Market Signal Briefing

It was another brutal week in the meme coin universe as the sector’s market cap slipped 7% to $37.4 billion while the trading volume fell 10% $4.6 billion.

The market is very volatile, with spot Bitcoin ETF inflows hitting $457 million, recording their largest single daily intake in over a month.

Altcoins are still swimming in dangerous waters, but the silver lining is that the U.S. inflation data came in lower than expected at 2.7%.

Top meme coins are still trending downward, but pippin (PIPPIN) stretched its rally to at least another week. Yee Token (YEE) ripped 60%.

Are meme coins on the cusp of exploding as U.S. President Donald Trump claimed that the incoming Fed Chair will slash rates by a lot?

Here are this week’s major headlines in meme coins.

Florida authorities seized $1.5 million in various cryptocurrencies, including meme coins such as Dogecoin and PEPE, in a scam tied to a Chinese national. The move signals how meme coins like DOGE are now back on the radar of law enforcement.

Source: Florida’s Voice

Politically-charged meme coins fueled a massive run as election-driven narratives pushed the sector to a record $150.6 billion market cap in late 2024, per a recent report. Hype around U.S. election tokens peaked fast, then reversed just as quickly, triggering the 2025 cooldown.

7-Day Meme Coin Market Snapshot
It was another brutal week in the meme coin universe as the sector’s market cap slipped 7% to $37.4 billion while the trading volume fell 10% $4.6 billion. When will the trenches show their mettle as demand for meme coins fades?

Meme Launchpad Wars
Pump.fun remains the undisputed king in the meme coin launchpad jungle. However, the number of tokens on the launchpad in 24 hours decreased from 19,700 last week to 16,100 week-on-week, according to Adam_tehc’s Dune dashboards data.

Meme Coin Market vs Other Crypto Sectors
The meme sector climbed from 14th to the ninth spot on DeFiLlama’s narrative tracker. But it was a week where there were no winners, as all the sectors are in the red.

Top 20 Meme Coin Leaderboard
Only two of the top 20 meme coins are in the green, underscoring the sector’s performance this week.

MemeCore (M) edged up 10% as it bounced after sliding 22% in the past month.

Meme Coin Charts: 7-Day Insights
Biggest Gainers (7D%)

Yee Token (YEE): +60.34%
Act 1: The AI Prophecy (ACT): +47.31%
Nubcat (NUB): +40.79%
Comedian (BAN): +30.45%
pippin (PIPPIN): +27.70%

Biggest Decliners

Ski Mask Dog (SKI): -34.41%
The Official 67 Coin (67): -28.04%
Useless Coin (USELESS): -27.24%
Rekt (REKT): -23.57%
Siren (SIREN): -23.08%

Meme Coin News
Binance Cleans Up the Listings Game
Binance is putting up to $5 million on the line for whistleblowers as it cracks down on fake token listing agents. The move follows fresh scrutiny around listing practices after insider trading concerns tied to the Year of the Yellow Fruit meme coin.

Chain-Specific Highlights
Solana Memes

The fading meme coin demand has hit Solana-based tokens very hard.

Ethereum Memes

Shiba Inu printed an 11% weekly red candle.

BSC Memes

MemeCore (M) is on an upward trajectory after notching modest gains last week.

Sui Memes

HIPPO (-15.1%) and MemeFi (-21.1%) suffered double-digit losses.

Base Memes

Base’s top meme coins are in the pullback zone.

What Can You Do Next?

Set clear stop-losses to protect capital while volatility resets.
Track upcoming macro events to identify potential meme coin catalysts.
Touch grass, review performance, and recalibrate your strategy for the next rotation.
This article contains links to third-party websites or other content for information purposes only (“Third-Party Sites”). The Third-Party Sites are not under the control of CoinMarketCap, and CoinMarketCap is not responsible for the content of any Third-Party Site, including without limitation any link contained in a Third-Party Site, or any changes or updates to a Third-Party Site. CoinMarketCap is providing these links to you only as a convenience, and the inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement, approval or recommendation by CoinMarketCap of the site or any association with its operators. This article is intended to be used and must be used for informational purposes only. It is important to do your own research and analysis before making any material decisions related to any of the products or services described. This article is not intended as, and shall not be construed as, financial advice. The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s [company’s] own and do not necessarily reflect those of CoinMarketCap.

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Stablecoins

World Liberty Financial is debating a selective treasury strategy aimed at accelerating adoption of its dollar-backed stablecoin, USD1.

The idea centers on using a small slice of unlocked WLFI reserves to push USD1 deeper into both centralized and decentralized crypto markets.

Rather than pursuing broad token distributions, the plan focuses on targeted growth initiatives designed to expand real usage and integrations.

Less Than 5% Of WLFI Reserves Under Review
At the center of the proposal is a potential allocation of under 5% of the unlocked WLFI treasury, currently estimated at around $120 million. These funds would not be handed out directly. Instead, they would support structured incentive programs tied to specific CeFi and DeFi partnerships.

The proposal argues that this approach can strengthen liquidity and platform adoption for USD1 while avoiding unnecessary dilution or market pressure on WLFI.

Why USD1 Adoption Is The Priority
According to World Liberty Financial, the long-term value of WLFI depends on whether USD1 becomes widely used rather than simply issued. A larger circulating supply combined with consistent transaction activity is expected to improve the protocol’s relevance, attract integrations, and reinforce demand for WLFI-governed products and services.

USD1 is positioned as an emerging challenger in the regulated stablecoin space, competing with offerings such as PayPal’s PYUSD. The proposal emphasizes that distribution strategy and timing are critical in determining which stablecoins gain lasting traction.

Governance Vote Draws Mixed Reactions
The advisory proposal was published on the World Liberty Financial governance forum on December 17, 2025, and is now open for voting. WLFI holders can choose to approve, reject, or abstain.

Initial community feedback reflects a split view. Some participants see the treasury deployment as a necessary step to remain competitive in an increasingly crowded stablecoin market. Others question whether the timing is appropriate and whether using unlocked reserves for growth incentives sets the right governance precedent.

Author

Alexander Zdravkov

Reporter at CoinsPress

Alexander Zdravkov interessiert sich leidenschaftlich für Bedeutungsfragen. Er ist seit mehr als drei Jahren im Kryptobereich tätig und hat ein Auge dafür, aufkommende Trends in der Welt der digitalen Währungen aufzuspüren. Ob er nun tiefgreifende Analysen liefert oder tagesaktuell über alle Themen berichtet, sein tiefes Verständnis und seine Begeisterung für das, was er tut, macht ihn zu einer wertvollen Ergänzung für das CoinsPress-Team.

Taiwan’s justice system now holds more than 210 BTC in seized assets, after a lawmaker cited an official inventory response. Meanwhile, a TradingView chart highlights repeating Bitcoin cycle windows that frame the latest pullback in a longer timeline.

Taiwan confirms seized Bitcoin holdingsTaiwan holds about 210.45 Bitcoin in seized assets, according to a recent disclosure cited by a lawmaker, clarifying claims circulating on social media about state Bitcoin ownership.

The figure emerged after legislator Ko Ju chun referenced an official government inventory response that detailed assets under judicial seizure. As of Oct. 31, 2025, prosecutors operating under Taiwan’s justice system reported custody of roughly 210.453 BTC, along with other confiscated virtual assets.

While posts on X described the disclosure as a fresh announcement from the Ministry of Justice, the information appears to stem from a legislative inquiry and asset inventory rather than a standalone ministry press release. Still, the data confirms that Taiwan, through law enforcement seizures, holds Bitcoin among its confiscated assets.

Seized Bitcoin does not signal policy shiftTaiwan’s seized Bitcoin holdings reflect law enforcement activity rather than a change in national monetary or crypto policy. The assets remain tied to criminal investigations and court proceedings, not treasury management or strategic reserves.

Under Taiwan’s legal framework, seized digital assets fall under judicial control until courts decide on forfeiture, restitution, or disposal. As a result, the Bitcoin is not treated as a state investment and cannot be used for fiscal or policy purposes.

The disclosure still places Taiwan among jurisdictions that now publicly acknowledge holding Bitcoin through seizures. However, unlike countries that actively integrate Bitcoin into reserves or public finance debates, Taiwan’s holdings remain procedural and case driven, with no indication of broader adoption plans.

Bitcoin chart maps repeating cycle windowsMeanwhile, a long term Bitcoin price chart from TradingView highlights a repeating cycle structure that traders often track across multiple market phases. The visual divides Bitcoin’s history into large boxed ranges and labels two time windows that recur: a shorter 52 bar, roughly 364 day stretch and a longer 152 bar, roughly 1,064 day stretch.

Bitcoin Cycle Window Chart. Source: TradingView / X

The chart shows the shorter window lining up with extended downtrends and basing periods after major peaks. Then it shows the longer window aligning with broader advances that include sharp rallies, consolidation phases, and volatile pullbacks before the next cycle turns.

