News•Dec 19, 2025
Most Influential: The Solana Developers
Solana’s 2025 ecosystem blended meme‑coin hype with tangible hardware and protocol upgrades. Early‑year memecoin mania, highlighted by the short‑lived TRUMP token, surged activity before a LIBRA‑related scandal dampened speculation. Meanwhile, the Solana Mobile team released the second‑generation Seeker phone, integrating wallets and DeFi tools for on‑chain trading. The upcoming Alpenglow upgrade, backed by near‑unanimous community support, aims to cut transaction finality to sub‑second speeds and lower validator costs, reinforcing Solana’s developer‑centric positioning.
By CoinDesk
News•Dec 19, 2025
Most Influential: Jeff Yan
Jeff Yan, founder of Hyperliquid, has built a decentralized exchange that handled $308 billion in volume in 2024 and processes about $10 billion in trades per day, serving over 570,000 users. The platform runs on a custom layer‑1 blockchain delivering sub‑second finality...
By CoinDesk
News•Dec 19, 2025
Most Influential: Luke Dashjr
Veteran Bitcoin developer Luke Dashjr is leading the debate over Bitcoin’s role after the 2023 Ordinals and 2024 Runes protocols introduced NFTs and fungible tokens on the original blockchain. He argues that expanding data limits via OP_RETURN would flood the network...
By CoinDesk
News•Dec 19, 2025
DraftKings Enters Prediction Markets with CFTC-Approved App for Real-World Events
DraftKings has launched DraftKings Predictions, a CFTC‑registered real‑money prediction‑market app available in 38 states. The platform lets users trade contracts on sports, finance and other real‑world events, linking to CME Group and integrating Railbird Technologies. By operating within the traditional...
By CoinDesk
News•Dec 19, 2025
Poland’s Lower House Approves Crypto Law Again, Sends Vetoed Bill Back to Senate
Poland’s lower house (Sejm) voted 241‑to‑0 to pass the Crypto‑Asset Market Act, re‑introducing the same text that President Karol Nawrocki vetoed earlier this month. The legislation seeks to align domestic rules with the EU’s Markets in Crypto‑Assets (MiCA) framework, but critics...
By CoinDesk
News•Dec 19, 2025
Solana AI Token Ava Hit by Launch Sniping Tied to Deployer: Bubblemaps
Bubblemaps identified a cluster of 23 wallets tied to the Ava token deployer that snapped up roughly 40% of the Solana‑based AI token supply at launch on Pump.fun. The coordinated buying, funded through Bitget and Binance, coincided with a dramatic...
By Cointelegraph
News•Dec 19, 2025
What Malaysia’s Royal Stablecoin Reveals About Asia’s Shift to Tokenized Money
Malaysia has launched RMJDT, a ringgit‑pegged stablecoin issued by Bullish Aim on the Zetrix blockchain. The token is backed by ringgit cash and short‑term government bonds and is supported by a 500 million‑ringgit digital‑asset treasury to stabilize validator operations. Across Asia,...
By Cointelegraph
News•Dec 19, 2025
Love Language
The episode demystifies the Federal Reserve's Reserve Management Purchases (RMP), arguing they are functionally equivalent to Quantitative Easing (QE) and thus constitute money printing that fuels inflation and asset price gains. Through detailed accounting T‑charts, the host shows how RMP...
By Arthur Hayes
News•Dec 19, 2025
Jump Trading Hit with $4B Lawsuit Tied to $50B Terra Crash: WSJ
Jump Trading and two senior executives are being sued for $4 billion by Terraform Labs’ bankruptcy administrator, who alleges the firm profited from and helped trigger the 2022 Terra collapse that erased roughly $50 billion. The complaint claims Jump entered secret agreements...
