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Ripple President Long Defines 2026 Crypto: Stablecoin's Quiet Trojan Horse

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Ripple's leader projects a significant shift towards institutional adoption and regulated crypto integration. The Quiet Trojan Horse: Why Ripple's 2026 Vision is a Double-Edged Sword for Crypto Investors 📌 The Institutional Onslaught: Separating Hype from Hard Truths Ripple President Monica Long recently laid out a vision for 2026, positioning it as the pivotal year when institutional crypto usage will decisively shift from mere pilot programs to full-scale production. In her view, regulated infrastructure and clearer rules are set to pull banks, corporates, and market intermediaries deeper into the on-chain world. While this sounds like the long-awaited institutional embrace, as a seasoned market strategist, I can't help but look at such pronouncements with a healthy dose of cynicism. Is this truly decentralized progress, or simply the next ph...

Bitcoin Hashrate Drops 10 Percent: China Mining Instability Forces 110 TH/s Decline - US Gains?

According to a post by former Canaan (a Chinese tech company) executive Jianping Kong, Bitcoin’s estimated hashrate fell roughly 10% in a single day, sliding from about 1,053 TH/s to just under 943 TH/s.

Kong said the decline equated to roughly 100 TH/s to 110 TH/s lost since Sunday and blamed the change on mining farms in China’s Xinjiang region shutting down.

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He wrote that “at least 400,000 machines” were taken offline, using an assumed rate of 250 TH/s per ASIC as his basis.

Shifting the global mining landscape as Chinese operations are taken offline.
Shifting the global mining landscape as Chinese operations are taken offline.

China Mining Instability

Based on reports, China remains a volatile source of hashrate. Before 2021, China supplied a majority of the network’s computing power. Now estimates place its share closer to 14% to 20% depending on the data provider.

Cheap power has drawn miners back, but political and regulatory swings can push large clusters off the grid with little warning.

Kong framed the recent shutdowns bluntly, saying the temporary loss hands an advantage to other countries, adding that “the US wins without lifting a finger.”

Capitalizing on market disruption, seizing new opportunities as other regions benefit.
Capitalizing on market disruption, seizing new opportunities as other regions benefit.

Impact On Network

Data recorded the drop from 1,053 TH/s to about 943 TH/s, a decline of just over 110 TH/s and roughly 10%. That kind of move can change mining conditions.

Blocks may be found a little slower until the next difficulty adjustment. The network’s total hashrate is always an estimate inferred from on-chain data, so exact figures are not precise, but the size of this swing is large enough to show how concentrated pockets of mining can still move global metrics.

Kong’s machine-count estimate — and the 250 TH/s-per-ASIC figure he used — are his calculations, not a confirmed inventory count from operators on the ground.

Bitcoin Mining Operations And Market Shifts

Reports have disclosed that US mining companies are expanding capacity as global hashrate reallocates.

Hut 8 announced it is building four new mining sites in Texas, Louisiana and Illinois, adding 1.5 gigawatts of power capacity.

American Bitcoin, a company tied to the Trump family, is now part of that growth story; the firm acquired a fleet of 16,299 Antminer U3S21EXPH units from Bitmain and its board includes Eric Trump, the second-eldest of US President Donald Trump’s three sons. These moves underline a clear shift in where large-scale mining is happening.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView

💬 Investment Wisdom
"The biggest risk is not taking any risk. In a world that is changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks."
Mark Zuckerberg

Crypto Market Pulse

December 16, 2025, 14:11 UTC

Total Market Cap
$3.03 T ▼ -2.19% (24h)
Bitcoin Dominance (BTC)
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Ethereum Dominance (ETH)
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Total 24h Volume
$141.94 B

Data from CoinGecko

This post builds upon insights from the original news article. Original article.

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