Japanese and Korean Stock Indices Plunge

On December 16, Stable Swap—a Uniswap fork protocol deployed by blockchain dev service provider Protofire—was integrated into Stable, bringing Uniswap V2 and V3 functionality to the platform.

On December 16, U.S. stock markets opened lower across the three major indices, per market data: - Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA): Down 0.02% at open - S&P 500 Index: Dropped 0.13% at open - Nasdaq Composite: Fell 0.19% at open In contrast, cryptocurrency-related U.S. stocks rose against the broader market trend, with these moves: - MicroStrategy (MSTR): +2.5% - Circle (CRCL): +5.1% - Coinbase (COIN): +1.7% - Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA): +2.4% - Riot Platforms (RIOT): +0.04% - BitMine Immersion (BMNR): +0.7% - SharpLink Gaming (SBET): +0.68%

December 16, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) Shanghai Head Office reminded the public that the digital renminbi (e-CNY) is a digital form of legal tender, operating under a two-tier system involving the central bank and digital currency operators. There are no private promotion centers for the e-CNY, and no "digital renminbi promoter exam" exists. The e-CNY has no room for speculation. There are no so-called "exchange subsidies," "transaction rebates," high commissions, or promises of high returns on holdings. It will never induce users to disclose personal sensitive information or participate in pyramid schemes. When faced with offers of "high returns" or "risk-free profits" from alleged "digital renminbi investments," stay alert, don’t be gullible, and guard against scams to avoid financial losses. If you suspect a scam, contact police right away.

**Dec. 16 (CoinDesk) —** Strata protocol developer Frontera Labs has closed a $3 million seed funding round, led by Maven 11 Capital, with participation from Lightspeed Faction, Halo Capital, Heartcore Capital, Anchorage Digital Ventures, Nayt Technologies, Split Capital and others. Frontera Labs launched the decentralized risk-layering protocol Strata, which packages on-chain and off-chain revenue strategies into tokenized risk-layering products—each layer featuring distinct risk-return profiles.

On December 16th, Onchain Lens monitoring data shows an early Ethereum whale has deposited 3,000 ETH (valued at $8.79 million) into Kraken.

On December 16, Hong Kong, China-based stablecoin payment fintech RedotPay closed a $107 million Series B funding round. The round was led by Goodwater Capital, with participation from Pantera Capital, Blockchain Capital, Circle Ventures, and existing backers including HSG (formerly Sequoia Capital China).