Cryptocurrency Fear and Greed Index Rises to 16, Market Still in "Extreme Fear" State

On December 17, The Wall Street Journal reported that former President Donald Trump will interview Federal Reserve Board Governor Christopher Waller this Wednesday to assess Waller as a potential candidate to succeed Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve Chair. Prediction market Polymarket shows Waller’s probability of being nominated by Trump for the Fed Chair role has risen to 15%, while Lael Brainard’s nomination odds have dropped to 27% and Kevin Hassett’s have climbed to 53%. Waller was tapped by Trump in 2020 to join the Fed’s board and is a proponent of cryptocurrency, focusing on stablecoins and decentralized finance (DeFi). At the Fed’s Payment Innovation Conference in October, he stated: “I want to send a message: the Fed has entered a new era in payments— the DeFi industry is no longer in doubt or underestimated.” He also noted stablecoins are “just a new form of private money” that will coexist with other payment tools. Prior reports note Waller has emerged as a key voi

Dec 17: Matrixport transferred 1,000 BTC (valued at $86.9 million) to Binance, per Onchain Lens monitoring.

Per Farside Investors data released December 17, Bitcoin ETFs recorded a net outflow of $277.2 million on December 16, while Ethereum ETFs saw $224.2 million in net outflows the same day.

As of December 17, Polymarket data indicates Bitcoin has a 32% probability of dropping below $80,000 in December, 6% odds of falling below $70,000, and a 9% chance of surpassing $100,000.

Ernesto Boado, core contributor to Aave and co-founder of BGD Labs, proposed the “AAVE Token Alignment” on December 17. The initiative aims to grant AAVE token holders control over Aave’s brand assets—including domain names, social media accounts, and naming rights. These assets will be managed by an entity controlled by a DAO (with the specific definition to be finalized later) and will feature robust anti-takeover safeguards. As a result, the proposal mandates that any party currently overseeing these assets—regardless of their identity—must uphold their responsibilities both in principle and in practice.

On December 17th, per HTX market data, Bitcoin dropped below $87,000, posting a 1.49% 24-hour change.