Insider: Kalshi to Predict Markets for Coinbase as Sole Operator

**December 13th** Testimony in a Manhattan court has revealed that last year, five days after UnitedHealth Group CEO Brian Thompson was shot and killed, suspect Manzione was arrested at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania. Investigators found a piece of paper containing a cryptocurrency seed phrase in his backpack. The photo of the paper was introduced as evidence during Manzione’s New York murder pre-trial hearing. It was heavily redacted in the center, with a label reading “Encrypted — Cryptocurrency Seed Phrase.” The court did not disclose which cryptocurrency the seed phrase was linked to, nor whether Manzione controlled any associated assets. *Source: Business Insider*

**December 13** Vanguard executive this week likened Bitcoin to a "speculative toy"—underscoring traditional finance’s persistent skepticism of digital assets—even as the $12 trillion asset manager now lets clients trade crypto-related ETFs. Per Bloomberg, Vanguard’s global head of quantitative equities John Ameriks said Bitcoin lacks the cash flow and compounding traits the firm seeks in long-term investments. Speaking at Bloomberg’s *ETFs in Depth* event in New York, he labeled crypto a "digital Labubu," adding: "To me, Bitcoin is at best a digital Labubu." He noted there’s no clear proof the underlying blockchain tech delivers lasting economic value. Vanguard now allows clients to trade funds holding Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP and Solana—putting crypto on par with assets like gold. Ameriks said the move stemmed from the track record of the January 2024 spot Bitcoin ETF launch. "We let clients hold and buy these ETFs on our platform if they want—but that’s their call," he sai

December 13 — On-chain data analyst Yu Jin noted that an address suspected to be linked to Polychain Capital transferred all 4.114 million PENDLE tokens to FalconX 8 hours ago. The firm had accumulated roughly $13 million worth of PENDLE at an average price of $3.16 between March and September. With PENDLE now trading at $2.19, the position faces an unrealized loss of approximately $3.99 million.

On December 13, hedge fund giant Citadel Securities submitted a 13-page letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) calling for strengthened regulation of decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols handling tokenized securities. In response, the crypto industry issued a joint letter on Friday dismissing Citadel’s argument as “baseless.” The letter—co-signed by the DeFi Education Fund, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), the Chamber of Digital Commerce, Orca Creative, attorney J.W. Verret, and the Uniswap Foundation—addressed the SEC directly, stating: “While we share Citadel’s goals of investor protection, market order, and national market system integrity, we reject its claim that ‘achieving these goals always requires traditional SEC intermediary registration and cannot be accomplished in some cases through thoughtfully designed on-chain markets.’” Citadel Securities argued DeFi protocols could function as exchanges or brokers requiring SEC registration

Fogo announced via social media on December 13 that it has officially canceled its token presale, which was originally scheduled for December 17. The project has shifted its current strategy to allocate more resources toward airdrop distribution. Since the presale announcement, the team has taken snapshots of three key groups: Fogo Fishers participants, Portal Bridge point holders, and all users who completed relevant USDC cross-chain transfers. These groups will receive corresponding rewards in Fogo Flames points. The Fogo Flames points program has long been a core pillar of the project’s ecosystem development, designed to deliver a more meaningful token distribution for developers, community members, and ecosystem participants. The first batch of these rewards will be distributed simultaneously across the entire network on January 13, when the Fogo mainnet launches.

On December 13, Donald Trump Jr. retweeted a post stating: "Aster and WLFI have collaborated to launch the RAVE/USD1 trading pair on Aster, and will introduce more USD1-paired trading pairs in the Aster ecosystem." In his comment, Trump Jr. noted: "This is a truly gradualist approach to adoption—boosting liquidity and expanding coverage. USD1 continues to scale and gain widespread recognition." Additional context: The RAVE/USD1 spot trading pair officially went live on Aster on December 12. Aster rolled out the highest 1.5x trading point reward in the platform’s history for this pair, while WLFI is providing point reward support for RAVE/USD1 traders—a first in the industry. This marks strong recognition of the RaveDAO ecosystem’s potential and community foundation.