Regardless of mainstream media protection of crypto turning into extra unfavourable lately, a report discovered that in 2025, legacy media’s protection of bitcoin grew to become extra balanced, with impartial reporting outweighing unfavourable tales.
Based on an combination of sentiment knowledge compiled by crypto intelligence platform Notion, the shift was much less about enthusiasm for bitcoin and extra in regards to the exhaustion of earlier critiques.
Notion’s evaluation, which tracked round 350,000 mentions throughout 407 shops, means that environmental considerations, which as soon as dominated mainstream protection, pale in 2025, changed by episodic reporting on crime, kidnappings, and illicit use.
Whereas these tales skew unfavourable in isolation, they not framed bitcoin itself as structurally dangerous, leading to a web tone that was extra impartial than adversarial.
For the primary time, BTC’s largest media moments weren’t framed round whether or not bitcoin is lifeless, the information exhibits. They have been about how everlasting bitcoin has turn into, and whether or not its infrastructure can scale and adapt to that permanence.
Nonetheless, this alteration in narrative did not happen in a single day; moderately, it unfolded in distinct phases all year long, in keeping with Notion’s knowledge.
January marked a regulatory regime change, because the departure of SEC Chair Gary Gensler closed out years of enforcement-led uncertainty. This led to many enforcement circumstances being dismissed by the company, comparable to those in opposition to Binance and Coinbase.
In March, coverage legitimization adopted with the issuance of an govt order establishing a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. Whereas the business remains to be awaiting an official consequence of the manager order, this has shifted the media protection from speculative debate to state-level funds implications.
Then got here October, which delivered value validation as bitcoin set a brand new excessive earlier than correcting, reinforcing its standing as a mature, risky asset moderately than a fragile experiment.
By 12 months’s finish, consideration had shifted to technical questions surrounding long-term cryptographic foundations, notably after advances in quantum computing reignited discussions about future-proofing the Bitcoin blockchain.
So, the place is media consideration heading subsequent after protection settled right into a extra impartial, normalized posture in 2025?
Unsurprisingly, its synthetic intelligence (AI) emerged because the dominant consideration driver throughout mainstream and digital channels, in keeping with Notion’s knowledge.
AI, as a subject, generated considerably greater dialogue quantity and sharper sentiment swings, with controversy outpacing bitcoin whilst mining-related protection, which was beforehand getting principally unfavourable protection, skewed to extra constructive, Notion stated.
Plainly, within the eyes of the mainstream media, bitcoin seems much less like at present’s disruptive menace and extra like yesterday’s, as AI inherits the volatility of consideration that after outlined crypto protection.
With crypto costs largely rangebound, solely time will inform what catalyst will shift protection again into crypto. Nonetheless, for now, it appears AI will dominate the 2026 media narrative, whether or not constructive or unfavourable.
Market Motion
BTC: Bitcoin is holding above $92,000 as ETF inflows re-emerge and liquidations keep contained, pointing to institutional help beneath the market moderately than a momentum-driven breakout.
ETH: Ethereum is edging greater close to $3,160, with modest positive factors and contained liquidations pointing to regular accumulation moderately than a speculative push.
Gold: Gold is buying and selling at $4,392.93, holding its broader uptrend as Venezuela-driven geopolitical danger and upcoming U.S. jobs knowledge hold safe-haven demand and Fed rate-cut expectations in focus regardless of a latest margin-triggered selloff.
Nikkei 225: Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 2.26% in its first buying and selling session of 2026, main positive factors throughout Asia-Pacific markets after the U.S. stated it had captured Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, whereas oil costs edged decrease amid geopolitical uncertainty.
Elsewhere in Crypto
- Bitfinex hacker Ilya Lichtenstein credit Trump’s First Step Act for early jail launch (CoinDesk)
- SEC’s sole Democratic Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw departs company, leaving all-Republican panel (The Block)
- All of Trump’s Pardons of Distinguished Crypto Figures—So Far (Decrypt)
