According to Onchain Lens monitoring, a whale deposited $1.57 million USDC into HyperLiquid and shorted BERA with 5x leverage.

Odaily Planet Daily reports that Coinbase Institutional published an article on its X platform outlining the various factors that will shape the crypto economy in the coming year, as well as the development trends of the cryptocurrency market. The article reveals some key market drivers to watch, including: a more positive market environment in the first half of 2026; deeper integration of artificial intelligence and crypto technology; a shift towards token economics 2.0; increasing attention on real-world asset tokenization (RWA); continued expansion of stablecoins and payments; and further growth in the prediction market.

According to Odaily Planet Daily, sources within the Japanese political sphere revealed that a proposal has been put forward regarding when Japan will transition to a separate, self-assessed tax system for crypto assets (virtual currencies), with implementation planned for January 2028. Although the market anticipates that the revised Financial Instruments and Exchange Act will be passed by the Diet next year, and the new tax system may be implemented by 2027, the Japanese government prefers to implement tax reform only after confirming the market conditions under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act. Currently, profits from crypto asset trading in Japan are classified as "miscellaneous income," calculated together with wages and other income, with a maximum tax rate of 55%. Investors and industry groups have long called for a change to a separate tax system of 20%, similar to that for stocks. The government stated that the delay is mainly due to the need to "improve investor protection measures."

According to Odaily Planet Daily, Lighter's 24-hour perpetual DEX trading volume has now surpassed Aster's, with Lighter's volume at $7.513 billion and Aster's at $6.743 billion. (Cointelegraph)

Huoxun Finance reported on December 17th that, according to CoinDesk, sources in the Japanese political sphere indicated that the country's cryptocurrency tax reform—specifically, the shift to a "separate taxation for reporting" system—may not be formally implemented until January 2028. Previously, the market widely expected that, given the near certainty of the Diet passing amendments to include cryptocurrencies under the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act next year, the new tax system would be implemented in conjunction with that law by 2027. However, according to sources within the political sphere, the actual process may be slower than anticipated. One source stated, "Currently, there is a lack of grounds to accelerate (the tax reform). The government is more focused on investor protection and needs to observe the situation after the implementation of the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act before initiating the new tax system. Based on the normal process, it is expected to be implemented from January 1, 2028." Japan's current tax system classifies cryptocurrency trading profits as "miscellaneous income," which must be taxed together with wages and other income under a comprehensive tax system, with a maximum marginal tax rate of 55% (including local resident tax). Industry insiders and investors have long called for adopting a tax system similar to that for stocks, and for cryptocurrencies to be taxed separately with a uniform rate of 20%, in order to reduce the tax burden and promote market development.