Market Dynamics During Beijing Time: December's Comprehensive Market Wrap

December brought a confluence of major market events spanning precious metals, legislative advances, policy support, and on-chain dynamics. This comprehensive update covers significant developments that occurred during the December market session tracked in Beijing time, offering insights into market movements, regulatory progress, and chain-based activities that shaped the period.

Precious Metals Reach Historic Peaks During Beijing Time Market Session

The December market session witnessed remarkable achievements in traditional commodities markets during Beijing time hours. Shanghai silver futures broke decisively through the 16,000 yuan/kg threshold, establishing a new all-time high. The main contract experienced gains exceeding 5% in that session, with the asset accumulating more than 114% in returns throughout the calendar year—a performance that underscores precious metals’ role as a safe-haven asset amid broader market volatility.

Concurrent with silver’s surge, spot gold surged past the October highs, breaking through the $4,381.4 per ounce level that had marked the previous record. This dual movement in precious metals reflects broader investor sentiment seeking stable value preservation amid macroeconomic uncertainty and policy transitions.

U.S. Legislative Progress: Tax Framework for Digital Assets Takes Shape

A significant development emerged from Washington as bipartisan members of the U.S. House of Representatives advanced work on cryptocurrency taxation legislation. Representatives Max Miller (R-Ohio) and Steven Horsford (D-Nevada) have drafted comprehensive proposals to establish clear tax treatment for digital assets, addressing a long-standing gap in regulatory clarity that the crypto industry has been urging lawmakers to address.

The proposed framework introduces protective mechanisms for stablecoin transactions, specifically exempting regulated stablecoins maintaining a value between $0.99 and $1.01 from capital gains tax treatment. Beyond stablecoins, the draft establishes safe harbor provisions for staking and mining rewards—compensation earned through blockchain validation activities. The legislation moves to align cryptocurrency taxation with established frameworks governing traditional securities and certain commodity transactions.

For foreign investors engaged in digital asset trading and securities lenders, the proposal extends tax exemptions previously available for securities transactions to comparable digital asset activities, creating regulatory harmonization across asset classes. This legislative momentum represents progress toward the comprehensive digital asset regulatory framework that market participants have long sought.

Credit Repair and Monetary Policy: Central Bank Support Measures

The People’s Bank of China implemented targeted policy support designed to aid individuals whose credit records were impacted during pandemic-related disruptions. The credit repair initiative permits deletion of single overdue payment records not exceeding 10,000 yuan made between January 1, 2020 and December 31, 2025, provided repayment occurs by March 31, 2026.

Significantly, this policy requires no individual application—the Credit Reference Center of the People’s Bank of China handles implementation systematically. Rollout is expected to begin in batches during 2026. Additionally, from January through June 2026, individuals gain access to two extra free annual credit report inquiries beyond their standard two complimentary annual reviews, facilitating easier credit monitoring and record verification during the implementation period.

On-Chain Market Movements: Whale Activity and Liquidations Tracking Beijing Time

On-chain surveillance during December captured significant whale positioning changes and network-wide liquidation events. A prominent whale initiated a substantial liquidation event during Beijing time hours, selling 230,350 AAVE tokens within a three-hour window. This position exit involved exchanging the AAVE holdings for approximately 5,869.46 stETH (valued near $17.52 million) and 227.8 WBTC (approximately $20.07 million), exerting downward price pressure that drove AAVE lower by approximately 10% from the transaction’s execution.

The broader liquidation landscape proved volatile during this period. Across the entire network during a four-hour window, cryptocurrency futures contracts recorded liquidations totaling $30.0394 million, with long position liquidations reaching $14.4103 million and short position forced closures amounting to $15.6291 million. LIGHT and BEAT tokens ranked first and second by liquidation volume respectively, with liquidation amounts of $6.5179 million and $5.0836 million.

Price action during early Beijing time hours proved particularly severe for the LIGHT token, which experienced an approximately 80% decline—from $4.6 to below $0.8. The BEAT token similarly endured significant volatility during the same early morning Beijing time period, contributing to the outsized liquidation figures these assets recorded.

Separate from broader liquidation activity, large holders have continued accumulating certain assets. A newly created wallet withdrew approximately 104,503 LINK tokens from a major exchange, representing a position valued at approximately $1.32 million. Recent intelligence suggests multiple large whales are suspected of strategically accumulating LINK; another major whale designated as address 0xf44 has withdrawn approximately 630,000 LINK tokens over a two-day period, representing accumulated value approaching $8 million—indicating potential institutional conviction in the asset.

