U.today

Shibarium just got a privacy-layer update that could change everything — and after this year's bridge hack, the timing could not be better.

For those who have forgotten, on Sept. 12 the network endured a major exploit: a flash-loan attack plus a temporary validator key takeover drained some $4 million and forced a shutdown of the bridge.

Now the network built aroundShiba Inu (SHIB) meme coin is heading toward full on-chain privacy built on homomorphic encryption. Once completed, that shift could finally address one of the biggest structural weaknesses exposed by the hack: transparent asset flow.

Zama → Shibarium Privacy upgrade incomingThat means that before the end of Q2 2026, we could finally get full on chain privacy and confidential smart contracts on Shibarium and Bone thanks to Zama’s Fully Homomorphic Encryption tech. pic.twitter.com/0uc4qNZ2co

— 𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐈𝐄 (@LucieSHIB) November 27, 2025

Should private smart contracts and private transactions go live, attackers will have far less visibility into on-chain positioning, reducing exploit opportunities.

Here's when Shibarium becomes privacy-enhanced

Actually, it is not even about Shibarium but about Zama’s public stack rollout schedule that leads with a mainnet launch in Q4, 2025, expansion to other EVM chains like Shibarium in early 2026, and a Solana rollout later that year.

These plans place Shibarium squarely in the window for a privacy-enabled upgrade by Q2, 2026. Right now, the chain looks like a fast L2 built for memes like BONE orSHIB, but after upgrade, it may evolve into a serious infrastructure layer capable of supporting private DeFi, private execution, private value flow.

card

IfShiba Inu's blockchain pulls off native FHE privacy support inside that window, it becomes one of the first consumer-ready ecosystems with real confidentiality baked in.

After a hack that exposed the danger of bridge-based exploits, privacy could be the reset button the network badly needs.

XRP is holding strong at the level where its entire correction ended, and this is exactly why well-known trader"Dark Defender" reopened the $6 discussion. The last drop stopped at the 161.80% Fibonacci zone, the price bounced right back from it and XRP has not gone there since.

From this reaction, the analyst built a direct price path that leads to the $5.85-$6 region for theXRP price.

The setup is simple. The A-B-C correction is all done. The final C-leg bottomed out right in the deep retracement pocket, where strong reversals often show up. After touching it, XRP had a clear bounce. On the same day, the RSI went up from its lowest reading of the year, confirming that the declining phase lost force.

The whole projection depends on one line that is above the current price. This diagonal resistance has been stopping every rally since summer. XRP tried a few times and did not quite make it. The trader links the whole $6 scenario to this line.

If XRP finally breaks through and closes above it with purpose, the next steps are simply a matter of execution.

Key XRP levels to watch

First area: $2.22. Second area: around $3. Final stretch: The numbers are between $5.85 and $6, and they are taken from the higher Fibonacci extensions that match the scale of the previous waves.

The long channel that has guided theprice of XRP throughout the year supports the same idea. The upper boundary of that channel is pretty close to the trader's high target. When the price stays on both sides of the channel for a while, the upper band becomes a good target.

card

It all narrows down to one breakout. If XRP clears the diagonal that rejected it all summer, the chart opens the next section cleanly. If it fails again, the market stays in the same range until the next attempt.

XRP is showing great numbers as its weekly gains on the cryptocurrency market have surpassed those of Bitcoin (BTC) and Cardano (ADA). The altcoin has shown resilience as it stayed above the $2 level despite the volatility in the broader crypto space.

XRP price tailwind

According toCoinMarketCap data, the XRP price over the last seven days has soared by 18.46% as it continues its push for higher values. Notably, despite this gain, the coin is yet to meet investors’ expectations of regaining the $3 target, from where it slipped following the crypto market crash in October.

However, the gain is significant enough to outshine the flagship crypto asset, Bitcoin. Week-to-date, Bitcoin has managed a 13.01% climb, which is 5% less than XRP’s gain. Similarly, Cardano’s performance was single-digit growth at 8.47%.

XRP’s outstanding performance suggests the asset has stronger momentum than BTC and ADA in the last week of trading. The coin has demonstrated more potential to rebound from the recent fluctuations it experienced.

However, there is a twist to this rally for XRP. Investors have remained cautious and refused to actively engage in trading the coin on shorter time frames. As of press time, trading volume has declined by 20.33% and stands at $3 billion.

If market participants continue to stay away from transacting the coin and volume does not flip green, XRP might lose its momentum. Notably, for XRP’s price to continue on a bullish trajectory, demand for the coin needs to spike.

In light of low demand and to maintain price gains, the community had to employ the burn mechanism to reduce the circulating supply. Thedeflationary rate jumped by over 31% as the community was determined to halt the sell-off of XRP.

card

Technical outlook points to potential $3 breakout

Meanwhile, technical data indicates that XRP could beprepping for an over 13% rally as the chart setup signals upside potential.

The Bollinger Bands show that XRP has been stuck in the midbands, with XRP appearing unwilling to break out just yet. The coin is, however, directly under a possible seasonal breakout that could push prices closer to the $3 level.

In the broader crypto space, XRP recently made the list of themost popular tokens on the market. Kraken listed it in third place behind Bitcoin and Ethereum in a five-asset list.

BNB Chain and Solana completed the short list of the most popular assets, according to Kraken’s data.

Shiba Inu edged higher on Friday, reaching a high of $0.0000091, bringing it closer to an ambition of returning to $0.00001 and, hence, erasing a zero from its price tag.

