💸 LIT Token Airdrop, Unleash Hacker Moves $4M

Good afternoon,

As the year winds down, altcoins continue to drift lower while Bitcoin hovers in a broad $80K–$100K range. Meanwhile, Lighter DEX rolls out its LIT token with an airdrop, and the Unleash Protocol hacker has moved nearly $4M in ETH through Tornado Cash.

Let’s dive into the details and more! 👇

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News Roundup

Artificial Intelligence

• AI Advances Faster Than Expected and Could Transform Society at Industrial-Revolution Scale (The Hill)

Decentralized, Centralized, & Traditional Finance

• Traders Divided on Whether Lighter’s LIT Exceeds $3B Valuation After Launch (CoinDesk)

• GameFi Struggled in 2025 but Sees Signs of Structural Evolution (Delphi Digital)

• Institutions Apply Bitcoin Options Strategies to Altcoins (CoinDesk)

• Viral “U Cards” Spur Quiet Stablecoin Use in China Despite Crypto Ban (Cointelegraph)

• Tokenized Stocks Reach $1.2B Market Cap in ‘Stablecoin Moment’ (Cointelegraph)

• Onchain Perpetual Futures Fuel Boom in Crypto Derivatives Trading (Cointelegraph)

• Iran’s Currency Crisis Highlights Bitcoin’s Role as a Hedge (Cointelegraph)

Exchanges

• Binance Pauses Visa and Mastercard Withdrawals for Ukrainian Users (Cointelegraph)

• South Korea’s Financial Giants Edge Into Crypto Exchanges Ahead of New Rules (Cointelegraph)

• South Korea Flags Major Crypto Exchanges as ‘Core Infrastructure’ (KBS)

• Coinbase Signals Upcoming Spot Trading for Lighter Token (Coinbase Markets)

Exchange-Traded Funds

• Grayscale Files for Spot Bittensor ETF After Network’s First Halving (The Block)

• On Dec. 29, U.S. Bitcoin spot ETFs recorded a net outflow of $19.29 million.

• U.S. Ethereum spot ETFs saw $9.63 million in net outflows on Dec. 29.

• On Dec. 29, U.S. Solana spot ETFs attracted $2.93 million in net inflows.

• U.S. XRP spot ETFs logged $8.44 million in net inflows on Dec. 29.

• Truth Social Launches Five America-First ETFs on NYSE (GlobeNewswire)

Infrastructure

• Ethereum Smart Contract Deployments Hit Record High in Q4 (Joseph Young)

• Flow Drops Chain Rollback Plan After Community Backlash (Cointelegraph)

Markets

• UNI Slips Despite 100M Token Burn (The Defiant)

• Bitcoin Long-Term Holders Resume Accumulation After Heavy Selling Pressure (CoinDesk)

• $11B Bitcoin Whale Dumps $330M ETH, Piles Into $748M Long Bets on Major Tokens (Cointelegraph)

• Chinese Investors Pour $188M Into CBDC Stocks After Digital Yuan Interest Move (DL News)

• Altcoins Drift Lower in Thin Year-End Trade as Bitcoin Eyes $80K–$100K Range (CoinDesk)

• NIGHT Rallies After Charles Hoskinson Endorses XRP DeFi Integration (The Defiant)

• Bitcoin Reclaims $89K in Rare U.S. Session Rally as Shorts Cover (CoinDesk)

Politics & Regulation

• SEC Crypto Policy Leader Cicely LaMothe to Retire (The Block)

• Maxine Waters Demands SEC Oversight Hearing on Crypto Policy Shifty (Cointelegraph)

• South Korea’s Stablecoin Bill Delayed by Dispute Over Who Can Issue Tokens (The Block)

• Russia Proposes Criminal Penalties for Illegal Cryptocurrency Mining (Interfax)

• CARF Crypto Tax Reporting Takes Effect Jan. 1 Across UK, EU and Beyond (Cointelegraph)

• South Korea Pushes for Receipts on All Crypto Transactions Under AML Overhaul (DL News)

Token Generation Events

• Lighter DEX Launches LIT Token With 25% Airdrop to Early Users (CoinDesk)

• Lighter Users Face Withdrawal Issues as Prover Falls Behind Sequencer (Lighter)

Treasuries

• Metaplanet Buys 4,279 BTC, Raising Holdings to 35,102 Bitcoin (CoinDesk)

• Cypherpunk Expands Zcash Treasury to Over 290,000 ZEC (PR Newswire)

• BlackRock’s BUIDL Passes $2B in Assets After Paying $100M in Dividends (CoinDesk)

• South Korean Retail Investors Stick With BitMine Despite 80% Stock Plunge (Bloomberg)

Other News

• Blockchain Security Losses Jump to Nearly $3B in 2025 Despite Fewer Incidents (SlowMist)

• Australia Enforces Search ID Rules as Ireland Pushes to End Online Anonymity (Cointelegraph)

• ZachXBT Ties Fake Coinbase Support Scam to $2M in Crypto Losses (Cointelegraph)

• Unleash Protocol Hacker Launders Nearly $4M in ETH Through Tornado Cash (The Block)

Check This Out!

Despite a generally negative market backdrop, privacy tokens emerged as Q4 2025’s strongest performers, led by ZEC, per Grayscale.

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