Important news from last night and this morning (December 23-December 24)

The Central Bank of Russia plans to open up cryptocurrency investment and proposes new rules to differentiate investor levels.

The Central Bank of Russia has released a draft concept for regulating the cryptocurrency market, proposing to allow qualified and unqualified investors to invest in crypto assets under certain regulations. Unqualified investors, after passing a test, can purchase up to 300,000 rubles (approximately $3,800) of highly liquid cryptocurrencies annually through a single intermediary. Qualified investors, after passing a risk assessment, can invest unlimited amounts in any cryptocurrency except anonymous cryptocurrencies. The concept also proposes that crypto transactions will be conducted through existing licensed institutions, with relevant legislation expected to be completed by July 2026, and legal liability imposed on illegal intermediaries starting in July 2027.

The U.S. Department of Justice released nearly 30,000 pages of documents related to the Epstein case, including false accusations against Trump.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced the official release of nearly 30,000 pages of documents related to the Jeffrey Epstein case. These documents contain some false accusations against Trump that were submitted to the FBI before the 2020 presidential election. The Justice Department stated explicitly that these accusations are baseless and false, and if they had any credibility, they would have been used as political weapons long ago.

The U.S. economy expanded at a rate of 4.3% in the third quarter, the fastest pace in two years.

US Treasury Secretary Bessant supports reconsidering the Federal Reserve's 2% inflation target

U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessant supports reconsidering the Federal Reserve's 2% inflation target. Bessant indicated that discussions would likely revolve around adjusting the inflation target to a range of 1.5%-2.5% or 1%-3%.

Upexi has filed a petition with the SEC seeking to raise up to $1 billion to support its Solana-related businesses.

Upexi, Inc. (NASDAQ: UPXI), which focuses on Solana digital assets, announced that it filed a Form S-3 registration statement with the SEC on December 22, 2025, planning to raise up to $1 billion through a combination of securities offerings, including common stock, preferred stock, debt instruments, warrants, and units.

Upexi, headquartered in Tampa, Florida, manages several consumer brands, including Cure Mushrooms and Lucky Tail, and holds over 2 million SOL tokens (approximately $248 million), making it the fourth-largest holder of Solana treasury tokens among publicly traded companies. The company plans to use the proceeds for working capital, research and development, acquisitions, and debt repayment. Upexi's stock price has fallen by about 50% this year, while the price of SOL has dropped by 34%.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has indicted three fake cryptocurrency trading platforms and four investment clubs for allegedly defrauding people of $14 million.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a lawsuit against three fake cryptocurrency trading platforms—Morocoin, Berge, and Cirkor—and four investment clubs, accusing them of using social media ads to lure retail investors into joining WhatsApp groups and defrauding them of over $14 million by promising AI-powered stock recommendations on fake platforms and counterfeit security tokens. The fraudulent methods included fabricating government licenses, falsifying transaction records, and charging fraudulent withdrawal fees. The SEC is seeking a permanent injunction, civil penalties, and recovery of unjust enrichment.

Spot gold breaks through $4,500 for the first time

Spot silver has broken through the $72/ounce mark for the first time, with a cumulative increase of over $43 this year.

London copper prices broke through $12,000 per ton, setting a new record high.

Binance launches pre-market trading for Lighter (LIT) perpetual contracts.

Binance Futures will launch pre-market trading of LITUSDT perpetual contracts at 23:00 Beijing time on December 23, 2025, with a maximum leverage of 5x.

LITUSDT perpetual contracts are built on Ethereum, with the underlying asset being Lighter Protocol (LIT). This protocol focuses on perpetual contract trading, employing zero-knowledge aggregation technology to reduce latency and provide instant final confirmation. The total supply of LIT is 1 billion, the settlement asset is USDT, and funding fees are settled every four hours.

Nasdaq-listed iPower reaches $30 million convertible note financing agreement to launch DAT strategy.

