- Crypto Intel
- Posts
- Bitcoin Stalls While RWAs and AI Steal the Spotlight
Bitcoin Stalls While RWAs and AI Steal the Spotlight
Bitcoin is wobbling under macro pressure, tokenized silver is ripping to new highs, and RWAs are quietly taking over DeFi.
This week isn't about hype—it's about finding where real capital is repositioning before the crowd notices.
If you want that edge, you track the money, not the memes.

Winning “Brewery of the Year” Was Just Step One
Coveting the crown’s one thing. Turning it into an empire’s another. So Westbound & Down didn’t blink after winning Brewery of the Year at the 2025 Great American Beer Festival. They began their next phase. Already Colorado’s most-awarded brewery, distribution’s grown 2,800% since 2019, including a Whole Foods retail partnership. And after this latest title, they’ll quadruple distribution by 2028. Become an early-stage investor today.
This is a paid advertisement for Westbound & Down’s Regulation CF Offering. Please read the offering circular at https://invest.westboundanddown.com/

Never Miss a Game-Changing Crypto Play Again!
We now send our daily picks via text, too, so you’ll get the same powerful content right on your phone.

Market-Moving News
The market is sending mixed signals, but the message is clear if you listen closely.
Risk is rotating out of leverage and into real-world assets, while Bitcoin decides whether it's gearing up for another leg—or offering a gift to disciplined buyers.

Markets
Bitcoin Reverses Early Gains, Drops Below $88,000

Bitcoin lost its early momentum after briefly climbing above $90,000, slipping back under $88,000 as traders took risk off the table.
Major altcoins like Ether, Solana, and XRP followed lower, showing how sensitive the market is to sudden shifts in confidence.
Correlation Keeps Crypto in Check
The drop lined up neatly with weakness in Nasdaq futures, reinforcing the tight correlation between crypto and tech stocks during risk-off moves.
When Wall Street hesitates, digital assets still feel the chill fast.
Open interest in Bitcoin futures also dipped slightly as leveraged traders reduced exposure.
Year-end tax-loss positioning and macro caution aren't giving buyers much urgency.
Short-Term Unease, Long-Term Optimism
Analysts say Bitcoin's structure still looks constructive overall, even if the market feels choppy near term.
Some expect sideways action or dips into key support before the next breakout attempt.
Bullish traders are already eyeing the $71K–$84K zone as a potential accumulation range if volatility expands. The crowd may be nervous, but not necessarily bearish.
Take: This looks like hesitation, not capitulation.
If you're watching closely, how Bitcoin behaves around $87K could tell you whether this is just a holiday shakeout or the start of a more interesting setup as we enter January.

Commodities On-Chain
Tokenized Silver Surges as Metal Hits Record Highs

Silver markets are heating up—and tokenized versions are riding the breakout right alongside them.
Transfer volumes for tokenized silver spiked more than 1,200% over the past month, while holder counts and net asset value also jumped.
Demand Turning Physical Stress Into On-Chain Momentum
Physical silver pricing has started to diverge from futures, pointing to tightening supply and strong immediate demand.
Premiums in key Asian markets and backwardation in forward curves underline that squeeze.
Tokenization lets investors access silver around the clock with fractional ownership and simpler settlement.
It's an easy entry ramp for people who want commodities exposure without dealing with vaults and brokers.
Clean Energy Drives Structural Demand
Solar-panel manufacturing remains a strong buyer regardless of price, keeping industrial demand sticky while supply wobbles.
That's pulling both institutional and retail attention into silver's 2026 story early.
Tokenized commodities are now becoming meaningful players in DeFi, not just experimental side missions.
Silver's rally is strengthening the conviction that real-world assets on-chain are here for scale.
Take: This is a sign that crypto rails aren't just speculation hubs anymore—they're becoming a gateway to macro markets.
If tokenized silver keeps tracking real-world demand like this, it could be a blueprint for how commodities and crypto blend into a single liquidity universe.

Trivia: What was Bitcoin’s original block reward when mining began? |

Clock Is Ticking (Sponsored)
The next leg of AI growth is set to emerge from advanced data infrastructure, a segment gaining powerful momentum beneath the surface.
Leaders in this space are showing strong operational expansion, increasing government interest, and growing enterprise adoption.
These developments are quietly creating high-probability setups for early movers.
As demand accelerates, positioning inside this sector could produce significant compounding potential.
A FREE report highlights all nine opportunities poised to benefit from this surge.
Download your FREE Report Now.

DeFi & Real-World Assets
RWAs Become 5th-Largest Category in DeFi by TVL

Real-world asset protocols have jumped into the top five categories in DeFi by total value locked, hitting around $17 billion and overtaking decentralized exchanges.
That's rapid growth from just $12 billion a year ago, proving appetite for on-chain Treasurys and credit is accelerating.
Yield and Clarity Are Fueling the Rise
High-rate environments are making tokenized Treasurys and private credit compelling, especially for institutions seeking real returns on-chain.
Regulatory clarity has lowered friction, turning once-experimental products into normalized financial tools.
Ethereum still dominates RWA activity, but other networks like Solana, Polygon, and Avalanche are taking a smaller share.
The market is centralizing around a few large issuers while infrastructure matures underneath.
Commodities Add a New Leg to Growth
Rallies in gold and silver are pulling more capital into tokenized commodities, pushing their market cap toward $4 billion.
These assets act as collateral and macro hedges, bringing new types of capital into DeFi.
Interoperability is the next unlock—RWAs need to move more freely across chains and venues to become fully usable.
That shift turns RWAs from TVL stats into real financial plumbing.
Take: RWAs are shaping up to be the bridge between institutional liquidity and on-chain opportunity.
If yields stay attractive and infrastructure keeps improving, you're potentially looking at one of the most durable narratives heading into 2026.

