Cryptopolitan

Nearly nine months have passed since President Trump announced a major shift in trade policy, and while the United States now has its steepest tariffs in close to 100 years, worldwide commerce has not fallen apart. Instead, it has changed course.

Companies and countries have adjusted their trading patterns. The United States purchases fewer goods straight from China these days, but it buys more products from factories China owns in countries with lower tariff rates, such as Vietnam. 

Meanwhile, China ships more products to nearly every other nation, particularly inexpensive goods heading to Europe.

Automakers move operations to America

Nissan, a carmaker with plants on five continents, decided tariffs meant it should focus more on the United States.

The company increased the number of Rogue SUVs it makes in Tennessee rather than bringing them in from Japan. It also started pushing other vehicles made in America, including the bigger Pathfinder SUV and Frontier pickup, while cutting back on imports from Mexico.

“There’s been a very deliberate plan to put marketing dollars behind the cars that are being produced in the U.S.,” Jérémie Papin, Chief Financial Officer, said in a recent interview. 

The car business got hit hard by tariffs, with major companies together reporting close to $12 billion in extra tariff expenses earlier in the year. Until now, automakers such as Nissan have not raised their prices much, taking the financial hit themselves with smaller profits. The average price for a new car sat just under $50,000 in November, only 1.3% higher than the previous year, Cox Automotive data shows.

April tariff announcement

On April 2, the president revealed broad reciprocal tariffs of 10% on no fewer than 60 countries, but important trading partners faced steeper tariffs. China got hit with 34% tariffs, Japan with 24%, and the European Union with 20%. The tariff on cars brought into the country jumped to 25%. When Trump made his announcement, he pointed out some of the high tariffs other nations place on American farm products and automobiles.

“They have taken so much wealth from our country, and we’re not going to let that happen,” Trump said then. He added later, “There is no tariff if you build your plant – your product – in America.”

The tariff actions seemed to work. Over the following months, the president and his team would reveal trade deals to boost market access to the United Kingdom, including promises to purchase more ethanol, beef, cereals, fruits, vegetables, and other farm goods.

Tensions with China

With China, the Trump administration did more than just impose tariffs. Officials labeled Chinese organizations as national security threats, limiting U.S. money going into Chinese businesses. The United States also tightened rules on Chinese access to technology.

Stopping soybean purchases came early, but Chinese officials made a much larger move in early October when the country revealed sweeping limits on rare-earth mineral exports.

China controls about 70% of worldwide rare-earth mining and holds an even larger portion of processing capacity.

China’s action on rare-earth minerals was so important that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Ambassador Jamieson Greer held a press conference on Oct. 15, criticizing the impact it would create worldwide. Greer said China’s move “is not proportional retaliation” but “an exercise of economic coercion on every country in the world.”

After that, both nations looked for a way out.

By late October, China agreed to postpone its limits on rare-earth minerals for at least a year. The United States agreed to reduce tariffs by 10% and stop a rule that blocked Chinese companies from certain U.S. technology exports.

Canadian relations worsen

In March, Trump put 25% tariffs on Canadian products not included in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), except for energy and potash fertilizer imports, which got 10% tariffs. 

Canada fought back by putting 25% tariffs on roughly $30 billion worth of U.S. products.

The overall Canadian tariff went up to 35% in August. The president then stopped trade discussions after the province of Ontario ran an advertisement in the United States using former President Ronald Reagan’s words criticizing tariff policies.

Canadian leaders said a close partnership that had long helped the country had turned into a major weakness.

Addressing affordability

Trump started getting questions about affordability in the fall as shoppers complained about high prices. Nations such as Brazil were dealing with 50% tariffs, which raised the costs of some common items.

In a speech earlier this month, Trump blamed the economy on his predecessor, saying, “I inherited a mess”, saying that the nation’s economy is stronger now than a year ago. On Truth Social on Dec. 27, Trump credited his tariff policies for helping the economy.

“Tariffs are creating GREAT WEALTH, and unprecedented National Security for the USA. Trade deficit has been cut by 60%, totally unheard of. 4.3% GDP, and going way up. No inflation!!! We are respected as a Country again.”

 

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Noise is not the beginning of some of the best crypto stories. They start quietly. The process of development occurs behind the scenes. First users come without headlines. Then visibility appears so quick. According to commentators in the market, this is usually where value is created over the long term. A project, which has been constructed in months, may suddenly become a center of attention. Several investors are now of the view that Mutuum Finance (MUTM) is in that visibility state.

What Mutuum Finance (MUTM) Has Been Developing 

Mutuum Finance is a developing DeFi platform that is based on lending and borrowing. The purpose is direct and straight to the point. Allow users to generate yield through provision of assets. Allow others to borrow on security without disposing of their assets.

Dual lending is utilized in the protocol. On the one hand, users provide resources into pools. On the other hand, there is easy access to liquidity by the borrowers, with clear rules. Rates change accordingly with demand. The system is guarded by collateral limits and liquidations. This system promotes actual use rather than value pursuit.

V1 of the protocol is the important turning point. Based on the official X statements, the team is in the process of separating a beta launch in the Sepolia testnet. It is then that the silent work takes a turn into the limelight. Users can test features. Metrics become visible. At that point, wider interest is a common phenomenon.

Expansion Occurring 

Participation in the Mutuum Finance increased gradually before most traders started paying attention. The project has increased funds to the tune of $19.5M and has earned 18,700 holders. These figures did not auto-bump at night. They increased over time.

According to the commentators in the market, this is important. A gradual increase is usually an indication of build up and not hyping. It demonstrates that users are not making last-minute reactions but rather, user positioning is early. 

This could mean more to investors who have the question of what to buy in crypto now than sudden spikes in the volume. It is this kind of development that makes MUTM increasingly be discussed as one of the most watched crypto to invest in at the next period of the market.

The Reason Why the Supply Is In The Focus

MUTM is currently selling at $0.04 with it being in presale Phase 7. The total supply is 4B tokens. That was in the form of 45.5% or approximately 1.82B MUTM that was placed under early distribution. To date, 820M tokens have already been sold.

This is important since the supply reduces and so does behavior. The previous stages were more spacious. The subsequent stages are of lesser availability and higher costs. The token began at $0.01 and has been increasing on a step-by-step basis. That is 300% growth since inception.

Moving on to the next crypto phase, the pricing is adjusted once more. It is structure that tends to change the way investors think. They re-evaluate timing other than waiting. This is where focus is escalated to by many following prices of crypto today.

Visibility and The Ultimate Transition to Security Stack

Security usually dictates its later adoption. Mutuum Finance has a 90/100 CertiK token scan rating. Halborn Security has also looked at the lending and borrowing contracts, the audit has been done and final changes are being made.

Besides this, the team has also introduced a $50k bug bounty which targets code vulnerabilities. These are technical risk reduction measures and indicators of preparedness. A lot of analysts are of the opinion that this stage frequently precedes even higher exposure.

Phase progression matters. Phase 6 sold out quickly. Phase 7 is now active. Allocation is tightening. Meanwhile, whale allocations have started appearing. When milestones are near, but not distant, larger wallets tend to move.

Collectively, these indications are indicating a change. Mutuum Finance is transitioning into silent construction to something that is under implementation. This is usually the window that can alter things, especially to the investors who are setting up ahead of the year 2026.

Markets are timed and organized. MUTM combines both. That is why a great number of people think that this new altcoin has the right to alter the appearance of a crypto-portfolio in a long-term perspective.

For more information about Mutuum Finance (MUTM) visit the links below:

Website: https://www.mutuum.com

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/mutuumfinance

Polymarket locked in $2 billion in new funding this year while Kalshi raked in $1.3 billion, setting the pace in a year when fintech companies finally clawed their way back into the venture capital scene.

Both companies, which let users bet on real-world events, became the biggest winners in 2025’s startup financing sweep, drawing the largest U.S. rounds and two of the top five globally.

