A Whale Trader Suffers Over $12 Million in Losses on PUMP Trade, Previously DCAed 3.806 Billion PUMP at an Average Price of $0.00513

On December 23, Coinglass data shows centralized exchanges (CEXs) recorded a net BTC inflow of 1,596.23 over the past 24 hours. Top 3 CEX inflows: - Kraken: +2,045.55 BTC - OKX: +233.79 BTC - Coinbase Pro: +167.13 BTC Binance led net outflows with -873.88 BTC.

Hong Kong police announced updates on Wednesday (Dec. 23) regarding a 10-billion-yen (approx. HK$50 million) armed robbery in Central, arresting 15 suspects—including the mastermind, some with ties to organized crime—and formally charging seven with "conspiracy to commit robbery." The case involves a Japanese firm operating in virtual currency and designer handbags. On Dec. 18, two company employees carrying four suitcases of yen cash planned to exchange the funds for cryptocurrency and Hong Kong dollars via a known money changer. Near Central’s New World Tower, four knife-wielding robbers snatched all the cash in under 30 seconds. Probes revealed the robbers had clear roles: some carried out the heist, others acted as lookouts, and some provided getaway vehicles. They quickly transferred the stolen cash via "cross-car" switches post-robbery, showing a sophisticated modus operandi. Police seized crime tools, clothing, and masks but are still tracking most of the stolen money.

**December 23 Update** Data from Coinbob Popular Address Monitor shows the address linked to the "former Hyperliquid employee" (0x7ae) has fully closed its HYPE short position for a minor loss in the past hour. The position was previously held at an average price of ~$24.17, with a size of roughly $24,000. Additionally, the address has steadily cut its HYPE spot holdings since the start of this month—dropping from $5.85 million to $2.43 million, a total reduction of over 70,000 tokens. Current holdings stand at ~98,200 tokens, resulting in a monthly loss of $1.53 million. The address first drew attention for shorting HYPE and its ties to the Hyperliquid team. Per today’s Hyperliquid announcement, the address belongs to a former employee terminated in Q1 2024, who has since fully disassociated from Hyperliquid Labs. Their actions do not reflect the team’s standards or values.

On December 23, data from Coinglass shows that if Bitcoin drops below $86,000, cumulative long liquidation intensity across major centralized exchanges (CEXs) will hit $1.017 billion. Conversely, if Bitcoin climbs above $90,000, cumulative short liquidation intensity on major CEXs will total $677 million. BlockBeats Note: Liquidation charts do not display the exact number of contracts subject to liquidation or their precise value. Instead, the bars on these charts reflect the relative importance of each liquidation cluster compared to neighboring clusters—i.e., "intensity." As such, these charts illustrate how strongly the underlying asset’s price will react when it hits a specific level. A taller "liquidation bar" signals a more pronounced price reaction driven by a liquidity cascade.

As of December 23, Binance will delist the following margin trading pairs on December 30, 2025, at 06:00 UTC: - Cross Margin Trading Pairs: EIGEN/FDUSD, ARB/FDUSD, TRUMP/FDUSD, POL/FDUSD, ATOM/FDUSD, LDO/FDUSD, SHIB/FDUSD, RAY/FDUSD, GALA/FDUSD, PEPE/FDUSD - Isolated Margin Trading Pairs: EIGEN/FDUSD, ARB/FDUSD, POL/FDUSD, ATOM/FDUSD, LDO/FDUSD, SHIB/FDUSD, GALA/FDUSD, PEPE/FDUSD

**Hyperliquid Names Lighter as Direct Competitor; Addresses HYPE Insider Shorting Concerns** On December 23, Hyperliquid said in an official announcement it identifies Lighter as a direct competitor alongside Binance and Aster. The platform noted those three are operated by centralized orderers to manage transaction states, highlighting its own architectural edge: fully on-chain, run by 24 validators, and no hidden state. Lighter, meanwhile, centers on “verifiable execution” and a proof mechanism, offering auditability for its CLOB-style transaction structure. Competition between the two in decentralized trading infrastructure is ramping up. Separately, Hyperliquid addressed community concerns over a suspected insider shorting incident tied to its HYPE token. It stated the linked wallet belonged to a former employee fired in early 2024, whose actions had no connection to the team. The platform stressed strict internal HYPE transaction and compliance restrictions apply to emplo