Ethereum

On December 21st, trader Captain Faibik, known for previously calling a major Bitcoin price drop, argued that the recent crypto correction has ended and a new bull phase is approaching, with BTC potentially reaching $120,000. Analysts are also tracking altcoin strength via the Total 3 market cap and highlighting Ethereum, Solana, Chainlink, Ethena and Bitcoin Hyper as standout opportunities based on on-chain data, technical setups and institutional interest. Whale accumulation, ETF inflows and a $30 million Bitcoin Hyper presale are among the key metrics underpinning these bullish outlooks.

MoonPay president Keith Grossman says tokenization will remake finance faster than digitization reshaped media. He cites institution-led pilots and regulatory milestones, including an SEC/CFTC joint statement in September and SEC approval for DTCC in December. The RWA market cap is nearly $19 billion excluding stablecoins, and DTCC handled about $3.7 quadrillion in 2024.

In 2025, Ethereum has dropped roughly 12% YTD even as its Mainnet settles about $90–100 billion in stablecoin transfers per day. According to OnChainHQ’s Leon Waidmann, most flows are USDT and USDC for payments, treasury moves, and settlement. Charts shared on X indicate whales are adding near the realized price, signaling confidence despite weak price action.

US spot Ethereum ETFs registered more than $600 million in net outflows over the past week. BlackRock iShares Ethereum Trust ETHA saw about $470 million withdrawn, while Fidelity FETH and Grayscale ETHE posted roughly $35 million and $49 million. ETH traded near 2,975 dollars with little change over the last day.

On 21 December 2025, Mercado Bitcoin released a study showing Brazil's average crypto investment per user now exceeds $1,000, with typical holdings around 5,700 Brazilian reais. The report also highlights rising diversification, stronger stablecoin usage, and that digital fixed-income products distributed roughly $325 million to investors in 2025.

The Ethereum Foundation has introduced a security-first roadmap for zkEVMs, defining three milestones through the end of 2026 that culminate in 128-bit provable security and strict proof size limits. Alongside these technical targets, Ethereum is promoting institutional adoption with an "Ethereum for Institutions" portal and highlighting its leadership in tokenized real-world assets and privacy technologies. Co-founder Vitalik Buterin has also warned that growing protocol complexity threatens trustlessness, prompting plans to simplify user interactions through smart contract wallets.

ETH remains below $3,000 after pronounced 2025 swings. Whales sold $360 million over the past week and spot Ethereum ETFs logged seven straight days of outflows since December 11, with net inflows down to under $12.5 billion. On-chain data shows daily new addresses spiking above 190,000 in December, hinting at returning retail interest.

On December 21, 2025, Arthur Hayes moved $3.53 million in Ethereum and sent about $1.5 million to Galaxy. He also bought 1.22 million Ethena (ENA) tokens worth roughly $257,000, citing a rotation out of ETH into high-quality DeFi names across a little more than 24 hours.

According to developer Edward Hennis on December 19, 2025, Ripple is preparing a protocol-native lending framework on the XRP Ledger with fixed rates and fixed maturities. Amendments are expected to enter validator voting in late January, and the design centers on Single Asset Vaults with designated administrators to manage underwriting and operations.

On December 20, 2025, Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko shared data indicating Solana's annual revenue has overtaken Ethereum's. The projections point to $1.4 billion for Solana versus $522 million for Ethereum. He also argued Layer-1 relevance hinges on the execution layer as debates over sustainable protocol revenues intensify.