[Prediction Markets May See Scale Growth by 2025, 2026 Midterm Elections as Key Milestone] Prediction markets are expected to reach their largest scale in history by 2025, with Polymarket and Kalshi emerging as industry leaders amid capital influx, media attention, and multi-billion-dollar valuations. The 2026 U.S. midterm elections are considered a potential major trading opportunity, where the two companies will need to demonstrate the value of predictions in scaled scenarios. Despite growth in trading volume and user interest, the industry still faces controversies such as the authenticity of trading volume, limited revenue scale, and unclear regulatory boundaries. Meanwhile, platforms like Robinhood and Coinbase are entering the prediction market space, with sports betting and new contract formats raising potential risks of regulation and market manipulation.

[Community Maintains Cautious Attitude Toward Cryptocurrency Market, Traders Shift Strategies to Metal Market] On December 26, Greeks.Live researcher Adam stated that the community holds a cautious to bearish attitude toward the cryptocurrency market, with traders preferring to sell option premiums rather than making directional bets. Key trading activity is concentrated at the December 26 options expiry price of $88,770, with the maximum pain point at $98,134, and a 6-month outlook showing a 2x standard deviation of -$17,000. Meanwhile, market interest is shifting toward the metal market. Traders plan to implement bullish spreads and naked put selling strategies, while avoiding excessive trading during the holiday period. Some are considering transitioning to iron condor strategies to cope with market uncertainties.

[USDC Treasury Mints 90 Million USDC on Ethereum Network] According to Whale Alert data, USDC Treasury has minted 90 million USDC on the Ethereum network.

[Ethereum May Witness Key ZK Scaling Transformation in 2026] Researchers and developers anticipate that by 2026, some Ethereum validators will no longer re-execute transactions but will directly verify zero-knowledge proofs (ZK). This transformation is expected to rival the scale of Ethereum's 2022 transition from PoW to PoS, known as 'The Merge.' Ethereum researcher Justin Drake stated that the first batch of validators will verify ZK proofs for each block, bringing immediate scaling effects to Layer 1 and laying the foundation for future 10,000 TPS. Currently, Ethereum's mainnet throughput is approximately 30 TPS. By the end of 2026, it is estimated that around 10% of validators will switch to the ZK verification model, significantly reducing hardware requirements while maintaining network decentralization.

[Binance CEO: Global Crypto Users Grow to 300 Million in One Year] On December 26, Binance CEO Richard Teng shared data showing that the global cryptocurrency user base grew from 170 million to 300 million in just over a year, whereas it previously took approximately 6.5 years to grow from 0 to 170 million. He pointed out that the expansion speed of the crypto community is accelerating, the user growth curve is steep, and the global acceptance of digital assets continues to rise.