Institutional demand for crypto derivatives surged late last year as regulated 
trading venues captured record futures, options, and spot-quoted activity, 
signaling deeper liquidity, broader participation, and accelerating momentum 
heading into 2026. $3T Crypto Activity on CME Confirms the Bull Case Is 
Getting Stronger Institutional participation in regulated crypto derivatives 
strengthened toward year-end. That momentum was […]

$3T Crypto Volume Rips Through CME as Institutions Step on the Gas

El Salvador&#8217;s strategic asset diversification amid global economic uncertainty 
may influence other nations to reassess their reserve strategies.
The post El Salvador stockpiles gold, Bitcoin amid market jitters appeared 
first on Crypto Briefing.

El Salvador stockpiles gold, Bitcoin amid market jitters

Ethereum price started a major decline after it failed to clear $3,050. ETH is 
down 10% and is now struggling to stay above the $2,700 support. Ethereum 
failed to stay above $2,880 and started a fresh decline. The price is trading 
below $2,800 and the 100-hourly Simple Moving Average. There is a steep 
bearish trend line forming with resistance at $2,820 on the hourly chart of 
ETH/USD (data feed via Kraken). The pair could start a fresh increase if it 
stays above the $2,700 zone. Ethereum Price Dips 10% Ethereum price failed to 
remain stable above $2,880 and started a major decline, like Bitcoin. ETH 
price traded below $2,820 to enter a bearish zone. The bears even pushed the 
price below $2,750. A low was formed at $2,680 and the price is now showing 
bearish signs below the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the recent decline from 
the $3,040 swing high to the $2,680 low. There is also a steep bearish trend 
line forming with resistance at $2,820 on the hourly chart of ETH/USD. 
Ethereum price is now trading below $2,800 and the 100-hourly Simple Moving 
Average. If the bulls remain in action above $2,700, the price could attempt 
another increase. Immediate resistance is seen near the $2,765 level. The 
first key resistance is near the $2,820 level and the trend line. The next 
major resistance is near the $2,860 level and the 50% Fib retracement level of 
the recent decline from the $3,040 swing high to the $2,680 low. A clear move 
above the $2,860 resistance might send the price toward the $2,900 resistance. 
An upside break above the $2,900 region might call for more gains in the 
coming days. In the stated case, Ether could rise toward the $3,000 resistance 
zone or even $3,050 in the near term. More Losses In ETH? If Ethereum fails to 
clear the $2,820 resistance, it could start a fresh decline. Initial support 
on the downside is near the $2,700 level. The first major support sits near 
the $2,680 zone. A clear move below the $2,680 support might push the price 
toward the $2,620 support. Any more losses might send the price toward the 
$2,550 region. The main support could be $2,500. Technical Indicators Hourly 
MACD – The MACD for ETH/USD is gaining momentum in the bearish zone. Hourly 
RSI &#8211; The RSI for ETH/USD is now below the 50 zone. Major Support Level – 
$2,700 Major Resistance Level – $2,820

Ethereum Price Dumps To $2,700, Bulls Scramble To Defend Support

Bybit‘s market share climbed in 2025, even after it was hacked for $1.5 
billion, while trading volumes on the top 10 exchanges rose by 7.6% on average 
last year.