The data comes from PitchBook, which tracked a total $55.94 billion raised by fintechs worldwide this year, up 25% from $44.75 billion last year. But 2025’s total is still far from the $123.99 billion thrown around in 2021. That was when interest rates were basically zero, and investors were chasing anything with a website and a pitch deck.

Polymarket and Kalshi outshine Plaid, Stripe and everyone else

Polymarket pulled in its $2 billion round in October at a $9 billion valuation, but it plans to raise again with a valuation between $12 billion and $15 billion, Bloomberg said in October. That would push it ahead of some of the big legacy names like Plaid and Stripe, which didn’t raise anything near this scale in 2025.

Kalshi, meanwhile, raised $300 million in October, then locked in another $1 billion by December. Its valuation now stands at $11 billion. These rounds didn’t just beat out crypto competitors. They beat out everyone. The size alone is unusual, especially after a dry spell where deals this big just stopped happening.

Matt Streisfeld, general partner at Oak HC/FT, said this kind of activity is rare. “We have not seen these types of very large primary capital raises in some time,” he said. He’s been watching capital concentrate around a smaller group of companies, and he’s not surprised to see the money piling into places like Polymarket and Kalshi.

“You’re going to see more doubling down on the perceived market winners in each category,” Matt said. “The last thing we need is 10 new players to be added to the actual five players that are already in the market.”

The overall number of deals in 2025 dropped to 3,712, down 19% from 2024. That funding just got funneled into fewer hands. Companies that already had a foothold got even bigger, while newer players had a harder time getting in.

Trump’s lighter rules help fintech raise cash and go public

The regulatory environment has also changed under President Donald Trump, who returned to office in 2025. With restrictions eased, especially around banking relationships, fintechs are finding it easier to grow. That’s pulling in more investors.

Matt said the money is chasing “greater commercial adoption,” and that is helping crypto companies too.

This year, Coinbase landed partnerships with both Citigroup and PNC, showing how crypto platforms are finally plugging into the traditional banking system in a way that actually matters.

While some critics say the rule changes are happening too fast, it’s a sharp contrast to the chaos of 2021. That year was all about fantasy growth projections and marketing. Now, there’s more scrutiny, and investors want actual numbers. “A lot of the craze that happened in ’21 was based off projected growth,” Matt said. “That wasn’t a bad mentality, it was just that companies were being valued at these unsustainable compounding growth rates.”

Meanwhile, Ramp Inc. raised around $1 billion through three funding rounds of over $200 million each, and currently sits at a $32 billion valuation, up from $13 billion at the start of the year.

The looser oversight also helped fuel a run of IPOs. This year alone, Circle, Gemini, Chime, Klarna, and Wealthfront all went public, giving their backers a way to finally cash out. And this isn’t over. More fintech listings are expected in 2026.

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The crypto market this year experienced a notable divergence in terms of volatility across different asset classes. For instance, trading XRP and SOL has been twice as volatile as trading BTC over the past 12 months, indicating a lack of maturity in those altcoins and reinforcing the perceived dominance of BTC across the cryptocurrency landscape. 

Data tracked on-chain revealed today that XRP and SOL experienced volatility of 80% and 87%, respectively, compared to 43% for BTC. Other altcoins, including Ether and BNB, recorded increases of 76% and 51%, respectively. This trend quashed the hopes that altcoins could surpass BTC’s dominance in 2025 and extend its perceived lead across the crypto landscape. 

Altcoins need deeper liquidity to achieve stability

So far, billions have been pumped into SOL and XRP ETFs and CME futures, from which these major cryptocurrencies benefit in terms of liquidity. Except for BNB, other major altcoins, including XRP, SOL, and ETH, have established ETFs with billions in net assets.

For instance, the XRP ETF has received a net inflow of approximately $1.16 billion since its launch, while the SOL ETF has attracted roughly $763 million, based on data provided by SoSoValue.

If demand remains strong across altcoins in 2026, XRP, SOL, and ETH, alongside other altcoins, could help mitigate current price volatility and achieve the stability exhibited by BTC.

The current volatility exhibited by altcoins suggests a persistent difficulty for these tokens in achieving stability. The trend in BTC volatility, especially after the launch of U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs in 2024, has been declining, underscoring the need for deeper liquidity in altcoins too. These suggest that alternative investment vehicles tied to XRP, SOL, and other altcoins may provide deeper liquidity, enabling the stability achieved in Bitcoin.

Bitcoin ETFs were introduced in January 2024, attracting multiple ETPs, including IBIT, which has attracted the majority of investor money, amassing $62.19 billion since its launch. GBTC, on the other hand, has recorded a negative flow, seeing approximately $25 billion withdrawn since its launch.

BTC ETFs so far have a cumulative total net inflow of $56.96 billion, according to SoSoValue. The surge in inflows has prompted several products, including covered calls on those ETFs. The strong demand has led to a steady decline in volatility in BTC this year.

Meanwhile, Ethereum ETFs, which launched in mid-2024, have exhibited a similar trend, attracting approximately $12.4 billion of investor capital since their launch. BlackRock’s ETHA has attracted roughly $12.59 billion of investor money, while Grayscale’s ETHE has recorded the worst performance, losing approximately $5.05 billion to withdrawals since its launch. We could say the same for ETH ETFs as BTC, which has seen a decline in volatility to the current 76%.

L1 tokens end the year with a negative or negligible return

L1 tokens recorded the worst performance this year, resulting in zero or negative returns despite several key advancements across the networks. For instance, the Total Value Locked value for BTC has grown to $6.7 billion as of today, compared to an average of $760 million prior to October 2024.

Source: Defillama; BTC’s Total Value Locked in DeFi

The same can be said for Ethereum, Solana, and Base networks, which have exhibited a gradual increase in growth since 2021, demonstrating structural maturity across the cryptocurrency landscape. 

Despite reaching these significant steps in terms of maturity, returns exhibited this year have been very low across different blockchains. Based on on-chain data, the Bitcoin blockchain recorded a -6.76% return, alongside -12.94% for Ethereum and -11.48% for XRP. BNB has shown a positive return rate of 20.64% over the past 365 days.

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It is the end of an era on both Wall Street and Main Street. Because today is the legendary Warren Buffett’s last day as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. After over six decades of control, the Oracle of Omaha is handing his legacy over to his longtime backup, Greg Abel, who takes over.

The author of this article would like to take this opportunity to say a proper thank you to the greatest investor who ever lived.

Now, as you know, Warren’s career started long before most of the current tech CEOs were even born, and he has become akin to a god on Wall Street.

No one will ever be able to achieve what he has, not only because he is that special, but also because investing has become so easy now that you won’t even get the chance to be Warren.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is his legacy. The fact that he managed to pull off what he has during the hardest era of finance/economics and before the internet is exactly why Google continues to name him the best investor to ever grace NYSE’s trading floor.

Warren bought Burlington Northern, kept Apple stock locked down like national treasure, and somehow remain lifelong besties with one man his entire life while ignoring every flash-in-the-pan trend that came along; crypto included.

Greg Abel officially takes over Berkshire as valuation alarm hits record highs

Greg officially becomes CEO on Wednesday. Warren named him as successor long ago, and he’s been in the background ever since. Now he takes the wheel. Howard Buffett, Warren’s son, described the company’s code last year:

“You do what you say you’re going to do, and you do it when you say you’re going to do it. You’re honest about it. You make mistakes, and you accept responsibility for those mistakes.”

No one’s rewriting Berkshire’s playbook, so Greg is inheriting it as-is, with the same style: buy strong, don’t panic, and shut up unless you’ve got numbers.

And speaking of numbers, the Buffett Indicator, made famous by Warren after a Fortune article he did in 2001 with Carol Loomis, is at 221.4% right now, a 22% surge since April 30 and the biggest since the data started in 1970, and the culprit is [of course] 2025’s AI mania.

The Buffett Indicator works by dividing the Wilshire 5000 Index by the US GDP, and if its high, stocks are getting wild.