Shiba Inu has quietly rallied from a low of $0.00000756 on Nov. 22, marking four out of five days in the green.

So far, Shiba Inu is down 11.58% in November and on track to mark its fourth consecutive red month since July 2025.

The year 2025 has marked lackluster action for the SHIB price as it steadily declined upon reaching a high of $0.00003324 in December 2024. Shiba Inu only closed in the green in just two months this year, in April and July, when it recorded gains of 6.87% and 9.02%, respectively.

Shiba Inu December rally?

Technical and historical narratives suggest that Shiba Inu saw a sudden sharp rally after a prolonged period of decline, March 2024 for instance, when SHIB rallied 144%.

With Shiba Inu eying its third consecutive red month in Q4, expectations remain for a relief rally in the year 2025's last month. Shiba Inu would need to rise about 65% from current prices in order to achieve a positive 2025 close.

The Shiba Inu price closed its first red October since its inception, flipping a timeless historical narrative. While Shiba Inu has mostly had red Decembers with the exception of December 2023, the historical narrative flip might support a green December this time.

Eyes will be on what December brings for Shiba Inu, with U.S. perpetual style futures to be launched by Coinbase as well as 24/7 trading for its monthly futures.

Shiba Inu makes AI advancement

The Shiba Inu mini-app has just launched on TokenPlay AI. Shiba Inu partner TokenPlay AI made this known in a recent tweet, revealing excitement and adding that the "internet is not ready for what comes next."

TokenPlay AI says the move represents SHIB plugged directly into AI infrastructure, running on the Token OS that turns any token into an intelligent, monetizable mini-app.

The move, it says, brings on "Real utility, real activation and real on-chain engagement."

At press time, SHIB was 4.67% in the last 24 hours to $0.00008831 and up 13.29% weekly.

Canadian billionaire Frank Giustra has slammed Strategy's Michael for recommending investors to sell Bitcoin.

Giustra dismisses the notion of dumping gold and buying Bitcoin as naive or dangerously oversimplified.

He has pointed out that for the past 15 years, countries outside the G7 (much of the developing world, including China and India) have been accumulating gold aggressively. This makes gold a much more resilient and globally supported asset than Saylor assumes.Unlike decades ago, the US no longer has the unilateral power to manipulate or "demonetize" gold, which is why he claims that Saylor is wrong.

Even if the US tried to sell all its gold and buy Bitcoin, Giustra argues the plan would fail because there wouldn’t be enough Bitcoin buyers.

If China and other emerging economies hold far more gold than widely believed, then Saylor’s idea that the US could “demonetize” gold by buying Bitcoin is impossible.

Asreported by U.Today, Giusta previously slammed Saylor as a "Bitcoin charlatan."

Giustra’s stance toward Bitcoin

Giustra generally treats Bitcoin not as a "digital gold" or a safe‑haven, but as a speculative asset.

In April, asreported by U.Today, he stated that these two are drastically different assets.

Binance Coin does not appear to be posing a threat to XRP’s position in the top four cryptocurrencies by market capitalization anytime soon, CoinMarketCap shows. The figures speak for themselves: BNB is far behind at $122 billion in market capitalization, while XRP is at about $134 billion.

Is XRP in trouble?

Looking at both charts, it is evident why that gap has not significantly closed during the recent market turbulence. On the chart, XRP is in a structural downtrend, but it has stabilized enough to avoid experiencing the kind of volatility that would cause it to fall out of the top four.

Every time XRP falls toward its lower boundary, buyers intervene. The price has been grinding sideways to slightly downward within a descending channel. Resilience is more important when comparing it to BNB than bullish momentum.

BNB faces two challenges. First of all, it does not have the influx of liquidity that XRP typically experiences during market swings. Second, Binance’s potential to make a significant comeback is still hampered by the regulatory pressure surrounding it. Even when BNB rises, it does so independently and without the support of the larger market.

card

Despite ongoing legal disputes, XRP continues to gain from increased trading volumes, a wider range of holders, and a more stable market presence. In other words, unless XRP collapses — which the chart obviously does not support — BNB lacks the structural support to close a $12 billion gap.

XRP's breakout potential

In terms of price, XRP has yet to break out of the declining channel and continues to face resistance from its downward-sloping EMA cluster. There is no discernible change in the trend, as the RSI stays neutral. However, stability rather than explosive upside is the main storyline here. XRP is fulfilling investors’ desire for assets that can withstand volatile periods.

To challenge XRP’s ranking, BNB would require a strong catalyst and a persistent multiweek rally. Such a catalyst will not exist in the near future. In the meantime, XRP continues to be liquid, active and structurally supported even during a corrective phase.

The market rolls into Friday in a calmer state after a mess earlier this week. Liquidity is thin because of the U.S. holiday schedule, the holiday weekend is already setting the tone and today’s options expiry is loading pressure across BTC and ETH. XRP picks up extra reach through the Apple Pay and Google Pay rollout, SHIB moves into a more promising chart zone and Bitcoin’s options board prints one of the biggest setups of the month.

TL;DR

XRP gets Apple Pay + Google Pay access in 40 countries via Trust Wallet.SHIB tests levels that unlock a clear 32% path up.Bitcoin options expiry hits $13.1 billion notional.XRP unlocks Apple and Google Pay in 40 countries

Trust Wallet added Apple Pay and Google Pay for instant crypto buys, giving XRP a fresh and very direct entry channel in more than 40 countries. The list includes the U.S., Brazil, France, Germany, the U.K., Canada, UAE, Australia, Japan, Singapore, Argentina, Mexico, Spain, Italy and plenty more.

