CZ will host the End-of-Year Q&A Event this Thursday at 8:30 PM.

On December 17, two former executives of blockchain firm Theta Labs have filed whistleblower lawsuits in California against the company and its CEO Mitch Liu, alleging years of fraud, market manipulation, and retaliation. Former executives Jerry Kowal and Andrea Berry filed separate complaints in Los Angeles Superior Court. They claim Liu used Theta Labs and its parent company Sliver VR Technologies to artificially inflate token prices through deceptive partnerships and undisclosed insider token sales, while retaliating against employees who raised concerns. Kowal’s attorneys note Liu treated Theta Labs as a personal trading tool for fraud, self-dealing, and market manipulation. His orchestrated pump-and-dump schemes repeatedly wiped out value for investors and employees—including creating false NFT bids linked to high-profile collaborations like one with Katy Perry. Berry’s complaint also calls out Theta’s past statements about Google, accusing the company of misrepresenting

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.