Tether's QVAC Releases Synthetic Dataset QVAC Genesis I and Consumer Application QVAC Workbench

On December 8, the ether.fi Foundation said in a post that it used 300,000 USDT last weekend to repurchase 367,674.76 ETHFI tokens. The protocol’s cumulative buyback total now stands at $11,771,993. At the time of the announcement, ETHFI was trading at $0.825—up 3.78% over the past 24 hours—with its market capitalization climbing to $640 million.

On December 8, Bloomberg reported that payments startup Airwallex has raised $330 million in its latest funding round, pushing its valuation to $8 billion. A Monday statement noted the valuation marks a roughly 30% jump from the fintech’s prior funding round six months ago. Addition led the round, with backers including Activant, Lingotto and TIAA Ventures joining in. Prior BlockBeats coverage noted that on July 7, Airwallex’s website showed the firm was building out a stablecoin platform team and hiring for two engineering roles to develop stablecoin infrastructure.

**Dec. 8 — South Korea’s largest crypto exchange Upbit delayed reporting a hack to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) by six hours, per South Korean outlet Chosun Ilbo.** Data from the FSS, obtained by National Assembly member Kang Min-kuk, shows: - Upbit detected abnormal transactions at 4:42 a.m. on Nov. 27 but notified the FSS only at 10:58 a.m. - Hackers stole over 104 billion Solana ecosystem tokens (valued at ~44.5 billion South Korean won) in 54 minutes during that window. - Upbit convened an emergency meeting 18 minutes post-detection, paused Solana deposits/withdrawals 27 minutes later, and fully suspended all crypto deposits/withdrawals at 8:55 a.m. Current laws lack direct penalty clauses for virtual asset service providers (VASPs) in hack incidents, leaving the FSS unable to impose major sanctions. Upbit responded that it fully compensated user losses with its own funds and reported to authorities immediately upon confirming the intrusion.

December 8th — Per EmberCN monitoring, the whale/institution that acquired 991,000 SOL four years ago and unlocked its holdings in April this year continued taking profits 20 minutes ago: it transferred 100,000 SOL (valued at $13.57 million) to Binance. - Since unlocking in April, this address has transferred 615,000 SOL (valued at $107 million) to Binance over eight months, with an average selling price of $175 per SOL. - It currently holds 733,000 SOL (valued at $99.16 million) and has earned staking rewards of 357,000 SOL over the past four and a half years.

December 8th — This week’s Federal Reserve interest rate meeting is shaping up to be one of the most contentious in recent years. Investors are closely watching for how sharply policymakers disagree on rate cuts and what signals Chair Jerome Powell will send about the central bank’s future policy path. Asset manager Janus Henderson argues that, over the long term, the December meeting won’t have a meaningful impact on markets. While there could be short-term volatility, actions taken in the first half of 2026 will matter more than those in December. Trust company Wilmington Trust says markets have largely priced in the Fed’s rate-cut moves already; the real key lies in the central bank’s policy guidance. They expect the Fed to remain highly cautious, stressing that policy will depend on incoming economic data. Some observers note the market may be overestimating the odds of a Fed rate cut, and are more focused on Powell’s remarks and how close the policy vote will be. Nomura e

Uniswap founder Hayden Adams announced on December 8 that the protocol’s first Continuous Clearing Auction (CCA) has concluded, with total bids reaching $59 million. Notably, the auction featured no sniping, bundling, or time-based tactics. Adams emphasized the process was slow, transparent, and focused on fair price discovery: the final price was 59% higher than the floor price, and bidders had several days to place bids for a better average price. Even a $10 billion fully diluted valuation (FDV) bid on the first day would not have resulted in overpayment, he noted—instead, bidders would secure a dollar-cost averaging (DCA) price between the floor and final clearing price. Most funds raised from the auction, along with token reserves, will be used to provide initial liquidity for Uniswap v4 pools, serving as the primary secondary market liquidity source. As previously reported by BlockBeats, Uniswap launched its CCA protocol on November 13 to support liquidity provision for t