Crypto Market Slides: BTC and ETH Lead Declines Amid Token Unlocks

I. Crypto Market Overview

Key Takeaways

Macro Environment

The Federal Reserve injected $6.8B in liquidity this week, supporting risk appetite in crypto. US Q3 GDP data and China's M2 money supply updates are expected to drive volatility. Iran's inflation surged to 42.2%, fueling local crypto demand as a hedge.

Crypto Market

The crypto market saw broad declines over the past 12 hours, with BTC down 4.43% to $97,474 and ETH dropping 9.27% to $3,144.86, pressured by weak risk sentiment and ETF outflows. Altcoins also fell, with Canton (CC) plunging 15.06%, UNI down 8.61%, and FIL losing 6.88%, despite recent project news. The DeFi sector led losses, driven by macro headwinds and token unlock events.

Today's Outlook

Today, EigenLayer unlocks 36.85 million tokens ($14.41M) and Hyperliquid unlocks 9.92 million tokens ($257M), significantly increasing token supply and potentially impacting market volatility and sector sentiment.

Fear and Greed Index

56.00% Annual Percentile

28 Fear

Total Crypto Market Cap

$2.97T

0.64%

Total Market Trading Volume

$48.02B

30.77%

Altcoin Season Index

18.18%

Quarterly Percentile

16 / 100

Total Futures Market Open Interest

2.86B

27.91%

Futures

727.51B

7.46%

Perpetuals

II. Industry Updates

Macro-economic Policies

The Federal Reserve injected $6.8 billion into financial markets this week via repo operations, signaling a dovish monetary policy stance. This liquidity boost is expected to support risk appetite in crypto markets, potentially increasing BTC and DeFi flows.

The United States is set to release Q3 GDP data, with markets anticipating 2.5% annualized growth. Any deviation could trigger volatility in crypto assets, as GDP figures influence expectations for future Fed interest rate moves and overall market sentiment.

China will publish updated M2 money supply data, following an 8% annualized increase to CNY 336.9 trillion in November. Expansion in Chinese liquidity may enhance global risk asset demand, supporting crypto market liquidity and trading volumes.

India announced a major overhaul of its Consumer Price Index (CPI) methodology, expanding digital and e-commerce price coverage. This modernization aims to better reflect inflation trends, which could impact INR-denominated crypto trading and local market sentiment.

Iran's annual inflation surged to 42.2% in December, with point-to-point inflation at 52.6%. Persistent high inflation and currency instability are driving increased demand for crypto as a hedge, influencing local and regional digital asset flows.

Cryptocurrency Regulatory Trends

The Australian Federal Court has ordered the shutdown of NGS Crypto for operating without a financial services license, highlighting increased enforcement against unlicensed crypto activities and raising investor protection concerns.

China's Supreme People's Court has called for reforms to commercial laws to better regulate digital transactions and virtual currencies, signaling potential future alignment with international crypto regulatory standards.

The U.S. SEC has approved a three-year blockchain pilot for DTCC's stock settlement subsidiary, reflecting regulatory support for blockchain integration in traditional financial infrastructure and boosting institutional confidence.

India has charged five individuals in a major WhatsApp-based crypto scam, underscoring heightened regulatory scrutiny and the need for stronger anti-fraud measures in the digital asset sector.

Russia's Sberbank has issued its first crypto-backed loan to a Bitcoin mining firm, indicating regulatory openness to blockchain-based financial products and expanding institutional use cases for digital assets.

Canton (CC): Canton surged 17% in 24h, driven by DTCC's announcement of tokenized Treasury plans, boosting institutional adoption sentiment.

Uniswap (UNI): UNI jumped 7.6% in 24h after burning 100 million tokens (~$596M), a major deflationary event following governance approval.

Filecoin (FIL): FIL rose 8.9% in 24h, ranking among top gainers, though no specific project event or news was identified as the immediate catalyst.

Smart Money Movements

BitMine Immersion Technologies increased its staked Ethereum holdings by 103,424 ETH ($303.08M), bringing the total to 257,600 ETH ($750M) as of December 28, 2025, highlighting growing institutional adoption of Ethereum.

A whale realized over $5 million profit on a 3x long Zcash (ZEC) position as ZEC surged past $500 on December 28, 2025, despite the overall portfolio remaining down by more than $2 million.

Multicoin Capital accumulated $30 million worth of Worldcoin (WLD) on December 25, 2025, with on-chain data confirming robust whale interest and a potential shift in market sentiment.

The whale 'pension-USDT.eth' expanded Ethereum short positions by 6,048 ETH to a total of 26,048 ETH ($76.64M) on December 28, 2025, with a current floating loss of $420,000, demonstrating active swing trading strategies.

A major whale sold 27.2 million ARC tokens for approximately $1.2 million on December 28, 2025, causing the token price to drop below $0.04 and contributing to a 10.2% decline in ARC's value over 24 hours.

Events to Watch

Dec 28 (Sun)

EigenLayer unlocks 36.85 million tokens ($14.41M); Hyperliquid unlocks 9.92 million tokens ($257M), impacting token supply.

Dec 30 (Tue)

FOMC minutes for December will be released, providing insight into Fed policy and likely increasing market volatility.

Dec 31 (Wed)

U.S. FOMC minutes release; Solana (SOL) Alpenglow testnet deployment; Injective (INJ) token burn; China RatingDog Manufacturing PMI release.

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