Crypto Market Slides: BTC and ETH Lead Broad Decline Ahead of US GDP Data

I. Crypto Market Overview

Key Takeaways

Macro Environment

Asian equities extend gains on Wall Street strength, boosting crypto risk appetite. The Federal Reserve is expected to keep rates steady, supporting liquidity. Gold and silver ETF inflows signal rising safe-haven demand, which may increase crypto volatility.

Crypto Market

The crypto market saw broad declines over the past 12 hours, with BTC down 4.43% to $97,474 and ETH falling 9.27% to $3,144.86, pressured by weak risk sentiment and ETF outflows. Altcoins also dropped, led by MYX (-13.58%), AAVE (-10.62%), and SOL (-8.75%), as DeFi and Layer 1 sectors underperformed. CRV fell 7.59% despite recent DeFi activity, while H token showed relative resilience, down just 0.92%.

Today's Outlook

U.S. Q3 GDP data will be released today, providing key insights into economic growth and potentially impacting crypto market sentiment. Significant token unlocks for SOON ($8.82M), UDS ($5.16M), and Jupiter ($10.35M) may affect liquidity and price volatility across related assets.

Fear and Greed Index

98.00% Annual Percentile

29 Fear

Total Crypto Market Cap

$3.00T

0.21%

Total Market Trading Volume

$100.08B

38.48%

Altcoin Season Index

18.18%

Quarterly Percentile

16 / 100

Total Futures Market Open Interest

3.45B

0.30%

Futures

811.87B

11.69%

Perpetuals

II. Industry Updates

Macro-economic Policies

The CME FedWatch tool indicates an 80.1% probability that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates unchanged in January 2026, with only a 19.9% chance of a 25bps cut. This stable rate outlook supports current risk-on sentiment in crypto markets, sustaining BTC and DeFi liquidity.

Gold and silver ETFs saw record inflows on December 23, 2025, with SPDR Gold Trust adding 12.02 tons and iShares Silver Trust gaining 533.01 tons. This surge in safe-haven demand may divert capital from crypto, increasing volatility and impacting altcoin performance.

Foreign holdings of U.S. Treasury bonds have declined to 25-30% from 34% in 2012, signaling a structural shift in global capital flows. This trend could affect USD liquidity and, by extension, stablecoin reserves and cross-border crypto settlements.

Asian equity markets are extending gains for a third day, driven by Wall Street's rally and new global index highs. This positive macro backdrop is boosting risk appetite, supporting crypto asset prices and encouraging inflows into BTC and altcoins.

The offshore yuan (CNH) appreciated by 31 points against the USD, closing at 7.0311 in New York. Strengthening Asian currencies may enhance regional crypto trading volumes and support capital inflows into digital assets.

Cryptocurrency Regulatory Trends

Ghana has officially legalized cryptocurrency trading with the passage of the Virtual Asset Service Providers Bill, establishing a regulatory framework and requiring all crypto firms to register and comply with anti-money laundering standards. This move is expected to boost investor confidence and attract fintech investment.

The European Union Council has endorsed the ECB's digital euro initiative, including privacy-focused offline payments and anti-terrorism features. This regulatory step signals the EU's commitment to digital asset oversight and may influence stablecoin and CBDC adoption across the region.

Michael S. Selig has been sworn in as the new Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), known for advocating clear digital asset regulations and ending enforcement-driven oversight. His leadership could accelerate regulatory clarity for crypto markets in the U.S.

Arizona has proposed new legislative bills to exempt virtual currency and blockchain node operations from state and local taxes, aiming to reduce operational costs and attract crypto businesses, which may enhance the state's competitiveness in blockchain innovation.

South Korea's judiciary has imposed a harsher sentence in a crypto money laundering case, highlighting the country's strict enforcement against illicit crypto activities and reinforcing regulatory vigilance in the digital asset sector.

Humanity Protocol (H): Surged 42.5% in 24h to $0.206, with $202M volume and $453M market cap. The rally is driven by strong liquidity and user growth, as the project expands its decentralized identity ecosystem.

Curve DAO Token (CRV): Rose 8% in 24h to $0.38, with $106M trading volume. The price rebound is fueled by renewed DeFi activity and increased stablecoin trading on the Curve platform.

MYX Finance (MYX): Gained 4% in 24h to $3.36, with $41M volume and $846M market cap. The uptick is supported by growing adoption of its on-chain derivatives trading and cross-chain collateral features.

Smart Money Movements

BlackRock's IBIT fund attracted over $25 billion in inflows as of December 19, 2025, with total holdings reaching 775,352.01 BTC, highlighting strong institutional demand despite recent market volatility.

Strategy Inc. raised $748 million through stock sales last week, increasing its USD reserve to $2.19 billion, while pausing Bitcoin purchases and maintaining a holding of 671,268 BTC valued at over $6 billion.

Bitmine acquired 98,852 ETH for approximately $300 million, boosting its total Ethereum holdings to 4,066,062 ETH, or 3.37% of the total ETH supply, making it the largest Ethereum holder globally after MSTR.

