Gate Daily (December 18): CFTC Acting Chair resigns to join MoonPay; Bhutan donates 10,000 Bitcoins to build a "City of Mindfulness"

Bitcoin (BTC) prices are highly volatile, surging past $90,000 at one point before rapidly crashing, currently around $85,980 as of December 18. CFTC Acting Chair Caroline Pham will leave the financial regulatory agency to join MoonPay. Bhutan commits to donating 10,000 Bitcoins to develop the “Mindfulness City.” The Federal Reserve withdraws the 2023 guidance on “restricting uninsured banks from participating in crypto activities.”

Macro Events & Crypto Hotspots

1. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Acting Chair Caroline Pham will leave the agency to join MoonPay, following Senate confirmation of her successor. MoonPay confirmed on December 17 that Pham will join as Chief Legal and Administrative Officer. In January, during the chair transition, she served as Acting Chair and remained the sole Republican commissioner for several months after other leaders’ terms ended or resigned. During her tenure, Pham’s work aligned with White House directives, including those related to the crypto industry.

2. The Kingdom of Bhutan announced it will utilize 10,000 Bitcoins from its Bitcoin reserves to help establish its special administrative region—Gleip Mindfulness City (GMC). GMC is located in Gleip town in southern Bhutan, launching in 2024, aiming to become Bhutan’s new economic hub by creating high-value local jobs to prevent the outflow of young Bhutanese.

3. According to crypto journalist Eleanor Terrett, the Federal Reserve decided to revoke a 2023 guidance that effectively prevented uninsured banks from becoming Fed members and engaging in crypto-related activities. This guidance was the basis for the Fed’s rejection of Custodia Bank’s main account application.

News Highlights

1. U.S. SEC releases “Statement on Broker-Dealer Custody of Crypto Asset Securities”

2. U.S. SEC Commissioner solicits opinions on trading crypto assets on national securities exchanges and alternative trading systems

3. A major whale’s HYPE long position faces a floating loss of $19.6 million, with 2 million USDC deposited to avoid liquidation

4. The “Insider Whale 1011” has increased its total floating loss to $73.18 million

5. Three whale wallets deposited a total of 37.1 million USDC today to increase HYPE tokens

6. Polygon Foundation: Polygon PoS issue has been resolved, but block explorer may still show delays

7. WLFI community launches voting on “Using unlocked treasury funds to promote USD1 adoption”

8. Brazil’s B3 stock exchange to launch its own tokenization platform and stablecoin

9. U.S. CFTC Acting Chair Caroline Pham to join MoonPay as Chief Legal and Administrative Officer

10. The Federal Reserve withdraws the 2023 guidance on “restricting uninsured banks from participating in crypto activities”

Market Trends

1. Latest Bitcoin news: $BTC prices are highly volatile, surging past $90,000 at one point before rapidly crashing, currently around $85,980. Over the past 24 hours, $155 million in liquidations, mainly long positions;

2. U.S. stock markets closed lower on December 17, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both falling to three-week lows, marking four consecutive days of declines. Despite Fed Governor Waller signaling dovishness and suggesting room for rate hikes amid a soft labor market, AI-related stocks underperformed, overshadowing investor optimism for further rate cuts. The Dow Jones Industrial fell 228.29 points, down 0.5%, to 47,885.97. The S&P 500 dropped 78.83 points, down 1.2%, to 6,721.43. The Nasdaq plunged 418.14 points, down 1.8%, to 22,693.32. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 3.8%.

(Source: Gate)

3. According to Gate BTC/USDT liquidation map, with current price at 86,168.10 USDT, if it drops to around 84,988 USD, total long liquidation exceeds $232 million; if it rises to around 88,483 USD, total short liquidation exceeds $755 million. Short positions are significantly more liquidated than longs; traders should control leverage wisely to avoid large-scale liquidations during market swings.

(Source: Coinglass)

4. In the past 24 hours, BTC spot inflow was $1.9 billion, outflow $2.04 billion, net outflow $140 million.

(Source: Coinglass)

5. In the past 24 hours, net outflows led by contracts trading of $BCH, $BTC, $PIPPIN, $H, $ZEC , indicating trading opportunities.

Top Influencer Insights

Phyrex Ni (@Phyrex_Ni): “Today’s market is as crazy as my mind—when U.S. stocks opened, BTC surged along with the market, but within five minutes, stocks started to fall back strongly. Bitcoin held up better, only starting to decline after over half an hour, and both rises and falls happened without clear reasons—just market self-regulation.”

“The main focus now is on U.S. monetary policy. Many are worried about Thursday’s CPI data and Japan’s rate hike on Friday, which is understandable. Even tonight’s decline could be a hedge against inflation tomorrow, but inflation isn’t a big concern for the Fed right now, nor is Japan’s rate hike—they’re fully expected.”

“The current market is mainly in a short-term liquidity drought and confusion. There’s no obvious negative news, but investors are overly sensitive to any small movements. On one hand, AI and tech stocks are rallying with policy and capital support, but on the other hand, investors are still worried about the Fed and Trump’s ongoing battle, fearing a recession might still happen. It’s quite volatile.”

“Looking at Bitcoin data, despite today’s sharp price swings, turnover has not increased—in fact, it’s weakening. This suggests the recent volatility is short-lived. BTC may gradually enter a new phase of decline. The biggest current limitation for BTC remains liquidity. Many see BTC as part of tech stocks; it still lags behind giants like NVIDIA or other AI leaders, and even the ‘Seven Sisters.’ It’s better than regular tech stocks but still highly correlated with them.”

Today’s Outlook

1. UK official bank rate, previous: 4.00%

2. Eurozone ECB refinancing rate, previous: 2.15%

3. US weekly initial jobless claims (thousands) (as of 1213), previous: 236

4. US November seasonally adjusted Consumer Price Index (YoY)

5. US November seasonally adjusted Core Consumer Price Index (YoY)

6. UK Bank of England interest rate decision and meeting minutes

7. European Central Bank interest rate decision

8. ECB President Lagarde to hold a monetary policy press conference