Warren didn’t sit it out this year though. His portfolio is still loaded with Apple, Amazon, and Alphabet. He didn’t suddenly turn into a crypto degen, but he didn’t fight the AI wave either. He rode it in silence, letting the profits speak.

Cryptopolitan says goodbye to Berkshire with Bitcoin public letter still unanswered

Now that he’s out, the question’s simple: who’s going to watch the markets the way Warren did? Almost every single person in finance treats him like gospel.

People compare him to Einstein, Edison, and even Mozart. Someone once joked that calling yourself “the next Warren Buffett” is like calling yourself Mozart while looking like Salieri in Amadeus, the guy who listened in awe, knowing he’d never match it.

A $1 million investment in the S&P 500 from 1957 to 2007 would have landed you $166 million. That same amount with Warren gets you $81 billion. How insane is that?

Add another 18 years, and your portfolio would now be worth $428 billion. The author of this article wrote Warren a public letter exactly a year ago, asking him to invest in Bitcoin before retiring, to finish his legacy with crypto. He ghosted us. Classic. I’ve held BRK.B since 2020, but with Warren leaving, I can’t say what happens next.

The certainty is gone. I don’t know what to feel.

Goodbye, Warren.

As the beginning of January 2026 draws closer, investors on the lookout for the most exciting crypto opportunities are eagerly considering not only well-established but also emerging ones. Solana (SOL) and the new crypto Mutuum Finance (MUTM) gain particular attention. On one hand, Solana (SOL) keeps wowing everyone with its fast blockchain network and robust developer adoption and support. However, this is still not comparable to Mutuum Finance and its rapid rise in the DeFi market. The token has quickly become the best crypto to buy among investors seeking life-changing returns this bull cycle. 

MUTM’s well-structured presale enables crypto investors to secure tokens at a huge discount rate. An early entry into the project means at least 500% returns as MUTM is projected to zoom past its $0.06 market debut price. Moreover, apart from the pricing system, what elevates this new crypto to fame is its DeFi ecosystem that features a dual-lending mechanism. For investors seeking the best crypto projects of 2026, Mutuum Finance is quickly emerging as a prime contender.

Solana (SOL) Consolidates Prior to Breakout

Solana (SOL) has been range-bound for the past half-month, having consolidated after its previous surge to determine the next direction of the asset. The fact that the token is range-bound shows that the buying force and the selling force have equal strength, with the price waiting to be moved forward after some defining event. It is clear that after the breakout from the range, the next level to target is set at $500. This upside, however, could be easily constrained by increasing selling pressure and shifting investor attention toward newer projects offering greater growth potential. Among these cryptos is Mutuum Finance (MUTM).

Mutuum Finance Phase 6 Sold out

One of the most recent developments in the market today concerns Mutuum Finance (MUTM), a top investment opportunity within the DeFi space. Mutuum Finance is now in Presale Phase 7 and is offering its tokens at $0.04. This comes after phase 6 sold out earlier than projected. 

The presale has so far managed to raise $19,500,000, with 18,600 token holders showing immense confidence in the project. Market value in Phase 7 is an increase of 300% from the original value in Phase 1, priced at $0.01. An expected growth past $0.50 puts phase 7 buyers on track for a 10x+ profit in the next bull run. This has put MUTM on the map as a top new crypto to buy today. 

Mutuum Finance offers a complete DeFi platform. Some of the features that belong to it include mtTokens, which benefit stakers in the project. Most DeFi cryptos only give interest after unlocking, but with mtTokens, an investor can enjoy gains while the asset remains liquid. Another important aspect of the MUTM ecosystem is that it incorporates peer-to-contract (P2C), as well as peer-to-peer (P2P), loan solutions into a single system. This makes it possible to adjust to changes in market conditions according to user risk preference.

The peer-to-contract side, or P2C, allows users to deposit assets into smart contracts, and then earn interest depending on algorithmically-driven rates. Since there is pool liquidity, borrowers get instant access to loans regardless without needing a counterparty. The peer-to-contract side is useful for users who are interested in having predictability and immediate execution. Interest exchange rates are algorithmically adjusted depending on demand and supply. On the other hand, the P2P layer aims to achieve maximum capital efficiency. Instead of a general borrowing of funds, borrowers are matched with lenders at more favorable terms. The result of this approach aims to utilize funds in the most capital-efficient manner without compromising security and reliability concerns.

Sepolia Testnet

Mutuum Finance is poised to roll out Version 1 of its lending and borrowing system on the Sepolia Testnet. This follows the completion of a thorough audit of its lending and borrowing smart contracts by Halborn security. Users will be able to interact with ETH and USDT within the testnet, which will also include liquidity pools, mtTokens, debt tokens, and an automated liquidator bot. The Sepolia Testnet is going to serve as a learning platform whereby the features of the platform will be tested, while at the same time investors will familiarize themselves with the platform. This further solidifies MUTM as the best crypto to buy for forward-looking investors. 

Solana (SOL) is displaying strength, but Mutuum Finance (MUTM) is certainly taking center stage at a price of $0.04 within Presale Phase 7. The project is nearing testnet launch and imminent launch with 1000%+ post-launch gains, making this a unique entry point for investors to capitalize on huge gains. This combination of features cements MUTM as one of the best crypto options to watch this bull cycle.

For more information about Mutuum Finance (MUTM) visit the links below:

Website: https://mutuum.com/

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/mutuumfinance

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has brought to light what it called a “new type of scam” in which a user fabricated evidence to claim that they had been defrauded by a company executive. 

The scheme, disclosed on X by Binance staff with the handle @sisibinance, involved a user who created fake chat records and transfer documentation in an attempt to extract compensation from the exchange.

What is the new Binance scam about?

According to the Binance staff’s X post, “The incident started when customer service received a complaint from a user claiming they were scammed out of money by a supposed ‘Binance executive.’ The other party ‘promised’ to help resolve some issues, but once the money was transferred, they vanished without a trace.”

However, investigators uncovered multiple red flags that exposed the deception.

When the user was asked to provide real-time chat records, “he said the other party had enabled privacy mode, deleting all the chat history, and he could only provide a screenshot of an ‘after-the-fact confrontation.'”

The alleged executive asked only for a project name without conducting any verification. The transfer record started to raise eyebrows when blockchain analysis revealed the wallet address the user claimed belonged to the scammer actually initiated the transfer, suggesting it was the complainant’s own address.

Most telling was what they discovered during the investigation. According to Sisibinance, “The user first fabricated chat records and transfer records (the transfer record came from a certain escrow platform), then lied about the chat history being deleted. Next, he approached the real executive’s account for a confrontation, creating two sets of ‘executive’ screenshots.

Then, he took the conversation record from the real executive account to customer service, demanding an investigation in an attempt to bait a response from us, and threatening to apply pressure through social media if we didn’t help resolve it.”

Crypto industry continues to suffer losses

Exploit and fraud headlines have sort of become a feature of the cryptocurrency industry at this point. Phishing attacks alone ranked third after code vulnerability and wallet compromises, accounting for losses that exceeded $5.8 million in November 2025. Over $1 billion was lost across 296 incidents in 2024, according to blockchain security firm CertiK.

Address poisoning scams work by sending small cryptocurrency amounts to users’ wallets from addresses that closely resemble legitimate ones. Victims who copy addresses from their transaction history inadvertently send large sums to fraudulent wallets.

Cryptopolitan reported that a single trader lost around $50 million in an address poisoning attack.

Following the $50 million loss, Changpeng Zhao, Binance’s founder, popularly known as “CZ,” called for industry-wide action to crack down on poison scams on December 24.

CZ urged that wallets should automatically check if receiving addresses are associated with poisoning activity and block transactions, a mechanism that Binance already has. He also advocated for real-time security alliances maintaining shared blacklists of malicious addresses accessible across platforms.

Crypto scam attacks have been on the rise as the year’s curtain is being drawn, and many platforms have taken a proactive stance in informing their customers to avoid being victims of any of these schemes.