Nasdaq-listed e-commerce and supply chain platform iPower announced that it has reached a $30 million convertible note financing agreement to launch its Digital Asset Treasury (DAT) strategy. The company disclosed that the first phase of the financing will invest $9 million, of which $4.4 million will be used to purchase Bitcoin and Ethereum, the remaining funds will be used to increase working capital to bolster the balance sheet, and 80% of the subsequent funds will be used for continued acquisitions of digital assets.

Former FTX US president completes $35 million funding round and launches new exchange AX

Former FTX US president Brett Harrison has raised $35 million for his newly founded fintech company, Architect Financial Technologies, valuing the company at approximately $187 million.

The company's exchange, AX, focuses on trading perpetual contracts for traditional assets, including stocks and forex, rather than cryptocurrency perpetual contracts. The AX platform is regulated in Bermuda and is only open to non-US institutional investors because perpetual futures products are not currently approved in the United States.

Fuel and Bubblemaps, valued at $1 billion by VCs, currently have market capitalizations of only $11 million and $6 million, respectively.

According to CryptoRank's chart comparing VC valuations with current market capitalization, the market capitalization of most projects has shrunk significantly compared to their venture capital valuations, reflecting a correction of overvaluation following a shift in market sentiment.

Data shows that Humanity Protocol, Fuel Network, and Bubblemaps all had VC valuations of $1 billion, but their current market capitalizations are only $285 million, $11 million, and $6 million, respectively. The market capitalizations of projects like Plasma, ICNT, DoubleZero, Camp Network, and Treehouse are also far lower than their VC valuations, at $224 million, $247 million, $373,000, $15 million, and $16 million, respectively.

In addition, the market capitalization of projects such as Everlyn, SoSoValue, Privasea, Bitlight, Momentum, Kyo Finance, and Yieldbasis is also lower than their VC valuations. Everlyn's market capitalization is only $26 million, while its VC valuation is as high as $250 million.

Trend Research purchased another 46,000 ETH, bringing its total holdings to over 580,000 ETH, with unrealized losses exceeding $140 million.

According to Ember, Trend Research, a secondary investment firm under Jack Yi, purchased another 46,379 ETH today using leverage, worth approximately $137 million. Since early November when ETH was around $3,400, the firm has accumulated approximately 580,000 ETH, with a total investment of approximately $1.72 billion. The estimated average holding price is $3,208, and the current unrealized loss is approximately $141 million. It borrowed a total of $887 million USDT from Aave, a leverage ratio close to 2. This address is suspected to be the same whale that previously profited $24.48 million from shorting ETH before going long.

A new wallet purchased over 40,000 ETH from Binance and deposited them into Aave V3, and then lent out $63 million in USDT.

According to Onchain Lens, a newly created wallet purchased 40,975 ETH from Binance in the past two hours, worth approximately $121 million. The wallet then deposited the funds into Aave V3 and lent out approximately $63 million USDT. This address is suspected to be linked to a previously reported "whale that lent out 66,000 ETH".

Bitmine purchased another 67,886 ETH in the past 24 hours, worth over $200 million.

According to Lookonchain, Bitmine, owned by Tom Lee, purchased another 67,886 ETH in the past 24 hours, worth approximately $201 million.

$23.7 billion worth of Bitcoin options will expire on Friday, with major positions concentrated around the strike prices of $85,000 and $100,000.

Aster's "Human vs. AI" live trading competition concludes: ProMint takes the championship, while AI achieves a decisive victory over the human team with a slight loss.

The Aster exchange's "Human vs. AI" live trading competition has officially concluded. The AI team's losses were limited to $13,000, with a return on investment (ROI) of -4.48%; the human team, however, suffered a significant loss of $225,000, with an ROI of -32.21%. The leading AI strategy, "Claude Sonnet 4.5 Aggressive," has an account balance of $18,000. Among the human participants, ProMint topped the leaderboard with a profit of $13,600 (account balance of $23,650), winning the championship and a $100,000 prize. Xiaoxia and Romanson, among others, also achieved positive returns, while Tippy, yesterday's top-performing trader, saw a significant decline in his account balance . The bottom 30 of the 70 human traders nearly suffered margin calls, demonstrating a significantly weaker overall performance than the AI.