In the most recent section, the chart places Bitcoin’s latest peak inside the larger boxed range and then marks a steep drop that follows. Meanwhile, the right side projects a similar boxed timeline forward, which frames the current move as part of a larger cycle template rather than a single isolated selloff.

TLDR

Table of Contents

TLDRBuilding an XRP-Centric StrategyMarket Response and South Korean DemandGet 3 Free Stock Ebooks

VivoPower partnered with Lean Ventures to acquire $300 million in Ripple Labs shares, giving investors indirect exposure to nearly $1 billion in XRP
The joint venture targets institutional and qualified retail investors in South Korea, one of XRP’s largest markets globally
VivoPower expects to earn $75 million over three years from management fees without using its own capital
The company received approval from Ripple to purchase an initial tranche of preferred shares and is negotiating with existing institutional holders
VivoPower shares jumped 11.8% following the announcement as the company expands its XRP-focused treasury strategy

VivoPower International announced a joint venture with South Korean asset manager Lean Ventures to acquire $300 million worth of Ripple Labs shares. The deal gives investors indirect exposure to approximately $1 billion in XRP without buying the tokens directly.

VivoPower International PLC, VVPR

The Nasdaq-listed company’s digital asset unit, Vivo Federation, will source the Ripple Labs equity for institutional and qualified retail investors in South Korea. Based on current XRP prices, the stake represents roughly 450 million XRP tokens valued at about $900 million.

Lean Ventures plans to establish a dedicated investment vehicle to hold the Ripple Labs shares. The structure targets one of XRP’s largest markets globally, where demand for the token remains strong among both institutional and retail investors.

VivoPower received approval from Ripple to purchase an initial tranche of preferred shares. The company is now negotiating additional purchases from existing institutional holders, though specific transaction details were not disclosed.

The deal structure allows VivoPower to participate without committing its own balance sheet capital. Instead, the company will earn management fees and performance carry from the arrangement.

VivoPower projects $75 million in net economic returns over three years if the initial $300 million mandate is reached. The fee-based model reduces risk while providing upside exposure to the XRP ecosystem.

Building an XRP-Centric Strategy
This joint venture builds on VivoPower’s recent pivot toward an XRP-focused treasury strategy. Earlier this year, the company raised $121 million in a private placement led by Saudi investor Abdulaziz bin Turki Abdulaziz Al Saud.

The funding positioned VivoPower as one of the first publicly traded firms to anchor its digital asset strategy around XRP rather than Bitcoin or Ethereum. Most Nasdaq-listed companies pursuing crypto strategies have focused on those two assets instead.

VivoPower has already deployed XRP into yield-generating strategies. The company allocated $100 million through Flare’s FAssets system to earn returns on its holdings.

The company also adopted Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin for treasury operations. These moves demonstrate a comprehensive approach to building an XRP-based financial infrastructure.

Market Response and South Korean Demand
VivoPower shares surged 11.8% following the announcement. The stock has gained more than 100% over the past year, though the company maintains a relatively small market capitalization of $31.8 million.

South Korea represents a key market for XRP adoption. The country holds the largest XRP position by both value and volume globally, making it an ideal target for this investment structure.

The joint venture capitalizes on existing demand while leveraging Lean Ventures’ relationships with Korean institutional investors. The agreement includes plans to source additional capital from qualified South Korean investors.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse recently highlighted strong performance in XRP-related ETFs. XRP spot ETFs have recorded 30 consecutive days of net inflows, with cumulative flows approaching $1 billion.

This trend suggests growing institutional confidence in XRP as an asset class. South Korean investors are increasingly viewing XRP as a core component of their digital asset portfolios.

Journalist

Hassan Shittu

Journalist

Hassan Shittu

Part of the Team Since

Jun 2023

About Author

Hassan, a Cryptonews.com journalist with 6+ years of experience in Web3 journalism, brings deep knowledge across Crypto, Web3 Gaming, NFTs, and Play-to-Earn sectors. His work has appeared in...

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Last updated: 

December 18, 2025

Several projects that raised capital through Kaito’s community-driven launchpad are facing steep losses following their token generation events, reigniting questions about post-TGE performance, valuation discipline, and whether early “alpha” around the platform has faded.

According to data shared by market participants, a number of Kaito-backed projects have suffered heavy drawdowns after launch.

Several projects backed by Kaito Kickstarter saw significant post-TGE drawdowns. Play AI, launched at a $50m, now has an FDV of only $2.1m; Hana Network, launched at a $40m valuation, now has an FDV of $10.5m; Novastro, launched at a $50m valuation, now has an FDV of $1.05m; and…

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) December 18, 2025
Play AI, which debuted at a fully diluted valuation of about $50 million, is now valued near $2.1 million.

Hana Network dropped from a $40 million launch valuation to roughly $10.5 million, while Novastro fell from $50 million to just over $1 million. Bitdealer declined from $35 million to approximately $2.8 million.

The pattern has reinforced concerns about how early-stage valuations on social-driven launchpads translate once tokens begin trading openly.

Kaito Launchpad Faces Questions as Multiple Tokens Sink After TGEThe weakness has not been limited to newly launched projects. Several tokens that previously ran campaigns within Kaito’s ecosystem have also seen prolonged declines.

Boundless’ ZKC token is trading around $0.0995, down nearly 90% since its September launch.

Source: CoinGeckoLimitless’ LMTS has fallen more than 46% since October, Everlyn’s LYN is down over 71%, and Block’s BLOCK token has lost close to 70% from its launch levels.

Notably, tokens launched under Kaito Capital Launchpad, which aggregates these offerings, currently have a combined market capitalization of about $77.1 million, down nearly 15% over the past 24 hours, with roughly $38.3 million in daily trading volume.

Source: CoinGeckoKaito operates an AI-powered information platform focused on “InfoFi,” where user-generated content, engagement, and on-chain activity are turned into structured data.

Its launchpad, sometimes referred to as the Yapper or Capital Launchpad, allows Web3 projects to raise funds and attention before and after their TGEs.

Projects set their own terms, including valuations and vesting schedules, while the community helps surface campaigns through staking, voting, and accumulated reputation points earned by creating content.

As Campaigns Falter, Pressure Builds Across the Kaito EcosystemAllocations are typically assigned during a preferred phase before opening remaining slots on a first-come basis.

Criticism has grown around how some of those campaigns have played out. Analysts have pointed to full token unlocks at TGE as a key contributor to sharp sell-offs.

Source: YYY/XOne crypto analyst noted that projects releasing 100% of supply at launch effectively place all issuance into circulation at once, leaving little buffer against immediate selling pressure.

Others highlighted that public sale valuations often left little upside once tokens began trading.

Creator relations have also become a flashpoint.

Community members tracking campaign outcomes said dozens of projects either altered reward terms or delayed distributions after campaigns concluded, while others launched without clear timelines or structures.

Yu Hu being a typical KOL that screams “I told you so” after one successful call ignoring the 69 bad ones they called that went south.

Maybe i should lecture you a bit about your own platform if you don’t know.

Since Q1 kaito have listed over 100+ projects. Both Pre & Post TGE… https://t.co/p812l09NoN

— Ola Ξlixir (@thegreatola) December 17, 2025
Only a minority were cited as having delivered rewards as originally communicated. These disputes have added friction between creators and project teams that relied on Kaito’s engagement engine for visibility.

The broader sentiment shift has weighed on Kaito’s own token. KAITO is trading near $0.50, down more than 56% over the past three months.

Source: Coingecko The token is now roughly 83% below its all-time high of $2.88, though it remains slightly above its historical low.

The downturn has been accompanied by visible strain inside the ecosystem. Yapybaras NFTs tied to the platform fell to around 0.38 ETH, and upcoming token unlocks scheduled for December 20 have added to near-term caution.

Source: CoinGeckoAt the same time, some holders have pointed to recent platform updates aimed at tightening verification, reducing low-quality content, and increasing transparency around participation rules.

TLDR:

– AI makes the cost of content near-zero, as we're seeing across all major social media platforms – with bot-generated content a widespread issue outside of X too

– Movement away from KOL back-door deals, to a more inclusive model for wide-spread creators leads

– This… https://t.co/STM1F5z2LC

— Kaito AI 🌊 (@KaitoAI) December 15, 2025
Kaito recently outlined changes focused on on-chain identity checks, stricter reputation thresholds, and new verification methods designed to reduce manipulation and bot-driven engagement.

The company said its system is evolving in response to feedback, with further adjustments expected.

