Token Chronicle

Top cryptos

Meme of the week

Market Sentiment:

Market update: This week highlighted a marked divergence in the cryptocurrency market: a surge of bullish news but stagnant prices. The Federal Reserve's rate cut triggered a stock market rally, while Bitcoin experienced significant volatility, briefly climbing to $93.5k before sharply falling to $90k, wiping out $250 million in leveraged positions.

Despite this price weakness and negative trader sentiment, institutional adoption and bullish developments accelerated dramatically. Key developments included Fidelity's CEO publicly endorsing Bitcoin, PNC Bank partnering with Coinbase for client trading, BlackRock clients purchasing $191 million in BTC, and major purchases by political entities like Trump-linked American Bitcoin. This has created a sharp contrast between the market's short-term pessimism and the extremely positive long-term institutional momentum.

As such, Bitcoin remains around $90K USD; all the stars are aligning for a new bullish rally—it remains to be seen when the recovery will materialize.

Main points this week:

International/Macro:

1. ) Argentina's central bank is drafting rules to let traditional banks offer crypto services by next spring. This reverses a ban they put in place years ago. The country received billions in on-chain transaction volume last year, the most in Latin America.
   2) Kazakhstan could invest up to $300 million in the crypto industry: The National Bank of Kazakhstan is studying the possibility of investing up to $300 million in the crypto ecosystem.
   3) Japan has announced a reduction in the tax on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies to 20%. This measure comes as BTC recently experienced declines and high volatility. This change is part of the Japanese crypto dynamic, supported by the launch of a yen-backed stablecoin and companies like Remixpoint, which plans to pay its CEO in BTC.
   4) The Fed injected $128 billion in 2025: After a pause of over 4 years, the Federal Reserve has quietly resumed its liquidity injections. In 2025, $128 billion has already been reintroduced into the banking system via 'overnight repos'. A strong signal that could reignite interest in Bitcoin. Overnight Repurchase Agreements (or overnight repos) are very short-term loans through which the Federal Reserve temporarily injects liquidity into the financial system. Concretely, it buys Treasury securities from a bank or institution, with the agreement that they will be bought back the next day at a slightly higher price. These operations mainly aim to stabilize short-term interest rates, particularly when demand for liquidity increases sharply. By injecting this liquidity, the Fed prevents interbank rates from rising too much, which could lead to a credit crunch and market tension. In other words, repos are not directly aimed at lowering long-term bond rates (as Quantitative Easing would), but at avoiding a sharp rise in short-term rates.
   5) "Hidden export" – A Putin advisor highlights the role of Bitcoin mining in supporting the ruble: Could Bitcoin mining influence the ruble? Yes, according to an economic advisor to Vladimir Putin, who highlights the well-established role of the industry in Russia. Cryptocurrency mining became legal in Russia in 2024, after years of regulatory hesitancy. Moscow is using cryptocurrencies to support its war economy, which has been battered by successive international sanctions.
   6) Towards tokenization of the US market within 2 years? The SEC Chairman is convinced: Tokenization is emerging as a central element in the ongoing connection between traditional finance and cryptocurrencies, using blockchain. An innovation presented as essential to modernizing US markets, provided liquidity can keep up. According to Paul Atkins, tokenization should provide a solution to recurring problems in traditional finance, such as lack of transparency, market accessibility, and risks related to settlement and delivery delays, to the point of becoming the dominant model within two years.
   7) US banks can now act as intermediaries for buying crypto: Since arriving at the White House, the Trump administration has been trying to erase the boundary that exists between the traditional financial sector and cryptocurrencies. The latest step: US banks can now act as intermediaries in crypto transactions. "The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) issued interpretive letter 1188, confirming that a national bank can conduct 'riskless principal' type crypto asset transactions as part of its banking activity."
   8) Pakistan is preparing to launch its first national stablecoin: Pakistan is becoming one of the first countries to launch a stablecoin based on its fiat currency. The country also plans to promote other uses of cryptocurrencies. Once hostile to cryptocurrencies, the country seems to be gradually transforming into a local hub.
   9) Bhutan launches a gold-backed token on Solana - Prelude to extraction-free monetization? Bhutan is among the pioneering countries in the adoption of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. The latest example is a gold-backed token that will be issued on the Solana (SOL) blockchain with the prospect of an extraction-free monetization strategy. In practice, each token represents a certain quantity of gold issued in a tokenized form, as part of establishing a real treasury, which is the origin of its ticker TER, a name directly inspired by the Bhutanese term 'dzongkha' (treasury). From a more technical point of view, the issuance of this token will take place on the Solana (SOL) blockchain under the management of Bhutan's first digital bank, DK Bank, which is its exclusive distributor and custodian. On the tokenization side, the financial services platform Matrixdock - already behind the gold-backed token XAUm - will be responsible for providing the necessary infrastructure.
   10) A US administration wants to force banks to serve crypto clients: Cryptocurrency-related companies have historically faced difficulties accessing banking services. An injustice highlighted by the United States Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), which is issuing a warning to Wall Street.
   11) Iran, China, and Saudi Arabia discover significant gold deposits: the metal becomes less rare: Gold is experiencing a renewed global interest, driven by the search for stability amid economic and geopolitical tensions. In this context, Iran, China, and Saudi Arabia announce the discovery of new major deposits, calling into question the supposed scarcity of the yellow metal.

