CoinDesk 20 Index: 3,695.63 +0.73%
Bitcoin (BTC): $100,708.64 +1.98%
Ether (ETH): $3,629.59 -0.30%
S&P 500: 5975.38 +0.55%
Gold: $2,655 0.63%
Nikkei 225: 40,083.3 +1.97%

Bitcoin is holding firm above $100,000. BTC changed hands at $100,800 ahead of Tuesday's U.S. market open, around 1.6% higher over the past 24 hours and outperforming the broad-market, altcoin-heavy CoinDesk 20 index's 0.7% gain during the same period. The Coinbase Bitcoin Price Premium, which measures the price difference for the asset between the U.S.-based Coinbase and offshore exchange Binance, has returned to positive territory, signaling a recovery in U.S. investor demand after the holiday season lull. Strong spot ETF inflows — totaling $978 million on Monday per Farside Investors — underscore the appetite, however, risks could damp demand for the rest of the month. "It won’t be smooth sailing into January, as structural risks loom," hedge fund QCP noted. "The U.S. Treasury debt ceiling reinstatement is projected to be reinstated mid-month, requiring the Treasury to adopt 'extraordinary measures' to fund government expenditures. This could trigger market volatility as discussions around the issue intensify."

China's market turmoil could boost BTC's rally. The Chinese yuan (CNY) fell to its weakest against the U.S. dollar since September 2023 with key stock indexes melting and government bond yields tumbling, triggering a capital flight into alternative assets. "Bitcoin will be an obvious destination for some of those flows, especially with capital controls in place making it difficult to get capital out of China via traditional channels," founders of the LondonCryptoClub told CoinDesk. "When China devalued in 2015, Bitcoin promptly traded over 3x higher," they said. Bitcoin bulls, however, need to keep an eye out for a potential intervention by the People's Bank of China involving the sale of dollars to prop up the yuan, as that could boost the dollar index, capping the upside in the greenback-denominated assets like BTC.

FTX EU was sold to derivatives exchange Backpack in a push to expand to the continent. Backpack acquired FTX EU, the bankrupt exchange's European arm, for $32.7 million, the exchange said. With the purchase, Backpack also made some regulatory inroads into the EU market, as FTX EU held a MiFID II-license under the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). CEO Armani Ferrante said the firm’s MiCA notification has been submitted and he expects to go live in the first quarter of 2025.

AI agents and stock market parody tokens may have been all the rage in recent weeks, but big players are active in dogecoin (DOGE) markets, with some targeting a $1 level in 2025.

Data from multiple sources shows an uptick in interest from whales, a colloquial term for wealthy and influential market participants, with a spike in transactions worth above $100,000 over the weekend. Such activity may serve as a precursor to a move higher.

Open interest in futures markets tracking the token set a record on Monday, with active contracts zooming to 10.35 billion DOGE from 7.50 billion DOGE over the weekend. That surpassed a March 2024 peak of 10 billion DOGE, data from CoinGlass shows.

High open interest might suggest a strong trend continuation. CoinDesk market analyst Omkar Godbole said he expects the price to reach 50 cents in the coming weeks, based on price-chart analysis. It's currently about 39 cents.

“DOGE has risen back above the closely monitored 50-day SMA, coinciding with a renewed upswing in the 10-day SMA, signaling a bullish bias,” Godbole said. “Additionally, the discount on Coinbase compared to Binance has disappeared. This suggests a strong likelihood that prices will break through the current three-day resistance at $0.40, potentially pushing toward 50 cents and beyond.”

Some observers say they expect DOGE to touch $1 in 2025, a target that's nearly 50% higher than the token’s lifetime peak of 70 cents in 2021.

“Dogecoin will finally hit $1, with the world’s largest and oldest memecoin touching a $100bn market cap,” Galaxy Digital head of research Alex Thorn wrote in a markets predictions post for the year. “However, the Dogecoin market cap will be eclipsed by the Department of Government Efficiency, which will identify and successfully enact cuts in amounts exceeding Dogecoin’s 2025 high-water mark market cap.”

- Omkar Godbole