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In brief
Jarett Dunn has been sentenced to two six-year prison sentences to be served concurrently, after he pleaded guilty to fraud and transfer of criminal property.
Dunn drained $2 million worth of Solana from then-employer Pump.fun, and sent the funds to several random wallet addresses.
Pump.fun has since grown into one of the most successful crypto projects, generating nearly $1 billion in revenue to date.
Canadian national Jarett Dunn was sentenced to six years in prison by a London judge on Thursday, Wood Green Crown Court told Decrypt. He had previously pleaded guilty to fraud by abuse of position and transfer of criminal property.

The former Pump.fun employee had already spent 308 days on tag, the Court said, 154 of which will count towards his sentence. He had also spent approximately five months in prison on remand, which typically automatically counts towards an individual’s sentence.

The sentencing comes more than a year after he siphoned an estimated $2 million worth of Solana (SOL) from his then-employer Pump.fun—a now-hugely popular meme coin platform.

Dunn, interestingly, didn’t take the money for himself but rather distributed the funds to thousands of random addresses. He then immediately admitted to the crime on social media. As such, the Canadian gained a cult-like following, with fans branding him a “crypto Robin Hood.”

Dunn’s path to sentencing has been a rocky one, with several dates set, delayed, and adjourned. This included Dunn attempting to frame the attack as a whistleblower move, claiming that Pump.fun was a malicious site and that he was trying to warn people about it. However, with his sentence, it appears the judge wasn't too sympathetic to this argument.

Pump.fun is a platform that allows anyone to create a crypto token in seconds, after filling out a short form. Dunn had been working as a senior developer for Pump.fun for six weeks before the incident, during which the platform was popular but still in its infancy. At the time, Pump.fun had a lifetime revenue of $43.9 million, according to Dune data—a tally that has since surged to a dizzying $927.2 million.

Mark Kelly, a friend of Dunn's, was in attendance and called the verdict “depressing.” Kelly told Decrypt that prosecutors dismissed the whistleblower framing as "post-arrest spin." He added that while he thought Dunn’s lawyer was "appalling," Dunn ultimately gave the prosecution an “easy ride” with his confessions on social media.

“Everybody be cool, this is a robbery... I'm about to change the course of history. [And] then rot in jail,” Dunn wrote on X, within minutes of the attack. “Am I sane? Nah. Am I well? [Very] much not."

And now; Magick: everybody be cool, this is a r o b b e r y. What it do, staccattack? I'm about to change the course of history. n then rot in jail. am I sane? nah. am I well? v much not. do I want for anything? my mom raised from the dead n barring that: /x

— stacc's futard arc. (@STACCoverflow) May 16, 2024

He then joined an X Spaces in which he said he wanted to "kill" Pump.fun "because "it's something to do." He further alleged that "it's inadvertently hurt people for a long time." Kelly added that the judge gave this "full weight" during the sentencing.

Four days after the attack, Dunn was arrested at a hotel in London, not far from the WeWork where Pump.fun was operating from—and where Dunn was situated during the attack. Immediately, Dunn was determined unfit to face a police interview and was hospitalized for two weeks to improve his mental health, after spending months off his medication.

Dunn then pleaded guilty in August 2024, before attempting to withdraw that plea during his sentencing two months later. This sudden change of heart led to his legal team quitting the case.

The Canadian then spent months finding a new legal team while under police surveillance. He was then imprisoned for breaching his bail conditions in July 2025, before pleading guilty again in August. Since then, he has awaited sentencing from behind bars in HMP Pentonville while communicating with his followers via a so-called “intern” running his X account.

On Thursday, Dunn was sentenced to two six-year prison sentences to be served concurrently for fraud and transfer of criminal property.

He has yet to make a statement via his intern, but Dunn previously said he was hoping to be immediately deported to Canada. But that wasn’t the case, and Dunn remains in custody in London.

Daily Debrief NewsletterStart every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.

Key NotesKraken-backed xStocks is now on the TON blockchain.Telegram users no longer need to go outside the messaging app to participate in stock trading.Kraken recently expanded xStocks use to the European Union.
Kraken exchange announced that xStocks, the gold standard for tokenized equities, has launched on TON

TON
$1.49

24h volatility:
3.2%

Market cap:
$3.67 B

Vol. 24h:
$131.96 M

, the open network linked to Telegram.

This means that users of the social media platform will have access to tokenized versions of US stocks and Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) through the app’s wallet.

No Broker Account, No Complex Onboarding With xStocks
With xStocks now live on the TON network, users have exposure to permissionless, onchain U.S. equity.

As a result of this integration, users can buy, hold, and transfer tokenized representations of equities like Tesla, Nvidia, and the S&P 500 ETF without going out of the messaging app.

Research and strategy lead at Unstoppable Wallet, Dan Dadybayo, acknowledged this as a big win.

“Embedding tokenized U.S. stocks into Telegram Wallet is a massive UX unlock,” in Dadybayo’s opinion. This development makes “stocks start to feel like a native internet object, not a brokerage product.”

He applauded the initiative by further stating that several users across the U.S. or EU may be getting such access for the first time ever. They need no broker account and no complex onboarding.

It is fractional by default, and all that is required for access is one tap. The launch is supported by seamless integration with non-custodial TON Wallet, which is natively embedded in Telegram.

Apart from the expansion of xStocks’ use cases, this integration marks a major advancement for real-world asset adoption on TON.

xStocks Experiences Quick Adoption in Six Months
Crypto exchange Backed officially launched xStocks in mid-2025, bridging the gap between Traditional Finance (TradFi) and decentralized finance (DeFi).

This made over 60 tokenized equities available across major platforms including Bybit, Kraken, and the Solana

SOL
$126.3

24h volatility:
5.3%

Market cap:
$71.17 B

Vol. 24h:
$6.23 B

blockchain.

On xStocks, users can trade blue-chip equities like Apple, Tesla, Amazon, NVIDIA, and Microsoft.

They are also privy to ETFs and shares of emerging crypto-native firms, all secured and settled at blockchain speed.

In August, Kraken, Backed Finance and TRON DAO collaborated to integrate “xStocks” with the TRON [NC] blockchain.

About three months ago, xStocks pushed out into the European Union, allowing clients in the region to trade digital versions of popular equities.

Disclaimer: Coinspeaker is committed to providing unbiased and transparent reporting. This article aims to deliver accurate and timely information but should not be taken as financial or investment advice. Since market conditions can change rapidly, we encourage you to verify information on your own and consult with a professional before making any decisions based on this content.

Cryptocurrency News, News

Benjamin Godfrey is a blockchain enthusiast and journalist who relishes writing about the real life applications of blockchain technology and innovations to drive general acceptance and worldwide integration of the emerging technology. His desire to educate people about cryptocurrencies inspires his contributions to renowned blockchain media and sites.

Godfrey Benjamin on X

The move links PayPal’s dollar-pegged token to onchain funding for GPUs and data centers, supported by a $1 billion customer incentive program.Updated Dec 18, 2025, 3:41 p.m. Published Dec 18, 2025, 3:00 p.m.

PayPal (PYPL) is extending the role of its PYUSD stablecoin into artificial intelligence finance, linking it to onchain funding mechanisms developed by USD.AI, a stablecoin protocol that provides credit to AI companies.

Loans issued by USD.AI to finance graphics processing unit (GPUs), data centers and related AI infrastructure will be denominated in PYUSD, with borrowers able to receive proceeds directly into PayPal accounts, according to an announcement shared with CoinDesk on Thursday.

STORY CONTINUES BELOW

The approach is intended to combine familiar payment workflows with programmable settlement suited to long-term financing, rentals and emerging agent-driven transactions. It also demonstrates how stablecoins can be used as settlement instruments for capital-intensive industries beyond crypto.

Stablecoins provide a way to move large sums of capital quickly and transparently while supporting automated payment logic tied to usage or contracts.

The move comes as demand for AI infrastructure surges. Morgan Stanley estimates global AI compute spending could reach $6.7 trillion by 2029, putting pressure on traditional capital markets and payment systems. This year, capital expenditure for AI will be about $360 billion, UBS said in May.

To encourage adoption, PayPal and the USD.AI Foundation plan to introduce a one-year customer-incentive program offering 4.5% on up to $1 billion in deposits beginning in early January.

USD.AI secures more than $650 million in onchain, compute-backed assets, turning GPUs into tokenized collateral.

AI Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk's full AI Policy.

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The Bitcoin and Ethereum prices are down today as the crypto market remains in a phase of extreme fear. This latest crash came amid BlackRock’s move, which sparked fear of a sell-off from the world’s largest asset manager. 

The Bitcoin and Ethereum prices are down today following BlackRock’s transfer of 2,257 BTC and 74,973 ETH to Coinbase, indicating plans to offload these coins. Notably, the BTC and ETH ETFs recorded outflows on December 16, likely why the asset manager moved these coins to redeem shares for its IBIT and ETHA ETFs, which were sold that day. 