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Market major moves do not necessarily go in a straight path. In recent weeks, traders have been monitoring Bitcoin wavering following impactful rises, Ethereum hanging above pivotal areas and meme coins becoming unproductive. Capital tends to seek elsewhere when that occurs. 

According to the market commentators, when it goes on hiatus, it tends to focus on the projects being developed to be of actual use and not on short-term trends. That movement is currently pointing at a single altcoin within the DeFi sector that many individuals consider that it might be one of the finest cryptos to purchase presently. That is Mutuum Finance (MUTM).

Mutuum Finance (MUTM)

Mutuum Finance is catching attention since it is developing a DeFi protocol. It does not depend on the price frenzy but rather lending and borrowing which would be functional even when the market is cold.

In general high-level, Mutuum Finance users can provide assets to generate yield or borrow on collateral. It breeds a continuous demand which is not connected to hype cycles. Lending in sideways markets normally intensifies as traders remain to find liquidity without selling.

The other factor that makes MUTM outstanding is timing. The official X mentioned that the team is working on V1 of its lending and borrowing protocol, and a beta will take place on the Sepolia testnet. This gives the story its foundation during execution. When fulfilled with a real usage instead of planning, a DeFi protocol tends to be analyzed by traders.

Participation and What The Statistics Are Telling

The participation measures of Mutuum Finance can hardly be missed. It has brought about 18,700 holders and has already raised $19.5M. These numbers are important since these are figures of breadth, not of concentration.

Broad involvement at this point can be an indication of optimism on course input as opposed to short-term exchanges. According to the market commentators, it is expressed that once a project has a high number of holders before full access to the product, it may be an indication of users placing an early position towards a long-term gain.

Such a trend in participation is also among the reasons why MUTM is gradually becoming a topic of discussion as to what crypto to invest in as markets turn their backs on crowd trades.

Supply and Price Movement

MUTM is selling at $0.04 and is in presale Phase 7. The total MUTM supply is 4B tokens, of which 45.5% or approximately 1.82B is to be distributed through the presale. To date, 820M tokens are already sold.

The direction of the price has not been abrupt. MUTM started at the value of $0.01 and has progressed with every stage completed. It is a 300% increase since then. The rates and time of each stage are predetermined and increase supply fixedly, i.e. not increasing but narrowing it.

The price of the token and a further leap are made again as the next stage approaches. It is this construction that makes timing important. The future subjects purchase the exposure at a higher price and this shifts the upside trajectory as of 2026.

Security and Long-Term Purpose.

The token has a CertiK Token Scan of 90/100 that assists in certifying its structure. The loans and deposits agreements too have been fully reviewed by the providers of Halborn Security and audit finalized with final updates awaiting. In addition to this, the team has introduced a bug money bounty of $50k that aims at identifying vulnerabilities in code.

These layers are important as collateral and liquidations as well as user money are controlled in lending platforms. High security levels minimize the presence of sudden failures and sustainability of trust.

An additional layer is added to infrastructure planning. Mutuum Finance will have relied on solid oracle systems to arrive at proper pricing and this is important at volatile moves. One of its focus areas is also stablecoin lending, to ensure it maintains steady activity in times when other crypto prices in the market oscillate. The further expansion of layer-2 helps reduce the fees and facilitates the previous usage due to an increase in activities.

Positioning ahead of 2026

Engagement tools are also employed by Mutuum Finance to get adopted sooner. The best daily contributor is given $500 in MUTM and this makes people participate constantly as it has a 24-hour leaderboard. Cards are accepted, and this reduces the entry barrier to new users who do not wish to have complicated processes.

Certain questions such as what crypto to purchase now can be reduced to timing and design. Whenever Bitcoin halts, Ethereum and meme coins freeze, the focus will shift towards projects that are genuinely operating and those that will be executed in the nearest future.

Mutuum Finance is at that crossroad. It costs $0.04, it is constructed on the demand of lending, it has audits, and it is undergoing its initial test stage of live implementation. To investors who decide to invest before Q1 2026, that blend defines the reason why MUTM is becoming a popular subject of discussion as a potential top crypto to invest in before the next stage of the market can be shaped up.

For more information about Mutuum Finance (MUTM) visit the links below:

Website: https://www.mutuum.com

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/mutuumfinance

Federal prosecutors said on December 8 that they have found a massive smuggling ring that secretly pushed Nvidia H100 and H200 GPUs, worth $160 million, from US warehouses into China between October last year and May this year.

The operation allegedly involved fake companies, illegal border entries, and relabeling high-end GPUs to sneak them out of the country, according to the prosecutors.

The investigation, named Operation Gatekeeper, was focused on chips; not weapons, not drugs, just raw compute power. These specific Nvidia chips are central to AI development, both for civilian and military systems.

And despite Beijing’s push to build local alternatives, it’s clear China still leans heavily on Nvidia’s gear to fuel its booming AI market.

Feds planted an agent inside New Jersey warehouse to catch fake GPU exporters

In Secaucus, New Jersey, U.S. officials said they sent an undercover agent into a shady shipping operation who allegedly watched suspects put fake branding on Nvidia hardware, packaging them under the name Sandkayan.

Instead of declaring the GPUs for what they were, the group would mislabel them as random electronics like “adapters,” “adapter modules,” and “contactor controllers.”

According to the prosecutors, three trucks showed up at the warehouse on May 28, ready to move the GPUs to the next stop before they hit international waters.

But something spooked them. A message flew through a private group chat used by the smugglers: one of the truck drivers had run into police asking about the destination of the cargo.

“Just say they don’t know anything,” the group allegedly told the drivers. Then five minutes later, another message: “Dissolve this group chat. Delete everyone.” But it was too late. Federal agents stormed the site and seized the hardware before it could leave the country.

Prosecutors said this bust wasn’t a one-off. Similar cases of illegal Nvidia shipments have popped up throughout the year.

The Center for a New American Security estimated that anywhere between 10,000 and several hundred thousand AI chips were illegally funneled to China in just this past year. That includes chips from older Nvidia lines, not just the latest models.

Analysts say China’s AI still depends on Nvidia despite local chip push

Ray Wang, a chip analyst at SemiAnalysis, said China still leans on Nvidia’s platforms to train most of its advanced AI models.

“I think more than 60% of the leading AI models in China are currently using Nvidia’s hardware,” Ray said. “Nvidia have a systematic advantage ranging from hardware to software. And I think for now, if you combine those two factors together, it’s still a thing that China is trying to catch up to.”

Ray also pointed out that once the chips are out in the wild, it’s hard for the company to track them.

“In today’s world, I feel there’s so many ways that you can get your hand on Nvidia’s chips in all kinds of illegal ways,” Ray said. “You can set up your data center globally, you can have shell companies to purchase Nvidia chips. And it’s so hard for Nvidia to track and do due diligence.”

Even Nvidia admitted the government’s export laws were tight. A Nvidia spokesperson told CNBC that even secondary-market sales of older chips are subject to federal reviews. “While millions of controlled GPUs are in service at businesses, homes, and schools, we will continue to work with the government and our customers to ensure that second-hand smuggling does not occur,” the spokesperson said.

Trump’s export deal throws prosecutors’ case into chaos

On the same day prosecutors dropped the case, President Donald Trump went online and dropped something bigger. Posting on Truth Social, Trump said the U.S. would now allow exports of Nvidia’s H200 GPUs, the same ones at the center of this case, to China, so long as the U.S. government gets a 25% cut of the sales.

The most advanced GPUs in Nvidia’s lineup, like the Blackwell and Rubin chips, are still restricted. But the H200s? Fair game, under Trump’s terms.

This blew up the argument prosecutors were trying to make. If the President was greenlighting the export of the very chips the defendants allegedly smuggled, then how could the DOJ claim those same exports were a national security threat?

Defense attorneys wasted no time. In a filing the very next day, they tore into the government’s narrative. “The President gave the lie to that claim when he announced that the United States will now allow Nvidia’s H200 GPUs, the most powerful GPUs seized by authorities in this case, to be exported to China,” the filing read.

