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Trend Research, a subsidiary of LD Capital, purchased an additional 46,379 ETH on Wednesday, increasing its total holdings to over 580,000 ETH, CryptoBasic reported. The firm now holds more Ethereum than almost any publicly listed company tracked by CoinGecko.

The European Union's new tax reporting directive, known as DAC8, will take effect on Jan. 1, CoinDesk reported. Under the new rules, crypto-asset service providers will be required to report detailed user and transaction data to their respective national tax authorities. The compliance deadline across the EU is July 1, 2026. DAC8 will be implemented alongside the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, but the two are separate frameworks. MiCA governs market conduct, whereas DAC8 focuses on tax reporting. The directive also grants tax authorities the power to freeze or seize crypto assets related to unpaid taxes if they detect evasion, even if the assets or platform are located outside the user's home jurisdiction.

The three major U.S. stock indices have opened slightly lower. The S&P 500 is down 0.03%, the Nasdaq Composite has fallen 0.02%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is trading 0.1% lower.

Hong Kong's Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB) and the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) plan to legislate a licensing system for cryptocurrency trading and custody firms, Cointelegraph reported. The two agencies announced they have concluded consultations on the new framework. This mandatory system builds upon an optional licensing regime introduced in 2020, under which 11 companies have so far received SFC approval. On the same day, the SFC also released a consultation paper on introducing a licensing system for crypto advisory and management service providers.

Aave (AAVE) founder Stani Kulechov's recent purchase of $10 million worth of AAVE has sparked a debate within the DeFi community over governance fairness, Cointelegraph reports. Critics suggest the move was intended to strengthen his voting power on key governance proposals. DeFi expert Robert Mullins explained that while Kulechov claimed the purchase was to align his interests with token holders, it was actually a move to increase his voting power before a vote on a proposal that runs contrary to holder interests. Mullins described the situation as a clear example of a token's design failing to adequately defend against governance attacks.

U.S. initial jobless claims for the third week of December (Dec. 14-20) totaled 214,000, coming in below the forecast of 224,000.

Bitcoin selling pressure may be easing as the volume of BTC whale deposits to Binance has been cut in half in December, according to a market analysis. CryptoQuant contributor Darkpost noted that monthly BTC whale deposits to the exchange fell from $7.88 billion to $3.86 billion. The analyst explained that this slowdown in inflows from large-scale investors suggests a corresponding decrease in the supply of BTC waiting to be sold. However, Darkpost also pointed out that whales holding between 100 and 10,000 BTC still deposited $466 million, meaning the possibility of large-scale movements remains. The analyst concluded that while significant deposits can trigger sharp volatility, the current trend is relatively favorable for the market in the short term, as reduced whale inflows to Binance are generally a positive signal.

BlackRock has deposited 2,292 BTC, valued at $200 million, and 9,976 ETH, worth $29.23 million, to Coinbase Prime, according to Onchain-Lense. Coinbase Prime is a prime brokerage platform that provides large-scale trading and custody services for institutional investors.

Avian Labs, the operator of cryptocurrency payment service Sling Money, has obtained a virtual asset service provider license from the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), CoinDesk reported. The approval follows the company's acquisition of a license in the Netherlands in April and will allow it to expand its business scope within Europe.

The market capitalizations of several blockchain startups, once valued at over $1 billion by venture capital firms, have fallen sharply amid a recent liquidity crunch, Cointelegraph reported, citing data from CryptoRank. For example, Humanity Protocol (H), which received a $1 billion valuation from VCs, now has a market cap of just $285 million. Similarly, Fuel Network (FUEL), valued at nearly $1 billion, currently has a market cap of only around $11 million. Even projects with a smaller initial gap between valuation and market cap have been affected, such as Plasma (XPL), which saw its VC valuation of $500 million drop to a current market cap of $220 million. The report added that VC investment in the cryptocurrency sector has been sluggish in the second half of the year. While a few large investment deals have supported the total amount of capital raised, overall investment activity has remained low.

Author Robert Kiyosaki, who previously stated he would buy more Bitcoin during price drops, has not mentioned the cryptocurrency on X for about a week, U.Today noted. Instead, his recent posts have focused on other topics, such as reminding followers of Warren Buffett's warning about a potential bubble in AI-related stocks and suggesting the U.S. stock market may be driven by hype rather than fundamental value. Kiyosaki's silence follows his Nov. 15 statement that he would purchase more BTC if its price fell. However, he faced criticism after selling approximately $2.25 million worth of the asset on Nov. 22 at an average price of $90,000.

An address linked to Aleksey Bilyuchenko, the indicted Mt. Gox hacker, has deposited 1,300 BTC, worth $114 million, to an unknown exchange over the past seven days, according to on-chain analyst Emmett Gallic. Gallic noted on X that the address currently holds 4,100 BTC ($360 million) and has sold a total of 2,300 BTC. Bilyuchenko was indicted in June 2023 but has not been arrested.

The Philippine National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has blocked access to 50 unregistered virtual asset service providers (VASPs), including Coinbase and Gemini, effective Dec. 22, Cointelegraph reported. The action was taken at the request of the country's central bank. This follows a similar move by the Philippines to block Binance in early 2024.