By Cointelegraph
News•Dec 19, 2025
Fragmentation Drains up to $1.3B a Year From Tokenized Assets: Report
RWA.io’s new report quantifies the economic drag caused by blockchain fragmentation, estimating a current loss of $600 million to $1.3 billion per year in tokenized real‑world assets. Identical tokens trade at 1‑3% price spreads across chains, while moving capital incurs 2‑5% fees...
By Cointelegraph
News•Dec 19, 2025
Metaplanet to Start Sponsored ADR Program to Woo Over-the-Counter U.S. Investors
Metaplanet announced that its American depositary receipts will begin trading on December 19 under the ticker MPJPY on the U.S. over‑the‑counter market. The sponsored Level I ADRs replace the unsponsored MTPLF instruments and are backed by a formal deposit agreement with Deutsche...
By CoinDesk
News•Dec 19, 2025
Bybit Returns to UK with 100 Crypto Trading Pairs After 2-Year Break
Bybit, the world’s second‑largest crypto exchange, has re‑entered the United Kingdom after a two‑year hiatus, offering spot trading on 100 currency pairs. The comeback follows the FCA’s 2023 crackdown on crypto advertising, which forced several firms out of the market....
By CoinDesk
News•Dec 19, 2025
Coinbase Borrows Kalshi’s Playbook, Sues Three States over Prediction Markets
Coinbase has filed lawsuits in Connecticut, Illinois and Michigan, seeking a federal ruling that its upcoming CFTC‑regulated prediction markets fall under the Commodity Exchange Act rather than state gambling statutes. The exchange argues that federal jurisdiction should pre‑empt the patchwork...
By Cointelegraph
News•Dec 19, 2025
How Cheap Power Turned Libya Into a Bitcoin Mining Hotspot
Libya’s heavily subsidized electricity, priced at roughly $0.004 per kilowatt‑hour, turned the country into a surprisingly profitable hub for Bitcoin mining, even with outdated hardware. At its peak in 2021, the clandestine farms contributed about 0.6 % of the global Bitcoin...
By Cointelegraph
News•Dec 19, 2025
Crypto Breaks Higher as BOJ Decision Clears a Macro Overhang
Bitcoin and ether surged past key technical levels after the Bank of Japan raised rates to a three‑decade high, lifting Asian risk appetite. Bitcoin broke $87,000 while ether climbed alongside a 2 % rise in the CoinDesk 20 index, as equities...
By CoinDesk
News•Dec 19, 2025
Raoul Pal Says Capital Rotation Could Be Fuelling Zcash Boom
Real Vision founder Raoul Pal warned that Zcash's recent surge may stem from capital rotation rather than a genuine market uptrend. The privacy token has rallied 699% since the start of the year but slipped about 37% over the past...
By Cointelegraph
News•Dec 19, 2025
SEC Flags Bitcoin Miner Hosting Services as Subject to Securities Laws
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued Bitcoin mining firm VBit, alleging it sold more hosting agreements than it could support and misappropriated about $48 million, classifying the contracts as securities under the Howey test. The SEC claims investors relied on...
By Cointelegraph
News•Dec 19, 2025
Bitwise Files with SEC to Offer Spot Sui ETF
Bitwise has submitted a Form S‑1 to the SEC to launch a spot Sui exchange‑traded fund, with Coinbase Custody designated as the custodian. The fund would track the native token of the Sui Network, a layer‑1 blockchain currently ranked 31st...
By Cointelegraph
News•Dec 19, 2025
Crypto Has Everything Needed for a Bull Market, so Why Is the Market Down?
Despite a suite of bullish catalysts—including heightened liquidity, pro‑crypto regulatory signals, new ETF launches and growing institutional exposure—cryptocurrency markets are heading lower, with total market capitalization down more than 32% from its $4.4 trillion peak and nearly 13% below the start...
By Cointelegraph
News•Dec 19, 2025
Senate Confirms Trump Crypto-Friendly Nominees to Take over CFTC, FDIC
President Donald Trump secured Senate confirmation for his crypto‑friendly nominees, Mike Selig as CFTC chairman and Travis Hill as FDIC chairman, with a 53‑43 vote. Selig, a former SEC official, inherits a CFTC commission reduced to a single member and...
