Hey Readers, Happy New Year!

Bitcoin crawled through 2025, but 2026 kicked off with fresh hopes. Bitcoin and Altcoins surged despite the lingering geopolitical turbulence.

Top performers this week:

Other Headlines:

Breaking: Bitcoin briefly climbed above $93,000 on Monday as the U.S. captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, after a military action, announced on Truth Social by President Trump on Saturday.

On Saturday, January 3, the U.S. elite troops carried out a “large-scale strike” on Venezuelan waters. They took Maduro and his wife into custody on allegations of international drug and weapons trafficking.

Following the initial reports of the military action, cryptocurrency prices, including Bitcoin, briefly dipped before recovering.

Bitcoin Broke $93K

Bitcoin briefly dipped about 0.5% to $89,300 before rebounding to $91,000 on Sunday. On Monday, January 5, Bitcoin traded above $93,000.

Major altcoins such as Ethereum, Solana, Dogecoin, and Cardano registered broader gains as escalating geopolitical tensions and macro volatility boosted risk appetite and amplified trading of alternative assets.

Over the past week, Bitcoin gained 4%, and Ethereum rose almost 7%, trading around $3,150. DOGE made the highest gains, close to 21% over the week.

Traders reacted with sharp price jumps followed by large liquidations. CoinGlass data suggests nearly $418.64 million was liquidated in the past 24 hours, with Bitcoin reporting the largest share, $187.46 million.

Some speculations suggest that President Maduro’s regime had large Bitcoin holdings worth $60 billion. According to CNBC, “Venezuela may have quietly amassed a Bitcoin reserve worth tens of billions of dollars.”

Once the U.S. Strategic Reserve seizes these forfeited assets, they will be locked up and frozen, contributing to Bitcoin’s available supply and a bullish price momentum.

The overall crypto market and Bitcoin showed continued resilience despite this uncertainty. During this geopolitical turmoil, many investors are viewing Bitcoin as a safe-haven asset. On-chain trends suggest that several whale and confident traders have decided to go long on their Bitcoin holdings.

👉 Read More: Fed Injects Another $22.8B as Bitcoin Rises Amid Maduro Indictment.

Markets don’t wait — and year-end waits even less.

In the final stretch, money rotates, funds window-dress, tax-loss selling meets bottom-fishing, and “Santa Rally” chatter turns into real tape. Most people notice after the move.

Elite Trade Club is your morning shortcut: a curated selection of the setups that still matter this year — the headlines that move stocks, catalysts on deck, and where smart money is positioning before New Year’s. One read. Five minutes. Actionable clarity.

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PwC, one of the “big four” firms, has finally decided to “lean in” towards cryptocurrency after years of a cautious stance.

PwC U.S. leader Paul Griggs emphasised that this strategic shift has been attributed to landmark regulatory moves and pro-crypto policies that govern and support digital assets and stablecoins under President Trump’s administration.

“The Genius Act and the regulatory rulemaking around stablecoin I expect will create more conviction around leaning into that product and that asset class,” said Griggs in an interview with Financial Times.

Griggs added that stronger policies will help blue-chip firms like PwC to navigate the DeFi industry with confidence and protect their customers from regulatory uncertainties, fraud, and ambiguity associated with crypto assets.

He further highlighted embedding crypto technology for financial services. The firm has been advising clients on how stablecoin payments can enhance the efficiency and speed of cross-border payments.

What this means: Industry observers anticipate that PwC’s crypto expansion will encourage greater institutional adoption. As more banks and traditional financial institutions join in, it will normalize crypto and stablecoins as a part of the global payment infrastructure.

On December 31, 2025, Trump Media and Technology Group Corp. (Nasdaq: DJT) unveiled plans to distribute digital tokens to its DJT shareholders.

In the pursuit of building America, the “crypto capital,” Trump Media (which runs the Truth Social platform), a company largely owned by President Trump, has announced plans to distribute new tokens to its DJT shareholders.

The token will be distributed to shareholders through Crypto.com. The platform runs on the Cronos blockchain for speedy and scalable operations.

Following the announcement on Wednesday, Trump Media shares rose almost 5% on early trading.

Once the new plan is executed, each existing shareholder will be eligible to receive one new token for each DJT share they hold (1:1 ratio).

There will be periodic rewards, such as benefits or discounts for shareholders, throughout the year. Such rewards are available through several Trump Media products like Truth+, Truth Social, and Truth Predict.

Trump Media also issued a disclaimer saying that token distribution does not imply ownership rights, and these tokens cannot be exchanged or transferred for cash.

👉 Also Read: Bitcoin ETFs Record $697M Inflows in Strongest Day Since October.

On January 3, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin shared a post on X, claiming that the network has finally solved the critically debated “blockchain trilemma.”

The blockchain trilemma is an inherent challenge where it is practically impossible to achieve the three critical pillars of scalability, decentralization, and security, all at once.

According to Buterin’s latest post, Ethereum is now “fundamentally new,” and its two major upgrades can solve the trilemma:

Buterin’s claim has definitely created a positive buzz. But whether it has truly solved the dilemma is still under debate.

👉 Read Buterin’s full X post here.

Last week’s quiz result: Option 2.

Keep playing folks! 🎲

2025 may be a slow runner for Bitcoin, but AI coins and memecoins started the new year with a bang. According to CoinGecoko’s GMCI Meme Index, the market cap on January 5 was roughly 33.8 billion. Pepe rallied by almost 62% in a weekly rally. Dogecoin rose 11% in a single day, and Bonk and Shiba Inu made significant daily gains.

The pump amplified after Elon Musk replied to DogeDesigner’s post on X, where Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang praised Musk, describing him as an “extraordinary engineer.” Musk replied, “Jensen rocks!” Top AI coins like Chainlink (LINK), Story (IP), and Near Protocol (NEAR) witnessed strong weekly surges.

South Korean payment network, BC Card, partners with crypto giant Coinbase to launch a USDC-based payment solution in Korea. Both companies have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to integrate BC Card’s established QR payment system with digital wallets integrated with Coinbase’s Base network.

The integration will enable customers to use USDC stablecoin for domestic payments in compliance with South Korea’s regulatory framework.

Based on CoinMarketCap Data, Wednesday, January 7, 12:48 AM ET.