Aave is holding a governance vote that ends on December 26, 2025, to decide whether its brand and related assets should be transferred to a new DAO-controlled entity for the benefit of AAVE token holders. Large holders, including founder Stani Kulechov, have amassed significant voting power, and the proposal has triggered a sharp move in AAVE's price to around $146 before a modest recovery above $150. As of December 25, most votes were against the transfer, leaving the future structure of Aave's brand control and fee distribution uncertain heading into 2026.

On December 24, 2025, Binance opened subscriptions for a USD1 product offering a 20% annualized yield, with deposits capped at 50,000 USD1 and the window running until January 23, 2026. Shortly after, USD1 supply rose by over 45M tokens to 2.79B. Trading activity climbed, including more than $150M in buy volume on Binance and $1.39B in daily turnover.

On December 23, 2025, analysis of Binance’s 2025 listings showed centralized exchange allocations were a small fraction of total supply. Distributions commonly ranged from 1-5%, with larger, higher-FDV projects often under 1%. Binance said these tokens funded liquidity, airdrops and marketing rather than exchange fees, amid weak market performance for many new launches.

On December 22, 2025, Strategy disclosed that it raised $747.8M through an at-the-market sale of 4.35M MSTR common shares and allocated the entire amount to its USD reserves, lifting cash holdings to $2.19B. The firm kept its BTC stash at 671,286 BTC after acquiring more than 21K BTC in the prior two weeks, while MSTR traded around $164.82 amid expectations of a potential BTC market recovery. The enlarged cash buffer may support dividend payments for up to two years as Strategy waits for more favorable conditions before resuming large-scale BTC purchases.

On December 22, 2025, Hyperliquid denied rumors of insider-trading tools and USDC insolvency, saying the contested HYPE short was opened by a former employee. The alleged insider position was $25,140 (1,000 HYPE), while platform data showed $1.25B open interest and whales 59% long.

Updated December 22, 2025, ETH saw sustained inflows to whale wallets, with 10K–100K-ETH addresses leading. According to Cryptoquant, these wallets collectively hold over 22M ETH, while the largest cohorts carry around 4.47M. Whales accumulated in 2025 at sub-$3,000 levels, offering support near $2,800 and signaling long-term confidence despite weak retail sentiment.

On December 16, 2025, Aave contributor @ernesto introduced a DAO ownership proposal for community discussion. On December 22, 2025, founder Stani Kulechov said it was advanced to Snapshot, and AAVE fell over 10% to $160 during early Monday trading, while some delegates and previously idle validators reportedly gained influence in the vote.

On December 19, 2025, multiple newly created wallets pulled more than 8,000 ETH from Binance as the token traded below $3,000. Exchange balances fell to 16.22M ETH, with Binance at around 3.88M. Derivatives open interest edged from $17.4B to $17.7B, while one whale held a $600M long on Hyperliquid.

On December 19, $3.18B in BTC and ETH options expired on Deribit, with BTC notional around $2.7B and max pain near $88,000. Positioning showed heavier puts below $91,000 and notable liquidity at $85,000. Another roughly $23B of options are scheduled to expire on December 26, as open interest remains subdued near $39B in Q4.