Gate Daily (December 25): Aave founder's increased token holdings spark governance dispute; Trend Research adds 46,000 Ethereum to their holdings

Bitcoin (BTC) slightly rebounds and rises, currently around $87,600 as of December 25, but the gains are noticeably lagging behind the US stock market. Aave founder has been accused of aiming to enhance governance voting rights after increasing his holdings of $10 million worth of AAVE tokens. Trend Research quietly becomes one of the largest ETH buyers, acquiring 46,000 ETH.

Macro Events & Crypto Hotspots

1. On December 24, news broke that Aave founder Stani Kulechov recently invested $10 million to purchase AAVE tokens. Some crypto community members claim this move aims to increase his voting power in key governance proposals. Critics believe that large token purchases could materially influence the voting outcomes of high-risk proposals. This controversy has reignited concerns about whether token-based governance can adequately protect minority holders, especially when founders or early insiders hold significant economic influence. Previously, a proposal was made within the AAVE community to revoke brand and channel ownership.

2. Trend Research purchased 46,379 ETH this week, increasing its holdings to approximately 580,000 ETH, surpassing most publicly tracked ETH reserves of companies on CoinGecko. Currently, only two publicly listed companies, SharpLink Gaming and BitMine Immersion Technologies, report larger ETH holdings, with 859,853 ETH and 4,066,062 ETH respectively. Since Trend Research is not a listed company, it does not appear in most ETH treasury rankings. Nonetheless, its rapid accumulation of ETH has attracted industry attention.

News Highlights

1. Suspected Multicoin OTC purchase of 600 million WLD from the Worldcoin team

2. Brevis releases BREV token economic model: total supply 1 billion tokens, 32.20% allocated to community incentives

3. Circle clarifies: the launch of a tokenized gold and silver trading platform is false information

4. A whale wallet reactivates after 8 years, transferring 400 BTC to CEX, potentially earning over $30 million in profit

5. Aave founder accused of aiming to enhance governance voting rights after increasing holdings of $10 million AAVE tokens

6. US weekly initial unemployment claims: 214,000, below market expectations

7. Vitalik predicts: bug-free code will appear in the 2030s

8. BlackRock: Federal Reserve’s rate cuts in 2026 may be limited

9. BlackRock deposits nearly $230 million in Bitcoin and Ethereum into CEX

10. Philippines cracks down on unlicensed virtual asset service providers, blocking the US’s largest compliant crypto exchange

Market Trends

1. Latest Bitcoin news: $BTC slightly rebounds and rises, currently around $87,600, with $54.1 million in liquidation over the past 24 hours, mainly long positions;

2. US stock market closed higher on December 24, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 both hitting record highs. The market showed a broad rally, indicating that the employment market has not deteriorated rapidly, supporting investor bets on a soft landing. Due to the holiday, trading hours were shortened this week. The Dow rose 288.75 points, up 0.60%, to 48,731.16; the S&P 500 increased 22.26 points, up 0.32%, to 6,932.05; the Nasdaq gained 51.46 points, up 0.22%, to 23,613.31.

(Source: Gate)

3. According to Gate BTC/USDT liquidation map, with current price at 87,544.50 USDT, if the price drops to around $86,496, total long liquidation exceeds $177 million; if it rises to around $88,263, total short liquidation exceeds $252 million. Short positions are being liquidated more than longs, so it is advisable to control leverage reasonably to avoid large-scale liquidations during market fluctuations.

(Source: Coinglass)

4. In the past 24 hours, BTC spot inflow was $1.13 billion, outflow $1.22 billion, net outflow $0.09 billion.

(Source: Coinglass)

5. In the past 24 hours, net outflows in contracts trading for $ETH, $ZEC, $PIPPIN, $SQD, $ZBT , etc., indicate trading opportunities.

X KOL Selected Opinions

Phyrex Ni (@Phyrex_Ni): “Overall market sentiment on Christmas Eve was quite good. The S&P 500 broke through a new high again, which was expected in advance. I wrote a few days ago that a large amount of funds entered the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO). Large capital inflows tend to have a positive impact on the market, and the Nasdaq’s tech rally at close was also good, though it didn’t push past $88,000.”

“I know many partners are no longer optimistic about the correlation between BTC and US stocks, believing that BTC will find it hard to maintain a high correlation with tech stocks. Indeed, recent days have seen a weakening in this correlation, but looking at the trends for 2024 and 2025, QQQ and BTC still show strong consistency. I also think that if the correlation disappears, BTC’s decline might accelerate. Tomorrow is Christmas, and although Bitcoin hasn’t surged past $90,000, it hasn’t dropped sharply either. For now, investor sentiment remains stable, which is very important during periods of low liquidity. No big surprises is a good thing. We’ll see after New Year.”

“Looking at Bitcoin’s data itself, as Christmas approaches, turnover and volume are both declining, which is normal. The decline in turnover helps stabilize BTC prices, and short-term investors remain the main traders, with early investors clearly in a wait-and-see mode. The chip structure still looks healthy; the fifth support level might need adjustment in about a month. No more nonsense—Merry Christmas everyone.”

Today’s Outlook

1. China’s Ministry of Commerce holds its 4th regular press conference in December

2. Bank of Japan Governor Ueda Haruhiko delivers a speech at the Japan Business Federation

3. Canada closes for Christmas holiday

4. UK closes for Christmas holiday

5. Italy closes for Christmas holiday

6. France closes for Christmas holiday

7. South Korea closes for Christmas holiday

8. Australia closes for Christmas holiday

9. Hong Kong closes for Christmas holiday

10. US closes for Christmas holiday

11. Germany closes for Christmas holiday