Bloomberg: Despite an 80% Drawdown, Korean Investors Still Buck the Trend and Bet on BitMine

**December 31st** WSJ reports OpenAI is paying some of the highest salaries among tech startups in recent years, with an average stock compensation of roughly $1.5 million for its ~4,000 employees. Per WSJ analysis of Equilar data, over the past 25 years, OpenAI’s compensation in the year prior to a major tech company IPO is 34 times that of 18 peer firms. Financial data shared with investors this summer shows OpenAI’s annual stock compensation is projected to hit ~$3 billion by 2030. The company recently told employees it’s scrapping a policy requiring at least six months of tenure to receive equity— a move that could push salaries higher. Analysis indicates OpenAI’s compensation will reach 46% of revenue by 2025, ranking second only to Rivian (which had no revenue in its pre-IPO year) among firms in the report. For context: Palantir’s stock compensation was 33% of revenue in its 2020 pre-IPO year, Google’s was 15%, and Facebook’s was 6%. (Golden Finance)

**December 31st Update** Per HyperInsight monitoring, the "Ultimate Bear" whale (0x5d2f4) has pared its LIT short position. It currently holds a 3x-leveraged short of 59,208 LIT, with an average entry price of $2.8 and is slightly in profit. Additionally, the whale maintains a 20x-leveraged short of 499.9 BTC (~$44.2M). The position is up $11.53M (413% gain), with an average entry price of $111,500 and a liquidation price of $102,380.

As of December 31, Coinglass data shows total net Bitcoin outflows from centralized exchanges (CEXs) hit 3,451.64 BTC in the past 24 hours. The top three CEXs by Bitcoin outflows are: - Kraken: 1,694.04 BTC - OKX: 1,014.55 BTC - Coinbase Pro: 690.56 BTC Additionally, Bitfinex led CEXs in Bitcoin inflows, recording 605.20 BTC.

As December 31 nears and New Year’s Day approaches, financial markets across multiple regions are implementing early closures or full holidays. Here’s a key update for investors: - Japanese and South Korean stock markets are closed today. - Australia’s stock market closed early at 11:10 Beijing Time today. - Hong Kong’s stock market will close this afternoon, with trading concluding randomly between 12:08 and 12:10 Beijing Time. - German and Italian stock markets are closed. - French, British, and Spanish stock markets will close early between 20:00 and 21:00 Beijing Time. - Chinese futures exchanges will not host a night trading session today. - U.S. Treasury futures contracts will only trade from 15:00 on December 31 to 03:30 on January 1. - Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) Brent crude oil futures trading will end early at 04:00 on January 1. Investors are urged to note these schedules.

On Dec. 31, Coinglass data shows Bitcoin would trigger **$709 million in total short liquidations** across major centralized exchanges (CEXs) if it surges above $90,000. Conversely, a drop below $87,000 would lead to **$823 million in total long liquidations** on these major CEXs. BlockBeats Note: Liquidation charts do not display the exact number or value of contracts being liquidated. The bars instead reflect the **relative significance** of each liquidation cluster compared to adjacent ones — i.e., their intensity. In short, the chart illustrates how impactful reaching a given price level will be: A taller "liquidation bar" signals a stronger market reaction (driven by a liquidity cascade) when prices hit that threshold.

Binance announced on December 31 that it will regularly review all listed spot trading pairs and may delist some based on factors like insufficient liquidity or low trading volume—this move aims to protect user interests and maintain a high-quality trading market. Following its latest review, Binance will remove and cease trading for the following spot pairs **effective January 2, 2026, at 3:00 UTC**: - ARKM/BNB - BARD/BNB - EGLD/RON - LISTA/FDUSD - SCR/FDUSD - ZKC/BNB Note: RON is a fiat currency and does not correspond to any cryptocurrency.