TL;DR

• BTC price dropped 1.63%. Recent movements show a clear downward trend, with the price pulling back after touching the descending trendline. During this period, it reached a high of $95,300.0 and a low of $93,013.7.
• ETH price slightly dropped 0.48%. Recent price movements remained within a consolidation range, reaching a high of $3,413.19 and a low of $3,326.53.
• The total market cap of stablecoins surpassed $200 billion, with USDT continuing to dominate the market.
• The TVL of custodial token pools surpassed $1.1 billion, and ecosystem activity continues to rise.
• Ethena partnered with Berachain to launch pre-deposit vaults, introducing a new model for ecosystem rewards.
• Sophon mainnet launched the second phase of mining, upgrading the reward mechanism to drive ecosystem development.

Market Analysis

According to Gate.io market data, as of December 30 at 2:00 (UTC+0):

• BTC — The price of BTC fell 1.63% in the past 24 hours. Last week, it reached a high of $99,958.3 and a low of $92,519.9. Recent trends indicate a clear downward trajectory, with the price retreating after touching the descending trendline, failing to break through the upper resistance zone. Currently, the price is temporarily finding support near $93,000. Trading volume shows some activity, especially as the price approaches the support level, reflecting significant differences between bulls and bears. Technically, the MACD indicator shows that downward momentum is gradually weakening, but no clear rebound signals have appeared yet. Notably, BTC is still searching for a bottom, with temporary support currently near $93,000.[2]

• ETH — The price of ETH slightly dropped 0.48% in the past 24 hours, reaching a high of $3,546.83 and a low of $3,269.59 last week. Recently, price movements have remained within a consolidation range, fluctuating between the resistance zone around $3,430 and the support zone near $3,300, forming a box structure. Trading volume increases as the price approaches the boundaries of this range, indicating market attention to these key levels. From a technical perspective, the MACD histogram has gradually shortened from negative values, suggesting that downward momentum is weakening. Comparatively, ETH’s performance is significantly stronger than BTC, demonstrating better stability within the consolidation phase.[3]

• ETF — According to SoSoValue data, on December 27, U.S. Bitcoin spot ETFs experienced a net outflow of $297 million, while U.S. Ethereum spot ETFs saw a net inflow of $47.77 million. [4]
• Altcoins — The Virtuals Protocol Ecosystem, AI Agent Launchpad, and AI Agents sectors changed by +4.7%, +3.5%, and +1.3%, respectively. [5]
• U.S. Stock Market Indices — The S&P 500 Index fell 1.11%, the Dow Jones Index dropped 0.77%, and the Nasdaq Index declined 1.36%. [6]
• Spot Gold — Spot gold prices reached $2,622.81 per ounce, with a daily increase of 0.11%. [7]
• Fear and Greed Index — The Fear and Greed Index dropped to 65, indicating a decline in the market’s greed level. [8]

Top Performers

According to Gate.io market data [9], based on the trading volume and price performance in the past 24 hours, the top-performing altcoins are as follows:

INSN (Industry Sonic) — Daily increase of approximately 47.71%, with a circulating market cap of $142 million.
Industry Sonic is a project focused on virtual GPU rentals and AI services. The platform facilitates the easy creation and monetization of AI agents in a plug-and-play manner, enhancing the integrity and usability of data in blockchain applications. [10]

The recent surge in $INSN is mainly attributed to its listing on Gate.io’s Gate Startup event, which garnered widespread market attention and substantial user participation. This boosted the token’s market popularity and liquidity, strengthening investor confidence. As an innovative project designed to improve the efficiency of data flows in distributed applications, Industry Sonic offers features such as continuous node health monitoring and regular performance optimization updates, highlighting its practicality and technological prospects.

ZEREBRO (Zerebro) — Daily increase of approximately 37.05%, with a circulating market cap of $410 million.
Zerebro is an AI agent capable of autonomous operations, including posting on social media, performing blockchain actions, generating artwork, composing music, and continuously adapting based on past experiences. [11]

The recent rise in $ZEREBRO stems from the market narrative surrounding AI Agents and a statement by its founder on X that the project is under development and expected to launch in early 2025. This announcement sparked market anticipation. Zentients provides an intuitive UI/UX design, enabling users to easily create and develop agents while channeling value back to $ZEREBRO, driving the token’s price upward.

AGLD (Adventure Gold) — Daily increase of approximately 34.35%, with a circulating market cap of $184 million.
AGLD is a token focused on the decentralized gaming sector, leveraging the innovative combination of NFTs and community governance to open new pathways for decentralized games and the Web3 ecosystem. It complements the Loot project while serving as a key component of the Web3 community, with potential for governance and in-game economies. [12]

AGLD’s recent increase is largely driven by the growing interest in NFTs and the decentralized gaming market. As the native token of the Loot NFT project, its value in community governance and in-game economies has been re-evaluated. Additionally, investor enthusiasm has been boosted by market expectations for gaming applications built on Loot-based projects.