Bitcoin and Ethereum Prices Decline Amid BlackRock’s Transfer
These Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs have continued to record mixed flows, which have partly contributed to declines in BTC and ETH prices. Notably, the Bitcoin price had surged to around $90,000 yesterday from an intraday low of around $87,000, before retracing below $87,000 about an hour later. This immediately sparked theories of manipulation, with some crypto pundits revealing that BlackRock wasn’t the only one selling. 

Related Reading: The Bearish Structure That Puts Bitcoin Price At $92,550, And Then $82,000

Crypto pundit Kruse claimed that Binance first bought nonstop for over 30 minutes to pump the price, then started dumping millions of BTC and ETH to liquidate longs. He noted that the Bitcoin price pumped about $3,300 in 30 minutes, with $106 million in shorts wiped out during that period. 

Following that, BTC printed another volatile hourly candle to the downside, which flushed out $52 million in longs. A similar price action had also played out for the Ethereum price. Kruse declared that this wasn’t random volatility but rather liquidity hunting. The pundit further warned that this is how leverage gets punished in crypto. He then reiterated that the volatile Bitcoin and Ethereum price actions weren’t random, indicating the market is being manipulated. 

Onchain Sleuth Tracer also accused Binance of being responsible for the Bitcoin and Ethereum price declines. He claimed that the crypto exchange pumped and dumped millions of BTC to liquidate traders, with $194 million in shorts and longs liquidated in one hour. 

BTC And ETH To Hit New All-Time Highs Next Year?
Crypto asset manager Bitwise has predicted that the Bitcoin price will break the four-year cycle and set new all-time highs in 2026. The asset manager alluded to factors such as the Bitcoin halving and interest rate cycles as what will drive this rally for the flagship crypto. The firm also remarked that crypto booms and busts fueled by leverage are weaker than in past cycles. 

Bitwise also stated that institutions are likely to allocate more to Bitcoin ETFs, which is why they expect the Bitcoin price to reach new all-time highs next year. Furthermore, the firm noted that the pro-crypto regulatory shift will continue to allow companies to adopt crypto at a faster rate. The crypto asset manager also predicted that the Ethereum price could reach a new all-time high if the CLARITY Act passes.

BTC trading at $86,979 on the 1D chart | Source: BTCUSDT on Tradingview.com
Featured image from iStock, chart from Tradingview.com

Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure

In the midst of the waning action of the Ethereum price, investor sentiment, especially those on centralized exchanges, appears to be holding remarkably strong. Despite experiencing a pullback, causing ETH to lose the $3,000 price mark, the overall supply of the altcoin on cryptocurrency exchanges has fallen sharply, reaching a new multi-year low.

Exchange-Held Ethereum Hits New Low
Ethereum is becoming less prevalent on centralized exchanges at a rate that is difficult to ignore, indicating a significant change in the way investors are placing themselves. A CryptoQuant report from Arab Chain, a market expert and author, reveals that ETH exchange supply is steadily declining, reaching one of the lowest levels in years.

Specifically, the metric has dropped to its lowest levels since 2016, indicating a shift towards long-term holding and less selling pressure. As more ETH shifts from trading platforms to long-term storage or self-custody, the amount of available sell-side liquidity keeps getting tighter.

Arab Chain highlighted that the current state of ETH reflects a significant change in supply behavior across crypto exchanges, as indicated by the Exchange Supply Ratio across all platforms. The metric shows that the percentage of ETH held in exchanges has been steadily declining, which is important to comprehend the present supply and demand equilibrium.

ETH leaving exchanges at unprecedented rate | Source: Chart from CryptoQuant on X
According to the chart reading, the Exchange Supply Ratio is currently at the 0.137 level, marking one of the lowest points since 2016. This decline points to a rise in ETH outflow from exchanges to external wallets, which suggests demand for immediate selling has decreased.

Historically, such behavior signaling a growing preference for long-term holdings often emerges during periods of reaccumulation. It also manifests in the lead-up to more stable price movements following periods of volatility.

ETH Withdrawal Highly Evidenced On The Binance Platform
On Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, the Exchange Supply Ratio has dropped to around 0.0325, a relatively low level in comparison to previous months. What this implies is that there is a noticeable ETH withdrawal from Binance‘s wallets, which is the biggest exchange in terms of liquidity. 

As a result, the supply of ETH available on the platform for immediate sale in the spot market decreases. Arab Chain noted that this dynamic reflects growing trader caution and a decline in short-term selling pressure. An interesting aspect of this trend is that withdrawals are rising even while ETH’s price is facing heightened volatility.

During the time of the research, Ethereum was trading near $2,960, a mid-range level that reflects a relative balance between supply and demand. The decreasing supply on exchanges, coupled with price stability, indicates that there is not much selling pressure on the market. Rather, it is going through a process of repositioning and absorbing liquidity.

ETH trading at $2,836 on the 1D chart | Source: ETHUSDT on Tradingview.com
Featured image from iStock, chart from Tradingview.com

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Ripple USD (RLUSD) has soared in the last 24 hours as users actively engage the asset in transactions. Ripple USD is pushing for dominance as it registered a higher 24-hour growth outlook than its rival, PayPal USD (PYUSD), on the stablecoin market.

Trading volume surge signals growing adoption for RLUSDAccording to CoinMarketCap data, Ripple’s USD stablecoin volume surged by 94.27% in the last 24 hours to hit $84.66 million. 

This indicates active engagement from users within the time frame. It also suggests that demand for RLUSD is gaining traction among traders in the crypto space.

Given the surge in volume, it also suggests that investors are transacting and taking positions despite the general crypto market stagnation. 

Notably, there is increased demand for Tether (USDT) and Circle (USDC), with both up in volume by 22% and 24%, respectively.

Meanwhile, Ripple USD stablecoin’s core rival, PayPal USD, as of press time, is underperforming as its volume is up by only 18.53%. This shows that Ripple USD stablecoin is leading in terms of demand from users in the space.

This development might be closely related to Ripple’s recent acquisition of Toronto-based stablecoin payment infrastructure company, Rail. 

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The acquisition move, which started in August, was finalized on Dec. 12, and this means that Rail’s 10% B2B stablecoin global market share shifts to RLUSD.

RLUSD’s growth within one year stuns rivals In order to gain dominance in the crypto space, Ripple’s Reece Merrick recently stated that the goal is to move RLUSD beyond being a Ripple-only asset. It aims to capture the banking sector and become the preferred blockchain in the space as relates to cross-border payments.

Ripple USD stablecoin’s growth has continued to stun rivals. Launched in December 2024, RLUSD has steadily recorded increased growth and climbed into the top five with a market cap of $1.02 billion within one year.

Interestingly, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, in March 2025, predicted that the asset would hit the top five before the end of the year.

Key NotesThe Canary Capital Staked Injective ETF will bring spot exposure to INJ with BitGo as custodian and U.S.Bancorp Fund Services as transfer agent.Injective Protocol has seen strong growth, with weekly transactions surging from under 1,000 in 2023 to nearly 1 million today.Despite ecosystem expansion, the INJ price is down nearly 30% over the past month and is trading below key moving averages.
In the latest move, asset manager Canary Capital has submitted a filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to bring a staked Injective ETF to the market.

As a result, investors would get a regulated exposure to the INJ

INJ
$4.72

24h volatility:
6.8%

Market cap:
$475.23 M

Vol. 24h:
$57.82 M

cryptocurrency along with the option to earn staking rewards.

Canary Capital Submits S-1 to U.S. SEC for Injective ETF
As per the latest regulatory filing, asset manager Canary submitted its S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for its proposed staked Injective (INJ) exchange-traded fund.

If approved, the Canary Staked Injective ETF would list on Cboe and provide investors with exposure to the spot price of INJ crypto.

The ETF will also offer investors the opportunity to earn additional yields through staking rewards. It joins several other crypto ETFs currently awaiting US SEC approval for 2026.

The fund structure allows the sponsor to stake all INJ tokens held by the trust through one or more staking providers. However, they haven’t announced any specific staking partners so far.

The filing outlines key operational details of the product. U.S. Bancorp Fund Services has been appointed as the transfer agent and cash custodian.

At the same time, the BitGo Trust Company will serve as the digital asset custodian. The ETF will track the performance of Injective based on the INJ-USD CCIXber Reference Rate price index.

Under the proposed structure, shares of the ETF will be created and redeemed in blocks of 10,000 shares.

Canary also disclosed that Paralel Distributors LLC will act as the marketing agent for the product.

Growth of the Overall Injective Ecosystem
The Injective ecosystem has seen some solid growth in recent years. Transaction activity across the Injective ecosystem has surged sharply over the past three years.

In 2023, weekly transaction counts were largely confined to the 0-1,000 range. That figure has since climbed dramatically and is now approaching 1 million transactions per week.

