Gate Research Institute: Maple Finance issues the largest single loan in history | Polymarket account hacking incident vulnerability has been fixed

##Summary

• Short-term Bitcoin trend remains bearish, Ethereum also operates within a downtrend channel, reflecting market uncertainty in direction.
• Bitcoin options with a notional value of approximately $23.4 billion are set to expire, marking the largest expiration in history.
• Nvidia acquires AI chip startup Groq for about $20 billion in cash, its largest acquisition to date.
• Polymarket states that user account theft incidents stem from third-party vulnerabilities, and the platform has completed repairs.
• DJT transferred approximately $174 million worth of Bitcoin, indicating active management of crypto holdings.
• HYPE, SUI, and SVL will unlock approximately $24.6 million, $61.61 million, and $12.67 million worth of tokens respectively in the next 7 days.

##Market Analysis

###Market Commentary

• BTC Market — Bitcoin remains bearish in the short term, with prices oscillating below key resistance zones, and overall volatility contracting. The current key support is near $84,000, with resistance concentrated around $93,400. On the 4-hour chart, as long as the price stays below the downtrend line, any upward attempts are likely seen as technical rebounds rather than trend reversals. Only a sustained close above $90,000 can substantially break the current bearish structure and open space for a broader rebound. From the daily chart, Bitcoin has gradually exited the medium- and long-term downtrend channel in December, with the downward slope slowing significantly, indicating diminishing selling pressure and a possible shift into a range-bound consolidation phase. The current price is between the descending trend resistance and strong support zones. To reverse market momentum and reshape bullish expectations, Bitcoin needs to close above the downtrend line, above the $93,000 level.
• ETH Market — Ethereum is still operating within a downtrend channel. In the short term, trading volume continues to shrink, Bollinger Bands are narrowing, and MA5, MA10, and MA30 are converging, indicating a lack of clear directional trend and a convergence phase in volatility. On the 4-hour chart, ETH failed to hold the lower trendline and broke below the previous ascending channel, turning the technical pattern weaker. After a failed rebound near $3,100, the price further made new lows, showing a clear decline in bullish momentum. Currently, the price hovers above the $2,800 support, which provides short-term support but lacks signs of sustained buying or active capital entry. Meanwhile, RSI is beginning to decline, indicating weakening intraday trading momentum. If the $2,800 support fails, the price may quickly drop toward $2,600.
• Altcoins — In the past 24 hours, the Fear & Greed Index is at 28, and the Altcoin Season Index is at 17, indicating risk appetite remains low. Altcoins are showing clear divergence; mainstream capital remains cautious and defensive, with SOL, XRP, and other major altcoins slightly retreating, maintaining a mostly sideways market structure.
• Stablecoins — The total market cap of stablecoins is currently $308.6 billion, down $7.34 million in the past week, a decrease of 0.34%.
• Gas Fees — Ethereum network gas fees have generally remained below 1 Gwei over the past week, with the highest hourly peak at 0.147 Gwei. As of December 25, the average gas fee for the day was 0.036 Gwei.

###Popular Tokens

In the past 24 hours, the market has shown clear divergence: BTC slightly up, ETH slightly down, indicating mainstream capital remains cautious and defensive, with no clear directional choice. Major altcoins like SOL, XRP also slightly declined, reflecting ongoing cautious sentiment. Despite overall pressure, a few tokens have performed countertrend, highlighting specific focus areas of capital. Below are detailed analyses of these tokens.

###ZBT ZEROBASE (+35.50%, Market Cap $22.53 million) According to Gate data, ZBT is currently priced at $0.10476, up 35.50% in 24 hours. ZEROBASE is a decentralized infrastructure network using zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP) and trusted execution environments (TEE) to enable verifiable off-chain computation. It supports products like zkStaking, zkLogin, and ProofYield, connecting institutional DeFi, user privacy, and real-world assets. ZEROBASE offers programmable, compliant staking with transparent cryptographic guarantees without leaking sensitive data.

The recent rebound reflects strategic technical upgrades. On December 8, ZEROBASE deployed geographically distributed hub nodes in Tokyo, Singapore, Paris, and Virginia, increasing network throughput to over 7,000 TPS, supporting high-concurrency applications like zkStaking and verifiable on-chain vaults. This upgrade alleviated scalability bottlenecks and enhanced ZEROBASE’s competitiveness in privacy-focused DeFi. Additionally, the team actively participated in blockchain events in December, including exchange blockchain week and Abu Dhabi BNB Chain Hackathon, strengthening ecosystem exposure and developer engagement, signaling long-term development commitment.

###BEEFI Beefy.Finance (+31.72%, Market Cap $12.07 million) According to Gate data, BEEFI is currently priced at $152.18, up 31.72% in 24 hours. Beefy is a “custodial-like” liquidity mining platform supporting efficient backend operations without affecting user activities. It provides yield strategies for users with limited time and effort, enabling continuous digital token circulation with simple operations.

BEEFI’s rise is driven by technical momentum. The price broke through the 200-day EMA (~$156.9), with trading volume about three times higher than before, indicating a bullish shift. RSI (7) rose to 80.39, and MACD histogram showed a bullish crossover (+3.11), suggesting strong short-term momentum. However, the overbought signals imply caution for potential corrections.

