Altcoins today: Grayscale’s LINK ETF debuts; HYPE and ASTER soar up to 13%

  • Grayscale has launched the first US spot LINK ETF today.
  • HYPE rallies after Sonnet shareholders authorize Hyperliquid DAT’s merger.
  • ASTER gains more than 13% on a new collaboration with WLFI.

Cryptos rebounded on Tuesday as the value of all tokens increased by more than 6% to $3.06 trillion.

Bitcoin has reclaimed $90,000 as Ethereum trades above $3,000.

This article evaluates three altcoins, Chainlink, HYPE, and ASTER, that remained in the spotlight today for various reasons.

Grayscale’s spot Chainlink ETF goes live

Grayscale has officially converted its Chainlink Trust to an ETF today, introducing the first-ever US exchange-traded fund.

The debut has met considerable anticipation among the cryptocurrency community as many view Chainlink’s oracle infrastructure as crucial to tokenized real-world assets (RWA) and decentralized finance (DeFi).

Commenting on GLINK’s debut, Grayscale’s ETF official Inkoo Kand said:

Chainlink’s decentralized oracle network is setting the market standard for verifiable data and cross-chain connectivity that underpins tokenization and DeFi across public blockchains. With GLINK, investors can gain exposure to this foundational infrastructure in the familiar ETP wrapper.

Meanwhile, GLINK will simplify institutional access to Chainlink, allowing traditional investors to interact with crypto without directly handling the token.

LINK reacted positively to the ETF news, gaining more than 12% to trade at $13.32.

HYPE gains 10% after key milestone

HYPE soared more than 10% over the past 24 hours after Sonnet confirmed a crucial structural breakthrough.

According to today’s, December 2, press release, the company’s shareholders have approved the decision to introduce Hyperliquid Decentralized Autonomous Treasury (DAT).

The plan involves Sonnet merging with Rorschach I LLC to form a unified entity called Hyperliquid Strategies.

Most importantly, the new firm plans to raise $1 billion to buy HYPE.

The massive bet signals unwavering institutional trust in the altcoin.

HYPE is hovering at $33.03 after gaining over 10% within the past 24 hours.

ASTER rallies after WLFI alliance

Aster’s native coin also recorded impressive price actions, gaining over 13% within the last 24 hours.

The upside momentum coincided with a strategic collaboration with Donald Trump-affiliated World Liberty Financial.

Aster founder and CEO Leonard announced the alliance at the fintech and crypto conference in Dubai.

Under this agreement, the decentralized exchange will integrate WLFI’s USD1 – a move designed to enrich the stablecoin’s adoption.

The altcoin is trading above the $1 psychological level after gaining over 13% on its daily price chart.

ASTER eyes further rallies, but declining 24-hour trading volumes highlight weakness.

Meanwhile, the broader crypto market remained elevated today, recovering from sharp dips in the past few sessions.

Bitcoin has gained over 7% on its daily price chart, while Ethereum increased by 10%.

Quantitative tightening ending and renewed ETFs interest fuel the current upside momentum.

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CRO spikes 10% on Adlard’s appointment at Cronos Labs as Bitcoin breaks $90K

  • Cronos token CRO traded higher on Tuesday as cryptocurrencies bid for an uptick.
  • The altcoin’s price was up more than 10% in 24 hours to $0.11.
  • Gains for the altcoin came amid a huge move by Cronos Labs, the accelerator arm of Crypto.com.

On Tuesday, the Cronos Labs team revealed the appointment of industry veteran Edward Adlard as Head of Ecosystem.

Timed amid growing adoption of the project’s offering, it is a move that sparked further positive market response.

CRO token gained by over 10% to above $0.11, a rebound from intraday lows of $0.098. Altcoins were up as Bitcoin price broke to $90,000.

Cronos Labs appoints new ecosystem head

Edward Adlard is the new Head of Ecosystem at Cronos Labs, the Crypto.com tied platform announced on December 2, 2025. The appointment positions him at the forefront of the network’s expansion strategy.

According to details, Adlard brings proven leadership in scaling ecosystems while prioritizing regulatory compliance. His stature as a veteran of the bridging of web2 and web3 adds to the expertise and expectations.

“Cronos has an active community, a strong technical foundation, and proven high-performance infrastructure,” Adlard stated in the official announcement.

He added:

“The next chapter is about accelerating ecosystem growth by deploying cutting-edge new use cases that drive an increase in users, liquidity, and builders. I believe Cronos is uniquely positioned to benefit from the maturing of global crypto regulations due to its institutional-ready stack, compliance-ready primitives, and opportunity to more deeply partner with Crypto.com.”

Notably, Adlard has recently served as CEO of Instalabs, a regulated institutional cross-chain bridge that facilitated seamless asset transfers across blockchains.

Before that, he was Vice President of Growth, Business Development, and Strategy at the Tezos Foundation.

At Tezos, Adlard helped shape ecosystem initiatives, chaired the investment committee, and directed funding toward infrastructure builders.

