Today, significant shifts were observed within the cryptocurrency sector. The market capitalization of artificial intelligence (AI) and big data tokens has experienced a considerable decline, dropping nearly 28% since reaching a peak of $70.4 billion in early December. The total currently stands at $50.5 billion as of December 28, signaling waning trader interest as trading volumes for these tokens have also fallen by 11% to $4.73 billion.
In the realm of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), U.S.-listed Bitcoin and Ether ETFs have seen impressive net inflows over the past year, collectively accumulating $38.3 billion. Notably, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF led with $37.31 billion in net inflows. Despite the strong overall performance, there was a setback toward the year’s end, with spot Bitcoin ETFs experiencing a combined $1.33 billion in outflows since December 19.
On the regulatory front, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has classified decentralized finance (DeFi) front-ends as “brokers” in their new digital asset reporting guidelines. Starting in 2027, these platforms will be required to report gross proceeds from sales of crypto and digital assets, including details about the involved taxpayers. While these rules primarily focus on front-end platforms that facilitate crypto transactions, the IRS has clarified that only those DeFi participants with sufficient control over transactions will be considered brokers. These developments indicate a move to bring DeFi platforms under the umbrella of existing financial reporting regulations.
