Fundstrat Global Advisors co-founder Tom Lee said on Dec. 16 that cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, along with AI, represent exponential growth opportunities, BlockBeats reports. He noted this outlook makes current stock prices highly sensitive to changing risk perceptions. Lee added that market pullbacks should be regarded as buying opportunities.

Address 0xb31, known as the "BTC OG Insider Whale," holds an unrealized loss of about $49.5M on roughly $680M in leveraged positions with $48.36M in remaining margin as of December 16, Coinbob popular address monitoring cited by BlockBeats shows. The main positions include a 5x ETH long worth $564M at an average entry of $3,167 with $39.81M in unrealized losses and a liquidation price at $2,078, a 5x BTC long of $85.96M at $91,500 with $5.46M in losses, and a 20x SOL long of $31.52M at $137 with $2.81M in losses. The address transferred $70M from a Binance wallet to Hyperliquid between the night of December 7 and the morning of December 8 to open the ETH long at an earlier average of $3,048, then added $50M on December 10 and $110M on December 12. The address previously held over 50,000 BTC dormant for eight years before rotating some into ETH and drew attention by placing a $500M BTC short hours before the October 11 drop, reportedly earning nearly $100M, while BitForex CEO Garrett Jin said the address is related to one of its clients.

Grayscale said in its "Digital Asset Outlook 2026" report that quantum computing poses no near-term threat to cryptocurrency valuations, calling it a "false alarm" for 2026, Decrypt reported on Dec. 16. The asset manager noted that while quantum threats are real, systems capable of breaking Bitcoin's cryptography may not emerge until before 2030 at the earliest. Grayscale analysts added that research into post-quantum cryptography will continue but is unlikely to influence valuations over the next year.

A major whale fully closed its ETH long position on December 16, realizing a loss of about $5.86 million as the market declined, Onchain Lens data show. The address not only gave back earlier gains but now shows a cumulative loss of roughly $2.4 million.

a16z transferred 276,000 COMP worth $7.6 million to Coinbase Prime on December 16, on-chain analyst EmberCN reports. The firm acquired 1 million COMP, representing 10% of the token's total supply, in March 2020 as lead investor in Compound. a16z's on-chain addresses now primarily hold 64 million UNI valued at $325 million and 19.51 million OP worth $5.71 million, with no remaining COMP holdings, the data show.

Bitcoin fell below $86,000 on Dec. 16, dropping more than 3% in 24 hours, while crypto liquidations reached $594 million—including $497 million in long positions affecting 178,874 traders—BlockBeats reports. The Bank of Japan is set to announce its rate decision on Dec. 19, with markets pricing in a 25 bp hike; macro analysts including AndrewBTC warn Bitcoin could retreat toward $70,000 if the BOJ raises rates, citing prior 2024 and early 2025 hikes that coincided with Bitcoin declines of 23%, 26% and 31%. Polymarket data show former Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh's odds of being nominated by Donald Trump as the next Fed chair rose from 7% to 48%, overtaking Kevin Hasset, whose odds fell from a peak of 85% to 42%. Wintermute noted risk assets are "digesting macro uncertainty" rather than entering a sustained risk-off phase, while De Maere cited last week's Fed meeting—where rates were cut 25 bp but guidance turned cautious with only one rate cut projected for 2026—as a key pressure point given the gap with market pricing for nearly three cuts next year.

Kevin Warsh moved into the lead to become the next Federal Reserve chair on Dec. 16, overtaking Kevin Hassett, with his nomination odds rising from 7% to 48% while Hassett's fell from a high of 85% to 42%, Polymarket data show. On Kalshi, Warsh's probability climbed from 10% to 52%, and Hassett's slipped from a high of 81% to 39%. Asked last Friday afternoon whether Warsh now tops his list for the Fed chair role, Trump said "Yes, I think he is, I think both Kevins are great," and added, "And I think there are a few other very good candidates." JPMorgan's CEO backed Warsh as the next Fed chair, calling him a "great chairman," while CNBC, citing people familiar, reported that Hassett had been viewed by markets as a "quasi front-runner" to replace the current chair but has recently faced skepticism from senior figures who can directly influence former President Trump's decision, and that this pressure may explain why candidate interviews were canceled in early December and then rescheduled, with Warsh's interview completed last week.

MetaMask introduced native Bitcoin network support on Dec. 16, enabling users to purchase BTC with fiat, send on-chain transactions, and swap Bitcoin against native EVM assets and SOL directly within the wallet, The Block reports. The latest version initially supports SegWit addresses with Taproot address support planned. ConsenSys CEO Joseph Lubin said in an October interview the company is actively working on launching the MASK token, though no issuance date has been set. Users swapping Bitcoin via MetaMask will earn MetaMask reward points.

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins said on Dec. 16 that cryptocurrencies could evolve into one of the most powerful financial surveillance systems ever built if government intervention is misdirected, The Block reports. Speaking at the sixth cryptocurrency roundtable of the SEC's dedicated crypto task force, he cautioned that treating every wallet as a broker, every piece of software as a trading platform, every transaction as a reportable event and every protocol as a monitoring node could turn the ecosystem into a "financial panopticon." Atkins added that he believes it is possible to design a framework that balances national security interests with privacy and safeguards individual freedom while allowing technological and financial innovation to advance.