And the case isn’t over. Two businessmen have been arrested. One man from Houston has already pleaded guilty, along with his company. But experts like Ray say this won’t stop anything.

“I don’t believe the smuggling will just stop,” Ray said. “It is unclear to me that the new opening of the H200 chips will be enough for Chinese AI demand. The compute demand we are seeing globally has been accelerating, and I believe that should be the case in China as well.”

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Retail traders in 2025 broke their own records more than once with a flood of cash into the stock market, outpacing all previous years by 53%.

The so-called “Dumb Money” came back and took the wheel, all without its king Roaring Kitty, whose last appearance was in January right before Trump’s inauguration.

Armed with real conviction and a strategy that ran counter to Wall Street’s panic, these guys outperformed, outplayed, and outlasted the pros.

Retail traders bought $3 billion in one day during Trump tariff panic

Everything turned the week of April 2, when President Donald Trump hit the global economy with a fresh wave of tariffs he branded “liberation day.” The S&P 500 tanked. Big funds bailed. But retail went straight in. They bought over $3 billion in stocks on April 3 alone, even as the market plunged nearly 5%. They kept buying the next day, through another 6% drop, according to VandaTrack.

Seven days after Trump’s announcement, on April 9, he put most of the tariffs on pause. The S&P 500 shot up 9.5%, and those same retail traders were already in position. Since April 2, the index has gained more than 21% and is on track to end the year up 17%.

“We often talk about retail as being sort of late to the party,” said Viraj Patel, deputy head of research at Vanda. “But this has been the polar opposite.”

Mark Malek, chief investment officer at Siebert Financial, said, “They’ve been much more accurate in their dealings than my colleagues in the institutional space.”

Retail traders also leaned hard into what Zhi Da, a finance professor at the University of Notre Dame, called the “TACO trade,” short for Trump Always Chickens Out.

The strategy is simple; we buy when Trump policies tank the market, expecting him to reverse course. It has worked literally every single time, so that helped dumb money a lot.

JPMorgan’s quant analyst Arun Jain called it a “successful year” for retail investors, thanks mostly to how quickly they bought during drawdowns, while Bespoke Investment Group called 2025 the “second-best year for dip-buying since the early 1990s.”

Starting in May, many small investors turned their attention from individual names to ETFs. One of the biggest winners was the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) fund. Retail poured so much money into it that 2025 inflows beat the last five years combined. Gold soared, and GLD finished the year up over 65%.

The payoff was clear. Retail’s stock portfolios delivered higher profit-to-loss ratios than JPMorgan’s own AI and software baskets. Their ETF holdings outperformed both the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) and the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ).

This year, while a few meme names like OpenDoor popped up again, most cash flowed into Tesla, Nvidia, and Palantir, the top performers of the past 5 years. No drama. No games. Just chasing winners and cashing out right.

Retail participation in Wall Street hits highs not seen even in the GameStop saga

Retail’s surge is part of a movement that started during the pandemic with the legendary appearance of Keith Gill, the man Google has nicknamed “the greatest retail investor in the world.”

In 2024, over one in three 25-year-olds had already moved big chunks of money from checking accounts into investments by the time they turned 22.

Compare that to just 6% in 2015, and you’ll see what we mean. JPMorgan said retail trading jumped over 50% from last year and beat the 2021 meme stock mania by 14%. Retail’s share of total trades returned to levels last seen during the GameStop short squeeze.

A working paper by researchers at Chapman University, Boston College, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign found that retail activity this year rivaled 2021’s peaks. But the story’s different now. Pete Davidson’s “Dumb Money” film captured the old attitude, and now that attitude’s been replaced.

Patel said, “The average retail investor’s just becoming more and more sophisticated.” More access to data. More understanding of timing. More accurate plays.

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Uganda’s main opposition, Bobi Wine, has identified Bitchat as a suitable alternative communication channel amid growing concerns about an imminent internet shutdown in the country. Uganda is preparing for general elections in mid-January 2026, an event that has historically prompted the country’s ruling administration to shut down internet services and block social media.

Bobi Wine, Uganda’s opposition leader, urged his supporters to download a decentralized peer-to-peer messaging service, Bitchat, as the country gears up for elections on January 14, 2026.

The politician alleged that the current regime in Uganda will try to shut down communication services during the democratic process to prevent the mobilization of protests and the verification of election results.

Bobi Wine calls for Bitchat usage amid concerns about internet shutdown

Bobi Wine wrote on X that Uganda’s current government is plotting to block internet services in the country and restrict information relay on social media channels. Wine claims that the regime has done so in the past elections and could be laying down plots to do the same in the upcoming elections. 

HAVE YOU DOWNLOADED BITCHAT YET?

As we all know, the regime is plotting an internet shutdown in the coming days, like they have done in all previous elections. They switch off the internet in order to block communication and ensure that citizens do not organise, verify their… pic.twitter.com/KPVyc0ZW4H

— BOBI WINE (@HEBobiwine) December 30, 2025

In 2016, Uganda’s current and longest-serving president, Yoweri Museveni, blocked internet and social media access in the country, citing concerns over safety and security. Wine emphasized that Bitchat will allow users to “communicate with thousands of people in record time” when the government shuts down the internet.

He also explained that users “will be able to send pictures of DR Forms and share any other critical information to specific or other users” through the platform.

A report from the Pan-African Human Rights Defenders Network, a human rights umbrella organization, stated that Museveni disconnected the entire country from internet access during the 2021 elections. The organization noted that the internet blockage lasted approximately 4 days, from the day before the election (January 13) to January 18. 

Jack Dorsey, co-founder and former Twitter (now X) exec, launched Bitchat in July this year. The application provides a peer-to-peer messaging platform that enables users to send messages offline via Bluetooth, eliminating the need for an internet connection.

The Bitchat application utilizes a decentralized infrastructure that prevents users from providing personal details, such as phone numbers and email addresses, to use the platform, unlike traditional messaging platforms. 

Bitchat saw widespread usage during protests in Madagascar in September this year. The application received over 70,000 downloads from the country alone in just one week. Protests in Nepal also prompted nearly 50,000 downloads in the country on September 8 alone.

Ugandan government restricts Starlink importation and usage

The news comes after the Ugandan government issued a memo restricting the importation of Starlink, a satellite internet constellation by Elon Musk’s SpaceX. The internet firm provides high-speed connections even in remote areas that previously had no reliable options.

The memo detailed that any importation of Starlink and its associated equipment should “be accompanied by a clearance certificate/authorization letter from the Chief of Defense Forces.” The restriction also comes just weeks before Uganda’s elections, where Yoweri Museveni will face his leading contender Bobi Wine for the second time.

Bobi Wine said that the ruling regime is operating in fear and asked the government why it was so concerned about people accessing the internet, if it was not planning mischief or electoral fraud.

Starlink has not received a formal license to operate in Uganda. However, citizens in the country have been importing the equipment and using the internet services.

Starlink has secured operating licenses in over 20 African countries, including Nigeria, Kenya, Somalia, and Zambia. However, significant regulatory hurdles in some African countries have restricted Starlink’s expansion plan. Cameroon, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Sudan have emerged as complex markets for Starlink due to regulatory constraints.

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The American dollar is heading for its worst performance in nearly a decade. Market experts think there’s more weakness coming, and it depends on who ends up running the Federal Reserve.

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index has fallen 8.1% this year. That’s the steepest yearly drop in eight years. The dollar got hammered after President Donald Trump rolled out his April tariffs, which he called “Liberation Day”, and it’s been under pressure ever since.

Trump has been pushing hard for a more accommodating Fed chairman to take over next year, and that’s kept the currency on the back foot.

Yusuke Miyairi analyzes foreign exchange markets at Nomura. He said “The biggest factor for the dollar in first quarter will be the Fed,” adding that “it’s not just the meetings in January and March, but who will be the Fed Chair after Jerome Powell ends his term.”

