The investment gives Bitmine a stake in a brand with strong Gen Z and millennial appeal, reaching over 450 million subscribers across its YouTube channels.
Dogecoin Founder Crashes Bullish Bitcoin Hopes, Casts Doubts On All-Time High Predictions
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Dogecoin is part of those receiving inflows with the current inflows into the Bitcoin and crypto industry. However, Billy Markus, best known as the co-creator of Dogecoin, shared a blunt take on the current state of digital assets.
Taking to the social platform X, Markus acknowledged the general strength of the market but made it clear he isn’t interested until he sees cryptocurrencies breaking past their previous peak price levels. His message came at a moment when markets have shown gains and following Bitcoin’s return above $96,000.
Doubts On All-Time High Predictions
The entire crypto market cap is currently sitting at $3.344 trillion at the time of writing. When compared to the $3.047 trillion recorded on January 1, this represents an increase of about 9.7%, meaning close to $300 billion has flowed back into digital assets over the past few weeks. That rise has helped restore some confidence across the market after a period of choppy and indecisive price action in late 2025.
Things are going well for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other large market-cap cryptos, and bullish momentum is starting to creep in steadily. However, Billy Markus, the co-creator of Dogecoin, specifically mentioned the need for big benchmark breaks to actually happen before believing the optimism that’s creeping in.
In a short message addressed to his millions of followers, Markus remarked that while “crypto is doing good and all,” he would rather be woken up when all-time highs are actually being broken. The comment struck a chord across the community and quickly drew a range of reactions, with some noting new all-time highs feel like a myth at this point, and others noting that new price highs are certainly coming.
Although Markus and his co-creators created Dogecoin as a joke, he holds a selective view of the different assets in the crypto industry. Over the years, he has expressed respect for a small group of networks he views as meaningful or resilient, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, and Solana.
Where Crypto Stands Now
Billy Markus’ comment shows a larger divide between perspectives in the crypto community based on the current price action of major cryptocurrencies. On one hand, prices have recovered meaningfully from recent pullbacks, but on the other, the major benchmarks many traders are watching have yet to be reclaimed.
Bitcoin is currently trading in the mid-$90,000 range $96,240 after retreating from its October peak above $126,000. This price uptick is yet to reclaim $100,000, and it might not be until this happens that a full bullish momentum rolls in.
Dogecoin’s performance corresponds to the broader market’s mixed signals. The meme token is now back to making daily closes above $0.14 as selling pressure eases and traders are on high alert. However, technical analysis of Dogecoin’s price action shows that the real test is at $0.157, and traders should not celebrate early until this level falls.
Featured image created with Dall.E, chart from Tradingview.com
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DeFi Becomes Preferred Laundering Route For Impersonation Scams: Chainalysis
Crypto scammers are increasingly using DeFi protocols, with total losses exceeding $17 billion in 2025.
Crypto scams are becoming harder to track as criminals move deeper into decentralized finance (DeFi) to launder stolen funds. Blockchain forensics firm Chainalysis estimates more than $17 billion was stolen through crypto fraud in 2025, with impersonation scams driving much of the growth.
In a blog post, the New York-headquartered firm revealed that impersonation scams, which involve fraudsters posing as trusted entities, grew more than 1,400% year over year (YoY). But unlike earlier scam waves, these operations are now relying less on centralized exchanges and more on DeFi infrastructure to move funds.
“In 2024, these scams saw spikes associated with laundering via smart contracts and token smart contracts. In 2025, these pronounced volumes subsided in lieu of alternating waves associated with bridge use (early-to-mid 2025) and DEX use (second half of 2025),” Chainalysis said.
Chainalysis says the data shows scammers continuing to adapt and innovate, with the average scam payment increasing from $782 in 2024 to $2,764 in 2025, a 253% YoY growth.
As The Defiant reported earlier, losses from crypto-related hacks and exploits fell sharply in December 2025, even as the number of incidents remained elevated.
According to data from blockchain security firm PeckShield, December recorded around 26 major crypto exploits, resulting in total losses of about $76 million. While the figure remains substantial, it marked a roughly 60% decline from November’s $194 million, representing one of the steepest month-over-month drops in 2025.
Short Squeeze Hits Top 500 Cryptos, Traders Unwind Bearish Bets
Cryptocurrency markets staged their largest short squeeze since the sharp selloff in early October, as a rebound in prices forced bearish traders to unwind positions and fueled hopes of a broader recovery.
