According to Glassnode monitoring, Bitcoin perpetual contract open interest has increased from 304,000 BTC to 310,000 BTC. Simultaneously, the funding rate has doubled from 0.04% to 0.09%, indicating that traders are accumulating leveraged long positions in preparation for year-end trading. Furthermore, December 26th will see one of the largest options expiration events in history, with Bitcoin options contracts with a notional value exceeding $23 billion expiring. Deribit data shows that call options are primarily concentrated at strike prices of $100,000 and $120,000, while put options are concentrated around $85,000. The current put/call ratio is 0.37, with the maximum bearish price at $96,000.

A South Korean man who laundered money for a voice phishing gang using cryptocurrency has been sentenced to four years in prison after an appeal cancelled his suspended sentence. The court said he was a middle manager in the scam and previous offences meant a harsher punishment was needed.

Bitcoin’s price action has entered a deceptively quiet phase. For several days, BTC has traded within a narrow band of roughly $5,000 around the $88,000 level, creating the impression of stability while underlying pressure steadily accumulates.

Prediction market predict.fun announced on its X platform that the first week of its points event will end at 10 PM Beijing time tonight. Three days later, prediction points and other additional airdrop rewards will be credited to users' accounts, and the leaderboard will be updated. Furthermore, the second week of the points event will begin immediately after the first week ends.

On the morning of December 18th, a Japanese company dealing in cryptocurrency and designer handbags was robbed in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong, suffering a loss of 1 billion yen, approximately HK$50 million. Four knife-wielding robbers stole four suitcases containing cash. The victim was a 39-year-old man from mainland China. Hong Kong police have arrested 15 suspects, including the mastermind, some of whom have triad backgrounds. Seven people have been charged with conspiracy to commit robbery. The victim originally planned to exchange his Japanese business revenue for cryptocurrency and Hong Kong dollars through a money exchange in Hong Kong. The whereabouts of the stolen money are still being investigated.

ZOOZ Strategy Ltd. announced that it received a notification from Nasdaq on December 16th that its stock price had remained below $1 for 30 consecutive trading days, failing to meet the minimum price requirement for maintaining its listing. ZOOZ has been granted a 180-day grace period until June 15, 2026. If its stock price remains above $1 for 10 consecutive trading days, it can regain compliance. ZOOZ is considering solutions including a reverse stock split. Currently, its operations are unaffected. ZOOZ is a dual-listed company on Nasdaq and TASE, implementing a Bitcoin vault strategy.

According to PANews, Hong Kong police have arrested 15 individuals following a robbery involving Japanese company employees engaged in cryptocurrency and luxury goods businesses. The incident occurred last week when the employees traveled to a virtual currency exchange shop in Sheung Wan, intending to exchange 1 billion yen, equivalent to approximately 50 million Hong Kong dollars, into cryptocurrency and Hong Kong dollars. The employees were robbed at knifepoint. Seven of the arrested individuals have been charged with conspiracy to commit robbery. Authorities are continuing their investigation to trace the missing funds and have not ruled out further arrests.

According to SoSoValue data, the Solana spot ETF saw a total net inflow of $7.47 million yesterday (December 22nd, Eastern Time). The SOL spot ETF with the largest single-day net inflow was the Fidelity SOL ETF (FSOL), with a net inflow of $5.85 million, bringing its historical total net inflow to $110 million. This was followed by the VanEck SOL ETF (VSOL), with a single-day net inflow of $1.62 million, bringing its historical total net inflow to $17.38 million. As of press time, the Solana spot ETF has a total net asset value of $938 million, a net asset value ratio of 1.34%, and a historical cumulative net inflow of $750 million.

Spot silver has broken through the $70/ounce mark, with a year-to-date gain of 142%. (Jinshi)

According to Cointelegraph, BlackRock has identified its spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) as one of its three major investment themes for 2025, alongside Treasury bills and leading U.S. tech stocks. The asset manager highlighted its iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) alongside ETFs tracking Treasury bills and the 'Magnificent 7' tech stocks, which include Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Nvidia, and Tesla. Despite delivering a negative return so far in 2025, IBIT has attracted over $25 billion in net inflows this year, ranking sixth among all ETFs and trailing broad index funds. Nate Geraci, President of NovaDius Wealth Management, commented that BlackRock's emphasis on IBIT indicates the firm's confidence in Bitcoin, despite its 30% decline from its peak in October. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas shared a similar view, noting the potential for increased inflows in a more favorable market year. The $25 billion in inflows for IBIT adds to the approximately $37 billion garnered in 2024, bringing its total inflows since launch to $62.5 billion, according to Farside Investors data. This flow tally significantly surpasses its closest competitor, the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC). In September, BlackRock filed to register a Bitcoin Premium Income ETF, aiming to sell covered call options on Bitcoin futures to generate yield through premiums. Additionally, BlackRock's iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHA) has also exceeded expectations, attracting over $9.1 billion in inflows this year, raising its total to nearly $12.7 billion. To complement ETHA, BlackRock filed for an iShares Staked Ethereum ETF in November, following a more crypto-friendly stance from the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has relaxed ETF standards. While BlackRock has not engaged in the altcoin ETF trend that other asset managers have pursued, resulting in the launch of products for Litecoin (LTC), Solana (SOL), and XRP (XRP) in recent months, its focus remains on Bitcoin and Ethereum-related offerings. The firm's strategic decisions reflect its cautious approach to expanding its crypto ETF portfolio amid evolving regulatory landscapes.

Bithumb has announced the launch of a THQ Korean Won (KRW) trading pair.

Top institutions have polarized their assessments of AI trends in 2026. One side bets that the benefits will continue to be monopolized by US tech giants, while the other side believes that as a global infrastructure upgrade, the benefits of AI will spread to the global market.

The remarks by Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Philip N. Jefferson reflected the world’s most important central bank’s cautious observation of emerging technologies and provided market participants with a clear framework for rationally assessing the AI ​​boom.

Why does the "buy low" strategy still work so well despite widespread pessimism about the economy?

This article systematically dissects the AI ​​training paradigm and the principles of reinforcement learning technology, demonstrates the structural advantages of reinforcement learning × Web3, and analyzes related projects.

Jinse Finance launches its cryptocurrency and blockchain industry daily news report, "Jinse 8 AM," issue 2917, providing you with the latest and fastest news on the digital currency and blockchain industry.

Wallets are a rare essential product in the blockchain industry, and they are also the first entry-level application outside of public chains to break through ten million users.

Jinse Finance launches the "Jinse Web3.0 Daily," providing you with the latest and fastest news on MEME, DeFi, DAO, NFT, and the metaverse industry.

Whether the US financial system is truly beginning to use blockchain as an "internal tool" can be seen more directly from one signal than any statement: whether the clearing and settlement system is willing to use it.