Nobel Prize-winning Bitcoiner María Corina Machado is one of three looking to 
replace Nicolás Maduro as Venezuela&#8217;s President after he was captured on 
Saturday.

Bitcoin advocate Machado in running to replace Venezuela’s Maduro

Ripple USD trading launches on OSL, marking a regulated push to expand 
stablecoin adoption with fee-free access, institutional-grade compliance, and 
new onramps for dollar-pegged digital payments and settlement activity. Ripple 
USD Debuts on OSL as Regulated Platform Pushes Stablecoin Adoption A regulated 
digital asset platform expanded its stablecoin offerings with Ripple USD 
(RLUSD) at year-end […]

OSL Launches Ripple USD Stablecoin Trading With Zero-Fee Promotion

Welcome to Latam Insights, a compilation of the most relevant crypto news from 
Latin America over the past week. In this week’s edition, Polymarket traders 
win big on Maduro’s downfall, Bitfarms leaves Latam, and Argentina enters 2026 
with high crypto adoption levels. Maduro’s Fall Turns Long-Shot Polymarket 
Bets Into Overnight Wins U.S. President Donald Trump […]

Latam Insights: Polymarket Traders Profit on Venezuelan Situation, Bitfarms Exits Latam

The sentiment among crypto investors has oscillated between &#8220;fear&#8221; and 
&#8220;extreme fear&#8221; since the market flash crash on October 10, 2025.

Crypto Fear and Greed Index flips to ‘neutral’ for first time since Oct

A large crypto wallet that recently took a sharp loss on Ethereum has 
restructured its holdings, moving away from volatile tokens and increasing 
exposure to stablecoins and tokenized gold, according to on-chain tracking 
data. Related Reading: A Maduro Bet, A Market Alarm: US Lawmaker Targets 
Trading Abuses The address drew attention after an aggressive Ethereum 
purchase late last year went wrong. Between November 3 and November 7, 2025, 
the wallet spent about $110 million to acquire 31,005 ETH at an average price 
of $3,581. As prices slid, the position was unwound. Nearly the entire holding 
was sold for roughly $92.19 million, locking in a loss close to $18 million 
within two weeks. At current prices near $3,020, that same Ethereum stack 
would now be valued at around $93.6 million. Shift Away From Ether After 
Costly Exit Based on reports from blockchain monitoring platforms, the sell- 
off marked a clear change in behavior. The wallet, once heavily tied to 
Ethereum, no longer holds a large directional bet on the asset. Instead, 
balances have been spread across cash-like tokens and commodities. The move 
reflects caution rather than an attempt to quickly recover losses. An unknown 
whale, who lost $18.8M on $ETH in just 2 weeks, has abandoned $ETH and rotated 
into #gold. The whale has spent $14.58M to buy 3,299 $XAUT at $4,421 over the 
past 7 hours.https://t.co/hit6agWmHd pic.twitter.com/X7k94zV0iQ — Lookonchain 
(@lookonchain) January 2, 2026 Gold Buying Shows Preference For Lower 
Volatility According to on-chain records, the address began building a 
position in Tether’s tokenized gold product, XAUT. Starting on Friday, the 
wallet spent $14.58 million in USDT to buy 3,299 XAUT across several 
transactions. The average purchase price came in near $4,421 per token. This 
was not the first gold buy. A smaller XAUT acquisition was made on December 
13, roughly three weeks earlier. As of the latest data, the wallet holds 3,386 
XAUT tokens worth about $14.92 million. The broader portfolio now totals close 
to $91 million. About $58 million sits in USDT, another $18 million is held in 
USDC, while the remainder is split between XAUT and a reduced Ethereum 
balance. The composition points to capital protection rather than high-risk 
positioning. Metals Outperform Crypto In 2025 Returns from last year help 
explain the change. Reports have disclosed that Bitcoin fell by 6% in 2025, 
while Ethereum dropped 11%. Over the same period, gold surged over 60%, and 
silver rose an even steeper 147%. Related Reading: Bitcoin Dominance Grows As 
Altcoins Post Another Losing Year: Analyst Major stock indexes such as the S&amp;P 
500, Dow Jones, and Nasdaq 100 also posted stronger performance than much of 
the crypto market. With those results in view, some investors appear more 
comfortable holding assets linked to metals or cash. Meanwhile, analysts at 
asset manager VanEck have pointed to 2026 as a possible recovery year for the 
crypto market. Their view contrasts with the current behavior of large wallets 
moving into stablecoins and gold-linked tokens. The divide shows how uncertain 
sentiment remains after a year when metals and traditional assets delivered 
stronger gains than major cryptocurrencies. Featured image from Unsplash, 
chart from TradingView

Cryptocurrency price in ILS