The recent decline in the Bitcoin Composite Market Index (BCMI) suggests the market may be transitioning into a bear phase rather than undergoing a simple correction, according to crypto analyst Woominkyu in a contribution to CryptoQuant. The analyst noted that while the BCMI's return to the 0.5 level on Oct. 21 was initially interpreted as a market cooling-off period, a subsequent significant drop in BTC's price and a further fall in the index point to a different scenario. Woominkyu explained that the simultaneous price correction and weakening on-chain momentum indicate the market has entered a structural reset phase. Historically, the BCMI bottomed out in the 0.25-0.35 range in 2019 and 2023. While the current index is below its equilibrium line, it remains high compared to these historical lows. The analyst concluded that if past patterns repeat, a market bottom may only form after the BCMI falls to those levels, suggesting the market is currently in a downward transition rather than having completed its reset.

Bitcoin is concluding the year with sluggish performance instead of a 'Santa rally,' driven by four key factors, according to an analysis by DL News. The report identifies these factors as mechanical selling pressure from long-term holders who have held their assets for over 155 days, selling activity influenced by the four-year halving cycle, weakened investor sentiment amid concerns of a potential bubble in the artificial intelligence sector, and the fallout from the largest-ever forced liquidation event, which occurred in October.

A Bitcoin OG, an early long-term holder with an address starting with 1011short·0x99E1E, deposited 100,000 ETH, valued at $290 million, to Binance a short time ago, according to Onchainlens. The address currently holds 5x leveraged long positions on both BTC and ETH and a 20x leveraged long position on SOL, carrying a combined unrealized loss of $55 million.

Cryptocurrency investment firm HashKey Capital has secured $250 million in the first closing of its fourth fund, Cointelegraph reported. The fund, which has a final target of $500 million, raised capital from global institutions, family offices, and high-net-worth individuals. It plans to pursue a multi-strategy investment approach focused on blockchain infrastructure and projects with high scalability potential.

Binance has announced it will temporarily suspend deposits and withdrawals for Ethereum (ETH) to support network wallet maintenance. The suspension will begin at 5:55 a.m. UTC on Dec. 25.

The number of former senior officials from South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) taking jobs in the crypto industry has surged over the past two years, Segye Ilbo reported exclusively. While previously only one or two former FSS employees at grade four or above joined the sector annually, the number rose to five last year and has reached eight so far this year through November. Over the last five years, 16 such officials have moved to the country's two largest exchanges, Dunamu (nine) and Bithumb (seven). The newspaper noted that this trend coincides with the formalization of the crypto market's regulatory framework. The report suggests that competition to hire former officials intensified after the Virtual Asset User Protection Act took effect in July of last year, bringing the industry under official regulatory oversight.

An address believed to belong to cryptocurrency services provider Matrixport has withdrawn 1,090 BTC, valued at $94.7 million, from Binance, Onchain-Lense reported. Such withdrawals from exchanges are typically interpreted as a move to hold the assets.

Cryptocurrency prediction market Polymarket has officially confirmed that multiple users suffered losses due to a security incident involving a third-party authentication provider. According to The Block, user reports of account hacks and asset losses began appearing on social media earlier this week. In a statement on its official Discord, Polymarket said it had identified and resolved a security issue that affected a small number of users, attributing the problem to a vulnerability at the third-party provider. The platform added that it will contact the affected users directly but did not disclose the name of the provider or the specific scale of the damages.

U.S. hedge fund titan Ray Dalio said in a recent podcast that central banks are unlikely to hold Bitcoin due to several issues, Watcher.Guru reported. He argued that while BTC is recognized as a form of value, governments can interfere with or monitor peer-to-peer transactions. In contrast, Dalio described gold as the only asset that governments cannot touch or control. He added that these and other problems make it improbable that central banks and many other financial institutions will fully adopt BTC. Dalio previously stated in November that he had allocated about 1% of his personal portfolio to Bitcoin.

As risk-off sentiment intensifies across markets, gold has been hitting successive all-time highs while Bitcoin, often touted as "digital gold," is struggling to defend key price support levels. According to an analysis by Coindesk, gold has surged 70% this year, silver has jumped 150%, and platinum has also set new records. In contrast, Bitcoin is weighed down by significant profit-taking. The media outlet suggests that increased bond yield volatility and sharp U.S. dollar fluctuations have strengthened risk aversion, benefiting traditional assets like gold over cryptocurrencies. Coindesk emphasized that if Bitcoin were truly digital gold, it should be proving its value in the current market but has failed to do so, indicating it tends to perform well only in environments with accommodative monetary policy and strong risk-on sentiment. Separately, David Miller, Chief Investment Officer at Catalyst Funds, stated that Bitcoin is nevertheless a worthy long-term portfolio addition as a hedge against fiscal expansion and currency devaluation. However, he noted that it plays a different role than gold, which central banks hold as a reserve asset. Miller argued that Bitcoin cannot replace fiat as a reserve asset, a function gold can serve, characterizing BTC as a retail-investor-driven asset while gold is thoroughly institution-focused.

South Korean crypto exchanges Bithumb and Coinone have announced their support for the rebranding and token swap of AI16Z. The project's ticker will change to ELIZAOS. According to Bithumb, the token swap ratio will vary depending on the holding period. The first snapshot was completed around 11:40 a.m. UTC on Nov. 11. The timing for a second snapshot, as well as the suspension of trading and withdrawals, will be announced at a later date.

BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes deposited 682 ETH, worth $2 million, to Binance a short while ago, according to Onchain Lens.