By CoinDesk
News•Dec 18, 2025
Synthetix Returns to Ethereum Mainnet After 3 Years: ‘We Can Run It Back’
Synthetix announced its return to Ethereum mainnet after a three‑year hiatus, citing dramatically lower gas fees and recent layer‑1 scaling upgrades. The network’s average fee has dropped to roughly 0.71 gwei, a 26‑fold reduction from a year ago, making high‑frequency perpetual...
By Cointelegraph
News•Dec 18, 2025
Crypto CLARITY Act Set for Senate Markup in January, Sacks Says
The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, known as the CLARITY Act, is slated for a Senate markup in January, according to White House AI and crypto adviser David Sacks. The bipartisan bill, already cleared by the House, seeks to define...
By Cointelegraph
News•Dec 18, 2025
Synthetix Unveils Perpetual DEX on Ethereum Mainnet
Synthetix is launching a perpetual derivatives DEX on Ethereum mainnet that uses a hybrid on‑chain/off‑chain central limit order book to sidestep latency and high gas fees. The platform debuts Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana perpetual contracts with up to 50× leverage,...
By The Defiant
News•Dec 18, 2025
Altcoins Plunge as Bitcoin's $85,000 Test Triggers $550 Million in Liquidations
Bitcoin slipped below the critical $85,000 support, touching $84,500 before a modest rebound, erasing its earlier rally to $89,500. The breach sparked roughly $550 million in derivatives liquidations, affecting both long and short positions. Altcoins led the sell‑off, with Solana falling...
By CoinDesk
News•Dec 18, 2025
Cypherpunk Values Are Dying, but They’re 'Not Dead Yet'
Cointelegraph argues that core cypherpunk principles—privacy, self‑sovereignty and decentralization—are rapidly eroding in today’s data‑driven society. The piece cites recent controversies, such as Vitalik Buterin’s mixer donation, to illustrate growing stigma around privacy tools. In response, Cointelegraph is launching a weekly show,...
By Cointelegraph
News•Dec 18, 2025
NYSE Parent in Talks to Invest in Crypto Company MoonPay: Report
Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent of the NYSE, is in talks to invest in crypto‑payments firm MoonPay as part of its $5 billion valuation round, though the exact amount remains undisclosed. ICE previously committed $2 billion to prediction market Polymarket, valuing that...
By Cointelegraph
News•Dec 18, 2025
Lido Outlines $60M Plan to Expand Beyond Liquid Staking
Lido DAO has unveiled a $60 million budget to broaden its product suite beyond liquid ETH staking, targeting stablecoin yield offerings for institutional users. The proposal, named “2026 Ecosystem Grant gRequest (EGG): Executing GOOSE‑3,” seeks to create new earn products and...
By The Defiant
News•Dec 18, 2025
Bitcoin Policy Institute Reps Sound Alarm on De Minimis Tax Exclusion
Bitcoin Policy Institute strategist Conner Brown warned that a de minimis tax exemption being debated in Congress appears limited to dollar‑pegged stablecoins, leaving Bitcoin transactions unprotected. Senator Cynthia Lummis’s bill proposes a $300 threshold with a $5,000 annual tax‑free cap, plus...
By Cointelegraph
News•Dec 18, 2025
Why Bitcoin’s Popular Narratives Don’t Match the Data: James Check on 2026
James Check’s on‑chain analysis shows Bitcoin’s price masks deeper market shifts. Leverage has fallen while the average cost base rose, leaving many investors underwater. Coins of all ages are re‑entering the market faster, increasing supply pressure. Check argues that ETFs,...
By Cointelegraph
News•Dec 18, 2025
ECB’s Christine Lagarde Shifts Focus to Digital Euro Rollout After Holding Rates
ECB President Christine Lagarde announced that the central bank has finished the technical and preparatory work for a digital euro, shifting the next steps to political approval by the European Council and Parliament. The ECB kept key interest rates unchanged,...
