PA Daily News | Strategy remains on the Nasdaq 100 list; Moonbirds plans to issue its BIRB token in Q1 next year.

Today's top news highlights:

1. Macroeconomic Outlook for Next Week: Non-farm payrolls and CPI data are looming, and the US dollar's "lifeline" is flashing red.

2. The U.S. SEC releases guidelines for cryptocurrency custody.

3. The Nasdaq 100 index annual adjustment removed 6 companies and added 3, while Strategy was retained.

4. Exor's board of directors unanimously rejected Tether's offer to acquire shares in Juventus Football Club.

5. Moonbirds plans to issue its token BIRB in the first quarter of 2026.

6. This week, 16 crypto startups raised $176 million, bringing total investment this year to over $25 billion.

Macro

Macroeconomic Outlook for Next Week: Non-farm payrolls and CPI data are looming, and the US dollar's "lifeline" is flashing red?

Despite the Federal Reserve's expected rate cut and more dovish signals this week, the real challenges facing the field of artificial intelligence have led to a complex and divergent trend in the US stock and bond markets. The US Department of Labor's reports on non-farm payrolls, consumer inflation, and retail sales data will be released next week, potentially providing a deeper understanding of the health of the economy. Here are the key points the market will be focusing on in the coming week:

At 21:30 on Monday, the US December New York Fed Manufacturing Index will be released.

Federal Reserve Governor Milan will speak at 22:30 on Monday;

At 11:30 PM on Monday, Williams, a permanent voting member of the FOMC and president of the New York Federal Reserve, will speak on the economic outlook.

At 21:30 on Tuesday, the US November unemployment rate, the US November seasonally adjusted non-farm payrolls, and the US October retail sales month-on-month rate will be released.

At 22:05 on Wednesday, Williams, a permanent voting member of the FOMC and president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, delivered the opening remarks at the 2025 Foreign Exchange Market Structure Conference hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

At 1:30 AM on Thursday, Atlanta Fed President Bostic, a 2027 FOMC voting member, will speak on the economic outlook.

At 21:30 on Thursday, the following data will be released: US November unadjusted CPI year-on-year rate/core CPI year-on-year rate; US November seasonally adjusted CPI month-on-month rate/core CPI month-on-month rate; US initial jobless claims for the week ending December 13; and the US December Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Index.

Next week's US CPI data release will be a key turning point for the dollar's trajectory. If the CPI data is lower than expected (the latest figure is 3%, still above the Fed's 2% target), it will further confirm the rationale for the Fed's rate-cutting cycle, and the dollar may face further downward pressure; conversely, it could reverse this trend.

The U.S. Senate Banking Committee may delay its review of the Cryptocurrency Market Structure Act until 2026.

Crypto journalist Eleanor Terrett wrote on the X platform that US senators from both parties held another meeting on the Cryptocurrency Market Structure Act. After the meeting, Senator Mark Warner revealed that it would be "very difficult" to review the bill next week given its current state, a view shared by other senators. It now appears that the US Senate Banking Committee may have to wait until the new year to review the bill.

Rodney Burton, the mastermind behind the HyperFund crypto scam, faces 11 charges and could face up to 20 years in prison.

According to a supplemental indictment released by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Maryland, cryptocurrency promoter Rodney Burton, known online as "Bitcoin Rodney," faces 11 federal charges for allegedly promoting the $1.8 billion HyperFund cryptocurrency scam, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, seven counts of money laundering, and operating an unlicensed money transfer business. If convicted on all counts, he faces up to 20 years in federal prison.

Rodney Burton promoted the HyperFund project between June 2020 and May 2024, using investor funds to purchase luxury apartments, sports cars, and yachts. In the HyperFund case, co-defendant Brenda Chunga has pleaded guilty, while co-founder Sam Lee remains at large.

In January of last year, it was reported that U.S. authorities arrested and charged Rodney Burton, the mastermind behind the HyperVerse cryptocurrency investment scam.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued guidelines for cryptocurrency custody.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released an investor bulletin on Friday outlining best practices and common risks associated with different cryptocurrency storage options for cryptocurrency wallets and custody.

The announcement outlines the advantages and disadvantages of different cryptocurrency custody options, including self-custody versus entrusting a third-party institution to hold digital assets on behalf of investors. If investors choose third-party custody, they should understand the custodian's policies, such as whether they "re-collateralize" custodied assets through lending, or whether the service provider pools client assets in a single fund pool instead of storing cryptocurrencies in separate client accounts. The guide also outlines the types of cryptocurrency wallets and analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of connected hot wallets and offline cold wallets.

Opinion

Galaxy Research: Tether is now the largest CeFi lender, with over $14 billion in loans currently outstanding.

In an article titled "Don't Underestimate Tether" published on the X platform, Alex Thorn, head of research at Galaxy Research, pointed out that Tether has established a vast investment and business operations, with the circulating supply of its USDT stablecoin exceeding $185 billion. The company also invests in agricultural and robotics companies, operates Bitcoin mining and high-performance computing (HPC) data centers, and develops AI health applications (QVAC) and a private messaging application (Keet).

