Crypto Morning Brief: Spot gold hits new high, Gnosis hard fork recovers funds from Balancer hack
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Crypto Morning Brief: Spot gold hits new high, Gnosis hard fork recovers funds from Balancer hack
Former FTX US president's new venture, Architect Financial Technologies, raises $35 million.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: TechFlow
Yesterday's Market Dynamics
Spot gold surged past $4,500 this morning, hitting a record high
According to Jin10 News, spot gold broke the $4,500 per ounce mark for the first time this morning, rising over $1,870 so far this year, currently trading around $4,508 per ounce.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Belknap supports rethinking the Fed's 2% inflation target
U.S. Treasury Secretary Belknap supports reconsidering the Federal Reserve’s 2% inflation target. He indicated that discussions may revolve around adjusting the target to a range of 1.5%-2.5% or 1%-3%.
Trump: Most economists underestimated Q3 GDP – “The best is yet to come”
U.S. President Trump posted on social media: "Q3 GDP growth reached 4.3%, far exceeding the expected 3.2%. 60 out of 61 Bloomberg economists were wrong, but 'Trump' and a few other geniuses got it right. This success is due to sound governance and tariff policies. Consumer spending is strong, net exports have surged, imports and trade deficits have significantly declined, and there is zero inflation pressure! Investment is reaching record highs thanks to my tax reform and tariffs. The golden age of the Trump economy is moving full speed ahead—the best is yet to come!"
Bloomberg: Russia plans to allow retail investors to participate in domestic crypto trading
According to Bloomberg, the Central Bank of Russia has developed a regulatory framework for its domestic cryptocurrency market and intends to allow retail investors to purchase cryptocurrencies under specific conditions.
Under the framework, non-qualified investors who pass a knowledge test can buy the most liquid cryptocurrencies, with an annual transaction limit of 300,000 rubles (approximately $3,800) via a single intermediary. Qualified investors, after passing a risk awareness test, can purchase any cryptocurrency except anonymous tokens without limits.
Etherscan to cease indexing and support for ZKsync Era starting January 7, 2026
ZKsync officially announced that Etherscan will stop indexing and supporting ZKsync Era starting January 7, 2026. Users will need to switch to ZKsync’s native block explorer to view block, transaction, and contract data. Developers relying on Etherscan APIs must complete migration before the deadline.
Gnosis Chain executes hard fork, recovers $116 million in funds from Balancer hack
According to Financefeeds, Gnosis Chain has executed a hard fork, successfully recovering funds linked to the $116 million Balancer hack in November.
Gnosis confirmed on Tuesday via the X platform that the hard fork is complete, and the stolen funds are now "out of the hackers’ control." Previously, most validator nodes implemented an emergency soft fork in November to mitigate losses. Philippe Schommers, Head of Infrastructure at Gnosis, stated that the recovered funds will be held in a DAO-controlled wallet, and the community will decide on the subsequent distribution plan.
Earlier reports indicated that Balancer disclosed on November 3 that its decentralized exchange and automated market maker had been attacked, resulting in losses exceeding $116 million. White-hat hackers and internal rescue efforts have successfully recovered approximately $28 million in assets.
a16z Partner: Privacy will be the most important moat in crypto
Ali Yahya, General Partner at a16z, stated that privacy will become the most critical moat in the cryptocurrency space. Ali explained that because secret information is difficult to migrate, privacy features are sufficient to differentiate new blockchains from others and create on-chain lock-in effects. When users are on public blockchains, they can easily transact across chains, but on privacy-focused chains, the chain choice becomes more significant—once users join a chain, they are unlikely to risk exposure by switching to another.
Ali believes this will lead to a winner-takes-all scenario, and since privacy is crucial for most real-world use cases, a few privacy-centric chains will dominate the majority of the crypto ecosystem.
Wintermute: Bitcoin and Ethereum dominate late 2025 market; altcoins under pressure
Wintermute released its daily market report stating that the crypto market experienced sharp volatility last week, with BTC briefly dropping below $85,000 and ETH falling below $3,000, triggering about $1.4 billion in liquidations. Market structure continues to narrow, with Bitcoin dominance rising steadily while altcoins struggle under supply pressure.
Data shows institutional capital has been consistently buying major cryptocurrencies since summer, and retail investors are also shifting from altcoins to BTC and ETH. Despite short-term volatility, the steady entry of traditional financial institutions into the crypto space is expected to support prices in the medium term.
Analysts expect market activity to quiet down as year-end holidays approach, with prices likely to remain range-bound, and investors continuing to favor high-liquidity assets.
Hong Kong JPY 1 billion virtual currency exchange robbery: Victim is mainland Chinese, 15 arrested including suspects with triad ties
According to Hong Kong media outlet Hong Kong 01, a Japanese company operating in virtual currencies and luxury handbags was robbed in Sheung Wan, Hong Kong, losing JPY 1 billion (approximately HKD 50 million). The incident occurred on the morning of December 18, when four knife-wielding robbers snatched four suitcases containing cash within just 30 seconds.
Hong Kong police have arrested 15 individuals, some with triad affiliations, and seven have already been charged with "conspiracy to rob." Police said all involved parties have been apprehended, including the mastermind, though the whereabouts of the stolen money remains under investigation.
The 39-year-old male victim is from mainland China and entered Hong Kong on a two-way permit. He was assisting a driver with luggage at the time. Both were employees of a Japanese firm dealing in virtual currencies and luxury handbags, originally planning to convert revenue brought from Japan into virtual currencies and Hong Kong dollars via a local exchange, but were robbed en route.
SOL treasury company Upexi files with SEC to raise up to $1 billion
According to CoinDesk, Upexi (UPXI), a U.S.-listed SOL treasury company, has filed a shelf registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), planning to raise up to $1 billion through offerings of common stock, preferred stock, debt instruments, warrants, or other securities.
Upexi currently holds approximately 2 million SOL tokens (worth about $248 million), making it the fourth-largest publicly traded company by Solana asset holdings. The company stated that proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes, including working capital, R&D, acquisitions, and debt repayment.
Notably, Upexi shares dropped about 7% on Tuesday to $1.85, down roughly 50% year-to-date, while SOL has declined 34% over the same period. In addition to crypto assets, the company manages several consumer brands, including Cure Mushrooms medicinal products and Lucky Tail pet care products.
Former FTX US President's new venture Architect Financial Technologies raises $35 million
According to The Information, Brett Harrison, former President of FTX US, has raised $35 million for his newly founded company Architect Financial Technologies, at a valuation of approximately $187 million. Its exchange, AX, focuses on perpetual contracts for traditional assets (stocks and forex), not crypto perps. The platform is regulated in Bermuda and only open to non-U.S. institutional investors, as the U.S. has not yet approved perpetual futures products.
Market Data
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