Outpoll Weekly Recap: Crypto (December 8 – 14, 2025)

1 day ago7 min read

The crypto markets this week felt like a smart contract finally executing after a long, volatile lock-up period, with Bitcoin decisively reclaiming the $80,000 psychological level and Ethereum’s ecosystem buzzing with a fresh wave of institutional DeFi integrations. The real narrative, however, unfolded in the prediction markets, where the convergence of on-chain data and real-world events created a fascinating laboratory for crowd wisdom.Polymarket saw furious action around the ‘Trump 2024 Victory’ contract, with its probability surging to 78% following a key endorsement, a move that seemed to pull liquidity and speculative energy from several altcoin pools as traders hedged macro-political risk. Simultaneously, the ‘ETH to $10k by EOY’ contract experienced a sharp, sentiment-driven spike to 32% after BlackRock filed an amended S-1 for its spot Ethereum ETF, a development that Vitalik Buterin himself might appreciate for its elegant, if delayed, market structure evolution.This institutional tailwind wasn't just theoretical; we saw a notable 15% weekly increase in total value locked across leading liquid staking protocols like Lido and Rocket Pool, signaling that the ‘merge-to-earn’ thesis is gaining serious, yield-seeking capital. Yet, the week wasn't without its cautionary forks.A major exploit on a cross-chain bridge, resulting in a $40M drain, served as a stark reminder that composability still carries existential risk, momentarily tanking the ‘No Major DeFi Hack in Dec’ prediction market probability from 65% to 22% in a single block. The takeaway? The space is maturing at two speeds: breakneck institutional adoption on one layer, and a persistent, grinding battle for security and scalability on another. For those of us building in the ecosystem, it’s a week that validates the long-term vision while demanding even sharper focus on the foundational code—because in the end, a vibrant DAO and a slick NFT drop mean little if the bridges we trust can’t hold the weight of our ambition.

#Weekly recap