Trump Media expanded its Bitcoin holdings by 451 BTC, bringing its total to 11,542 BTC valued at over $1.03 billion, reinforcing the trend of corporate accumulation of digital assets.

A whale transferred 3.8 billion PUMP tokens worth $7.57 million to FalconX, realizing a loss of $12.22 million, underscoring the risks and volatility associated with large-scale token movements.

Events to Watch

Dec 23 (Tue)

U.S. Q3 GDP data will be released, offering key insights into economic growth; Canada will publish October GDP figures.

Dec 23 (Tue)

SOON, UDS, and Jupiter tokens will unlock, with SOON unlocking $8.82M, UDS $5.16M, and Jupiter $10.35M, impacting market liquidity.

Dec 24 (Wed)

Hyperliquid validators will conclude a vote on the $1 billion HYPE token burn; Nillion unlocks 10.84M tokens, 3.84% of supply.

Dec 25 (Thu)

Uniswap's UNIfication proposal vote closes, deciding on protocol fee activation and 100M UNI burn; H token unlocks $15.28M.

Dec 26 (Fri)

Over $28.5 billion in Bitcoin and Ethereum options will expire on Deribit, marking the largest expiry in the exchange's history.

Table of Contents

I. Crypto Market Overview

Key Takeaways

Macro Environment

Crypto Market

Today's Outlook

II. Industry Updates

Macro-economic Policies

The CME FedWatch tool indicates an 80.1% probability that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates unchanged in January 2026, with only a 19.9% chance of a 25bps cut. This stable rate outlook supports current risk-on sentiment in crypto markets, sustaining BTC and DeFi liquidity.

Gold and silver ETFs saw record inflows on December 23, 2025, with SPDR Gold Trust adding 12.02 tons and iShares Silver Trust gaining 533.01 tons. This surge in safe-haven demand may divert capital from crypto, increasing volatility and impacting altcoin performance.

Foreign holdings of U.S. Treasury bonds have declined to 25-30% from 34% in 2012, signaling a structural shift in global capital flows. This trend could affect USD liquidity and, by extension, stablecoin reserves and cross-border crypto settlements.

Asian equity markets are extending gains for a third day, driven by Wall Street's rally and new global index highs. This positive macro backdrop is boosting risk appetite, supporting crypto asset prices and encouraging inflows into BTC and altcoins.

The offshore yuan (CNH) appreciated by 31 points against the USD, closing at 7.0311 in New York. Strengthening Asian currencies may enhance regional crypto trading volumes and support capital inflows into digital assets.

Cryptocurrency Regulatory Trends

The European Union Council has endorsed the ECB's digital euro initiative, including privacy-focused offline payments and anti-terrorism features. This regulatory step signals the EU's commitment to digital asset oversight and may influence stablecoin and CBDC adoption across the region.

Michael S. Selig has been sworn in as the new Chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), known for advocating clear digital asset regulations and ending enforcement-driven oversight. His leadership could accelerate regulatory clarity for crypto markets in the U.S.

Arizona has proposed new legislative bills to exempt virtual currency and blockchain node operations from state and local taxes, aiming to reduce operational costs and attract crypto businesses, which may enhance the state's competitiveness in blockchain innovation.

South Korea's judiciary has imposed a harsher sentence in a crypto money laundering case, highlighting the country's strict enforcement against illicit crypto activities and reinforcing regulatory vigilance in the digital asset sector.

Trending Tokens

Humanity Protocol (H): Surged 42.5% in 24h to $0.206, with $202M volume and $453M market cap. The rally is driven by strong liquidity and user growth, as the project expands its decentralized identity ecosystem.

Curve DAO Token (CRV): Rose 8% in 24h to $0.38, with $106M trading volume. The price rebound is fueled by renewed DeFi activity and increased stablecoin trading on the Curve platform.

MYX Finance (MYX): Gained 4% in 24h to $3.36, with $41M volume and $846M market cap. The uptick is supported by growing adoption of its on-chain derivatives trading and cross-chain collateral features.

Smart Money Movements

BlackRock's IBIT fund attracted over $25 billion in inflows as of December 19, 2025, with total holdings reaching 775,352.01 BTC, highlighting strong institutional demand despite recent market volatility.

Strategy Inc. raised $748 million through stock sales last week, increasing its USD reserve to $2.19 billion, while pausing Bitcoin purchases and maintaining a holding of 671,268 BTC valued at over $6 billion.

Bitmine acquired 98,852 ETH for approximately $300 million, boosting its total Ethereum holdings to 4,066,062 ETH, or 3.37% of the total ETH supply, making it the largest Ethereum holder globally after MSTR.

Trump Media expanded its Bitcoin holdings by 451 BTC, bringing its total to 11,542 BTC valued at over $1.03 billion, reinforcing the trend of corporate accumulation of digital assets.

A whale transferred 3.8 billion PUMP tokens worth $7.57 million to FalconX, realizing a loss of $12.22 million, underscoring the risks and volatility associated with large-scale token movements.

Events to Watch

Dec 23 (Tue)

Dec 23 (Tue)

Dec 24 (Wed)

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