Wu Blockchain News

According to DeFiLlama, Ethena's TVL has dropped from $14.305 billion since the "1011" event to $6.551 billion, a decline of over 50%. Ethena's TVL consists primarily of USDe. Per Entropy Advisors dashboard, USDe has seen over $8 billion in net redemptions since October, including a record-high $5+ billion net outflow in October alone. — link

David Schassler, head of multi-asset solutions at VanEck, predicts that despite Bitcoin's underperformance this year compared to gold and the Nasdaq 100, it is poised for a strong rebound as currency devaluation accelerates and liquidity returns. Schassler believes that gold will continue to rise next year, and while Bitcoin's weakness this year reflects a decline in risk appetite and tight liquidity, its fundamentals remain strong, positioning it to be a top performer in 2026. — link

According to Bloomberg, Russia’s central bank has prepared a framework to regulate the domestic cryptocurrency market, under which non-qualified investors would be allowed to buy only the most liquid cryptocurrencies after passing a knowledge test, with annual transactions capped at about $3,800, while qualified investors, after a risk-awareness test, would be able to buy unlimited amounts of cryptocurrencies except anonymous tokens, with legislative changes planned to be completed next year. — link

Bybit said it will gradually introduce a new insurance fund mechanism to manage high volatility and reduce ADL triggers. New USDT perpetual contracts will first enter a dedicated insurance fund of at least $8 million, before moving into a shared, composite fund based on risk and liquidity. Compared with the previous single-pair model, the new system raises the average loss-absorption capacity per trading pair by over 200%. — link

According to WIRED, a Chinese-language crypto black-market ecosystem on Telegram has reached a record scale. Elliptic estimates that platforms such as “Tudou Guarantee” and “New Coin Guarantee” facilitate nearly $2 billion per month in money-laundering and scam-related transactions. Researchers say these markets have surpassed AlphaBay and Hydra, becoming the largest illegal online crypto markets to date. — link

Bybit announced that it will gradually exit the Japanese market starting in 2026, opting to withdraw rather than continue regulatory disputes with Japan. Japan’s Financial Services Agency has pursued the exchange over unlicensed operations since 2021 and required Apple and Google to remove its app this year. Bybit said accounts held by Japanese residents will face phased restrictions from 2026, and users mistakenly flagged must submit additional documentation by Jan. 22, 2026. — link

OKX stated that its trading volume in licensed and regulated markets increased 53-fold in 2025, driven mainly by its entry into the U.S. market and expansion across the European Economic Area (EEA). According to internal OKX data, daily active wallets doubled over the past year, with around 190,000 new wallets added on average each day; global DEX trading volume grew 262%, while CEX trading volume rose 16%. — link

The initial estimate shows that U.S. real GDP grew at an annualized quarterly rate of 4.3% in Q3, well above market expectations of 3.3% and the previous reading of 3.8%. The initial annualized quarterly rate of core PCE inflation came in at 2.9%, in line with expectations and higher than the prior 2.6%. Meanwhile, the initial estimate of real personal consumption expenditures rose 3.5% quarter-on-quarter, significantly exceeding the expected 2.7% and the previous 2.5%.

According to RIA Novosti, the Bank of Russia has released a concept framework for cryptocurrency regulation and submitted proposed legislative amendments to the government. The plan aims to complete the legal groundwork by July 1, 2026, and to introduce liability for illegal crypto intermediary activities starting July 1, 2027, under a regulatory approach similar to the framework used for unlawful banking activities. — link

Bloomberg reports Crypto com is hiring a quant trader to run an in-house market-making team on its sports prediction market, effectively trading against customers. The move, similar to Kalshi and Polymarket, raises conflict-of-interest concerns. Crypto com says it doesn’t rely on proprietary trading revenue and gives market makers a 3-second advantage window on sports markets. — link

What Did Crypto Users Care About Most in 2025: This article compares how different AI models answered what crypto users cared about most in 2025. Despite varying emphases, their responses converged on three themes: market cycle positioning, opportunity and sector selection, and risk management around scams, regulation, and asset security. Overall, the results suggest a common user decision pattern—first judging the trend, then seeking opportunities, and finally managing risk. Read more — link

According to James, Head of Ecosystem at the Ethereum Foundation, most stablecoin transactions on Ethereum are P2P by count (67%), but P2P accounts for only 24% of total transaction volume. Over the past 12 months, B2B stablecoin transaction volume on Ethereum has grown by 156%, with average transaction size up 45%, while P2B has been the fastest-growing category at 167%. Consumer-to-business payments are now the fastest-growing segment of stablecoin usage on Ethereum. — link

According to SoSoValue, on Dec. 22 (ET), U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded total net outflows of $142 million. The BlackRock spot Bitcoin ETF IBIT saw the largest single-day net inflow among Bitcoin spot ETFs at $6.00 million. Spot Ethereum ETFs posted total net inflows of $84.59 million, Solana spot ETFs $7.47 million, and XRP spot ETFs $43.89 million. — link

QCP said weakening liquidity ahead of the Christmas holiday and year-end institutional deleveraging have kept BTC range-bound. BTC and ETH perpetual open interest fell by roughly $3 billion and $2 billion, respectively. QCP added that year-end tax-loss selling could increase near-term volatility, but absent a clear breakout, the market is likely to remain choppy into year-end. — link

Memento Research analyst Ash said that a data-mining review of Binance listings suggests token allocations for new listings rarely exceed 5% of total supply. Large, high-FDV projects typically allocate less than 1%, while mid-sized projects allocate more, mainly for user incentives and liquidity support. Ash noted that these token allocations paid to CEXs effectively flow back to users and ecosystem programs.

VanEck said in a latest report that Bitcoin miner “capitulation” could signal a potential near-term price bottom. Data shows Bitcoin hashrate fell 4% over the past month as of Dec. 15, marking the largest one-month decline since April 2024. VanEck noted that since 2014, when hashrate declines over a 30-day window, Bitcoin has risen in the following 90 days 65% of the time and in the following 180 days 77% of the time, with an average gain of about 72%, framing it as a historically bullish contrarian indicator. — link

According to onchain analytics platform Bubblemaps, an address linked to TRON founder Justin Sun remains on WLFI’s blacklist, and the market value of his locked WLFI has fallen by about $60 million over the past three months. As previously reported, WLFI added wallets linked to Justin Sun to its blacklist in September, freezing the address’s ability to send and receive WLFI. — link

According to Bloomberg, Peter Thiel-backed banking startup Erebor Bank is raising about $350 million in a funding round that would value the firm at roughly $4.35 billion. People familiar with the matter said the round is led by Lux Capital, with existing investor 8VC also participating. Erebor Bank focuses on crypto- and technology-oriented clients, seeking to fill part of the gap left by the 2023 collapse of Silicon Valley Bank while expanding its client base in the defense and aerospace sectors. — link

According to Bloomberg, Coinbase Global Inc. plans to acquire derivatives clearinghouse The Clearing Company to advance its expansion into prediction markets. The Clearing Company, which is not yet operational, applied in November for U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission approval and uses distributed ledger technology to clear and settle trades in stablecoins. — link

Liquid staking protocol Kintsu has launched on the Monad mainnet and rolled out the Kintsu Points program, which will determine distribution of the future governance token KSU. Points can be earned by staking MON, using sMON in DeFi and lending markets, as well as via referrals and eligible NFT holdings. Early participants will receive priority governance rights over Monad validator selection. — link