Bybit made ‘slow but steady comeback’ in 2025 after massive hack: CoinGecko

CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju revived the “Bitcoin equals energy” thesis on 
Wednesday, arguing that proof-of-work is becoming the settlement layer for an 
AI-driven economy where power, not narratives, is the binding constraint. In a 
post on X, Ju framed Bitcoin as a digital instrument that can price energy 
with precision in a way commodities can’t. “Energy is money. Bitcoin precisely 
measures the value of energy,” Ju wrote. “Gold also embeds energy, but it 
cannot be measured accurately because it is not digital. Bitcoin is the money 
of an AI-accelerated energy economy.” The Link Between AI, Energy And Bitcoin 
Ju’s comments were posted alongside a long-form X post by Hashed CEO Simon Kim 
titled Monetizing Energy: Redefining Bitcoin’s Role in the AI Era, which 
argues that the old “energy waste” critique is being overtaken by an AI data 
center buildout that is rewriting the value of mining infrastructure. Kim’s 
core claim is that the debate has shifted from morality to grid economics and 
industrial pragmatism. “The oldest criticism of Bitcoin has always been about 
energy,” he wrote. “Claims that it ‘wastes electricity,’ ‘destroys the 
environment,’ and ‘competes with data centers for power’ have been repeated 
for over a decade, solidifying into conventional wisdom. But in 2026, this 
debate no longer resides in the realm of moral condemnation.” The thread 
points to capital flows as a tell. Kim highlighted Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth 
fund Mubadala’s $437 million allocation to BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF in Q4 2024, 
followed by a partnership with Oman’s sovereign wealth fund to back Crusoe 
Energy and launch the Middle East’s first flare-gas mining operation. In 
October 2025, Mubadala co-led Crusoe’s Series E with a $1.375 billion check, 
pushing the company’s valuation above $10 billion—at which point Crusoe said 
it would divest its Bitcoin mining division and focus fully on AI 
infrastructure. Related Reading: Bitcoin Death Cross That Last Preceded A 66% 
Drop Is Back Kim’s thesis is that miners have already done the hard, 
unglamorous work AI now needs: securing power, mastering high-density thermal 
management, and building operational muscle around flexible load. He also 
leaned on an Elon Musk quote from a November 2025 podcast: “Energy is the true 
currency. This is why I say Bitcoin is based on energy. You can’t just pass a 
law and suddenly have a lot of energy.” A recurring theme in Kim’s post is 
that electricity’s constraints (locality, immediacy, and transmission losses) 
make flexibility economically valuable. He cited early examples like Sichuan 
hydropower curtailment exceeding 20 billion kWh by 2020, and argued that 
miners became a buyer of last resort for energy that couldn’t be stored or 
sold. Globally, he claimed curtailed renewable energy exceeds 200TWh annually, 
representing more than $20 billion in economic losses, positioning Bitcoin 
mining as an instant monetization path for surplus generation. In Texas, Kim 
pointed to ERCOT’s classification of mining as a controllable load resource, 
citing Riot Blockchain cutting power usage by 98–99% during the 2022 winter 
storm and receiving $31.7 million in power credits during an August 2023 
heatwave, more than it would have earned mining that month. The framing is 
less “miners versus data centers” and more “premium uptime workloads versus 
interruptible demand that stabilizes the grid.” Related Reading: Bitcoin Won’t 
Break Out Until The Fed Steps Into Yen/JGB Chaos: Arthur Hayes Kim also argued 
the environmental critique is changing on the margin as the industry’s energy 
mix shifts. He claimed more than half of mining now comes from sustainable 
sources, exceeding 52%, while coal dependence fell from 36% to under 9%. On 
methane, he described flare-gas mining as an emissions arbitrage: methane has 
“80 times” the greenhouse effect of CO2, flaring combusts 93% with 7% 
escaping, while using gas for mining combusts over 99%, cutting CO2-equivalent 
emissions by over 60% versus flaring. The forward implication of Ju’s framing 
is that if AI accelerates the premium on reliable power and buildout speed, 
Bitcoin’s value proposition may increasingly be argued in the language of 
energy markets: measuring, monetizing, and transporting scarcity. Kim’s 
closing challenge was explicit: shift the question from consumption totals to 
system outcomes, suggesting the next phase of the debate will center on where 
miners sit in the stack of AI-era infrastructure, not whether they exist: “AI 
operates where continuous uptime is essential; Bitcoin operates where 
flexibility has value. Governments can print money, but they cannot print 
energy. Bitcoin&#8217;s proof-of-work is the mechanism that brings this physical 
reality into the digital economy. It&#8217;s a technology that takes energy from one 
place and transports it anywhere.” At press time, Bitcoin traded at $86,779. 
Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com

Cryptocurrency price in INR