By Francisco Rodrigues (All times ET unless indicated otherwise)

Bitcoin BTC$88,095.72 rose above $88,000 even after the Bank of Japan increased interest rates to the highest in nearly 30 years, a move that would have been expected to strengthen the yen and make the carry trade less attractive.

Instead, the currency weakened on concerns the higher rates would endanger the spending plans of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who took office in October. The yield on the 10-year Japanese government bond touched 2% for the first time since 2006.

Other cryptocurrencies also advanced. Ether ETH$2,963.43 added 3.4% in the last 24 hours, though major altcoins including BNB and SOL rose less than 1%. The broader CoinDesk 20 (CD20) index advanced 1.3%.

In the background is the cooler-than-expected U.S. inflation data, published yesterday. That report strengthened the chance of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates in the future, a potential boon for risk assets, though prediction markets overwhelmingly still point to no rate cut next month.

Beyond that, risk assets still face the potential unwind of the AI trade.

“Capital is still flowing aggressively into AI infrastructure, but monetization questions are becoming harder to ignore,” analysts at QCP Capital wrote. “Major players such as Oracle and Iren are ramping up capital expenditure, while AI-related revenues remain comparatively flat.”

Risk-asset valuations could plunge if revenues fail to materialize, the analysts said. Several crypto firms are benefiting from the AI trade, especially bitcoin miners who have started pivoting into AI infrastructure in multibillion dollar deals.

Regulatory developments are also supporting market development.

“The United States is poised to solidify the GENIUS Act’s regulatory architecture in 2026,” Ira Auerbach, head of Tandem at Offchain Labs and former head of digital assets at Nasdaq, told CoinDesk. “Stablecoin issuers that once relied on offshore regimes will find meaningful advantages in bringing reserves and operations back to US soil.”

Auerbach also said that some retirement-plan providers are preparing to test target-date and balanced funds with 0.5% to 1% crypto exposure, potentially creating steady demand that is less tied to market cycles.

“It treats digital assets less as a swing factor and more as another risk component in long-horizon portfolio construction, which is how structural demand begins to take shape,” Auerbach added. Stay alert!

Read more: For analysis of today's activity in altcoins and derivatives, see Crypto Markets Today

What to Watch

For a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk's "Crypto Week Ahead".

• Crypto
  • Dec. 19: Metaplanet Inc. sponsored ADRs start trading over the counter in the U.S. under ticker MPJPY. They will replace existing, unsponsored OTC trading under the MTPLF ticker.
• Macro
  • Dec. 19, 10 a.m.: U.S. Dec. (Final) University of Michigan Survey. Consumer Sentiment Index Est. 53.4; Inflation Expectations Est. 4.1%.
• Earnings (Estimates based on FactSet data)
  • Nothing scheduled.

Token Events

For a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk's "Crypto Week Ahead".

• Governance votes & calls
  • Lido DAO is voting on a transformative package to pivot from a pure staking protocol into a diversified DeFi product suite over the next three years. Voting ends Dec. 19.
  • CoW DAO is voting to dissolve the Sprinter solver bonding pool and return the deposited 500,000 USDC and 1.5M COW to the original funders. Voting ends Dec. 19.
  • Arbitrum DAO is voting to activate the ArbOS 51 upgrade, introducing a 32M transaction gas limit, dynamic gas targets, and a doubled minimum base fee to enhance network scalability. Voting ends Dec. 19.
  • Dec. 19: Avantis to host a League of Leverage discussion.
• Unlocks
  • Dec. 20: ZRO$1.3127 to unlock 6.79% of its circulating supply worth $37.28 million.
• Token Launches
  • Dec. 19: ZkPass (ZKP) to be listed on Binance, MEXC, Bybit, BingX, and others.

Conferences

For a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk's "Crypto Week Ahead".

• Nothing scheduled.