The crypto market’s whale activity also included significant exits. A notable trader known as “Brother Machi” (address Huang Licheng) closed all long positions in Bitcoin and HYPE, resulting in weekly losses of approximately $1.46 million. This trader’s broader week included 15 long trades with 12 profitable exits and 3 losses, yielding an 80% win rate despite the overall net loss for the period. Before these exits, “Brother Machi” maintained leveraged positions including a 25x long in Ethereum comprising 5,400 ETH with liquidation price around $2,795, alongside previously established 10x leveraged long positions in ZEC valued at approximately $390,000 with opening price of $439.24.

Token Unlocks and Market Sentiment: December Period Developments

The December to early January transition brought substantial token unlock events scheduled for Beijing time releases. Humanity (H) was set to unlock approximately 105 million tokens at 8:00 AM Beijing time on December 25th, representing 4.79% of circulating supply and valued at approximately $14.8 million based on then-current pricing. Plasma (XPL) scheduled an unlock of approximately 88.89 million tokens at 8:00 PM Beijing time on December 25th, constituting 4.5% of circulating supply worth approximately $11.7 million.

Additional unlock schedules included SOON releasing approximately 21.88 million tokens (5.97% of supply, valued near $8 million) at 4:30 PM Beijing time on December 23rd. MBG by Multibank Group scheduled an unlock of approximately 15.84 million tokens (8.42% of supply, worth approximately $8.1 million) at 8:00 PM Beijing time on December 22nd. Undeads Games (UDS) had 2.15 million tokens (1.46% of supply, valued approximately $5.2 million) scheduled for unlock at 8:00 AM Beijing time on December 23rd.

Industry Outlook: Mining Sector Faces Headwinds Amid Broader Market Uncertainty

Research from 10x Research provided broader market perspective, noting that Bitcoin mining companies and cryptocurrency-focused firms underperformed during the December period amid global policy uncertainty and legislative delays. The downturn in crypto equities remained unresolved, with market conditions not yet confirming a reversal from the established downtrend.

Coinbase’s recent product initiatives failed to offset systemic weakness across the cryptocurrency sector, with the firm’s equity performance remaining pressured. Similarly, Strategy’s stock price continued tracking lower despite the company’s ongoing Bitcoin accumulation activities—tracked through periodic Bitcoin Tracker updates the firm releases via social channels, with full position disclosure typically following the tracking announcement. ARK Invest’s increased positions in BitMine proved insufficient to counter broader valuation headwinds affecting Bitcoin mining equities.

Among specific mining operators, Bitdeer faced class-action litigation pressures, CleanSpark experienced earnings shortfalls coupled with insider selling activity, Iren received neutral analyst ratings with corresponding stock price declines, and TeraWulf, despite completing substantial financing, saw its equity decline due to dilution impacts from the capital raise.

Federal Reserve Perspective: Rate Policy and Inflation Dynamics

Federal Reserve official Hamak provided insights into monetary policy considerations, noting that the neutral rate of interest may exceed prevailing market expectations. Examining November inflation data, Hamak suggested that reported 2.7% year-on-year CPI growth may understate underlying inflation pressures due to data collection distortions stemming from October-November government shutdown disruptions. Adjusted estimates accounting for measurement difficulties approached 2.9% to 3.0% levels consistent with broader forecaster expectations.

Hamak’s primary concern regarding interest rate trajectory centers on her assessment that the neutral rate—the theoretical rate supporting stable growth without stimulus or drag—exceeds conventional estimates. With the economy demonstrating inherent momentum for robust growth through the coming period, the policy implications suggest a higher rate floor than markets may currently anticipate, influencing medium-term rate expectations and capital allocation decisions across asset classes.

Coinbase Leadership on Regulatory Framework

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong articulated the firm’s regulatory position, contending that prediction markets warrant oversight by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) rather than state-level regulation. Armstrong asserted that state-level regulatory approaches hinder Americans’ access to tools that could enhance economic competitiveness. This position reflects ongoing litigation, with Coinbase having sued Michigan, Illinois, and Connecticut regarding prediction market regulatory authority, seeking federal CFTC jurisdiction over these instruments.