As market participants continue to speculate on when altcoin season will 
arrive, BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes argued there is “always an altcoin 
season happening.”

Altcoin season never ended, traders just missed the winners: Hayes

On-chain data shows the Ethereum exchange netflow has witnessed a negative 
spike during the past week, a potential sign that investors have been 
accumulating. Ethereum Exchange Netflow Has Been Red For The Past Week As 
pointed out by institutional DeFi solutions provider Sentora in a new post on 
X, Ethereum has seen net outflows from exchanges in the past week. The 
indicator of relevance here is the &#8220;Exchange Netflow,&#8221; which measures the net 
amount of ETH that&#8217;s moving into or out of wallets connected with centralized 
exchanges. When the value of this metric is positive, it means the investors 
are depositing a net number of tokens to these platforms. As one of the main 
reasons why holders deposit their coins to exchanges is for selling-related 
purposes, this kind of trend can be bearish for the asset&#8217;s price. Related 
Reading: Bitcoin &amp; Ethereum Diverge: Longs Dominate BTC, While ETH Shorts Rise 
On the other hand, the indicator being below zero suggests outflows are 
dominating the inflows on exchanges. Such a trend can be a sign that investors 
are in a phase of accumulation, which can naturally be bullish for the 
cryptocurrency. As the data shared by Sentora shows, Ethereum has seen a 
weekly Exchange Netflow value of -$978.45 million, indicating that traders 
have made a massive amount of net withdrawals. The significant outflows have 
come as Ethereum has witnessed a decline during the past week. As Sentora 
explains: This signals aggressive accumulation where investors are likely 
&#8220;buying the dip&#8221; and withdrawing assets to cold storage or on-chain 
environments, tightening the liquid supply despite the negative price 
momentum. Related Reading: Ethereum Risks Slide To $2,000 If December Closes 
Below This Level: Analyst The price drawdown in the past week has also 
accompanied a drop in the total transaction fees on the network, meaning that 
transfer activity has gone down. The blockchain saw about $2.64 million in 
fees over the last week, which is more than 15% down week-over-week. ETH Saw A 
Brief Visit Under $2,800 Before Rebounding Ethereum observed a decline to 
$2,780 on Thursday, but the asset was able to bounce back as it&#8217;s now floating 
just under $3,000. Interestingly, ETH&#8217;s bottom was around the same level as a 
major on-chain supply cluster, as a chart shared by analyst Ali Martinez in an 
X post shows. In the graph, Martinez has attached the data of the Ethereum 
UTXO Realized Price Distribution (URPD) from on-chain analytics firm 
Glassnode. This metric basically tells us how much ETH supply was last 
transacted at the various price levels that the coin has visited in its 
history. There is a huge supply zone located at $2,772 on the URPD, suggesting 
a large amount of investors have their cost basis at it. Generally, such 
levels act as a support boundary during downtrends, as traders who purchased 
there buy the dip to defend it. Featured image from Dall-E, Sentora.com, chart 
from TradingView.com

Ethereum Exchange Outflows Soar To $978M: Sign Of Dip Buying?

A solo Bitcoin miner successfully mined an entire Bitcoin block on December 
18, after renting hashpower through the NiceHash marketplace, according to 
blockchain data.

Solo Bitcoin miner beats overwhelming odds to win $271,000 block reward

Lummis&#8217; retirement could shift the focus and momentum of crypto legislation, 
impacting the U.S.&#8217;s role in global digital asset innovation.
The post Senator Lummis to retire from Senate in 2027, focuses on crypto 
legislation as final legacy appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Senator Lummis to retire from Senate in 2027, focuses on crypto legislation as final legacy

Veteran chartist Peter Brandt has once again turned his focus to the XRP 
community after sharing a technical breakdown that points to a bearish market 
structure on the weekly timeframe for the cryptocurrency. Brandt’s technical 
analysis focused squarely on chart behavior rather than sentiment, warning 
that the current setup carries downside implications that traders cannot 
ignore and must deal with. Peter Brandt Calls Out A Potential Double Top 
Taking to the social media platform X, Brandt highlighted what he described as 
a potential double top forming on XRP’s weekly chart. He acknowledged upfront 
that the pattern could still fail but stressed that, as things stand, the 
structure leans bearish. Related Reading: Analyst Says This XRP Level Is 
Keeping Downside Pressure In Check The analysis is based on XRP&#8217;s recent price 
action, which has lost the $2 price level after days of consistent bearish 
price action in December. Brandt framed the setup as a matter of accepting 
what the chart is showing rather than arguing against it, bluntly stating that 
market participants need to deal with the implications instead of dismissing 
them. His remarks were also directed at persistent XRP optimists, making it 
clear that his stance is not driven by bias against the asset but by adherence 
to classical chart principles. Until price action invalidates the pattern, the 
risk profile is tilted to the downside, and XRP might continue pushing 
downwards in the near term. &#8220;Love it or not &#8212; you need to deal with it,&#8221; 
Brandt said. The chart accompanying Brandt’s post shows XRP falling below the 
support of a flag pattern a few months ago. This breakdown has continued to 
the lower boundary around $1.80 to $2.00, which has acted as an important 
support pair against a resistance around $3.5. This support level has acted as 
a critical support region two times already this year. However, XRP looks like 
it might be losing this level now at the third time of asking. The weekly 
moving averages on the chart also appear to be flattening, a sign that upside 
strength has weakened compared to earlier phases of the cycle. What Would 
Change The Bearish Outlook A double top pattern is a bearish reversal signal, 
meaning an uptrend is likely ending and a downtrend is beginning. However, 
despite his firm tone, Brandt was careful to note that the pattern is 
conditional, not absolute. &#8220;This is a potential double top. Sure, it may fail, 
and I will deal with this if it does,&#8221; he said. Related Reading: XRP Price 
Falls To Critical Support Level, Is It Time To Panic? A sustained move back 
above the support at $2 would delay any breakdown into the $1 range. A further 
sustained reclaim of highs around $2.2, $2.5, $2.7, and $3 would invalidate 
the double top and force a reassessment of the broader trend. However, until 
such happens, Brandt&#8217;s technical structure continues to favor caution that 
many XRP proponents might not agree with. Featured image from Adobe Stock, 
chart from Tradingview.com

Cryptocurrency price in BMD