Compliance/regulation/justice:

1. €25 Million in Bitcoin Seized: Cryptomixer Dismantled by Europol, Germany, and Switzerland: Swiss and German authorities have taken down Cryptomixer, a service used to erase traces on the blockchain, which has been accessible since 2016 and is suspected of laundering €1.3 billion in Bitcoin. The operation, supported by Europol from November 24-28 in Zurich, resulted in the seizure of €25 million in Bitcoin and three servers. Cryptomixer's purpose was to make Bitcoin traceability nearly impossible. It functioned as a hybrid platform, available on both the clear web and the dark web. Its software "mixed" the bitcoins of various clients by holding them for random periods before redistributing them to destination addresses at also completely random times. Thus, it blocked the traceability of funds on the blockchain, which was designed to be traceable. According to authorities, Cryptomixer was the tool of choice for cybercriminals to launder proceeds from various illegal activities: drug trafficking, arms trafficking, ransomware attacks, and bank card fraud. Similarly, ransomware groups relied on this platform to make ransom payments untraceable.

2. Sam Bankman-Fried Hopes for a Pardon from Donald Trump in the FTX Case: Could Donald Trump grant a presidential pardon to Sam Bankman-Fried? That is the hope of the former FTX CEO, who is making repeated overtures to the Republican side. This invisible "turnaround" allows Sam Bankman-Fried to position himself as a political victim of an anti-crypto system. However, it is recalled that the former FTX CEO was arrested and convicted because his misconduct at the helm of the platform led to billions of dollars in losses and the largest crash in cryptocurrency history.

3. United Kingdom Recognizes Cryptocurrencies as a New Category of Property: The UK has just made a major move regarding the legal treatment applied to the holding of cryptocurrencies. Indeed, a bill on the question of their ownership now provides them with a new, specific status. To become effective, this Property (Digital Assets etc.) Act 2025 was approved and signed by King Charles III earlier this week. It is a short, unamended text previously adopted by both Houses of Parliament to define this third crypto pathway. In practice, "a third category of property now exists, and this finally offers legal protection to the sats you hold," according to the CEO of crypto lobby group Bitcoin Policy UK, Susie Ward. An advancement also commented on by its Head of Public Policy, Freddie New, who sees it as the "greatest change in English property law" since the Middle Ages.

4. US Senator Cynthia Lummis has hinted that the United States might soon consider acquiring Bitcoin. She has supported the creation of a strategic reserve in BTC since 2024 to strengthen the dollar. This project resurfaced in a context marked by the Fed's injection of $128 billion in liquidity in 2025 and a resurgence of institutional interest in Bitcoin.

5. The Bitcoin Policy Institute is Requesting a Presidential Pardon for the Members of Samourai Wallet: Two individuals associated with the Samourai Wallet project have received prison sentences for developing and promoting their decentralized anonymization solution. A situation deemed incomprehensible by members of the Bitcoin Policy Institute, who are asking Donald Trump to apply his presidential pardon.

