Last night's and this morning's important news (December 29 - December 30)

Ethereum validators’ entry queue size for the first time in six months has risen to approximately twice the size of the exit queue, indicating a rebound in staking demand

According to Cointelegraph, the size of the Ethereum validator entry queue has surged for the first time in six months to nearly twice the size of the exit queue. This growth suggests a rebound in staking demand, mainly driven by digital asset treasury companies like BitMine, and possibly supported by the Pectra upgrade.

An address opened a 300 BTC long position 7 hours ago, becoming one of the top 5 long positions on Hyperliquid BTC

On-chain analyst @ai_9684xtpa monitored that address 0x931…ae7a3 opened a 300 BTC long position 7 hours ago, ranking in the top 5 long positions on Hyperliquid BTC. The current $26 million BTC long position has an average entry price of $87,965.3, with an unrealized loss of $239,000, and a liquidation price of $86,073.7; it also set take-profit and stop-loss ranges at “$79,419 - $109,496,” meaning partial stops at $79,419 during a decline, and partial profits at $109,496 during a rise.

Spot palladium plunges over 15% intraday, now at $1,610.84/oz

Spot palladium dropped more than 15% intraday, currently at $1,610.84 per ounce.

Spot silver crashes 10% intraday

Spot silver plummeted 10.14% intraday, now at $71.26 per ounce.

Dragonfly partner: BTC will break $150,000 by the end of 2026, but market share will decline

Dragonfly managing partner Haseeb shared his forecast for 2026: BTC will surpass $150,000 by year-end, but its market share will decrease. The performance of fintech public chains like Tempo, Arc, RobinhoodChain may fall short of expectations; in contrast, Ethereum and Solana are expected to outperform, with top developers continuing to choose neutral infrastructure chains. A major tech company (such as Google, Facebook, Apple) will launch or acquire a crypto wallet by 2026. Three large Perp DEXs will dominate 90% of the market share, with the remaining projects fighting over the other 10%. Equity investments will grow rapidly, accounting for over 20% of DeFi investments by year-end. The supply of stablecoins will increase by about 60%, with USD stablecoins maintaining over 99% share; USDT’s dominance will slightly decline to around 55%. The 《Clarity》 bill will become law after significant negotiations. Market development is expected to be rapid, but 90% of prediction market products will be abandoned and disappear before year-end. AI’s main applications in crypto remain in software engineering and security, with other areas still in prototype stages.

Delphi Digital: GameFi funding down over 55% YoY this year, Web2.5 games quietly rising

PANews December 30: Delphi Digital stated, “2025 has been a tough year for GameFi, with funding down over 55% YoY. The most anticipated projects underperformed, and market enthusiasm was low. But the overall situation is more complex. We are witnessing the quiet rise of Web2.5 games. These games treat blockchain as pure infrastructure, often skipping tokens altogether, competing based on actual revenue. Studios like Fumb Games, Mythical Games, and Wemade/Wemix are leveraging blockchain in their own ways while generating substantial income. Blockchain has improved profit margins, increased user engagement, or introduced new revenue streams. Although Web3 native games generated six to seven figures in revenue this year, their player base is small and filled with bots. Once incentives fail, the fun disappears, but some teams are experimenting with new models to address this. Web2.5 studios no longer need to force users into speculation or make excuses for poor user experience to leverage blockchain advantages. The popularity of stablecoins should accelerate this trend. Small transactions, global payment channels, and participation-based rewards will become more convenient.”

