Tether Buys 8,889 BTC as Bitcoin Falls Below $88K: 3 Scenarios in Play
Key NotesTether accumulated Bitcoin amid a market-wide correction on the first day of 2026.Bitcoin recorded over $1 billion in ETF outflows with its weakest Q4 performance in years.Analyst suggests three key scenarios to expect for Bitcoin’s movements in the coming months.
2025 ended with a weak performance from Bitcoin
BTC
$87 600
24h volatility:
0.8%
Market cap:
$1.75 T
Vol. 24h:
$35.26 B
, but Tether, the company behind the world’s largest stablecoin USDT
USDT
$1.00
24h volatility:
0.0%
Market cap:
$186.84 B
Vol. 24h:
$55.92 B
, saw an opportunity to buy more BTC.
As Bitcoin fell from the $88,000 mark, Tether added another 8,889 BTC, valued at $778.7 million, to its reserves, Lookonchain shared in an X post. The firm withdrew the assets from the Bitfinex crypto exchange.
The company behind USDT now holds 96,370 BTC, worth $8.46 billion.
Despite the bullish calls from the community, under Lookonchain’s post, Bitcoin continued its bearish consolidation. The leading cryptocurrency is down by 1.1% in the past 24 hours and is trading just under $87,500 at the time of writing.
The US-based spot BTC exchange-traded funds also recorded a net outflow of $348.1 million on Dec. 31, according to data from SoSoValue.
These investment products saw a monthly net outflow of $1.09 billion in December 2025, showing weak institutional demand amid macro uncertainty.
The crypto market has always been famous for its high volatility. However, the recent market situation, with more lows than highs, is a product of multiple negative catalysts, including macro conditions, institutional outflows, whale selloffs, and weaker retail demand.
Due to the dominant bearish momentum, Bitcoin just recorded its weakest Q4, with a decline of 23%, for the first time since 2018, according to Coinglass data.
A CryptoQuant analyst says Bitcoin’s current momentum suggests “insufficient structural confirmation for strong upside momentum.”
The analyst expects three key scenarios for Bitcoin.
First, the expectations of a rate cut, but a weak economic recovery could put Bitcoin in a highly volatile range of $80,000 to $140,000.
Second, the rising risk of a recession, which would trigger strong ETF outflows, could push the BTC price toward the $50,000 zone.
Last but not least, if BTC-based investment products experience stronger outflows under favorable macro conditions, the leading crypto asset could trade within the $120,000 to $170,000 range.
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Wahid has been analyzing and reporting on the latest trends in the decentralized ecosystem since 2019. He has over 4,000 articles to his name and his work has been featured on some of the leading outlets including Yahoo Finance, Investing.com, Cointelegraph, and Benzinga. Other than reporting, Wahid likes to connect the dots between DeFi and macro on his newsletter, On-chain Monk. Wahid Pessarlay on X