6. The SEC Ends Investigation into Ondo, the RWA Tokenization Platform: The SEC has closed its investigation into Ondo Finance without pursuing charges, two years after it was opened. It had investigated, among other things, the compliance of tokenizing US Treasury bills and the status of the ONDO token, while crypto players were heavily scrutinized under the Joe Biden administration. Things should now accelerate for Ondo Finance. The company also finalized the acquisition of Oasis Pro Markets last October, which should allow it to develop a regulated ecosystem for tokenized securities. Indeed, Oasis Pro Markets is one of the first SEC-registered broker-dealers, allowing it to offer tokenized securities directly on the US market legally.

7. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins stated that ICOs related to network tokens, digital collectibles, or digital tools should not be considered securities. This position is part of the debates on the qualification of securities and prepares a regulatory clarification encouraging the tokenization of the US market, envisioned within two years.

8. The CFTC announced the withdrawal of its "obsolete" guidelines on cryptocurrencies, marking a desire for openness and clarification of the regulatory framework. This evolution fits within a pro-crypto climate and enhanced cooperation between the SEC and CFTC. In the same move, SEC Chairman Paul Atkins stated that US financial markets are now evolving on-chain, with the agency focusing on innovation and tokenization as pillars of this transition.

9. The SEC approved the DTCC's plan to tokenize stocks, bonds, and Treasury bills. This green light marks a major step towards integrating real-world assets into the on-chain ecosystem, supported by initiatives like Smart NAV, developed with Chainlink and tested by several major financial institutions.

10. The CFTC eases the regulatory burden for prediction market platforms: Prediction market platforms will benefit from some regulatory flexibility in the United States. A decision by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) clarifies their scope of action.

11. The IMF warns that dollar-backed stablecoins like USDT and USDC—now totaling $260B—could drive currency substitution in vulnerable economies, eroding central banks’ control over capital flows and monetary policy. Inconsistent global rules risk regulatory arbitrage, runs, illicit finance, and data gaps. While stablecoins could improve financial access, the IMF stresses that strong, coordinated international regulation is essential to mitigate systemic risks and prevent market fragmentation.

12. Italy’s financial regulator Consob has warned crypto firms to apply for MiCA licensing by December 30 or cease operations in Italy. VASPs that submit applications can continue operating until a decision—but no later than June 30, 2026. Those not seeking authorization must shut down, terminate contracts, and return client assets by year-end. Separately, Italy’s macroprudential committee highlighted growing crypto-related risks as ties to the financial system strengthen amid uneven global regulation.

13. China’s central bank reiterated that all crypto-related business activities remain illegal, specifically warning that stablecoins fail AML and customer identification requirements and risk enabling money laundering and fraud. This dampens earlier speculation about potential RMB-backed stablecoins and complicates Hong Kong’s ambitions for its stablecoin framework. Despite a bitcoin mining resurgence that returned China to the world’s third-largest miner, the PBOC’s stance signals no policy flexibility, maintaining its strict prohibition on digital assets.

14. Europol, alongside German and Swiss authorities, has dismantled the cryptocurrency mixer Cryptomixer, seizing its Zurich servers, domain, and over €25M in crypto. The service, operating since 2016, processed €1.3B in bitcoin for ransomware groups, darknet markets, and trafficking networks. Investigators secured 12TB of data—including transaction logs and wallet clusters—to support ongoing probes into user identities and illicit financial flows, marking a major blow to crypto laundering infrastructure.

15. The UK’s FCA has launched a stablecoin cohort within its regulatory sandbox, allowing firms to test live issuance, redemption, and liquidity management under real-market conditions until January 2026. Concurrently, it approved a pilot with Coinbase, Kraken, and Crypto.com to trial standardized disclosure templates for exchanges. These initiatives reflect a collaborative approach—letting regulators gather data and refine rules alongside industry before formal crypto regulation in 2026.

