Headline
▌Russia Plans to Open Domestic Cryptocurrency Trading, Allowing Limited Retail Participation
The Central Bank of Russia has formulated a regulatory framework for the domestic cryptocurrency market, proposing to allow retail investors to participate in trading after passing a knowledge test. Non-qualified investors can only purchase the most liquid cryptocurrencies and must operate through a single intermediary, with an annual trading cap of 300,000 rubles (approximately $3,800). Qualified investors, after passing a risk awareness test, can purchase various cryptocurrencies without limit, except for anonymous tokens. This move is seen as the latest signal of a shift in Russia's attitude towards crypto assets amidst sanctions.
Coinbase Exchange Now Supports SOL Deposits and Withdrawals via the Base Network Coinbase has added the Base Network as a deposit and withdrawal option for SOL, enabling cross-chain transfers via the Base<>.Solana bridge. This allows users to use SOL as an ERC20 token on the Base Network. This feature allows users to directly withdraw SOL from their Coinbase account to their Base Network wallet, or deposit SOL from the Base Network to their Coinbase account. Currently, this feature is not available in several countries and regions, including New York, Japan, Germany, Canada, and the UK. As of press time, according to CoinGecko data: BTC price is $87,416.85, a 24-hour change of -1.1%; ETH price is $2,965.56, a 24-hour change of -1.2%; BNB price is $844.08, a 24-hour change of -1.5%. The price of SOL is $123.97, a 24-hour change of -1.3%; the price of DOGE is $0.1293, a 24-hour change of -2.4%; the price of XRP is $1.87, a 24-hour change of -1.4%; and the price of TRX is $0.2834, a 24-hour change of -0.3%. WLFI price is $0.1316, 24-hour change -2.0%; HYPE price is $23.92, 24-hour change -3.9%. Policy: Arizona Senator Wendy Rogers proposes tax exemption for BTC and cryptocurrencies. According to market news, Arizona Senator Wendy Rogers has proposed amending state regulations to exempt Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies from taxes.
▌ECB Plans to Set a Limit on Digital Euro Holdings
The European Council announced its support for the European Central Bank's plan to explore an official digital currency, calling it a tool for the evolution of money and financial inclusion. However, the institution stated that the ECB needs to set limits on the total value that can be held simultaneously in online accounts and digital wallets to "prevent the digital euro from being used as a store of value," thereby preventing any impact on financial stability.
Blockchain Applications
▌Vitalik: Ethereum Needs to Set a Contract Size Limit Due to DoS Risk Considerations
In response to the community's discussion about "Ethereum still setting a contract size limit," Vitalik Buterin stated that it is due to DoS risk considerations.
He stated that once the Ethereum state structure is upgraded to a unified binary tree (EIP-7864), it is expected to achieve unlimited contract size. However, the gas fees and mechanism design for publishing extremely large contracts still need to be addressed. Currently, based on the cost per byte of creation, the actual contract limit is approximately 82KB. According to The Information, Architect Financial Technologies, founded by former FTXUS president Brett Harrison, has completed a $35 million funding round, valuing the company at approximately $187 million. Architect Financial Technologies is a US-based fintech company founded in January 2023 and headquartered in Chicago, focusing on providing institutional investors with trading technology and brokerage services in global futures, options, traditional assets, and digital asset markets. Cryptocurrency
According to Cointelegraph, BlackRock, which manages $13 trillion in assets, listed Bitcoin, along with U.S. Treasury bonds and the seven leading tech stocks, as one of its core investment themes for 2025 in its year-end investment summary report.
VanEck: Bitcoin may become the "best performing asset" in 2026, and is expected to follow gold's strong rebound
David Schassler, head of multi-asset solutions at VanEck, said that although Bitcoin has underperformed gold and the Nasdaq 100 this year, this significant underperformance is laying the foundation for a strong rebound in 2026.