Framework Ventures co-founder: In 2026, the market will focus on mainstream tokens, with continuous influx of institutional capital into quality DeFi projects

Framework Ventures co-founder Vance Spencer wrote, “2025 may not be the glorious year many expect for crypto, but it could be a necessary transition year for sustained industry development. The industry has largely moved away from Meme coins, NFTs, low-liquidity high-FDV projects, and consumer-oriented narratives. I predict that in 2026, token issuance will sharply decline, and the market will focus more on mainstream assets (ETH, BTC). Institutional funds will continue to flow into DeFi blue-chip projects with reasonable value capture mechanisms. This buying pressure may exceed expectations, especially with ongoing buybacks and high financial discipline at the protocol layer. The future direction of the industry is clear: stablecoins, real-world assets (RWA), lending and capital markets, and asset management will dominate. We will address many issues in crypto through meticulous operations, reducing reckless expansion and ensuring compliance. It’s a bullish outlook, but opportunities for rebounds, rallies, and exits will be highly concentrated.”

Billionaire Grant Cardone announces launch of the world’s largest real estate Bitcoin company in 2026

According to a video shared by CarbonSilicon AI co-founder @KKaWSB, real estate investment firm Cardone Capital CEO and billionaire Grant Cardone announced he will launch the world’s largest real estate Bitcoin company in 2026, dubbed the next Michael Saylor. He said, “We will create the world’s largest publicly traded Bitcoin treasury company. We will use real estate cash flow—monthly rental income—and depreciation—to buy Bitcoin. Since March this year, we have completed five transactions. We aim to accumulate 3,000 BTC by the end of next year. This is the new model: real estate plus Bitcoin. It’s like Michael Saylor’s model, but with real cash flow.”

A wallet on Lighter increased its assets from $5,000 to $133,000 in two months just by trading ETH

According to MLM, a wallet deposited 5,000 USDC on Lighter about two months ago (October 24), and solely through ETH trading, its assets seem to have grown to about $133,000 (roughly 26.6x / +2560% return). In the past 7 days, this address appears to have accounted for about 59% of ETHUSD buy orders on Lighter (about $1.72 billion) and about 9% of total ETHUSD buy order transactions (around 115,000 trades). Based on Lighter’s API and blockchain explorer data, this account seems to trade with zero fees, and aside from the initial $5,000, no other funds appear to have been transferred in or out. Using order book algorithms to trade profitably does not constitute wash trading, as wash trading involves matching your own orders. Given its initial size, this performance is noteworthy.

Lighter has withdrawn 32.05 million USDC to its treasury address, with about 7.5 million USDC entering LLP

MLM monitoring shows Lighter has withdrawn 32.05 million USDC to its treasury address, while about 100,000 USDC remains in the fee wallet on Lighter. Of this 32.05 million USDC, approximately 8.6 million USDC has been redeposited into Lighter since October 16, with about 7.5 million USDC entering LLP (fees generated are returned to holders, reflected in LLP earnings). This is somewhat unusual, as such arrangements have never been disclosed publicly or mentioned in documentation—roughly 25% of total revenue is allocated for this purpose. The remaining approximately 21.9 million USDC was transferred to Coinbase custody addresses.

A whale who sold 255 BTC increased his BTC short position and opened new ETH and SOL shorts

PANews December 30: Onchain Lens monitoring shows that a whale who sold 255 BTC further increased his BTC (10x leverage) short position and opened new ETH (10x leverage) and SOL (20x leverage) short positions. The current total holdings are valued at $169 million: 36,281 ETH (worth $106.5 million); 552.25 BTC (worth $48.16 million); 114,677.21 SOL (worth $14.13 million).

Meta acquires AI app developer Manus’ company Butterfly Effect for billions

According to Jinshi, Meta acquired the AI app developer Manus’ company Butterfly Effect for billions. This is Meta’s third-largest acquisition, after WhatsApp and ScaleAI. Prior to the acquisition, Manus was raising a new round at a $2 billion valuation. ZhenFund partner and Butterfly Effect angel investor Liu Yuan said the deal was completed in a very short time, just over ten days. Both Manus and Meta Platforms(META.O) announced Manus joining Meta on their official websites, but did not disclose specific transaction details.

