BlockBeats will compile the industry's key news highlights for the week (12.16-12.22) in this article, and recommend in-depth articles to help readers better understand the market and grasp industry trends.
On December 19, the Fed concluded its 2024 annual rate decision, cutting the benchmark rate by 25 basis points to a range of 4.25%-4.50%, marking the third consecutive rate cut as expected. Fed Chair Powell, when asked about Bitcoin reserves, replied, "We are not allowed to own Bitcoin, nor do we want to change the law." Additionally, the Fed's policy statement added the wording "magnitude and timing," hinting at a slowdown in the pace of rate cuts to adjust potential corrections. In response, the crypto market saw a downturn, with Bitcoin falling below $95,000, Ethereum dropping below $3,200, and several altcoins experiencing over a 30% decline.
On December 17, Binance Wallet announced the launch of Binance Alpha, a new platform within the Binance Wallet focused on early-stage crypto projects with growth potential. On December 18, Binance Alpha unveiled the first and second batches of projects. The first batch includes: KOMA, Cheems, APX, ai16z, and AIXBT. The second batch includes: CKP, GEAR, SD, SYRUP, FARTCOIN. On December 19, Binance Alpha announced the third batch of projects, including: FROG, AICell, CGPT, MONKY, TERMINUS, GRIFFAIN, RIF, URO, CLANKER, LUNAI. On December 20, Binance Alpha revealed the fourth batch of projects, including: BANANA, KOGE, BOB, MGP, PSTAKE, GNON, Shoggoth, LUCE, ODOS. On the day of the project announcements, each token saw varying price movements. Related Reading: "Binance Wallet Space Review: Alpha Is Not Equivalent to the Main Site", "Solana Ecosystem Briefly Cools Down, Is Binance Alpha Really Alpha? | What's Meme Trending Today?"
On December 21, HYPE surged to $35, marking a 39.62% increase in 24 hours and setting a new all-time high. According to official data, Hyperliquid's 24-hour trading volume exceeded $15 billion, also reaching an all-time high. On that day, Hyperliquid (HYPE) reached a market capitalization of $11.3 billion, ranking 19th on the cryptocurrency market cap list. Related reading: "$6 Billion Flowing into 'New Cycle FTX,' Hyperliquid Bull Market Gold Rush Comprehensive Guide", "The Strong Get Stronger: Everything You Need to Know about the Hyperliquid Ecosystem"
On December 17, NFT project Pudgy Penguins airdropped approximately 25% of the PENGU token supply to the Solana ecosystem. Active users in the Solana ecosystem, using wallets such as Phantom and decentralized applications like Jupiter, had the opportunity to receive PENGU tokens even if they did not hold Pudgy. On the same day, Pudgy Penguins announced in its official Discord community that approximately 7 million wallets outside the Pudgy Penguins community were eligible to claim PENGU tokens, including users interacting with various protocols and members of different communities. Currently, Binance and OKX have listed PENGU spot trading. Related reading: "Fat Penguin Coin Issuance Boosts NFT Rebound, How PENGU, Abstract, OpenSea Eat Three Meals in One Go?"
On December 19, the Trump family's DeFi project World Liberty Financial announced a partnership with Ethena Labs, with both parties seeking a "long-term collaboration" starting with Ethena's revenue token sUSDe. If sUSDe is not approved as a collateral asset, WLFI and Ethena will continue to explore partnership opportunities, striving to find points of integration. Possibly influenced by this news, ENA briefly surged about 8%.
