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BlockBeats News, December 16th, U.S. Treasury Secretary Benson: There may be one or two more interviews for the Fed Chair this week. Trump has been very straightforward on policy-related issues during the interviews. Both Warsh and Hassett are "very, very qualified."Benson also refuted the view that Hassett is unable to serve on the Fed, while also dismissing the notion that a new chair would result in the Fed no longer being independent. (FXStreet)

BlockBeats News, December 16th, Blockchain analytics platform Bubblemaps tweeted that the PIPPIN token's supply, controlled by insiders, has reached 80%, worth around $380 million.16 new wallets have emerged with a similar pattern, sharing common fund sources, receiving a similar amount of SOL, having no previous transaction history, and withdrawing large amounts of PIPPIN from CEX. Additionally, there is another set of 11 associated wallets holding approximately 9% of the total supply, with fund movements highly synchronized over time, suggesting control by the same entity.

BlockBeats News, December 16th: In December, Bank of America released a global fund manager survey showing that most investors expect Trump to nominate White House economic advisor Kevin Hassett as the next Federal Reserve chairman. About 69% of respondents expect Hassett to be nominated, while only 4% mentioned Fed Governor Lael Brainard, and another 4% of respondents expect former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh to be nominated. This survey was conducted before Trump told The Wall Street Journal that he was inclined to nominate Hassett or Warsh to lead the Fed, as current Fed Chairman Powell's term will end in May next year. (FX678)

BlockBeats News, December 16th, according to CoinDesk's report, in its legal battle with the Federal Reserve, Custodia Bank has filed a petition for en banc rehearing with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, continuing its quest for the Fed to establish a master account for it.In November of this year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled on Custodia's case against the Federal Reserve, with a 2-1 decision in favor of the Fed, rejecting Custodia's request for the central bank to open a master account for it.

BlockBeats News, December 16th. According to CME's "FedWatch" data, before tonight's US employment data release, the probability of the Fed cutting interest rates by 25 basis points in January next year is 24.4%, while the probability of leaving interest rates unchanged is 75.6%.The probability of the Fed keeping interest rates unchanged until March next year is 49%, with a cumulative 25 basis points rate cut probability of 42.4% and a cumulative 50 basis points rate cut probability of 8.6%. The dates of the Fed's next two FOMC meetings are January 28, 2026, and March 18, 2026.The US Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the US November seasonally adjusted nonfarm payroll data and the US November unemployment rate data tonight at 21:30 (UTC+8). The expected values are November seasonally adjusted nonfarm payrolls (in tens of thousands) at 4 and the November unemployment rate at 4.40%.

BlockBeats News, December 16th, according to Arkham monitoring, about half an hour ago, the address associated with the Starknet team transferred 15.75 million STRK to two new addresses, totaling approximately 1.5 million US dollars. Historical behavior indicates that further transfers will be made to exchange platforms.

BlockBeats News, December 16th, Wall Street's renowned short seller Peter Berezin-led market research firm BCA Research released its latest report "Return of Nasdog," providing a cautious outlook on the future market. The core viewpoint is that the artificial intelligence boom will come to an end, and at the same time, U.S. economic activity will significantly slow down. BCA Research stated that the issue of overinvestment in the field of artificial intelligence should have been apparent long ago. By 2025, the proportion of U.S. investment in technology and software as a percentage of GDP will reach 4.4%, approaching the level of the Internet bubble era. Considering that the annual depreciation rate of artificial intelligence assets is usually around 20%, this means that tech giants will bear $400 billion in depreciation costs each year, an amount that even exceeds their total profits in 2025.BCA Research also mentioned that the expected price-to-earnings ratio of the S&P 500 Index in early 2026 will reach a high of 22.6 times, much higher than the historical median of 18 times. The already fragile stock market will find it even harder to sustain under the impact of the collapse of the optimistic narrative surrounding artificial intelligence. BCA Research predicts that "by the second half of 2026, almost all sectors of the U.S. stock market will collapse." However, this will also prompt the Federal Reserve to accelerate its interest rate cuts in the second half of 2026. By the end of 2026, the federal funds rate will drop to 2.25%, and the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield will fall to 3.1%.

BlockBeats News, December 16th, today Visa announced that it will allow US institutions to use the USDC stablecoin for transaction settlement on the Solana blockchain. Cross River Bank and Lead Bank are among the first banks to use this service. Visa, as a design partner of Circle's Arc blockchain, will also support it once the Arc network is launched.

BlockBeats News, December 16, the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong announced that it has included the "Hong Kong Stablecoin Exchange" in its list of suspicious virtual asset trading platforms. The Hong Kong SFC stated that the entity operating the virtual asset trading platform in question is suspected of conducting unlicensed activities/ engaging in virtual asset-related fraudulent activities. The entity also falsely claimed that it was established jointly by the "Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Hong Kong Futures Exchange, and Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX)," when in fact it has no connection with any of the three.

