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Citi Raises Ether Forecast, Trims Bitcoin Outlook as Investor Preferences Shift

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Citigroup has revised its year-end cryptocurrency forecasts, raising its target for ether (ETH) while slightly cutting its outlook for bitcoin (BTC), citing changing investor behaviour and macroeconomic headwinds.

The Wall Street bank said that investors are increasingly gravitating toward ether’s yield-generating features, while bitcoin continues to rely primarily on price appreciation for returns.

NEW TARGETS AND PRICE OUTLOOK

Citi set a year-end target of $133,000 for bitcoin, representing a 12% upside from its current trading price of around $118,747, as of 05:30 GMT.
For ether, the bank now expects the token to reach $4,500 by year-end — a 3% gain from its current level of $4,375.

The brokerage maintains a positive long-term view, forecasting 12-month targets of $181,000 for bitcoin and $5,440 for ether.

BITCOIN: STRONG NARRATIVE, MIXED MACRO HEADWINDS

Citi slightly reduced its bitcoin forecast due to offsetting macroeconomic factors, including a stronger U.S. dollar and weaker gold prices, which tend to reduce demand for alternative stores of value.
Still, analysts said bitcoin’s “digital gold” narrative remains robust, continuing to attract institutional and retail inflows as global interest in hard assets persists.

Citi’s base case assumes year-end inflows of roughly $7.5 billion into bitcoin, while its bull case depends on rising equity markets and stronger demand from digital asset funds.
Under its bear case, however, the bank warned that a global recession could push bitcoin prices down to $83,000.

ETHER: INSTITUTIONAL INTEREST AND STAKING GAINS

Ether’s upgraded outlook comes after a sharp summer price rally, fueled by institutional buying and ETF-related inflows. Citi analysts said ether’s potential for yield generation through staking and decentralised finance (DeFi) continues to attract capital from long-term investors.

Citi expects ether to remain supported in 2025 by strong inflows from ETFs and digital asset treasuries, which have emerged as a growing segment of crypto demand.
While ether’s downside is harder to quantify, given uncertainties around network usage and value accrual, analysts said the token benefits from a broader use case compared with bitcoin.

INVESTOR FLOWS WILL DRIVE YEAR-END PERFORMANCE

Both cryptocurrencies, Citi noted, are trading above user-activity-based metrics, highlighting the speculative component of current valuations. Sustained investor demand and macro stability will be essential to keeping prices elevated into 2026.

“Ether’s yield advantage and utility-driven narrative are drawing steady inflows,” Citi wrote, “while bitcoin continues to hold its place as digital gold — but faces short-term macro friction.”

Spacecoin Sends Blockchain Data Through Space in First-of-Its-Kind Test to Challenge Starlink

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U.S. satellite startup Spacecoin announced on Wednesday that it had successfully transmitted secured blockchain data through space, marking what it called an industry first and a potential challenge to Elon Musk’s Starlink.

The company’s goal is to create a decentralized satellite network offering connectivity and data storage for users in regions where internet access is unreliable, censored, or prohibitively expensive, according to its founder Tae Oh.

HOW IT WORKS

Unlike Starlink — where SpaceX maintains full control over its vast satellite constellation — Spacecoin envisions an open, participatory model that allows users, developers, and organizations to contribute to the network and verify transactions.
Its technology uses blockchain encryption to ensure that data sent through satellites cannot be intercepted, altered, or falsified.

During the test, Spacecoin transmitted blockchain data over 7,000 kilometers, from Chile to the Azores, entirely through a satellite link — without relying on terrestrial internet.
The nanosatellite used in the experiment was built by Bulgarian microsatellite manufacturer EnduroSat, and the company said the data returned to Earth intact and verifiable.

“Beyond end users, we are also targeting builders — such as developers, telecom companies, NGOs, and infrastructure partners,” said founder Tae Oh.
“For people using the internet, this means the information or payments they send can’t be faked, changed, or intercepted by bad actors.”

CONTEXT AND FUTURE PLANS

The success of Spacecoin’s test comes amid a boom in satellite internet services as global demand for secure broadband increases.
While J.P. Morgan previously tested blockchain payments between satellites, Spacecoin’s test is the first to bypass terrestrial networks entirely, operating solely in orbit.

Currently, Spacecoin has just one satellite, launched in December 2024 on a SpaceX rocket, and orbits in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at up to 2,000 km altitude.
The company plans to add three more satellites by the end of 2025 to expand coverage and reliability.

With Starlink’s 8,000-satellite fleet dominating global satellite broadband, Spacecoin’s blockchain-based approach positions it as an innovative but niche challenger, combining crypto technology with space-based communication infrastructure.

Trump-Backed World Liberty Financial to Launch Crypto Debit Card by Early 2026

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World Liberty Financial, the cryptocurrency venture backed by the family of U.S. President Donald Trump, plans to launch a crypto-linked debit card that will allow users to spend digital assets in everyday transactions as early as late 2025, according to CEO Zach Witkoff.

Speaking at the TOKEN2049 crypto conference in Singapore on Wednesday, Witkoff said the card aims to “bridge crypto assets with everyday spending,” and a pilot program is scheduled for launch next quarter. “We’ll be rolling out a debit card that will either go live in Q4 or Q1 2026,” he added.

Witkoff was joined on stage by Donald Trump Jr., co-founder of World Liberty, where both reiterated their optimistic view on cryptocurrency adoption and highlighted what they described as progress made under the Trump administration. Their comments drew cheers from attendees, reflecting the strong enthusiasm among crypto investors for the Trump family’s growing involvement in the sector.

A CRYPTO-POWERED FINANCIAL PLATFORM

Founded in 2024, World Liberty Financial (WLF) seeks to provide decentralized finance (DeFi) services, allowing users to access financial tools and payments directly through cryptocurrencies without traditional banking intermediaries.

In September 2024, the company launched its governance token $WLFI, granting holders voting rights on business proposals. According to data from CoinGecko, the token last traded 0.5% higher at $0.2011.

Witkoff confirmed that World Liberty is working on tokenizing real-world assets, including real estate, oil, and gas, as part of its long-term strategy. “We also want USD1 to be the base pair for these assets because we view it as the most trustworthy and transparent stablecoin on Earth,” Witkoff said, referring to the firm’s U.S. dollar–pegged stablecoin.

TRUMP FAMILY’S ROLE AND PROFITS

While critics have accused the Trump family of profiting from crypto ventures amid the administration’s relaxed regulatory stance, Donald Trump Jr. insisted that World Liberty Financial is “100% not a political organization.”

Reuters estimates that since its founding, the Trump family has earned around $500 million from the project — a figure based on publicly disclosed deals, crypto transaction data, and the company’s terms and conditions.

During the conference, Trump Jr. said, “My father was the first guy to run as sort of a pro-crypto president,” while Witkoff recalled early skepticism from the industry. “They called us a joke, a memecoin — they said we’d never amount to anything,” he said, before adding that World Liberty is now partnering with Aptos, a leading blockchain platform, to bring its USD1 stablecoin to the network.

The company’s planned debit card marks the next step in World Liberty’s expansion, reflecting its ambition to make digital currency spending mainstream while strengthening its ties to the global crypto ecosystem.