16. Poland’s president has vetoed the national MiCA implementation bill, citing threats to property rights, freedoms, and economic stability. The bill—already passed by parliament—would have required crypto firms to obtain licenses, meet strict AML/KYC rules, and face penalties for violations. While supporters argued it aligned Poland with EU standards, opponents warned its broad powers and high costs could stifle innovation. The veto leaves Poland without a MiCA framework, joining other EU states questioning regulatory proportionality amid competitiveness concerns.

17. South Korea’s proposed STO bill has passed a key legislative committee and is headed for a full National Assembly vote this month, with implementation expected next year. The bill expands the Capital Markets Act to include security token issuance and distribution, providing clarity long awaited since 2023 FSC guidelines. This progress could accelerate Korea’s STO infrastructure development, alongside ongoing moves to lift institutional trading moratoriums and advance stablecoin legislation.

18. Taiwan's financial regulator just set a timeline for the country's first stablecoin, second half of 2026. The launch depends on passing the Virtual Assets Service Act in the next legislative session. The bill is modeled after Europe's MiCA framework. Taiwan also started enforcing stricter crypto regulations last year after alleged violations by major exchanges.

19. The UK’s Property (Digital Assets etc) Act 2025 has received Royal Assent, legally recognizing digital assets as a distinct category of property. The reform—endorsed by Bitcoin Policy UK and CryptoUK—clarifies ownership rights for assets like bitcoin and stablecoins, strengthening legal pathways for asset recovery, insolvency, and estate handling. This formalizes a 2023 Law Commission recommendation and builds on existing court judgments, marking a historic update to English property law.

20. SEC Chair Paul Atkins outlined an aggressive 2026 crypto agenda, promising an “innovation exemption” to lower compliance barriers and foster experimentation. He emphasized progress on a token taxonomy and broader “Project Crypto” reforms, marking a shift from the Gensler era’s enforcement-heavy approach. Atkins also called on Congress to clarify jurisdictional lines as the Senate advances a comprehensive market structure bill, signaling a more collaborative regulatory stance.

Traditional finance:

1. Asset management giant Vanguard now allows crypto ETFs: Faced with the various successes displayed by crypto ETFs, the world's second-largest asset manager, Vanguard, has decided (finally) to authorize their trading. A historic reversal for the sector, despite the current downturn in the cryptocurrency market. Indeed, Vanguard executives had previously judged these crypto-assets to be too volatile and speculative to allow for building "serious" investment portfolios. A blockage that apparently did not withstand the persistent demands of investors—both retail and institutional—according to its recent announcement on the subject.

2. Bank of America advises its clients to allocate up to 4% of their portfolio to Bitcoin: Bank of America now recommends its affluent clients allocate up to 4% of their portfolio to cryptocurrencies, via Bitcoin ETFs. A decision that marks a turning point for the second-largest US bank, in a context of growing Bitcoin adoption by major financial institutions.

3. Bitcoin ETFs are predominantly held by retail investors, not institutions: Contrary to expectations, it is retail investors who overwhelmingly dominate the holdings of spot Bitcoin ETFs, accounting for over 70% of the holdings, according to a Bernstein study cited by Bloomberg. Institutions are progressing but represent only 28%, while new altcoin ETFs struggle to take off in a bear market that has erased $600 billion. Institutions have still entered the market, increasing their share from 20% at the end of 2024 to 28% today, but retail remains by far the primary investor.

4. Ten European banks plan to launch, by 2026, a euro-indexed stablecoin under the supervision of the Dutch central bank. Regulatory approval is expected in the second half of 2026. This initiative is part of the MiCA framework and a general movement to strengthen stablecoin regulation in Europe. In addition to BNP Paribas, which has just joined the movement, the Qivalis consortium is also represented by Banca Sella, CaixaBank, Danske Bank, DekaBank, ING, KBC, Raiffeisen Bank International, SEB, and UniCredit.

5. Tokenization could progress as fast as the internet, according to BlackRock's CEO: The head of the world's leading asset manager, BlackRock, displays evident enthusiasm regarding the development of tokenization in traditional finance. For Larry Fink and his colleague, the principle of tokenization offers 2 major advantages, capable of supporting a market for "real world" financial assets (stocks, bonds, etc.) [which] constitute only a tiny fraction of global equity and debt markets, but whose rapid growth shows about +300% over the last twenty months." Instant settlement of transactions that avoids the risk of one party (buyer or seller) failing to meet its obligations; Replacing the use of paper with code, reducing the frictions that make assets costly and slow to trade.