Coin Leaderboard


Crypto Pulse
Bitcoin may be hesitating, but the fast lane is wide open for traders who don't wait for permission.
PAYAI, ZBT, and READY are ripping because momentum doesn't care about headlines—it cares about who shows up first.
The majors are debating the macro story. Speculators are already writing the next one.
PayAI Network (PAYAI) $0.01102 (+88.65%)
PAYAI exploded 88.65% higher today, leading momentum traders straight into the AI-narrative fast lane. Volatility is fueling the run, and buyers clearly aren't afraid to chase it.
ZEROBASE (ZBT) $0.1702 (+61.89%)
ZBT ripped 61.89% higher, staging a sharp rebound just two weeks after its frontend attack scare. Traders are betting that confidence can recover faster than headlines.
READY! (READY) $0.02066 (+26.94%)
READY jumped another 26.94% as its December rally keeps extending into the new week. Speculators are treating this one like the party that refuses to shut down.

Interest Building Fast (Sponsored)
Every market cycle produces a select group of companies that drastically outperform the rest.
The latest screening has pinpointed the 5 Stocks Set to Double, each showing rare traits linked to early stage momentum.
These names carry the same type of indicators that have historically appeared ahead of strong rallies.
Earlier reports featured stocks that delivered +175%, +498%, and +673%.
Get the Free 5 Stocks Set to Double Report.

Future Forward
If you want to be early, you have to show up before everyone else realizes where the action is.
Conferences, airdrops, and token launches are where momentum is born long before charts admit anything is happening.
Airdrops are basically a spotlight pointing at the projects that want real users, not just noise.
When teams hand out tokens, they're saying: "This is where the story starts—get in while the seats are still empty."
Token launches are the final exam for every project that claims it's changing the world. Launch day shows who studied, who crammed, and who forgot their homework entirely.
Conferences bring the future into the same room and let it talk to itself. If you listen closely, you can catch the next big narrative before anyone gives it a name.
Crypto Conferences:
💎 BUIDL Europe 2026 (Jan 7, 2026)
💎 TOKYO DIGICONX 2026 (Jan 8, 2026)
💎 PEER Summit 2026 (Jan 9, 2026)
Upcoming Airdrops:
🎁 peaq (PEAQ) First Yield Payout (Dec 2025)
🎁 Wolf Game Wool (WOOL) Airdrop (Nov 14, 2025 - Jan 15, 2026)
🎁 Tradoor (TRADOOR) Airdrop (Feb 2026)
Upcoming Token Launches:
🚀 SUBBD (SUBBD) Presale (Dec 31, 2025)
🚀 Play AI (PLAI) TGE and Distribution (Q4 2025)
🚀 EarnPark (PARK) Token Sale Tier 4 (Jan 8, 2026)
Which event are you most excited for? Let us know!

Crypto Know-How: What Are Tokenized Commodities?
Tokenized commodities are real assets like gold, silver, or oil that get represented as digital tokens on a blockchain.
You get exposure to the asset's value without needing vaults, storage, or traditional brokers.
Because they trade 24/7 and can be bought in tiny fractions, more people can access markets that used to feel gated and expensive.
It's a way of bringing physical value into a digital world where liquidity never sleeps.
For crypto users, tokenized commodities add something different than memes and growth tokens—they bring stability and real-world demand.
When the market gets shaky, having assets backed by physical supply can keep a portfolio grounded.
This trend is growing fast as industries and investors realize they want commodities that move at blockchain speed.
The next evolution isn't choosing between TradFi and crypto—it's combining them to unlock both accessibility and trust.

Everything Else
China will begin paying interest on digital yuan balances starting January 1, turning e-CNY into interest-bearing deposit money and pushing adoption beyond its pilot phase.
Russia's Sberbank issued its first Bitcoin-backed loan to a major mining firm, signaling that traditional lenders are warming up to crypto-collateralized finance.
Crypto ETPs saw $446M in outflows over Christmas, but investors are rotating into newer XRP and Solana funds instead of abandoning the market altogether.
Ethereum developers have locked in "Hegota" as the late-2026 upgrade, keeping network improvements on a faster release cycle and aiming to boost decentralization and performance sooner.
Major corporations like BitMine are staking massive amounts of ETH for passive yield, effectively tightening supply and showing growing long-term confidence in Ethereum.

The best opportunities in crypto are the ones forming quietly—in crowded conference halls, in airdrop snapshots you almost missed, and in token tickers that aren't famous… yet.
Keep your eyes on where confidence is building early, and you'll already be there when the rest of the market finally wakes up.
Best Regards,
— Benjamin Vitaris
Crypto Intel