By CoinDesk
News•Dec 18, 2025
Intuit to Use Circle’s Stablecoin for Financial Platforms
Intuit announced a multi‑year strategic partnership with Circle to embed the USDC stablecoin across its flagship platforms, including TurboTax, QuickBooks, Credit Karma and Mailchimp. The collaboration promises faster, lower‑cost payments for business transactions, tax refunds and marketing services. USDC, the...
By Cointelegraph
News•Dec 18, 2025
Bitcoin's 'Realized Cap' Holds at Record High over $1 Trillion, Casting Doubt on Four-Year Cycle
Bitcoin’s realized capitalization—a metric that values each coin at its last moved price—has hit a record $1.125 trillion, even as the cryptocurrency’s price has fallen nearly 40% over the past ten weeks. Glassnode data shows the realized cap continued rising through...
By CoinDesk
News•Dec 18, 2025
MEV Trading Returns to Court in Pump.fun Class-Action Lawsuit
A U.S. judge approved an amendment to the Pump.fun class‑action lawsuit, allowing more than 5,000 internal chat logs as evidence. The suit claims Pump.fun, Solana Labs, Jito Labs, and the Solana Foundation used maximal extractable value (MEV) to front‑run retail...
By Cointelegraph
News•Dec 18, 2025
ICP Extends Recovery to Rise Above $3; Trading Volume Increases without Spiking
ICP rose to $3.01, up 2.2% in the past 24 hours, reclaiming the $3 level after a period of consolidation. The token’s price is forming higher lows, indicating a steady recovery rather than a sharp breakout. Trading volume increased modestly,...
By CoinDesk
News•Dec 18, 2025
Bitcoin Retraces Back Below $89,000 as Traders Unsure of Next Move
Bitcoin fell back below $89,000, breaking a short‑term resistance level and prompting uncertainty among traders. The broader cryptocurrency market remains largely flat, with the top ten assets showing slight gains but staying in weekly red territory. This pull‑back reflects cautious...
By The Defiant
News•Dec 18, 2025
Aptos Introduces Post-Quantum Signatures Before They’re Urgently Needed
Aptos has drafted AIP‑137 to add SLH‑DSA, a post‑quantum signature scheme, as an optional account‑level option, making it one of the first production blockchains with native quantum‑resistant support. The proposal follows NIST’s release of post‑quantum cryptography standards and growing industry...
By Cointelegraph
News•Dec 18, 2025
BONK Drops 6.2% as Elevated Volume Marks Shift at Key Technical Levels
BONK dropped 6.2% to about $0.00000833 after failing to hold near the $0.0000091 resistance level. Elevated trading volume signaled aggressive speculative selling, while a brief rebound lifted the token above $0.00000830 before it settled near short‑term support. The price now...
By CoinDesk
News•Dec 18, 2025
Top Solana Lending Protocol Adds Superstate Tokenized Shares as Collateral
Tokenization firm Superstate announced that its tokenized public‑equity shares are now accepted as collateral on Kamino, Solana’s largest lending protocol, which holds $2.24 billion in TVL. The initial offering supports tokenized shares of Forward Industries, whose stock rose over 6% on...
By The Defiant
News•Dec 18, 2025
Private Keys Are the Worst Design in Crypto — And It’s Costing Billions
Alph.AI proposes a keyless crypto wallet that eliminates private keys using multi‑party computation and zero‑trust design. The article highlights that private‑key compromises have caused $22.7 billion in losses since 2011, with 2025 incidents alone costing up to $2.47 billion. By fragmenting signing...
By CryptoSlate
News•Dec 18, 2025
Coinbase Unveils 'End-to-End' RWA Tokenization Platform
Coinbase announced Coinbase Tokenize, an institutional platform that brings real‑world assets onto the blockchain through a single, end‑to‑end solution covering issuance, custody, compliance, and trading. The service will support a broad spectrum of assets, from equities and private company shares...
