What began as a quiet holiday week turned into a shocking weekend, with Trump removing his largest adversary in the Western Hemisphere. The US focus on Venezuela’s oil is obvious, but the Bitcoin angle may be even more intriguing.
Other top stories from the week include:
Russia begins issuing Bitcoin-backed loans to miners.
Bitcoin turns 17 years old.
Some treasury companies are stepping back, while others, like Metaplanet, are accelerating their Bitcoin strategies.
Latest News
Adoption
Bitcoin marks the 17th anniversary of its launch on January 3, 2009, when Satoshi Nakamoto mined the Genesis Block, setting in motion a monetary network that would permanently reshape global finance.
Bitcoin obituaries recorded zero new entries for all of 2025. For the first time in Bitcoin’s history, no articles declared it dead. The total count of Bitcoin obituaries remains unchanged at 477.
Bitcoin Slam Bot is a new vibe-coded trading bot that exploits a 9-to-5 pattern: Bitcoin dumps during US hours and pumps afterward. It flips short and long, and is up 30% in five days after moving to perps.
Regulation
HSBC blocks a customer’s mobile banking access after detecting Bitwarden installed via F-Droid, highlighting that bank apps can monitor installed software and infer which BTC-related tools users run.
Caroline Crenshaw officially steps down as SEC Commissioner, ending the tenure of one of the agency’s most outspoken Bitcoin critics, who voted against the approval of the Bitcoin ETFs.
Wrench attacks against crypto holders are rising and growing more violent, with the sharpest increases in Western Europe and APAC, while North America remains comparatively safer.
Markets
Bitcoin ends 2025 down 6% after its second-worst Q4 on record at -23%, marking the first time a post-halving year closed in negative territory.
BlackRock acquired roughly 220,000 Bitcoin in 2025, ending the year with roughly 772,000 BTC under management. It opens 2026 with $287.4 million in net inflows, keeping 1 million BTC AUM in sight.
Wallet of Satoshi blocks custodial service across the EU, with users reporting they must route connections via VPNs to regain access, highlighting growing regulatory pressure in Europe.
Treasury
Metaplanet acquires 4,279 bitcoin in Q4 2025 for $451.06 million at an average price of $105,412, bringing total holdings to 35,102 BTC, and becomes the 3rd BTCTC to issue preferred shares.
Tether acquires 8,888.8888888 Bitcoin in Q4 2025, worth roughly $778.7 million, bringing total holdings to 96,370 BTC valued at approximately $8.46 billion.
Prenetics halts all Bitcoin purchases due to market weakness, retaining its 510 BTC treasury, and will redirect capital to scale its IM8 health and longevity brand.
Mining
Sberbank issues Russia’s first Bitcoin-backed loan to Intelion Data, securing the financing with bitcoin mined by the company and held in Sberbank custody, a pilot deal the bank says could expand to miners.
Venezuela has seized multiple large Bitcoin mining facilities over the past two years, citing illegal power use, raising questions about the scale and nature of the government’s own mining operations.
Turkmenistan legalizes Bitcoin mining and trading under new legislation taking effect this week, aiming to diversify its gas-dependent economy while maintaining strict government control.
Politics
Iran is exploring the use of Bitcoin to receive payments for overseas weapons sales, according to reporting by the Financial Times.
Venezuela is reportedly sitting on more than 600,000 BTC, allegedly accumulated by swapping gold and oil sales into bitcoin to bypass international sanctions, though the claims remain unverified.
China recorded its largest money supply increase outside of COVID, adding roughly $4.5T in 2025 as Beijing injected liquidity to counter deflation and a property downturn, fueling a strong rebound in equities.
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Bam’s 2 Sats
Optimism Ahead
This week marks the start of a new year and the 17th year of Bitcoin’s existence. Though still technically in its teens, one could argue Bitcoin has already matured into a fully developed monetary system.
The Market Perspective
From a development standpoint, 2025 was a strong year.
Bitcoin continued to normalize in the mainstream, quietly entering retirement portfolios in more than imagined possible just a few short years ago. Exposure now comes via BlackRock products, funds holding Strategy, Block Inc., Bitcoin miners, spot Bitcoin ETFs, or direct investment in Bitcoin treasury companies.
The level of exposure varies by vehicle, but the takeaway is the same: Bitcoin is steadily filtering into retirement accounts in an incremental, rather than explosive, way.
By Jameson Lopp
Adoption Side
From an adoption perspective, growth continues steadily. As the number of Bitcoin advocates grows, the toolset improves, leading more people to stack bitcoin and, in turn, more individuals and businesses requesting payment in Bitcoin.
We saw several notable examples this year. Steak ’n Shake unexpectedly began accepting Bitcoin payments, with reports suggesting a smooth rollout since day one that coincided with the company’s best sales year on record.
Taking the crown, in my view, was Block. The payments provider integrated Bitcoin acceptance directly into its U.S. terminals, letting merchants either hold bitcoin or auto convert to fiat, with lower fees than Visa, Mastercard, or American Express.
Paying with BTC at Squares PoS – by tftc
On price perspective
The main disappointment for many was price action.
In a year primed for a parabolic move, Bitcoin ended 2025 around $87,500, down roughly 6% on the year. The silver lining is this may finally break the horoscope style obsession with the four year cycle, freeing Bitcoin from rigid narratives and allowing new frameworks to emerge.
Despite negative sentiment in some corners, it is hard to call institutional accumulation a disappointment. Strategy and Tether added nearly 40,000 BTC in Q4 2025, roughly matching newly mined supply. Many retail participants, on the other hand, ended the year with less bitcoin, underscoring the need for better education.
If you look at data rather than sentiment, it increasingly feels like demand will eventually outpace supply. As sellers are exhausted, the DCA army (yes, I’m part of it) continues to accumulate the hardest money ever created. After all, why store savings in something someone else can print at will?
Happy 2026, stay safe and keep on stacking!
- Bam
Bitcoin Trivia
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