A whale transferred 1000 ETH to Binance after a year of hibernation

On December 21st, as crypto market participants continue to speculate on when "Altcoin Season" will hit, BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes argues: "Altcoin Season has always been here—if you don’t think it’s arrived, it’s because you haven’t been holding the tokens that are rallying." Hayes noted many traders still expect the altcoin market to follow past playbooks, assuming the same cryptocurrencies and patterns will repeat. Instead, crypto traders should rethink their strategies, focus on new market trends, and not rely on historical experience. "This is a new stage—new factors will bring fresh momentum," he said. He cited HYPE as the "best narrative" of this crypto cycle so far, surging from $2–$3 at launch to nearly $60. He also pointed out SOL, which dropped to nearly $7 in 2022 before surging to almost $300 earlier this year. Hayes wrapped up the interview by reiterating: "The altcoin market has always been there—you just haven’t been part of it."

December 21 — U.S. lawmakers are currently drafting a crypto tax bill titled the Digital Asset PARITY Act, per TheBlock. The legislation would exempt capital gains taxes on stablecoin transactions of $200 or less, while staking and mining rewards would qualify for a five-year tax deferral option.

Dec. 21st — Per Onchain Lens monitoring, a crypto whale withdrew 272.2 million PENGU tokens (valued at approximately $2.52 million) from Binance. Over the past two weeks, the same whale has accumulated a total of 273.08 million PENGU tokens (worth ~$2.55 million) and 405.84 TRUMP tokens (valued at $2,240). ### Notes on U.S. language adaptation: 1. **Conciseness**: Used "~" for "approximately" (common in U.S. crypto/finance briefs) and "crypto whale" (clearer than just "whale" for context). 2. **Abbreviation**: "Dec. 21st" (standard U.S. date shorthand) instead of full "December 21st". 3. **Flow**: Split into two short, scannable sentences (typical of U.S. news alerts) with "the same whale" to link events. 4. **Precision**: Retained exact token counts where critical (272,201,182 PENGU) while using "million" for readability.

VanEck has updated its application for the AVAX Spot ETF (ticker VAVX) as of December 21, introducing a staking reward mechanism that will stake 70% of its AVAX holdings to generate yield for investors. The VAVX ETF will use Coinbase Crypto Services as its initial staking provider, with a 4% service fee. Staking rewards will accrue to the fund and be reflected in its net asset value (NAV). Custodians for the ETF are Anchorage Digital and Coinbase Custody.

December 21 — Ethereum developers recently wrapped up the Fusaka upgrade (built to cut node operating costs) and have now kicked off full planning for the 2026 "Glamsterdam" upgrade. The "Glamsterdam" name combines two simultaneous upgrades to Ethereum’s two core layers: - The Execution Layer (home to transaction rules and smart contracts) will undergo the Amsterdam upgrade; - The Consensus Layer (responsible for coordinating validators and finalizing blocks) will roll out the Gloas upgrade. At the heart of these changes are proposer-builder separation (ePBS) and a block-level Access Control List (ACL) — both aimed at curbing manipulation and abuse tied to Maximum Extractable Value (MEV).

On December 21, the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office in New York City announced a 23-year-old Brooklyn resident has been charged with running a phishing scam that stole nearly $16 million from roughly 100 Coinbase users. The suspect impersonated a Coinbase customer support rep, tricking victims into sending assets to his personal address before laundering the funds via a cryptocurrency mixer. To date, law enforcement has recovered about $105,000 in cash and $400,000 worth of crypto. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong stated the fraudster will be held accountable and brought to justice.