Bitcoin slipped back below $80,000 this morning and is trading under its 50-day average, and some analysts see more weakness ahead. FxPro’s Alex Kuptsikevich says the technical indicators point to a continued downtrend, while Secure Digital Markets calls $80,000 key support, with a break opening the door to $75,000 and then $73,000. Ripple won final approval from a U.S. regulator to launch its own national trust bank, but XRP is down 0.5% since midnight UTC, and Marex analysts note the charter creates no requirement to buy XRP. Options traders on Derive are pricing in only a modest move around Wednesday’s Fed meeting, roughly 3% in either direction by Friday’s expiry. The takeaway: headlines that sound bullish may not be. Stay alert.
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Ripple gets a final go-ahead to launch its own U.S. national trust bank
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has given final approval to Ripple National Trust Bank, CEO Brad Garlinghouse announced on X late Monday, allowing the fintech to operate a specialized bank under federal supervision. The bank will manage the reserves backing Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin and offer regulated custody services to institutional clients, while RLUSD will still be issued by Ripple’s New York-regulated unit, Standard Custody & Trust Company, so the token now has both state and federal oversight. Ripple first applied for the license in July 2025, and the OCC granted conditional approval that December. RLUSD, which launched in December 2024, has grown to a market value of about $2.5 billion and is backed by dollar deposits, U.S. government securities and other cash-like assets, with BNY holding most of the reserves. Ripple said it will keep working with the OCC and New York regulators as the bank starts operating, with the U.S. rolling out stablecoin rules under the GENIUS Act.
Bitcoin drops below $80,000 as crypto ignores Asian tech rally, Fed meeting begins
Bitcoin fell 0.4% since midnight UTC to near $79,700 while Asian tech stocks rallied, with South Korea’s Kospi up 3.1%, and ether lost 0.5%. The DeFi index dropped 1.8%, the most of any CoinDesk index and a reversal from Monday, when it was the only one to gain. U.S. stock futures edged lower ahead of big-tech earnings, and U.S. crude approached $102 a barrel. The Fed begins a two-day meeting today, with a decision on Wednesday and CME’s FedWatch tool showing about a 90% chance of no change; traders will look for clues on whether another rate increase is likely before year-end. U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs took in $110 million on Monday, per Farside Investors, ending two days of outflows. In derivatives, futures volume rose 18% to $152 billion while open interest rose just 0.95% and liquidations eased 13% to $133 million. The most traded bitcoin option was the $72,000 put expiring Dec. 25, and 25-delta skews stayed positive across tenors, signaling a bias for downside protection.
Investor who called for AI pivot in 2023 says bitcoin is going to $57,000
Technology investor Jason Calacanis urged followers on X to sell bitcoin and move into artificial intelligence, predicting it will revisit $57,000 within 12 months and never set another record high. That is about 28% below Tuesday’s price near $79,600. He cited fading investor enthusiasm and ETF outflows as signs demand could keep weakening: the funds lost about $774 million across Thursday and Friday, according to Farside Investors, though Monday brought $110 million back in. Calacanis, who told crypto founders to pivot to AI in 2023, said bitcoin has lost the crowd that once made owning it feel compulsory, and he is questioning where its next buyer will come from. He disclosed he is still long TAO, the token behind AI network Bittensor, which pays participants for services such as computing and storage.
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