The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the world’s largest financial derivatives exchange, halted trading for about 10 hours from Thursday into Friday, causing an outcry from traders before service was restored.
Trading halted due to a “cooling issue” at the CyrusOne data center in Illinois, a US state, according to an announcement from the CME. Trading was fully restored, and trading for all markets resumed at 1:30 pm UTC on Friday, the CME said in an update.
Meanwhile, traders voiced their discontent with the critical failure, which locked some users in their positions, prevented others from placing new trades, and halted price discovery.
Stock trader Timothy Bozman accused the CME of market manipulation and asked how “a simple issue could take down CME’s entire futures platform?”
“Very convenient that this happens in Asia on Thanksgiving Day, when there’s already low volume. Sounds like you’re trying to manipulate the markets quickly in a certain direction,” another X user said.
The backlash from traders continued even after the issue was fixed, with many saying that trading halted minutes before silver futures contracts hit an all-time high of $54, further fueling speculations.
Bitcoin futures contracts continue to climb after market halt
The CME does not publish regular trading data for Thanksgiving Day, which occurred on Thursday this year. However, Bitcoin futures contracts closed on Wednesday at $90,355 and opened at $90,940 on Friday, according to data from TradingView.
Bitcoin futures prices continued to climb on Friday, rising to over $93,000 at the time of this writing, as BTC rebounds from the local bottom of $80,522.
Bitcoin futures rebound from the recent low. Source: TradingView
Analysts say BTC faces resistance at $95,000, but if the cryptocurrency can reclaim $95,000 as support, it could bounce back into the $100,000 territory.
The recent dip to just over $80,000 marked the market’s lowest point, according to investor and analyst Arthur Hayes, who said that easing liquidity conditions will take BTC to higher levels in 2026, warning that another short-term drop might also occur in the meantime.
The Cocoon decentralized AI network, a privacy-preserving distributed computing platform built on The Open Network (TON) — an independent layer-1 blockchain associated with the Telegram messaging application — went live on Sunday.
Cocoon allows owners of graphics processing units (GPUs) to rent their computing power to the network, processing user queries and requests in return for Toncoin (TON), the native token of the TON blockchain.
The decentralized AI network has processed its first requests from users, and GPU owners are already profiting from renting out their hardware, according to Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov. He said:
“Centralized compute providers such as Amazon and Microsoft act as expensive intermediaries that drive up prices and reduce privacy. Cocoon solves both the economic and confidentiality issues associated with legacy AI compute providers.”
Durov announced the release of Cocoon at the Blockchain Life 2025 conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), in October, as an answer to user demand for an AI platform that would protect privacy and data from large, centralized AI service providers.
The blockchain community, privacy advocates, and cypherpunks have long warned against the negative social effects of centralized AI, advocating for decentralized AI networks as a public good.
Durov announces Cocoon at the Blockchain Life 2025 conference in Dubai. Source: Blockchain Life 2025
Decentralized AI and self-sovereignty: an antidote to a centralized dystopia
Centralized AI systems give governments and corporations enormous leverage over individuals that can compromise user privacy, threaten traditional cybersecurity safeguards, and lead to social conditioning by organized actors, David Holtzman, chief strategy officer of the Naoris decentralized security protocol, told Cointelegraph.
These threats can be mitigated by applying blockchain technology to AI to verify sources of information, ensure tamper-proof records, and allow nodes on distributed computing networks to communicate in a trustless way, he added.
In 2024, AI researchers from the Dfinity Foundation, the non-profit organization that steers development of the Internet Computer Protocol (ICP), and executives from decentralized AI developer Onicai outlined seven rules to ensure ethical AI.
These included running AI through permissionless blockchain networks to ensure transparency and data integrity.
A poll conducted by the Digital Currency Group (DCG) in May showed that 77% of the 2,036 respondents surveyed said that decentralized AI would benefit society more than centralized systems.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino and market analysts pushed back against S&P Global’s downgraded rating of USDt’s (USDT) ability to maintain its US dollar peg, saying that the ratings agency did not account for all of Tether’s assets and revenues.