Data Highlights

Stablecoin Market Cap Reaches New High, USDT Continues to Dominate
The total market cap of stablecoins has surpassed the $200 billion mark, setting a new all-time high with a weekly increase of 0.46%. Over the course of 2024, the stablecoin market has shown steady and continuous growth, reflecting rising demand for stablecoins. Currently, USDT holds a dominant 67.73% market share, underscoring its role as the core stablecoin in the market. [13]

As value-stable crypto assets, stablecoins provide users with a hedge against market volatility while offering essential liquidity support. With more institutions and users entering the crypto market, the application scenarios for stablecoins in payments, cross-border settlements, and DeFi protocols are expected to expand further, driving continued market growth.

Meme Coin Market Cap Drops to $96.08 Billion
The total market cap of meme coins has fallen from its December 9 peak of $137.06 billion to the current $96.08 billion, marking a 29.9% decline over three weeks. This significant drop indicates a major shift in market sentiment toward meme coins. Trading volume data also highlights a decrease in market activity, with December 9’s volume at $24.27 billion, now reduced to just $6.72 billion—a 72.3% decline—reflecting a rapid cooling of investor interest.

Meme coin markets are highly volatile, with price swings often driven by sentiment and trending events. During major market pullbacks, the meme sector typically experiences deeper corrections. The recent adjustment may be attributed to changes in investor risk appetite, profit-taking, and uncertainties in the macroeconomic environment. [14]

Managed Token Pools TVL Surpasses $1.1 Billion, Ecosystem Activity Continues to Rise
The total value locked (TVL) in managed token pools has exceeded $1.123 billion. Liquidity pool tokens are granted to users who provide liquidity to these pools, serving as receipts that allow users to redeem their staked amounts along with any earned interest. Over the past 24 hours, related transaction fees reached $740,000, while revenue amounted to $87,800.

The growth of managed token pools reflects increasing demand for decentralized financial tools within the DeFi market, particularly in ecosystems supporting multi-chain and modular frameworks, which attract more users and capital. Additionally, the notable transaction fees and revenue figures demonstrate rising user activity and enhanced value creation capabilities within the ecosystem. [15]

Spotlight Analysis

IRS Tax Rules for DeFi Spark Controversy, Crypto Industry Faces New Regulatory Challenges
The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has introduced new tax regulations for decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms, requiring certain “DeFi brokers” to report user transaction information in the same manner as traditional securities brokers. This includes providing users’ names and addresses and submitting 1099 tax forms. These rules apply to “front-end service providers” that directly interact with users, rather than decentralized protocols themselves. The IRS argues that the rules will help close the tax gap and simplify tax compliance processes.

However, the crypto industry has strongly opposed these regulations, arguing that DeFi’s decentralized nature makes information collection and reporting mechanisms difficult to implement and potentially infringes on user privacy. While industry experts and lobbying groups plan to pursue legal and legislative measures to block the rules, they are scheduled to take effect in 2027. [16]

The IRS’s new rules reflect the government’s growing focus on enhancing tax regulation in the crypto industry, but their implementation may face significant challenges. The decentralized and intermediary-free nature of DeFi complicates the definition of “broker” and the delineation of responsibilities. Moreover, mandatory information collection may conflict with privacy protection principles. These regulations could not only hinder innovation but also force some projects into a gray area. The strong backlash from the industry, along with potential legal and legislative challenges, suggests that the path to implementing these rules may be far from smooth.

Ethena Partners with Berachain to Launch Pre-Deposit Vaults, Introducing a New Ecosystem Reward Model
Ethena Labs has launched Berachain pre-deposit values, accepting USDe, sUSDe, USDC, and USDT, with Concrete assisting in launching two Vaults. This initiative allows users to maintain USD exposure while earning Berachain rewards and contributing to its ecosystem development. Once Berachain’s mainnet goes live, these Vaults will deploy liquidity to whitelisted protocols within the Berachain ecosystem. Additionally, deposits in USDe and sUSDe will be eligible for multiple rewards, including Ethena rewards, Concrete points, BERA tokens, and other native ecosystem incentives. This mechanism provides users with an efficient way to maintain asset stability while participating in ecosystem growth. [17]

The collaboration between Ethena and Berachain offers users an innovative liquidity management and incentive model. By supporting stablecoin deposits and providing multiple rewards, the Vaults attract users focused on stable asset allocation while driving Berachain’s early ecosystem expansion.

