Crypto Market Fear Subsides Significantly, Today's Fear and Greed Index at 45

December 17th: Per Alternative Data, today’s cryptocurrency Fear and Greed Index stands at 16 (yesterday’s reading was 11), signaling the market remains in “extreme fear.” Note: The index ranges from 0 to 100 and incorporates the following metrics: Volatility (25%) + Market Trading Volume (25%) + Social Media Activity (15%) + Market Surveys (15%) + Bitcoin Dominance (10%) + Google Trends (10%).

On December 17, Aave CEO Stani.eth announced in a social media post that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has concluded its four-year investigation into the Aave protocol. To safeguard Aave, its ecosystem, and the broader decentralized finance (DeFi) space, the process required substantial effort and resource allocation from the team and founders. In recent years, DeFi has faced unfair regulatory scrutiny. Aave is pleased to break free from these constraints and enter a new era where developers can truly build the future of finance. DeFi will prevail.

December 17: Boston Federal Reserve President stated the 2026 dot plot does not include any rate cuts, noting the economy is expected to perform more strongly with GDP growth around 2.5%—meaning policy still needs to remain restrictive.

Boston Fed (Dec 17): Aimed to keep monetary policy unchanged at the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting. If the labor market sees a broad-based cyclical slowdown, other signals of meaningful economic weakening will emerge. The labor market is cooling, but a significant economic slowdown is not anticipated. Further interest rate cuts would push monetary policy into or toward accommodative territory, posing risks to inflation and inflation expectations. Source: FXStreet

Dec. 17 President Trump announced on social media Wednesday that he will deliver a primetime national address at 9 p.m. ET (10 a.m. Beijing Time Thursday). The speech lands as his first year back in the White House winds down—a critical moment marked by slipping approval ratings and economic headwinds. Over the past year, Trump has focused on overhauling U.S. economic and national security ties: he imposed tariffs on trade partners and key sectors, clashed heatedly with allies over defense spending, immigration, and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and domestically pushed executive power boundaries, restructured the federal government, carried out large-scale undocumented immigrant deportations, and tightened legal immigration pathways. The address gives Trump a platform to tout his achievements and lay out next year’s priorities as Republicans aim to hold onto Congress in next year’s midterms (which typically see the president’s party lose seats). The White House says Trump

December 17: Sources familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that former President Donald Trump will interview current Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller on Wednesday (local time) for the Fed chair position. Trump interviewed former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh last week and has stated Warsh and Kevin Hassett are currently his top two candidates. Waller is a key voice within the Fed advocating for rate cuts this year. At the Fed’s July meeting—where policymakers held rates steady—Waller dissented in favor of a rate cut. Economists favor Waller as a Fed chair candidate, and he is widely respected on Wall Street for his clear, consistent arguments in support of rate cuts. His views are seen as capable of bridging the Fed’s widening internal divides, and several of his rate-cut arguments have been adopted by current Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Waller is set to deliver remarks on the economic outlook Wednesday night Beijing time, per FX168.