The Daily Degen - December 21st, 2025
All of today's news/data/alerts...
Happy Sunday ya’ll! Only ten days left in 2025!
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: $3.08T
QQQ (Nasdaq 100): $617.05
Gold: $4,337.70
Oil (WTI): $56.52
US 10Y Treasury: 4.149%
Crypto Fear & Greed Index (from coinmarketcap(dot)com): 28
Altcoin Season Index (from coinglass(dot)com): 35
Biggest Price Movers
(From @coingecko top 1000, by 24 hour change)
Spotlight
2025 was a massively bullish for year for @maplefinance, for all its various metrics (see great chart from @defi_naly below!), and especially for its assets $syrupUSDC and $syrupUSDT!
2026 looks like it could be even more promising though… and there are several areas which appear to be particularly exciting…
One example comes from a recent @GLC_Research piece, which explains that:
“In 2026, Maple plans to introduce Builder Codes as the next evolution of the Maple Kit, building on its existing integration framework…
This approach will allow Maple partners to autonomously onboard Maple’s products, configure risk parameters, and integrate customizable revenue-sharing mechanisms…
Imagine syrupUSDC or syrupUSDT becoming directly accessible through mainstream financial platforms. Such integrations could unlock the next major phase of growth for the protocol…”
Another comes from the below tweet from Maple co-founder @joe_defi, which hints at “new syrup assets”…
What assets might these be??? We will have to wait and see dear anon, and watch as 2026 unfolds :)
Make sure to follow Maple on Twitter for more updates, and stay tuned as we continue bringing attention to everything the team is doing!
Biggest TVL Movers + Other Interesting Data
Chains are mostly red today. Only top 25 chains green on the weekly are BSC (#3), Tron (#8), Polygon (#12), Ink (#14), Monad (#21), and Providence (#22).
Protocols are also mostly red today. Only to 25 protocols green on the weekly are JustLend (#13), and Tether Gold (#23).
Here’s The Top 12 Fastest-Growing Chains By TVL On The Weekly With At Least $50M TVL (from @DefiLlama):
Here’s The Top 12 Fastest-Growing Protocols By TVL On The Weekly With At Least $50M TVL (from @DefiLlama):
Here’s The Top 12 Entities By 7 Day Fee Generation (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 @Predictir. Twitter bio states “Predict. Profit. Repeat.” Followed by 3 of our mutuals. h/t @AresLabs_xyz:
-New project called @SunbeamMoney. Twitter bio states “The Bitcoin Savings Account. Real Yield in BTC by @asymmetryfin x @yearnfi Coming very soon.” Followed by 6 of our mutuals. h/t @AresLabs_xyz:
Top Stablecoin Yields
(note: these are the top Stablecoin Yields, sourced from @DefiLlama (all types, $1M+ TVL only) - note: these lists are just raw data, make sure to always DYOR before interacting with any/all protocols)
Important News And Analysis
-Quiet week in macro with Christmas coming on Thursday, h/t @KobeissiLetter:
-Variational has officially launched its points program and the Hyperliquid vote on burning tokens ends on December 24th, h/t these and other headlines from @TheDeFinvestor:
-Absolutely fascinating chart from @castle_labs showing the decline in dex volumes since 10/10:
-More thoughts on 10/10 from @RaoulGMI, ending with: “Year end audits and market liquidity constraints around year end mean that a lot needs to get finished now. This too shall pass.”
-Bybit is relaunching in the UK after a multi-year pause, h/t this and other headlines from @0xSalazar:
-What will the top 10 crypto assets look like a year from now? Interesting prediction from @tulipking:
-More interesting 2026 predictions, from Trader Joe co-founder @cryptofishx:
-Privacy tools alfa from @ciefa_eth:
-Top 5 new projects by fundraising numbers this week were @RedotPay, @fuseenergy, @OleaTrade, @dawninternet, and @ETHGasOfficial… h/t @immutablejacob (click to read in full):
-The quantum computing as risk to Bitcoin topic continues to generate a lot of discussion, example below c/o @Fiskantes and @0xMert_:
-Reminder that if you are investing your own money you have an in-built advantage vs those who are not, h/t @radigancarter:
-New @leviathan_news livestream on all things defi:
-New edition of Steady Lads:
-New Q&A from macro gigabrain @LukeGromen:
-New interview with @hkuppy from Forward Guidance:
-New interview with Doomberg:
-New Pomp x Jordi Visser video:
-New episode of @thebellcurvepod:
-New weekly macro overview from Joseph Wang:
-New @coinbureau video on the quantum risks to Bitcoin:
-“Light cannot exist without darkness…” - parting wisdom from @DidiTrading:
Conclusion
Have a great Sunday friends! We will be back to ATH’s sooner than you can imagine! Keep your heads up!
And please RT/subscribe/etc if you found this valuable!
-
-
Note
Two cool new things to take note of from the world of @Mantle_Official good frogs!
First… a new dex called @Fluxion_dex is making waves on it…
As noted in the tweet below:
“Mantle’s native DEX stack is evolving with @Fluxion_dex now live on Mainnet.
Built natively on Mantle, Fluxion is a spot DEX optimized for RWAs, supporting AMM V2 and V3 models, and RFQ-based orderbook execution mechanism on the roadmap.
MoMNTum, enhanced…”
In addition, Mantle also just did their latest ‘State Of Mind’ update!
You can watch it via the second tweet below - and it is filled with alfa on everything Mantle-related, the insanely bullish year that was 2025, and the exciting roadmap for the year ahead! :)
And as always, make sure to follow Mantle on Twitter for more updates, and stay tuned as we continue highlighting their success as 2026 unfolds!
-
-
***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.