By The Defiant
News•Dec 18, 2025
Coinbase Shares Rise as ‘Ambitious Expansion’ Wins Analyst Praise
Coinbase shares jumped up to 4.6% after unveiling a roadmap that adds U.S. equity trading, AI‑powered advisory tools, tokenization capabilities, and stablecoin infrastructure. Analysts from J.P. Morgan, Clear Street, and Citi praised the expansion, noting it broadens the addressable market...
By CoinDesk
News•Dec 18, 2025
Tether CEO Says AI Bubble Is Bitcoin’s Biggest Risk in 2026
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino warned that an AI‑driven bubble could destabilize Bitcoin by 2026, though he expects corrections to be milder than the 80% drops seen in 2022. He remains bullish on real‑world‑asset tokenization and institutional adoption, while expressing a...
By Cointelegraph
News•Dec 18, 2025
Most Influential: Dennis Porter
Dennis Porter, through the Satoshi Action Fund, has driven a surge of state bitcoin reserve laws, delivering legislative language and lobbying support that led to at least ten states adopting the model. While the federal crypto reserve proposal remains stalled,...
By CoinDesk
News•Dec 18, 2025
PayPal to Use PYUSD Stablecoin to Fund AI Infrastructure Through USD.AI
PayPal is extending its PYUSD stablecoin to fund AI infrastructure by partnering with USD.AI, which will issue on‑chain loans for GPUs and data centers denominated in PYUSD. Borrowers can receive loan proceeds directly into PayPal accounts, blending familiar payment workflows...
By CoinDesk
News•Dec 18, 2025
Most Influential: Sam Altman
Sam Altman has been named the most influential figure in AI for 2025, highlighting his role in embedding artificial intelligence into work and play. The article explores how the soaring demand for compute is prompting the crypto community to propose...
By CoinDesk
News•Dec 18, 2025
Most Influential: Javier Pérez-Tasso
Javier Pérez‑Tasso, CEO of Swift since 2019, has steered the banking‑utility giant into blockchain by launching a proprietary ledger with more than 30 financial institutions. The new network enables 24/7 cross‑border payments, promising faster settlement and greater efficiency. Building on...
By CoinDesk
News•Dec 18, 2025
Attacker Takes over Multisig Minutes After Creation, Drains up to $40M Slowly
A whale’s multisig wallet was seized just six minutes after its creation, allowing an attacker to drain and launder over $40 million through staged transactions and Tornado Cash. The wallet’s 1‑of‑1 configuration effectively nullified its multisig protection, and forensic analysis revealed the...
By Cointelegraph
News•Dec 18, 2025
Crypto Losses Near $3.4B as Hackers Went ‘Big Game Hunting’
Crypto losses hit $3.4 billion in 2025, the highest since 2022, driven by three massive hacks that accounted for 69 % of the total. The Bybit breach alone cost $1.4 billion, highlighting the risk to centralized exchanges. While DeFi protocols saw their total...
By Cointelegraph
News•Dec 18, 2025
SoFi Unveils the First Bank-Issued Stablecoin for Enterprise Payments
SoFi Bank has become the first U.S. national bank to launch a stablecoin, SoFiUSD, which is fully backed 1:1 by cash at the Federal Reserve. The token is live on a public blockchain, offering near‑instant, low‑cost transfers and immediate redemption...
By CoinDesk
News•Dec 18, 2025
North Korean Hackers Stole a Record $2 Billion of Crypto in 2025, Chainalysis Says
North Korean hackers stole a record $2 billion in cryptocurrency during 2025, bringing the regime’s total haul to $6.75 billion. The surge stems from a strategic focus on massive breaches of centralized services, highlighted by a $1.4 billion hack of the Bybit exchange....
By CoinDesk