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Tether Spent $1 Billion on Bitcoin During Its Recent Crash. Should Individual Investors Follow Suit? – The Motley Fool

This stablecoin issuer has very different motivations for buying Bitcoin than most investors.
During the past three months, Bitcoin's (BTC 2.37%) price slid as much as 21%, sending the crypto market into a tizzy of anxiety. Right in the middle of that slump, the coin had an unusually committed buyer. Tether, the issuer of the USDT (USDT +0.01%) stablecoin, the world's largest, spent about $1 billion from its reserves into new Bitcoin purchases, expanding its already large stash of coins right when many investors were bailing out.
If a systemically important stablecoin issuer is buying the dip here, does that mean regular investors should, too?
Image source: Getty Images.
Before considering whether to imitate Tether, it helps to understand what game it's trying to play.
USDT is a dollar-pegged stablecoin that is backed by a large portfolio of reserves. Those reserves currently total about $181 billion, mostly in short-term U.S. Treasuries, with the rest in gold, Bitcoin, secured loans, and other investments. As of the end of the third quarter, management reported about $135 billion in Treasury holdings, $13 billion in gold, and $10 billion in Bitcoin inside that reserve portfolio. Those numbers put Tether among the largest non-government holders of both gold bullion, which it has also been accumulating at a rapid pace recently, and Bitcoin.
The recent $1 billion purchase of Bitcoin is thus part of a pattern of shoring up reserves when prices look favorable. What's more, Tether is profitable because it earns interest fees on its enormous Treasury bill and bond pile. So the company is using a slice of those profits to buy assets like Bitcoin and gold, which might boost its long-term returns and differentiate USDT from rival stablecoins that stick almost entirely to cash and bills for reserves.
So, should a regular investor buy Bitcoin because Tether is buying it? Probably not.
Tether can afford to funnel a slice of its substantial earnings into volatile assets like Bitcoin and easily wait out bad years if they occur. A household investor living off a salary or retirement income does not always have that luxury.
The core reason Tether likes having Bitcoin on its balance sheet overlaps with the basic investment thesis for owning some Bitcoin in a retirement portfolio. The coin can't have more of its supply printed like a fiat currency can, and thanks to its halving program, its scarcity increases over time as the rate of new supply being mined drops mechanically. Meanwhile, it is increasingly integrated into the traditional financial system, from large corporate treasuries to exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and even in some proposed sovereign reserves. So buying this asset right now is a bet that its adoption and scarcity will keep increasing during the next decade despite plenty of volatility along the way.
That points to a very different playbook from Tether's for those who choose to dabble. Spread your purchases out over time using dollar-cost averaging rather than doing one huge buy, mentally commit to holding your position for many years, and steel yourself for large declines without panic selling.
Tether's decision to buy the dip here is a vote of confidence in Bitcoin's long-term value, and it lines up with the idea that it's a sensible practice for most investors to own at least a small amount of it. The right way to follow suit is to keep your investment fairly modest, be consistent with slow accumulation of the coin, and to have a clear understanding that this is one of the riskier slices of a diversified portfolio.
Alex Carchidi has positions in Bitcoin. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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Bitcoin is down nearly 30% from its record high — history shows that’s normal – CNBC Africa

Bitcoin’s more than 30% drop from its record high underscores the volatility that has come to characterize the cryptocurrency.
Moves from previous cycles not only show how the current price swings are all part of bitcoin’s normal operating pattern but also how they may often precede a rally, according to figures compiled by CoinDesk Data for CNBC.
Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, dropped to a low of around $80,000 late last month before staging a rally and falling again this week. When bitcoin dropped to under $81,000, that represented an approximately 36% fall from its all-time high of around $126,000 hit earlier in October. As of Thursday, bitcoin was trading at over $93,000, according to Coinmetrics, a roughly 26% decline from its record high.
These price swings may seem large but they are normal in relation to bitcoin’s history.
Bitcoin’s price movement is often referred to in “cycles.” Generally, the bitcoin cycle refers to a four-year pattern of price movement that revolves around a key event known as the halving, a change to mining rewards that is written in bitcoin’s code. While there are signs that the typical timing and patterns of the cycles could be changing, the range of price movements appears to be consistent.
In the current cycle, bitcoin has already weathered a 32.7% pullback from March to August 2024 and a 31.7% decline between January and April 2025, according to CoinDesk Data.
“Looking at previous cycles, volatility of this magnitude appears consistent with long-term trends,” Jacob Joseph, senior research analyst at CoinDesk Data, told CNBC.
During the 2017 cycle, there were drawdowns of around 40% twice that year and then a 29% decline in November before bitcoin reached a new record high in December.
Looking back at the 2021 cycle, bitcoin recorded declines of 31.2% in January that year and 26% in February. There was a more than 55% correction between April and June 2021 as China banned bitcoin mining. The asset then rallied to a new high in November that year.
“While deeper mid-cycle corrections have certainly occurred, nearly all of them — aside from the mining-ban-drop in 2021 — took place within a broader bullish structure, often holding above key technical levels such as its 50-week moving average,” Joseph said.
Beginning Oct. 10, more than 1.6 million traders suffered a combined $19.37 billion erasure of leveraged positions over a 24-hour period. Many traders were forced out of their positions and the impact of that cascaded across the industry.
That effect is still being felt, according to Lucy Gazmararian, founder of Token Bay Capital.
″[It was the] biggest liquidation event in crypto’s history and that takes quite a few weeks to see the fallout from that and for the market to consolidate,” Gazmararian told “Access Middle East” on Thursday.
“It also coincided at a time when there’s a lot of concern that we are reaching the end of a bull market … so that has increased the levels of fear out there in the market.”
In the past, when the bull market ends and there is a period of depressed prices, often dubbed a “crypto winter,” bitcoin has tended to sit 70% to 80% below its all-time high. This has not yet happened. But concern about this coming to pass is weighing on investors’ minds.
“Really the timing of the drop, where we are in the cycle, that’s making investors cautious in case we do see that 80% drop,” Gazmararian said.