The supported lineup at launch covers BTC, ETH, BNB, SOL, XRP, USDC and USDT. Users can pay in USD or EUR. Minimum entry sits at $20, with limits depending on region and provider rules.

Trust Wallet has integrated Apple Pay!Buy your first crypto in seconds. Available in 45+ countries.Open Trust Wallet → ‘Fund’ → Apple Pay: https://t.co/Mv6sRhbAxg pic.twitter.com/WbxqB4neDy

— Trust Wallet (@TrustWallet) November 27, 2025

For XRP, this is not just another infrastructure update. It puts the token into one of the biggest mobile payment ecosystems on the planet. Apple Pay and Google Pay run massive global volume, and once an asset gets into that flow, onboarding becomes easier, reach gets wider and retail demand has fewer steps to clear.

Intraday charts show XRP sitting around $2.19-$2.22. The price has not made a clean push yet, but the market clearly caught the headline. Moves like this rarely play out instantly — they build over time, especially when they expand direct access for millions of users at once.

Friday will see thinner liquidity because of the short U.S. session, but the integration stands out as one of themost meaningful updates for XRP this month, even despite the ETF launch.

Shiba Inu (SHIB) teases 32% price growth scenario

Shiba Inu (SHIB) has been stuck for weeks, but the tone this week looks different. The charts show SHIB almost touching its 23-day moving average on the daily frame. Closing above this line would open the path toward the 50-day and 200-day MAs. The 200-day MA is currently at $0.00001192, which is about 32% higher than today's price range of $0.00000888-$0.00000894, as per TradingView.

card

SHIB has not had a clean breakout in a while, but this bounce off the lows is more structured than earlier attempts. BTC’s recovery from the mid-$80,000s helped, and altcoins are finally showing more consistent flows.

If SHIB clears the 23-day MA, the chart will unlock a real path toward the 200-day level. It does not need a narrative — the chart alone sets the tone.

However, as always with meme coins, the situation is mixed. If theSHIB price is rejected under the short-term averages, it will fall back into the same range it has been cycling in since late October. Because the next proper trading day after this weekend is the first Monday of the month, today's close matters more than usual.

Bitcoin options hit record $13.1 billion

Today’s expiry window is huge asBTC options set to expire today total$13.1 billion in notional value. And this Friday stacks several pressure points at once:

CME downtime:CME has been offline for more than eight hours. Futures and options from CME are the backbone for hedging across funds and market-makers. When CME stalls, pricing across the whole market loses one of its main anchors.Shortened U.S. trading day:Today closes early in the U.S. because of holiday hours. That cuts the amount of time large players have to rebalance around expiry.Weekend + month-open Monday.The weekend usually runs light, and Monday is the first session of the new month — a day that often brings strong directional moves, especially when the prior Friday hosts a heavy expiry.

BTC trades around $91,200-$91,300 after bouncing from the mid-$86,000s. The rebound looks stable, but expiry setups can override clean chart signals, especially when liquidity is thin and one of the main derivatives venues is offline.

The main question traders are tracking today is this: is the market driftinf toward the $100,000 max-pain mark, or does thin trading pull BTC into a flat weekend close? Both routes are on the table.

Crypto market outlook

The crypto market keeps a quieter tone heading into the weekend, but many remain alert because expiry, CME downtime and reduced U.S. hours make today’s action unstable. Weekend ranges are usually narrow unless a catalyst hits, and Monday’s month-open adds extra weight to whatever closes today.

Levels to watch:• Bitcoin (BTC): $89,500 support, $95,500 pivot, $100,000 max-pain level.•XRP: $2.19-$2.22 with new payment rails widening the reach.• Shiba Inu (SHIB): $0.00000894 with the 23-day MA acting as the breakout trigger.

Monday’s open decides how much of today carries into December.

card

Ripple USD stablecoin (RLUSD) has crossed a major milestone, as the token crossed the one billion mark on the Ethereum network.DefiLlama data reveals that RLUSD has hit 1.261 billion in total circulating supply.

Ripple stablecoin growth highlights surging adoption

Notably, this places its market capitalization at a corresponding $1.261 billion. This achievement is huge for Ripple USD stablecoin, considering that it is yet to complete one year since it made its debut in the crypto space.

This indicates that over 1.02 billion RLUSD are now minted and active on Ethereum. The development indicates the massive adoption that RLUSD continues to enjoy among users, particularly on the Ethereum blockchain. It signals trust and increasing demand from users in the community for the relatively new stablecoin.

The more than 1.26 billion RLUSD on Ethereum also shows strong liquidity and the increasing relevance of the Ripple stablecoin in an ecosystem dominated by Tether (USDT) and Circle (USDC). It indicates that users are comfortable with RLUSD as their stablecoin of preference in carrying out payment transactions.

Within the last 72 hours, Ripple has alsoaccelerated minting on the XRP Ledger, churning out another 10 million. The minting points to steady demand for the stablecoin from traders and investors alike, as Ripple has been very cautious not to flood the market with RLUSD.

card

In November alone, Ripple minted over 77 million RLUSD despite the fluctuation in the broader crypto industry that has slowed down transactions. It is a clear indication that demand for the stablecoin has been high, and RLUSD is gaining traction in the sector.

