This week, the crypto market is witnessing many major projects simultaneously triggering important events, from the potential launch of new tokens, upgrades to DeFi infrastructure, large-scale token unlocks, to macro variables such as Japan's monetary policy or moves related to the Fed in the US, all of which can create significant volatility on the price chart in the short term.
Here are the most noteworthy names and events to watch this week:
$LIGHTER: Lighter is attracting market attention as rumors suggest the project may launch a token this month. Notably, Coinbase has added Lighter to its listing roadmap, a factor that often creates positive psychological effects and attracts early speculative funds.
$FOLKS : Folks revealed the xChain V2 version, focusing on DeFi loans based on vaults and supporting cross-chain. This upgrade is expected to help Folks scale its user base and enhance liquidity utilization across blockchains.
$JUP : Jupiter confirms it will launch a new stablecoin built with Ethena next week. This event could help the Jupiter ecosystem increase its utility, while also providing additional momentum for the JUP token in a competitive stablecoin landscape.
Base: Base, the layer-2 backed by Coinbase, is expected to announce important information on December 18. The community is hoping this could be a signal related to the $BASE token, a factor likely to trigger a new wave of speculation on the Base network.
$IN: INFINIT will open early access for Prompt-to-DeFi on December 18. The product allows users to create DeFi strategies through AI, reflecting the increasingly clear trend of combining AI and blockchain.
$COIN: Coinbase is set to launch prediction markets and tokenized stock products on December 17. This is seen as a strategic move to expand the on-chain financial ecosystem, indirectly impacting the overall crypto market sentiment.
$ARB : About 19 million USD worth of ARB will be unlocked this week. Unlock events often create short-term selling pressure, making ARB a name to watch closely regarding supply and demand fluctuations.
$MNT: mETH Protocol, the liquid staking and restaking ETH platform developed by Mantle, will deploy an important upgrade. This event is expected to improve staking efficiency and increase the appeal of the Mantle ecosystem.
MegaETH: MegaETH will allow app builders access to the mainnet next week. This is an important step for this ecosystem to attract new projects and validate its infrastructure capabilities.
$SNX: Synthetix will officially launch a perpetual DEX on Ethereum on December 17, marking a strong comeback on the mainnet and increasing competition in the derivatives space.
The week of December 15–21 brings together all factors that could 'pivot' the market: project internal events, token unlocks, and macro variables. For crypto investors, this is a period that requires closely monitoring news, tightly managing risk, and avoiding FOMO before potential strong fluctuations.