On December 16, according to South Korean media, as of the end of November 2024, the total user assets of South Korea's top five cryptocurrency exchanges (Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit, GoPax) surpassed 115.7 trillion KRW (approximately $86.5 billion) for the first time, with a month-on-month growth of around 50 trillion KRW, reaching a new all-time high. The stablecoin monthly trading volume in November reached 160 trillion KRW, a growth of over 6 times since the beginning of the year, indicating a trend of significant funds shifting to overseas markets. South Korea's financial regulatory agency has strengthened supervision of abnormal transactions and issued warnings about significant token price spreads between exchanges. Related Reading: "Unveiling the Korean Crypto Market: The Coin Nation Where 70-Year-Old Grandmas Are Lining Up to Open Accounts"
On December 16, the Base Chain's AI agent token VIRTUAL surpassed a market cap of $3.1 billion, hitting a new all-time high with a 24-hour gain of 26.8%. On that day, Virtuals Protocol ecosystem tokens saw a general rise, with currencies like SAINT, NFTXBT, and GUAN posting gains of over 40% in 24 hours. Related Reading: "VIRTUAL Market Cap Touches $3 Billion This Week, What Stories Are AI Projects in the Ecosystem Telling?", "A Comprehensive Review of the AI Agent Race Development History: How to Seize the Next 100x in the Evolving Hype Logic", "A Comprehensive Comparison of the 8 Strongest AI Agent Frameworks, Who Is the True Leader in the Race?"
On December 22, according to reports, the NFT market has seen a significant recovery recently, with this week's total NFT trading volume reaching $302.2 million, a 32.93% increase compared to last week's $224 million. The number of NFT buyers has increased by 92.39% to 349,972 people, and the number of NFT sellers has significantly increased by 77.18% to 207,672 people. Ethereum network NFT transaction volume has soared to $199.9 million, a 73.56% increase in the past seven days. Bitcoin network NFTs rank second with a trading volume decrease of 23% to $39.7 million, but with good user participation, reaching 38,987 buyers. The Solana network, with a trading volume of $29.9 million, solidified its third position with a 5.14% increase and 104,958 buyers, a 108.45% increase. Related Reading: "8 NFT New Projects Worth Watching Recently"
On December 18, BIO Protocol co-founder and CEO Paul Kohlhaas announced on social media that in addition to being listed on Ethereum, the BIO token will also be listed on Solana in the coming days. In addition, Paul Kohlhaas mentioned proposing an airdrop to communities such as Big Pharmai (DRUGS). On December 20, the new proposal of BIO Protocol, "Enable Transferability of BIO Token," has started voting, with a 3-day voting period (ending on December 23). If approved, BIO will become a liquid asset within 14 days, with initial liquidity on the ETH mainnet and subsequent support for more chains.
On December 19, U.S. Federal Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín ruled to deny the Hong Kong-based company BiT Global's request for a temporary restraining order, allowing Coinbase to proceed with the planned delisting of Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) from its platform. The judge considered that BiT Global failed to prove that Coinbase's actions would cause them "imminent and irreparable harm." The next day, Coinbase announced the suspension of wBTC trading. wBTC trading on Coinbase Exchange and Coinbase Prime is halted, but users can still withdraw their funds at any time.
On December 16, squirrel Peanut Genesis Event breeder Mark Longo posted that his legal team had filed a lawsuit against Binance, accusing Binance of using his intellectual property without authorization, including images and stories featuring his beloved animal characters. He and his team will continue to demand that Binance cease this infringement.
However, Mark Longo also shilled another squirrel meme—JUSTICE FOR PEANUT (JFP), causing the JFP price to quickly surge. It is worth noting that as a new meme coin born on December 8, JFP had previously experienced a trend of plummeting to "zero" after listing—a pump and dump cycle. Following Mark Longo's statements, several investors below accused him of merely shilling the new meme coin to "rug pull" investors.
On December 20, according to the Workers' Daily, in a case of embezzlement, the defendant swindled over 140 million yuan from a company. The prosecutorial authorities tracked the virtual currency to recover the embezzled funds. Between 2020 and 2021, Feng, taking advantage of his position, conspired with Tang, Yang, and others to swindle over 140 million yuan in service provider incentives. Subsequently, Feng instructed Tang and Yang to use 8 overseas virtual currency exchange platforms to convert the funds involved from yuan to virtual currency. They used overseas "mixing" platforms to obfuscate the source and nature of the funds, transferring them through multiple levels in the form of virtual currency. Some of the funds flowed into accounts controlled by Feng and others in yuan, while some of the funds were concealed by Feng and others in the form of virtual currency.