Market Movements

• BTC is up 2.91% from 4 p.m. ET Wednesday at $88,092.82 (24hrs: +0.73%)
• ETH is up 6.82% at $2,969 (24hrs: -3.87%)
• CoinDesk 20 is up 3.33% at 2,707.79 (24hrs: +1.22%)
• Ether CESR Composite Staking Rate is down 1 bp at 2.86%
• BTC funding rate is at 0.01% (10.95% annualized) on Binance

• DXY is up 0.23% at 98.65
• Gold futures are unchanged at $4,360.50
• Silver futures are up 1.73% at $66.35
• Nikkei 225 closed up 1.03% at 49,507.21
• Hang Seng closed up 0.75% at 25,690.53
• FTSE is down 0.10% at 9,828.28
• Euro Stoxx 50 is unchanged at 5,745.04
• DJIA closed on up 0.14% at 47,951.85
• S&P 500 closed up 0.79% at 6,774.76
• Nasdaq Composite closed up 1.38% at 23,006.36
• S&P/TSX Composite closed up 0.61% at 31,440.85
• S&P 40 Latin America closed up 1.15% at 3,093.49
• U.S. 10-Year Treasury rate is up 2.9 bps at 4.145%
• E-mini S&P 500 futures are up 0.27% at 6,849.00
• E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures are up 0.4% at 25,363.25
• E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average Index futures are unchanged at 48,356.00

Bitcoin Stats

• BTC Dominance: 59.94% (+0.13%)
• Ether-bitcoin ratio: 0.03347 (1.19%)
• Hashrate (seven-day moving average): 1,031 EH/s
• Hashprice (spot): $37.57
• Total fees: 2.74 BTC / $237,800
• CME Futures Open Interest: 120,865 BTC
• BTC priced in gold: 20.3 oz.
• BTC vs gold market cap: 5.9%

Technical Analysis

• BTC/USD is currently wedged between the $84,200 support and $90,500 weekly resistance. While the 0.382 Fibonacci level sits lower at $84,200, the current price action is holding above it, supported by a clear bullish RSI divergence where momentum is rising despite the price consolidation.
• A decisive weekly close above $90,500 would validate this divergence, likely triggering a trend continuation toward the 0.236 Fibonacci target at $100,400.

Crypto Equities

• Coinbase Global (COIN): closed on Thursday at $239.20(-2.04%), +3.24% at $246.94 in pre-market
• Circle (CRCL): closed at $80.99 (+2.26%), +3.04% at $83.45
• Galaxy Digital (GLXY): closed at $22.51 (-1.32%), +3.07% at $23.20
• Bullish (BLSH): closed at $42.88 (+1.73%), +1.28% at $43.43
• MARA Holdings (MARA): closed at $9.69 (-2.42%), +2.68% at $9.95
• Riot Platforms (RIOT): closed at $13.38 (+3.24%), +3.21% at $13.81
• Core Scientific (CORZ): closed at $14.56 (+7.3%), +3.71% at $15.10
• CleanSpark (CLSK): closed at $11.20 (-2.44%), +3.66% at $11.61
• CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI): closed at $37.49 (+2.68%)
• Exodus Movement (EXOD): closed at $15.21 (+4.61%)

Crypto Treasury Companies

• Strategy (MSTR): closed at $158.24 (-1.33%), +3.71% at $164.11
• Semler Scientific (SMLR): closed at $17.11 (+1.06%)
• SharpLink Gaming (SBET): closed at $9.02 (-2.7%), +5.1% at $9.48
• Upexi (UPXI): closed at $1.88 (+0.53%)
• Lite Strategy (LITS): closed at $1.35 (-1.46%)

ETF Flows

Spot BTC ETFs

• Daily net flows: -$161.3 million
• Cumulative net flows: $57.55 billion
• Total BTC holdings ~1.31 million

Spot ETH ETFs

• Daily net flows: -$96.6 million
• Cumulative net flows: $12.54 billion
• Total ETH holdings ~6.15 million

Source: Farside Investors

While You Were Sleeping

• Coinbase files lawsuits in 3 states over attempts to regulate prediction markets (CoinDesk): The crypto exchange is taking legal action against Connecticut, Michigan and Illinois, Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal said on X.
• Japan Raises Interest Rates to Highest Level in 30 Years (The New York Times): The 25 basis-point increase reflects concern over inflation and a weak yen, while raising doubts about how higher borrowing costs will affect Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s large government spending plans.
• Jump Accused of Contributing to Collapse of Terraform, Do Kwon’s Crypto Empire (The Wall Street Journal): A bankruptcy court appointee is seeking $4 billion from the trading firm and two senior figures, arguing their actions enriched insiders while amplifying losses tied to the failed project.