6. The CEO of Charles Schwab announced that the company will offer Bitcoin to its clients in the first half of 2026. This decision comes as the Bitcoin ETF market is experiencing strong growth, with rising volumes and Bank of America advising up to 4% exposure to BTC.

7. BPCE announced it will allow its clients to buy and sell Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies via its subsidiary Hexarq, thus becoming the second French bank to offer this. This offering would take the form of an account charged €2.99 monthly and 1.5% transaction fees, initially providing access to BTC, ETH, SOL, and USDC. Furthermore, the infrastructure for this new activity is to be deployed by Hexarq, a subsidiary of the BPCE group that obtained its license as a Digital Asset Service Provider (DASP) a year ago.

8. According to Bernstein, Bitcoin may have broken its traditional 4-year cycle and entered a prolonged bull market, with a target of $150,000 in 2026 and an estimated peak of $200,000 for 2027. The study also highlights the strengthening of Harvard's BTC positions and the continuous outflows from BlackRock's spot Bitcoin ETF, while Michael Burry still calls Bitcoin a speculative bubble.

9. The CFTC launched a pilot program to test the use of tokenized collateral in derivative markets. This experimentation is part of a reform announced at the end of September 2025, authorizing the use of stablecoins and other tokenized assets as collateral in futures and options contracts, marking a regulatory shift under pro-crypto leadership.

10. BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, filed an S-1 registration statement for its iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF, moving to add a staked ETH product to its lineup. The filing follows a recent Delaware entity registration for the ETF, confirming expectations that a formal SEC submission was imminent. BlackRock said the fund aims to track the cryptocurrency's price and staking rewards from a portion of its ETH, when it can do so without triggering legal or tax risks for the trust. The firm's filing builds on momentum from its existing $17 billion AUM spot Ethereum ETF as more issuers race to add staking and diversify their crypto offerings under a friendlier U.S. regulatory climate.

11. Bitcoin: We are still in a "bull" cycle, according to JPMorgan: JPMorgan bank shows its optimism regarding Bitcoin. It believes the cryptocurrency is still in a bull cycle and that a "crypto winter" should not be expected.

12. Grayscale was again in the news on Tuesday, launching the first Chainlink ETF after converting its $17 million Chainlink Trust into the newly listed GLNK on NYSE Arca. The investment firm said Chainlink's oracle network is becoming core infrastructure for tokenization and DeFi as demand for verifiable data and cross-chain connectivity grows. Grayscale argues that accelerating tokenization will make secure off-chain data feeds essential, positioning Chainlink as the connective layer for asset creation and settlement. The launch expands Grayscale's rapid ETF rollout, which now includes products tied to XRP, Dogecoin, and Solana, with a Zcash ETF application also pending.

13. Citadel Securities has urged the SEC to regulate DeFi protocols as exchanges and broker-dealers, arguing their automated matching and transaction-based revenue models warrant full oversight to prevent market fragmentation. The crypto community strongly opposes this, with Uniswap’s Hayden Adams accusing Citadel of trying to stifle open-source innovation. Blockchain Association CEO Summer Mersinger called the proposal “overbroad and unworkable,” warning that treating developers as intermediaries would harm U.S. competitiveness without enhancing protection.

14. Bank of America’s chief investment office will begin offering coverage of several BTC ETFs starting January 5. This comes as part of a broader policy shift, which has seen the bank lift restrictions on its network of over 15,000 advisors from recommending cryptocurrency investments to clients. Instead, they recommend customers with higher risk profiles can consider investing up to 4% of their holdings in the crypto markets via regulated ETFs.

15. The New York Stock Exchange installed a Satoshi Nakamoto statue this week. The same exchange that once banned crypto discussions now calls it "shared ground between emerging systems and established institutions." Bitcoin firm Twenty One Capital brought the statue to the trading floor. This is the sixth of 21 planned Satoshi statues going up worldwide.

