December 19th: This Friday, the US stock market will welcome the quarterly "Triple Witching Day" (concurrent expiration of stock index futures, stock index options, and stock options), with the nominal value of expiring contracts being highlighted by multiple institutions as at a historical high. This may amplify trading volume and volatility during the trading day, especially near key levels, making "rapid rallies and sharp drops" more likely to occur.BiyaPay analysts believe that the volatility on this type of "concentration expiration day" mostly comes from position migration and hedge adjustments. Short-term opportunities and risks are both amplified, so it is advisable to control positions, avoid chasing prices, and prioritize using staggered orders and stop-loss protection.BiyaPay analysts remind traders: If participating in contract or option-related trading, it is recommended to check margin requirements and order prices in advance to avoid slippage and liquidation risks. BiyaPay supports USDT trading for US stocks, Hong Kong stocks, and futures, as well as spot and perpetual cryptocurrency trading (with 0 maker fees for perpetual contracts).

December 18, according to official sources, United Stables announced the official launch of the US Dollar stablecoin U. It is currently deployed on both the BNB Smart Chain (BSC) and Ethereum (ETH) chains and has completed multiple ecosystem integrations. The U stablecoin is backed by a 1:1 full reserve (USD + top-tier stablecoins) and features real-time on-chain reserve proof (PoR), monthly audits, etc. In the future, it will support enterprise-level privacy protection and AI-native payments (EIP-3009/x402). U is the first "unified stablecoin" on the BNB Chain, integrating mainstream stablecoins as usable collateral assets to create a unified liquidity layer.In terms of ecosystem integration, U has integrated and supported mainstream DeFi protocols including PancakeSwap, Aster, Four.meme, ListaDAO, allowing users to directly participate in on-chain trading, staking, borrowing, and liquidity provision. In terms of wallet support, Binance Wallet, Trust Wallet, and SafePal have simultaneously launched U. Apart from the on-chain world, U has also been listed on the centralized exchange platform HTX.United Stables stated that U will focus on empowering trading, DeFi, institutional settlements, cross-border payments, AI autonomous economy, etc., and plans to expand to more public chains, DeFi protocols, and trading platforms in the future.

December 18, the Bank of England lowered its benchmark interest rate from 4.00% to 3.75%, in line with market expectations. Previously, the bank had paused its quarterly rate cuts that had been in place since August 2024. (FXStreet)

December 18th, according to The Block, Derive founder Nick Forster stated that traders have significantly shifted towards a defensive structural setup. The 30-day Bitcoin implied volatility has risen to nearly 45%, while the skew remains at around -5%; the longer-term skew is also anchored at this level in the first and second quarters of next year.Around the upcoming expiry date, the market positions show a clear polarization. At $100,000 and $120,000 strike prices, the open interest for call options continues to accumulate, indicating that some traders are still betting on a possible strong rebound in Bitcoin.However, the overall fund flows indicate a stronger sense of caution. Forster pointed out that shorts are accumulating a "significant scale of put option exposure" near the $85,000 strike price to hedge in case Bitcoin drops below this key level in the short term. He added that the option's implied probability still reflects a challenging market environment: the market only gives Bitcoin about a 30% probability of touching $100,000 and only about a 10% probability of reclaiming its all-time high.

December 18th, according to market sources, Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT.O) will engage in a full stock transaction merger with TAE TECHNOLOGIES, with the transaction expected to be completed by mid-2026. The merged company is expected to select a site in 2026 and begin construction of the first utility-scale nuclear fusion power plant. (Golden Ten)

December 18th, according to official sources, Binance Alpha has announced that it will become the first platform to list TradeTide (TTD) on December 20th.Eligible users can visit the Alpha event page after Alpha trading opens to claim an airdrop using Binance Alpha points. More details will be announced later.

December 18, Binance Alpha has launched VOOI (VOOI), with the current price of $0.164 and a market cap of $49.9 million. Eligible users can receive an airdrop of 335 VOOI tokens, worth approximately $55 based on the current price.

December 18th, according to official data, the cumulative trading volume of Bitget's tokenized stocks has exceeded 500 million U.S. dollars. From the trading structure perspective, the trading volume is mainly concentrated in popular assets such as Tesla, Nvidia, Apple, Meta, and others. Previously, according to data disclosed by Ondo Finance, in the first week of December, the trading volume of Ondo tokenized stocks on Bitget exceeded 88 million U.S. dollars, accounting for 73% of the market share.To reduce the participation threshold and enhance trading flexibility, Bitget has extended the zero-fee plan for tokenized stocks until January 16, 2026, exempting designated products from transaction fees and Gas fees.

December 18th, according to Hyperinsight monitoring, the "Whale" increased their ETH long position by 575 coins in nearly half an hour, bringing their total holdings to 5575 coins.At the time of writing, their latest round of long positions is valued at $15.92 million, with an unrealized loss of $38.46 thousand, and a liquidation price of $2753.

December 18th, according to on-chain analyst Ai Yi (@ai_9684xtpa) monitoring, the "Shorting Whale Insider after the 1011 Flash Crash" increased their long position by 51,612.85 SOL, with a new total holding of 301,612.8 SOL, worth 37.36 million US dollars, an average entry price of 135.2 US dollars, and an unrealized loss of 3.42 million US dollars.After adding to the position, their overall position has officially exceeded 700 million US dollars.