Middle East approval boosts RLUSD’s utility

Ripple USD stablecoin recently gained momentum in the Middle East following the regulatory fiat license granted to it to serve aslending collateral in Abu Dhabi. The approval means that users in the region can now use RLUSD as collateral on certain platforms in the Abu Dhabi Global Market financial free zone.

It helps to increase the stablecoin’s utility in the real world and improves RLUSD’s market share in the sector.

The steady adoption that RLUSD has enjoyed over the last 11 months has enabled it toflip the memecoin, BONK, in terms of market capitalization. With its $1.261 billion market cap, it has surpassed BONK, whose value recently dropped from $1.01 billion to $823.59 million.

In a recent tweet, Vet, an XRP Ledger dUNL validator, outlines Ripple CTO David Schwartz's blueprint for smart contracts on the XRP Ledger.

Schwartz was part of a discussion on X space "Programmability on XRPL," alongside RippleX software engineer Mayukha Vadari, Bias Goose, Dan Fisher and others.

Vet summarized insights offered by the Ripple CTO in four points. Weeks back, XRP reached a major smart contract milestone with the launch of the XRP Ledger Smart Contracts feature on AlphaNet, a dedicated development network.

David on Smart Contracts on the XRP Ledger.1) We don't need full general purpose SC. We don't need to be the best SC platform, just a little bit programmability via SC.2) It boosts native features. If you can't connect native features together they are not as useful. 3)… pic.twitter.com/WENSRxRJUI

— Vet (@Vet_X0) November 27, 2025

Vet explained Schwartz's rationale for limited smart contracts on the XRPL. According to the Ripple CTO, the XRP Ledger might not need full general purpose smart contracts, adding that it might need just a little bit of programmability via smart contracts: "We don't need to be the best SC platform, just a little bit programmability via SC."

Schwartz envisages a scenario where smart contracts boost native features, adding that if they cannot connect native features together, they are not as useful.

The Ripple CTO reiterated the importance of safety, emphasizing the essence of small steps. This approach will not allow full blown programmability but measured steps, which Schwartz believes will yield the best real world feedback.

Given that SCs-XLS101 is limited in design, it will allow for a large group of amendments to not be protocol changes. This is believed to be a huge gain in protocol security for all actors using the XRPL, including banks and individual users alike.

XLS-101 smart contracts

As discussions on the smart contract implementation of XRP Ledger continue, RippleX software engineer Mayukha Vadari shares a reminder in a tweet on XLS-101 smart contracts.

"Reminder: XLS-101 smart contracts are not EVM-based," Mayukha wrote in a tweet. XLS-101 smart contracts are differentiated from the XRPL EVM Sidechain, a standalone blockchain that supports Ethereum smart contracts.

XLS-101 smart contract is a formal design of a smart contract system for the XRPL, which takes inspiration from several existing smart contract systems (including Xahau’s Hooks and the EVM).

As reported, Vet previously clarified misconceptions about XRP Ledger smart contracts, noting that this is not intended to be exactly the same as some existing design, nor replace XRPL’s existing building blocks, nor modify the consensus protocol that would pay validators.

Shiba Inu is making an effort to recover, but the chart does not allow for much misinterpretation. This is not breakout momentum, and there is very little chance that SHIB will break through its important resistance levels at this time. Yes, the price is rising, but the main issue is that it is pushing into resistance without any significant volume to support it. Breakouts are caused by conviction, liquidity and buying pressure rather than hope. SHIB does not have any of those at the moment.

Shiba Inu's price region

The asset is positioned directly beneath the 20-EMA, 50-EMA and 100-EMA, a compressed cluster of declining moving averages. All three are still sloping downward, which is indicative of a more general trend that is still clearly negative. Even if SHIB is successful in tagging the $0.0000095-$0.0000100 region, it will still encounter a wall that has repeatedly rejected it over the past three months.

But the real story is revealed by volume. It has been weaker over the past few sessions than nearly every other attempt at a breakout this year. One thing is clear from that level of participation: no one is actively intervening. In the absence of new inflows, SHIB is unable to produce the impulse needed to break out of its decline. As liquidity dries up, we are essentially witnessing a weary market oscillating inside a bearish structure.

card

Although there is a slight increase in RSI from oversold conditions, this is typical of all relief bounces. Nothing in the momentum profile points to a change in trend strength or prolonged accumulation.

Negative scenario

One of two possible outcomes should be anticipated by investors. The most likely outcome is a stalled rally. SHIB tries to break through, pushes a little higher, taps the EMAs and then reverts to the slow-bleed pattern. With a deeper retest, SHIB may easily return to $0.0000080 or lower if it loses its short-term higher lows, particularly if Bitcoin cools or overall risk appetite diminishes.

It would be generous to refer to this setup as a breakout attempt. In the near future, SHIB’s chances of breaking out are essentially 0% absent a spike in volume. Investors seeking genuine bullish signals should wait for reclaimed EMAs or volume spikes, neither of which are currently present.

There is a desperate attempt by traditional financial institutions to push back on cryptocurrency’s growing influence. Chief Technical Officer (CTO) at Ledger Charles Guillemet, in apost on X, says the evidence is clear from recent defensive actions taken by legacy institutions.

Guillemet: Crypto’s momentum "cannot Be hindered"

Notably, Guillemet cited the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) move to exclude companies like Strategy Inc., whose balance sheets contain more crypto assets than those of traditional firms, from its index.

He considers this a deliberate move to downplay the success of such organizations and attempt to reduce their visibility to potential traditional investors.

