Bitcoin Entered Bear Market in November!

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• Metric Suggests Bitcoin Has Been in a Bear Market for 2 Months

• Crypto Hack Losses Drop 60% in December

• Iran Moves to Accept Crypto Payments in Weapon Sales to Evade Sanctions: FT

• Vitalik Buterin Pushes Ethereum to Prioritize Long-Term Goals Over Trend Chasing in 2026

⌚️ Metric Suggests Bitcoin Has Been in a Bear Market for 2 Months

Bitcoin may already be two months into a bear market, according to CryptoQuant.

• CryptoQuant’s head of research Julio Moreno says Bitcoin likely entered a bear market in early November, as most indicators in the firm’s bull score index turned bearish and have not recovered.

• Moreno points to Bitcoin falling below its one-year moving average as the final confirmation, as it is a level widely used to distinguish between bull and bear market phases.

• Bitcoin began 2025 near $93,000, peaked at about $126,080 in October, and ended the year lower, which undermines forecasts that 2026 will be the start of a renewed growth phase.

📉 Crypto Hack Losses Drop 60% in December

Crypto hack losses fell 60% in December to $76 million, but major incidents show that cybersecurity risks in the digital asset market are still high.

• Losses from crypto-related hacks and exploits fell to about $76 million in December, a 60% decline from November’s $194.2 million.

• PeckShield recorded 26 major exploits during the month, including one address poisoning scam that caused a single user to lose roughly $50 million.

• Analysts warn that while December’s figures suggest a slowdown, deceptive attack methods like address poisoning continue to pose major risks to users and platforms.

🪖 Iran Moves to Accept Crypto Payments in Weapon Sales to Evade Sanctions: FT

Iran is reportedly open to accepting cryptocurrency payments for weapons exports.

• Iran’s Ministry of Defence Export Center (Mindex) is prepared to negotiate weapons contracts that allow payment in cryptocurrencies, alongside barter deals and Iranian rials, according to a report by the Financial Times.

• The policy is among the first known instances of a state-run arms exporter publicly indicating it would accept digital assets for advanced weapons like missiles, warships, and ammunition.

• Facing extensive sanctions from Western powers that restrict access to global banking, Iran increasingly relied on barter trade and digital assets like Bitcoin to sustain trade.

🗓️ Vitalik Buterin Pushes Ethereum to Prioritize Long-Term Goals Over Trend Chasing in 2026

Vitalik Buterin called on the Ethereum community to refocus on decentralization and long-term goals.

• Vitalik Buterin urged the Ethereum community to prioritize the network’s original mission of becoming a truly decentralized “world computer,” and warned against chasing short-term trends or trying to “win the next meta.”

• He acknowledged Ethereum’s major technical progress in 2025, including higher gas limits, expanded blob capacity, improved node software, and performance gains from zkEVMs and PeerDAS.

• Buterin said the next challenge is turning those upgrades into real-world applications that operate without fraud, censorship, or reliance on third-party intermediaries.

👀 QUICK NEWS

• BTC, SOL and HYPE Treasury Execs Forecast M&A, Diversification and More Institutional Adoption in 2026

• Tether Snaps Up Another 8,888 BTC, Now Fifth-Largest Bitcoin Wallet

• Crypto Tax Data to be Collected in 48 Counties Ahead of CARF 2027

• Warren Davidson Warns Crypto Policy Shift Is Freezing U.S. Markets

• India’s RBI Warns: CBDCs Must Replace Stablecoins to Prevent Financial Chaos

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