###BANANA Banana Gun (+29.46%, Market Cap $31.26 million) According to Gate data, BANANA is now at $7.79, up 29.46% in 24 hours. Banana Gun is a Telegram trading bot allowing users to buy and sniper new tokens on networks like Ethereum. It features rapid deployment, user-friendly interface, and fee incentives to help users seize early opportunities during token launches.

On December 18, Banana Gun announced that Banana Pro now supports Base chain, marking a significant expansion from Solana ecosystem into EVM-compatible chains. The upgrade includes core features like Swap, limit orders, DCA, and wallet tracking, along with a unified trading interface and asset view for Solana and Base. This enhances cross-chain trading efficiency and user experience. The announcement signals Banana Gun’s accelerated EVM ecosystem expansion and potential user base growth, acting as a key catalyst for recent BANANA price rally.

##Key Data

###Bitcoin’s Largest Options Expiration in History This Friday May Boost Price On December 26 (this Friday), Bitcoin options with a notional value of about $23.4 billion will expire, setting a record for the largest options expiration in Bitcoin history. Market analysis suggests the overall expiration structure is bullish, with the maximum pain point near $95,000, potentially providing short-term upward price pressure.

When open interest is highly concentrated at specific strike prices, market makers often hedge delta risk by trading spot or perpetual contracts, which can influence spot prices temporarily. The maximum pain point, as the most profitable strike for option sellers, is often used as a reference point, and markets may tend to converge toward this level in some cases. However, it’s important not to oversimplify this correlation as causality; options expiration is primarily a liquidity release and risk rebalancing event, not a core driver of medium- and long-term trends. The medium- and long-term direction of Bitcoin still depends on macroeconomic factors, monetary policy expectations, institutional capital flows, Bitcoin adoption cycles, and on-chain fundamentals.

###Nvidia’s $20 Billion Acquisition of AI Chip Startup Groq Becomes Its Largest Deal On December 25, Davis, CEO of Disruptive and lead investor in Groq’s latest funding round, disclosed that Nvidia has agreed to acquire Groq for $20 billion in cash. If finalized, this will be Nvidia’s largest acquisition, surpassing the nearly $7 billion purchase of Israeli chipmaker Mellanox in 2019.

Technically, Groq’s core advantage lies in its high-performance AI inference acceleration architecture, demonstrating very low latency and high throughput in large language model inference scenarios, highly complementary to Nvidia’s current AI training-focused GPU business. This acquisition aims to integrate the full tech stack from model training to inference deployment, further consolidating Nvidia’s leadership in AI infrastructure. Industry-wise, demand for AI inference chips is rapidly growing, especially with edge computing, real-time AI, and enterprise inference applications accelerating. Groq’s architecture could help Nvidia capture new markets. This move not only strengthens Nvidia’s technological moat amid AI growth but also signals a shift in industry focus from training to inference acceleration, likely intensifying competition.

###Maple Finance’s Largest Single Loan Ever and Record Outstanding Borrowings On December 25, Relayer Capital founder Austin Barack announced that Maple Finance completed its largest single loan of $500 million, with outstanding borrowings reaching a new high, marking a significant milestone for DeFi institutional growth. Relayer Capital regards Maple’s native token SYRUP as its most confident core holding.

This milestone reflects the maturity of institutional DeFi lending markets in scale and risk management, and indicates that real-world asset (RWA) narratives are moving from concept to implementation. Since 2025, several major exchanges have listed SYRUP, further validating market recognition of Maple’s business model and long-term value. Relayer’s heavy allocation demonstrates professional investor confidence in Maple’s sustainable growth. From an industry cycle perspective, this progress shows DeFi is accelerating its shift from retail-driven to institutional-driven, evolving from volatile speculative tools into infrastructure with real financial functions.

##This Week’s Focus

###Token Unlocks According to Tokenomist, in the next 7 days (2025.12.26 - 2026.1.1), several major tokens will undergo large unlocks. The top three are:

• HYPE will unlock tokens worth approximately $246 million, representing 4.1% of circulating supply.
• SUI will unlock tokens worth approximately $61.61 million, representing 1.2% of circulating supply.
• SVL will unlock tokens worth approximately $12.67 million, representing 17.1% of circulating supply.

Sources:

• Gate, [https://www.gate.com/trade/BTC_USDT]###https://www.gate.com/trade/BTC_USDT###
• Farside Investors, [https://farside.co.uk/btc/]###https://farside.co.uk/btc/###
• Gate, [https://www.gate.com/trade/ETH_USDT]###https://www.gate.com/trade/ETH_USDT###
• Gate, https://www.gate.com/crypto-market-data
• DeFiLlama, https://defillama.com/stablecoins
• Etherscan, https://etherscan.io/gastracker
• Coingecoko, https://www.coingecko.com/en/cryptocurrency-heatmap
• The Block, https://www.theblock.co/post/383595/tom-lees-bitmine-88-million-eth
• The Block, https://www.theblock.co/post/383711/polymarket-third-party-vulnerability-hack
• Coindesk, https://www.coindesk.com/business/2025/12/24/trump-media-shuffles-2-000-btc-after-fresh-bitcoin-inflows
• Rootdata, https://www.rootdata.com/Fundraising
• Tokenomist, https://tokenomist.ai/
• Deribit, https://www.deribit.com/statistics/BTC/metrics/options
• X, https://x.com/AustinBarack/status/2003902632973275405?s=20
• CNBC, https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/24/nvidia-buying-ai-chip-startup-groq-for-about-20-billion-biggest-deal.html

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