In this article, we will take a closer look at the competitive advantages or “moats” of the current leading blue chip lending protocols and up-and-coming players, and conduct a comparative analysis of their key indicators.

Bitcoin spot ETFs saw their fifth consecutive week of net outflows of $870.39 million last week, despite the stablecoin’s market capitalization increasing by about $1.36 billion during the same period. Affected by the continued macroeconomic uncertainty, Bitcoin prices rose only slightly by 0.78% last week.

Since the Bitcoin reserve did not include plans to purchase additional Bitcoin, the price of Bitcoin fell by about 14% last week. Investors turned the market's focus back to macroeconomic uncertainties.

During the weekend, Trump posted on the Truth Social platform that the presidential working group is pushing for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, SOL and ADA to be included in the strategic reserve of cryptocurrencies. After the news was released, the price of Bitcoin soared 11% in 3 hours.

Bitcoin had limited volatility last week, recording only a small increase of 0.14%. As the market's enthusiasm for MEME coin trading faded after the LIBRA crash, the overall trading volume of small currencies declined. Although Bitcoin briefly rebounded to $99,000, the gains were immediately reversed due to the Bybit hack and the economic data released last Friday that was worse than expected.

Bitcoin price fluctuations narrowed last week, closing slightly down about 0.36% for the week. As uncertainty in the macroeconomic environment gradually intensifies, investors' risk appetite has declined. Bitcoin ETFs recorded their largest weekly net outflow since September 2024, reaching $652 million.

Bitcoin ETF still recorded a weekly net inflow of $203.54 million. The total market value of stablecoins increased for the sixth consecutive week, with more than $4.33 billion in new stablecoins issued on the chain.

Bitcoin and the overall crypto market have seen a sharp sell-off in tandem with the U.S. stock market. Most of these were driven by macro factors, including the impact of the DeepSeek R1 model on U.S. AI and chip companies, and Trump's announcement of a 25% tariff on Canada and Mexico, a 10% tariff on China, and additional tariffs on EU countries. Bitcoin prices fell 4.8% last week. On Monday, Bitcoin prices plunged a further 3.8%, resulting in more than $2 billion in liquidations in the past 24 hours. The Cryptocurrency Fear and Greed Index fell to its lowest level since October 2024.

After Trump took office as president, he pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the Silk Road website, who had served more than 11 years in prison. In addition, Trump signed an executive order to establish regulatory norms for the cryptocurrency industry, including exploring the possibility of establishing a national digital asset reserve. Mark Uyeda, the newly appointed acting chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), also established a task force to develop a clear regulatory framework for the cryptocurrency industry. Senator Cynthia also announced that she will serve as chair of the Senate Banking Digital Assets Subcommittee. According to reports, Eric Trump has confirmed that cryptocurrency projects in the United States will enjoy zero capital gains tax. In addition, Musk is also exploring blockchain-based collection solutions for the "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE).

The next president of the United States, Trump, launched his own TRUMP memecoin on the Solana chain last weekend, with 20% used for liquidity and public distribution, and the remaining 80% reserved for the team. The FDV of the TRUMP token soared to more than $75 billion last Sunday, and Solana's market value has increased by 34% in the past week to $130 billion. The TRUMP token also quickly landed on several major exchanges, including Binance and Coinbase, while Binance's annualized funding rate remained at about 100%. At the same time, the Moonshot app jumped to the first place in the US App Store's financial category ranking.

Bitcoin prices fell 3.9% last week, affected by multiple factors. Major economic data showed that interest rate cuts may be delayed, further dampening market sentiment; at the same time, the news that the U.S. Department of Justice was approved to sell 69,370 bitcoins seized from Silk Road further exacerbated selling pressure.

Although USDT’s market capitalization decreased by about 1%, or about $1.4 billion, last week, the total stablecoin market capitalization rose slightly by 0.39% during the same period, with USDC’s market capitalization increasing by about $2 billion last week.

Last week, Bitcoin prices fell 1.54% due to reduced trading activity during the holiday period, and trading volume decreased by about 44% compared with the previous week. Bitcoin ETFs saw net outflows of about $388 million last week, while Ethereum ETFs showed some resilience, recording net inflows for five consecutive weeks, attracting about $350 million in net inflows last week.

2025 will be the era of AI Agent in the crypto space. Currently, about 33% of cryptocurrency developers are engaged in AI-related development work. In Kaito, AI occupies about 50% of the attention in Meme, DeFi, GameFi, Layer-2, ETF and other fields. According to Binance user survey, 23.89% of users believe that AI tokens have the most potential, while Meme tokens rank second, accounting for 19%.

Trading volume is expected to decline during the Christmas and New Year holidays, when investors tend to rebalance their portfolios and sell underperforming cryptocurrencies to reduce their total tax liability. More than $13 billion in notional value of options contracts will expire on Friday (December 27), and the market may see significant volatility during this period.

Meme coins have become a unique and increasingly influential category in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. We will analyze how meme coins are reshaping the way people interact with cryptocurrencies, while also examining the challenges and risks associated with investing in these speculative assets.

Despite this being the largest daily liquidation event since 2021, resulting in over $1.7 billion in liquidations across all perpetual contracts. Bitcoin has shown remarkable resilience. Prices have quickly recovered, up 3.16% over the past week. Ethereum ETFs continue to show strong demand, with net inflows once again setting a record of $854.85 million last week. This resilience remains despite Ethereum's price falling 1.22% driven by broader market liquidation events. Currently, 2.92% of the total Ethereum supply is held by Ethereum ETFs, about 16% is held by centralized exchanges, and 28.1% is staked.

Bitcoin surpassed $100,000 15 years, 11 months and 1 day after the genesis block. In the past week, Bitcoin ETFs recorded $2.73 billion in inflows, while Ethereum ETFs reached a record $836.69 million in inflows. Ethereum has outperformed Bitcoin for three consecutive weeks, gaining 8% last week, while Bitcoin only grew 4%.

Bitcoin prices fell 0.88% last week, retreating to nearly $91,000. On-chain data shows that most of the addresses that realized profits were long-term holders, especially those that accumulated BTC from 2022 to 2023. At the same time, Bitcoin ETF net outflows reached $138.07 million. Despite this, the Crypto Fear and Greed Index remains above 70.

Bitcoin prices surged 9% last week, coming within $400 of the critical $100,000 mark. The rally was likely driven by the launch of IBIT options trading, which helped boost liquidity, and SEC Chairman Gary Gensler's announcement that he will step down on January 20, 2025, fueling optimism about potential regulatory changes. Blackrock's Bitcoin ETF, IBIT, began trading options on Nasdaq, with a notional volume of $1.9 billion on the first day, including 289,000 calls and 65,000 puts. The Chicago Board Options Exchange (Cboe) also announced that it will soon launch cash-settled Bitcoin ETF options.