The Ledger CTO also cited S&P Global's downgrade of theTether(USDT) stablecoin as another clear example of traditional finance (TradFi) pushing back against crypto-based companies. Guillemet maintains that these are not just coincidences or random neutral decisions but are calculated to keep crypto down.

MSCI’s move to exclude companies with more than 50% of their balance sheet in crypto (eg. Strategy), and S&P’s downgrade of USDT rating, are clear signs that legacy TradFi knows disruption is coming, and is desperately trying to push back.The paradigm shift is inevitable: you…

— Charles Guillemet (@P3b7_) November 28, 2025

He is suggesting that TradFi institutions feel threatened by the rise of crypto and are afraid that the sector could soon eclipse them. Hence, these decisions and actions taken are designed to slow down the process or attempt to delegitimize crypto.

Despite TradFi’s moves, Guillemet believes the adoption of crypto cannot be hindered by an person or institution. "The paradigm shift is inevitable: you either embrace it, or you get disrupted," he stated.

Guillemet’s advice to traditional financial institutions is to embrace the asset class, as he insists it is the future of finance. He wants old institutions to adopt and adapt or risk being left behind in the financial revolution crypto is introducing.

Strategy’s Reaction to TradFi’s Pushback

Strategy’s Michael Saylor,responding to the MSCI index saga, had clarified that the company was not a holding company nor a trust. Rather, it operates as a publicly traded organization with a $500 million software business.

card

He stated that Strategy will continue to use Bitcoin as productive capital to build the first global digital monetary institution.

Saylor maintained that Strategy’s progress is not limited by any form of index classifications, nor will it distract it from its mission to ensure financial innovation.

Strategy’s growth in the financial sector has been acknowledged by both critics and fans alike. In October, ‘The Bitcoin Age’ author Adam Livingston predicted that it is possible forStrategy Inc. to outperform tech giants like Nvidia at the rate it is going.

Livingston based his prediction on the Strategy’s Bitcoin-heavy approach and the growth rate of the flagship crypto asset.

XRP was in a bit of a slump recently, going back and forth between $2.10 and $2.20, as per TradingView. But the real story was not in the candles themselves. It has been sitting inside the Bollinger Bands, where the popular altcoin has been stuck under the midband for almost two weeks straight. This usually means that there is pressure building up beneath the surface.

On paper, the price seems pretty calm. The thing is, XRP keeps hitting the same ceiling near the middle band, and each time it stalls in the same narrow zone. 

This kind of behavior usually tells traders that the market is not rejecting upside; it simply is not ready to hand it out yet. The setup looks a lot like what you often see before a major market rise, which is where the 13% Santa Rally angle comes from.

The band structure explains why this moment is so important. The upper band is near $2.50, the lower band is near $1.92 and XRP has been sliding between them without direction since early November.

Why is XRP an exceptional choice right now?

Most names out there are not showing this exact compression. Bitcoin and Ethereum are moving with more stable strength, while smaller names like ZEC are drifting without tension. 

XRP, on the other hand, is the only large-cap chart showing a midband blockade sitting directly under a potential seasonal breakout.

card

Now, the focus is back on the midband. If XRP finally pushes above it with a decisive close, the path to the 13% extension to $2.51 is open right away. If the rejection repeats itself, the market can drag the price back to the same low band at $1.92 that defined most of the month.

With a 74% chance that Bitcoin will remain below $92,000 this week, Polymarket traders are extremely pessimistic about the short-term rise of the cryptocurrency. The chart’s structural problems, and the market’s actions following the most recent violent sell-off, are reflected in this sentiment read, which is not arbitrary.

Bitcoin's grind

The rally is still more of a reflexive recovery than a trend reversal, despite Bitcoin’s dramatic comeback off sub-$85,000 lows. Bitcoin is grinding into the underside of a dense resistance cluster on the chart. The 20-EMA, 50-EMA and 100-EMA all converge at $99,000-$104,000 and slope downward, creating a barrier that has historically required significant momentum to breach.

Bitcoin must overcome the more immediate obstacle at $92,000-$94,000, where the market repeatedly faltered prior to the November breakdown, before it can even hope to reach $100,000 once more.

Although the recovery leg is robust, it comes after one of the year’s fastest declines. Speculative bounces are typically drawn to that kind of move, but sustained conviction is not always guaranteed. Even though the volume on the rebound is higher than it was during the liquidation cascade, it is still significantly lower. This imbalance indicates that buyers are not dominant, but rather reactive.

card

Psychological exhaustion is probably also priced in for Polymarket traders. The market realized that the uptrend was not as strong as many had thought after Bitcoin lost its multimonth support and blasted through the 200-day region without any significant pause. It is always more difficult to recover lost levels than to keep them.

Why current recovery is shaky

Additionally, the market is waiting for confirmation that the bounce is not the result of trapped longs exiting into strength, or shorts covering. This is a more general macro hesitation. The recovery is still questionable and sensitive to another rollover in the absence of a strong push above $92,000.

The chart already indicates that Bitcoin has room to rise, but it is headed straight into resistance with no catalyst powerful enough to force a breakout. This is reflected in the 74% bearish odds. It is too soon to expect Bitcoin to surge back toward $100,000 until buyers prove they can break through the $92,000 ceiling.

Analyst Raoul Pal believes that the cryptocurrency industry is around "2017 Google" for Bitcoin and even earlier for Ethereum (ETH).

In 2017, Google (Alphabet) had already proven its dominance in search and digital advertising, but its full network potential was far from fully realized (cloud, AI, and so on).