Regarding the situation where the defendant used virtual currency to split the proceeds and obfuscated the flow of funds through overseas "mixing" platforms, the prosecutorial authorities conducted a detailed comparison and review of virtual currency and fiat currency transactions, accurately identified the flow of funds, and ultimately persuaded Feng to return 92 bitcoins, recovering over 89 million yuan in illicit funds, maximizing the recovery of the economic losses of the victim company. On September 14, 2024, the Beijing First Intermediate People's Court rendered a judgment, sentencing Feng and 7 others for the crime of embezzlement, with sentences ranging from 14 years and 6 months to 3 years in prison, along with corresponding fines. The judgment is final and enforceable.
On December 18, according to China National Radio, the Economic Investigation Brigade of the Siping City Tiedong District Public Security Sub-Bureau in Jilin Province, China, successfully uncovered a gang money laundering case involving the use of the virtual currency USDT (referred to as "U Coin") to help financial fraud criminals transfer illicit funds during the investigation of a financial fraud crime. It was found that the suspect Liu, along with Zhao and Wang, through a centralized exchange platform, engaged in "U Coin" transactions at low prices and high selling prices to help a financial fraud gang launder money and profit from it. The gang accumulated over 100,000 yuan in illicit gains from money laundering. Currently, the members of this money laundering criminal gang have been taken into custody by the police, and the case is under further investigation.
On December 20, Web3 user security network GoPlus posted three emoji animals on a social media platform, corresponding to "tiger, goat, eagle," hinting at a possible upcoming TGE.
"HYPE Bulldozer-like Surge, How to Play on Its 'Crowdfunding' Platform Hypurr Fun?"
Last Saturday, the token Farm, born in Hypurr Fun, saw its market cap soar to $20 million after being listed on the Hyperliquid spot market. As HYPE continues its "bulldozer" style surge, Farm's success has attracted many users' attention to the Hypurr Fun ecosystem. As an order book-based DEX, Hyperliquid's listing differs from permissionless forms seen in platforms like Raydium, how does Hypurr, a platform resembling pump.fun, integrate with it? What are the specific rules and trading processes behind this?
"Flocking $6 Billion into the 'New Cycle FTX,' Hyperliquid Bull Market Ultimate Guide"
On December 17, HYPE broke through $28. Starting from $6 on November 29, HYPE embarked on a nearly no-pullback major uptrend, smoothly surpassing Layer1 projects like Fantom and Aptos, reaching a circulating market cap of about $9 billion and a fully diluted valuation (FDV) of $27 billion. This directly propelled it into the top 30 of cryptocurrency market capitalization. HYPE's epic airdrop was a major turning point for the Hyperliquid ecosystem. Prior to the TGE, while Hyperliquid also had a strong wealth effect, there was little discussion in the Chinese community about the Hyper ecosystem. Post-airdrop, as the market was drawn to the rise of HYPE as a "standalone coin," Hyperliquid transitioned from PerpDEX to a high-performance trading public chain in the public eye.
"EVM Not Yet Launched, How to Evaluate Hyperliquid's Future?"
Hyperliquid attracts users through low fees and strong incentives, with an expected first-year incentive close to $1 billion and an inflation rate of 11.65%. After the EVM launch, it may become an important platform for new DeFi protocols, driving HYPE demand growth. The platform profits from transaction fees and token auctions, with fee distribution automatically executed, supporting staking rewards, platform operations, and token burning. Influx of capital, especially through Kucoin, if able to attract more market funds, will drive the HYPE price. However, centralization and EVM transition risks may affect user experience; investors should be cautious and conduct thorough research.
This conversation mainly talks about how LucaNetz and his team experienced tough challenges in the early days of Pudgy Penguins, including financial difficulties, investor rejections, and community mistrust. It discusses Pudgy Penguins' ecosystem, token, and its future development. It also touches on why Pudgy Penguins chose Solana over other chains and indicates they will change the Solana ecosystem by promoting a cultural phenomenon.