Tokenized stock market cap hits $1.2 billion, a new high

Cointelegraph reports that, according to Token Terminal, driven by strong growth in September and December, the total market cap of tokenized stocks has risen to a record $1.2 billion. Token Terminal states, “Today’s tokenized stocks are like the stablecoins of 2020.” This highlights that the market is still in early stages. In 2020, stablecoins were just starting out, but this year, the industry has grown to a $300 billion scale. Industry insiders compare tokenized stocks to the boom of DeFi in early 2020, noting that more global stocks may be tokenized in the future, benefiting from faster settlement, 24/7 trading, and fractional ownership.

BlackRock’s first tokenized money market fund BUIDL has paid out over $100 million in dividends

According to Finance Feeds, since its launch, BlackRock’s first tokenized money market fund BUIDL has paid out over $100 million, indicating that tokenized securities have moved beyond pilot and proof-of-concept stages into practical application. The fund invests in short-term dollar-denominated instruments such as U.S. Treasuries, repurchase agreements, and cash equivalents.

SEC’s Deputy Director of Corporate Finance Cicely LaMothe to retire after crypto guidance development

According to The Block, Cicely LaMothe, deputy director of the SEC’s Corporate Finance Division, will retire after playing a key role in shaping the agency’s cryptocurrency regulation approach. On Monday, the SEC announced her retirement in a statement. The SEC said LaMothe had drafted several important staff statements on crypto over the past year, including one clarifying that meme coins are not securities, and another explaining the agency’s stance on staking. Besides crypto-related matters, LaMothe also led policy advice for filings such as IPO prospectuses.

Trend Research adds over 46,000 ETH in a single day, continuously lowering average cost

According to @ai_9684xtpa tracking, Trend Research withdrew 13,462 ETH (about $39.31 million) from Binance again 5 minutes ago, increasing its total daily accumulation to 46,036.72 ETH. The current on-chain ETH holdings have risen to 626,071 ETH, with a market value exceeding $1.83 billion, and an average cost of about $3,105.5, with an unrealized loss of approximately $110 million.

CME introduces reference rates and real-time indices for Aptos, Bittensor, and Hedera

CME Group announced that its cryptocurrency benchmark price system now includes USD reference rates and real-time indices for Aptos, Bittensor, and Hedera native tokens, providing more transparent pricing services. Users can access the relevant price data on CME’s official website starting immediately.

ZachXBT exposes Canadian scammer Haby involved in $2 million Coinbase fake customer service scam

ZachXBT disclosed that Canadian man Haby (also known as Havard) has been conducting social engineering scams over the past year by impersonating Coinbase customer service, stealing over $2 million, and spending on high-priced social media accounts, parties, and gambling. He boasted in group chats about stealing 21,000 XRP (about $44,000), and multiple on-chain addresses are linked to at least five Coinbase user asset thefts, totaling over $1.06 million. ZachXBT traced his BTC address through wallet screenshots and on-chain fund flows, confirming his identity and exposing his Telegram account and email.

Bitmine bought an additional 44,463 ETH last week, with holdings surpassing 4.11 million ETH

According to Bitmine’s official news, as of December 28, 2025, Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) purchased an additional 44,463 ETH (about $130 million) in one week, bringing its total ETH holdings to 4,110,525, with a market value of approximately $12.04 billion, accounting for 3.41% of Ethereum’s total supply. About 409,000 ETH are staked, with an estimated annual yield of 2.81%. Bitmine is advancing its MAVAN (U.S.-based validator network) staking solution, scheduled to launch in Q1 2026. Additionally, Bitmine’s total crypto assets and cash reserves amount to $13.2 billion, and it plans to hold a shareholder meeting in Las Vegas on January 15, 2026, to approve four proposals including share issuance expansion and incentive plans. The company aims to hold 5% of Ethereum’s total supply, becoming the world’s largest Ethereum treasury.

SoftBank to acquire private equity firm DigitalBridge Group at $16 per share in cash

SoftBank will acquire private equity firm DigitalBridge Group(DBRG.N) at $16 per share in cash, a 15% premium over the December 26 closing price. The transaction is expected to be completed in the second half of 2026.

