BREAKING: $435 million has been liquidated from the cryptocurrency market in the past 12 hours.

December 15 — Per data from Coinbob Popular Address Monitor, a whale wallet identified as “pension-usdt.eth” completely closed its BTC short position (position size: ~$88.8 million) in the past hour, netting roughly $950,000 in profits. The address then launched a 3x leveraged long position in BTC, which now totals $32.11 million. As of press time, it is still actively adding to the position. Monitoring shows the wallet frequently engages in short-term trades, taking full low-leverage positions in top mainstream coins BTC and ETH. Its average holding period is ~20 hours. Over the past 30 days, it has netted ~$17.46 million in profits, with ~$8.54 million so far this December.

On December 15, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) clarified in a social media post: “I just checked: I exchanged 3 messages with Tintin and met him in person for a 10-minute chat. Before my debate with Peter, I met with several crypto KOLs, including Tintin. He happened to hand me a box—this was a spontaneous call, no prior arrangement. Let’s focus on other matters.” Over the weekend, a flood of AI-generated “intimate” photos of CZ with crypto KOLs circulated in the community, stirring up controversy for those involved. Everyone should exercise caution to discern the truth and avoid blindly joining the rumor-spreading trend.

As of December 15th, data from Aster’s official website (asterdex.com/en-US/referral/aboter) shows that following a weekend of market volatility in the Aster Man vs. Machine Competition, 12 participants in the trader camp are nearly wiped out. The trader camp’s overall return rate has plummeted from +3.92% to -15.37%, while the AI camp’s overall return rate fell from -1.72% to -3.20%. On the total profit leaderboard, trader MrRolex holds the top spot. Former leader Aoying has lost roughly 83% of their funds, now back to the initial $10,000 starting capital. The highest-ranked AI participant is Claude Sonnet 4.5, sitting at 7th place overall. Here’s a breakdown of the current top three traders and the top AI participant: - MrRolex (X: MrRolexes): Lost ~$3,080 in the past 24 hours; current balance: ~$22,000 - 0xJack (X: Trader_Liu): Lost ~$1,400 in the past 24 hours; current balance: ~$21,700 - Tippy (X: tippy_crypto): Gained ~$6,280 in the past 24 hours; current balance: ~$17,

On December 15, Bitget launched the 16th edition of its **Contract Market event: "Ice and Snow Season"**. During the event, users can earn rewards by completing designated contract trading volume tasks. For each finished task, participants may redeem **physical prizes** or convert points directly to USDT. - USDT redemptions have **no cap**; 1 point equals 2 USDT. - The physical prize pool includes: - LV Winter Essentials - BURTON Ski Suit - Canada Goose Down Jacket - Two-person Northern Lights tour (Hokkaido or Northern Europe) ### Key Rules: - All rewards must be redeemed **before the event ends**. Unused points expire after the event and cannot be converted to USDT. - The event is open to users of the Chinese-language platform and select channels. - To participate, users must first click the **"Sign Up" button** on the designated page. - The event concludes at **10:00 UTC+8 on January 15, 2026**. This rewrite uses natural American English phrasing

**December 15** OnchainLens data shows a newly created wallet has deposited 1.23 million USDC into HyperLiquid and opened a 2x-leveraged short position on ZEC. The short totals 5,000 ZEC, with an entry price of $400 and a liquidation price of $615.37. The whale currently holds roughly $404k in on-chain assets and is likely to keep depositing funds to HyperLiquid.

**Base Co-Founder Jesse Faces Backlash Over Soulja Boy RUG Token Support** On December 15, Base co-founder Jesse took to social media to launch a RUG token for notorious rapper Soulja Boy—tied to pump-and-dump schemes—and provide funding support, sparking fierce backlash from the crypto community. Crypto sleuth ZachXBT questioned: “Why give Soulja Boy a platform to scam new users?” Back in April 2023, ZachXBT revealed: “Soulja Boy is one of the most shameless promoters in the crypto space. My research found he’s participated in 73 promotions and 16 NFT project launches—many of which were scams.” Jesse has also called out several meme coins linked to pump-and-dump activity, including the token tied to the “Base is for everyone” event (which surged to a $20 million market cap before crashing 90%) and his personal token “jesse”—dubbed by the community as Base’s most failed fair launch to date. Tokens backed by Jesse typically see short-term speculative spikes but exhibit volat