ZachXBT: GANA Payment Hacked, Loss Exceeds $3.1 Million

As of December 30, alternative data indicates the cryptocurrency Fear & Greed Index is at 23 (down from 24 yesterday), keeping the market in "extreme fear" territory. Note: The index ranges from 0 to 100, with components including: Volatility (25%), Market Volume (25%), Social Media Hype (15%), Market Surveys (15%), Bitcoin Dominance (10%), and Google Trends (10%).

Semler Scientific Chairman Eric Semler is urging shareholders to vote in favor of the proposed merger with Strive, ahead of a special shareholder meeting scheduled for January 13. If approved, SMLR shareholders will receive ASST shares at a 21.05x exchange ratio. The combined entity will hold nearly 13,000 Bitcoin, placing it among the top five publicly traded firms holding Bitcoin as a key strategic reserve. The move aims to boost Strive’s financing capabilities in digital lending and maximize long-term shareholder value. Eric Semler is set to join Strive’s board of directors.

**December 30th** Prediction market Kalshi pegs the Democratic Party’s chance at winning a U.S. House majority in 2026 at roughly 75%. Against that backdrop, Maxine Waters—senior Democratic member of the House Financial Services Committee—has sharply criticized SEC Chair Paul Atkins’ crypto asset regulation policies. In a letter to committee Republican Chair French Hill, Waters highlighted the SEC has terminated or suspended key crypto enforcement actions involving Coinbase, Binance, and Justin Sun. She argued the panel has yet to fully review *why* the SEC dropped these cases, or how to prevent future fraud and manipulation targeting retail investors. Waters also noted some firms in the cases publicly announced settlements before the SEC held a formal vote, questioning Atkins’ team’s “unusually proactive” role in resolving the matters. She contends the SEC’s recent policy shifts have relied on staff statements—not formal rulemaking—potentially skirting Administrative Procedure

December 30 – A CoinDesk report notes that Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Brett Knoblauch has predicted Bitcoin may be in the early stages of a "crypto winter," aligning with its historical four-year cycle pattern. Prices could remain under pressure for several months and may even test Strategy’s average cost basis of around $75,000. However, unlike prior downward cycles, this correction may not feature large-scale liquidations or systemic collapse. Knoblauch emphasized that institutional participants — not retail traders — now shape the market landscape. He also flagged a widening gap between token price performance and "underlying real progress," particularly in sectors like decentralized finance (DeFi), asset tokenization, and crypto infrastructure.

As first reported by The Block on December 30, Neel Somani—founder of Ethereum layer 2 protocol Eclipse—stepped down as the company’s board chairman in October 2025. Somani cited a desire to focus full-time on machine learning and other AI research as the reason for the move. Somani founded the firm in 2022, securing $15 million in seed funding to build a scaling solution using the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM) before pivoting to develop a high-performance Ethereum L2 in 2023. After closing a $50 million Series A funding round in 2024, he transitioned from CEO to board chairman. The founder-led, pre-planned transition did not affect his equity stake or board powers.

On December 30, Framework Ventures co-founder Vance Spencer said in a post: “2025 isn’t the year the crypto industry is looking forward to—but it’s likely the year the industry needs to keep moving forward. As an industry, we’ve basically moved on from meme coins, NFTs, low-supply high-FDV projects, and the entire consumer-driven narrative.” My 2026 prediction: Token issuances will drop sharply, market focus will shift further to mainstream assets like ETH and BTC, and institutional capital will keep flowing into DeFi blue chips with sound value-capture mechanisms. This buying pressure could exceed many people’s expectations—especially amid ongoing buybacks and strict protocol-level financial discipline. The industry’s future is already clear: Stablecoins, real-world assets (RWA), lending/capital markets, and asset management are emerging as the dominant focus areas. We’ll tackle many crypto industry issues by cutting back on blind expansion, focusing on deep cultivation, and