The Tether Group’s total assets at the end of Q3 2025 totaled about $215 billion, while its total stablecoin liabilities were about $184.5 billion, according to Ardoino, who referenced Tether’s Q3 attestation report. He added:
“Tether had, at the end of Q3 2025, about $7 billion in excess equity, on top of the about $184.5 billion in stablecoin reserves, plus about another $23 billion in retained earnings as part of our Tether Group equity.
S&P made the same mistake of not considering the additional Group Equity, nor the roughly $500 million in monthly base profits generated by US Treasury yields alone,” Ardoino continued.
S&P Global downgraded USDt’s dollar-peg rating to “weak” on Wednesday, the lowest score on its scale, prompting fear, uncertainty, and doubt from some analysts about the company, which has become a critical piece of crypto market infrastructure.
Arthur Hayes, a market analyst and founder of the BitMEX crypto exchange, speculated that Tether is buying large quantities of gold and BTC to compensate for income shortfalls produced by falling US Treasury yields.
As the Federal Reserve slashes interest rates, the gold and BTC should go up in value, Hayes said, but he also warned that a steep correction in these assets could spell trouble for Tether.
“A roughly 30% decline in the gold and BTC position would wipe out their equity, and then USDt would be, in theory, insolvent,” he said.
Joseph Ayoub, the former lead digital asset analyst at financial services giant Citi, said he spent “hundreds” of hours researching Tether as an analyst for the company, and rebuffed Hayes’ analysis.
Tether has excess assets beyond what it reports, has an extremely lucrative business that generates billions of dollars in interest income with only 150 employees, and is better collateralized than traditional banks, Ayoub said.
The native token of the Ethereum network, Ether (ETH), is undervalued in nine out of 12 commonly used valuation models, according to Ki Young Ju, a market analyst and CEO of crypto market analysis platform CryptoQuant.
A composite “fair value” using all 12 valuation models prices ETH at about $4,836, an over 58% gain compared to its price at the time of this writing.
Each valuation model was rated on a three-tiered scale for reliability, with three being the most reliable. Eight out of the 12 models feature a reliability rating of at least two. “These models were built by trusted experts across academia and traditional finance,” Ju said.
12 different ETH valuation models signal that ETH is undervalued at current market prices just north of $3,000. Source: ETHval
The App Capital valuation model, which accounts for total on-chain assets, including stablecoins, ERC-20 tokens, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), real-world tokenized assets (RWAs), and bridged assets, prices ETH at a fair value of $4,918, according to ETHval.
Using Metcalfe’s Law, which states that the value of a network grows in proportion to the square of real active users or the number of nodes in the network, projects an ETH price of $9,484, meaning the asset is over 211% undervalued, according to the model.
Valuing ETH through the Layer-2 (L2) framework, which accounts for the total value locked (TVL) in Ethereum’s layer-2 scaling network ecosystem, projects a price of $4,633 per ETH, meaning that ETH is about 52% undervalued.
The composite fair value of ETH over one year. Source: ETHval
The Ethereum community and analysts continue to debate how to value the world’s first smart contract platform properly, with many saying that traditional valuation models are not sufficient to value nascent digital assets and decentralized blockchain networks.
Despite the mostly rosy outlook, one valuation model says ETH is grossly overvalued
The Revenue Yield valuation model, which values ETH by the annual revenue generated by the network, divided by the staking yield on ETH, says that ETH at current prices of over $3,000 is overvalued by over 57%.
ETH is overvalued, according to the Revenue Yield valuation model. Source: ETHval
Revenue Yield is the most reliable valuation model for accurately pricing ETH, according to ETHval’s criteria and methodology.
ETH should carry a price tag of about $1,296, according to the model, highlighting the Ethereum network’s dwindling revenue generation as fees reach record lows and competing networks absorb some of its market share.
Asset manager CoinShares withdrew its Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) application for a staked Solana exchange-traded fund (ETF) on Friday.
The structuring deal and asset purchase behind the proposed fund were never completed, according to the SEC filing, which states:
“The Registration Statement sought to register shares to be issued in connection with a transaction that was ultimately not effectuated. No shares were sold, or will be sold, pursuant to the above-mentioned Registration Statement.”
