Stablecoin

On 12 December 2025, a cross‑party group of UK lawmakers wrote to Chancellor Rachel Reeves, urging a rethink of the Bank of England's systemic stablecoin plans. They argue proposed holding caps of £20,000 per user and roughly £10 million for most businesses, plus reserve rules, would push innovation abroad.

Ripple Payments has entered a partnership with Swiss crypto bank Amina to connect its fiat-to-stablecoin payment infrastructure to the FINMA-regulated lender. The collaboration, which follows Amina's integration of Ripple USD (RLUSD) in July, aims to make cross-border stablecoin transactions faster and cheaper while strengthening Ripple's presence in Europe.

According to the article, the US Federal Reserve delivered a 25 BPS rate cut on Wednesday, its third consecutive reduction in 2025, while Bitcoin defended the $90,000 area. BTC hit $94,500 on Tuesday, slipped to $89,500 after the decision, then rebounded above $92,000. ZEC extended its Q4 advance, rising more than 18% to $460 for the week.

Phantom has introduced Phantom Prediction Markets inside its wallet, integrating Kalshi so users can trade real-world event contracts using SOL or the CASH stablecoin without leaving the app. The feature delivers tokenized claims on Kalshi’s CFTC-regulated markets, with real-time odds, pricing, and settlement updates presented directly in the interface. Kalshi’s recent surge in monthly activity and new institutional funding, alongside Phantom’s large Solana user base, positions the partnership as a key onchain access point for prediction markets.

Swiss-based AMINA Bank adopted Ripple Payments, becoming the first European bank to go live with the system on December 12, 2025. According to Ripple, the integration enables near real-time cross-border transfers over fiat and blockchain rails and supports multi-currency payouts and RLUSD flows within a regulated framework. Ripple says the network already processes more than $95 billion.

On 12 December 2025, Hex Trust announced a wrapped version of XRP designed to operate across multiple blockchains, initially launching on Solana. The new wXRP token is fully backed by native XRP held in regulated, audited custody and connects via LayerZero's OFT standard to support cross-chain DeFi use cases. The rollout begins with more than $100 million in total value locked, creating new liquidity routes and trading pairs with Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin as the XRP Ledger upgrades to v3.0.0.

DAS Research outlines Ripple's strategy to make XRP core payments infrastructure, highlighting Q2 2025 ODL volumes of $1.3 billion and growing institutional adoption. The report notes regulatory milestones in 2025 and surging on-chain activity since Q3 2024, as Ripple integrates RLUSD and expands settlement corridors.

In a report released this week, Global Ledger said sanctioned exchange Garantex rebuilt an on‑chain payout system, with linked Bitcoin and Ethereum wallets holding more than $34 million and at least $25 million already disbursed. Funds flow through Tornado Cash and cross‑chain bridges, while A7A5, launched in early 2025, has reportedly supported over $87 billion in volume.

Do Kwon received a 15-year U.S. federal sentence for deceiving investors during TerraUSD's collapse. He pleaded guilty to two counts, while prosecutors sought at least 12 years and the defense asked for no more than five. He also agreed to an $80 million SEC civil penalty and a ban on crypto-related activities.

Michael Selig, Donald Trump's nominee to lead the CFTC, faces a full Senate confirmation following a 12–11 party-line committee approval last month. The decision comes after the CFTC's Dec 4 move to permit spot crypto trading on futures exchanges and a Dec 8 pilot allowing Bitcoin, Ether, and USDC as derivatives collateral.