and lows for the premier cryptocurrency, plummeting to as low as $84,600 on Monday, December 1. After a shaky start to the month, the Bitcoin price recovered strongly to around $94,000 on Thursday, December 4.

As of this writing, the market leader is valued at around $89,415, reflecting an over 3% price decline in the past 24 hours. According to data from CoinGecko, the price of Bitcoin has been down by nearly 10% in the past year.

This week’s Top crypto analysis reveals a shifting dynamic across XRP, Ethereum, and Dogecoin as ETF inflows and outflows reflect market-wide bearish sentiment. Although XRP ETF products continue to see positive momentum throughout the week, ETH and DOGE ETFs remain under pressure. Many are watching this data, having expectations that it will be reflected in price action, so let’s examine which ETF is stronger and how it influences the price movements of its respective assets.

ETF Inflows Show Divergence Across Leading Assets

In the latest ETF data, XRP stands out as the only asset among the three to register consistent inflows, even while the broader crypto market experiences sustained declines. Despite these positive movements into XRP ETF products, the XRP price chart continues to slide because the overall market trend remains firmly bearish. 

XRP ETF holdings represent only 0.71% of the total market cap, with net assets near $861 million and cumulative inflows of $897 million. Though they are strong numbers, but not yet large enough to influence XRP price USD in isolation.

Similarly, DOGE ETF inflows remain too small to generate meaningful impact. Total net assets account for just 0.02% of the Dogecoin market cap, amounting to roughly $5.51 million.

Although the week recorded inflows, but this contribution is minimal, keeping the DOGE price aligned with broader market direction rather than ETF-driven momentum.

Both XRP and DOGE are therefore moving with market sentiment, not against it highlighting that positive inflows alone are insufficient unless supported by deeper liquidity and stronger capital rotation.

Ethereum ETF Trends Reflect Strong Market Influence

In contrast, the ETH ETF landscape paints a very different picture. With nearly two years of history, Ethereum’s ETF ecosystem holds a much larger footprint, representing 5.19% of Ethereum’s market cap and totaling $18.94 billion in net assets. The cumulative total net inflow of $12.88 billion is significantly multifold times higher than XRP and DOGE combined, meaning movements in ETF flows materially influence the ETH price USD and overall altcoin market strength.

This week, however, the ETH ETF market reflected persistent bearish control. Most days recorded outflows, except December 3rd. This was the only session showing inflows tied to Ethereum’s Fusaka (Fulu-Osaka) upgrade aimed at improving scalability. This single green day stands out amid otherwise negative ETF activity, contributing to notable pressure on the Ethereum price chart and weakening the short-term ETH price prediction outlook.

The crypto market is very scared right now. The Fear and Greed Index is at 21, and it was even lower at 10 before. Fewer people are searching for Bitcoin on Google, and many investors have become careful after the big crash on October 10.

With interest dropping and ETF flows reversing, everyone is asking, is this just a correction or the start of a real bear market?

Crypto Market Index Hits Extreme Fear

According to recent market data, the October 10 crash was the main reason sentiment fell to record lows of 10, triggered by surprise U.S.–China tariff war news. 

Following the announced bitcoin price fall from $126,000 to $98,000, wiping out over $19 billion in leveraged trades. Meanwhile, the major altcoins like SOL, XRP, etc, fell more than 40% within hours.

Due to this crash, crypto order books became very thin. Market makers removed liquidity to avoid more losses, ETF inflows turned into outflows, and global demand for digital assets weakened. 

With most investors staying cautious, fear has dominated the market for several weeks.

Investors Show Declining Interest as Google Searches Drop

Though markets have stabilized somewhat as the crypto greed & fear index has climbed slightly to 21, but the market is still deep inside the fear zone.

Meanwhile, retail interest around crypto, tracked via global Google Trends for “crypto,” “Bitcoin,” and related searches, has dropped back to levels seen during previous mid-cycle corrections.