Infrared Finance - KuCoin Listing - 17 December 2025

Between 17–21 December 2025, governance around the Hyperliquid ecosystem is considering treating HYPE accumulated by the Assistance Fund as permanently burned, removing it from both circulating and total supply. The Kinetiq x HyperionDeFi validator, managed by PierTwo, has publicly backed this Hyper Foundation vote, and the Kinetiq Foundation will temporarily redirect all stake delegation to that validator to support the burn outcome, according to Kinetiq’s statement on X (source). If the proposal passes, it would function as a large, one-off supply reduction for HYPE, which can be supportive for price if demand holds, while Kinetiq’s active role and forthcoming validator-choice upgrade for kHYPE stakers may draw additional attention and stake flows into its own ecosystem.

Kraken is listing EVAA, the token powering a Telegram-native lending and borrowing platform on TON where users can earn yield, borrow against collateral, and make payments in a Mini App, with trading starting at 11:00 UTC on December 17 per the exchange’s announcement on X (source). A listing on a regulated, fiat-accessible venue like Kraken typically broadens the investor base by giving institutions and retail users with compliance constraints direct exposure. This can deepen order-book liquidity and improve price discovery, while the TON and Telegram Mini App angle may attract thematic flows. Traders should expect heightened volatility around the open as initial price levels and spreads are established.

Bitcoin’s “death cross” is back in the group chat. And yes, the emails too. Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets research at VanEck, said he’s been “getting questions from clients” about the latest death cross print — the 50-day moving average slipping under the 200-day — and answered with the kind of data dump that tends to calm people down.

“Lagging indicator,” Sigel wrote on X, alongside a table of every Bitcoin death cross going back to 2011. The summary stats are clean: the 6-month median return after a death cross is +30%, the 12-month median is +89%, and the “positive hit rate” is 64%.

Another Bitcoin Death Cross, Another Missed Bottom?

But the interesting bit isn’t just the returns. It’s Sigel’s market regime column — basically a hint that the same technical signal can mean wildly different things depending on where you are in the cycle.

Take the ones tagged as some version of “bottom.” In 2011 (“post-bubble bottom”), the death cross showed up around the wreckage of an early-cycle blow-off, and the next 12 months were +357%. In 2015 (“cycle bottom”), it was +82% at six months and +159% at 12 months — classic post-capitulation behavior where trend indicators catch up late, after price has already stabilized and started to turn.

2020 (“Covid bottom”) is the extreme example: forced liquidation, policy response, then a monster rebound (+812% over 12 months). And 2023 is also tagged “cycle bottom,” with +173% at six months and +121% at 12 months — the kind of “this is awful until it isn’t” regime crypto does better than any asset class.

Now look at “structural bear.” That label shows up in 2014 (twice), 2018, and 2022 — and the forward returns are mostly ugly: 2014 prints -48% and -56% over 12 months, 2018 is -35%, and 2022 is -52%. Different environment. Less “washout and bounce,” more “trend is down because the system is deleveraging,” whether that’s miners, credit, exchanges, or macro liquidity tightening. In those regimes, a death cross isn’t a late alarm — it’s the moving averages confirming that the downtrend is real and persistent.

The in-between tags matter too. 2019 is marked “late bear,” with +9% at six months and +89% at 12 — choppy, uneven, but improving as the cycle turns. 2021 is “late cycle”: +30% at six months, then -43% at 12, which fits a regime where trend signals can whipsaw while distribution and macro tightening creep in.

And then there’s 2024: “post-ETF regime,” with +58% at six months and +94% at 12. That tag is doing a lot of work. It suggests the backdrop isn’t just “price vs. moving averages,” but structural demand (ETFs), different liquidity plumbing, and a market that may behave less like pure reflexive leverage and more like a hybrid of trad-fi flows plus crypto-native positioning.

