Stablecoin

In Q4 2025, Tether added 8,888.8888888 BTC to its reserves, a purchase valued at about $779 million and confirmed by CEO Paolo Ardoino. The move lifted the stablecoin issuer's total Bitcoin holdings to more than 96,000 BTC, worth roughly $8.46 billion, and continued its long-running "8888" accumulation pattern amid a weak market.

The UK and 47 countries began mandatory crypto transaction reporting under OECD’s Cryptoasset Reporting Framework, requiring exchanges to capture full records and tax residency data for HMRC. Automatic information exchanges with participating tax authorities are slated to start in 2027, while 75 jurisdictions have committed to adopt the rules, with the US implementing in 2028.

In Q4 2025, Tether bought $876 million in bitcoin, lifting its stash to 96,185 BTC and making it the fifth‑largest holder. It moved 961 BTC on November 7 and 8,888.8 BTC on January 1, and now sits on an unrealized gain as prices hover around $88,700.

On December 31, 2025, a16z's crypto team published research outlining three forces it expects to shape 2026: stablecoins, real‑world asset tokenization and privacy infrastructure, citing an estimated $46 trillion in stablecoin transactions last year. The report highlights improved fiat ramps, onchain debt origination, perpetual futures, and privacy as strategic priorities across interoperable networks.

Tether acquired 8,888 BTC on New Year's Eve, lifting its disclosed Bitcoin holdings above 96,000, according to CEO Paolo Ardoino. BitInfoCharts data shows the company's Bitcoin address is now the fifth-largest, behind Binance, Robinhood and Bitfinex. The purchase fits Tether's pattern of allocating up to 15% of quarterly earnings to Bitcoin.

On 1 January 2026, the Reserve Bank of India used its latest financial stability report to argue that central bank digital currencies should form the backbone of future digital payments instead of private stablecoins. The central bank warned that stablecoins, as liabilities of private issuers, could create new channels of financial instability during periods of stress, while CBDCs can offer instant, low-cost, programmable settlement backed by sovereign money. India's authorities remain cautious on crypto overall, even as institutions in the U.S., Europe, and parts of Asia increasingly experiment with stablecoins for faster transfers.

On December 31, 2025, Coinbase's head of investment research David Duong posted a year-end outlook on X saying ETFs, stablecoins, and tokenization will mutually reinforce and speed crypto adoption in 2026. He highlighted progress on the U.S. GENIUS Act and Europe’s MiCA, and cited adoption data ranging from 10.3% in Q1 2023 to 9.9% in Q1 2025.

In 2025, crypto saw notable reversals: presidential pardons for Ross Ulbricht and Binance's CZ, a privacy-coin resurgence, and Ripple's lawsuit conclusion. Monero rose above $400 and Zcash surged 817% according to CoinGecko, while Ripple finalized a $50 million settlement and XRP set a new all‑time high. These shifts frame expectations for 2026 around adoption and regulation.

Ethereum has reached an all-time high of 8.7 million smart contract deployments in a single quarter, overtaking the previous peak of about 6 million in Q2 2021. This rebound in developer activity, driven by rollups, Layer 2 networks, RWAs, stablecoins, and wallet infrastructure, follows a prolonged decline through 2024 and much of 2025, while ETH's price remains below its yearly highs. At the same time, on-chain usage has climbed to new records with about 2.2 million daily transactions and average fees near $0.17.

On December 31 2025, the Reserve Bank of India used its Financial Stability Report to warn that risks from stablecoins to macrofinancial stability exceed their benefits and to strongly advocate for central bank digital currencies instead. India has been piloting its own digital rupee since December 2022, while maintaining strict tax rules on crypto and refusing to recognize private coins as legal tender. The report also outlined expectations for lower gross bad loans in banks by March 2027 and highlighted rising stress among non-banking financial companies under various stress-test scenarios.