Binance Wallet will launch the Pre-TGE and Booster Plan for Bitway (BTW)

On December 19, per The Block, Ethereum developers have named the upcoming upgrade “Hegota”—a nod to Glamsterdam—combining the execution layer’s Bogota upgrade and the consensus layer’s Heze upgrade. The Bogota upgrade carries on the tradition of naming upgrades for Devcon’s host city, while Heze is named after a star. Per reports, the main EIP for Hegota will be finalized in February, and development on Glamsterdam—the first planned Ethereum upgrade of 2026—remains ongoing.

On December 19th, on-chain analyst Ai Auntie (@ai_9684xtpa) reported that Garrett Jin—speaking for the "BTC OG Insider Whale"—has broken a two-month silence to double down on a bullish crypto outlook. He’s targeting Bitcoin at $106,000 and Ethereum at $4,500, citing two key angles: - **Macro**: The bearish narrative is crumbling. U.S. equities face no material systemic risks, and factors like Japan’s rate hike, the four-year crypto cycle, and the Christmas liquidity crunch won’t meaningfully impact markets. - **Technical**: U.S. stocks are poised for upward volatility, and BTC/ETH (highly correlated to U.S. equities) will follow. The odds of ETH outperforming the Nasdaq 100 in the coming months have risen. The whale currently holds a $693 million long position, with an unrealized loss of $42.55 million. Its entry points are ~$91,506.7 for BTC and ~$3,147.39 for ETH.

On December 19, the General Office of the State Council released the *Opinions on Comprehensive Full-Chain Crackdown on Tobacco-Related Illegal Activities*. The document noted that authorities will: - Strengthen risk control for tobacco-related activities on inbound and outbound transportation vehicles and international mail; - Enhance analysis and judgment of tobacco-related illegal activities (including those involving overseas-registered websites and virtual currency transactions); - Accurately crack down on tobacco smuggling using new technologies and channels.

On December 19th, Onchain Lens monitoring shows a whale at address "0xa8e" has shorted 1,125.2 BTC with 40x leverage. The position is currently valued at $99 million, with a liquidation price of $89,130.95. In prior trades, the whale has already lost over $3 million.

On December 19, Tom Lee—Chairman of Ethereum Treasury firm BitMine—told CNBC in an interview: “I don’t think Bitcoin has peaked yet. We were overly optimistic earlier about hitting that mark by December. But I do believe Bitcoin could reach a new all-time high by the end of January 2026. So we shouldn’t assume the prices of Bitcoin, Ethereum, or other cryptocurrencies have peaked.”

On December 19th: Traders spent most of December wondering if the usual year-end “Santa Rally” would materialize as expected. The S&P 500 rose 0.8% on Thursday, snapping a four-day losing streak that had held earlier in the month. Historical trends suggest the stock market could keep climbing: Castle Securities data shows that since 1928, the S&P 500 has had a 75% chance of rising in the final two weeks of December, with an average gain of 1.3%. Goldman Sachs’ trading desk team—including Gail Hafif—said: “It’ll be hard to fight the seasonal tailwind we’re about to hit and improved positioning, unless there’s a major shock. While we don’t necessarily expect a sharp rally, we do see room for more upside through year-end.” (FXStreet)