Markets are betting on at least two interest rate cuts next year. That puts American monetary policy out of step with several other wealthy nations, making the dollar less appealing to investors.

Europe’s currency has been gaining against the dollar. Inflation there has stayed manageable, and there’s a wave of military spending on the horizon. That’s keeping expectations for rate cuts close to zero. Canada, Sweden, and Australia are different stories; traders are actually betting on rate hikes in those countries.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission puts out data on currency positioning. For the week ending December 16, it showed something interesting. There was a brief moment this month when people got bullish on the dollar again. That didn’t last. It flipped back to the pessimistic view that’s been around since those April tariffs got everyone worried about the American economy.

All eyes on Powell’s replacement

Right now, everything comes down to the Fed and who’s replacing Jerome Powell. His term as chairman ends in May.

Trump dropped hints recently that he’s picked someone but won’t say who yet. He’s also floated the idea of firing the current Fed leader before the term is up.

Kevin Hassett runs the National Economic Council. He’s been seen as the front-runner for a while now. Trump’s also talked about Kevin Warsh, who used to be a Fed governor. Then there are Fed governors Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman. Rick Rieder from BlackRock is in the mix too.

Andrew Hazlett trades foreign currencies at Monex Inc. He explained, “Hassett would be more or less priced in since he has been the frontrunner for some time now, but Warsh or Waller would likely not be as quick to cut, which would be better for the dollar.”

Fed officials split on next moves

Federal Reserve officials can’t seem to agree on when they’ll cut borrowing costs again. Most think more cuts could happen if inflation keeps cooling. But several officials want rates to stay where they are for a while. That came out in meeting records released Tuesday.

The minutes from the Fed’s December 9-10 session showed the disagreements aren’t going away as previously reported by Cryptopolitan. Most backed another rate cut last month, but it wasn’t an easy call for everyone.

The Fed voted 9-3 to trim its key rate by a quarter point in December. That’s three cuts in a row now. The rate is between 3.5% and 3.75%, as Cryptopolitan previously reported.

The minutes stated that “A few of those who supported lowering the policy rate at this meeting indicated that the decision was finely balanced or that they could have supported keeping the target range unchanged.”

Officials changed their statement after the meeting. The new version showed they’re less certain about when future cuts will happen. Their middle projection had just one quarter-point reduction coming in 2026. Individual forecasts were all over the place, though. Market watchers are putting their money on at least two cuts next year.

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Chinese car manufacturers hit a record in November. They grabbed 12.8% of Europe’s electric vehicle market despite facing new tariffs from the European Union.

Dataforce numbers seen by Bloomberg show Chinese brands also passed 13% in hybrid vehicle sales across the EU, EFTA countries, and the UK. BYD and SAIC Motor are leading. Newer players like Chery Automobile and Zhejiang Leapmotor Technology are pushing in too.

The reason? Too much manufacturing capacity back in China. Carmakers there are stuck in brutal price wars at home. They need somewhere else to sell.

BYD goes all-in on Europe

BYD is setting up local factories in Europe. Adding plug-in hybrids and premium brands. Competition at home is getting rough with rivals like Geely and Xiaomi gaining ground fast.

The Shenzhen company already did the heavy lifting. Built its brand. Got dealer networks running. Put charging stations across Europe. They want everything ready before the next wave of Chinese competitors arrives.

Stella Li is BYD’s executive vice president. She told reporters in Zhengzhou that machinery for their first European factory in Hungary should be installed by year’s end. Test runs start in the first quarter of 2026. Full production begins in the second quarter.

Hungary’s not their only project. BYD’s building new plants in Brazil and Turkey. They already have one running in Thailand that started shipping cars to Europe in August. Li admits making cars in Hungary will cost more at first than in China. But she says it’s necessary for building a brand people trust. Costs will drop eventually. It’ll also help them handle whatever happens with tariffs.

Another European factory might come later. Li said they’re looking at sites. Spain’s on the list as previously reported Cryptopolitan.

“We’ll ramp up our Hungary plant first, then the Brazil facility, and the Turkey one,” she said. “Then we’ll see what’s next, but we don’t have a clear plan yet.”

CEO Wang Chuanfu recently sent research and development managers to Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. They need to adapt vehicle designs for what people want in each place.

BYD’s already doing well in major European markets. October numbers tell the story. They registered over four times as many vehicles as Tesla in Germany. Almost seven times more in the UK. That’s from government and trade authority data.

Chinese carmakers mostly absorbed the extra fees from EU tariffs on Chinese-made EVs that started late 2024. They also pushed into areas the tariffs don’t touch. Hybrid models. Non-EU markets like the UK.

Explosive growth for newer brands

Leapmotor’s European EV sales jumped more than 4,000% through October. That’s from Jato Dynamics data. A partnership with Stellantis helped fuel that growth. Stellantis owns Peugeot, Fiat, and Opel. Chery’s Omoda brand saw a 1,100% jump in EV sales during the same period.

European automakers are scrambling to keep up. They’re also lobbying officials to ease rules that phase out regular gas and diesel cars.

EU officials floated dropping plans to ban new combustion engine vehicle sales by 2035. It’s the latest move to protect one of the continent’s biggest industries from a messy energy transition.

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The largest crypto gains do not usually begin when everybody is buying. According to the views of trade analysts in the market, the most promising cryptocurrency to invest in is the one that frequently appears silent before it engages and gains momentum. 

Rather than pursue assets that have already rocketed, most investors are now searching for lower priced tokens with products visible and development in sight. With Q1 2026 just around the corner, there is a new DeFi cryptocurrency, another project that is being mentioned as a potential value play. That is the name Mutuum Finance (MUTM).

What Mutuum Finance (MUTM) is Building

Mutuum Finance is developing a decentralized borrowing and lending protocol in which they have constructed two different markets that will serve different customers in diverse ways. The peer-to-contract market gives the users the opportunity to place assets in common pools. They, in their turn, are given mtTokens. These mtTokens give them a portion of the pool and yield to them as the interest is paid by borrowers. 

To illustrate, when a user deposits an ETH value of $6,000 in the pool and the pool has an APY of 5%, the mtTokens will gain value with time passing. This model is appropriate among users that desire passive yield but do not control loans.

The peer to peer market is concerned with direct borrowing. Users are able to lend out collaterals and borrow either at variable rates that fluctuate with the demand or at constant rates to ensure they can have predictable costs. 

Risk is capped by means of Loan-to-Value limit. In case the prices of the collateral become too low, then liquidations are set off. Liquidators get a reduced rate of repaying the debt and acquire discounted collateral allowing them to save lenders and the protocol.

It is this two-facet developing application that has netted Mutuum Finance some interest. It has already collected over $19.5M, and has over 18,700 holders. Such involvement is important in that it represents a wide interest as opposed to a dependence on a few people. The team is also on the way to prepare V1 of the protocol with a beta release on the Sepolia testnet so that users could test the product firsthand.

The Importance of Timing

MUTM is currently selling at $0.04 in presale phase 7. There are 4B in total supply, 45.5% or approximately 1.82B MUTM distributed to the presale in general. To date, 820M are already sold.

The initial stage was at $0.01. That is a 300% token appreciation since the presale was launched. The Phase 1 participants are expected to grow by 500% in case MUTM achieves the official launch price of 0.06.

Every stage includes a predetermined cost and budget. When the demand is high the phases fill faster and the token price goes up. The following stage represents an increase in the price of the MUTM almost by 20%. This is what early entrants are concerned about regarding timing. The earlier panels purchased, the greater the number of tokens of the same purchase price would be gained before the long run, in case the adoption increases.

Security is a key issue in investor confidence. Mutuum Finance has a 90/100 CertiK Token Scan score that can ensure that the structure of the token and its transparency are valid.

Moreover, Halborn security has fully audited the lending and borrowing contracts. The code is concluded and undergone under formal analysis. As another measure to enhance security, Mutuum Finance has come up with a 50k bug bounty that is aimed at uncovering buggy code. These steps entail decreasing the technical risk because the protocol gets altered to closer to the live usage.

