The Daily Degen - December 18th, 2025
All of today's news/data/alerts...
Happy Thursday friends! All sorts of stuff going on in crypto world today!
Let’s dive in!
As always… stats/alerts/etc at top and tweets/news/links/videos/etc at bottom… and all tweets are hyperlinked so just click on them to pull them up on Twitter/X!
Market Update
Crypto (from @CryptoBubbles)
Total Crypto Market Cap: $3.06T
QQQ (Nasdaq 100): $612.07
Gold: $4,366.10
Oil (WTI): $56.41
US 10Y Treasury: 4.112%
Crypto Fear & Greed Index (from coinmarketcap(dot)com): 22
Altcoin Season Index (from coinglass(dot)com): 35
Biggest Price Movers
(From @coingecko top 1000, by 24 hour change)
Spotlight
Take note good frogs!
Very cool stuff is happening on Plasma with the fair-launch ve(3,3) perps dex @IonexTrade!
Ionex just started their new ‘Chromes’ program, which traders and airdrop enthusiasts will want to take special note of!
“What are Chromes?
Chromes are time-limited community badges inside the Ionex Points campaign.
Each Chrome earns Ionex Points (Ions) and contributes to your final airdrop…
The more Chromes you collect, the bigger the boost…”
As detailed in this article, Chromes are tied to stuff like trading activity, volume thresholds, early supporter recognition, referral growth, cross-ecosystem alignment, and more!
Learn more in the thread below, and make sure to visit their site to get started!
We’ve been highlighting the broader family of projects Ionex is a part of in The Daily Degen for multiple years now and look forward to bringing more updates on everything they are doing in the future! Again, make sure to check out the thread below for more info on their ‘Chromes’ program and make sure to follow them on Twitter as well for continued updates!
Biggest TVL Movers + Other Interesting Data
Chains are mostly red today. Top-performing top 25 chain on the weekly is Monad (#22) at +34.46%.
Protocols are also mostly red today. Top-performing top 25 protocol on the weekly is ETH Mainnet ‘developer tools’ protocol TriggerX (#22) at +15.78%.
Here’s The Top 12 Fastest-Growing Chains By TVL On The Weekly With At Least $10M TVL (from @DefiLlama):
Here’s The Top 12 Fastest-Growing Protocols By TVL On The Weekly With At Least $10M TVL (from @DefiLlama):
Here’s The Top 10 Dex’s By 7 Day Volume (from @DefiLlama):
New Projects
(note: this includes new projects we find through combing Twitter each day and going through newly launched protocols added by @DefiLlama, limited primarily to new projects that have at least some TVL or are followed by at least some of our mutuals… Disclaimer: these are not pre-vetted by us so make sure to DYOR!)
-New project called @KandleFi has been added to @DefiLlama, categorized as a yield protocol on Arbitrum. Twitter bio states “Unified Modular DeFi Economy”. Not followed by any of our mutuals but has $1M TVL so including:
Top Stablecoin Yields
(note: these are the top Stablecoin Yields, sourced from @DefiLlama (all types, $25M+ TVL only) - note: these lists are just raw data, make sure to always DYOR before interacting with any/all protocols)
Important News And Analysis
-Coinbase announced a host of new features yesterday including (from another @Tyler_Did_It tweet) “- Prediction markets - Stock trading - Equity perps and futures - Full DEX integration including millions of assets on Solana - Borrowing against BTC & ETH - New payment & money transfer features - AI-powered Coinbase Advisor - Coinbase Business (exiting beta) - Coinbase Token Sales…” h/t this and all sorts of other new headlines from @Tyler_Did_It’s ‘Morning Minute’ tweet below:
-CPI (inflation) data came in weak, which should make it easier for the Fed to keep lowering rates, h/t @LDNCryptoClub:
-BNB chain announced plans to launch a new stablecoin and Kodiak on Berachain announced an ICO from Dec 19th-21st… h/t @0xSalazar:
-MetaMask adds support for Bitcoin, and Jupiter has apparently acquired a P2P lending protocol on Solana called RainFi… h/t these and other headlines from @TheDeFinvestor:
-Sentiments remain extremely poor, with many notable CT accounts disappearing or pivoting to stocks, some projects seeming to give up, and many tokens utterly obliterated, h/t @TraderNoah (Frog remains as high-conviction and permabulltarded as ever though dear readers!):
-The interesting Aave governance saga continues… if you are looking for starting points to learn more we are including an @Marczeller tweet below and you can read a long-form @dabit3 tweet on the subject by clicking here as well:
-Which alts will be able to regain past high’s? h/t @thedefivillain (Frog personally thinks there are 5-10 really good defi tokens that will not just regain ATH’s but eventually surge far past them):
-Interesting bull case on Google from @levelsio:
-“Being able to focus 5 years into the future while willing to underperform short term is a significant source of edge… Long term time arbitrage probably the last source of edge human investors/traders will retain against AIs…” - interesting thoughts from @Fiskantes:
-All eyes on @Lighter_xyz ahead of its prospective (but as of yet unannounced) TGE and airdrop, h/t @ruslan55x:
-“Living paycheck to paycheck is quiet subservience. It floods the brain with low-grade stress that kills the ability to dream. I didn’t realize it had turned me into an NPC until I slipped outside. The majority of the species is trapped in that loop. If you are in the minority, do not waste your freedom. This is where the player character is born.” - from @redphonecrypto’s yearly ‘theses’ work he just published (he has been doing these for five years now and they are incredible - Frog cannot recommend reading the below highly enough!) - click below screenshot to see the rest of this year’s edition he just published):
-New @DeFi_Dad and @Nomaticcap interview with @nick_van_eck:
-New episode of @theempirepod:
-New @Bankless interview with @notthreadguy:
-Yesterday’s TBPN livestream on all things tech-related:
-New roundtable from @Unchained_pod:
-“…this too shall pass, and once again, crypto will get stronger on each cycle. but each cycle needs a reset to allow the next cycle to happen.” - parting wisdom from @CryptoKoryo:
Conclusion
Have a great Thursday and stay alert out there friends!
And please RT/subscribe/etc if you found this valuable!
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Note
As previously noted, @rocksolidHQ is one of the coolest new projects in all of crypto, smack dab in the middle of the nascent defi renaissance we are witnessing, and with a focus specifically on the world of vaults :)
“With RockSolid, accessing DeFi yield is as easy as a single click.
RockSolid helps asset issuers, digital asset treasuries, and apps by allowing them to seamlessly launch on-chain structured products without having to manage complex infrastructure…”
They continue to attract new fans and yield-enjoyoors, and their inaugural RocketPool $rETH vault continues to grow!
Indeed, as seen in the tweet below, it just hit 6,000 of $rETH deposits, so make sure to visit their site now and get started yield-maxxing with it by clicking here!
Also... If you want more info on RockSolid, there is a fantastic interview that co-founders @paladin_eth and @wardy_ben did with @waqwaqattack and the ‘Rocket Fuel’ podcast a few weeks ago that we will embed below :)
And as always make sure to follow RockSolid on Twitter for more updates, and stay tuned as we continue shining a light on everything they are doing!
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***Note On Material: The ‘Spotlight’ and ‘Note’ sections are the only parts of The Daily Degen that are sponsored/promotional. Everything else is chosen 100% organically based on what info/stories/etc seem likely to be the most newsworthy/important/valuable to readers.