Pal has implied that Bitcoin in 2025 is at a similar stage: the network is strong, adoption is accelerating, but the total potential is not yet fully captured.

Ethereum is even earlier in its lifecycle, meaning its network adoption and utility are less mature than Bitcoin’s. Hence, the "upside potential"is even greater.

"If it looks like a duck…"

According to Raoul Pal, Bitcoin and Ethereum behave like networked platforms. Just as Google, Meta, or Amazon generate value largely from the scale and interaction of their users, crypto’s value comes from its network effects.

"If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it is probably a duck…" Pal said.

Metcalfe’s Law states that the value of a network grows roughly with the square of the number of users.

Pal argues that the primary driver of crypto value isn’t cash flow or profits, but adoption.

Hence, the more people use Bitcoin or Ethereum, the more valuable the network becomes.

Bitcoin has limited intrinsic cash flows (no company issuing dividends), but the network itself becomes exponentially more valuable depending on how many people adopt it as money, a store of value, or collateral.

The aforementioned companies are also network-driven. For Google, the value comes from its ecosystem of users, advertisers, and data. With Meta, the network effects stem from social media users.

The point is that these are platforms where the scale of the network drives the bulk of the value, not just profits or traditional balance sheets

Crypto fits this model "almost by definition", so treating it like a traditional cash-flow business misses the core driver of value, according to Pal.

Jameson Lopp, chief security officer at Casa, has estimated that France accounts for roughly 25% of all wrench attacks around the globe.

The term refers to violent, real-world attacks on crypto holders that involve abduction, torture, and coercion. Victims are forced to hand over private keys, hardware wallets, or transfer crypto. Attackers bypass the high level of digital security offered by blockchain by using physical violence.

Blood-curling attacks

One of the most notorious incidents occurred in January, when David Balland, co-founder of Ledger, and his wife were kidnapped at gunpoint near Vierzon. The attackers demanded a ransom reportedly around €10 million. French authorities intervened after nearly sixty hours of captivity and managed to successfully rescue the couple while arresting five suspects.

A few months later, in May, another high-profile case involved the father of an unnamed crypto entrepreneur. He was kidnapped and subjected to torture, including electrocution. His captors demanded a ransom of several million euros. The French authorities rescued him and apprehended the perpetrators.

card

Also in May, a brazen daylight attempt targeted the daughter and toddler of a Paymium crypto exchange CEO in Paris. Masked attackers posing as delivery personnel tried to abduct them in the city’s eleventh arrondissement, but intervention by the father and nearby neighbors prevented the kidnapping. This incident shocked the community due to its sheer audacity.

In June, a 23-year-old private crypto investor in a Paris suburb was kidnapped while running errands. The assailants forced him to call his partner to hand over a bag containing his hardware wallet and cash.

Last week, six men, including two minors, were arrested in France for planning to kidnap a man and rob him of cryptocurrency.

The market is in a weird spot, where a recovery is certainly possible, but the lack of volatility and liquidity is raising a lot of concerns regarding the future of the market. As holidays on the U.S. market conclude, we might see a spike of bearishness on the cryptocurrency market.

Bitcoin's recovery attempt

After a brutal breakdown in mid-November, Bitcoin has recovered, and the move off the lows is now exhibiting genuine intent rather than a dead-cat bounce. The price swiftly returned to the mid-$80,000s and momentum continued toward the $90,000 region, which is currently serving as a structurally significant point on the chart as well as a psychological barrier.

Technically speaking, the present recovery is valid. Extremely oversold conditions were brought about by the steep sell-off, and the recent increase in volume shows that buyers are not merely passive dip-collectors but are also prepared to push. The steady green volume bars over the past few sessions show that the flow is no longer dominated by panic exits, and the RSI has lifted off the floor, indicating improving momentum. However, it is not a soft ceiling.

The 50-, 100- and 200-day EMAs are the three main moving averages that Bitcoin is still trading below, and they are all still on a steep decline. Recovering BTC is a multistep process, and the most recent breakdown pulled them below this entire cluster. Even when the short-term momentum is bullish, the structure's inertia is still bearish. The current price of $90,000 is where the first real challenge is located.

It makes sense for sellers to reappear at this level which served as support during the early stages of the decline. Nevertheless, the recovery push has been exceptionally powerful, and a breakout above $90,000 is very likely if buyers can maintain their pressure. The declining 50-EMA is waiting at $94,000-$96,000 if the daily close is clean and above $90,000. The real test will be that area; regaining it would change the discussion from relief rally to trend reversal attempt.

Shiba Inu's turning point

Shiba Inu is at a turning point where a new rally could start; the word "can" is important because the setup is encouraging but not certain. Following weeks of pressure and a clear structural decline, SHIB eventually recorded a series of higher lows along with a minor, but discernible, increase in buying volume. That is the first indication that sell-side fatigue may be beginning.

The price has now returned to the range of $0.0000085-$0.0000090, which has historically served as a short-term pivot. The market typically attempts at least a midsized recovery wave, and SHIB finds support here. Additionally, the RSI is rising from extremely oversold levels and is currently in the mid-40s, a neutral area that frequently precedes acceleration if buyers intervene forcefully.

card

The actual opportunity, however, is a little bit higher. The declining 20-day EMA is getting closer to SHIB, and the 50- and 100-day EMAs are stacked downward just above it. The rally could pick up speed quickly if SHIB is able to break through this resistance-heavy cluster of moving averages. A period of grinding consolidation is followed by a sudden spike when liquidity flips, which is the same pattern we have frequently observed in prior SHIB cycles. Here, new inflows are completely feasible.