Increasing Demand and Availability

The interest of investors has been growing gradually. Subsequent stages of selling out are happening at a greater rate and the nearer the V1 the more the activity is happening. According to market commentators, this sort of urgency tends to manifest itself in situations in which a project is transitioned between theory and implementation.

Mutuum Finance also promotes active engagement with an all-day leaderboard where the most active contributor gets $500 worth of MUTM per day. This compensates being involved on a consistent basis, and not just on a one time basis. The site also accepts the use of cards, which reduces the obstacle to entry of the new users who are new to crypto.

Positioning Ahead of Q1 2026

Mutuum Finance is developed on Ethereum that will provide access to deep liquidity and an established ecosystem. Once the Layer-2 is widely adopted, Ethereum-based DeFi protocol will be able to enjoy decisions that are cheaper and quicker.

According to some analysts, when the current price range is seen in retrospect, it might represent a cheap price range provided that the roadmap is being followed by the Mutuum Finance. A shift of $0.04 to $0.06 is already the indication of the next milestone. In the bullish case, it is projected to have an additional upshift given the lending business and the use by the users spread to 2026.

Mutuum Finance has a product focus, a security position, and an explicit roadmap, making it very appealing. Though nothing can be guaranteed, the low entry price combined with a rising demand and an impending V1 launch justifies the reason why MUTM is widely considered to be one of the cheapest crypto opportunities in the next four years right before Q1 2026.

For more information about Mutuum Finance (MUTM) visit the links below:

Website: https://www.mutuum.com

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/mutuumfinance

A trader with decades of experience told silver investors to watch out just before prices took a dramatic swing this week. Peter Brandt issued his warning over the weekend, and the market proved him right within hours.

Brandt was on X congratulating people who made money betting on silver and platinum lately. But he added a note of caution. “Being right is fun,” he wrote. “But know this, moves can far exceed anything expected. And tops come quickly when they come. And retracements are almost always full.”

The market turned sharply on Monday morning. Silver prices broke through $80 an ounce for the first time ever before dropping to around $70 by day’s end. Prices bounced back on Tuesday, climbing 10% to reach around $78. This year alone, silver futures have jumped over 150%.

The Monday drop came after CME, which runs the exchange, made traders put up more money to place their bets on metals contracts. This requirement forced many to come up with extra cash.

Brandt, who has traded commodities for nearly 50 years and has more than 840,000 followers on X, posted again Monday afternoon after silver fell. He said that in almost every market cycle, even the most determined buyers who promise never to sell eventually hit a breaking point. They reach a stage where they “no longer care if price goes to zero or a million, they have had enough pain and they want out.”

He said he’s “not sure” if silver has reached that point yet. “Time will tell,” he added.

Why precious metals keep rising

Precious metals like silver and gold have hit record highs this year. Lower interest rates have made them more attractive compared to cash and bonds. Some traders bought silver to get a piece of the AI boom, since the metal goes into AI equipment like microchips and data centers. Silver conducts electricity well, making it useful in circuit boards, switches, electric vehicles, and batteries.

Investors have also turned to precious metals as protection against global uncertainty and government debt problems, which could hurt the dollar and stock markets.

Trader defends cautious approach

Late Monday, Brandt defended his careful approach to the silver rally. He mentioned trading silver since it sold for below $4 an ounce back in the 1970s, and once handled orders for 200,000 ounces at a time.

“Yet, I am jealous because there is an entire generation of Z babies trading on Silver on laptops from their mommy’s basements that know everything there is to know about Silver,” he posted, adding laughing emojis.

Brandt rejected the idea that supply shortages are driving silver prices up. “It has never been different,” he wrote. “Never will be. So enjoy it now.”

He was blunt about what’s really happening. “This price action has NOTHING to do with supply shortages,” he wrote. “This now is a game of money.”

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The crypto market as a whole ended 2025 with a net loss, down from a $3.5T to $3T valuation. The MSCI blockchain economy index outperformed, gaining over 37% in the past 12 months. 

In 2025, the MSCI blockchain economy index gained a net 37.03%, outperforming most narratives and major coins. The index is based on tech stocks, reflecting the overall gain of the sector. 

The MSCI blockchain economy index gained over 37% in 2025, boosted by the performance of NVDA, IREN, and HOOD, as well as the stability of other components. | Source: MSCI indexes.

The MSCI blockchain economy index contains legacy stocks from the era of highly active mining. As a result, the index also reflects the gains of NVDA, as well as the recently recovering IREN. 

As a result, the blockchain index tapped the latest trends in tech and the wider economy, bypassing the underperformance of assets targeting crypto insiders. The index improved on the 2024 performance, when the basket of shares added around 34% in net gains. 

The blockchain economy index outperformed the MSCI World Index, which achieved 21.9% net gains for 2025. The index also improved on its 2024 gains, when it added 18.67% net. 

MSCI puts in best performance for the past two years

The MSCI Blockchain Economy reflected the shift of mining companies into data centers, and captured the rise of NVDA. As a result, index investment did not reflect the relatively weak year for crypto. 

The index had its best performance since 2023, when it added 98.88% in gains. MSCI reflected the crypto winter with over 46% losses in 2022. 

The 2025 performance also reflected the shift to overseas investment in US stocks, which make the biggest component of the index. Additionally, the flow into AI companies boosted some of the index stocks. 

MSCI financial component lagged behind tech stocks

The MSCI index carries a 39% weight for its financial stock component. VISA shares ended the year with minimal net change, trading above $353. Mastercard MA shares also retained their range at $577. 

Robinhood (HOOD) boosted the index’s final performance with 200% net gains for 2025, offsetting PayPal’s 30% loss. Coinbase Global (COIN) lost around 9.3% for the period. The stocks were still boosting the index with their relatively high liquidity. 

The financial stocks are also reflecting the shift to using blockchain components and stablecoins in traditional settlement and as part of regular payment systems. 

In comparison, the crypto large-cap S&P index fell by 14.49% by the last day of the year, reflecting the weakened sentiment for direct coin and token investments. Blockchain as infrastructure gained adoption among mainstream companies, but the native trading and speculation were abandoned in the past year, pushed aside by the AI narrative. 

The S&P broad digital asset index had an even worse performance, wiping out 16.22% in the past year, with most of the steep losses concentrated in Q3.

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With the future of the market trending in 2026, the question that is being raised by many investors is what is the best crypto to invest in today and grow over the long term? It is a fact that big moves usually precede actual improvement in prices. Market commentators allude that instead of running with what is already running, one should monitor projects that have just left planning to run. 

Mutuum Finance (MUTM) has also become a name that has repeatedly been used in such debates as a DeFi cryptocurrency with a real financial use-case, as opposed to the hype of short-term excitement.

What Mutuum Finance (MUTM) Is

Mutuum Finance is a decentralized lending and borrowing protocol that is being developed with balance and predictability as the pillars. Users can provide assets to receive yield or borrow on security without selling the assets.

As the users provide assets, they are issued with mtTokens. These tokens are the manifestation of their location and their growth in value when interest paid back by the borrowers into the system unwinds. The borrowers get access to the liquidity with the defined rules, the collateral requirements and liquidation thresholds that secure the protocol.

The team is in development of V1 of the lending and borrowing platform with a beta that will roll out into the Sepolia testnet. This will enable the community to directly test the protocol with ETH and USDT. Security has been a major development factor. 

Funds Raised and Price Development

Mutuum Finance has already collected $19.5M and received 18,700 investors. This is important since extensive participation usually signifies a feeling of assurance among numerous sizes of wallet instead of the overdependence on a limited group.

The initial token price was $0.01. The price of MUTM is at present $0.04 and this is the 300% increase over the initial stage. According to the commentators of the market, such kind of growth as achieved prior to total access to the products is a possible indication of faith in the road map and not short term trading.

To crypto price observers in the current day, appreciation of prices can fluctuate in relation to development, as illustrated in this pattern of the price. There are some critics who hold that further implementation might enable MUTM to push it further once it is adopted, particularly, in case the metrics of their use are measured after implementation.

