Odaily Planet Daily reports that PLATO, a full-chain financial protocol with the vision of "connecting DeFi with the real economy," officially launched its governance token, PLATO, on December 9th. On-chain data shows the token's initial price was 0.002556 USDT, reaching a high of 0.019 USDT within 24 hours, a single-day increase of over 560%. The project's FDV is approaching $80 million. The protocol employs a dual-token mechanism: The governance token, PLATO, is used for community governance, node rewards, and revenue distribution, and is repurchased and burned through platform fees and RWA spreads to strengthen its value. The revenue rights token, IHP, is backed by the revenue from real assets such as hydropower stations, aiming to provide a stable cash flow for the ecosystem and reduce the risk of "air coins" (cryptocurrencies with no real value). Currently, the first phase of the Kyrgyzstan hydropower station, to which IHP is linked, is operational. Subsequent on-chain financing will be used for expansion phases two through five, continuously injecting real-world revenue into the protocol.

According to Odaily Planet Daily, following the next Blob parameter hard fork, developers are considering increasing Ethereum's gas limit to 80M, potentially enabling faster transaction speeds in January next year. (Cointelegraph)

According to an outlook report by iCapital, Odaily Planet Daily, the yield on the 10-year US Treasury note is expected to trade within the 4.0%-4.5% range in 2026, potentially hitting the upper limit in the second half of the year. The report stated, "While we still expect the 10-year US Treasury yield to fluctuate within this range, at least at the beginning of 2026, it could potentially move to 4.5% if the deficit outlook worsens." The report added that this could put pressure on risk assets and capital market activity. (Jinshi)

Huoxun Finance News, December 18th – According to Techinasia, Standard Chartered Bank has launched a blockchain-based tokenized deposit solution for Ant International, supporting real-time transfers of Hong Kong dollars, offshore RMB, and US dollars. The bank partnered with global fintech company Ant International, deploying the technology on Ant's Whale Exploration platform. This launch is part of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's Project Ensemble, which aims to promote the application of distributed ledger technology in the region. Ant International is the first customer to adopt this new solution, enabling 24/7 fund management and liquidity transfer. Both Standard Chartered Bank and Ant International are members of the EnsembleTX Group, which supports the promotion and application of tokenization technology in Hong Kong. Since May 2024, Standard Chartered Bank has been a member of the Project Ensemble community, assisting in the development of industry standards and testing tokenization application scenarios.

Huoxun Finance reported on December 18th that DelphiDigital released its 2026 Infrastructure Outlook report, which points out that stablecoins have become the most important infrastructure focus in the crypto space. This year, the total supply of stablecoins increased by 33%, exceeding $304 billion; adjusted monthly transaction volume has now surpassed Visa and PayPal; stablecoins hold $133 billion in US Treasury bonds, becoming the 19th largest holder of US Treasury bonds. The report notes that ironically, crypto companies are now competing around traditional payment channels. While stablecoin top-up cards circulating through the Visa network are an important step, they haven't yet created a completely new paradigm. Many competitors will eventually be eliminated if they cannot provide solutions for self-control over daily spending and storage. Traditional giants have already recognized this trend. Stripe integrated its USD stablecoin USDB after acquiring Bridge; PayPal launched PYUSD; and Klarna just announced KlarnaUSD. As fintech companies issue stablecoins, the market battle has already begun. The real winners will be those who can fundamentally revolutionize the underlying payment architecture, rather than merely optimizing the interface on top of it.

According to Odaily Planet Daily, if MSCI proceeds with its plan to remove cryptocurrency treasury companies from its indices, these companies could be forced to sell up to $15 billion worth of cryptocurrencies. The group "BitcoinForCorporations," opposing MSCI's proposal, predicts, based on a verified preliminary list of 39 companies, that with a total adjusted circulating market capitalization of $113 billion, these companies would face an outflow of $10 billion to $15 billion. The group added that, according to JPMorgan Chase analysis, if Strategy is removed from the MSCI index, its outflow could reach $2.8 billion. Strategy accounts for 74.5% of the total adjusted circulating market capitalization affected. Analysts calculate that the potential total outflow from all affected companies could reach $11.6 billion. Such a large-scale outflow would put even greater selling pressure on the cryptocurrency market, which has been trending downwards for the past three months. At the time of writing, the petition from "BitcoinForCorporations" has garnered 1,268 signatures. (Cointelegraph)

According to Odaily Planet Daily, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin stated that the Ethereum blockchain needs to better explain its functionality to users in order to achieve true trustlessness, a common challenge faced by all blockchain protocols. Trustlessness means that the protocol can operate without developer oversight because it automatically executes rules through code. However, if the protocol is too complex and only a few people can participate in its development, then in practice, others still need to trust the team. Ethereum has already achieved trustlessness because transactions and smart contracts are enforced by open-source code and a decentralized validator network, but the network still needs to improve user understanding, perhaps by simplifying the protocol.

According to OnchainLens monitoring, a whale that deposited 10,169 ETH 18 hours ago has deposited another 7,654 ETH (worth $21.64 million) into Binance. This whale has now deposited a total of 17,823 ETH (worth $51.41 million) into Binance.