Short liquidations across crypto futures and perpetual contracts climbed to about $200 million on Wednesday, the highest level since roughly $1 billion in short positions were wiped out during the October market crash, according to data shared by analytics firm Glassnode. The firm said it was the biggest short liquidation event across the 500 largest cryptocurrencies since the Oct. 10 selloff.
The rebound follows a significant recovery in investor sentiment, which flipped from fear to greed for the first time since early October, Cointelegraph reported earlier on Thursday.
Some analysts say the short squeeze and sentiment improvement is a signal for improving market conditions preceding a wider market recovery. A short squeeze occurs when the price of an asset makes a sharp increase, forcing short sellers to buy the asset to avoid greater losses.
Bitcoin (BTC) accounted for the largest share of liquidations, with $71 million in shorts liquidated in the past 24 hours. Ether (ETH) followed with $43 million, and privacy token Dash (DASH) had $24 million in shorts liquidated, according to Glasnode’s dashboard.
Related: Bitcoin ETFs on rollercoaster as traditional funds pull in $46B in 2026
Geopolitics add fuel to recovery
Other analysts are pointing to early signs of a market recovery as Bitcoin starts to outperform the US dollar amid heightened uncertainty around the Federal Reserve’s independence and growing geopolitical concerns after the US capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Jan. 3.
”One structural tailwind for Bitcoin as a reserve asset is the rise in geopolitical volatility, which has so far been a headwind for the US dollar,” Nicolai Sondergaard, research analyst at crypto intelligence platform Nansen, told Cointelegraph.
”While precious metals remain the primary beneficiaries in this environment, Bitcoin is increasingly part of the conversation as an alternative reserve asset and could benefit from this trend, even if to a lesser extent,” he added.
Related: 2025 crypto bear market was ‘repricing’ year for institutional capital: Analyst
Bitcoin’s price rose 10.6% year-to-date, while the US Dollar Index (DXY) rose 0.75% during the same period, according to TradingView.
Bitcoin may also benefit from other fundamental tailwinds, including the criminal investigation into US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Which may introduce a ”risk premia” for BTC, analysts from crypto exchange Bitunix said on Monday.
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OpenAI, SoftBank Invest $1B in SB Energy as AI Buildout Continues
OpenAI and Japan’s SoftBank Group are investing $1 billion in SB Energy in the ongoing effort to develop and construct data centers.
Each will pump $500 million into the infrastructure companies, which is part-owned by the Japanese conglomerate. The deal builds on the Stargate initiative, a public-private collaboration unveiled nearly a year ago by President Donald Trump and aimed at delivering world-leading AI infrastructure for the U.S.
The launch of Stargate saw SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman join Trump to announce a $500 billion project hailed as the one of the largest in American history.
SB Energy was formed in 2019 as an energy company and is now focused on the frantic data center buildout required to deliver the infrastructure needed as the AI revolution gathers momentum.
The latest swathe of funding follows an $800 million investment from Los Angeles-based Ares Management Infrastructure Opportunities in 2025. It is not clear what SB Energy’s current valuation is.
As part of the agreement, SB Energy will build and operate OpenAI’s new 1.2 gigawatt data center site in Milam County, Texas that was revealed in September.
Aside from the Milam facility, SB Energy is developing other multi-gigawatt data center campuses, with some already under construction and expected to start service later this year.
Additionally, OpenAI, SoftBank and SB Energy have formed “a non-exclusive preferred partnership” to develop a new model for data center builds, according to a press release. This is claimed to combine the ChatGPT maker’s first-party center design with SB Energy’s “expertise in speed, cost discipline, and integrated energy delivery,” according to the release.
SB Energy cited its work in Milam County, where the data center has been designed to minimize water usage, as an example of its efforts to develop new facilities efficiently without causing problems for local residents.
“Partnering with SB Energy brings together their strength in data center infrastructure and energy development and OpenAI’s deep domain expertise in data center engineering,” Greg Brockman, OpenAI co-founder and president, said in the release. “The result is a fast, reliable way to scale compute through large, highly optimized AI data centers.”
With SB Energy’s commitments continuing to grow, it has confirmed the acquisition of California-based Studio 151, a company that has already been involved in the development of 20 data center campuses.
Bitcoin consolidates above key support as profit-taking hits altcoins: Crypto Markets Today
Crypto markets paused on Thursday after bitcoin’s decisive breakout earlier this week, with BTC holding key support levels while altcoins saw profit-taking.