In addition, Alex Thorn disclosed in his latest report that Tether is already the largest centralized finance (CeFi) lender in the cryptocurrency space, with a loan volume of over $14 billion and paid over $10 billion in dividends to shareholders in the first nine months of this year.

Analysis: The upcoming yen interest rate hike is unlikely to trigger risk aversion in the cryptocurrency market.

The Bank of Japan's last interest rate hike caused the yen to appreciate, triggering a sharp rise in market risk aversion and causing the price of Bitcoin to fall from approximately $65,000 to $50,000. However, the upcoming yen rate hike is unlikely to trigger risk aversion in the cryptocurrency market for two reasons: First, speculators currently hold net long (bullish) positions in the yen, making a rapid reaction to the Bank of Japan's rate hike unlikely; second, Japanese government bond yields have continued to climb this year, with both short-term and long-term yield curves reaching multi-decade highs. Therefore, the upcoming rate hike reflects official rates catching up with the market. Meanwhile, this week the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates by 25 basis points to their lowest level in three years while introducing liquidity measures. Taken together, these factors suggest a low probability of significant unwinding of yen carry trades and year-end risk aversion.

Market news: Cysic has been exposed for manipulating its TGE cluster, falsifying accounting data, and using substandard mining machines.

According to reports from crypto influencers such as KOL Morsy and Crypto_Painter , Cysic TGE exhibited severe clustering behavior, with a large number of token-holding addresses created just three days prior. 12-20% of the CYS tokens were manipulated, with some already sent to centralized exchanges (CEXs), ultimately leading to poor community distribution. Participants in the pre-sale and other contributors either suffered losses or failed to receive the promised rewards from the team.

Furthermore, Cysic appears to have data issues. Its full-year book loss was $3.8 million, with revenue of only $150,000, while its publicly claimed revenue was $6 million. While the company suffered huge losses, the founder's personal wallet address withdrew $2.78 million from the company wallet and other external addresses in 2024 (the vast majority of which occurred during investor payments in 2024); and has withdrawn another $1.67 million so far in 2025 (the vast majority of which occurred before NFT sales and coin listings). Simultaneously, the company's products are suspected of using substandard materials, with some mining rigs containing chips from recycled Antminer L7 miners.

Project Updates

The 0G Foundation disclosed that its reward contract was attacked on December 11, resulting in the theft of approximately 520,000 0G tokens.

The 0G Foundation announced on the X platform that a targeted attack on December 11 resulted in the compromise of the rewards contract. Attackers exploited the emergency withdrawal function of the 0G rewards contract used to distribute affiliate rewards, stealing 520,010 0G tokens, 9.93 ETH, and USDT worth $4,200. These tokens were subsequently bridged and distributed via Tornado Cash. Due to a critical vulnerability in Next.js (CVE-2025-66478) exploited on December 5, attackers moved laterally via internal IP addresses, affecting calibration services, validator nodes, Gravity NFT services, node sales services, computation, Aiverse, Perpdex, Ascend, and more. However, the core blockchain infrastructure and user funds were unaffected.

The Nasdaq 100 index annual adjustment removed 6 companies and added 3, while Strategy was retained.

The Nasdaq 100 index removed 6 companies and added 3 companies in its annual adjustment, which took effect on December 22. Bitcoin treasury company Strategy will remain in the Nasdaq 100 index.

MicroStrategy, originally a business software provider, transformed its business in 2020, making Bitcoin accumulation a core strategy. Since then, the company has accumulated 660,624 Bitcoins, worth $59.55 billion, and was included in its index last December. Its business model, involving Bitcoin accumulation, drew criticism from analysts and index providers, and MSCI considered removing the cryptocurrency treasury company from its benchmark indices.

In a previous report , Michael Saylor responded to Strategy's decision to retain the Nasdaq 100 index, stating that he would continue to accumulate BTC until the complaints ceased.

Pudgy Penguins will run ads on the Las Vegas Sphere during the Christmas season, spending approximately $500,000.

Sources familiar with the matter revealed that Pudgy Penguins will be running an advertising campaign at the Sphere Arena in Las Vegas during the Christmas season. The ads will run for several days starting December 24th and will include several animated segments. The brand spent approximately $500,000 on this advertising space, which is considered a normal price for advertising at the Sphere Arena.

Sphere is a massive LED dome stadium, known for its immersive displays and performances by renowned artists such as U2. It hosted a Bitcoin-themed event this July.

Exor's board of directors unanimously rejected Tether's offer to acquire shares in Juventus Football Club.

Exor issued a statement saying that its board of directors unanimously rejected Tether's offer to acquire all of Exor's shares in Juventus Football Club. Exor reiterated its previous statement that it has no intention of selling its Juventus shares to any third party, including but not limited to El Salvador-based Tether.

Previous reports indicated that Tether planned to acquire Exor's 65.4% stake in Juventus Football Club in an all-cash deal. Sources familiar with the matter revealed that the Agnelli family, which holds a controlling stake in the club, has no intention of selling its shares.

Aevo: Old version of Ribbon DOV vault attacked, loss of approximately $2.7 million.

