In 2020, a whale suspected of hoarding WBTC appears to have liquidated its position, realizing over $21 million in profits over five years

December 25th — The Wall Street Journal reports that Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) is among the beneficiaries of an informal new presidential pardon path that has emerged during former President Donald Trump’s second term. People close to Trump say this practice is partly fueled by his own experience as a criminal defendant, spurring a “pardon brokerage” industry where the going rate for lobbying for a presidential pardon is $1 million. It has been revealed that individuals seeking pardons have offered success fees of up to $6 million to some of Trump’s close associates, with the fees contingent on securing the pardon.

December 25th – Per the Coinbob Popular Address Monitor, the so-called "Meme Coin Short Army Leader" has recently adjusted its short positions, shifting its focus from short-selling to risk defense. It has successively closed out short positions in multiple tokens including ASTER, UNI, and PUMP, then used freed-up margin to purchase HYPE spot and open additional short positions for hedging—with its hedge position now growing to roughly $7.8 million. Additionally, this address fully liquidated holdings in MON, ZEC, and TRUMP this week, and withdrew approximately $2 million within the past 24 hours. Its total holdings currently stand at around $23.08 million: excluding the HYPE hedge portfolio, the bulk consists of ETH shorts ($4.94 million), ASTER shorts ($3.78 million), and UNI shorts ($3.04 million). Moreover, the address has focused primarily on short-selling lately, having closed out 10 short positions since the start of this month and demonstrating proficiency in capitalizing

On December 25th, per Onchain Lens monitoring, a newly created crypto wallet withdrew 50,000 ZEC from Binance—valued at roughly $22.17 million.

On December 25, Pantera Capital Managing Partner Jay Yu shared 12 predictions for 2026 crypto trends, covering key areas: - **Capital-Efficient Consumer Credit**: Simple lending apps launching via on-chain/off-chain credit modeling, modular design, and AI behavior learning. - **Polarization of Prediction Markets**: Markets splitting into two tracks—financial (integrated with DeFi, leveraged) and cultural (community-led, long-tail enthusiast-focused). - **Agent Business with x402 Extension**: Agent services expanding to micropayments and recurring payments via x402 endpoints; Solana set to outperform Base in low-value transactions. - **AI as a Crypto Interface Layer**: AI-assisted trading (e.g., trend analysis) going mainstream, with gradual integration into consumer apps. - **Rise of Tokenized Gold**: Tokenized gold emerging as a key Real World Asset (RWA), selected as a store of value amid USD-related concerns. - **Bitcoin Quantum Panic**: Quantum breakthroughs spark inst

On December 25th, Evernorth Holdings—an XRP-focused treasury entity backed by Ripple executives—was facing an unrealized (paper) loss of over $220 million. Data from CryptoQuant shows the firm holds approximately 389 million XRP with an acquisition cost of roughly $947 million. Based on XRP’s current price of $1.86, the value of its holdings totals around $724 million, translating to a substantial unrealized loss for the company.

December 25th: Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said the BOJ will likely keep raising interest rates if Japan meets its baseline forecast amid improving economic and price conditions, per Reuters.