PANews

PANews December 16 news, according to Bloomberg, analysts from Citizens Financial Group Inc. predict that by 2030, the revenue of the prediction market company could grow to five times its current level, exceeding $10 billion. Devin Ryan and his analyst team at Citizens estimate that the current annual revenue of the industry is about $2 billion. They believe that Robinhood Markets Inc., which offers Kalshi contract trading, has become the fastest-growing product in the company's history, currently accounting for about 10% of the company's total revenue. However, analysts pointed out in the report that as institutions like hedge funds utilize these markets to bet on central bank policy trends and the likelihood of mergers and acquisitions, there will be even more "exponential" growth in the future. Ryan stated, "We are still in the early stages; people are focused on sports events because the activities are concentrated in this area. But I think this overlooks the bigger picture. The greater opportunities will lie in creating a broader prediction market around various events that impact the economy or companies." The industry still faces significant regulatory challenges, but analysts believe that the cryptocurrency and options markets provide precedents for addressing these issues.

PANews December 16 news, according to reports from Jinshi foreign media, Nasdaq is planning to submit documents to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday to launch an all-weather stock trading service. Nasdaq plans to extend the trading hours for stocks and exchange-traded products (ETPs) from the current five days a week, 16 hours a day to 23 hours. Nasdaq's new '5X23' model will be divided into two main trading sessions: ① Day session: starting at 4 AM Eastern Time and ending at 8 PM. This session will continue to include pre-market, regular, and after-hours trading sessions, with the opening bell (9:30) and closing bell (4:00) of the regular trading session retained. ② Night session: starting at 9 PM Eastern Time and ending at 4 AM the next day. In this session, trades executed between 9 PM and midnight will be considered trades for the next calendar day. According to the new plan, the trading week will start at 9 PM on Sunday and end at 8 PM on Friday after the day session concludes.

PANews December 16 news, according to Jinshi foreign media reports, Nasdaq is planning to submit documents to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday to launch an all-weather stock trading service. Nasdaq plans to extend the trading hours for stocks and exchange-traded products (ETPs) from the current five days a week and 16 hours a day to 23 hours. Nasdaq's "5X23" new model will be divided into two main trading periods: ① Daytime period: from 4:00 AM Eastern Time to 8:00 PM. This period will continue to include pre-market, regular, and after-market trading periods, with the opening bell (9:30 AM) and closing bell (4:00 PM) of the regular trading period retained. ② Night trading period: from 9:00 PM Eastern Time to 4:00 AM the next day. During this period, trades executed between 9:00 PM and midnight will be considered as trades for the next calendar day. According to the new plan, the trading week will start at 9:00 PM on Sunday and end at 8:00 PM on Friday after the daytime period ends.

On December 16, PANews reported that payment company PayPal (stock code: PYPL) announced on Monday that it has applied for an industrial bank license in Utah, with the aim of creating a lending institution named 'PayPal Bank'. The company operates the PYUSD stablecoin in collaboration with Paxos, and it stated in a press release that it plans to provide 'commercial loan solutions' for small businesses and open interest-bearing savings accounts for other customers, as well as intending to cooperate with credit card networks. Additionally, PayPal has also applied for deposit insurance from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

On December 16, PANews reported, according to CoinDesk, that as institutional interest in tokenized assets and on-chain assets grows, BlackRock is vigorously hiring new employees to strengthen its digital asset strategy, aiming to expand cryptocurrency and blockchain-related products globally. On a job announcement board, BlackRock stated that it is hiring for seven positions related to digital assets, six of which are located in the United States and one in Singapore.

A position in the United States focuses on expanding BlackRock's iShares digital asset ETF product line. The recruitment for the 'Vice President/Director of Digital Asset Product Strategy' position requires candidates to scale existing products, covering their cryptocurrency ETFs, and assist in promoting these products to institutional clients and wealth management clients. The same position also mentions the need to create 'next-generation products with strong commercial appeal', indicating the company's intention to break through traditional forms of investment products. The position in Singapore has a broader scope of responsibilities, as BlackRock is seeking a leader locally to formulate its digital asset strategy in Asia. This position requires setting business objectives and identifying 'first-mover significant investments' in the region that align with global priorities; developing multi-year business plans is also one of the responsibilities of this position.

Author: Gino Matos

Compiled by: Luffy, Foresight News

Since January 2024, the performance comparison between cryptocurrencies and stocks indicates that the so-called new type of 'altcoin trading' is essentially just an alternative to stock trading.

In 2024, the S&P 500 index return is about 25%, reaching 17.5% in 2025, with a cumulative increase of about 47% over the two years. During the same period, the Nasdaq 100 index saw increases of 25.9% and 18.1%, with a cumulative increase close to 49%.

The CoinDesk 80 index tracking 80 assets outside the top 20 by cryptocurrency market capitalization plummeted by 46.4% in the first quarter of 2025, and as of mid-July, the year-to-date decline is about 38%.