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November Profit Crisis: 70% of Top Miners Pivot to $20B AI Market – BeInCrypto

Written & Edited by
Oihyun Kim
Bitcoin mining profitability plunged to record lows in late 2025 as the hash rate dropped below $35 per petahash per second, while production costs rose to $44.8 per petahash. This forced miners into payback periods over 1,200 days and drove a major industry shift, with 70% of top mining companies now earning revenue from artificial intelligence infrastructure.
November 2025 marked a turning point for the global Bitcoin mining industry. A confluence of collapsing margins, regulatory pressure, and strategic pivots reshaped the sector’s landscape. Here are the five key trends that defined the month.
Network hashrate surged to a record 1.1 ZH/s in October, intensifying competition. Meanwhile, Bitcoin prices dropped to around $81,000, crushing margins across the industry. Machine payback periods have stretched beyond 1,200 days.
MARA CEO Fred Thiel issued a stark warning about the industry’s future. After the 2028 halving reduces block rewards to roughly 1.5 BTC, most business models will collapse. Only miners with access to cheap energy or successful AI pivots will survive, he said.
Financing costs continue to rise as traditional mining revenue shrinks. Even companies transitioning to AI cannot yet offset the decline in Bitcoin income. The squeeze is forcing urgent strategic decisions across the sector.
Seven of the top ten mining companies now generate revenue from artificial intelligence. AI hosting yields already exceed traditional mining returns by roughly 50% per megawatt. The shift is reshaping how the industry measures success.
Bitfarms announced it will phase out Bitcoin mining entirely within two years. Its Washington State facility will be converted into an HPC data center by December 2026. CEO Ben Gagnon said potential returns could surpass all previous mining income.
IREN secured a landmark $9.7 billion, five-year GPU cloud computing agreement with Microsoft. The deal includes a 20% upfront payment. IREN will deploy NVIDIA GB300 GPUs at its Texas facility starting in 2026.
Hut 8 sold four Canadian natural gas power plants totaling 310 MW to TransAlta. The move aligns with its strategic shift toward Bitcoin mining plus HPC infrastructure. CleanSpark aims to become a comprehensive compute platform serving both AI and BTC.
A wave of convertible note issuances is sweeping the industry. CleanSpark raised $1.15 billion at 0% interest. TeraWulf completed a $1.025 billion offering, also at zero percent.
Cipher Mining issued $1.4 billion in senior secured notes at 7.125% yield. IREN plans to raise $2 billion through two separate convertible bond offerings. Bitfarms completed a $588 million convertible debt issuance.
Equipment commitments are equally massive. IREN signed a $5.8 billion agreement with Dell to procure NVIDIA GB300 GPUs. Cipher expanded its Fluidstack agreement, with Google providing $1.73 billion in guarantees.
Canaan secured a $72 million strategic investment from BH Digital, Galaxy Digital, and Weiss Asset Management. The funds will support high-performance computing and the development of energy infrastructure. The company aims to reduce future financing dilution.
Malaysia has uncovered approximately 14,000 illegal mining operations over the past five years. Stolen electricity has caused roughly $1.1 billion in damage to the state utility TNB. A government task force was established in November to intensify crackdowns.
Russia is deploying AI technology to combat illegal mining. State grid operator Rosseti embeds AI analytics into smart meters to detect power anomalies. One recent bust involved $1.5 million in stolen electricity.
Yet some governments are embracing mining. Japan launched its first government-linked project through a major regional utility. Canaan will deploy water-cooled Avalon miners for grid load balancing by year-end.
Belarusian President Lukashenko declared cryptocurrency mining a national priority for electricity usage. He suggested that crypto could serve as an alternative to reliance on the dollar. About 60% of Russian miners remain unregistered, prompting discussions of an amnesty.
Leading miners are stockpiling Bitcoin rather than selling into the market. MARA holds 53,250 BTC valued at approximately $5.6 billion. The company ranks second globally in public Bitcoin reserves.
CleanSpark reported total holdings of 13,054 BTC as of November 30. Monthly production reached 587 BTC in November alone—year-to-date mining output totals 7,124 BTC.
Cango holds 6,412 BTC with an explicit commitment to long-term holding. Bitdeer increased its reserves to 2,233 BTC after mining 511 BTC in October. Canaan reached a record 1,610 BTC and 3,950 ETH.
The accumulation strategy signals confidence in Bitcoin’s long-term value. Miners are betting that surviving the current profitability crisis will prove rewarding. Those who hold through the squeeze may emerge as the biggest winners.
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Top Crypto Analysis: BTC, ETH, and SOL Move in Institutional Sync as Liquidity Returns – TradingView