GM @injective Ecosystem transaction counts have seen massive growth over the last 3 years. In 2023, this figure was in the 0–1,000 range, while it is now approaching 1M on a weekly basis.

This metric shows how much growth the $INJ ecosystem has achieved. It includes not only… pic.twitter.com/m2s6kspJZR

— FurkanConsensus.inj 🦇🔊🍉 (@FurkanConsensus) December 18, 2025

The data highlights the expanding usage of the Injective ecosystem beyond basic token transfers.

Transaction activity spans decentralized exchanges, minting, staking, derivatives, swaps, NFT interactions, and other on-chain operations

The protocol is also catering to key developments in the tokenization of real-world assets.

Injective’s Korea Lead, Andrew (@AndKrypto), spoke on Dec. 18 at Hashed’s Open Research Forum, where he outlined how a $10 billion mortgage portfolio from PAPL pineapple is being brought on-chain via Injective.

He also discussed Injective’s role in advancing real-world asset (RWA) adoption. This includes exploring new use cases like on-chain trading of pre-IPO stocks.

Despite these developments, INJ continues to face selling pressure, with its price correcting nearly 30% over the past month.

Will the INJ Price Recover From Here?
At the time of writing, INJ’s price is trading 5.6% down at $4.58. On the daily chart, the asset is trading below its 50-day, 100-day, and 200-day moving averages, reflecting continued short-term weakness.

At the same time, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) has fallen to 30.67. It shows oversold conditions and hints at a potential for a near-term technical rebound.

INJ’s price. | Source TradingView

Traders might consider entering near the $4.50 level, with an upside target around $5.50 if prices reclaim key resistance. For a sustained recovery, however, trading volumes need to increase.

Disclaimer: Coinspeaker is committed to providing unbiased and transparent reporting. This article aims to deliver accurate and timely information but should not be taken as financial or investment advice. Since market conditions can change rapidly, we encourage you to verify information on your own and consult with a professional before making any decisions based on this content.

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Bhushan is a FinTech enthusiast and holds a good flair in understanding financial markets. His interest in economics and finance draw his attention towards the new emerging Blockchain Technology and Cryptocurrency markets. He is continuously in a learning process and keeps himself motivated by sharing his acquired knowledge. In free time he reads thriller fictions novels and sometimes explore his culinary skills.

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Pump.fun now faces its final support before new all-time lows – Pump price predictions hinge on a sentiment shift for growth.

TLDR

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TLDRMultiple Use Cases Target Different MarketsRegulatory Climate Fuels Stablecoin WaveStock Performance Reflects Crypto StrategyGet 3 Free Stock Ebooks

SoFi Technologies launched SoFiUSD stablecoin on Ethereum for instant, low-cost fund settlement
Commercial partners like banks and retailers can use the infrastructure starting Thursday
Stock gained 64% this year as company expands crypto services beyond consumer trading
Stablecoin backed by cash reserves at Federal Reserve with immediate redemption capability
Launch follows November reintroduction of crypto trading platform offering 30 digital assets

SoFi Technologies unveiled its stablecoin Thursday. SoFiUSD joins the growing list of bank-issued digital currencies entering the market.

The future of on-chain settlement is here. ⚡️

Today we launched SoFiUSD, a fully reserved #stablecoin issued by SoFi Bank, N.A., positioning us as a stablecoin infrastructure provider for other banks, fintechs, and enterprise platforms.

We are the first nationally chartered…

— SoFi (@SoFi) December 18, 2025

The stablecoin launches on Ethereum first. Plans call for expansion to additional blockchains down the road.

SoFi Bank issues the token under oversight from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Full cash backing sits in the company’s Federal Reserve account.

SoFi Technologies, Inc., SOFI

Commercial partners can now move funds 24/7 with near-instant settlement. Costs run at fractions of a penny per transaction.

CEO Anthony Noto says the infrastructure combines regulatory strength with blockchain efficiency. The company positions itself as a provider for banks and fintechs looking to modernize payment rails.

Multiple Use Cases Target Different Markets
SoFi will deploy SoFiUSD across its consumer crypto trading business. International remittances and point-of-sale services also make the list.

The initial mint started at $10,000 on Thursday. Advanced discussions are underway with several institutions about adoption.

Partners can build white-labeled stablecoins using SoFi’s infrastructure. Broader access for SoFi members rolls out in coming months.

The company plans to share yield with token holders and partners. Returns come from cash reserves parked at the Federal Reserve.

SoFi reintroduced consumer crypto trading just last month after a two-year pause. The platform now supports 30 cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana.

Members can buy crypto directly from checking and savings accounts. The company had suspended crypto in 2023 to secure its national bank charter.

Regulatory Climate Fuels Stablecoin Wave
The Genius Act passed in July under President Trump. The law established a regulatory framework for stablecoins.

Visa announced Tuesday it would enable USDC stablecoin settlements in the U.S. Fiserv launched its FIUSD token earlier this year anticipating the regulatory shift.

Last week the Office of the Comptroller granted conditional charter approvals to multiple stablecoin issuers. SoFi now operates within that approved group.

Noto promised in January that SoFi would be “incredibly aggressive” with crypto under the new administration. Thursday’s launch delivers on that commitment.

Stock Performance Reflects Crypto Strategy
Shares jumped 1.6% in premarket trading Thursday. The stock closed Wednesday up 64% year-to-date.

That performance crushes the Nasdaq Composite’s 18% gain over the same stretch. Investors are responding to the company’s one-stop-shop financial services vision.

The stock traded around $25 Thursday morning. Share price has climbed 75% over the past six months.

SoFi describes itself as among the first national banks issuing a stablecoin on a public, permissionless blockchain. The infrastructure lets companies issue their own branded tokens.

Card networks, retailers, and banks can tap into SoFiUSD for settlement operations. The company says this addresses pain points around slow settlement times and fragmented payment providers.

SoFiUSD is available now for internal settlement at institutions. Consumer availability expands in the months ahead as the company scales its blockchain infrastructure.

Intuit has signed a multiyear partnership with Circle to integrate USDC-based stablecoin payments across its core products, including TurboTax and QuickBooks, as the financial software giant looks to modernize how money moves through its platform.

The agreement, announced Thursday, gives Intuit access to Circle’s stablecoin infrastructure to support faster and lower-cost payment flows tied to tax refunds, business payouts, and other financial services.

Circle is the issuer of USDC, the world’s second-largest dollar-backed stablecoin with a circulating supply of over $78 billion, according to The Block data.

Intuit said the partnership is focused on embedding stablecoin settlement into existing products, but did not outline a rollout timeline or specify whether users will directly hold USDC or if it would initially function as a backend payment rail. The Block reached out to Circle for clarification.

Stablecoins have drawn growing interest from large payments and fintech firms as an alternative to traditional rails such as ACH and wire transfers, particularly for round-the-clock and cross-border settlement. That interest has been reinforced by a clearer U.S. regulatory backdrop following passage of the GENIUS Act earlier this year, which established the country’s first federal framework for dollar-backed stablecoins.

Intuit processes billions of dollars annually across tax refunds, payroll, invoicing, and small-business payments and reports serving more than 100 million customers.

USDC expansion
The move follows a broader push by Circle to place USDC deeper into mainstream financial infrastructure.

Earlier this week, Visa launched stablecoin settlement services for U.S. banks using USDC on Solana, enabling institutions to move funds onchain for back-end payment flows.

Circle has also expanded distribution through partnerships with major crypto exchanges, including Bybit, as it seeks to widen USDC's global reach.

Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.

© 2025 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Gold, silver shine in debasement trade as bitcoin is left behindJPMorgan analysts in October said investors betting on currency devaluation would lift precious metals and bitcoin, but only one of those trades has worked. Dec 18, 2025, 3:40 p.m.

Bitcoin's BTC$89,240.98 stark rejection at $90,000 on Wednesday was a quick reminder for investors that precious metals like gold and silver are the real winners of the debasement trade, not — at least for the moment — digital gold.

Back in October, JPMorgan analysts said that gold and bitcoin were both benefitting and would continue to benefit from the so-called debasement trade. They projected BTC to follow gold's lead, putting a $165,000 BTC price target on a volatility-adjusted basis relative to gold.

STORY CONTINUES BELOW

So far, that thesis hasn't played out.

While BTC is languishing around $88,000, down 30% from its early October record, gold is trading near record highs around $4,350 an ounce and silver Wednesday hit fresh all-time highs above $66, up 40% since October.

"Bitcoiners can’t ignore the bull market in precious metals, which continues to roar," said Charlie Morris, founder of ByteTree.

Why is BTC lagging?Bitcoin’s current weakness stems from its linkage to risky assets, Morris wrote in a Wednesday report. While stock indices have been hovering near record highs, the most speculative pockets of the equity market – data centers and artificial intelligence infrastructure bets and recent IPO names – saw heavy drawdowns over the past few weeks.