The first staked Solana (SOL) ETF, issued by REX-Osprey, debuted in the United States in June, followed by investment company Bitwise’s staked SOL ETF in October.
Net inflows into Solana ETFs since Nov. 10. Source: CoinGlass
Bitwise’s ETF launched with nearly $223 million in assets on its first day of trading, managing to rack up about half the value accrued in the REX-Osprey ETF, which had been trading for months at that point, according to ETF analyst Eric Balchunas.
Despite the launch of staked Solana ETFs and investor demand for these products, the price of SOL has not kept pace and has been in a downtrend since its high of over $250 per coin in September.
SOL ETFs drop to much fanfare, but SOL’s price remains depressed
Solana ETFs attracted over $369 million in capital flows during November, as investors chased the yield-bearing opportunities of staked SOL investment vehicles advertising 5-7% staking rewards.
The Solana ETFs bucked the trend exhibited by BTC and Ether (ETH) ETFs that experienced record outflows during October and November by clocking multiday inflow streaks, even as crypto prices were collapsing.
SOL’s price action remains depressed and well below all-time highs reached at the start of 2025. Source: TradingView
SOL’s price hit a five-month low of approximately $120 in November, representing a 60% reduction from its all-time high of around $295 reached in January 2025.
The token’s meteoric rise in January was attributed to the launch of the Official Trump memecoin on the network, fueling memecoins trading on Solana.
Strategy would consider selling Bitcoin only if its stock falls below net asset value and the company loses access to fresh capital, CEO Phong Le said in a recent interview.
Le told the What Bitcoin Did show that if Strategy’s multiple to net asset value (mNAV) were to slip under one and financing options dry up, unloading Bitcoin becomes “mathematically” justified to protect what he calls “Bitcoin yield per share.”
However, he noted that the move would be a last resort, not a policy shift. “I would not want to be the company that sells Bitcoin,” he said, adding that financial discipline has to override emotion when markets turn hostile.
Strategy’s model hinges on raising capital when its shares trade at a premium to NAV and using that money to buy Bitcoin (BTC), increasing BTC held per share. When that premium disappears, Le said, selling a portion of holdings to meet obligations can be acceptable to shareholders if issuing new equity would be more dilutive.
The warning comes as investors scrutinize the company’s expanding fixed payments tied to a suite of preferred shares introduced this year. Le put annual obligations near $750 million to $800 million as recent issues mature. His plan is to fund those payouts first through equity raised at a premium to mNAV.
“The more we pay the dividends out of all of our instruments every quarter, that’s seasoning the market to realize that even in a bare market, we’re going to pay these dividends. When we do that, they start to price up,” he said.
Beyond balance-sheet mechanics, Le defended the long-term thesis on Bitcoin as a scarce, non-sovereign asset with global appeal. “It’s non-sovereign, has a limited supply… people in Australia, the US, Ukraine, Turkey, Argentina, Vietnam and South Korea — everyone likes Bitcoin,” he added.
Last week, Strategy launched a new “BTC Credit” dashboard to reassure investors after Bitcoin’s latest drop and a sell-off in digital-asset treasury stocks. The company, the largest corporate holder of BTC, says it has enough dividend coverage for decades, even if Bitcoin’s price stays flat.
Strategy claims its debt remains well-covered if BTC falls to its average purchase price of about $74,000, and still manageable even at $25,000.
Bitcoin (BTC) is repeating its latest bull market bottom with near 100% correlation in 2025.
Key points:
Bitcoin is tracking the 2022 bear market with concerning accuracy, with the end of the year just a month away.
November is among the worst on record for BTC price action.
Stocks inflows are picking up, and with them the return of institutional capital to crypto ETFs.
Analysis on BTC price: “It feels bad because it is”
Grim new BTC price analysis from network economist Timothy Peterson concludes that this year is eerily similar to 2022.
Bitcoin has disappointed bulls with its 36% comedown from all-time highs — just when many believed that the bull market’s biggest gains were about to hit.
Now, as the last month of 2025 begins, BTC/USD is anything but bullish. According to Peterson’s data, the pair is even mimicking its last bear-market bottom.