December 18th, according to HyperInsight monitoring, possibly influenced by Binance's dual-coin investment addition, UNI experienced a short-term surge of 10%, now trading at $5.28. The whale address on Hyperliquid starting with 0x413c has unrealized gains of over 50%, with the current position size approximately $1.18 million at an average price of $4.99. This address opened a 10x leveraged long position on UNI at midnight yesterday and has been continuously adding to the position as of 4 hours ago.Furthermore, according to monitoring, the largest UNI short position held by the "Shanzhai Short Army Vanguard" significantly reduced its UNI short position by over 30% at 13:00 yesterday, with the current position size around $3.38 million and unrealized gains of $1.39 million (410%).

December 18, glassnode analyst Chris Beamish combined the "Bitcoin HODLer Net Position Change" data to indicate that current long-term BTC holders are continuing to distribute, and with ongoing supply entering the market, they are increasing selling pressure.

December 18, Norwegian Travel Retail Company (TRN) announced that it accepts Bitcoin payments at Oslo Airport. The payment solution is provided by Satoshi Consult, which has developed a solution that complies with Norwegian regulations.The solution is currently only available for orders for in-store pickup after arriving at Oslo, but Norwegian Travel Retail Company (TRN) is considering expanding it to other stores and payment methods. Paying with Bitcoin will not incur any additional fees, although network or platform fees may appear in the customer's wallet.

December 18, according to an official announcement, Binance Wallet browser extension has added custom network support. Currently, custom networks are only available for EVM-compatible chains. Users' wallet extensions need to be updated to version 1.5.0 or higher.

December 18, JPMorgan Chase has migrated its tokenized deposit product JPM Coin (JPMD) from the internal permissioned chain Kinexys to Coinbase's Ethereum Layer 2 network Base to meet institutional clients' needs for on-chain payments, collateralization, and margin settlement.JPMorgan Chase stated that currently, cash or cash-like instruments on public blockchains are mainly stablecoins, so there is a demand in the market for on-chain payment tools based on bank deposits. JPMD is a permissioned token that can only be transferred between whitelisted users and can serve as a collateral or margin payment tool for crypto transactions. (CoinDesk)

December 18, starting from 16:00 on December 18, 2025 (GMT+8), Binance Dual Investment will add Aster (ASTER), Ethena (ENA), Zcash (ZEC), Uniswap (UNI), Aave (AAVE).Supported trading pairs: ASTER/USDC, ASTER/USDT, ENA/USDC, ENA/USDT, ZEC/USDC, ZEC/USDT, UNI/USDC, UNI/USDT, AAVE/USDC, AAVE/USDT.Subscription tokens: ASTER, ENA, ZEC, UNI, AAVE, USDT, or USDC.

December 18th, according to DefiLlama data, in the past 24 hours, the trading volume of mainstream Perp DEXs has generally increased. Lighter CEO's ambiguous statement has led to a reduced market expectation for its token release this year, resulting in a decrease in its trading volume, currently ranking third, while Hyperliquid has risen to the top. At the same time, most platforms have seen limited changes in TVL, and some platforms have experienced a decrease in open interest compared to yesterday.Hyperliquid has a 24-hour trading volume of approximately $79.1 billion, a TVL of around $41.6 billion, and open interest of $66.7 billion;Aster has a 24-hour trading volume of approximately $76.3 billion, a TVL of around $13 billion, and open interest of $24.1 billion;Lighter has a 24-hour trading volume of approximately $73.2 billion, a TVL of around $14.6 billion, and open interest of $16.5 billion;EdgeX has a 24-hour trading volume of approximately $49 billion, a TVL of around $3.86 billion, and open interest of $7.48 billion;ApeX has a 24-hour trading volume of approximately $24.4 billion, a TVL of around $46.15 million, and open interest of $1.4 billion;Backpack has a 24-hour trading volume of approximately $13.8 billion, TVL not available at the moment, and open interest of $1.98 billion;Variational has a 24-hour trading volume of approximately $10.2 billion, a TVL of around $66.18 million, and open interest of $3.31 billion;Pacifica has a 24-hour trading volume of approximately $6.31 billion, a TVL of around $41.46 million, and open interest of $56.96 million.

December 18, according to Pacifica official website, the funding rate comparison page has added Lighter. Currently, users can view funding rate data from multiple platforms such as Pacifica, Binance, Hyperliquid, Bybit, and Lighter, facilitating quick comparison of rate differences between different platforms.For traders who focus on high-frequency trading and volume boosting to earn points, the funding rate can be used as a basis for selecting trading pairs with controllable trading costs. Following this logic, some high-frequency volume boost traders will prioritize trading pairs on Pacifica that have advantages to reduce trading slippage.On-chain data analysis and copy trading tool Coinbob has now launched Coinbob Pacifica (@CoinbobPAC_bot), allowing users to copy the trading strategies of high-frequency traders, earn trading points, and prepare for potential airdrop opportunities.

December 18th. According to the Financial Times, former Chief AI Scientist of Meta Platforms, Yann LeCun, plans to raise 500 million euros for his new startup. This move will value the artificial intelligence company at around 3 billion euros before its official launch, with the fundraising expected to be completed before the start of January.Sources familiar with the matter revealed that LeCun, who recently announced he would leave Meta by the end of the year, has also appointed Alexandre LeBrun, the founder of the French health tech startup Nabla, as the CEO. Details of this new company, named Advanced Machine Intelligence Labs (AMI Labs), will be announced in January, with LeCun serving as the chairman.

BlockBeats News Update, December 18th: According to the official website, Binance Alpha has now launched LISA, currently priced at $0.16549.