It's indeed a curious case of timing, but we'd also point you towards government/2B2F-banks possible/probably manipulation of bitcoin using the paper-leveraged bitcoin futures, which ALSO conveniently debuted in December (the top).
and here's some silly Zilliqa analysis for you besides...
https://steemit.com/cryptocurrency/@harpooninvestor/zilliqa-zil-the-new-and-improved-ethereum-of-singapore-yawn