Ethereum Gas Fee Continues to Drop, Now at 0.352 Gwei

On December 15, on-chain data analyst Yu Jin reported that a whale or institution swapped 317 BTC for 9,105 ETH via THORChain today, valued at approximately $28.15 million. Since November 25, the entity has accumulated 2,289 BTC converted into 67,253 ETH (which it holds), with an average ETH entry cost of $3,036.

**December 15th** — Per a report from *The Guardian*, the UK Treasury is drafting rules requiring cryptocurrency firms to adhere to a set of standards and be overseen by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Under legislation set to take effect in 2027, crypto will be regulated similarly to other financial products. UK government officials have been pushing for crypto market reforms. As crypto grows in popularity as an investment and payment method, the market has expanded rapidly. Unlike traditional financial products like stocks and mutual funds, crypto has lacked the same regulatory oversight, leaving consumers with reduced protection. The UK government says the new rules will boost crypto industry transparency, strengthen consumer confidence, and make it easier to spot suspicious activity, enforce sanctions, and hold firms accountable.

As of December 15, monitoring data from HyperInsight (via its Telegram channel @HyperInsight) indicates that the address tied to "Brother Whale" Huang Licheng further reduced its long position by 628.8 ETH 16 minutes ago. Currently, the address holds a long position of 2515.2 ETH with 25x leverage—valued at roughly $7.69 million. It has an unrealized loss of $330,000, with a liquidation price set at $3025.32.

On December 15th, monitoring by HyperInsight (via its Telegram channel @HyperInsight) shows that the "BTC OG Insider Whale" continued to add to its ETH long position with 5x leverage over a 10-minute window. Its current ETH holdings stand at 180,935 coins (roughly $5.53 billion), with an average entry price of $3,169.42 and an unrealized profit and loss (PNL) of -$20.3 million. Additionally, the whale opened a 1,000-BTC long position with 5x leverage, posting an unrealized PNL of -$3.55 million. It also went long 250,000 SOL with 20x leverage, with an unrealized PNL of -$2.07 million.

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) stated on December 15 that his purchase of ASTER exceeded $2 million, with additional buys made after his related tweet—addressing the question of whether he’d only spent $2 million on the token. Previously, CZ noted on November 2 that he bought ASTER that day, sharing a transaction screenshot showing his account held 2,090,598.14 ASTER at $0.913 per token. He also mentioned increasing his ASTER position on November 4.

On December 15, data from Coinglass shows that if Bitcoin drops below $86,000, the cumulative long liquidation intensity across major centralized exchanges (CEXs) will hit $514 million. Conversely, if Bitcoin breaks above $90,000, the cumulative short liquidation intensity for these mainstream CEXs will reach $417 million. BlockBeats Note: Liquidation charts do not reflect the exact number of contracts at risk of liquidation or their precise value. Instead, the bars on these charts represent how significant each liquidation cluster is relative to neighboring clusters — in other words, "intensity." This means the charts illustrate the degree of price impact when a specific level is hit. Higher liquidation bars signal that the price will face a more pronounced reaction from liquidity cascades when reaching that threshold.