NFTArchaeologis

This week, Bitcoin faces a severe test as the price drops below $93,000 and adjusts to $90,110. Derivatives markets experienced over $860 million in forced liquidations, with long positions overly concentrated, creating market panic. Market analysis indicates weak liquidity, coupled with soft spot demand, which could lead to sharp price fluctuations. Although selling pressure from long-term holders has eased, the market still needs to be cautious of the impact of liquidity changes. Investors should carefully assess their risk tolerance.

The story of money reflects humanity's exploration of trust. From early physical currency to the emergence of fiat money, the foundation of trust has gradually shifted with social development. Fiat currency relies on government endorsement but faces the threat of inflation, prompting people to seek alternatives such as Bitcoin, which is based on mathematics rather than government. Different forms of "money" present their own understanding of value, and this evolution will continue in the future.

The 2025 gold market performed remarkably well, with spot gold prices increasing by 65%, reaching over 50 new highs, driven by multiple factors. Tether's gold token XAUT has become the preferred choice for ordinary investors to allocate gold due to its liquidity, low threshold, and diverse trading channels, especially in the context of a depreciating US dollar, providing a new approach to hedge against inflation.

Satoshi Nakamoto quietly stepped away in 2011, handing over control of Bitcoin to others, reflecting a pursuit of decentralization ideals. His original intention in creating Bitcoin was to establish a currency system without the need for centralized institutions. After multiple crises, he realized that Bitcoin required more developer participation, leading him to gracefully exit. Through his choice, Bitcoin truly achieved decentralization and became a highly influential system.

Binance recently froze over 600 accounts for cheating with prohibited tools during the Alpha airdrop event. This move aims to maintain platform order and fairness, and encourages users to report violations. Those who successfully report violations can receive a reward of up to 50%. Binance emphasizes a zero-tolerance policy to rebuild market confidence and ensure integrity.

Disagreements have emerged regarding the future direction of Ethereum. The technical community is focusing on new architectures and interoperability, while external opinions question its development speed. The core of the discussion revolves around Ethereum's design philosophy, emphasizing system reliability and decentralization over short-term performance to ensure continued operation in harsh environments. Ethereum refuses to sacrifice decentralization for speed and, from a long-term survival perspective, maintains resilience and resistance to censorship, exploring how to safeguard trustworthiness in real-world environments.

According to CryptoQuant's research, Bitcoin is facing a market correction, with a forecasted decline to the $56,000 to $60,000 range. The main factors are decreased demand and reduced on-chain activity. Analysis shows that its bull market score has turned negative, indicating negative market momentum. $70,000 is an important support level; if it fails to rebound, the price may further decline, and holders should exercise caution regarding market volatility.

MicroStrategy increases its Bitcoin holdings again in early 2026, purchasing 1,287 coins, bringing the total holdings to 673,783 coins, accounting for over 3% of the global supply. Since 2020, the company has invested over $50.7 billion, with unrealized gains of $12.4 billion. Its cash reserves have increased to $2.25 billion, strengthening financial flexibility. Analysts are optimistic about its prospects, giving a "Buy" rating with a target stock price of $500.

Recently, after the release of PCE data, the US economy outperformed expectations, boosting stock and commodity markets. However, the cryptocurrency market underperformed and failed to follow the upward trend. Market sentiment is calm, and low volatility is expected to continue until the end of the year. Year-end settlements and the Christmas holiday may influence the trend, but the real turning point may not come until the Federal Reserve meeting in January next year.

JPMorgan predicts that the Federal Reserve will not cut interest rates until 2026 and may raise rates in 2027, breaking market expectations of rate cuts. Strong labor market data reduces the risk of rate cuts, while rising US Treasury yields could put pressure on high-risk assets, affecting cryptocurrency performance. Market optimism about rate cuts is facing adjustments, and the future outlook remains uncertain.

Institutional capital is accelerating onto the chain. Over the past six months, the on-chain deployment scale of real-world assets (RWA) has approached $20 billion, and this is no longer just a technological experiment but a genuine shift of traditional finance to blockchain.
In this wave, five key protocols are designing and optimizing credit processes for institutions: Rayls Labs provides privacy protection for banks, Ondo Finance enables cross-chain asset distribution, Centrifuge rebuilds institutional credit workflows, Canton Network transforms Wall Street settlement, and Polymesh embeds compliance at the protocol layer. They are not competitors but rather serve different specific needs of various institutions.
Market Size and the Three Major Driving Engines
The growth of the tokenized asset market is remarkable. According to the latest market data, the scale of institutional-grade RWA has grown from 60-

Recently, the capital market has shown a phenomenon where the stock market profits easily while the crypto world faces difficulties, revealing different investment mindsets in the market. In the A-shares market, finding money has become a technical issue; whereas in the crypto world, patience and strategy are required. As market supply pressures decrease, the crypto market becomes a good opportunity for long-term investment. Investors need to understand and adapt to different market environments to seek returns.