16. PNC Bank has introduced direct spot bitcoin trading for private banking clients through Coinbase’s institutional platform, making it one of the first major U.S. banks to offer crypto within existing investment accounts. The move aims to retain high-net-worth clients who might otherwise use external platforms. PNC plans to expand access to institutions, endowments, and foundations in 2025, joining peers like Bank of America and Vanguard in integrating digital assets.

Innovation:

1. Meta may scale back on the metaverse, with a 30% budget cut. While the euphoria around the metaverse has largely subsided since 2021, Meta is reportedly preparing to reduce its investments in the sector by 30%.

2. Sei Network and Xiaomi partner to launch a wallet integrated into new smartphones: Starting next year, a Sei Network wallet app will be natively installed on new Xiaomi smartphones. The adoption of cryptocurrencies by the general public takes many forms, and it starts with simplifying the user experience. This is what Sei Labs, the entity behind the Sei Network blockchain, is attempting through its new partnership with Xiaomi. Indeed, new phones from this brand will be natively equipped with a Sei wallet, except for devices sold in mainland China and the United States. "We are moving from a world where crypto is something you have to find, to a world where it comes to you. With sub-400ms finality and the ability to process thousands of transactions per second, Sei's infrastructure is ideally positioned to meet the demands of mainstream applications."

3. AI research company Anthropic found that advanced AI agents identified vulnerabilities in recent smart contracts that could have led to multimillion-dollar exploits, underscoring the growing threat autonomous systems pose to blockchain security. Anthropic warned that simulated exploit revenue is doubling every 1.3 months as AI becomes cheaper and more capable. Still, the firm stressed that the same technology can bolster defenses, noting that AI agents can also be deployed to patch vulnerabilities.

4. Vitalik Buterin proposed a trustless onchain gas futures market to let users hedge future Ethereum fee spikes and gain clearer visibility into expected base fee levels. Industry leaders pushed back, with Flashbots' Hasu arguing the market lacks a natural short side and would struggle to scale meaningfully. Buterin floated the idea of the protocol itself taking the short side, but other critics said Ethereum's burn mechanism and incentive design still make viable shorting difficult. The debate follows recent network upgrades — including Fusaka and a higher block gas limit — as the Ethereum community advances broader work on cost structure, privacy, and scaling.

5. Ethereum has activated its 17th major upgrade, Fusaka, introducing PeerDAS to increase Layer 2 blob capacity while cutting bandwidth demands. The upgrade also adds predictable fee pricing with surge mechanisms, raises the gas limit, and supports device-native passkeys via secp256r1 signing. An opcode for zero-knowledge performance and quantum resistance preparations are also included. The rapid rollout—seven months after Pectra—demonstrates Ethereum’s new twice-yearly hard-fork schedule, with focus now shifting to the 2026 Glamsterdam upgrade.

_{Adoption (Sentiment, Retail and Corporate Reserves):}

1. Sony will launch a stablecoin for its gaming and anime ecosystem: Many economic players are now taking a keen interest in the opportunities offered by stablecoins, such as the giant Sony. Indeed, its former subsidiary Sony Bank is considering launching a stablecoin to optimize payments within its gaming and anime ecosystem.

2. $1 billion in funding, partnership with CNN… Prediction market platform Kalshi explodes: A sign of the considerable excitement surrounding prediction markets? The American television channel CNN has signed a partnership with Kalshi to use its predictions. Furthermore, the betting platform has just raised $1 billion to compete with its rival Polymarket. Concretely, this means CNN will be able to display questions related to current events, along with the associated percentages. Kalshi notes that prediction markets have historically been reliable in predicting the outcome of historical events—sometimes more so than polls.

3. MrBeast, the YouTuber with approximately 447 million subscribers, is preparing to launch a financial services platform centered on cryptocurrency. This project aims to democratize digital assets for the general public but adds to a complex history of crypto initiatives led by influencers, often scrutinized by regulators.