Aevo (formerly Ribbon Finance) tweeted that due to a vulnerability in a smart contract update, the old version of Ribbon DOV vault was attacked, resulting in a loss of approximately $2.7 million.

The team stated that all Ribbon vaults have ceased operation and will be immediately deactivated. Users must complete the contract upgrade and withdraw funds themselves through the standard process. The contract upgrade will be rolled out next week (to be announced later). Aevo disclosed that the vulnerability resulted in a loss of approximately 32% of the vaults, but the team recommends that users withdraw only 19% of the value of their positions at the time of the attack. The claim period is from December 12th to June 12th. After June 12th, the DAO will liquidate all remaining assets and distribute them to users who withdrew funds earlier.

Pakistan will partner with Binance to explore the tokenization of $2 billion in assets, including sovereign bonds.

According to Reuters, Pakistan's Ministry of Finance stated that Pakistan has signed a memorandum of understanding with cryptocurrency exchange Binance to tokenize up to $2 billion worth of assets (including sovereign bonds, treasury bills, and commodity reserves) to improve liquidity and attract investors. Furthermore, the Virtual Assets Authority (VAA) indicated that Pakistan has also given preliminary approval for Binance and digital asset platform HTX to register with the regulator to establish local subsidiaries and begin preparing applications for full exchange licenses.

Berachain's liquidity staking protocol Infrared will conduct TGE on December 17th.

According to an official announcement, Berachain's liquidity staking protocol Infrared has released details of its IR token airdrop. This airdrop aims to reward early community members who have consistently used Infrared during the points program, participants in the Boyco pre-deposit program, and users who actively participate in community activities (such as Discord interactions, user surveys, community events, testnet participation, etc.).

The IR token has three main functions: staking to earn sIR for governance voting rights; participating in revenue sharing through buybacks; and token issuance to optimize protocol efficiency and revenue. Users can claim the airdrop in advance through the CEX pre-deposit process. The three centralized exchanges participating in the pre-deposit are Bitget, Gate, and KuCoin.

Important dates are as follows:

• At 20:00 (UTC+8) on December 13, the pre-deposit window for centralized exchanges will open.
• At 1:00 AM (UTC+8) on December 16, the pre-deposit window for centralized exchanges will close.
• The IR token was officially launched at 16:00 (UTC+8) on December 17.
• All applications will permanently close at 08:00 (UTC+8) on January 12, 2026.

Moonbirds plans to issue its token BIRB in the first quarter of 2026.

According to market sources, Orange Cap Games CEO Spencer stated that Moonbirds will launch its token BIRB in early Q1 2026. Furthermore, Spencer described them as the "Pop Mart" of the Web3 world.

Paradigm's first employee and general partner, Charlie Noyes, resigns.

Paradigm General Partner Charlie Noyes tweeted that he has resigned from his position and will continue to participate in Kalshi affairs as a board observer alongside Paradigm founder Matt Huang. Charlie Noyes joined Paradigm at the age of 19 and was the venture capital firm's first employee.

Important data

This week, NFT transaction volume fell 10% to $66.71 million, while the number of buyers dropped by over 66%.

According to CryptoSlam data, the NFT market transaction volume fell 10.18% to $66.71 million in the past week. The number of NFT buyers decreased by 66.91% to 165,759; the number of sellers decreased by 70.44% to 120,912; and the number of NFT transactions decreased by 13.88% .

Ethereum network transaction volume reached $24.93 million, down 3.02% from the previous week; BNB Chain network transaction volume reached $10.83 million, up 45.64%; Solana network transaction volume reached $5.65 million, up 48.27%.

This week's high-value deals include:

• CryptoPunks #6615 sold for $153,356.75 (47.99 ETH).
• CryptoPunks #309 sold for $134,530.52 (42 ETH).
• CryptoPunks #4566 sold for $123,808.45 (39.9 ETH).
• CryptoPunks #4172 sold for $111,232.08 (33 ETH).

This week, 16 crypto startups raised $176 million, bringing total investment this year to over $25 billion.

According to DL News, 16 crypto startups raised $176 million this week, bringing the total investment this year to over $25 billion, more than double last year's figure and far exceeding analysts' expectations. Major investors this week included Pantera Capital, Coinbase Ventures, and DCG, indicating that investors continue to pour into the crypto market despite a $1 trillion drop from its October high.

Institutional holdings

ABTC's Bitcoin reserves have increased by approximately 623 BTC in the past 7 days, and the current holding is 4941 BTC.

Emmett Gallic, the on-chain analyst who previously disclosed and analyzed the "1011 insider whales," published an article on the X platform revealing updated Bitcoin reserves data for American Bitcoin (ABTC), a publicly traded crypto mining company backed by the Trump family. ABTC has increased by approximately 623 BTC in the past seven days, with about 80 coming from mining revenue and 542 from strategic acquisitions on the open market. As of now, ABTC's total Bitcoin holdings have increased to 4,941, with a current market value of approximately $450 million.

A new wallet, suspected to belong to BitMine, withdrew 23,637 ETH, worth $73.4 million, from Kraken.

According to Onchain Lens monitoring, a newly created wallet withdrew 23,637 ETH from Kraken, worth $73.4 million. This wallet likely belongs to BitMine.