Distribution of Tokens and Participation

The amount of MUTM supplied amounts to 4B tokens. There are 45.5% or approximately 1.82B tokens of that part that are distributed early on. This is important to determine the extent of supply to the market before the wider trading starts.

Engagement incentives have also been introduced in Mutuum Finance. It will have a 24-hour leaderboard, which rewards the leader of the day with $500 in MUTM to ensure an individual participates daily rather than a single day. 

Moreover, it also accepts card payments, reducing the barrier to entry of new users who desire exposure and do not have to go through difficult on-chain procedures. Investors considering the option of investing in a crypto project usually consider access as a major factor in the long-term adoption than anticipated.

CertiK Audit and Stablecoin

Trust is still a major influence in crypto investment. Mutuum Finance has a CertiK 90100 CertiK Token Scan Score, which facilitates the building of trust in the format of the token. Such an overall score, coupled with the filled out Halborn review, makes the project one of the ones that focus on security initially.

Another key area is the stablecoins. Mutuum Finance will also lend stablecoins: this is one of the developing roadmap use cases. Stablecoins make borrowing and lending deflated with uncertainty and allow the activity to remain steady when other markets are active and volatile. It is believed by many analysts that the lending of stablecoins will continue to be one of the best growing resources of DeFi in the following cycle.

The Importance of Timing

Phase 6 of MUTM distribution was sold out very fast and this is one of the reasons that the commentators in the market see it as an indicator of an increasing demand. Timing is of the essence to those in need of the potential next big crypto or the most promising cryptocurrency to invest in before the first quarter of 2026. 

According to some analysts, in case Mutuum Finance keeps on achieving its roadmap and it is adopted, price levels as we will have to live in today might be quite different in 2026. Although no result can be predicted, the stir of funds, active purchasers, scrutinized code and an imminent V1 launch is the reason why MUTM is becoming a legitimate name amongst a growing number of DeFi initiatives that are setting their eyes on the subsequent phase of market development.

For more information about Mutuum Finance (MUTM) visit the links below:

Website: https://www.mutuum.com

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/mutuumfinance

Nvidia is under pressure to deliver after Chinese tech giants flooded it with orders for over 2 million H200 chips.

But here’s the problem: Nvidia only has 700,000 units available right now, so it had to go back to its main foundry partner, TSMC, asking them to speed up production. Three people familiar with the situation allegedly told Reuters that TSMC has been asked to start making more H200 units, with production expected to begin by the second quarter of 2026.

The order rush could strain global AI chip supply again. While Nvidia tries to satisfy Chinese demand, it still has to support customers elsewhere. Things are even riskier because Beijing hasn’t approved the chips for import.

Cryptopolitan reported in November that President Donald Trump’s administration lifted the U.S. export ban, allowing H200 shipments to China, but with a 25% fee.

Chinese firms order millions of chips as Nvidia balances supply gaps

The talks with TSMC, as well as the size and price of Chinese orders, have not been reported before. Nvidia has priced the H200 chips at around $27,000 each, depending on the buyer and order size.

Two sources said the company will offer two chip variants to Chinese customers: the standalone H200 and the GH200 Grace Hopper superchip, which combines the Grace CPU with the Hopper GPU.

Of the 700,000 units Nvidia currently has, about 100,000 are GH200s, with the rest being H200. The first deliveries will come from this existing inventory and are scheduled to reach clients before the Lunar New Year holiday in mid-February. Additional supply will follow once TSMC ramps up.

Chinese firms view the H200 as a serious step up from what they can currently access. The now-blocked H20, a weaker chip made specifically for the Chinese market, is no longer available after Beijing banned it. But the H200 delivers roughly six times the performance, according to people familiar with the matter.

The eight-chip module is priced at about 1.5 million yuan, more than the H20’s 1.2 million yuan price tag. Even so, it’s still cheaper than gray-market options, which are going for over 1.75 million yuan.

ByteDance is already gearing up to spend 100 billion yuan on Nvidia’s chips in 2026, up from 85 billion yuan in 2025, if Chinese regulators approve the H200 imports.

Beijing still undecided on greenlighting incoming chip shipments

Despite the U.S. now allowing H200 exports, Chinese regulators haven’t given the all-clear. They’re worried that letting in more advanced foreign chips could slow progress in China’s own semiconductor sector. Officials haven’t blocked the shipments, but they haven’t signed off either.

Local chipmakers have built products that match the H20, but nothing yet rivals the H200. One idea that’s reportedly being discussed in Beijing is to tie every imported H200 chip to a mandatory purchase of a set amount of locally made chips.

This plan would let China’s domestic players stay in the game while letting internet giants like ByteDance keep scaling up.

Nvidia responded to a request for comment saying it manages its supply chain actively. A company spokesperson added, “Licensed sales of the H200 to authorised customers in China will have no impact on our ability to supply customers in the United States.”

The spokesperson also reportedly said, “China is a highly competitive market with rapidly growing local chip suppliers. Blocking all U.S. exports undercut our national and economic security and only benefited foreign competition.”

The H200 is part of Nvidia’s Hopper architecture and is made using TSMC’s 4-nanometer process. Even though Nvidia is also working on newer chips like Blackwell and the upcoming Rubin, this sudden surge in Chinese demand is pushing it to expand H200 output fast.

Sources said Nvidia hasn’t finalized exactly how many more chips it’ll ask TSMC to build, but the target is to keep up with massive demand while avoiding deeper supply shortages in other regions.

That balance just got a lot trickier.

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Michael Burry, the investor known for calling the US housing crash years before the painful year that was 2008, said he is not betting against Tesla stock right after he called it “ridiculously overvalued.”

The clarification came after users on X pressed him on whether his consistent bearish comments meant he was short the TSLA stock too.

“But I am not short,” Michael wrote in response to one of those questions. The TSLA stock had already gone through a sharp swing this year. Shares slid in April after Elon Musk’s political activity raised questions about his focus on running the automaker. Since then, Tesla has rebounded hard and now trades near record highs, despite rising concern around vehicle demand and slowing deliveries.

Tesla publishes delivery estimates as sales pressure builds

Tesla added to the debate on Monday when it abruptly published vehicle delivery estimates on its website. That step stood out. The company usually shares this data privately with analysts and investors.

The numbers pointed to a second straight annual decline in vehicle sales, as Tesla compiled an average estimate of 1.6 million deliveries, a drop of more than 8% from the prior year. The outlook for the next three years also came in below averages tracked by Bloomberg, showing weaker momentum than many investors had priced in.

For the fourth quarter, analysts expect Tesla to deliver 422,850 vehicles, according to data posted by the company. That would be a 15% fall from the same period last year.

Bloomberg’s average stood higher at 440,907 vehicles, which still implied an 11% annual decline. Tesla had not published these averages before, even though its investor relations team has long compiled similar data behind the scenes.

Despite the sales slowdown, Tesla stock has held up, surging 11% through Tuesday’s close, even as the S&P 500 gained 17% over the same period. The gap shows investors remain willing to pay for future growth, even as delivery volumes soften.

Elon Musk defends Tesla scale while Burry stays skeptical of AI

While delivery estimates triggered bearish argument, Elon Musk continued posting on X, saying, “Tesla Model Y is now officially the world’s best-selling car for the third year in a row.” In another, Elon addressed criticism tied to his $1 trillion pay package, which shareholders approved at an October meeting.

“My Tesla and SpaceX shares, which are almost all my wealth, only go up in value as a function of how much useful product those companies produce and service,” Elon wrote. He added that shareholders and employees benefit from stock gains and described himself as “a maker, not a taker,” targeting politicians like Bernie Sanders.

Meanwhile, Michael remains with short positions on Nvidia, Palantir, and Google, arguing that AI has turned into a bubble. He has said, in his new Substack “Cassandra Unchained,” he does not believe AI demand will justify current valuations and expects the trade to unwind next year.

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