Gate Daily (December 23): Michael Selig sworn in as CFTC Chairman; Trump Media increases its holdings by 450 Bitcoins.

Bitcoin (BTC) pulled back from the overnight gains, reporting around $88,660 on December 23. CFTC acting chair Caroline Pham stepped down, and Michael Selig was sworn in as the 16th chair. Trump Media, under Trump, increased its holdings by 450 BTC, but WLFI is expected to fall over 40% by the end of 2025.

Macro Events & Coin Circle Hotspots

1. According to the announcement on the CFTC official website, Caroline D. Pham, the acting chair of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), has officially stepped down, and Michael Selig has taken over as the 16th chairman. Selig previously worked in the SEC's crypto asset special group, actively promoting legislation for digital asset market structure and advocating for an end to the “regulation by enforcement” approach. He stated that he will lead the CFTC in formulating “common-sense” rules in a new era of financial innovation in the U.S., helping the country become a global hub for crypto capital.

2. According to Arkham monitoring, Trump Media, under Trump, has increased its holdings by 450 BTC, bringing the total Bitcoin holdings of Trump Media to 11,542 coins, valued at approximately $1.03 billion. However, it is noteworthy that Trump's World Liberty Financial (WLFI) is projected to fall by more than 40% by the end of 2025. The total value of WLFI's investment portfolio has significantly decreased. Despite the significant shrinkage in value, the company is still actively promoting new assets and transactions.

3. According to CNBC, sources familiar with the situation reveal that U.S. President Trump may appoint a new Federal Reserve Chairman in the first week of January next year. Federal Reserve Governor Milan stated, "I have not yet decided whether to vote in favor of a 25 basis point or a 50 basis point rate cut. As rate cuts are implemented gradually, the necessity for me to oppose a 50 basis point cut will diminish over time. Furthermore, Milan stated, “You have to acknowledge that Federal Reserve Chairman Powell has managed to secure three rate cuts from the Federal Open Market Committee.”

News Updates

1. The Espresso airdrop registration website is now live, and official claims will begin in early 2026.

2. Google's parent company Alphabet invested $4.75 billion to acquire clean energy firm Intersect.

3. Thiel-supported digital bank Erebor has completed a $350 million funding round, doubling its valuation to $4.35 billion.

4. CFTC Acting Chair Caroline Pham stepped down, and Michael Selig was sworn in as the 16th Chair.

5. Insider: Trump may appoint a new Federal Reserve Chairman in the first week of January next year.

6. Trump Media under Trump increased its holdings by 450 BTC, bringing the total holdings to 11,542 coins.

7. ETHZilla sold 24,200 ETH to redeem bonds and adjusted its business focus to RWA tokenization.

8. Citigroup has lowered the target stock price for MicroStrategy from $485 to $325, while maintaining a buy rating.

9. Federal Reserve Board member Mester: Powell has secured three rate cuts.

10. BitMine increased its holdings by 98,800 ETH last week, bringing its total holdings to 4.066 million.

Market Trend

1. Latest news on Bitcoin: $BTC pulls back from overnight pump, currently reporting around 88,660 USD, with 85.89 million USD liquidated in the past 24 hours, primarily from long positions;

2. The U.S. stock market closed higher on December 22, driven by a continued rebound in technology stocks, with the major indexes generally rising. The S&P 500 index approached record highs, with nearly all 11 sectors rising. Bullish momentum led the major indexes to recover losses since December, with the potential for an eighth consecutive month of gains, which would set the record for the longest single-month consecutive gains since 2018. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 227.79 points, an increase of 0.47%, to 48,362.68 points; the S&P 500 index rose 43.99 points, an increase of 0.64%, to 6,878.49 points; and the Nasdaq index rose 121.21 points, an increase of 0.52%, to 23,428.83 points. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose 77.71 points, an increase of 1.10%, to 7,145.57 points.

(Source: Gate)

3. In the Gate BTC/USDT liquidation map, based on the current 88,799.00 USDT, if it falls to around 87,947 USD, the total liquidation amount of long positions exceeds 269 million USD; if it rises to around 90,712 USD, the total liquidation amount of short positions exceeds 757 million USD. The liquidation amount for shorts is significantly higher than for longs, so it is recommended to reasonably control leverage ratios to avoid triggering large-scale liquidations during market fluctuations.

(Source: Coinglass)

4. In the past 24 hours, BTC spot inflow was 1.92 billion USD, outflow was 2.05 billion USD, with a net outflow of 130 million USD.

(Source: Coinglass)

5. In the past 24 hours, contracts such as $ETH, $SOL, $BTC, $DOT, and $DOGE have seen net outflows leading to trading opportunities.

X KOL Selected Insights

Phyrex Ni (@Phyrex_Ni): “I have truly discovered that the Bitcoin 90,000 USD curse has not been lifted yet. In the past 8 days, Bitcoin has attempted or already broken through 90,000 USD 6 times, only to be slammed back down. However, I still believe that as long as the U.S. stock market can maintain an upward trend in the upcoming Christmas market this week, BTC will not be too bad.”

“Today, the US stock market is doing okay before the opening, and BTC is also pumping. The sentiment among Asian investors is quite stable, and buying is considered active. However, less than half an hour after the US stock market opens, it starts to fall, and there hasn't been any significant negative news. Tech stocks experienced a small surge at the opening, but the current decline is mainly due to investors' pessimistic expectations for the future.”

“On Wednesday is Christmas Eve, and Thursday is Christmas, then the following week we will say goodbye to 2025. Looking back, although the process in 2024 was quite different, the Christmas period was also filled with pessimistic expectations. However, 2025 still created multiple historical highs. I hope there will be opportunities in 2026 as well.”

“Looking back at the data of Bitcoin, the trading volume on Monday continues to increase, but mainly it is the selling by short-term profit investors. On the contrary, the sentiment of loss investors is relatively stable, with no signs of large-scale sell-offs. It is now quite obvious that high-position loss investors have almost all entered a wait-and-see mode, indicating that a large number of holders are still quite optimistic about the long-term future of BTC. However, the attitude of short-term investors is still predominantly pessimistic, and they believe that the current price is not the market bottom, so there is very little interest in actively buying in large quantities. Let's wait until 2025 to see.”

Today's Outlook

1. The preliminary value of the U.S. third-quarter Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index (annualized quarterly rate) was 2.5%.

2. Canada October GDP (monthly rate), previous value was 0.2%

3. U.S. October Durable Goods Orders Preliminary (MoM), previous value was 0.5%

4. The initial value of the actual GDP for the third quarter in the United States (annualized quarterly rate) was 3.8%.

5. The United States December Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, previously at 88.7.

6. The United Nations Security Council holds a meeting on Iran's nuclear program.