Bitcoin powers ahead amid New Year optimism 🚀

Hola folks!

The global crypto market is welcoming 2025 with optimism as Bitcoin is approaching $100k once again. The crypto market saw broad-based positive momentum in the past week with increased institutional interest. 

In today’s newsletter, we bring the movers and shakers of the crypto world in the past week and how the market is set to move in the coming few days. Read on to learn more!

The new year has ignited bullish momentum for Bitcoin, with prices surging from $92K to $99K. However, the $100K level looms as a formidable psychological and technical barrier. 

Bringing more cheer, MicroStrategy is gearing up to raise up to $2 billion through preferred stock offerings to expand its Bitcoin treasury—a move hinted at by co-founder Michael Saylor in a tantalizing tweet. Meanwhile, in Japan, Metaplanet, an ambitious investment firm, aims to purchase 10,000 BTC, further underscoring the growing institutional appetite. 

Traders are positioning for a record-breaking rally ahead of Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration on Jan. 20, as call options at $100K and $120K strikes light up the Deribit markets.

Ethereum’s liquid staking landscape is seeing cracks as the total ETH locked across platforms dips to 13.78 million, reversing months of growth. Binance’s liquid staking platform is gaining ground, pulling liquidity from competitors like Lido. In the NFT world, Pudgy Penguins' PENGU token rallied 13%, defying plummeting NFT sales, which fell 52% last week. 

Despite challenges, the NFT space remains vibrant, especially with regulatory shifts on the horizon. The IRS’s announcement to ease crypto tax rules for centralized exchanges in 2025 hints at a more flexible and user-friendly environment for traders.

Solana’s ecosystem continues to captivate, with net inflows of over $200 million into centralized exchanges last week, marking the highest since March. However, SOL’s options market tells a different story, with lukewarm sentiment as the asset battles to sustain its recent gains. 

Meanwhile, DeFi platforms are off to a roaring start in 2025, with decentralized exchanges and perpetual trading volumes smashing through $52.81 billion in just four days. The surge underscores DeFi's undeniable role as a cornerstone of crypto market activity, offering traders flexibility and innovation beyond centralized systems.

Weekly price movement: 

• BTC $99,108 ⏫ $99,108

• SOL $214.08 ⏫ 11.33%

• SPX6900 $1.50 ⏫ 66.40%

• XLM $0.4425 ⏫ 31.99%  

(All data here as of 2.55 p.m., 6 January 2025)

Before we conclude, here’s a quick look at some important news from around the crypto world.

• XRP has flipped USDT stablecoin to claim its spot as the third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, trailing only Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). Read more here.

• Bitcoin ETF inflows rebound to 6-week highs as BTC price reclaims $97k. The US spot Bitcoin ETFs took in a net $908 million on Jan. 3 in a dramatic turnaround. Read more here.

That’s it for now. Thanks for sticking around.

See you later, folks! 👋

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