BlockBeats News, December 16, according to the Associated Press, the Trump family-affiliated mining company American Bitcoin (ABTC) as of December 14, 2025, held approximately 5,098 bitcoins in its strategic reserve, ranking it among the top 20 publicly listed Bitcoin Treasury Reserve Trust (TRT) companies.American Bitcoin Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer Eric Trump said, "I am incredibly proud of the tremendous growth we have achieved. In just over three months since our listing on Nasdaq, ABTC's Bitcoin reserves have placed us among the top 20 publicly listed Bitcoin reserve companies globally, showcasing our explosive growth trajectory and robust expansion capabilities."

BlockBeats News, December 16th: The public sale of FUN token for Football.Fun, a sports prediction application on the Basechain, will start tonight at 9 p.m. (UTC+8) on both Legion and Kraken. Users will need to use the Ethereum mainnet USD1 to participate.The total fundraising target is $3 million, with 50% of the allocation on the Legion platform and the remaining 50% on the Kraken platform. Up to 50% of the allocation is reserved for Sport.Fun community members and long-term supporters; up to 20% is allocated to top-ranked users based on social scores.

BlockBeats News, December 16th: The Trump administration launched the "U.S. Tech Force" plan on Monday this week, a two-year initiative aimed at deploying tech experts to federal agencies. It plans to recruit approximately 1,000 engineers and tech specialists to be stationed at various federal agencies such as the Treasury Department and the Department of Defense, participating in AI infrastructure and other key tech projects.Coinbase and Robinhood are two of the nearly 30 private-sector partners, which also include major tech companies such as OpenAI, Nvidia, and Microsoft. Participants can earn an annual income of $150,000 to $200,000 and, after completing their government service, can seek employment opportunities with private-sector partners. Sources indicate that this move is seen as the crypto industry transitioning from a "regulated entity" to a government-recognized technology provider.

BlockBeats News, December 16th, according to Axios report, Musk may run for the Republican Party in the 2026 midterm elections. He has started funding Republican House and Senate campaign activities for the 2026 midterm elections. This indicates that his relationship with former President Trump has thawed since their falling out earlier this year.This summer, Musk threatened to form a third party called the "American Party" to break away from the two-party system during his dispute with Trump. However, he has now firmly returned to the Republican camp.

BlockBeats News, December 16th, according to DefiLlama data, in the past 24 hours, the trading volume of mainstream Perp DEX has rebounded significantly compared to yesterday. Aster's trading volume currently ranks first, with Hyperliquid and Lighter following closely behind. The current trading volume of some Perp DEXs is as follows:Aster has a 24-hour trading volume of approximately $9.27 billion, a TVL of approximately $1.32 billion, and open interest of $2.5 billion;Lighter has a 24-hour trading volume of approximately $7.65 billion, a TVL of approximately $1.41 billion, and open interest of $1.72 billion;Hyperliquid has a 24-hour trading volume of approximately $7.29 billion, a TVL of approximately $4.33 billion, and open interest of $7.3 billion;EdgeX has a 24-hour trading volume of approximately $4.46 billion, a TVL of approximately $391 million, and open interest of $762 million;ApeX has a 24-hour trading volume of approximately $2.79 billion, a TVL of approximately $46.34 million, and open interest of $87.78 million;Variational has a 24-hour trading volume of approximately $1.52 billion, a TVL of approximately $66.18 million, and open interest of $319 million;Backpack has a 24-hour trading volume of approximately $1.19 billion, TVL not disclosed, and open interest of $2.02 billion;Pacifica has a 24-hour trading volume of approximately $0.888 billion, a TVL of approximately $41.45 million, and open interest of $59.11 million.

BlockBeats News, December 16th, Singaporean trade finance platform Olea Global announced the completion of a $30 million Series A financing round. The round was led by Spain's BBVA, with participation from XDC Network, theDOCK, and existing shareholder Standard Chartered Bank's venture arm, SC Ventures.Olea Global will use the new funds to drive AI-driven analytics and Web3 technology innovation, and to scale its business in high-growth markets.

BlockBeats News, December 16th. Perp DEX Aggregator vooi announced that the airdrop claim will open on December 18th at 8 PM Beijing time. The snapshot was taken on December 8th at 8 AM Beijing time, and the airdrop claim will be open for 30 days. The airdrop is for trading volume holders, V1 legacy users, and Cookie event winners.The tokenomics are as follows: total supply of 1 billion tokens, with 10.53% allocated to airdrop and community sale; 27.82% for community development and marketing (including the second season airdrop); 17% for community contributors; 13.65% for private sale rounds and strategic investors; and 31% for the project foundation.