The popular AI framework Virtuals Protocol will host an in-person meet-up in Hong Kong on Friday, January 17.

On December 26, Huma Finance officially launched Season 2 Part 2 of its airdrop. Per the official announcement, airdrop claims will close on January 26 at 13:00 UTC. Airdrop rules for this round: Eligible wallets that missed Part 1 can still claim rewards in Part 2. However, LP users who unstaked or withdrew locked PST and mPST will have their Part 2 allocation reduced accordingly.

December 26: Crypto research firm ASXN released Hyperliquid’s 2025 operational metrics, highlighting key figures: - Annual net fund inflows hit $38.7 billion; 609,662 new users added. - Total 2025 trading volume topped $2.95 trillion, with averages of $83.4 billion daily, $3.47 billion hourly, and $5.79 million per minute. - Order execution volume set a record: 198.9 billion total transactions (including 1.743 trillion perpetual contracts, 226 billion spot trades, ~19 billion HIP-3s), averaging 562 million daily, 23.4 million hourly, ~390,000 per minute. Amid growing momentum in the DEX derivatives sector, Hyperliquid’s fund inflows and trading activity underscore its strong appeal in high-frequency and perpetual contract markets.

December 26 (Bloomberg) — Bitcoin has pulled back roughly 30% from its all-time high, creating an unusual tax opportunity. Several financial advisors note tax-loss harvesting for digital assets this year is likely far higher than in prior years. Bitcoin remains down about 5% on the year, while the S&P 500 Index has climbed roughly 18% over the same period. This stark divergence is giving investors holding both stocks and crypto a strong incentive: Sell their losing Bitcoin positions before year-end to offset capital gains from stock investments — especially those who bought Bitcoin at October’s peak.

December 26, 2025 marked a milestone for the prediction market industry, with platforms Polymarket and Kalshi leading the charge—driving surges in investment, media coverage, and valuations as the space inches toward mainstream acceptance. With the 2026 U.S. midterm elections on the horizon, the prediction market is poised to replicate the trading frenzy seen during the 2024 presidential race. The key question now: Can these platforms transition from being “traffic and topic-driven” to scalable prediction infrastructure? ### Capital Flows & Valuation Surges - **Kalshi**: Secured $1 billion in November funding (led by Sequoia Capital and CapitalG) at an $11 billion valuation, following an October $300 million Series D round that valued it at $5 billion. - **Polymarket**: NYSE parent ICE invested $2 billion, with CEO Shayne Coplan later disclosing a ~$9 billion valuation. Analysts note the prediction market’s core value lies not in short-term revenue, but in collective intel

On December 26, Greeks.Live researcher Adam shared on social media that the crypto community remains cautious-to-bearish on the market, with traders leaning toward selling option premiums over placing directional bets. Key trading activity centers on the $88,770 strike for the December 26 options expiry, with traders noting max pain at $98,134. Probability models flag a 2σ (two-standard-deviation) move of -$17,000 in the 6-month outlook, while also highlighting a shift in market focus toward the metals space. ### Option Strategy Shift: Premium Selling Amid Uncertainty - Traders are planning bullish call spreads and naked put sales, with a focus on net selling of call options overall. They’re also holding short-term call/put positions in a set ratio to capture premiums amid low conviction. - A trader has put on an ETH short strangle (strikes 2750/3150, expires Jan 2) — though caution is advised to wait and see, given the risk of overtrading during the holiday lull with thin li

December 26: Ethereum researchers and developers are eyeing 2026 as a pivotal year for the blockchain to unlock exponential scalability via zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs. By then, some validators will stop re-executing transactions and instead directly validate ZK proofs— a fundamental shift in how the network operates, on par with the 2022 merge from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS). Ethereum researcher Justin Drake noted that initial validators will validate ZK proofs for each block rather than re-running all transactions, delivering instant scalability to Layer 1 and laying the groundwork for a future 10,000 transactions per second (TPS). For context, Ethereum’s mainnet currently handles roughly 30 TPS. During Devconnet, Drake demonstrated that ZK proof validation can run on an old laptop. By the end of 2026, around 10% of validators are expected to switch to ZK validation mode (Lean Execution Phase 1). This shift will slash hardware requirements for validator nodes wh