“2H2025 Bitcoin is the same as 2H2022 Bitcoin,” he told followers in a post on X Saturday.
On a daily and monthly basis, the correlation between this year and 2022 is striking. Correlation on daily timeframes is now 80%, while the monthly equivalent has reached a full 98%.
An accompanying chart shows that if history continues to repeat itself, a true BTC price comeback may not happen until well into Q1 next year.
“It feels bad because it is bad,” Peterson wrote about November performance in previous analysis last week.
“This month ranks in the bottom 10% of daily price paths since 2015.”
BTC price November performance comparison. Source: Timothy Peterson/X
As Cointelegraph reported, a “red” November for BTC/USD historically results in December delivering the same result, albeit with less intense downside.
Crypto ETFs tease end to massive investor rout
A macro sentiment change still has the potential to deliver a classic “Santa rally” across risk assets before year-end.
Crypto suffered conspicuously more than stocks during the past month’s drawdown, but signs of a turnaround are quickly mounting.
Reporting figures from Bloomberg and JPMorgan this weekend, trading resource The Kobeissi Letter announced “massive inflows” for US equities.
Equity funds have seen $900 billion in new capital since November 2024, with $450 billion in the last five months alone.
“By contrast, other asset class funds have pulled in just +$100 billion,” it commented.
“Put differently, equities have attracted more inflows than all other asset classes COMBINED. Equity inflows remain remarkably strong.”
Macro asset class inflows. Source: The Kobeissi Letter/X
The latest data covering the US spot Bitcoin and Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs), meanwhile, hints that the worst of the institutional crypto sell-off could be in the past.
Bitcoin ETFs finished Thanksgiving week with $220 billion in inflows, while the Ether equivalents took in $312 million.
US spot Bitcoin, Ether ETF netflows (screenshot). Source: Farside Investors
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.
BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) closed November under pressure after experiencing heavy withdrawals, but the asset manager remains confident in its long-term outlook for the product.
Speaking in São Paulo, BlackRock business development director Cristiano Castro said the company’s Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs had become one of its biggest revenue drivers, calling their growth “a big surprise” given how fast allocations surged this year.
Castro’s comments followed a rough month for BlackRock’s US-listed IBIT, which logged an estimated $2.34 billion in net outflows across November. The two largest withdrawals came mid-month, with about $523 million leaving on Nov. 18 and roughly $463 million on Nov. 14.
“ETFs are very liquid and powerful instruments,” Castro reportedly said after his panel at the Blockchain Conference 2025. “They exist to let people allocate capital and manage cash flow. What we’ve been seeing is perfectly normal; any asset that starts to experience compression usually has this effect, especially in an instrument that is heavily controlled by retail investors.”
IBIT performance over the past month. Source: SoSoValue
BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETFs neared $100 billion in peak assets
Castro added that demand earlier in the cycle speaks for itself. Combined US and Brazil listings under the IBIT nameplate came “very close to $100 billion” in assets at their peak, he said.
As Cointelegraph reported, BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF holders returned to profit after Bitcoin climbed back above $90,000 on Thursday.
Investors in BlackRock’s IBIT now sit on a cumulative gain of about $3.2 billion, reversing the losses seen during Bitcoin’s recent pullback. IBIT and BlackRock’s Ether ETF holders were up nearly $40 billion at their peak in early October before profits collapsed to just $630 million last week, meaning most positions were close to break-even until the latest rebound.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs ended four weeks of heavy withdrawals with a $70 million weekly inflow, reversing part of the $4.35 billion that left the sector during November.
Spot Ether (ETH) ETFs also rebounded, logging $312.6 million in weekly inflows after losing $1.74 billion over the previous three weeks.
Bitcoin has reached a crucial overhead resistance, where the bears are expected to mount a strong defense.
Several major altcoins are attempting a recovery, which is likely to be met with selling pressure at higher levels.
Bitcoin (BTC) recovered above $93,000 on Friday, but the bulls are struggling to sustain the higher levels. BTC remains on target to end November in the red. According to CoinGlass data, every time BTC closed November in the red, it was followed by a negative monthly close in December.
