Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino rejected S&P Global's downgrade of USDT's dollar-peg rating to "weak" on November 26, calling the assessment outdated and incomplete. Ardoino said the agency overlooked Tether's $7 billion excess equity, $184.5 billion in reserves, and $500 million monthly Treasury income. S&P cited increasing allocations to high-risk assets including Bitcoin, precious metals, corporate bonds, and secured loans as the basis for lowering the rating from level 4 to level 5.

European digital asset manager CoinShares has withdrawn its U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission registration applications for spot cryptocurrency ETFs covering XRP, Solana, and Litecoin. The company submitted Form RW withdrawal requests on November 28, 2024, as it prepares for a public listing through a $1.2 billion SPAC merger with Nasdaq-listed Vine Hill Capital. CoinShares, which oversees approximately $10 billion in digital assets, cited limited differentiation opportunities in single-asset cryptocurrency ETF offerings given market concentration among major financial institutions including BlackRock, Fidelity, and Grayscale.

Cryptocurrency platforms and users lost approximately $127 million to security incidents in November, blockchain security firm CertiK reported. Total compromised funds exceeded $172 million before recovery efforts retrieved roughly $45 million in frozen or reclaimed assets. Code vulnerabilities drove most losses, contributing over $130 million to the monthly total.

Decentralized exchanges recorded $419.76 billion in trading volume during October 2025, data show. DEXs captured 21.2% of total spot trading as of November 2025, up from 6.0% in January 2021. The milestone occurred despite broader market corrections affecting the cryptocurrency sector.

Several altcoins recorded significant price movements this week. AAVE climbed 13.5% as whale wallets accumulated $59.93 million in tokens since October, data show. Kaspa jumped 47.4% after breaking key resistance levels, while Ethena gained 22.85% ahead of a December 2 token unlock valued at $26.87 million. Zcash fell 18.6% and Memecore declined 35%.

South Korean exchange Upbit will restore deposit and withdrawal services on December 1, 2025, at 1 PM KST following a November 27 security breach that resulted in $36.8 million in losses. The platform will absorb all losses from its own reserves, ensuring no impact to customer funds. Authorities suspect the Lazarus Group orchestrated the attack using compromised administrator credentials.

Former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes has raised questions about Tether's balance sheet strategy, suggesting the stablecoin issuer is positioning for Federal Reserve rate cuts through substantial hard asset purchases. Hayes noted Tether holds approximately $13 billion in gold and $10 billion in Bitcoin. He warned that a 30% decline in these combined holdings could theoretically eliminate the firm's equity buffer, raising solvency concerns under such a scenario.

Chainalysis has rejected Binance's analysis claiming illicit trading volume at seven major crypto exchanges ranged between 0.018% and 0.023%. The blockchain analytics firm stated Binance conducted the analysis internally using select Chainalysis data while excluding key crime categories including ransomware and stolen funds. The dispute emerges as Binance continues managing consequences from its $4.3 billion U.S. penalty in 2023.