He pointed out that Bitcoin has lagged behind the Nasdaq 100 index by about 50% this year. Given the return of liquidity and continued currency "devaluation," Bitcoin has historically experienced rapid catch-up growth, and is expected to become one of the best-performing assets in 2026. Schassler is also bullish on gold, predicting its price could rise to $5,000 next year. He believes that the increasing reliance of government financing and political spending on monetary issuance will drive investors to scarce hard assets such as gold and Bitcoin. According to CoinDesk, although Bitcoin's price has recently rebounded to around $88,000, analysts hardly consider this a meaningful turning point. According to CoinGlass data, Bitcoin has fallen by more than 22% in the fourth quarter, making 2025 one of the weakest year-end periods outside of major bear markets. Bitcoin is currently down about 30% from its 2025 peak and is trading below its level at the beginning of the year. "The crypto market is trying to grow, but this is not a recovery," said Alex Kuptsikevich, chief market analyst at FxPro. He pointed out that short-term momentum can be misleading. While the total market capitalization of crypto has returned above $3 trillion, analysts warn that this rebound reflects fatigue rather than renewed confidence. The Fear & Greed Index has climbed to 24, indicating that traders may be easing from extreme pessimism but have not yet regained risk appetite. The market remains vulnerable to sharp reversals, especially during US trading hours. According to Barchart data, Ethereum dominates the euro stablecoin market, with 50% of all issued tokenized euros based on the Ethereum network.
▌Currently, 359 entities hold 4,033,029 BTC worth $360.12 billion
As of December 22, 2025, BitcoinTreasuries.NET data overview: Total Bitcoin tracked: 4,033,029 Current USD value: $360.12 billion Number of entities involved: 359
▌Opinion: Five indicators suggest Bitcoin may enter a bear market in early 2026
According to beincrypto, as of December 22, Bitcoin remained in the $88,000 to $90,000 range, but multiple indicators and market structure indicators show increased downside risk, and the market may be entering the distribution phase at the end of the cycle.
▌Bitmine Adds 29,463 ETH, Worth Approximately $88.2 Million
According to OnchainLens (@OnchainLens), Bitmine (@BitMNR) has further purchased a total of 29,463 ETH from BitGo and Kraken, worth approximately $88.2 million. Specific transaction details show that the newly created wallet address "0xecA" received 18,454 ETH from BitGo, worth approximately $55.61 million; while the wallet address "0x1b6" withdrew an additional 11,009 ETH from Kraken, worth approximately $33.14 million. This wallet currently holds 24,421 ETH, with a total value of approximately $73.12 million.
▌DBS Bank in Singapore received 4,400 ETH, worth approximately $13.2 million, from GSR in the past two days
According to monitoring by on-chain analyst TheDataNerd (@OnchainDataNerd), GSR transferred a total of 4,400 ETH, worth approximately $13.2 million, to DBS Bank in the past two days, including a recent transfer of 2,000 ETH (approximately $5.93 million).
▌Coinbase: 110 New Spot Trading Instruments Launched in 2025, Bringing the Platform to Over 350 Tradable Assets
Coinbase officially announced, "In 2025, 110 new spot trading instruments were launched, bringing the platform's coverage to over 350 tradable assets in the crypto ecosystem."
▌SonicLabs Airdrop Economic Model Update Report: Approximately 92,200,000 S Unallocated, to be Used for Targeted Incentive Programs
Sonic released an update report on the transparency of the SonicLabs airdrop economic model.
Sonic released an update report on the transparency of the SonicLabs airdrop economic model.
