Despair on the Digital Frontier: Crypto’s Winter Deepens

by

What to know:

By Omkar Godbole (All times ET unless indicated otherwise)

The crypto market, like a sun-bleached carcass on the Mojave Desert floor, lies cracked and brittle. Bitcoin’s feeble rally from Monday’s $84,000 plunge wheezed to a halt at $87,000-less a recovery than a gasp. XRP, ETH, SOL, and DOGE? They’re all circling their wagons near Monday’s lows like pioneers staring down a blizzard. 🥶

The CoinDesk 20 and 80 Indices? They crept up less than 1% in 24 hours. A pittance. A spit in the wind.

“This is a dangerous lull,” warns Alex Kuptsikevich of FXPro, squinting at the market cap teetering below $3 trillion. “The bulls better hold that $2.83 trillion line, or we’ll see a stampede faster than a prairie fire.”

One glimmer? The ETF bloodletting paused. $8.48 million dribbled into U.S. spot ETFs-hardly enough to fill a thimble, let alone plug the $229 million gap since October. The bulls might as well be trying to dam the Mississippi with corn husks. 🌽

Meanwhile, the world frets over Japan’s interest rates like a farmer worrying about rain while his barn burns. Jeroen Blokland scoffs: “Japan’s got an aging population and a budget deficit. They’ll cling to yield curve control like a drunk clings to a lamppost.” 🍣

KAS token, the Kaspa blockchain’s pride, bucked the trend last month with an 8% rise. Investors cheered “vProgs”-whatever that means-as if a new religion had promised salvation. But now it’s back to coughing up dust. 🚀

In the real world, Treasury yields dig their heels, giving the dollar index a fighting chance. Stay alert, partner. The wolves are at the door. 🔫

What to Watch

For a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”

Token Events

For a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”

Conferences

For a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”

  • Day 2 of 7: Solana Economic Zone (Dubai, UAE)
  • Dec. 2: Boston Institutional Digital Assets Forum 2025
  • Dec. 2: Digital Finance Summit 2025 (Brussels)
  • Day 1 of 2: Blockchain for Europe (Brussels)
  • Day 1 of 2: India Blockchain Week 2025 (Bangalore)
  • Day 1 of 2: FinTech Connect 2025 (London)
  • Day 1 of 2: MENA FinTech and Insurtech Festival (Doha, Qatar)
  • Day 1 of 2: Modern Investor Summit 2025 (Virtual)
  • Day 1 of 2: TOKENIZE:LDN (London)
  • Day 1 of 3: FT’s Global Banking Summit (London)

Market Movements

  • BTC is up 0.4% from 4 p.m. ET Monday at $86,801.55 (24hrs: +0.27%)
  • ETH is up 0.27% at $2,799.42 (24hrs: -1.27%)
  • CoinDesk 20 is up 0.15% at 2,727.64 (24hrs: -0.47%)
  • Ether CESR Composite Staking Rate is up 7 bps at 2.87%
  • BTC funding rate is at 0.0069% (7.5829% annualized) on Binance

  • DXY is unchanged at 99.49
  • Gold futures are down 1.29% at $4,219.70
  • Silver futures are down 2.89% at $57.44
  • Nikkei 225 closed unchanged at 49,303.45
  • Hang Seng closed up 0.24% at 26,095.05
  • FTSE is unchanged at 9,709.62
  • Euro Stoxx 50 is up 0.5% at 5,695.65
  • DJIA closed on Monday down 0.9% at 47,289.33
  • S&P 500 closed down 0.53% at 6,812.63
  • Nasdaq Composite closed down 0.38% at 23,275.92
  • S&P/TSX Composite closed down 0.9% at 31,101.78
  • S&P 40 Latin America closed down 0.27% at 3,163.56
  • U.S. 10-Year Treasury rate is unchanged at 4.09%
  • E-mini S&P 500 futures are unchanged at 6,831.75
  • E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures are up 0.14% at 25,428.00
  • E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average Index futures are unchanged at 47,366.00

Bitcoin Stats

  • BTC Dominance: 59.55% (+0.24%)
  • Ether-bitcoin ratio: 0.03228 (-0.5%)
  • Hashrate (seven-day moving average): 1,075 EH/s
  • Hashprice (spot): $36.95
  • Total fees: 4.1 BTC / $352,115
  • CME Futures Open Interest: 121,220 BTC
  • BTC priced in gold: 20.7 oz.
  • BTC vs gold market cap: 5.81%

Technical Analysis

  • The number of long positions in the Bitfinex-listed BTC/USD pair has risen to 71,809, the highest since February 2024.
  • It’s a sign that traders are increasingly taking bullish exposure.
  • Historical data shows that a sharp increase in the number of bullish bets typically occurs during a downtrend.

Crypto Equities

  • Coinbase Global (COIN): closed on Monday at $259.84 (-4.76%), +0.83% at $261.99
  • Circle Internet (CRCL): closed at $75.94 (-4.99%), +1.41% at $77.01
  • Galaxy Digital (GLXY): closed at $24.8 (-6.73%), unchanged in pre-market
  • Bullish (BLSH): closed at $41.03 (-5.94%), +1.1% at $41.48
  • MARA Holdings (MARA): closed at $11.52 (-2.46%), +0.78% at $11.61
  • Riot Platforms (RIOT): closed at $15.48 (-4.03%), +1.1% at $15.65
  • Core Scientific (CORZ): closed at $16.59 (-1.78%), +0.12% at $16.61
  • CleanSpark (CLSK): closed at $14.08 (-6.76%), +1.56% at $14.30
  • CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI): closed at $47.26 (-2.42%)
  • Exodus Movement (EXOD): closed at $14.8 (-10.41%)

Crypto Treasury Companies

  • Strategy (MSTR): closed at $171.42 (-3.25%), +0.62% at $172.48
  • Semler Scientific (SMLR): closed at $19.75 (-9.07%)
  • SharpLink Gaming (SBET): closed at $9.6 (-9.6%), +1.56% at $9.75
  • Upexi (UPXI): closed at $2.65 (-5.18%)
  • Lite Strategy (LITS): closed at $1.71 (-9.52%)

ETF Flows

Spot BTC ETFs

  • Daily net flows: $8.5 million
  • Cumulative net flows: $57.7 billion
  • Total BTC holdings ~1.31 million

Spot ETH ETFs

  • Daily net flows: -$79 million
  • Cumulative net flows: $12.88 billion
  • Total ETH holdings ~6.27 million

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2025-12-02 16:07