Vitalik said on Dec. 23 that Ethereum maintains a contract size cap to mitigate DoS risk, BlockBeats reports. He noted the EIP-7864 unified binary tree upgrade could remove size limits, but per-byte creation costs now impose an effective cap of around 82KB, with gas and mechanism concerns for very large contracts.

Franklin Templeton announced on Dec. 23 that its XRP spot ETF held 101,552,283.62 XRP as of Dec. 22, marking the first time holdings exceeded 100 million, BlockBeats reports. The holdings were valued at $192,683,271.89. The ETF's total net assets stood at 1.8341 亿美元, with 8,900,000 份 shares outstanding.

Hyperliquid whale 0x074 faced repeated liquidations over 15 hours, with positions closed totaling approximately $1.19 million, HyperInsight data show. Separately, Aave founder Stani Kulechov withdrew 1,699 ETH (approximately $5.17 million) from Kraken and purchased 32,658 AAVE, according to Ember. He now holds 84,033 AAVE valued at $12.6 million, with an unrealized loss of approximately $2 million.

CoinEx Research chief analyst Jeff Ko said on Dec. 23 that broad-based altcoin rallies are likely to fade in 2025, with liquidity concentrating in "blue-chip" cryptocurrencies, and warned retail investors expecting all altcoins to benefit may be disappointed. He stated the firm does not foresee a traditional altcoin season, but rather a highly selective market where only blue-chip assets attract capital. Ko added he expects mild tailwinds from global liquidity in 2026, though diverging central bank policies could curb support, and noted Bitcoin's historical sensitivity to M2 money supply growth has weakened since ETF launches in 2024. The firm's base case targets Bitcoin at $180,000 by 2026.

Lighter (LIT) pre-market perpetual contracts displayed divergent pricing and funding rates across Pacifica and Hyperliquid on December 23, data from both platforms show. Pacifica quoted LIT at approximately $3.94 with a funding rate of -0.0134% (shorts pay longs), while Hyperliquid listed the asset near $4.05 with funding at +0.0013% (longs pay shorts), resulting in a roughly 1% inter-venue spread and opposite funding directions. BlockBeats reports some traders executed hedged arbitrage between the two platforms to capitalize on the discrepancy. Earlier that day, Hyperliquid launched LIT USDC perpetual trading with up to 3x leverage, and Coinbob released Coinbob Pacifica, an on-chain analytics and copy-trading tool enabling users to replicate high-frequency strategies, earn trading points, and position for potential airdrops.

US spot Ethereum ETFs recorded net inflows of $84.6 million on Dec. 23, ending seven consecutive trading days of net outflows, Farside data show. ETHE saw $53.7 million in net inflows, while Grayscale's ETH product posted $30.9 million in net inflows.

Coinglass data shows major Ethereum liquidation risks near key levels. A drop below $2,900 could trigger about $630 million in long liquidations on centralized exchanges, while a move above $3,100 may force roughly $918 million in short liquidations. BlockBeats noted the heatmap reflects relative liquidation intensity rather than exact contract values, highlighting zones that could drive sharp price moves.

Bitmine has added 29,462 ETH, valued at approximately $88.1 million, to its treasury, according to Cointelegraph. The reported purchase follows the acquisition of 98,852 ETH last week and brings Bitmine’s total Ethereum holdings to 4,066,062 ETH, or about 3.37% of the current ETH supply, Cointelegraph reported.

Ethereum became core global infrastructure in 2025, moving beyond its “experimental” phase, according to a December 23 year-end review by Ethereum Foundation member renaissancing. The network completed two major upgrades—Pectra in May, advancing account abstraction, and Fusaka in December, delivering 8x scaling via PeerDAS. Regulatory clarity improved as the U.S. SEC issued staking guidance, affirmed Ethereum is not a security, passed the GENIUS Act, and lifted Tornado Cash sanctions. Institutional adoption accelerated, with JPMorgan launching the MONY tokenized fund and spot ETH ETFs reaching $28.6 billion in AUM. Stablecoin supply topped $300 billion, with Ethereum holding a 54% share, while Layer 2 TVL rose to $35.7 billion, reinforcing Ethereum’s role as a settlement layer for finance and AI.