"Based on the results of the community governance vote, we initially minted 190,500,000 S tokens on June 19, 2025, for airdrops and ecosystem incentives. As of now, the token distribution is as follows: Q1: Approximately 89,500,000 S tokens; Q2: Approximately 6,000,000 S tokens; Kaito activities: Approximately 2,800,000 S tokens. Currently, approximately 92,200,000 S tokens remain undistributed and are held by SonicLabs. These remaining approximately 92,200,000 S tokens will be reserved for future targeted incentive programs, focusing on supporting real-world use cases, developers, and sustainable growth during 2026-2027. No further airdrops will be minted." U.S. Treasury Secretary Matt Bessant supports revisiting the Federal Reserve's 2% inflation target after the inflation rate has consistently fallen back to the 2% target level. In an interview on the "All-In" podcast, Bessant stated, "When we get back to 2% inflation (which I think is within reach), then we can start discussing whether setting a target range would be wiser." Bessant suggested in the interview that the discussion could revolve around adjusting the inflation target to a range of 1.5%-2.5% or 1%-3%. Federal Reserve policymakers officially adopted the 2% inflation target in 2012, a target adopted by many central banks worldwide. Bessant pointed out that pursuing decimal precision is absurd, but he also warned that adjusting the target when inflation is high could give the impression of "constantly raising the target whenever it exceeds the standard." This interview was recorded after the release of the November CPI data (i.e., December 18).
▌Hassett: The US is far behind the global trend in the pace of interest rate cuts
White House National Economic Council Director Hassett stated that the US is far behind the global trend in the pace of interest rate cuts.
▌Trump criticizes the abnormal phenomenon of "good news not rising" and warns dissidents not to dream of leading the Federal Reserve
US President Trump praised the third-quarter GDP data on social media, pointing out that GDP growth reached 4.2%, far exceeding the expected 2.5%. But now the market reaction is abnormal: in the past, good news pushed the market up, but now good news often leads to the stock market remaining flat or falling—because Wall Street is always worried that good news will immediately trigger interest rate hikes to prevent "potential" inflation.
Trump stated, "This makes it impossible for us to ever again see the booming markets of our nation's rise. Strong markets don't cause inflation; bad policies do. I want the new Fed Chair to cut rates when the market is doing well, not to suppress it unnecessarily. I want to see a market we haven't seen in decades: a market that rises when it should rise and falls when it should fall, a market that is how it should be, and that's how it always has been." Trump also stated, "Inflation will naturally subside, and we can raise rates when necessary, but never to suppress it. If we let those 'nerds' do everything they can to sabotage the upward trend, the nation will never be strong." Trump concluded bluntly, "Anyone who disagrees with me will never be Fed Chair." According to CME's "FedWatch," the probability of the Fed cutting rates by 25 basis points in January is 13.3%, while the probability of keeping rates unchanged is 86.7%. The probability of a cumulative 25 basis point rate cut by March next year is 40.7%, the probability of maintaining the current rate is 54.4%, and the probability of a cumulative 50 basis point rate cut is 5.0%. The initial estimate of the annualized quarterly rate of US real GDP in the third quarter was 4.3%, compared to an expected 3.3% and a previous value of 3.8%. If we are to discuss whether "quantitative easing (QE) is beneficial to cryptocurrencies," we must first acknowledge a disturbing fact: the entire history of cryptocurrencies has been characterized by a very limited liquidity environment, and only a portion of it conforms to the traditional quantitative easing approach after 2008. The conclusion so far is that since cryptocurrencies became a true market, we have only had a few relatively “clean” liquidity environments to study—and the most influential one (2020) was also the most unusual. But this doesn’t mean the claim of quantitative easing is wrong. Rather, it is probabilistic: loose financial conditions tend to favor long-term, high-beta assets, and cryptocurrencies are often the purest manifestation of this phenomenon. However, when we delve into the data, we need to distinguish four factors: (1) balance sheet expansion, (2) interest rate cuts, (3) the dollar’s performance, and (4) risk sentiment—because they don’t always change in sync. Markets rarely wait for liquidity to arrive. They often start trading policy direction long before the policy mechanisms are reflected in the data. This is especially true for cryptocurrencies, which tend to react to expectations—such as shifts in policy tone, signals from balance sheet policy, and anticipated changes in the interest rate path—rather than to the slow, gradual impact of actual asset purchases. This is why cryptocurrency price movements often precede declining yields, a weaker dollar, and even before any substantial expansion of the Federal Reserve's balance sheet. In the short term, cryptocurrency prices remain influenced by market sentiment and positioning volatility, and their movements depend not only on macroeconomic policy but also on positioning and leverage. Liquidity certainly helps, but it cannot override all other influencing factors.
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