"Binance HODLer Issue 5 Airdrop PENGU Tokenomics Overview"
On December 16, Binance announced that the Binance HODLer airdrop has now launched its 5th project, Pudgy Penguins (PENGU), an NFT (Non-Fungible Token) collectible built on Ethereum. This article introduces the PENGU HODLer airdrop details, what PENGU is, the Pudgy Penguins token, and the uniqueness of the token.
On December 17, as the PENGU coin issuance approached, the floor price of Pudgy Penguins NFTs also surged. At the same time, Igloo, the parent company of Pudgy Penguins, announced that its L2 network, Abstract Chain, is set to launch its mainnet in January next year, with market expectations for a separate coin issuance. OpenSea was also recently revealed to have registered the OpenSea Foundation in the Cayman Islands. Therefore, with the issuance of Fat Penguin coins, whether the three projects of PENGU, Abstract, and OpenSea can achieve a triple win has become a market focus.
"Top Ten AI+Crypto Trends Worth Watching in 2025"
This article discusses several innovative areas in 2025 where encryption is combined with AI, including inter-agent interaction, decentralized autonomous organizations, AI-driven entertainment, generated content marketing, data markets, decentralized computing, etc. The article explores how to use blockchain and AI technologies to create new opportunities in multiple industries, promote privacy protection, AI hardware development, and the application of decentralized technologies. It also emphasizes paying more attention to how intelligent agents bring breakthroughs in transactions, artistic creation, and other fields.
"Comprehensive Comparison of the Top 8 AI Agent Frameworks: Who Is the True Leader in the Race?"
Amidst the intense volatility of the crypto bull market, opportunities and risks coexist. As the market undergoes adjustments, it is those projects at the forefront of technology with strong innovation capabilities that have showcased their unique value. This article will unveil eight of the most exciting and promising tokens in the current market slump: AI16z, ZEREBRO, ARC, AIXBT, GRIFFAIN, GRIFT, ZODS, and ALCH. These projects have not only pioneered new possibilities in their respective fields but also possess unique advantages that transcend cycles, gathering strength for the future market waves.
Since the birth of the AI meme coin GOAT, Crypto+AI seems to have ushered in its "ChatGPT moment," from industry giant Coinbase to Silicon Valley's A16Z, and even to academia's standard-bearer Stanford. The entire world is gradually falling into the rabbit hole of imagination through the endless AI Bots on social media. Even Marc Andreessen did not anticipate that the $50,000 he funded Truth Terminal with at the beginning of the year would ignite a billion-dollar market in less than a year. From AI meme to AI Agent issuance platform and then to AI Agent frameworks, what astonishes investors is the Crypto+AI Agent's ultra-high innovation space and acceleration. This field seems to be evolving on a daily basis, reminiscent from any dimension of the DeFi and Metaverse in late 2020.
On December 17, the Virtuals Protocol protocol token VIRTUAL surpassed $3, reaching a market cap of $30 billion. This article explores the tokens in the Virtuals ecosystem with market caps ranging from $10 million to $100 million, interpreting their token data and the projects' underlying business.
"Virtuals' Version of ELIZA" Market Cap Surpasses 100M, G.A.M.E Soars 2000% Is Just the Beginning?
This article discusses the growth potential of the Virtuals ecosystem, with a focus on the revolutionary role of the GAME framework. Through buybacks, burns, and activation royalties, Virtuals is expected to significantly increase token demand and price. The article also mentions Virtuals is building an "Agent Society" centered around AI agents, continuously evolving. Despite facing risks such as team fatigue, competition for the Eliza Framework, and market saturation, the future looks promising for Virtuals, especially given the potential listing on Binance and Coinbase.
"Ethereum Reclaims $4000, Has the Ecosystem's Fundamentals Truly Changed?"
