This week on Crypto News Rundown, we unpack one of the most revealing weeks of the cycle so far – a moment where brutal volatility, meme-coin fatigue, and security shocks collide with some of the strongest signals of long-term institutional conviction the crypto market has ever seen.

The episode opens with Bitcoin’s Thanksgiving “miss”: a rally to $91,000 that failed to break the 2024 high, triggering fresh retail fear and headlines about “lost momentum.” The hosts zoom out to show why this rare year-over-year holiday dip looks more like a structural reset than a collapse, digging into footprint charts, higher-low formations, RSI recovery, and a persistent bid below $90,000 that screams institutional accumulation rather than capitulation.

From there, the focus shifts to the flows that really matter. You’ll hear how BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has clawed its way back into multi-billion-dollar profit, why it’s still the only spot Bitcoin ETF with net positive inflows in 2025, and what it means that NASDAQ is proposing “Mag 7–level” options limits for IBIT. The hosts tie this directly to macro tailwinds — falling yields, rising odds of a Fed rate cut — and to a historic milestone: Texas becoming the first U.S. state to buy Bitcoin via a spot ETF for its public treasury, potentially opening the door for other states and pension funds to follow.

On the corporate side, the episode contrasts two very different treasury strategies. Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) showcases a deeply conservative, long-run playbook with a 71-year debt runway and a market premium on its BTC holdings, while Japan’s MetaPlanet sits on leveraged underwater bags and faces a December “do or die” vote that could trigger margin-call risk. SpaceX’s move to Coinbase Prime is framed as a case study in how large private firms are professionalizing Bitcoin custody without selling a sat.

Security takes center stage with the Upbit hack — a $36.9 million Solana-ecosystem hotwallet breach that lands just as its parent company announces a huge deal and U.S. IPO plans. The hosts walk through what likely went wrong, why the timing has people whispering about sophisticated repeat attackers, and why Upbit’s immediate promise to fully reimburse users marks a big cultural shift from the Mt. Gox / FTX era. At the same time, the incident shines an unforgiving spotlight on Solana token security across the industry.

Altcoin ETFs get their own “report card.” XRP stands out as the clear winner thanks to regulatory clarity and relentless ETF inflows, with shrinking exchange supply and a big regulatory win for Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin in Abu Dhabi. In sharp contrast, Grayscale’s Dogecoin ETF launch flops, exposing just how little appetite institutions have for pure meme exposure, while Solana funds see mixed fortunes as profit-taking in some products is offset by inflows into staking ETFs that offer real yield. Meme coins fare poorly overall, with on-chain data showing massive inflows back to exchanges and charts signaling bearish continuation rather than genuine reversals.

The episode then goes global, showing how stablecoins are quietly becoming the financial rails of both high finance and crisis economies. You’ll hear how Visa and major European market operators are integrating USDC and euro-pegged stablecoins into real settlement systems, even as S&P downgrades Tether’s USDT and spooks parts of China’s gray crypto market. At the same time, hyperinflation in Bolivia, Venezuela, Argentina and high inflation in Turkey are pushing citizens and businesses to treat stablecoins as de facto legal tender — or to chase risky altcoin gains just to outrun collapsing purchasing power.