After recent volatility, the market is stabilizing, and once broader crypto confidence returns, meme assets usually function as high-beta plays. The next liquidity pockets are located at $0.0000095 and even $0.0000105 — if volume increases significantly from these levels.

Even so, nothing is certain. There is still a general downward trend. The 200-day EMA is angled downward and significantly higher than the current price, indicating that long-term sentiment has not changed. SHIB would swiftly return to the mid-$0.0000070s if the short-term EMAs are not regained.

XRP's underlying effort

Although XRP is making an effort to gain momentum, the chart indicates that the market is still caught between early signs of recovery and a more general bearish structure. Technically sound and clean was the bounce from the lower edge of the falling channel. Buyers firmly defended the $2.00-$2.10 range, which is precisely where XRP has historically experienced reactive demand. The current price is in the midchannel zone as a result of that reaction.

Momentum is increasing, at least temporarily. The RSI moved out of oversold territory and is currently moving in the direction of the mid-40s, which typically signals increased buyer activity if the price continues to rise. The volume during the bounce was also higher than usual; it was not a complete reversal spike, but it was sufficient to show that participants who had been sidelined had returned.

card

However, the ceiling above is significant. XRP is facing a group of declining moving averages that slope downward, including the 20-EMA, 50-EMA and 100-EMA. That is a classic indication that the market is still in a medium-term downward trend. Any bullish momentum is speculative until the price breaks through that compression zone, which is approximately between $2.30 and $2.50. While the asset is still respecting lower highs and a falling channel, we cannot declare a change in trend.

Two realistic scenarios should be anticipated by investors.

Persistence of momentum: The next area of interest is $2.50-$2.55, where the 50-EMA and horizontal resistance converge, if XRP moves above $2.36 (20-EMA) and holds. The channel is weakening, and buyers are gaining ground if there is a clean breakout above this zone. A more significant trend reversal may then begin to take shape.

The price will probably move back toward the channel midpoint, or even retest the lower boundary around $2.05-$2.10, if XRP is rejected around current levels. In that case, any recovery narrative is postponed, and the broader downtrend is maintained.

The crypto market has seen broad resurgence, with prices of leading cryptocurrencies showing notable increases. However, the Solana ETFs have just logged their first-ever daily outflow, according to data from Farside Investors.

This outflow has happened when the crypto market is showing strength, sparking curiosities about the sudden shift witnessed in the Solana ETF ecosystem.

Since the launch of the first Solana ETF, which happened about a month ago, the ecosystem has continued to record steady daily inflows until November 26, when it recorded its first-ever outflow of $8.2 million.

Solana ETFs see $8.2 million in first outflow

According to the source, the net flow data showcased across the five U.S. Solana ETFs, which includes Bitwise (BSOL), VanEck (VSOL), Fidelity (FSOL), 21Shares (TSOL), and Grayscale (GSOL), shows that despite the robust cumulative inflows of $613 million, the market experienced an unusual setback on November 26, 2025.

On this day, all five Solana ETFs recorded a combined $8.2 million in outflows, suggesting reduced institutional demand despite the positive market trend.

While it is the first Solana ETF issuer, Bitwise has continued to dominate the space, contributing $527.9 million in flows to date, representing more than 86% of all inflows recorded by all existing funds.

card

While this is followed by Grayscale with $73.6 million total inflows, VanEck’s Solana ETF, though smaller, has also seen steady inflows since its launch. On the other hand, FSOL and TSOL are beginning to register more frequent daily inflows than their initial performance.

Nonetheless, the first-ever outflow achieved on November 26 was driven primarily by a $34.4 million outflow recorded by 21Shares’ TSOL.

Although TSOL was the only fund to post a significant withdrawal that day, its huge outflow outweighed the inflows achieved by the other ETFs for the day.

This means that the other ETFs still saw modest inflows but not enough to offset the TSOL decline.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has heaped praise on Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin in his recent social media post.

The Ethereum whitepaper was published 12 years ago today.Ethereum changed the course of crypto by giving builders greater tools - including a Turing complete language!Shoutout to @VitalikButerin, the Ethereum co-founders, and the entire Ethereum community. So many of the…

— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) November 27, 2025

Naturally, the post did not sit well with Bitcoin maximalists, who were quick to describe Ethereum as "centralized pseudo-money" and "fiat."

No it was a step backwards. Reliance on a centralized banking system figure, CEO, foundation or team is centralization and no different than fiat. All centralization will end the same. Corruption. Greed. And inflation. Ethereum is centralized pseudo money.

— Metteyya (@therealmetteyya) November 27, 2025

Diverging paths

The first known meeting between Armstrong and Buterin happened in 2013 at a Bitcoin conference in San Jose. At the time, Buterin was writing for Bitcoin Magazine. Armstrong later recalled that he found Buterin’s writing impressive.

Some months later, Armstrong invited Buterin to visit the new first office of Coinbase (which Armstrong co-founded and runs) in San Francisco.

The Coinbase team was interested, and they considered hiring Buterin. But things didn’t work out because Buterin was unable to get a U.S. work visa. This visa issue forced him to return to Canada.

In Canada, Buterin published the white paper for Ethereum to great fanfare. The revolutionary document laid out the foundation for smart contracts, decentralized applications, and a programmable blockchain beyond simple digital currency.

