2026-01-09 09:30:07

At the beginning of 2026, the cryptocurrency market appears particularly complex—facing strict regulatory pressures on one side and frantic capital flows on the other.

From a price perspective, the situation is not optimistic. On January 3rd, Bitcoin directly broke below the $90,000 mark, causing over 110,000 investors to be liquidated. Standard Chartered Bank even cut its own forecast, slashing the 2026 target price from the previous figure to $150,000, reflecting the market's genuine anxiety.

Interestingly, the money hasn't left the crypto market; it's just moving elsewhere. Mainstream altcoins like Ethereum, XRP, and Solana attracted astonishing amounts of capital last year—Ethereum $12.7 billion, XRP $3.7 billion, Solana $3.6 billion—all increasing by over 300%. Funds are rapidly shifting from Bitcoin, the "big brother," to other assets.

Regulatory changes are even more significant. The once "tax-free era" in the crypto space has officially ended. Italy raised the withholding tax to 33% and canceled tax exemptions; the UK requires exchanges to report all transaction data in real-time; the US has designed new tax reporting forms; cross-border CRS and CARF frameworks have completely closed the loophole for anonymous transactions. Major global markets have basically reached a consensus: cryptocurrencies must be regulated.

From a financing perspective, institutions expect a slight recovery in 2026, but the entry barriers have increased. Fields like stablecoins, asset tokenization, and AI combined with crypto are more favored, while purely conceptual hype projects are gradually being phased out.

Data also shows that the total market capitalization has shrunk by $1.2 trillion since its peak in October 2025. The correlation between Bitcoin and the Nasdaq 100 has risen to the highest since 2022, indicating that the risk attributes of crypto assets are becoming more apparent.

For investors, the current strategies are clear: first, take compliance and tax reporting seriously; second, don't put all your eggs in one basket. The crypto industry is transitioning from a wild, unregulated era to a more structured development stage, and adapting to this change is key.

BTC1,72%

ETH0,62%

XRP0,77%

SOL1,35%

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token_therapist

· 01-11 14:13

11,000 people liquidated, Standard Chartered directly halved expectations... This is what they call "market confidence," right? Funds have moved into altcoins, but it still feels like just gambling. The tax-free era is really over, with Italy's 33% withholding tax starting, and the global crackdown has begun. Compliance should have been taken seriously long ago, but who really cares?

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SatoshiLeftOnRead

· 01-10 11:53

110,000 people liquidated, Standard Chartered still slashed expectations, this wave is indeed quite fierce Funds are just moving positions, with ETH and SOL having such strong capital attraction, there are still people willing to enter The tax-free era is truly over, it's really tough now; reporting taxes is more complicated than mining

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RadioShackKnight

· 01-09 10:00

11,000 people forced to liquidate, and still have to pay 33% tax—this life is unbearable.

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BoredRiceBall

· 01-09 09:57

11,000 people liquidated, Standard Chartered still cuts expectations... This wave really hurts. Money is flowing into altcoins, but with such high tax pressure, I really can't afford to play anymore.

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DuskSurfer

· 01-09 09:54

120,000 liquidated positions... This is the reality, wake up everyone --- The era of tax exemption is really over; what was bound to come still came --- Money is flowing to knockoff projects; those who dodged the crash are all sneaking a laugh --- Standard Chartered directly cut expectations in half, honestly, they just don’t have confidence --- Compliance and tax reporting are indeed important; don’t get caught later --- Funds are just moving around, not leaving the market, which means some people still see potential --- For those still betting on concept coins, you’re a bit... you know what I mean --- 1.2 trillion yuan shrinkage, this is a lesson for investors

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GasGuzzler

· 01-09 09:52

11,000 people liquidated? I just want to know if these people really didn't set stop-losses or if they were forcibly liquidated... Anyway, I already exited early. Now watching ETH and SOL, these two crazy coins, bleed out, I kind of regret not getting in more.

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GhostAddressHunter

· 01-09 09:45

The era of tax exemption is over, I'm really panicking... --- 110,000 people liquidated, this is the reality, brother --- The money hasn't left, it just all went to knockoff projects, it's too surreal --- Compliance tax reporting? Ha, now I finally understand what it means when the "barbaric era" is over --- 33% tax rate... Italy is really trying to drive people away --- You can't put all your eggs in one basket, but the problem is the basket itself is burning --- Pure concept projects have been swept out, what was coming still came --- Relevance has risen to the highest... indicating that we are high-risk assets --- I'm optimistic about stablecoins and RWA, it's more reliable than pure speculation --- From 90,000 to now, does anyone still dare to say it's a bull market?

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