There's also a technical element behind bitcoin's relative weakness to gold. The BTC-gold ratio already peaked in late 2024, and is deep into a bear market tumbling over 50%.

BTC-gold ratio (TradingView)

In August, BTC-gold made a lower high, pointing to fading momentum, and since than has rolled over, making a fresh low on Wednesday and its weakest level in almost two years.

Structural selling from long-term holders has also added to bitcoin's weakness. Research from Vetle Lunde, head of research at K33, noted that BTC supply held in UTXOs (unspent transaction outputs) older than two years has been in a persistent decline, with roughly 1.6 million BTC reactivated since 2024. Separately, Glassnode data also shows that long-term investors have ramped up selling their holdings.

"This represents onchain evidence of substantial, sustained selling pressure from long-term holders," Lunde said.

Bitcoin long-term holder net position change (Glassnode)

There's also growing discussion around the risks quantum computing poses to Bitcoin’s cryptographic security. While the concern remains largely theoretical, it has added a layer of uncertainty for investors.

Analyst: Silver rally could set stage for BTCThe silver lining – no pun intended – for bitcoin investors is that BTC should eventually take the baton from gold as the yellow metal's rally cools.

Historical patterns show that gold peaks often precede BTC rallies by 100-150 trading days, Bitfinex analysts pointed out. They said that bitcoin's current market consolidation is a transitional phase, laying the groundwork for a catch-up in 2026.

Bytetree's Morris expressed a similar view.

“I remain bullish on silver, but it won’t go on forever," Morris said. "I suspect that when the rally runs out of steam, bitcoin will step in."

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Privacy coins have emerged in the spotlight by recording significant gains in early trading today. Canton and Midnight lead the pack while Zcash and Monero ride the wave.

Canton, a privacy-enabled Layer 1 blockchain, has performed significantly in early trading today as privacy coins gained more traction in the crypto industry.

According to data from the crypto price tracking website Coingecko, the cryptocurrency is up 6.21% in the last 24 hours, bringing its seven-day gain to 3.13%. At the time of this publication, Canton is exchanging hands for $0.07532. 

Other privacy coins, such as Midnight, Zcash, and Monero, have also exhibited notable performances. Midnight is up 2% in the last 24 hours, while Monero and Zcash have posted 2.79% and 1% gains, respectively.

DTCC partners with Canton to tokenize some of its U.S. Treasuries

DTCC teams up with Digital Asset Holdings and Canton Network to tokenize DTC-custodied securities on-chain. This marks the first step toward real-world assets on DLT—driving efficiency and market transparency.

Read the press release: https://t.co/ca2yaUXZ2I pic.twitter.com/GWXS4iP5Pi

— DTCC (@The_DTCC) December 17, 2025

The recent boom in privacy coins is credited to the ongoing reforms and advancements in the sector. Yesterday, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) announced it had partnered with Canton Network to tokenize some of its custodial assets on the Canton Network. 

According to the official press release from the U.S. financial market infrastructure, the two entities are working towards an MVP in a controlled production environment during the first half of 2026 and promise to scale the project in line with growing client demand.

The deal is part of DTCC’s long-term vision to make its Depository Trust Company (DTC)-custodied assets available on the blockchain ecosystem.

The announcement also detailed that DTCC will gain a leadership position in Canton Network’s decentralized governance structure and join the Canton Foundation. The new roles will enable DTCC to actively participate in reforms and innovation within the decentralized finance ecosystem.

The partnership is anticipated to unfold over multiple years, with the first phase aiming to deliver tangible benefits to market participants in a secure and regulated environment.

Zcash, the pioneer of zero-knowledge privacy, and ShapeShift, a decentralized, multichain, self-custodial platform, also announced on Tuesday that they had entered into a strategic partnership to promote financial privacy onchain.

According to official announcements, the alliance is part of ShapeShift’s objective to provide a fully self-custodial, multichain hub where users retain total control over their assets and data.

Privacy coins surge despite crypto market uncertainty
Privacy coins have recorded significant performances in recent months despite the broader crypto market experiencing headwinds. According to data from CoinMarketCap, Monero has increased by 90% since reaching a low of $233 in August of this year. The crypto asset has also surged by 10% over the last seven days. 

On the other hand, Midnight is up 180% since its official debut 9 days ago on December 9. The crypto asset is currently trading at $0.6427 and has risen by more than 50% in the last week. Canton has risen by 28% from its all-time low price of $0.05902, recorded on December 6.

Zcash has surged by over 650% since mid-September and has risen by more than 30% since December 1. The crypto project recently attracted institutional capital and unlocked more adoption from privacy-conscious crypto traders and investors.

The Winklevoss-backed Cypherpunk Technologies announced on November 19 that it had bought 29,869.29 ZEC (Zcash) for approximately $18 million at an average price of $602.63. The purchase increased the company’s holdings to 233,644.56 ZEC, equivalent to 1.43% of the total ZEC supply at the time.

For the record, Bitcoin is currently trading at $87,458, down by more than 30% from its all-time high of $126,198.07, recorded in early October. The digital asset has declined by more than 20% since early November and has remained relatively unchanged, with a slight 3% drop in the last seven days.

Get seen where it counts. Advertise in Cryptopolitan Research and reach crypto’s sharpest investors and builders.

TL;DR:

NIGHT vaulted into the top 10 by 24-hour trading volume, and Hoskinson called the launch an “incredible success” as attention shifted.
The token surpassed $1B market cap and held over $1B 24-hour volume; it traded near $0.063, up almost 26% weekly, with 16.6B of 24B circulating.
Midnight Explorer shows three million blocks, 405,000+ transactions, and six-second blocks, as the network markets privacy and selective disclosure for enterprises.

Bitcoin’s ecosystem got a jolt as Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson hailed Midnight’s NIGHT launch as an “incredible success,” after the token broke into the top 10 by 24-hour trading volume, and keeping Cardano’s roadmap in focus. The early surge is reframing “new ADA” talk into a metric conversation, with markets watching whether the project retains users and liquidity after the spotlight fades. For now, leadership frames the win as resilience and execution, not just price action. In governance terms, the milestone adds a growth vector for the Cardano stack that can be benchmarked daily.

The launch of Night has been an incredible success. It's amazing how well the ecosystem is developing and holding up. It's on it's way to be the first true 4th generation cryptocurrency and bring in a new era to our industry.

I'm so proud of everyone!

— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) December 18, 2025

NIGHT’s breakout spotlights a privacy-first execution layer
Midnight’s headline numbers are difficult to ignore. The token pushed past $1 billion in market capitalization and maintained more than $1 billion in 24-hour trading volume, placing it among the top 10 by volume on CoinMarketCap. Volume exceeding market cap signals a two-way market, with a volume-to-cap ratio above 100% highlighted as atypical for brand-new listings. At the time referenced, NIGHT traded near $0.063, up almost 26% for the week, with a fully diluted valuation near $1.51 billion and 16.6 billion tokens circulating out of a fixed 24 billion, based on the latest snapshot.

The case for “success” is also being built on operating stats. Midnight Explorer shows three million blocks produced and over 405,000 transactions processed, while maintaining an average block time of about six seconds. Those throughput figures are being positioned as a credibility KPI, suggesting the network is holding up under early attention so far. Hoskinson said it is “amazing” how well the ecosystem is developing and added that it is on its way to become the first “true 4th generation cryptocurrency,” a framing that aims to pull the narrative from speculation toward product delivery.

Strategically, Midnight is described as a privacy-focused execution network built around selective disclosure and an enterprise-facing design. Selective disclosure aims to carefully balance compliance and confidentiality. A renewed privacy narrative is boosting the timing, with the write-up pointing to a Zcash renaissance as part of the broader backdrop. For Cardano stakeholders, the implication is a more multi-network structure, where additional layers can attract liquidity, usage, and infrastructure validation in parallel. Whether NIGHT’s volume remains elevated or normalizes, privacy plus measurable activity can move credibly from niche to top-tier market visibility rapidly.

Asset management firm Bitwise expects 2026 to be a breakout year for crypto, with Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), and Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) all pushing to new all-time highs as institutional forces reshape the market.

What Happened: In its 2026 Outlook, Bitwise argues the traditional four-year crypto cycle is fading.

Institutional adoption, spot ETF flows, on-chain growth, and a pro-crypto regulatory shift are now more powerful drivers than halving's or leverage-fueled boom–bust cycles.

Bitcoin, the firm says, is on track to become less volatile than mega-cap tech stocks like Nvidia, reflecting a broader, more institutional investor base.

ETFs are accelerating Bitcoin's transition into a mainstream, de-risked asset, and that trend should intensify in 2026.

ETFs Absorb Supply As Institutional Demand Surges

Bitwise's core thesis is that ETFs will buy more than 100% of the annual new supply of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana.