4. Harvard bets on Bitcoin: It triples its stake in BTC and doubles its gold allocation: The wealthiest university in the United States massively strengthened its crypto and gold positions in the third quarter of 2025. Harvard increased its Bitcoin holdings to $443 million, up from $117 million three months earlier, while doubling its gold allocation to $235 million.

5. Over 11,000 merchants now accept Bitcoin worldwide, a sign of growing adoption: Bitcoin continues its adoption as a payment method. A Springer study identifies over 11,000 merchants accepting BTC worldwide, with strong community dynamics in certain areas. The analysis is based on data from BTC Map, a collaborative map of merchant acceptance. The geographical distribution of Bitcoin-accepting merchants remains very uneven: Europe, North America, and Central America concentrate the majority of acceptance points. Two cities stand out particularly: Prague, Czech Republic, and Berlin, El Salvador. In Prague, about 6% of restaurants and 2% of cafes accept BTC. The city is also a central hub for the Bitcoin ecosystem in Europe, hosting the annual BTC Prague conference as well as the headquarters of Trezor, a pioneer in hardware wallets.

6. Gemini approved to offer a prediction market: The Gemini exchange joins the long list of players betting on prediction markets, thanks to approval from the CFTC. The news caused the GEMI stock price to surge.

7. YouTube launches a payment option with PayPal's PYUSD stablecoin: The current rise of stablecoins is driving unprecedented penetration of cryptocurrencies into various sectors of the global economy. An evolution largely initiated by the giant PayPal, whose PYUSD becomes an official payment option for content creators on YouTube. Notably: YouTube has already been using this stablecoin for some time to pay invoices for some of its independent workers and other contractors, as well as by other subsidiaries of the Alphabet giant, like its cloud computing branch, Google Cloud.

8. Coinbase is reportedly preparing to launch its own prediction market: Prediction markets are clearly gaining momentum, given the obvious successes of the two sector leaders Polymarket and Kalshi. A hype that would now concern the Coinbase platform, seemingly ready to offer this type of crypto betting to its users.

9. MicroStrategy purchased an additional 130 BTC for $11.7M, raising its total holdings to exactly 650,000 BTC ($55B). The firm also established a $1.44B USD reserve to cover at least twelve months of preferred stock dividends and debt interest. Both moves were funded through $1.48B in common stock sales, reinforcing MicroStrategy’s dual strategy of accumulating bitcoin while maintaining ample fiquid reserves for corporate obligations.

Funding & Partnerships:

1. Fanatics, the sports apparel giant, has launched a prediction market with Crypto.com. This collaboration adds to other initiatives by Crypto.com, notably its alliance with Trump Media Group and projects around the CRO crypto. Leveraging its MiFID II license, the exchange is strengthening its presence in Europe and anticipating a fourth quarter favorable to cryptocurrencies.

2. According to Bloomberg, SpaceX plans an IPO in 2026, valued at $1.5 trillion—the largest in history. The company also shows growing exposure to cryptocurrencies, with over one billion dollars in bitcoins held and a notable transfer of $153 million in July 2025. This dynamic fits within a trend of crypto IPOs, also illustrated by Circle and the potential tokenization of SpaceX shares.

3. Robinhood is expanding into Indonesia by agreeing to acquire brokerage Buana Capital Sekuritas and crypto platform Pedagang Aset Kripto, pending regulatory approval for a 2026 launch. The move aims to offer U.S. equities and crypto trading in Southeast Asia’s largest economy, with current owner Pieter Tanuri staying on as advisor. Concurrently, Robinhood is cutting U.S. crypto fees to as low as 0.03% and adding leveraged perpetual futures for EU users on tokens like XRP and SOL to attract high-volume traders.

4. Paradigm made its first investment in Brazil by backing stablecoin startup Crown with $13.5 million at a $90 million valuation as the crypto VC firm targets the country's fast-growing digital asset market. Crown claims its BRLV token, pegged to the Brazilian real and backed by government bonds, has already become the world's largest emerging-market stablecoin with strong institutional demand. Crown's co-founders said they built BRLV to offer native yield and institutional-grade safety, positioning the stablecoin to scale toward an ambitious R$1 trillion circulation target over the next decade.

