Pre-market Crypto Stock Concept Slightly Down, BitMine Decreases by 0.57%

On December 17, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) added four new entities to its "Suspected Virtual Asset Trading Platforms" list over the past two months. The newly added platforms—HKTWeb3, AmazingTech, 9M AI, and the Hong Kong Stablecoin Exchange—are all suspected of operating without a license. Among them, HKTWeb3 claimed on its website to have partnered with a licensed virtual asset trading platform recognized by the SFC, but this claim was debunked. The Hong Kong Stablecoin Exchange falsely stated it was co-founded by the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (Joint Exchange), and Hong Kong Futures Exchange, though it has no connection to any of the three.

On December 17th, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) noted in a December 15 interview: “The crypto industry has more comeback opportunities than any other sector. Traditional finance has extremely high barriers to entry, and its window for new players is effectively closed. AI startups also require computing power, data, and chips—all industries that demand resources and connections. But in crypto, the entry barrier is zero, and building a community or protocol doesn’t take much. Most players in the space are still in the early stages, meaning everyone has a shot.”

**As of December 17, DeFiLlama data shows major perpetual DEX platforms saw cooled trading activity over the past 24 hours. Lighter led a rebound in trading volume, followed by Aster and Hyperliquid. Meanwhile, open interest across most platforms remains elevated—signaling existing positions are still being contested even as market activity slowed.** Key platform metrics (24-hour): - **Lighter**: Trading volume ≈ $75.1B | TVL ≈ $14.6B | Open interest ≈ $16.7B - **Aster**: Trading volume ≈ $69.1B | TVL ≈ $13.2B | Open interest ≈ $25.3B [Referral: https://www.asterdex.com/en/referral/aboter] - **Hyperliquid**: Trading volume ≈ $53.7B | TVL ≈ $41.3B | Open interest ≈ $72.3B [Join: https://app.hyperliquid.xyz/join/NTOD] - **ApeX**: Trading volume ≈ $28.3B | TVL ≈ $46.24M | Open interest ≈ $1.01B - **EdgeX**: Trading volume ≈ $22.8B | TVL ≈ $3.89B | Open interest ≈ $7.86B - **Variational**: Trading volume ≈ $12.4B | TVL ≈ $66.18M | Open interest ≈ $3.37B - **Backpac

December 17 — Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin weighed in on U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders’ call to halt construction of large-scale AI data centers, arguing that rather than a blanket pause, it would be more useful to develop a “pause button” feature enabling cuts of 90-99% of computing power during critical moments. Buterin also advocated distinguishing between super-large computing clusters and consumer-grade AI hardware, pushing for a more decentralized development model.

Dec 17 — CoinGecko data shows the total market cap of tokenized gold assets has topped $4.2 billion, up roughly 147% over the past six months. Tether’s XAUT holds ~$2.24 billion in market cap, while Paxos’ PAXG stands at ~$1.5 billion—together accounting for ~89% of the market. Each XAUT and PAXG token is backed by a 1:1 physical gold reserve. Market data puts spot gold’s intraday gain at ~1.1%, currently trading at $4,326.50 an ounce. At the start of 2025, spot gold was at $2,624 an ounce, marking a nearly 65% jump this year. A recent Morgan Stanley analysis projects gold will rise to $4,800 an ounce by Q4 2026, driven by ongoing rate-cut expectations and a renewed weakening of the U.S. dollar index.

December 17 — Bitcoin Magazine reports that Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), the entity overseeing Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, has backed several governance proposals from Metaplanet, a Bitcoin treasury firm, and will exercise its voting rights at the company’s shareholder meeting on December 22. As of the end of June 2025, NBIM holds approximately 0.3% of Metaplanet’s outstanding shares.