On December 28, 2025, economist Peter Schiff warned Bitcoin may face a rapid downside as silver surged, signaling a potential rotation toward hard assets. The BTC–silver ratio has swung decisively, with silver up roughly 190% relative to BTC in four months. Silver also pushed beyond $79 per ounce in a near-vertical move of about ninety minutes.

Bitcoin has been consolidating between about $86,500 and $90,000 after a pullback of nearly 30% from its October peak above $125,000. Analysts such as Lyn Alden and Michaël van de Poppe see this as a structural reset, with $86,500 acting as key downside support and a reclaim of $90,000 potentially opening a path toward the $100,000–$105,000 area. While gold and silver have rallied to new highs in 2025, Bitcoin is showing compressed volatility and steady dip buying, suggesting a base may be forming without needing a correction in precious metals.

On 28 December 2025, US regulators were described as shifting from treating crypto as an outlier to formally integrating it into the financial system. Authorities are increasingly framing Bitcoin and Ethereum as collateral, while granting select crypto firms conditional federal banking access and tightening standards for stablecoins. This policy evolution coincides with Bitcoin's volatile but ultimately record-setting price performance in 2025.

On 27 December 2025, Tom Lee argued that Ethereum is being valued as financial infrastructure as tokenization and stablecoin settlement expand on its network. He said ETH could reach $7K–$9K by early 2026 if institutional adoption persists, citing moves by firms like Robinhood, BlackRock, and DTCC plans tied to U.S. Treasury systems.

On 26 December 2025, Ethereum developers detailed a 2026 roadmap built around two separate protocol upgrades named Glamsterdam and Heze-Bogota. Glamsterdam is intended to raise gas limits, introduce more parallel transaction processing, and shift validators toward cryptographic proof-based verification, while Heze-Bogota is aimed at strengthening privacy, decentralization, and resistance to censorship.

On 26 December 2025, blockchain intelligence firm AMLBot reported a major disparity between how Tether and Circle restrict illicit stablecoin transactions. From 2023 to 2025, Tether froze over $3 billion in USDT while Circle restricted just above $100 million in USDC, reflecting sharply different enforcement models. Tether acts quickly and sometimes burns and reissues tokens, whereas Circle typically reacts only to formal legal orders and leaves frozen coins untouched.

Bitcoin is trading in the mid-$87,000 range after another failed push through the $90,000 resistance area, with key support holding near $86,500. Analysts highlight thin holiday liquidity, softer on-chain activity, and a possible macro-driven rotation toward risk assets as factors that could shape the next attempt to reclaim $90,000.

A forged press release alleging Circle launched a tokenized gold-and-silver platform spread across crypto channels on Christmas Eve. On 25 December 2025, Circle said the announcement was fake and urged users not to connect wallets to any related sites, highlighting common drain-wallet tactics.

On 24 December 2025, analysts highlighted that Bitcoin’s subdued year-end price action, compressed volatility, and lack of a blow-off top resemble prior accumulation phases rather than cycle peaks. Macro data tied to the Financial Stress Index and declining exchange reserves indicate ongoing risk is not yet elevated while more BTC moves into long-term storage, suggesting the market may be quietly building a base instead of approaching a major crash. Some forecasts still allow for downside in 2026, but others see potential for a major advance, with targets up to $200,000.