Select analysts view the current dip as a buying opportunity. LVRG research director Nick Ruck told Cointelegraph that the recent fall has wiped out overleveraged participants and unsustainable projects, paving the way for new long-term investors to buy “ahead of a promising new year.”
Crypto market data daily view. Source: TradingView
Crypto sentiment platform Santiment also sounded positive in a report on Wednesday, stating that the “uptick in declaration of crypto being in a bear market, and rise of bearish sentiment” is a bullish sign as markets generally move opposite to the crowd’s expectations.
What are the crucial resistance levels to watch out for in BTC and major altcoins? Let’s analyze the charts of the top 10 cryptocurrencies to find out.
Bitcoin price prediction
BTC’s recovery has reached near the 20-day exponential moving average ($93,256), where the bulls are expected to face significant resistance from the bears.
If the price turns down sharply from the 20-day EMA, the bears will make one more attempt to tug the BTC/USDT pair below the $84,000 to $80,600 support zone. If they can pull it off, the Bitcoin price may slump to $73,777.
Instead, if bulls do not cede much ground to the bears from the 20-day EMA, it suggests that the buyers are holding on to their positions. That increases the likelihood of a break above the 20-day EMA. The pair could then soar toward the psychological level of $100,000.
Ether price prediction
Ether (ETH) has reached the 20-day EMA ($3,109), which is likely to attract strong selling by the bears.
If the price turns down sharply from the 20-day EMA, the ETH/USDT pair could decline to $2,623. Buyers are expected to fiercely defend the $2,623 support, as a break below it may sink the Ether price to $2,400.
Alternatively, a close above the 20-day EMA suggests that the selling pressure is reducing. The pair could climb to the breakdown level of $3,350 and thereafter to the 50-day SMA ($3,541).
XRP price prediction
XRP (XRP) has been witnessing a tough battle between the buyers and sellers at the 20-day EMA ($2.20).
The flattening 20-day EMA and the RSI just below the midpoint do not indicate a clear advantage either to the bulls or the bears. If the 50-day SMA ($2.34) gets taken out, the XRP/USDT pair could rise to the downtrend line.
On the other hand, if the price turns down and breaks below $2.14, it suggests that the bulls have given up. The XRP price could then slump to the support line, which is likely to attract buyers.
BNB price prediction
BNB (BNB) rose above the breakdown level of $860 on Monday and has reached the 20-day EMA ($910), indicating buying at lower levels.
A close above the 20-day EMA suggests that the bears are losing their grip. The BNB/USDT pair could then rally to the 50-day SMA ($1,019), which is an important level for the bears to defend.
On the downside, if the price breaks below $860, it shows that the bears remain in command. That heightens the risk of a break below the $790 level. The BNB price may then plummet to $730.
Solana price prediction
Solana’s (SOL) relief rally has hit a wall at the 20-day EMA ($144) but the bulls have not ceded much ground to the bears.
That increases the possibility of a break above the 20-day EMA. The SOL/USDT pair may then climb to the 50-day SMA ($167), where the bears will again try to halt the recovery. However, if buyers overcome the barrier at the 50-day SMA, the pair could rally toward $190.
Sellers will have to sink the Solana price below the $126 support to retain control. If they succeed, the pair could descend to $110 and eventually to the solid support at $95.
Dogecoin price prediction
Dogecoin’s (DOGE) relief rally is facing selling at the 20-day EMA ($0.16), indicating that the bears are active at higher levels.
The bears will strive to pull the Dogecoin price below the formidable support at $0.14. If they do that, the DOGE/USDT pair could start a new downtrend and descend to the Oct. 10 low of $0.10.
Alternatively, if the price turns up and breaks above the moving averages, it shows that the bulls are aggressively defending the $0.14 support. The pair could then rise to $0.21, suggesting that the price may remain inside the $0.14 to $0.29 range for some more time.
Cardano price prediction
Cardano (ADA) is struggling to reach the 20-day EMA (0.47), indicating a lack of demand from the bulls.
The bears will try to strengthen their position by pulling the Cardano price below the $0.38 level. If they manage to do that, the ADA/USDT pair could resume the downtrend and retest the Oct. 10 panic low of $0.27.
