Circle minted 250 million USDC on the Solana network 6 hours ago

December 21st — Per HTX market data, Bitcoin has fallen below $88,000, currently trading at $87,998, down 0.17% over the past 24 hours.

December 21 – Per TheDataNerd’s monitoring, an address linked to ETHFI investors deposited 900,000 ETHFI into Binance three hours ago, worth roughly $738,000. Since receiving its first unlocked tokens, this wallet has deposited a total of 31.28 million ETHFI into Binance, valued at approximately $36.58 million.

**ETH Co-Founder Buterin Touts Prediction Markets as Antidote to Outlandish Social Media Takes** December 21, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin posted on Farcaster that prediction markets are an antidote to outlandish takes on emotional topics. He cited two examples: Elon Musk previously claimed a UK civil war was “inevitable,” but Polymarket—a prediction platform—put the probability of a 2024 UK civil war at just 3% (Buterin noted the 3% was still inflated, as some bettors artificially jacked up odds). Buterin argued many social media users exaggerate claims of “definite events” to stoke panic or grab attention, with no accountability. Prediction markets, by contrast, involve real-money bets that better reflect actual probabilities, pushing back against such outlandish views. He later expanded on his stance: unlike social media (where panic can be stoked without consequence) and mainstream media (with sensational headlines), prediction markets have stronger truth-seeking

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.