Monat: Dezember 2025

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Zcash price prediction for January 2026: Arthur Hayes predicts $1000

  • Whale accumulation and shielded ZEC reduce tradable supply, boosting price.
  • A technical breakout above $500 signals strong bullish momentum and potential gains.
  • Arthur Hayes forecasts $1,000 as rising demand and institutional interest grow.

Zcash has seen remarkable momentum in recent months, drawing attention for its unique privacy features and growing institutional interest.

The Zcash price has climbed to $537.45, reflecting a 3.01% gain over the past 24 hours and an impressive 28.5% rise over the past week, fueled by a combination of supply dynamics and renewed investor enthusiasm.

This surge comes amid a broader trend in the crypto market where privacy-focused coins are increasingly viewed as hedges against tightening KYC and AML regulations.

Whales and supply squeeze drive momentum

A major driver behind Zcash’s recent price action is whale accumulation.

The top 100 addresses now control approximately 66% of the total ZEC supply, with large sums being withdrawn from exchanges, including over $31 million worth of ZEC moved off Binance alone.

These off-exchange holdings, combined with the roughly 30% of ZEC locked in shielded addresses, significantly reduce the tradable supply and create a classic supply-demand imbalance.

Analysts note that this thinning liquidity amplifies price swings, meaning even modest buying pressure can have a notable impact on market prices.

The supply squeeze is further intensified by institutional participation.

Reports from Grayscale indicate that Zcash was among the top-performing assets in the fourth quarter of 2025, appreciating nearly 900% since October, as investors increasingly perceive ZEC as a privacy-focused hedge.

The growing adoption of shielded transactions, which now account for roughly 27% of total supply, underscores the token’s role in maintaining confidentiality on the blockchain.

Investors appear to be strategically storing ZEC in private wallets, thereby reducing immediate market availability and setting the stage for continued upward pressure.

Zcash price prediction for January 2026

Alongside supply dynamics, technical indicators suggest strong bullish momentum.

ZEC recently cleared the $500 resistance level, with MACD and RSI values pointing to continued upward potential.

Zcash price analysis
Zcash price chart | Source: TradingView

Futures markets reflect active positioning, with open interest rising and funding rates indicating moderate leverage risk.

However, analysts caution that a short-term pullback toward $476 could occur, given the presence of $78 million in potential long liquidations.

A sustained breakthrough above the previous swing high at $554.18 could target the $622 level, highlighting the importance of monitoring both technical and fundamental factors for market participants.

Derivatives activity and active trading metrics also reveal that market sentiment is leaning bullish, although the high leverage present in futures markets introduces volatility risk.

Arthur Hayes predicts Zcash at $1,000

While exchange outflows and strong on-chain adoption of shielded transactions suggest that the upward trajectory is being reinforced by structural factors, prominent figures in the crypto industry are voicing optimistic forecasts for ZEC.

Former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes has predicted that Zcash could reach $1,000, citing growing demand for privacy assets, institutional accumulation, and supply constraints as key factors driving potential price appreciation.

While regulatory uncertainty remains a concern, particularly with global privacy coin oversight evolving, the combination of limited tradable supply, whale accumulation, and sustained investor interest creates a compelling bullish scenario.

However, traders should closely watch to see if ZEC can maintain the $500 support level, which would reinforce confidence in the broader uptrend.

The post Zcash price prediction for January 2026: Arthur Hayes predicts $1000 appeared first on CoinJournal.

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Lighter launches LIT token: check out all the details here

  • Half of the token supply is allocated to the ecosystem, with an immediate airdrop converting 2025 points into LIT.
  • LIT is used for staking, access to trading services, and payment for data verification on the platform.
  • Lighter ranks third by recent perpetuals volume, behind Hyperliquid and Aster.

A new token launch is putting fresh focus on how decentralised trading platforms are designing their economic models.

Perpetuals-focused Layer 2 exchange Lighter has rolled out its native cryptocurrency, LIT, positioning it as a core part of its infrastructure rather than a simple governance add-on.

Built on Ethereum, the platform is targeting active derivatives traders while also appealing to builders and long-term backers interested in transparent, onchain systems that mirror aspects of traditional markets.

The launch comes at a time when onchain perpetuals trading is consolidating around a small group of high-volume venues.

Lighter is attempting to differentiate itself by tying token utility directly to trading performance, data verification, and revenue visibility, while operating through a US-registered corporate structure.

Token distribution and airdrop design

The total LIT supply is split evenly between the ecosystem and insiders.

Half of all tokens are allocated to users, partners, and future incentives, while the remaining half goes to the team and investors.

Early participants are being rewarded through an immediate airdrop that converts 12.5 million points earned during 2025 into LIT tokens.

That initial distribution accounts for 25% of the project’s fully diluted value, which represents the maximum supply if all tokens are issued.

The remaining ecosystem allocation is reserved for future rewards, partnerships, and expansion initiatives.

Team and investor tokens are subject to a one-year lockup, followed by linear vesting over three years, according to details shared by the project on X.