The virtual currency market has once again experienced a liquidation storm, with contract liquidations approaching $1 billion in the past 24 hours, mainly due to a sudden reversal in market sentiment and excessive leverage. Bitcoin's price has fallen 28% from its all-time high, with long positions suffering the heaviest losses during liquidations. Analysis indicates that the market structure is fragile and warns of potential future risks. Investors should reassess their risk exposure to prevent the next wave of liquidations.

Cryptocurrency financing logic is undergoing significant changes. A Wintermute Ventures report shows that the VC approval rate in 2025 will be only 4%. Market preferences favor precise investments, with capital concentrated in later-stage projects, making early-stage financing more difficult. founding teams need to demonstrate product-market fit and financial sustainability to achieve self-sufficiency. Institutional investors must adapt to new rules, shifting focus to AI integration and compliance to avoid failures of traditional investment models. In the future, projects that can demonstrate sustainable profitability potential will become the darlings of capital.

Funding rate is a crucial yet often overlooked concept for perpetual contract traders. When the funding rate turns negative, a fundamental shift occurs in market dynamics — this not only signals a reversal of bullish and bearish forces but also indicates that institutional investors are beginning to realize significant profits. Retail investors, even if they recognize this opportunity, often end up "longing for what they cannot reach" due to differences in technology, costs, and risk management capabilities.
Negative Funding Rate: A Warning Sign of Market Imbalance
Before understanding the significance of a negative funding rate, we need to clarify the basic logic of this mechanism.
Perpetual contracts are not traditional futures; they have no expiration date, and participants can hold positions indefinitely. However, this creates a problem: the contract price can easily diverge from the spot price. To address this issue, exchanges introduced the funding rate mechanism — a self-regulating "balancing tax" in the market.
The calculation of the funding rate is: premium rate +

In the rapid development of DeFi, flash loan attacks have become an increasingly serious security threat. Since the first attack in 2020, hackers have stolen hundreds of millions of dollars worth of assets through this method. To understand why flash loan attacks are so frequent and difficult to prevent, it is essential to first understand the operational mechanism of flash loans and how attackers exploit vulnerable links within the DeFi ecosystem to carry out coordinated, cross-protocol assaults.
From Unsecured Loans to DeFi Threats—The Dual Nature of Flash Loans
Flash loans are an innovative financial instrument first introduced by Aave in early 2020. Unlike traditional loans that require collateral and complex credit approval processes, flash loans have three core features, which also provide opportunities for attackers.
First, they are completely unsecured loans. Borrowers do not need to provide any assets as collateral, nor do they need to undergo credit checks.

DeFi project World Liberty Financial led by the Trump family recently launched the "World Liberty Markets" lending platform, utilizing USD1 stablecoin to provide lending services, marking the start of its practical application phase. The platform supports multiple assets as collateral and offers an approximate annual borrowing interest rate of 0.83%. Market response has been enthusiastic, with related tokens experiencing significant short-term gains. The official plan is to launch new products within the next 18 months and introduce a reward program to incentivize users, further expanding the ecosystem application of USD1.

CCTV anti-corruption documentary exposes that former China Securities Regulatory Commission official Yao Qian engaged in large-scale corruption using virtual currencies, hiding illegal funds worth tens of millions of yuan. Yao Qian used hardware wallets and shell accounts to transfer funds, and raised a large amount of Ether through ICO fundraising, ultimately converting virtual assets into cash to purchase luxury homes in Beijing. This case serves as a warning that anti-corruption efforts need to upgrade technological methods and strengthen monitoring of virtual assets.

Recently, global gold prices have continued to rise, with the book value of U.S. gold reserves surpassing $1 trillion, accounting for over 90% of the government's balance sheet. Investors are turning to gold as a safe haven in response to geopolitical risks and economic uncertainties, driving prices to new highs and demonstrating gold's stable position in U.S. fiscal policy. Federal Reserve policy expectations and foreign exchange inflows have also contributed to the increase in gold prices.