After a bullish market retracement phase in the past few days, on December 16, the price of ETH once again exceeded $3900. Looking back on Ethereum's developments over the past year, there are many complex factors and emotions. On the one hand, the successful completion of the Constantinople upgrade and the approval of spot ETFs have brought a new bullish face to both the technical and fundamental aspects. On the other hand, while Bitcoin, SOL, and BNB have successively hit new all-time highs, the price of ETH is still hovering around $4000.
"Fed Hawks Cut Interest Rates: BTC Falls Below $100,000, Crypto Market Cap Plunges 7.5%"
On December 18, during the latest Fed interest rate meeting, the benchmark policy rate was cut by 25 basis points to a range of 4.25%-4.5%. While this outcome met market expectations, the hawkish tone in the statement and adjustments to economic forecasts had a profound impact on market sentiment, leading to a significant pullback in the cryptocurrency market. Prices of mainstream and meme coins such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, and Solana all saw notable declines.
"Using On-chain Data Timestamps to Determine When This Bull Market Cycle Will Peak?"
In BTC on-chain data analysis, there are 2 core concepts: "Timestamp" and "Price Stamp." Due to the transparency of the blockchain, we can observe every on-chain transaction and identify two key details: 1. The time at which the chip transfer occurred: Timestamp; 2. The price at which the transaction occurred: Price Stamp. When we analyze the process of phase transition, using data such as turnover cost, profit realization, inflow demand, and hot supply, it is mainly based on the "Price Stamp." However, if we want to observe and analyze the temporal aspect of BTC's large cycles, we need to use the "Timestamp" more.
Cryptocurrency is an increasingly mature asset class: new spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs have expanded market access channels, and the incoming Trump administration may bring greater regulatory transparency to the crypto industry. For these reasons, the cryptocurrency market valuation may surpass its historical high. Grayscale Research believes that the current market is in the midstage of a new crypto cycle. As long as the fundamentals remain strong, the bull market could continue until 2025 or even longer. The price trend of Bitcoin exhibits characteristics of statistical momentum: uptrends tend to follow uptrends, and downtrends tend to follow downtrends. Although Bitcoin may rise or fall in the short term, in the long run, its price shows a significant upward cyclical trend.
"Fuel Genesis Airdrop: Over 200k Unique Addresses Receive 1 Billion FUEL, Who Made a Fortune?"
Following the Fat Penguin airdrop, Fuel promptly opened its airdrop query window. 20% of Fuel's total supply will be allocated to the Fuel community, with 10% used for the Genesis Drop; 5% distributed to community partnership platforms; and 5% for undisclosed incentives, plans, activities, and activations. The Fuel Genesis Airdrop has allocated 1 billion FUEL (10% of the total supply) to over 200,000 unique addresses and will be available for claiming starting on December 19, 2024, until January 19, 2025.
"DRUGS' 500x Wealth Creation Myth, Sparking a New Craze in daos.fun Public Sales"
The DeSci project's Big Pharmai (DRUGS) has continued the wealth creation myth of daos.fun. Calculated with a fundraising cap of 420 SOL (approximately $92,000) in the initial stage (an additional 42 SOL was raised to build initial liquidity), DRUGS has seen a nearly 500x increase since breaking out from the "seed round," becoming the most eye-catching daos.fun-related token after ai16z.
"Splurging $45 Million to Buy Coins: Who Is the Mastermind Behind the Trump Project WLFI?"
Trump's DeFi project, World Liberty Financial (WLFI), made a large-scale purchase of crypto assets in December, with a total expenditure of nearly $45 million, including ETH, cbBTC, LINK, AAVE, ENA, and the latest addition, ONDO. Since its launch in September, the project claims to be a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform. On December 13, the World Liberty Financial community deployed an Aave v3 instance through the first proposal. Despite the project's initial progress, looking at the current situation, most of the leadership team are new faces, and there is still uncertainty about the project's utility and innovation.
"Against the Trend, Surging Over 40%: How to Understand the Rise of USUAL?"
