Crypto Market Slides as BTC, ETH Lead Declines; Key CPI and Token Unlocks Ahead

I. Crypto Market Overview

Key Takeaways

Macro Environment

The Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut rates at the December 9-10 FOMC, fueling risk appetite. The Bank of Japan signals a historic rate hike, driving global bond volatility and impacting crypto flows. Eurozone inflation rose to 2.2% in November, but the ECB is likely to keep rates steady.

Crypto Market

The crypto market saw broad declines over the past 12 hours, with Bitcoin down 4.4% to $97,474 and Ethereum falling 9.3% to $3,144.86, pressured by weak risk sentiment and ETF outflows. Altcoins also dropped, with MYX -13.6%, PUMP -8.0%, and SKY -9.1%, as risk-off flows dominated and no major positive catalysts emerged.

Today's Outlook

Key events today include the Eurozone November CPI release, which may influence risk sentiment, and MultiversX's Staking V5 upgrade at 17:00 UTC. Eigencloud (EIGEN) will unlock $19.55M in tokens, representing 10.79% of its supply, potentially impacting its price and liquidity.

Fear and Greed Index

92.00% Annual Percentile

20 Fear

Total Crypto Market Cap

$2.97T

1.86%

Total Market Trading Volume

$139.90B

2.72%

Altcoin Season Index

16.67%

Quarterly Percentile

22 / 100

Total Futures Market Open Interest

4.28B

16.07%

Futures

716.25B

4.55%

Perpetuals

II. Industry Updates

Macro-economic Policies

The Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut interest rates at its December 9-10 FOMC meeting, with futures markets pricing in an 87% probability. A rate cut could boost Bitcoin and DEFI liquidity by lowering the opportunity cost of holding risk assets.

Bank of Japan Governor Ueda signaled a likely rate hike at the December 18-19 policy meeting, marking a historic shift from ultra-loose policy. Rising Japanese yields and a stronger yen have triggered global bond sell-offs, increasing volatility in crypto markets.

Eurozone inflation accelerated to 2.2% in November, while unemployment hit a 16-month high at 6.4%. Despite these mixed signals, the ECB is expected to keep rates steady, limiting immediate impact on crypto market flows.

US labor market data showed rising unemployment and weak job growth, fueling expectations for monetary easing. This has led to increased stablecoin reserves on exchanges, indicating readiness for potential crypto market rallies.

India's Q3 GDP grew 8.2%, but industrial production disappointed at 0.4%. Strong GDP supports risk sentiment, but weak manufacturing may temper capital inflows into emerging market crypto assets.

Cryptocurrency Regulatory Trends

Pakistan has introduced FATF-aligned crypto regulations, requiring VASPs to report transactions over 1 million rupees and use blockchain analytics, enhancing AML compliance and likely increasing operational costs for exchanges.

South Korea's ruling party set a December 10 deadline for a stablecoin regulation proposal, with potential for a bank-led consortium to oversee issuance, signaling stricter oversight and boosting investor confidence.

The U.S. Federal Money Service Business Association launched the Stablecoin Standards Authority to set voluntary benchmarks for dollar-pegged stablecoins, aiming to improve transparency and foster institutional trust in stablecoin markets.

Japan is advancing new crypto regulations, including mandatory reserve requirements for exchanges, which is expected to strengthen investor protection and align digital assets with traditional financial standards.

Bolivia extended the crypto exchange license application deadline to April 2026, reflecting ongoing regulatory adjustments and providing more time for compliance, which may delay broader market participation.

Pump.fun (PUMP): PUMP surged 14.2% in 24h with $192M volume, driven by strong memecoin trading activity and increased user engagement on Solana-based launchpad.

Sky (SKY): SKY rose 12.6% in 24h with $27.4M volume, following continued momentum after the Maker (MKR) to SKY rebranding and active protocol governance participation.

MYX Finance (MYX): MYX gained 13% in 24h with $55.6M volume, supported by high on-chain derivatives trading and growing adoption of its cross-chain perpetuals platform.

Smart Money Movements

A Solana whale transferred 439,938 SOL ($56 million) from Coinbase Institutional to an unknown wallet, signaling possible accumulation amid bullish technical indicators.

Trader 0xFC78 opened a 40x short position on 500 Bitcoin worth $43.88 million, after achieving $2.12 million in realized profits over the past 11 days.

SharpLink earned 484 ETH in staking rewards last week, bringing its total Ethereum staking rewards to 8,330 ETH since June 2025.

ASTER's buyback wallet acquired $2.2 million in ASTER tokens within 24 hours, while a team wallet sold approximately $1 million in tokens during the same period.

An Ethereum ICO participant deposited 23,000 ETH ($66.53 million) to FalconX over the past week, with the latest transaction involving 3,000 ETH ($8.4 million).

Events to Watch

Dec 2 (Tue)

Eurozone November CPI data to be released, including Core CPI and HICP ex Energy & Food; MultiversX enables Staking V5 upgrade at 17:00 UTC; Eigencloud (EIGEN) unlocks $19.55M tokens, 10.79% of supply.

Dec 3 (Wed)

Ethereum Fusaka upgrade goes live, aiming to boost network speed and reduce costs by changing data storage and validation mechanisms.

Dec 4 (Thu)

Nockchain will launch its bridge to the Base network, enhancing cross-chain interoperability and asset transfers.

Dec 5 (Fri)

Delysium releases market maker strategy agent on Lucy; Cetus relaunches after previous hack, aiming to restore user confidence and platform security.

Dec 7 (Sun)

PulseChain Peacock to deploy Railgun contract, enabling private and efficient asset movement between PulseChain and Railgun.

Table of Contents