ChainThink report, on December 19, White House Crypto and AI Lead David Sacks stated that the CLARITY Act (Cryptocurrency Market Structure Act) will be submitted to the Senate next month for debate and amendments, followed by a full floor vote. Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott and Senate Agriculture Committee Chair John Boozman have confirmed that the bipartisan draft of the CLARITY Act will be reviewed by the Senate next month.

The CLARITY Act will define crypto securities and commodities, and clarify the regulatory responsibilities of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and other financial regulatory authorities.

ChainThink message, December 19: The prediction market Kalshi stated that although documents submitted to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) indicate the upcoming launch of college athlete transfer market contracts, they may not ultimately go live officially.

Previously, news that Kalshi might launch event contracts related to college athlete transfers provoked outrage from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). NCAA President delivered a fierce criticism on Wednesday, stating, "The NCAA strongly opposes prediction markets in collegiate athletics. Student-athletes are already subjected to harassment and abuse due to betting on their performance; now Kalshi seeks to introduce betting on their transfer decisions and status—this is absolutely unacceptable, as it will place additional pressure on student-athletes and jeopardize the integrity of competition and recruitment processes."

ChainThink report, on December 19, Intercontinental Exchange Group (ICE), the parent company behind the New York Stock Exchange, is negotiating participation in a funding round for crypto payments firm MoonPay Inc., with an estimated valuation of around $5 billion. Both ICE and MoonPay have declined to comment.

MoonPay was founded in 2019 and is a well-known player in the cryptocurrency payments sector. Its previous funding round at the end of 2021 valued the company at $3.4 billion.

ChainThink News, December 19: According to HyperInsight, the 'BTC OG Insider Whales' deposited 5,152 BTC into Binance, worth $444.73 million. Their current long positions in ETH, BTC, and SOL are currently suffering losses exceeding $76 million. Current positions are as follows:

ETH 5x leverage long position valued at $574 million, entry price at $3,147.39, unrealized loss of $65.35 million;

BTC 5x leverage long position valued at $85.44 million, entry price at $91,506.7, unrealized loss of $6.04 million;

SOL 5x leverage long position valued at $36 million, entry price at $135.2032, unrealized loss of $4.7 million.

ChainThink news, on Thursday, December 19, Trump offered high praise to several Federal Reserve chair candidates. When asked about Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller, he stated that the two had met again on Wednesday and praised him as "fantastic." Trump also commended Vice Chair Michelle Bowman, who oversees regulatory affairs at the Fed, though he did not explicitly confirm her inclusion among the final shortlist. He said he is interviewing "three or four" candidates for the Fed chair position and expects to make a nomination to succeed Powell "very soon." "I think each of them would be a strong choice. I'm not certain whether the announcement will come before year-end, but the decision will be made within the coming weeks."

Last week, during an interview, Trump hinted that National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett and former Fed governor Kevin Warsh were leading contenders. At the time, he remarked, "I think both Kevins are fantastic, and there are a few others who are great too."

ChainThink News, December 19: The crypto market suffered another sharp decline overnight. According to market data, Bitcoin fell below $85,000, touching a low of $84,450, and is now trading at $85,382, down 0.68% over the past 24 hours. Ethereum briefly dipped below $2,800, currently priced at $2,825, with a 24-hour decline of 0.02%. SOL broke below $120, posting a 2.81% drop in the last day. The total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies fell below the $3 trillion threshold, now standing at $2.96 trillion, down 1.1% over 24 hours. Several altcoins led the sell-off, including:

PUMP currently trades at $0.00186, down 11.41% over 24 hours;

GIGGLE currently trades at $0.00186, down 11.41% over 24 hours;

AXL currently trades at $0.086, down 9.3% over 24 hours;

DOLO currently trades at $0.034, down 8.7% over 24 hours;

VELODROME currently trades at $0.0197, down 8.8% over 24 hours.

In U.S. equities, major indices closed higher across the board. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.14% initially, the S&P 500 gained 0.79%, and the Nasdaq Composite surged 1.38%. NVIDIA advanced nearly 2%, while Tesla jumped over 3%. Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT.O) soared 41.9%, following yesterday’s news that it will merge with TAE TECHNOLOGIES via an all-stock transaction, with the deal expected to close by mid-2026. Post-merger, the combined entity plans to site and commence construction of its first utility-scale nuclear fusion power plant by 2026.

U.S. equity names tied to crypto showed mixed performance. Ethereum-focused blockchain firms (DAT) generally declined, including:

Strategy (MSTR) down 1.33%;

Circle (CRCL) up 2.38%;

Coinbase (COIN) down 2.04%;

MARA Holdings (MARA) down 2.4%;

Riot Platforms (RIOT) up 3.24%;

BitMine Immersion (BMNR) down 3%;

SharpLink Gaming (SBET) down 2.7%.

ChainThink message, December 19: The Nasdaq and New York Stock Exchange stated that the U.S. stock markets will remain open as scheduled on December 24 and December 26. Earlier that day, Trump signed an executive order announcing the federal government would shut down on December 24 and December 26, around Christmas.

ChainThink News: On December 19, according to CME "Fed Watch" data, the probability of a 25 basis point rate cut by the Federal Reserve in January next year is 26.6%, while the probability of maintaining interest rates unchanged is 73.4%.