More and more competitors are emerging in the stablecoin race. Since early December, from listing on Binance to announcing a partnership with BlackRock, Usual has demonstrated outstanding performance in the market with its innovative economic model and high yield potential. On December 19, USUAL broke $1.2, reaching a new all-time high. This article provides an in-depth analysis of $USUAL's tokenomics, reward mechanism, and potential risks, aiming to offer readers a comprehensive understanding to help make informed decisions in the rapidly evolving crypto market. Whether considering investment or observing market trends, understanding its core mechanisms is crucial.
VanEck's top 10 predictions for 2025 include: the crypto bull market reaching a midterm peak in the first quarter and hitting a new high by the end of the year; the U.S. further embracing Bitcoin through strategic reserves and policy support; the total value of tokenized securities surpassing $500 billion; stablecoin daily transaction settlement volume reaching $300 billion; over 1 million on-chain activities by AI smart contracts; the total value locked (TVL) on Bitcoin's second-layer network reaching 100,000 BTC; Ethereum's Blob data fee revenue hitting $1 billion; DeFi transaction volume reaching a new high of $40 trillion, with a total TVL of $2 trillion; NFT market resurgence, with annual transaction volume reaching $300 billion; and DApp token performance gradually catching up with mainstream public chain tokens. Next, we will delve into the background and rationale behind some of these key predictions.
"Full Text of 'U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve' Draft: Managing BTC as a Perpetual National Asset"
On December 17, the Bitcoin Policy Institute drafted an executive order proposing the establishment of a strategic Bitcoin reserve under the U.S. Treasury Department's Exchange Stabilization Fund (ESF) in the Trump administration. The order would need to be signed after Trump's inauguration to take effect.
As a key proponent of multi-chain interoperability, zero-knowledge proof applications, and the DeFi and NFT ecosystems, Polygon shone brightly in the last bull market cycle. However, over the past year, projects like Polygon have failed to achieve new breakthroughs and have instead been overshadowed by new competitors like Solana, Sui, or Base. When Polygon once again entered social media discussions, it was not due to any major updates, but rather the exits of ecosystem partners like AAVE and Lido.
Ethena (ENA) may be one of the most shining tokens in recent times. The market data shows that since hitting bottom at 0.194 USDT in early September, ENA surged to touch 1.33 USDT yesterday, achieving a nearly 600% increase in the past two months. Ethereal held a community call where they outlined Ethereal's roadmap, features, advantages, and airdrop status. It is worth mentioning that Ethereal's developers have clearly taken note of the recent outstanding performance of another strong project, Hyperliquid, and mentioned that Ethereal aims to build a similar "one-stop trading service" as Hyperliquid.
Recently, with the skyrocketing prices of "antique coins" like XRP, news of "South Korean grandmas rushing into the crypto market" has once again spread in the community. At the same time, the trading volume of related tokens such as XRP, APT, on Korean exchanges such as Upbit and Bithumb even briefly exceeded that of Binance. In other words, the trading volume in just one region market in Korea for these tokens is enough to rival the total trading volume of the rest of the world. For a long time, the crypto community has seen listing on Upbit as a huge positive for projects. After listing on these Korean exchanges, prices often skyrocket rapidly in a short period of time. This strong buying power has made the world curious about the "Kimchi Premium." How does the South Korean cryptocurrency market operate? What kind of speculative logic do investors here have?
"A Look at Twelve Solana AI Hackathon Ideas"
On December 11th, Solana announced the first Solana AI Hackathon, aimed at building AI agents and tools on Solana, with prizes ranging from $5,000 to $30,000 to encourage serious Crypto x AI projects that can attract venture capital or launch their own tokens. This article presents twelve entrepreneurial directions related to AI proposed by the AI project SEND AI in the Solana ecosystem
欢迎加入律动 BlockBeats 官方社群:
Telegram 订阅群:https://t.me/theblockbeats
Telegram 交流群:https://t.me/BlockBeats_App
Twitter 官方账号:https://twitter.com/BlockBeatsAsia