Bitcoin ETFs have already absorbed nearly twice the amount of BTC mined since launch.

With firms like Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, and Vanguard opening ETF access, institutional demand is expected to overwhelm new issuance.

Bitwise also predicts half of Ivy League endowments will gain crypto exposure, following early moves by Brown and Harvard—an important signal given the $870 billion endowment pool.

The firm also forecasts over 100 new crypto-linked ETFs in the U.S., ushering in an "ETF-palooza" as regulatory clarity improves.

Crypto Equities, Polymarket Lead The Next Wave

Crypto equities are expected to keep outperforming traditional tech. While major tech stocks are up around 140% over three years, crypto equities are up over 500%, driven by revenue growth, M&A, and regulatory tailwinds.

Bitwise also sees Polymarket open interest hitting new all-time highs, surpassing 2024 election levels as it expands beyond politics into sports, culture, and macro markets.

On-chain vaults—often called "ETFs 2.0"—are expected to double in assets as Wall Street capital moves on-chain.

Also Read: Bitcoin Defends $87,000 While Ethereum, XRP, Dogecoin Slide Ahead Of Japan Interest Rate Decision

What's Next: Bitwise expects Bitcoin's correlation with equities to fall further in 2026. As regulation, ETF flows, and institutional adoption take centre stage, crypto-specific fundamentals, not stock market swings, should increasingly drive performance.

Read Next:

‘Love Letter’ Details Bitcoin’s Journey From Pizza Purchase To Global Asset Class
Image: Shutterstock

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Journalist

Tanzeel Akhtar

Journalist

Tanzeel Akhtar

Part of the Team Since

Feb 2018

About Author

Tanzeel Akhtar has been reporting on cryptocurrency and blockchain technology since 2015. Her work has appeared in leading publications including The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, CoinDesk, Bitcoin...

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Last updated: 

December 17, 2025

Falcon Finance announced the deployment of USDf, its $2.1 billion multi-asset synthetic dollar, on Coinbase-backed Layer 2 network Base, introducing a new “universal collateral” asset.

Falcon Finance’s synthetic dollar is now live on @base.

This expansion introduces Falcon's $2.1 billion market cap synthetic dollar, backed by a diverse mix of crypto blue chips and tokenized RWAs, to a cost-effective, builder-friendly Ethereum L2 that has become a leading hub… pic.twitter.com/g813beBEsf

— Falcon Finance 🦅🟠 (@falconfinance) December 18, 2025
The integration allows users to bridge USDf from Ethereum to Base and access some of the most competitive yields among major yield-bearing stable assets, as onchain activity across the network reaches record levels.

The launch comes as Base continues to consolidate its position as a core hub for decentralized finance and onchain payments, with infrastructure increasingly designed to support both crypto-native and mainstream financial use cases.

Base Activity Surges Following Fusaka UpgradeThe deployment coincides with a pivotal month for Base following the activation of Ethereum’s Fusaka hard fork, which expanded Layer 2 capacity by approximately eight times.

Since the upgrade, Base said it has recorded a sharp rise in network performance, with monthly transactions surpassing an all-time high of more than 452 million.

Lower transaction fees and expanded gas limits have improved the economics of onchain activity, enabling more complex DeFi strategies and high-frequency use cases such as micropayments.

The improved scalability has also strengthened Base’s appeal to developers and institutions seeking reliable, cost-efficient settlement infrastructure.

A Multi-Asset Approach to Stable ValueUnlike traditional fiat-backed stablecoins, USDf is overcollateralized by a diversified basket of assets that includes crypto blue chips such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana, alongside tokenized U.S. Treasuries, sovereign bonds, equities and gold.

This structure brings more than $2.3 billion in reserves onchain, positioning USDf among the top ten stable assets by backing and making it a distinct addition to Base’s liquidity layer.

Falcon Finance has also been expanding USDf beyond purely crypto-based collateral. Most recently, the protocol added tokenized Mexican sovereign bills (CETES), introducing emerging-market sovereign yield into its onchain reserve mix.

Yield Mechanics and DeFi IntegrationThe integration introduces new yield opportunities for Base users through Falcon’s yield-bearing token, sUSDf. Since launch, sUSDf has distributed more than $19.1 million in cumulative yield, including nearly $1 million over the past 30 days.

Returns are generated through diversified strategies such as funding rate arbitrage, cross-exchange price arbitrage, options-based strategies and native altcoin staking.

“Expanding USDf to Base is part of a larger shift we’re seeing across onchain markets,” said Fiona Ma, VP of Growth at Falcon Finance. “Stable assets need to be more flexible, more composable, and available across the networks where people are actually building. Base is one of those places.”

Base users can now bridge USDf, stake for yield, provide liquidity on platforms such as Aerodrome, and tap into the network’s expanding DeFi stack.

For Base, the arrival of a multi-asset-backed synthetic dollar adds another core financial primitive as the network increasingly positions itself as a settlement layer for both decentralized and traditional finance rails.

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In brief
Fetch.ai said its AI agents had already booked restaurant reservations and paid deposits in live tests.
The system used existing Visa infrastructure, issuing temporary card credentials tied to specific purchases.
The company said additional review pushed the public rollout to January, with Mastercard support expected later.
Autonomous AI agents have become increasingly proficient at searching and recommending shopping options, but most stop short of completing transactions. Fetch.ai said Thursday that it will roll out a payment system in 2026 designed to let AI agents execute purchases and deposits on a user’s behalf.

The new feature set to launch in January addresses one of the largest barriers to wider adoption of agentic AI. While consumer-facing systems can suggest flights, hotels, or services, virtually all of the agentic systems need real-time human approval before handling payments because of security, liability, and regulatory risks.

Fetch.ai founder and CEO Humayun Sheikh said the obstacle was less about access to payment rails and more about how AI systems are designed.

"We’ve been working on it for at least five years, and the reason is because we’re going to see a transition from the web-based economy to an AI-first economy," Sheikh told Decrypt. "And the only way to do that is where AI agents can communicate with each other and transact with each other."

The new payment functionality is hosted on Fetch.ai’s ASI:ONE platform and aims to allow agents to book services, place orders, and send payments even when a user is offline. The company said it is working with established financial providers instead of building proprietary infrastructure.

“All of these rails matter, but having them isn’t enough if a system can only do one thing at a time internally,” he said. “That’s why ChatGPT hasn’t managed to do this. It doesn’t have a system that allows you to actually buy something from someone.”

“This is a Visa system,” Sheikh said. “We’re connecting it to the agent and making sure there’s trust building, a layer of security, and a KYC element built in.” He added that while the technology is ready, the rollout was delayed to January to allow additional checks by Visa. Mastercard support, he said, is expected to follow.

To address security concerns, Fetch.ai said the system relies on single-use payment credentials rather than permanent card numbers. Transactions are authorized through Visa, which issues temporary credentials limited to specific amounts and purposes.

The platform supports both traditional card payments and on-chain transactions using USDC or Fetch.ai’s FET, the native token. The company said it has avoided direct bank transfers, citing the additional regulatory requirements associated with that approach.

Fetch.ai has also built an identity layer into the system, requiring agents to act on behalf of identifiable users or businesses rather than operating anonymously. The design comes as retailers and platforms push back against automated shopping tools that mimic human behavior.

Last month, Amazon sent a cease-and-desist letter to Perplexity, alleging that its Comet tool was disguising bots as human shoppers. Sheikh said Fetch.ai’s agents are designed to operate transparently, with persistent identities tied to specific users.

“When an agent isn’t live, for example if it’s hosted on a local machine that goes offline, it has a mailbox,” Sheikh said. “When it comes back online, it checks messages, downloads them, interprets them, and takes action.”

The rollout also comes amid changes inside the Artificial Superintelligence Alliance, a group Fetch.ai formed in 2024 with SingularityNET and Ocean Protocol. In October 2025, Ocean withdrew from the ASI Alliance, citing disputes over treasury control and the closure of its token bridge.

Despite the turbulence, Fetch.ai said it remains focused on an owner-operated model that allows users and businesses to host and manage their own agents rather than relying on centralized platforms.

“That architecture exists for people who want to run their own agents,” Sheikh said. “We give them the facility to own and operate them, with each agent representing a known user.”

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Ethereum has quietly accumulated a problem that does not show up in gas fees or transaction speed charts but threatens the network’s long-term health. It is called state bloat. The Ethereum Foundation’s Stateless Consensus researchers are now sounding a clear warning: Ethereum’s ever-growing state is becoming harder to store, harder to serve, and harder to decentralize.

In a recent proposal, the team laid out why the issue matters, how scaling improvements have unintentionally made it worse, and three concrete paths that could prevent node operation from turning into an elite activity reserved for only the largest infrastructure providers.