ChainThink News, December 19: According to market data, U.S. stock gains widened, with the Nasdaq rising 2%, the S&P 500 up 1.4%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average increasing 0.95%.

ChainThink news, December 19, according to market sources, Bitwise has filed an S-1 registration statement for a spot SUI ETF with the U.S. SEC.

ChainThink message, December 19, according to Coinglass data, total liquidations across the entire network reached $484 million in the past 24 hours, with long positions liquidated for $336 million and short positions liquidated for $148 million.

ChainThink News, December 18: Solana Officially Announced that NEAR Tokens Have Been Synced and Issued on the Solana Network.

ChainThink report, December 18: At today's year-end Q&A session, Binance founder CZ discussed how he manages his personal work focus, his perspective on BNB Chain and the future development of the crypto market, how to assess trends and critical junctures in key sectors, as well as his personal advice for entrepreneurs and investment priorities.

CZ stated that the four areas consuming most of his time currently are Giggle Academy, YZi Labs, the BNB ecosystem, and advancing national cryptocurrency adoption. BNB Chain has seen significant growth this year, with annual transaction volume increasing by approximately 600% and daily active users surpassing 2 million. CZ believes BNB Chain should continue building value exclusively for genuine builders. The scale of the BNB ecosystem should ultimately exceed any single business within it—whether centralized exchanges or various protocols.

Like other top industry players, CZ also holds a high regard for the stablecoin sector, asserting that "better" stablecoins have yet to emerge at scale. "The market potential is enormous—we've only seen stablecoin 1.0 so far. More advanced stablecoins haven't been widely launched yet; we're just beginning. What we're witnessing now is essentially 1.5-generation stablecoins, such as FDUSD and USD1."

Regarding the emerging niche in this bull cycle—prediction markets—CZ admitted he cannot currently determine which project will prevail. However, winning outcomes from upcoming high-impact events can provide temporary advantages: "The next major event should be next year’s U.S. presidential election (midterm elections), right? I believe teams that remain fully operational and unwaveringly focused throughout the entire period will likely win—at least in the short term. That will be an incredibly fascinating phase requiring full team commitment. But real victory lies in long-term competitive endurance."

AI and robotics are central to current global tech discourse, especially in U.S. equities. CZ believes both will become deeply intertwined with crypto: "I anticipate that artificial intelligence and robotics will eventually adopt cryptocurrencies at scale. They aren’t doing so yet—but they will, inevitably. There’s no alternative."

However, when discussing AI Agent trading products, CZ expressed skepticism. He argues that if AI Agents were truly viable, project teams wouldn’t readily sell them to users—they’d retain them for internal use. In a zero-sum capital market, widespread adoption of identical AI strategies would dilute effectiveness, rendering them ineffective over time. "If everyone uses it, it loses its edge." Nonetheless, CZ affirms that AI will undoubtedly be extensively used by traders in diverse ways.

On investing in early-stage projects, CZ emphasized his preference for long-term support of mission-driven builders: "Adapting products to market demand is good—but if you completely pivot direction every three months, it suggests you don’t genuinely love what you’re doing." Amid rapidly shifting market demands, execution capability is CZ’s top criterion when evaluating startups. For founders, there’s no fixed recipe for success; multiple paths lead to achievement. "There are still countless opportunities ahead."

Despite possible re-entry into a bear market, CZ maintains that the crypto space remains in its early stages, with substantial room for expansion: "I believe crypto adoption is still in the single-digit percentage range—depending on whether we measure by population or total wealth. If calculated by existing wealth, penetration may be under 1%. I see several orders of magnitude of growth potential ahead for crypto."

ChainThink news, December 18: According to official announcements, the decentralized autonomous wireless network project DAWN has completed a $13 million Series B funding round, led by Polychain.

The new capital will accelerate global expansion, new deployments, and ecosystem collaborations, with DAWN continuing its commitment to extending decentralized broadband worldwide.

ChainThink news, December 18: According to The Block, Intuit has signed a multi-year agreement with Circle to integrate USDC-backed stablecoin payments into its core products, including TurboTax and QuickBooks, driving modernization of fund flow mechanisms within this financial software giant.

Under the agreement, Intuit will leverage Circle's stablecoin infrastructure to enable faster, lower-cost payment processing for tax refunds, business disbursements, and other financial services.

ChainThink News, December 18: According to official announcements, Lista DAO has launched the United Stables (U) vault, supporting lending markets for BNB/U, slisBNB/U, BTCB/U, and USDT/U.

Users can deposit U to earn yield; borrow U against collateral assets; and provide liquidity via the U/USDT and U/USD1 LP pairs.

ChainThink report, on December 18, Jarett Dunn, a Canadian national, was sentenced to six years in prison by a judge in London on Thursday. He had previously pleaded guilty to charges of abusing his position for fraud and transferring illicit proceeds.

The court stated that the former Pump.fun employee had been under electronic monitoring for 308 days, with 154 of those days to be credited toward his sentence. Additionally, he served approximately five months in pre-trial detention, which typically results in automatic credit against his final sentence.

This sentencing follows more than a year since Dunn allegedly siphoned off approximately $2 million worth of Solana (SOL) from his then-employer, Pump.fun.