Utility beyond governance

Lighter is framing LIT as an operational token embedded in how its exchange functions.

Rather than focusing solely on voting rights or passive rewards, the token underpins access to different levels of trading execution and data verification services on the platform.

Users who want higher-tier services are required to stake increasing amounts of LIT.

These requirements are designed to scale as the network decentralises further, shifting control from a single operator to a broader set of participants.

Fees for market data and price verification are also paid in LIT, with staking acting as a mechanism to ensure data accuracy and reduce risk across the trading system.

Onchain revenue and buyback flexibility

Another feature highlighted by the project is full onchain visibility of revenue generated by its trading platform and future products.

All income is intended to be publicly trackable on the blockchain, allowing users to independently verify performance.

Management has indicated that this revenue could be used either to support ecosystem growth or to buy back LIT tokens from the market.

Any buyback activity would reduce circulating supply, but there is no fixed schedule.

Decisions are expected to depend on market conditions and longer-term strategic considerations, rather than automated rules.

Market position in perpetuals trading

Lighter’s activity places it among the more active decentralised perpetuals venues.

Over the past seven days, Lighter-based perpetuals have averaged $2.7 billion in trading volume, ranking third behind Hyperliquid and Aster, based on data from a Dune-powered tracker.

Hyperliquid’s HYPE token currently carries a market valuation of $6.26 billion, making it one of the largest digital assets globally.

Against that backdrop, Lighter is betting that tightly coupling token utility with execution quality, data integrity, and transparent revenues can help it carve out a durable role in the evolving onchain derivatives landscape.

The post Lighter launches LIT token: check out all the details here appeared first on CoinJournal.

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South Korea delays digital asset law as stablecoin oversight divides regulators

  • South Korea delays its Digital Asset Basic Law to 2026 amid disputes over stablecoin oversight authority.
  • Lawmakers pause crypto legislation as regulators clash on who should control stablecoin reserves and enforcement.
  • Regulatory uncertainty grows as Korea weighs investor protection against monetary control and innovation.

South Korea’s push to formalise crypto regulation has slowed again, with authorities confirming that the Digital Asset Basic Law will not be submitted until 2026.

The delay highlights deep divisions over how stablecoins should be supervised in one of Asia’s most active digital asset markets, even as crypto products become more tightly linked to the wider financial system.

The setback does not reflect a lack of interest in regulation.

Instead, it underlines how complex stablecoin oversight has become for policymakers, balancing innovation, financial stability, and monetary control.

With no agreement yet on who should hold ultimate authority, lawmakers have opted to pause rather than advance a bill with unresolved structural gaps.

Purpose of the proposed law

The Digital Asset Basic Law is intended to act as the backbone of South Korea’s crypto framework.

A core aim is investor protection, achieved by holding digital asset operators to stricter legal standards than before.

One of the most significant proposals is the introduction of no-fault liability, which would make operators responsible for user losses even if negligence cannot be proven.

Another pillar of the bill focuses on reducing systemic risk from stablecoins. The draft requires issuers to maintain reserves exceeding 100% of the circulating supply.

These reserves must be held at banks or approved institutions, with clear separation from the issuer’s own balance sheet.

The structure is designed to limit contagion risks if a stablecoin issuer fails.

Stablecoins and regulatory control

Stablecoins have emerged as the main fault line in the debate. While regulators broadly agree that stronger oversight is necessary, they remain split on who should enforce reserve rules and supervision.

The Financial Services Commission and the Bank of Korea have yet to align on how responsibilities should be divided.

These disagreements have complicated decisions around licensing, enforcement powers, and the treatment of reserve assets.

Rather than pushing through a compromised framework, authorities have delayed the bill to allow further coordination between financial regulators and monetary authorities.

Market uncertainty grows

The postponement has not triggered an immediate market reaction, but it adds another layer of uncertainty for crypto firms operating in South Korea.

Exchanges, payment providers, and stablecoin issuers continue to expand in an environment where long-term regulatory expectations remain unclear.

Uncertainty can have practical effects.

Firms may slow product launches, delay investment decisions, or consider shifting certain operations to jurisdictions with clearer rules.

For investors, the absence of a completed framework complicates assessments of risk and compliance.

Politics and monetary strategy

Political dynamics are also shaping the timeline. The ruling Democratic Party is now working to merge several lawmaker proposals into a revised digital asset bill.

At the same time, strategic concerns around monetary sovereignty are becoming more prominent.

President Lee Jae Myung has identified a Korean won-backed stablecoin as a national priority, arguing that it could counter the growing dominance of US dollar-linked stablecoins in global crypto markets.

These ambitions increase pressure on regulators to ensure that any framework aligns with broader monetary policy goals.

The delayed Digital Asset Basic Law is meant to represent the second phase of South Korea’s crypto regulation.

The first phase, already in force, targeted unfair trading practices.

The post South Korea delays digital asset law as stablecoin oversight divides regulators appeared first on CoinJournal.