Coinbase Announces Stock Trading, Prediction Markets, & More

️ On today's Top Picks:

Crypto News

• ⭐️ Coinbase $COIN hosts System Update event; announces stock trading, prediction markets powered by Kalshi, custom stablecoins, Solana $SOL DEX trading, & more.

• Binance $BNB reportedly explores options to relaunch Binance US; to potentially reduce CZ’s ownership stake citing his status as a controlling shareholder has been a key obstacle to the company’s expansion.

• Hyper $HYPE Foundation proposes a validator vote to formally recognize the Assistance Fund HYPE as burned, removing the tokens permanently from the circulating and total supply.

• Circle $CRCL announces Arc Builders Fund & Investor Network, a "new Circle Ventures initiative designed to accelerate innovation and adoption on Arc."

• US SEC closes investigation into Aave $AAVE after four years; the SEC does not intend to recommend enforcement action.

• Marshall Islands launches onchain universal basic income with USDM1 via Stellar $XLM blockchain; the initiative was developed in partnership with the Stellar Development Foundation & Crossmint.

• Anchorage Digital acquires Hedgey for an undisclosed amount; integrates Hedgey team & technology to launch a token management solution.

• US CFTC Acting Chair Caroline Pham to join MoonPay as Chief Legal and Administrative Officer; President Trump's pick to run the CFTC, Mike Selig, will have a confirmation hearing this week.

• Shima Capital to wind down after the US SEC files complaint against the fund & its founder Yida Gao; the SEC alleges Gao "engaged in a scheme to defraud" certain investors.

• CoinGecko to exclude rehypothecated tokens (wrapped assets & liquid staking tokens) from its Market Cap Ranking beginning on February 4th; CoinMarketCap made similar changes in 2024.

Alpha

• ⭐️ Coinbase $COIN opens Base app to everyone; now available in 140+ countries; also launches Holiday Rewards campaign.

• ⭐️ $BNB Chain teases new stablecoin coming soon; potentially related to United Stables $U which is set to launch on December 18th.

• Probable, a prediction market platform, to launch on $BNB Chain soon; incubated by PancakeSwap & YZi Labs.

• Soneium launches Holiday Harvest campaign; complete quests to earn rewards; live from December 16th through early January.

• OpenSea $SEA unlocks Wave 3 of Treasure Chests; Wave 4 of Treasure Chests is now live; TGE & airdrop is expected in Q1 2026.

• Daylight delays Pre-Deposit Vault to early 2026; cites ensuring the campaign maximizes fairness and delivers a strong user experience

Airdrops

• Infrared $IR launches airdrop claim; Infrared points holders, Boyco pre-deposit campaign participants, & more are eligible; claim ends on January 11th.

• Theoriq $THQ launches airdrop claim; testnet users, community members, & more were eligible to register.

• ⭐️ VOOI $VOOI to launch airdrop claim on December 18th; VOOI Trading Points holders, VOOI V1 Traders, & more are eligible; snapshot was taken on December 7th.

• zkPass $ZKP launches airdrop eligibility & allocation checker; early protocol testers, community contributors, & more eligible; claim begins on December 19th.

• Espresso $ESP announces another path to airdrop eligibility; Caldera $ERA holders & stakers will be eligible; to launch airdrop registration on December 22nd.

• Rainbow $RNBW to launch airdrop on February 5th; Rainbow Points holders will be eligible; snapshot has yet to be taken.

Finance News

• US President Trump to interview Fed Governor Christopher Waller for Federal Reserve Chair.

• US economy added 64K jobs in November, above expectations of 50K; the unemployment rate rose to 4.6%, above expectations of 4.5%.

• US Federal Reserve withdraws 2023 guidance that limited certain banks from engaging in crypto; uninsured banks can now seek Fed Board permission to engage in crypto on a case-by-case basis.

• Circle $CRCL announces collaboration with LianLian Global to explore stablecoin-powered infrastructure for cross-border payments.

• Hut 8 $HUT partners with Anthropic & Fluidstack to "accelerate the deployment of AI infrastructure in the US"; announces 15-year, $7B lease with Fluidstack for 245 MW of IT capacity.

• Exodus $EXOD to launch USD stablecoin in partnership with MoonPay & M0; to "power digital dollar experiences across the Exodus ecosystem"; expected to launch in early 2026.

• American Bitcoin $ABTC buys additional Bitcoin $BTC; now holds 5,098 BTC (~$437M).

• CIMG $IMG buys an additional 230 Bitcoin $BTC (~$20M); now holds 730 BTC (~$63M).

Security and Exploits

• ⭐️ Binance $BNB warns against fraudulent third-party “listing agents”; offers up to $5M to whistleblowers for evidence of fraudulent activities.

• Chainalysis launches free version of Hexagate Security for blockchain foundations & developers; protocols developing on Base, Avalanche, MegaETH, & Plasma may qualify.

• SlowMist founder @evilcos releases Storage Inspector, "a lightweight Chrome extension for security researchers to inspect and modify localStorage, sessionStorage, and cookies during audits and investigations."

• Tether launches PearPass password manager; credentials are stored locally & synchronized between devices via encrypted peer-to-peer connections; available on Windows, maxOS, Linux, iOS, & Android.

• iEarn exploited for ~$300K; exploit does not impact current Yearn contracts or vaults.

Token Unlocks

• Arbitrum $ARB / ~$18M / DEC 16th
• ZKsync $ZK / ~$5M / DEC 17th
• ApeCoin $APE / ~$3M / DEC 17th
• LayerZero $ZRO / ~$34M / DEC 20th
Sourced from Tokenomist

Funding

• RedotPay raises $107M in Series B funding led by Goodwater Capital.

• Olea raises $30M in Series A funding led by BBVA.

• Kontigo raises $20M in Seed funding from several investors.

• ETHGAS raises $12M in Seed funding led by Polychain Capital.

• Speed raises $8M in funding led by Tether.

• Worm raises $4.5M in Pre-Seed funding from several investors.

• Harbor raises $4.2M in Seed funding led by Susquehanna Crypto & Triton Capital.

• Strata raises $3M in Seed funding led by Maven 11.

• DeepBook AI raises $2M in funding from several investors.

• Moto raises $1.8M in Pre-Seed funding led by Eterna Capital & Cyber Fund.

• Boys Club raises an undisclosed amount in Strategic funding from Polygon Labs.

The Degen Farmer