His web2 tenure at Amazon included spearheading the turnaround of the Amazon Money Store in the UK and overseeing Prime Video operations across Europe, honing skills in operational efficiency and multi-market expansion.

In his new role, Adlard will oversee ecosystem strategy, growth programs, partner integrations, and developer initiatives.

His mandate centers on accelerating institutional tokenization and fostering AI-driven innovations to enhance Cronos’s high-performance infrastructure.

CRO price jumps 10%

Amid the news, Cronos token’s price jumped. CRO is the utility asset powering transactions and staking on the Cronos network and has experienced sharp gains in recent months following ecosystem developments.

On Tuesday, CRO climbed from an overnight low of $0.098, touching highs of $0.11.

This marked a 10% uptick in 24 hours and came as trading volume spiked by over 38% to over $27 million.

While ecosystem news has helped bulls, Cronos’ price is also ticking up amid a 5% spike in Bitcoin’s price.

The benchmark digital asset recovered sharply on December 2, 2025, and traded above $90,000 as risk assets pumped.

BTC’s uptick and Cronos ecosystem’s growth, bolstered by Adlard’s expertise in regulated infrastructure, could bolster the short-term forecasts for CRO.

If bulls maintain control above $0.10, the potential for further gains means buyers eyeing $0.14 and then $0.20 next.

 

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Toncoin eyes $2 as community cheers Cocoon launch on TON

  • A bounce for altcoins sees Toncoin price recover above $1.50.
  • The integration of Cocoon has boosted bulls and could allow for a retest of $2.00.
  • TON is the cryptocurrency token of the Telegram ecosystem.

Toncoin (TON) has reclaimed the $1.50 level as a broader market rebound lifts sentiment across major cryptocurrencies.

TON was trading near $1.51 on Tuesday, up about 1.5%, after Cocoon — a decentralized confidential compute network — went live on The Open Network.

The launch is viewed as a significant step for the TON ecosystem and aligns with Telegram’s push toward a private, decentralized AI framework.

The development has provided a fresh catalyst for bullish momentum, with the community looking to build on the optimism and potentially drive TON higher in the sessions ahead.

Toncoin price: bulls eye momentum above $1.50

Toncoin slipped sharply after months of consolidating below $3.50 and $4.00, with sellers driving the token to a low of $1.45 on Monday, December 1, 2025.

The move mirrored the broader market’s November slowdown and the weaker start to the new month.

A modest recovery has followed. TON has edged back above $1.50, even as 24-hour trading volumes across major exchanges have fallen by about 10%.

The rebound is limited, but it gives buyers a narrow window to attempt a stronger move.

A continued bounce could open the way for a push toward $1.60, which may allow Toncoin to retest and potentially flip the earlier resistance zone around $2.36 into support.

Toncoin Price Chart
Toncoin price chart by TradingView

TON integrates Cocoon for AI compute

Although Toncoin’s price remains vulnerable below $2.00, both traders and long-term holders are celebrating the arrival of Cocoon.

It is about real utility that ties GPU supply directly to TON token economics.

Per latest details, Cocoon has officially begun processing live user requests.

With the launch, the platform becomes the first decentralized artificial intelligence project on TON to offer fully confidential AI inference at scale.

Notably, the network enables GPU owners worldwide to rent out their hardware for privacy-preserving AI workloads, earning TON tokens as direct compensation.

Using Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) and zero-knowledge proofs, Cocoon ensures that sensitive data never leaves the secure enclave.

In short, it eliminates the privacy risks and high costs associated with centralized providers like AWS or Google Cloud.

Telegram itself is Cocoon’s anchor client and first major user, routing select AI features through the decentralized network to guarantee end-to-end confidentiality for its nearly one billion users.

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Bitcoin’s downturn shows signs of bottoming as Grayscale sees new highs ahead

  • Grayscale says Bitcoin may bottom and could break the halving cycle with new highs in 2026.
  • ETF outflows ease with four days of inflows, signaling buyer interest returning.
  • Fed rate decisions and US crypto legislation may drive Bitcoin’s 2026 outlook.

Bitcoin’s latest retracement may already be stabilizing, with asset manager Grayscale arguing that the market is on track to break its traditional four-year halving cycle and could set fresh all-time highs in 2026.

Despite uncertainty following a 32% decline from recent peaks, emerging indicators suggest the current drawdown may be closer to a local bottom than the start of a prolonged downturn.

Market indicators point to a local bottom

According to Grayscale’s Monday research report, Bitcoin’s performance in 2025 has already shown characteristics that diverge from the typical post-halving trend.

The firm believes the long-held four-year cycle thesis is likely to prove incorrect and that Bitcoin may reach new highs next year.

One of the key signals cited is the elevated Bitcoin option skew, which has risen above 4.

This level indicates investors have already hedged extensively against additional downside, often a sign that selling pressure may be thinning out.

Grayscale argues that although the broader outlook remains uncertain, current dynamics support the case for a cyclical shift.

Still, analysts warn that a sustained recovery hinges on meaningful reversals in several major flow metrics.