5. Prediction market, Kalshi, raises $1B at an $11B valuation, led by Paradigm, with support from Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Capital G, and other existing backers. Perpetual DEX, Ostium, raises an additional $20M in a Series A round led by General Catalyst and Jump Crypto, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Wintermute, Crucible Capital, and more. Institutional yield platform, Axis, raises $5M in a funding round led by Galaxy Ventures, with support from FalconX, OKX Ventures, CMT Digital, Maven 11 Capital, and more. Bitcoin auto-savings app, Bitstack, raises $15M in a Series A funding round led by 13 Books Capital, with other investors including Y Combinator, Plug and Play Tech Center, Stillmark, and more. Cross-chain yield aggregator, Superform, opens registration for their UP token airdrop, leading into their token sale.

6. Solana DEX, Humidifi, raises $5.57M, across three token sale phases via Jupiter Exchange’s new launchpad, DTF. Solana Virtual Machine (SVM) L1 chain, Fogo, announces the FOGO token presale, taking place on 17th December, which will sell 2% of the FOGO token supply at a fully-diluted valuation of $1B. Universal encrypted compute platform, Octra, announces the OCT token sale, which will take place from 18th to 25th December, selling 10% of the token supply at a fully-diluted valuation of $200M.

7. Cross-chain bridging infrastructure, Lifi, raises $29M in a Series A extension round, with investors including Multicoin Capital and CoinFund. Crypto AI research tool, Surf, raises $15M in a funding round led by Pantera Capital, with support from Coinbase Ventures and DCG. Crypto and equities brokerage platform, Cascade, raises $15M in a funding round, with investors including Polychain Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Variant, and Archetype. Brazilian Real stablecoin issuer, Crown, raises $13.5M in a Series A funding round, led exclusively by Paradigm.

8. Hyperliquid Strategies this week announced a $30 million stock buyback program. This initiative — coming less than one week after the HYPE DAT officially started trading on the Nasdaq — is part of a broader trend among treasury firms seeking to normalize mNAVs and support share prices. Though not inherently negative, last month The Block's Yogita Khatri wrote of the dangers such programs could pose, should firms begin selling assets to fund them.

9. Coinbase selected Chainlink's CCIP interoperability protocol as the bridging solution for its $7 billion suite of wrapped assets, including cbBTC and cbXRP, to make them deployable across more blockchains. The integration uses Chainlink's audited token pool model rather than traditional wrapping bridges, aiming to create more secure cross-chain transfers for Coinbase-issued assets. CCIP has rapidly expanded across major ecosystems — from EVM chains to Aptos, Hedera, TON, and Monad — and was also adopted by Base for its new Solana bridge. Coinbase said Chainlink's oracle networks, which secure over 70% of global DeFi activity, provide the reliability and connectivity needed to scale wrapped asset offerings across blockchains.

10. HashKey launched its Hong Kong IPO on Tuesday, seeking up to $215 million and marking the first public listing attempt by a dedicated crypto exchange in the region. The firm priced shares between HK$5.95 and HK$6.95 ($0.76 and $0.89) and plans to begin trading on Dec. 17 under stock code 3887. HashKey said it will channel most of the proceeds into tech upgrades, market expansion, and new ecosystem partnerships as it works to scale its licensed platform. The IPO lands amid Hong Kong's tightening but supportive regulatory push, including new VASP and stablecoin regimes and rules allowing shared order books to boost liquidity.

11. Vivek Ramaswamy's bitcoin treasury company Strive launched a $500 million at-the-market offering for its SATA preferred stock to raise capital for additional BTC purchases. The company entered a sales agreement with Cantor Fitzgerald, Barclays, and Clear Street to sell SATA shares directly into the market over time, instead of issuing them at a fixed price in one large transaction. SATA carries a 12% annual dividend, with Strive retaining the right to adjust the rate in the future. Strive said the program builds on its upsized SATA IPO and supports its long-term goal of growing its BTC-per-share as it expands its bitcoin treasury from the 7,525 BTC it has held since early November.

Disclaimer: The information disclosed here does not constitute an investment advice ; it is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. You should do your own research while investing in crypto and only invest money you are ready to lose.