What Ethereum’s “State” Really MeansEthereum State: Image Source: Ethereum FoundationEthereum’s state is the sum of everything the network currently knows. That includes account balances, smart contract storage, and the bytecode that runs decentralized applications. It is the live memory of the chain.

This state underpins an ecosystem that settles billions of dollars in value and coordinates thousands of applications across DeFi, NFTs, gaming, and enterprise use cases. The problem is simple but severe: the state only grows. Nothing ever gets removed.

As more applications deploy contracts and more users interact with them, the state expands permanently. Every full node must store and serve this data, even if large portions of it are never touched again.

Why Ethereum State Bloat Threatens DecentralizationRunning a full Ethereum node is already expensive. Storage requirements keep rising, sync times increase, and serving data becomes more fragile as the chain ages. According to the Foundation, if the state becomes too large or too complex to serve, the entire stack becomes more centralized and more brittle.

Recent scaling upgrades have unintentionally accelerated this trend. Layer 2 expansion, EIP-4844 proto-danksharding, and higher gas limits all enable more activity on Ethereum. More activity means more contracts, more storage writes, and faster state growth.

The concern is not theoretical. Researchers are actively stress-testing scenarios to understand when state size becomes a bottleneck, when nodes struggle to stay synced with the head of the chain, and when client implementations start failing under extreme storage pressure.

If only a small group of well-funded operators can afford to run full nodes, Ethereum’s censorship resistance and neutrality start to weaken.

Stateless Validation Solves One Problem and Creates AnotherEthereum’s long-term roadmap includes statelessness, where validators can verify blocks without storing the full state. This significantly lowers the burden on validators and opens the door to higher throughput.

But it raises a new question: if validators do not store the state, who does?

In a stateless design, most historical and active state would likely be held by specialized operators such as block builders, RPC providers, MEV searchers, and block explorers. That concentration introduces new risks around censorship, availability during outages, and resilience under regulatory or external pressure.

The Stateless Consensus team is clear about the trade-off. Stateless validation improves scalability, but without careful design, it could push Ethereum toward infrastructure centralization.

Three Proposed Paths to Tackle State BloatTo address the problem, the Ethereum Foundation researchers outlined three complementary approaches, each attacking state growth from a different angle.

State ExpiryState Expiry focuses on removing inactive data from the active state. The team estimates that roughly 80 percent of Ethereum state has not been touched in over a year, yet every node is still required to store it.

Under this model, inactive data is expired from the active set but can be revived later using cryptographic proofs. Two variants are being explored. One marks and expires rarely used entries with an option to revive them later. The other groups state into eras, freezing older eras while keeping recent data active.

The goal is simple: stop forcing every node to carry data that nobody is using.

State ArchiveState Archive separates hot state from cold state. Frequently accessed data remains fast and bounded, while older data is preserved in archival storage for historical verification.

This approach allows node performance to remain relatively stable over time instead of degrading as the chain ages. Even if total state continues to grow, the operational burden on most nodes would stay manageable.

It also creates clearer roles between nodes optimized for performance and nodes optimized for history and research.

Partial StatelessnessPartial Statelessness allows nodes to store only subsets of the state instead of everything. Wallets and light clients would cache the data they rely on, reducing dependence on centralized RPC providers.

This model lowers storage costs, broadens participation, and makes it easier for individuals and smaller operators to run nodes without massive hardware investments.

Across all three approaches, the unifying goal is to reduce state as a performance bottleneck, lower the cost of holding it, and make it easier to serve.

What the Ethereum Foundation Is Doing NextThe Foundation is prioritizing solutions that can deliver real benefits today while remaining compatible with more ambitious protocol changes in the future. Current focus areas include improving archive node tooling, strengthening RPC infrastructure, and making partial stateless nodes easier to run.

These efforts are deliberately practical. The team emphasized that they were chosen because they are immediately useful and forward-compatible with Ethereum’s longer-term roadmap.

Developers, node operators, and infrastructure teams are being invited to participate in testing and discussion. The researchers made it clear that this is not something the Foundation can solve alone.

A Proposal, Not a Final DecisionThe Foundation was careful to stress that this work represents a proposal, not a unified organizational stance. Ethereum’s protocol development includes a wide range of opinions, and no single path has been locked in.

That openness is consistent with the Foundation’s recent push to communicate more clearly about long-term protocol direction. Alongside state management research, Ethereum is also working on an Interop Layer to make Layer 2 networks feel like a single chain, rolling out leadership and R&D changes, adjusting its treasury strategy, and moving to a twice-yearly hard-fork schedule with Fusaka.

Why This Matters Long TermEthereum State bloat is not a headline-grabbing issue, but it sits at the heart of Ethereum’s decentralization promise. If running a node becomes too costly or complex, the network risks drifting toward infrastructure concentration, even as throughput and usability improve.

The Ethereum Foundation’s message is straightforward. Scaling the chain without scaling its ability to store and serve data safely is not enough. How Ethereum manages its state over the next few years will shape who can participate, who controls infrastructure, and how resilient the network remains under pressure.

The debate is just beginning, and the choices made here will echo far beyond the next upgrade cycle.

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Altcoins

Ripple’s dollar-backed stablecoin has quietly crossed a milestone that few new entrants reach this quickly, highlighting a changing balance of power in the stablecoin market.

RLUSD has grown beyond the $1 billion mark in circulating value, but its trajectory looks very different from the retail-driven expansions seen in earlier stablecoin cycles. Instead of spreading through trading pairs and DeFi incentives, RLUSD’s growth has been shaped by enterprise demand, compliance requirements, and tokenized finance infrastructure.

This makes it less visible in day-to-day crypto trading, but increasingly relevant where traditional finance meets blockchain rails.

Why RLUSD Grew Without Retail Hype
Unlike most stablecoins, RLUSD was never designed to chase volume through exchanges or offer incentives to users. Its adoption has been concentrated among institutions that require strict reserve controls, recognized custodians, and predictable regulatory oversight.

That positioning limited early visibility but created a steady pipeline of demand tied to real financial activity rather than speculative flows. As tokenized assets and on-chain settlement tools expanded, RLUSD became a practical choice rather than a promotional one.

From Payments to Infrastructure
RLUSD’s primary role is not consumer payments but settlement. It is increasingly used as a base layer for moving value between tokenized assets, funds, and cash equivalents that operate around the clock.

This has placed the stablecoin in the background of financial plumbing, where growth is slower but stickier. Once embedded into workflows tied to real-world assets, replacement costs rise and usage becomes less sensitive to market cycles.

Global Acceptance Before Global Scale
Instead of expanding rapidly across every blockchain, Ripple has taken a slower approach, focusing first on regulatory recognition in key financial jurisdictions. This has allowed RLUSD to operate in environments where legal certainty matters more than speed or composability.

Only after establishing that foundation is Ripple moving toward broader network connectivity, preparing the stablecoin for multi-chain settlement without sacrificing its compliance posture.

A Different Path to the Top Tier
Reaching a $1 billion valuation typically marks the point where stablecoins compete directly with incumbents. RLUSD’s path suggests that scale does not require dominance in retail trading or DeFi liquidity pools.

Instead, it reflects a growing demand for digital dollars that behave like regulated financial instruments rather than crypto-native products. As tokenization of traditional assets accelerates, this demand may continue to grow independently of broader market sentiment.

RLUSD’s milestone is less about how fast it grew and more about where it grew. In that sense, it may be a signal of how the next phase of stablecoins takes shape.

Author

Alexander Stefanov

Reporter at CoinsPress

Alex is an experienced finance journalist and a cryptocurrency and blockchain enthusiast. With over five years of experience covering the industry, he deeply understands the complex and constantly evolving world of digital assets. His insightful and thought-provoking articles provide readers with a clear picture of the latest developments and trends in the market. His passionate approach allows him to break down complex ideas into accessible and insightful content. Follow up on his content to be up to date with the most important trends and topics - stay ahead of the curve with CoinsPress.

Easing inflation fuels bullish momentum across the digital asset landscape.

Key Takeaways

Bitcoin surged above $89,000 after CPI data was released.
Bitcoin recovered from $85,300 in early trading, and Ethereum surged 3% to nearly $3,000.

Bitcoin broke above $89,000 today following the release of November consumer price index (CPI) data that surprisingly showed US inflation easing

According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the headline CPI rose 2.7% year-over-year, below the 3.1% forecast and slightly above October’s 3% reading. Core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, increased 2.6% year-over-year, also underperforming expectations of 3%.

Crypto markets and stock futures rose following the report. Bitcoin rebounded from $85,300 in early trading, while Ethereum gained 3% to close at $3,000. Other major crypto assets like XRP and Solana also surged on the news.

However, despite the market rally, uncertainty remains over the Federal Reserve’s next moves, as officials remain divided on interest rate policy and Chair Jerome Powell noted that the figures may not fully reflect underlying inflation trends.

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