Binance Alpha will launch zkPass (ZKP) on December 19th.

On December 17, Bloomberg Intelligence strategist Mike McGlone stated Bitcoin faces retracement pressure, with its price expected to fall near $10,000. MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor recently told the Miami Economic Club: “We used money we couldn’t afford to lose to buy Bitcoin.” McGlone noted he admires Saylor, adding that Saylor’s 2020 entry into Bitcoin (when prices hovered around $10,000) drove a 10x surge in its value. However, he said many key market expectations have already been met: the launch of ETFs, U.S. leaders acknowledging Bitcoin’s benefits, and broader mainstream adoption. Today, CoinMarketCap lists 28,000 cryptocurrencies—up from just one in 2009. With major positive developments materializing, the surge in crypto assets, and market expectations fully priced in, the short-term risk-reward structure has shifted.

Bitget PoolX is launching a TRON (TRX) event on December 17th, with a total prize pool of 179,000 TRX. The staking (lock-up) channel will be open from 5:00 PM UTC+8 on December 17th through 5:00 PM UTC+8 on December 24th. This event features four staking pools: TRX, BTT, SUN, and JST. Users can choose to stake their tokens based on their preferences. For full product details and event rules, please visit the official Bitget platform.

On December 17, Huobi HTX announced that it will launch IR deposit services at 16:00 GMT+8 on the same day, followed by IR/USDT spot trading at 20:00 GMT+8 on December 17. IR withdrawals will go live at 20:00 GMT+8 on December 19. Meanwhile, Huobi Futures will add IR/USDT (10x) isolated margin trading at 20:00 GMT+8 on December 17. Reportedly, Infrared Finance is a Berachain-based liquidity proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus application. Its core infrastructure includes liquidity staking, validator infrastructure, and automated Proof of Lockup (PoL) Vaults—forming the backbone of the chain’s revenue and governance economy.

On December 17th, on-chain analyst Ai Auntie (@ai_9684xtpa) reported that a new address (0xDE2…E4613) has placed a large bet on the Ethereum DeFi ecosystem. Two hours ago, the address withdrew a $17.8 million token bundle from Binance, including ETH, LINK, AAVE, UNI, POL, and COMP. ETH makes up 95% of the portfolio ($16.93 million), with withdrawals executed at an average price of $2,935.55 per ETH.

On December 17, Phantom—a crypto wallet app—launched Phantom Connect, a free SDK that enables unified identification and access to Phantom accounts across multiple applications. The SDK is designed to offer developers quick user onboarding, a shared account system, asset portability, and built-in security features, lowering development and onboarding barriers for Web3 apps.

On December 17, the U.S. Dollar Index clawed back losses it had incurred following yesterday’s non-farm payrolls report. Deutsche Bank analyst Antje Praefcke noted in a research note that while the dollar initially dipped after the data release, markets “haven’t fully bought into the Fed’s hint of potential rate cuts as early as January 2025.” The bar for additional rate cuts appears to have risen, prompting the greenback to reclaim some of its earlier declines. (Source: FXStreet)