OSL Trading Time: BTC breaks through $108,000 to a new high, and many regions call for the implementation of Bitcoin strategic reserves

1. Market observation

Keywords: ETH, ENS, BTC

The Bitcoin market has shown strong growth recently. On December 16, the asset management scale of Bitcoin ETFs exceeded that of gold funds for the first time, reaching a record high of $129 billion. In terms of price, Bitcoin hit a record high of $108,000 and maintained an upward momentum above $100,000, up 6.44% in the past five days. Based on this momentum, analysts predict that the price may climb to $200,000 in the next few months.

According to Coin Metrics' "State of the Network" report, the 2024 Bitcoin halving event has a significant impact on the landscape. The halving will reduce the block reward from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC, which may lead to a significant drop in miner revenue. At the same time, Ethereum's development has also attracted much attention, and ENS Labs has selected Consensys' Linea technology for its upcoming Layer-2 network project. Juan Leon, an investment strategist at Bitwise, pointed out in a blog post on December 17 that Ethereum is expected to achieve significant growth in 2025 with a surge in institutional interest and has the potential to tap into a $100 trillion real-world asset market.

At the policy level, cryptocurrencies have received support from many parties. Satoshi Action Fund released a draft of a potential executive order to establish a US strategic Bitcoin reserve, which was supported by Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis. In Europe, French MEP Sarah Knafo called on the EU to implement a strategic Bitcoin reserve instead of a central bank digital currency, a proposal that received a positive response from Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele.

In terms of market behavior, recent Bitcoin "whales" made massive purchases totaling $7 billion in 48 hours. Despite the record high price, options data shows that traders remain cautious in chasing these trends.

2. Key data (as of 09:25 HKT, December 18)

• S&P 500: 6,050.61 (+26.85% year-to-date)

• Nasdaq: 20,109.06 points (+33.96% year-to-date)

• 10-year Treasury yield: 4.392% (+54.37 basis points this year)

• US dollar index: 106.593 (+5.54% year-to-date)

• Bitcoin: $106,394.04 (+151.73% year-to-date), with a daily spot volume of $67.13 billion

• Ethereum: $3,894.27 (+75.41% year-to-date), with a daily spot volume of $34.59 billion

3. ETF flows (EST, December 17)

• Bitcoin ETF: -$119.29 million

• Ethereum ETF: +$5.95 million

4. Important Dates (Hong Kong Time)

Retail sales month-on-month (09:30 p.m., December 17)

• Actual: 0.7% / Previous: 0.5% / Expected: 0.5%

Federal Reserve interest rate decision (03:00 am, December 19)

• Actual: To be announced / Previous value: 4.75% / Expected: 4.5%

Final GDP quarter-on-quarter value (09:30 p.m., December 19)

• Actual: To be announced / Previous value: 3.00% / Expected: 2.80%

Core PCE price index month-on-month (09:30 p.m., December 20)

• Actual: To be announced / Previous value: 0.3% / Expected: 0.2%

Personal income month-on-month (09:30 p.m., December 20)

• Actual: To be announced / Previous value: 0.6% / Expected: 0.4%

Personal expenditure month-on-month (09:30 p.m., December 20)

• Actual: To be announced / Previous value: 0.4% / Expected: 0.5%

5. Hot News

• sBTC is now available on the Stacks mainnet, offering a 5% annualized reward

• Big Time Studios announces $150 million Open Loot fund

• 33.1% of the PENGU airdrop has been claimed, with each wallet receiving an average of 20,800 PENGU

• Ohio lawmakers propose setting up a Bitcoin reserve fund in state finances

• Solana on-chain meme project Retardio's official X account has been suspended

• Fuel Launches FUEL Genesis Airdrop: Eligibility Check Page is Online, Application Will Be Open on December 19

• ENS Labs selects Linea’s technology to build its L2 network Namechain

• Tether announces investment in European stablecoin provider StablR

• Physicist: Quantum computers are still five years away from breaking Bitcoin

• The Pendle team's associated wallet sent more than 560,000 PENDLE to Binance, worth $3.47 million

• Binance Wallet Launches Binance Alpha to Increase Pre-IPO Transparency and Spotlight Potential Projects

• European lawmakers call for Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset

• OKX pre-market trading Hyperliquid (HYPE) briefly breaks through $30

• Nirvana Finance V2 will be launched on December 18, completing compensation and introducing new mechanisms

• Kontos Announces KOS Token Economics: 5% for Airdrops

• Metaplanet announces issuance of 4.5 billion yen in ordinary bonds, funds will be used to accelerate purchases of Bitcoin

• Trump plans to use the US Treasury's $200 billion foreign exchange stabilization fund to build Bitcoin reserves

• Grayscale Horizen Trust is now open to qualified accredited investors

• FTX Announcement: Court-approved Chapter 11 Reorganization Plan Will Take Effect on January 3, 2025

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