So the takeaway isn’t “death crosses are bullish.” That’s not true. It’s that the signal is mostly a trailing mirror — and the regime you’re actually in (bottoming, late bear, structural deleveraging, late cycle, post-ETF flow market) is what decides whether it’s a fake-out, a confirmation, or just noise with a scary name.

At press time, Bitcoin traded at $86,631.

While attracting new users may not be a core challenge for crypto, keeping them active beyond the first month is far more difficult, and data from prediction markets is spotlighting the issue once more. 

Polymarket retention data, compiled by analytics firm Dune and market maker Keyrock, tracked monthly cohorts of new active users and measured the number of users who returned to trade in subsequent months. 

According to the report, which sampled 275 crypto projects spanning networks, decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms, wallets and trading apps, Polymarket’s average retention outperformed over 85% of protocols. 

The data highlighted how rare sustained usage remains across the crypto sector. In markets where liquidity depends on frequent participation, weak retention can signal shallow growth.

The persistent challenges associated with guaranteeing cross-border payments has been highlighted by Ripple Labs’ Senior Executive Officer, Middle East & Africa, Reece Merrick. In a response to the frustration of a veteran banker, Merrick noted that the traditional banking system of settlement remains "painful."

GTreasury's unique edge over traditional banking

According to him, the slow settlement processes he witnessed firsthand from his earlier banking days, before moving to Ripple, expose the frustration of his clients. He decried the multiple layers of intermediary banks that a client’s payment request has to pass through and the associated delays.

Merrick implied that traditional banking systems are slow, opaque, unpredictable and stressful when it comes to cross-border settlements. He believes it was not good service for a client not to know specifically when their money would arrive at its destination.

The senior executive claimed that GTreasury, which has been acquired by Ripple for $1 billion, is revolutionizing cross-border payments. He explained that Ripple is utilizing the XRP Ledger to ensure secure, efficient and reliable transactions.

The goal is to overcome the challenges of trapped liquidity, slow settlement and high payment costs to clients. Merrick highlighted that with GTreasury, clients are assured of round-the-clock settlements. Additionally, the cost of cross-border settlements is significantly reduced by between 60% and 90%.

Another huge change offered by GTreasury is the flexibility and speed it offers to clients. Unlike the traditional banking system, which requires two to three days, GTreasury offers blockchain-based payments in seconds.

The acquisition of GTreasury by Ripple is part of its expansion efforts aimed at enhancing cross-order payment systems. 

Recently, Merrick hinted at a possible expansionary move into South Africa, given improvements in the regulatory environment. Notably, South Africa remains a key market for Ripple as it seeks to establish a presence for the Ripple USD (RLUSD) stablecoin.

Ripple’s strategic capture of cross-border settlement

Interestingly, given the dominance of giants like Tether and Circle (USDC) on the stablecoin market, Merrick says RLUSD aims to move beyond being a "Ripple-only" asset.

It is aiming to become a regulated banking tool for the blockchain. Ripple is focused on taking products to existing users rather than waiting for them to migrate.

With these plans set in motion, Ripple intends to become a global force in cross-border settlement through quicker and reliable solutions.

Tortola, British Virgins Island, December 17th, 2025, Chainwire

Space is the first 10x leverage prediction market on Solana where users trade real-world outcomes across crypto, politics, sports, technology, culture and beyond - getting paid for being right. Today, they announced the public sale of their native token, .

The company has a token flywheel mechanism where 50% of revenue goes into buying back and burning .

Space is built by the team behind UFO, a top 100 project in 2021 on CoinMarketCap that grew to $1.5B+ market cap with a large on-chain community. That success came from distribution and community, not insiders. The same ethos powers Space.

Core Features:

• Central Limit Order Book (CLOB) with 0% maker fees
• Up to 10x leverage on predictions, more than 1,000x gains
• Engineered user acquisition and retention loops
• 50% of revenue - buyback and burn
• Gamified points, ranks, and seasonal airdrops
• Liquidity and referral rewards

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