Over the years, both men have been recognized among the “top young influencers” in crypto/tech. In 2017, Armstrong and Buterin both appeared in the influential list Fortune "40 Under 40."

Controversial listing

Ethereum, after its 2015 launch, quickly grew into the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. Coinbase had built a reputation as a leading U.S.-based crypto exchange, initially focused on Bitcoin trading. However, Ethereum was first listed on Coinbase in July 2016.

The listing of Ethereum on Coinbase proved to be extremely controversial among Bitcoin maximalists.

On Thursday, November 27, a Shiba Inu executive, Lucie, confirmed that the team is preparing a significant privacy upgrade for the Shibarium network as the Zama public testnet goes live.

The upgrade, which has been planned to take effect before the end of Q2 2025, will see Shibarium leverage Zama’s fast-growing Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) technology.

With this, Shibarium will be able to gain full on-chain privacy and confidential smart contracts in the coming year to redefine how privacy and security function across the SHIB ecosystem.

Nonetheless, Lucie further shared an image revealing Zama’s updated protocol roadmap, which shows that its public testnet is already live.

Furthermore, its Ethereum mainnet deployment took effect in the last quarter in 2025, and broader EVM-chain support will roll out in early 2026.

card

While Shibarium is fully EVM-compatible, it automatically falls into this next expansion expected to happen in 2026. With this potential development, encrypted transactions, confidential smart contract logic, and private user interactions could soon become native features of Shibarium, powered directly by fhEVM.

While the development positions Shibarium to become a privacy-focused EVM Layer-2 network, it is set to efficiently meet the demand of developers who want to build next-generation DeFi, gaming, governance, and institutional tools without exposing user data.

What does Zama entail?

The initiative behind the launch of Zama follows efforts to remediate the issues associated with overly transparent public blockchains that expose user behavior and contract data to anyone with a block explorer.

To solve this problem, Zama allows smart contracts to run while all data and state remain encrypted throughout execution, even while staying fully on-chain.

This development, which is set to put the Shibarium network in the spotlight, will further boost its adoption among DeFi users, while propelling the ecosystem’s native token SHIB for more demand, which could fuel an upside trajectory for the token.

XRP eyes recovery toward $2.60

XRPseems to find its bottom near $1.97, and new price prediction points straight at the midband around $2.60.

Bounce back. XRP price might gain 30%.

The latest XRP price projection by analyst Ali Martinez suggests it is heading toward the middle of the range around $2.60 — a 30% increase from the local bottom set on Nov. 24.

The chart is binary: the lower boundary held, the price turned without hesitation and the structure now opens the same way that produced every green move earlier this year.

Price history. Historical data shows December averages 69% return.

January did well, bouncing back from compressed levels with a 46% return. July saw a 35% increase. Both came from conditions that match the current setup. So, it is the same old story over and over again. The year 2025 shows the following rhythm: weak months gave way to strong recoveries, and the wider environment did not block these swings.

Historical returns back the idea. December is not a slow month for XRP. The average flashes a 69% return, and the monthly table shows some extreme upside examples that popped up without any coordinated market rallies.

Bitcoin prints 36,380% liquidation imbalance

BTCis finally sending bears out of the crypto market following its rapid resurgence, with a massive $8 million in short positions wiped out.

BTC short wipeout. Crypto market flipped green, triggering liquidation wave.

The crypto market has seen a notable resurgence in the last hour, with prices of leading cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin flipping to the positive side. This hourly price shift has triggered a wild liquidation event in the Bitcoin derivatives market, as data from Coinglass shows a substantial skewing against short positions.

During an hourly liquidation session, a total of $8.03 million in Bitcoin positions were wiped out, recording a massive $8 million in short positions against just $21,930 in long positions.

This massive liquidation imbalance, which happened when the market witnessed a sudden shift in sentiment, has seen short traders suffer the major portion of the liquidation, marking a massive 36,389% liquidation imbalance in just one hour.

Institutional demand. Bitcoin ETFs logging strong daily inflows.

While momentum is finally returning to the market amid renewed interest and confidence, the massive short-position wipe-off comes as no surprise, as traders appeared heavily tilted toward downside expectations due to the prolonged volatility witnessed in previous days.

However, the market has pushed Bitcoin back into positive price action amid surging demand from institutions, as Bitcoin ETFs also record impressive daily inflows.

SHIB shows strongest post-crash recovery attempt

Shiba Inumight see a zero removed much sooner than it would have seemed. But it is too early to become euphoric.

Regaining momentum. SHIB is attempting its strongest recovery since November’s major downtrend.

Although it is too soon to declare a complete reversal has occurred, Shiba Inu just made one of its strongest post-crash recovery attempts, and the current price behavior is unquestionably bullish in contrast to the severe downtrend that dominated the majority of November, as we can see on TradingView's charts.

The bounce off the $0.0000075-$0.0000080 zone was more than just a feeble relief rally; it was accompanied by increasing momentum, an improvement in RSI and unmistakable proof that buyers were at last intervening with conviction.

Bulls are back. The chart shows no rounded bottom since early summer, now forming again.

This shift in trend is the most significant signal. The vertical decline of SHIB has stopped. Rather, we have not seen a rounded bottom on the chart since the early summer recovery.

One of the first and most accurate indications that sellers are losing control is rounding. It demonstrates that stronger absorption is occurring with each push lower, transforming flat candles into higher lows — exactly what you want to see prior to a trend reversal.