Binance Alpha to launch oooo (OOOO) on December 30

Binance Chinese Twitter announced that Binance Alpha will be the first platform to launch oooo (OOOO) on December 30. Eligible users can visit the Alpha activity page after trading opens to receive airdrops using Binance Alpha points. Details will be announced separately.

Trend Research withdraws another 5,011 ETH from Binance, surpassing 610,000 ETH holdings

According to @ai_9684xtpa tracking, Trend Research withdrew another 5,011 ETH (about $14.68 million) from Binance a few minutes ago, bringing its on-chain holdings to 612,609 ETH, with a market value of about $1.79 billion, an average entry cost of approximately $3,109.58, and an unrealized loss of about $107 million.

Data: Only 12% of 533 token sales in 2025 remain profitable

According to CryptoRank, there were 533 public token sales in 2025, with only 63 projects (11.82%) currently trading above their issuance price. About 88.18% are below issuance. Although some projects like PUMP raised $600 million and reached 2.19x at peak, they have since fallen to 0.48x. In the short term, about 58% of tokens experienced 3–6x gains at opening, but most could not sustain long-term. The most profitable project of the year was MYX, with a maximum return of 2,103x, still above 385x. Overall, market downturn and speculative psychology have made token investments more short-term.

Strategy repurchases 1,229 BTC, with total holdings exceeding 672,000 BTC

According to an 8-K filing submitted to the SEC, as of December 28, 2025, the company raised $108.8 million through ATM stock sales and bought 1,229 BTC between December 22 and 28, at an average price of $88,568 per BTC. As of that date, the company held 672,497 BTC, with a total purchase cost of about $50.44 billion, and an average holding cost of $74,997 per BTC.

Data: Nearly 70% of Polymarket addresses are at a loss, only about 30% are profitable

According to defioasis.eth, out of 1,733,785 Polymarket addresses, about 70% have realized losses, and only about 30% are in profit. The top 0.0385% of profitable addresses account for over 70% of total profits, totaling $3.7 billion. About 25% of addresses are profitable but only in the $0–1,000 range, accounting for less than 1% of total profits. Over 63.5% of addresses have losses under $1,000, but 149 addresses have losses exceeding $1 million. The data is based on realized gains and losses, excluding floating unrealized positions.

CoinShares: Digital asset investment products saw net outflows of about $446 million last week

CoinShares reports that last week, digital asset investment products experienced net outflows of about $446 million, with total outflows since October 10 reaching about $3.2 billion, indicating sentiment has not yet recovered. The main outflows came from the US (about $460 million), with Switzerland seeing a small outflow (about $14.2 million); Germany recorded net inflows of about $35.7 million, totaling about $248 million this month. XRP and Solana have continued to attract funds since the US ETF launch mid-year, with last week net inflows of about $70.2 million and $7.5 million respectively, totaling about $10.7 billion and $13.4 billion; in contrast, Bitcoin and Ethereum saw net outflows of about $443 million and $59.5 million last week, with total outflows since ETF launches of about $2.8 billion and $1.6 billion respectively. Total assets under management increased only about 10% year-to-date.

Six major crypto firms including Kraken, Consensys, BitGo plan IPO in 2026

DL News reports that crypto firms raised about $3.4 billion via IPO this year, with Circle and Bullish each raising over $1 billion. Looking ahead to 2026: Kraken filed confidentially with the SEC in November 2025, planning to go public in the first half; Consensys and JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs are pushing for mid-year IPOs, with core products MetaMask, Infura, and Linea; BitGo updated its S-1A, aiming for Q1 listing, with an estimated valuation of about $1.75 billion; Animoca Brands plans to go public via reverse merger with Currenc Group on NASDAQ, targeting a valuation of about $6 billion; Ledger is preparing for large-scale fundraising to strengthen Ledger Live and self-custody services; Bithumb plans to list in South Korea by the end of 2025, aiming to regain about 25% of the domestic market share.