Top Crypto Analysis for December 2025 reveals a rare and powerful alignment across Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana, where price action is being driven less by retail sentiment and more by institutional liquidity flows and whales. While each asset holds its own technical levels, yet their synchronized behavior in 2025 signals a much deeper shift in market structure.
Top Crypto Analysis Shows Institutional Patterns Across BTC, ETH, and SOL
Throughout 2025, it was evident that the broader crypto market displayed an unmistakable rhythm, most evident when comparing BTC price, ETH price, and SOL price side by side. 


Unlike equities like Apple stock (AAPL/NASDAQ), where earnings and dividends dictate movement, the major crypto assets followed a synchronized structure that strongly suggested institutional influence and maneuvering. 
The BTC crypto dominance is more than 58% and ETH has over 12%, both represent nearly 70% of the entire market. This dominance has further strengthened this dynamic, as smart money capital (not limited to ETFs only) entering Bitcoin and Ethereum has shown domino effects throughout other top crypto, too, like Solana.


Seeing the chart, From April to early October, a clear uptrend emerged. The BTC price USD approached the $126,000 region before a severe correction set in, dragging the ETH price USD to some extent and SOL price USD, too into somewhat parallel declines. This mirrored behavior suggests that institutional entities and whales, including ETF-linked players and deep liquidity participants, were driving coordinated rotations.
Top Crypto Analysis Reveals Liquidity Shock as Catalyst for the Recent Rebound
A key moment reinforcing this pattern unfolded on November 21, when BTC price hit the $80,600 support, and simultaneously ETH price touched $2,665 while SOL price USD tagged $123. Although each chart reflected unique candlestick formations, the timing of the reversals aligned perfectly, reinforcing the broader liquidity narrative captured in this trio, for instance.


The deeper macro backdrop explains the synchronized recovery. The U.S. Federal Reserve ended its multi-year quantitative tightening (QT) program on December 1, following the drawdown of roughly $2.4 trillion from its balance sheet between 2022 and 2025. That liquidity drain had pressured global markets, and crypto was no exception.
BREAKING 🚨: U.S. Banks
Fed Reserve just pumped $13.5 Billion into the U.S. Banking System through overnight repos 🤯 This is the 2nd largest liquidity injection since Covid and surpasses even the peak of the Dot Com Bubble 👀 Probably Fine, carry on pic.twitter.com/NMLDARnAlM
Immediately after QT ended, the Fed injected $13.5 billion into the banking system through overnight repo operations, which was the second-largest liquidity boost since the pandemic. 
The effect was instantly apparent: between December 1 and December 4, BTC/USD surged 11%, ETH jumped 15%, and SOL climbed 17%. This resurgence aligns with historical trends of risk assets to rally during periods of rising liquidity, hints at more recovery coming in December, and has renewed discussions around a potential Bitcoin price prediction of a new all-time high as early as late January 2026.
Top Crypto Analysis Tracks the Next Macro Trigger: BOJ and FOMC Ahead
However, the outlook is not without caution. With the Bank of Japan signaling an 81% probability of another rate hike in December after three previous hikes triggered broad crypto selloffs, markets are now preparing for heightened volatility. 
BOJ rate hike odds in December are now at 81%.
BOJ first rate hike happened in March 2024.
The 2nd one happened in July 2024, and the last one happened in January 2025.
Interestingly, after each rate hike, BTC and the crypto market dumped. pic.twitter.com/XcCaj2HSZT
The upcoming U.S. FOMC decision adds another layer of uncertainty, leaving BTC, ETH, and Solana crypto in a tightly reactive macro environment.
FOMC next week going to be pivotal pic.twitter.com/1dE2d2M9Ou
As the final weeks of 2025 unfold, Top Crypto Analysis increasingly centers on liquidity, timing, and institutional behavior rather than isolated technical levels.
Select market data provided by ICE Data Services. Select reference data provided by FactSet. Copyright © 2025 FactSet Research Systems Inc.Copyright © 2025, American Bankers Association. CUSIP Database provided by FactSet Research Systems Inc. All rights reserved. SEC fillings and other documents provided by Quartr.© 2025 TradingView, Inc.

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