On December 31, 2025, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin surfaced a long-form essay arguing that economies of scale are amplifying institutional power. He advocates mandated technology diffusion and adversarial interoperability to restore checks. Ethereum activity reached 2.2 million transactions on December 29, with average fees at 17 cents after recent upgrades.

The wallet behind the official $TRUMP meme coin has withdrawn a further $33 million in USDC from Meteora liquidity pools and moved the funds to Coinbase custody, bringing total withdrawals over the past 30 days to $94 million. The moves come as Trump-linked crypto ventures post large token sale revenues and Bitcoin holdings while facing legal scrutiny, sharp price drops in some tokens, and governance and compliance concerns around associated firms.

On December 30, 2025, Bitwise Funds Trust submitted registration statements to the SEC for eleven strategy-based crypto ETFs that will list on NYSE Arca and focus on major altcoin protocols across DeFi, Layer-2, privacy, AI, and infrastructure networks. The funds aim to go effective 75 days after filing, use a mix of direct token holdings and European ETPs, and are designed to expand institutional access as new generic listing standards reshape the crypto ETF landscape.

On December 29, 2025, a market update flagged $446 million in weekly outflows even as XRP-linked products drew fresh capital, and on December 30, 2025, YoungHoon Kim called for $3 within 48 hours. XRP trades at $1.85 after 29 straight days of spot ETF inflows totaling $1.15 billion, while Geoffrey Kendrick keeps an $8 target for 2026.

On December 29, seven digital yuan–linked stocks saw net inflows above 100 million yuan, as investors added over $188 million, according to Securities Times. The move follows the PBOC's plan to allow e-CNY wallet interest beginning January 1, 2026, with Lakala leading at 371 million yuan. Top shareholders in related firms now hold 1.89 billion yuan in market value.

Russia's Ministry of Justice has drafted Criminal Code Article 171.6 to punish unregistered crypto mining, targeting operators outside the Federal Tax Service registry created on November 1, 2024. Penalties range up to 5 years of imprisonment and fines reaching 2.5 million rubles for organized schemes, while individuals above 3.5 million rubles in income face fines up to 1.5 million rubles.

Cicely LaMothe has retired from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission after a 24-year career, concluding her role as deputy director of the Division of Corporation Finance. During her tenure, she helped steer seven staff guidance documents on issues such as stablecoins, liquid staking, mining, meme coins, and crypto exchange-traded products, and later faced congressional questions over Tron founder Justin Sun's reverse merger listing on Nasdaq amid broader shifts in SEC crypto enforcement policy.

Over the weekend, Iran’s rial fell to a record 1.42 million per US dollar, and on Monday Central Bank Governor Mohammad Reza Farzin resigned. Protests spread across major cities as shopkeepers staged two days of strikes. Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley framed Bitcoin as protection against monetary failures, posting his remarks on December 29, 2025.

Representative Maxine Waters has asked House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill to hold an oversight hearing with SEC Chairman Paul Atkins, focusing on the agency's recent dismissal or suspension of major crypto enforcement cases. Her letter highlights terminated actions involving Coinbase, Binance, Justin Sun, Kraken, and Ripple, and questions broader rollbacks in investor protections, staff cuts, and the SEC's perceived politicization under the Trump administration.