These include futures open interest, ETF inflows, and selling activity from long-term Bitcoin holders—all of which have pressured prices in recent weeks.

ETF outflows ease as buyer appetite slowly returns

US spot Bitcoin ETFs, a major driver of the asset’s momentum throughout 2025, placed substantial downward pressure on the market in November.

The products recorded $3.48 billion in net outflows during their second-worst month on record, according to data from Farside Investors.

However, the trend has begun to reverse.

The funds have now posted four consecutive days of inflows, including a modest $8.5 million on Monday.

While early, the shift suggests investor interest may be gradually recovering following the recent sell-off.

Market positioning reflects what Nexo analyst Iliya Kalchev calls a “leverage reset rather than a sentiment break.”

He adds that the near-term trajectory depends on whether Bitcoin can reclaim the low-$90,000 range to avoid slipping toward stronger support in the mid-to-low $80,000 levels.

Fed policy and US crypto legislation emerging as key catalysts

Investors now turn to the next major macro catalyst: the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision on December 10.

Markets currently assign an 87% probability to a 25-basis-point rate cut, sharply higher than the 63% odds priced in one month ago.

Grayscale notes that the Fed’s decision and its forward guidance could play an important role in shaping Bitcoin’s trajectory into 2026.

Later in the year, continued progress on US digital asset regulation may offer another catalyst.

Attention has focused on the Digital Asset Market Structure bill, which Grayscale says could help accelerate institutional adoption if it maintains bipartisan support ahead of the midterm elections.

Momentum began with the passage of the CLARITY Act in the House earlier this year, part of a broader Republican “crypto week” initiative.

Senate leaders from both parties have expressed interest in building on the legislation through the Responsible Financial Innovation Act, which aims to establish a clearer regulatory framework for digital asset markets.

The bill is under review in both the Senate Agriculture Committee and the Senate Banking Committee.

Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott has stated that lawmakers aim to finalize and sign the legislation into law by early 2026, a timeline that could align with what Grayscale sees as a pivotal year for Bitcoin’s next phase of growth.

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Regulators ramp up US stablecoin rules as GENIUS Act takes effect

  • A second FDIC rule on prudential requirements will follow early next year.
  • The FDIC will supervise bank subsidiaries issuing payment stablecoins.
  • Guidance on tokenised deposits is under development.

US regulators are moving quickly to build the country’s new stablecoin supervision system, with federal agencies preparing detailed rulemaking as the GENIUS Act begins to shape policy.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is set to publish an application framework for payment stablecoin issuers later this month, marking one of the earliest steps in implementing the law signed by President Donald Trump earlier this year.

Alongside the FDIC, the Federal Reserve, and the Treasury Department are working on their own regulatory responsibilities, signalling a coordinated effort to bring stablecoins under a clearer, more structured oversight regime.

FDIC develops licensing framework for stablecoin issuers

The FDIC has confirmed through written testimony scheduled for delivery to the House Financial Services Committee on December 2 that it is close to releasing a proposed rule outlining how payment stablecoin issuers will apply for approval.

The agency began the process earlier this year as part of its duty to implement the GENIUS Act, and the first formal proposal is expected before the end of the month.

Another proposal focusing on prudential requirements for FDIC-supervised issuers is planned for early next year.

Once the application framework is published, the agency will gather public comments before moving toward a final rule, a phase that typically spans several months.

GENIUS Act expands oversight for bank-linked stablecoins

The GENIUS Act introduces a national structure that requires federal and state regulators to coordinate their supervision of stablecoin issuers.

Under the law, the FDIC will oversee and license subsidiaries of insured depository institutions that issue payment stablecoins.

The agency will also set out capital rules, liquidity expectations, and reserve diversification standards.

Much of this work will roll out over the coming year, as several rulemakings are needed to meet the obligations laid out in the legislation.

The FDIC is also consulting recommendations released in July by the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets, which urged regulators to clarify digital asset activities allowed for banks, including asset and liability tokenisation.

Tokenised deposits included in regulatory review

In addition to its stablecoin responsibilities, the FDIC is preparing new guidance aimed at clarifying how tokenised deposits will be treated under federal regulation.

This area has gained attention as banks explore digital versions of traditional deposit products.

The forthcoming guidance is expected to help institutions understand which activities fall within supervisory boundaries and how they will be monitored.

Federal Reserve coordinates its own stablecoin standards

The Federal Reserve will join the FDIC at Tuesday’s House hearing, with Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman detailing the central bank’s work on stablecoin rules.

The Federal Reserve is coordinating with other banking regulators to craft capital, liquidity, and diversification standards required under the GENIUS Act.

The focus includes creating clarity for banks engaged in digital asset activities and providing regulatory feedback on new use cases as they emerge.

This joint push aims to ensure the banking system can support digital asset development while maintaining stability and compliance.

Other agencies are also advancing their obligations under the GENIUS Act.

The Treasury Department has already completed its public consultations, which concluded in November, and is developing its own rules.

These efforts will run in parallel with the FDIC and Federal Reserve processes, contributing to the broader national framework being built to govern stablecoins across the US.

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