According to CoinDesk, Nasdaq-listed VivoPower (ticker symbol: VVPR) is expanding its Ripple-related strategy through a new joint venture aimed at acquiring hundreds of millions of dollars worth of RippleLabs equity, giving investors indirect access to nearly $1 billion worth of underlying XRP assets. In an announcement released Tuesday, the company stated that its digital asset division, VivoFederation, has been commissioned by South Korean asset management firm LeanVentures to initially acquire $300 million worth of RippleLabs equity. Based on current XRP prices, VivoPower estimates this equity represents approximately 450 million XRP tokens, worth about $900 million. However, this structure does not directly purchase XRP. Instead, LeanVentures plans to establish a dedicated investment vehicle to hold the RippleLabs equity acquired by VivoFederation, targeting South Korean institutional and accredited individual investors. VivoPower stated that it has received approval from Ripple to purchase the initial preferred shares and is in talks with existing institutional shareholders regarding further acquisitions. Under this arrangement, VivoPower will not contribute funds from its own balance sheet, but will instead generate revenue through management fees and performance-based compensation. If the initial $300 million mandate is achieved, the company aims to realize a net economic return of $75 million within three years.

Huoxun Finance reported on December 18th that Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart, in an article published on the X platform, agreed with crypto asset management firm Bitwise's prediction of over 100 crypto ETFs launching in 2026, but pointed out that many of these products will be unsustainable. He believes there will be a large number of liquidations of cryptocurrency ETP products, possibly occurring by the end of 2026, but more likely before the end of 2027; issuers are launching a large number of products, with at least 126 documents currently available.

Odaily Planet Daily analyst Justin Low: Important points to note regarding the US November CPI report: 1. Due to the previous government shutdown, the CPI report will be incomplete, possibly only reporting price levels for November; 2. Limited data reduces reliability, creating uncertainty regarding monthly inflation details; 3. Inflation may slow, with tariffs boosting core commodity prices, but seasonal discounts limiting prices; 4. The market may react briefly, but incomplete data limits its lasting impact on Federal Reserve expectations. (Golden Ten)

Odaily Planet Daily reports that Standard Chartered Bank has launched a blockchain-based tokenized deposit solution for Ant International, supporting real-time transfers of Hong Kong dollars, offshore yuan, and US dollars. The bank partnered with global fintech company Ant International to apply this technology to Ant's Whale platform. This move is part of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's "Project Ensemble" initiative, which aims to promote the development of distributed ledger technology in the region. (techinasia)

Odaily Planet Daily reports that Nasdaq-listed VivoPower (VVPR), through its digital asset arm Vivo Federation, has partnered with South Korean asset management firm Lean Ventures to raise $300 million to acquire a stake in Ripple Labs, serving South Korean institutional and accredited retail investors. Based on current XRP prices, this investment will indirectly provide exposure to approximately 450 million XRP tokens, valued at approximately $900 million. VivoPower has already received approval from Ripple to purchase its initial preferred shares and is in talks with existing institutional holders regarding additional acquisitions. (CoinDesk)

According to Huoxun Finance on December 18th, a whale's multi-signature wallet was stolen due to a private key leak, resulting in a loss of approximately $27.3 million. The hacker has laundered $12.6 million (equivalent to 4,100 ETH) through TornadoCash and holds approximately $2 million in liquid assets. Furthermore, the thieves also gained control of the victim's multi-signature wallet. This wallet held a leveraged long position on the Aave platform: depositing $25 million worth of ETH as collateral and borrowing 12.3 million DAI.

According to a report by Cointelegraph on December 18, data from CryptoQuant shows that the supply of Ethereum on exchanges has fallen to its lowest level since 2016, indicating increased caution among traders and reduced short-term selling pressure.

According to SoSoValue data, Bitcoin spot ETFs saw a total net inflow of $457 million yesterday (December 17th, Eastern Time). The Fidelity ETF (FBTC) saw the largest single-day net inflow of $391 million, bringing its historical total net inflow to $12.363 billion. BlackRock ETF (IBIT) followed with a net inflow of $111 million, bringing its historical total net inflow to $62.632 billion. The Bitcoin spot ETF with the largest single-day net outflow was Ark Invest and 21Shares' ARKB ETF, with a net outflow of $36.9629 million, bringing its historical total net inflow to $1.651 billion. As of press time, the total net asset value of Bitcoin spot ETFs was $112.574 billion, with an ETF net asset ratio (market capitalization as a percentage of Bitcoin's total market capitalization) of 6.57%, and a cumulative net inflow of $57.727 billion.

According to data from SoSoValue, Ethereum spot ETFs saw a net outflow of $22.4264 million yesterday (December 17th, Eastern Time). The BlackRock ETF ETHA experienced the largest single-day net outflow at $19.6119 million, bringing its historical total net inflow to $12.85 billion. The Fidelity ETF FETH followed with a net outflow of $2.8145 million, bringing its historical total net inflow to $2.641 billion. As of press time, the total net asset value of Ethereum spot ETFs was $17.344 billion, with an ETF net asset value ratio (market capitalization as a percentage of Ethereum's total market capitalization) of 5.09%, and a historical cumulative net inflow of $12.617 billion.

According to PeckShieldAlert, a whale's multi-signature account was compromised and approximately $27.3 million was stolen due to a private key breach. The money launderer laundered $12.6 million (4,100 ETH) through TornadoCash and retained approximately $2 million in liquid assets. Furthermore, the breacher gained control of the victim's multi-signature account, which maintained a leveraged long position on Aave, providing $25 million in ETH and borrowing $12.3 million in DAI.