PANews December 16 news, according to The Block, as the year-end approaches, the activity level of the Bitcoin network has fallen to its lowest point in 12 months, with the 7-day moving average of active addresses dropping to 660,000. While a seasonal slowdown is expected, several network indicators have shown signs of weakness. Currently, the number of active addresses is at its lowest level since December 2024, when network activity peaked due to speculation around Ordinals and Runes. The weakness in network activity has also put downward pressure on miners' economics. Daily revenue for miners has dropped from an average of $50 million in the third quarter to about $40 million. This income is almost entirely derived from block subsidies rather than transaction fees, highlighting the limited demand for Bitcoin block space.

PANews reported on December 16 that the U.S. Senate Banking Committee will hold a revised hearing next year regarding legislation that defines how federal regulatory agencies will regulate the market structure of the cryptocurrency industry. Previously, many hoped that the hearing could take place later this week, but it ultimately did not materialize. A spokesperson for the committee stated in a release on Monday, "Chairman Tim Scott and the Senate Banking Committee have made significant progress with their Democratic colleagues on this bill," but negotiations are still ongoing.

Although the postponement was anticipated, it is still a heavy blow to the cryptocurrency industry. The industry at least hoped to see a revised hearing, as there was originally an expectation for a comprehensive new law to be introduced by 2025, but more substantial progress has not been made. It is currently unclear how quickly lawmakers can resume negotiations in the new year. Upon returning from the congressional break, the top priority is to fund the U.S. government, as a current appropriations bill is set to expire on January 30. Assuming the government does not shut down again, lawmakers still have limited time to address market structure issues before the midterm elections next year.

PANews December 16 news, according to CoinDesk, the U.S. Senate Banking Committee will hold a revised hearing on legislation defining how federal regulators will oversee the market structure of the cryptocurrency industry next year. Previously, many hoped to hold the hearing later this week, but it ultimately did not materialize. A committee spokesperson stated in a statement on Monday, "Chairman Tim Scott and the Senate Banking Committee have made significant progress with their Democratic colleagues on this bill," but lawmakers are still negotiating.

Although the delay was expected, it is still a heavy blow to the cryptocurrency industry. The industry hoped to see at least one revised hearing, especially since there was an expectation for a comprehensive new law to be introduced in 2025, but more substantive progress has not been achieved. It remains unclear how quickly lawmakers can restart negotiations in the new year. After returning from the congressional holiday, the top priority is to provide funding for the U.S. government, as a current appropriations bill is set to expire on January 30. Assuming the government does not shut down again, the time available for lawmakers to address market structure issues remains limited before the midterm elections next year.

PANews December 16 news, according to Forbes, informed sources revealed that the startup Vast, dedicated to building the world's first commercial space station, is in negotiations for a round of $300 million financing, valuing the company at $2 billion. The source stated that this round of financing will be led by Balerion Space Ventures and noted that negotiations are still ongoing, and relevant figures may change. So far, the company has mainly been funded by Jed McCaleb. McCaleb is the founder of cryptocurrency companies Ripple and Stellar, from which he earned billions of dollars. He has stated a willingness to invest up to $1 billion of his personal wealth. Vast plans to launch its first space station prototype "Haven - 1" in 2026 and will begin sending components of its next space station "Haven - 2" in 2028, which is intended to replace the International Space Station (ISS) of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

PANews December 16 news, according to The Block, PayPal is launching a PYUSD savings vault on the decentralized lending platform Spark, providing its stablecoin users with a new way to generate returns on their held assets, with an annual percentage yield (APY) of 4.25%. The yield of the PYUSD savings vault is 'anchored' to the Sky savings rate, which is funded by the revenue of the Sky protocol. PYUSD was integrated into SparkLend in September, allowing users to deposit and borrow the stablecoin. At that time, the two companies stated that after seeing first-day deposits amounting to about one-fifth of the target amount, they hoped to scale the deposits to $1 billion. The new PYUSD savings vault may help increase PYUSD deposits on SparkLend. As part of Spark's Savings V2 product line, the vault also leverages Spark's liquidity layer, deploying stablecoin deposits into Spark's balance sheet, including lending strategies on SparkLend.

PANews December 16 news, according to The Block, the first federally chartered cryptocurrency bank in the United States, Anchorage Digital, has acquired the wealth management division Securitize For Advisors of the tokenization company Securitize. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. This move will help Anchorage expand its financial advisory services for registered investment advisors. Anchorage will absorb the team and front-end platform of Securitize For Advisors.

According to the announcement, in the past year, the scale of Securitize For Advisors has grown by more than 4500%, with new deposits and net assets under management both reaching historic highs. Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo pointed out that its advisory division has achieved 'incredible success', but this sale will allow Securitize to focus on its 'core business'.