Buyers will have to drive and maintain the price above the breakdown level of $0.50 to indicate strength. The pair could then rise to the 50-day SMA ($0.56) and later to the $0.70 level.
If the price breaks above the 20-day EMA, the HYPE/USDT pair could reach the 50-day SMA ($39.12). The bears are expected to mount a strong defense at the 50-day SMA, but if the bulls prevail, the Hyperliquid price could soar to $44 and then to $51.50.
This bullish view will be invalidated in the near term if the price turns down from the moving averages and breaks below the $29.30 level. That opens the doors for a drop to the Oct. 10 low of $20.82.
Bitcoin Cash price prediction
Buyers have managed to maintain Bitcoin Cash (BCH) above the resistance line, signaling buying on dips.
The 20-day EMA ($523) has started to turn up, and the RSI is just above the midpoint, indicating a slight advantage to the buyers. The bulls will have to propel the Bitcoin Cash price above $568 to start a new up move to $580 and then to $606.
Contrary to this assumption, if the price turns down and breaks below the moving averages, it indicates that the market has rejected the breakout from the falling wedge pattern. The bears will then attempt to sink the BCH/USDT pair to the vital support of $443.
Chainlink price prediction
Chainlink (LINK) is facing selling near the 20-day EMA ($13.84) but a positive sign is that the bulls have not ceded much ground to the bears.
That increases the likelihood of a break above the 20-day EMA. The LINK/USDT pair could then climb to the 50-day SMA ($15.87), where the bears are expected to pose a substantial challenge. A break and close above the 50-day SMA brings the large $10.94 to $27 range into play.
Sellers are likely to have other plans. They will attempt to defend the 20-day EMA and pull the Chainlink price to the solid support at $10.94.
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.
Ethereum educator Anthony Sassano said the goal to significantly increase Ethereum’s gas limit to 180 million next year is a baseline rather than a best-case scenario.
“I think that’s the floor, that’s the minimum, I think we can go higher than that,” Sassano said during an interview on the Bankless podcast on Friday, just a day after Ethereum’s gas limit, which is the maximum amount of work the network allows in each block, was raised from 45 million to 60 million.
“The general consensus that has been set by the core developers and researchers is that they want to aim for at least a 3X increase in the gas limit for the next couple of years,” he said.
Sassano pointed out that some Ethereum core developers are even discussing a potential fivefold increase in the gas limit within the next year.
ETH gas limit goal can be achieved through repricing transactions
It is an important development for Ethereum users as a higher gas limit allows Ethereum to fit more work into each block, including swaps, token transfers and smart contract calls.
Anthony Sassano spoke to Ryan Adams on the Bankless podcast. Source: Bankless
Sassano said developers can achieve this by rebalancing transaction costs, making some activities cheaper on Ethereum while increasing the expense of others.
“We can lower the cost of a basic ETH transfer from 21,000 gas to 6,000 gas, which is an over 70% cost reduction, while keeping the gas limit the same,” he said, explaining that by redistributing costs in this way and repricing other activities, the network could ultimately support higher gas limits.
“We’re basically trading efficiencies here,” Sassano said. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin was among those advocating a potential fivefold increase, proposing higher costs for operations that are “relatively inefficient to process.”
Ethereum’s Fusaka upgrade is expected to happen next week
Sassano co-authored the Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) with Ethereum core developer Ben Adams, and the pair are aiming to include it in Ethereum’s Glamsterdam upgrade, expected in the first half of 2026.
Several Ethereum developers recently weighed in on the network’s recent increase to a 60 million gas limit, a move supported by more than 513,000 validators. Adams was one of those who said in an X post on Friday, “Remember when ‘double L1 gas’ sounded spicy on Twitter?”
“The Ethereum gas limit debate went from ‘too risky’ to ‘already live’ in under a year,” Adams said. Echoing a similar sentiment, Ethereum core developer Toni Wahrstätter said, “That’s a 2× increase in a single year — and it’s only the beginning.”
It comes ahead of a forthcoming major network upgrade, called Fusaka, which aims to improve Ethereum’s scalability. On Oct. 29, the upgrade made its way into the Hoodi testnet, the final step before its mainnet debut on Dec. 3.