Sophon Mainnet Launches Phase Two Mining, Optimizing Rewards to Drive Ecosystem Growth
Sophon, a modular blockchain built on ZKsync, has completed the migration of mining from Ethereum L1 to the Sophon mainnet, with Phase Two mining now open. During Phase One, SP points were distributed at a fixed rate, leading to unequal returns. Phase Two improves the reward distribution mechanism by basing SP issuance on the USD value of user deposits, ensuring fairness across pools. Additionally, liquidity providers can earn 2x or 3x SP rewards through SyncSwap’s LP token pools. Mining in the early stages of the mainnet will also feature zero transaction fees, lowering the participation threshold for users. Those who did not join Phase One can directly participate in Phase Two mining activities. [18]

Sophon’s Phase Two mining introduces fairer reward distribution and a zero-transaction-fee policy, providing users with an enhanced participation experience and encouraging greater involvement. Diversified incentives, such as the LP pool reward multiplier mechanism, help boost liquidity and attract more participants, laying a strong foundation for future ecosystem growth.

Funding News

According to RootData, two projects announced funding rounds on December 27, with a total raised amount of $8.5 million. The largest single funding round reached $7 million, involving sectors such as infrastructure and AI agents. Details are as follows: [19]

Nodepay — Nodepay completed a $7 million Series B funding round, with participation from IDG Capital, Mythos, and others. Nodepay specializes in decentralized AI training and real-time data infrastructure. By utilizing idle internet bandwidth from global users, it builds real-time data pipelines for AI model training and inference. [20]

Sentient AI — Sentient AI raised $1.5 million in funding, with investors undisclosed. Sentient AI focuses on developing advanced AI agents with human-like cognition and emotions. Its core product is an AI agent combining high IQ and EQ, serving as both a chatbot and personal assistant. With exceptional critical thinking and empathy, it generates creative life solutions for users, redefining human-computer interaction in the digital era. [21]

Airdrop Opportunities

Sentient AI — Sentient AI is an AI agent with human-like cognition and emotions, designed to serve both individuals and businesses. It functions as an intelligent chat assistant and personal assistant, creatively solving life challenges with empathy and critical thinking while responding to external needs with creativity and emotional intelligence. What sets SETAI apart is its ability to build healthy human-machine relationships, diagnose user issues, and provide recommendations. In commercial scenarios, it enables highly automated, near-error-free operations, with applications spanning healthcare, mathematics, and sales. [22]

$SETAI is the core payment tool within the SETAI ecosystem, used for subscription fees for SETAI Agent services. Additionally, $SETAI supports staking, allowing token holders to earn rewards such as bonus tokens or platform privileges. The token also grants holders governance rights, enabling them to vote on key proposals related to feature development, partnerships, and tokenomics adjustments.

The Sentient AI airdrop rewards early users with SETAI tokens through completing specific tasks and participating in platform activities. Rewards are based on user engagement, including daily logins, social interactions, and community activity. Users accumulate SETAI points through various activities, which will potentially be converted into tokens when the project officially launches its token.

How to Participate:

1. Launch the Sentient AI Telegram Bot.
2. Claim rewards based on activity and the age of your Telegram account.
3. Complete tasks on X (formerly Twitter).
4. Use referral links to earn additional rewards.

Note:
The airdrop plan and participation methods may be updated at any time. Users are advised to follow Sentient AI’s official channels for the latest information. Additionally, users should participate cautiously, be mindful of risks, and conduct thorough research before engaging. Gate.io does not guarantee the subsequent distribution of airdrop rewards.


Reference：

1. Gate.io, https://www.gate.io/zh/price
2. Gate.io, https://www.gate.io/trade/BTC_USDT
3. Gate.io, https://www.gate.io/trade/ETH_USDT
4. SoSoValue, https://sosovalue.xyz/assets/etf/us-eth-spot
5. CoinGecko, https://www.coingecko.com/en/categories
6. Investing, https://investing.com/indices/usa-indices
7. Investing, https://investing.com/currencies/xau-usd
8. Gate.io, https://www.gate.io/bigdata/homeindex
9. Gate.io, https://www.gate.io/price
10. X，https://x.com/gate_io/status/1872658724348707246
11. X，https://x.com/jyu_eth/status/1873462146249752915
12. X，https://x.com/lootproject
13. DeFiLlama，https://defillama.com/stablecoins
14. Coinmarketcap，https://coinmarketcap.com/view/memes/
15. DeFiLlama，https://defillama.com/protocols/managed-token-pools
16. TheBlock，https://www.theblock.co/post/332496/us-irs-finalizes-controversial-tax-rule-requiring-defi-brokers-to-collect-user-trading-information
17. X，https://x.com/ethena_labs/status/1873140405375779000
18. X，https://x.com/sophon/status/1873172127874245060
19. Rootdata, https://www.rootdata.com/Fundraising
20. Chainwire，https://chainwire.org/2024/12/27/nodepay-raises-7m-total-funding-to-power-ai-growth-with-real-time-data-infrastructure/
21. Decrypt，https://decrypt.co/299080/sentient-ai-secures-1-5m-raise-prepares-ai-agent-launchpad-on-sui
22. Sentiment AI，https://aisentient.net/

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