On Friday, the U.S. SEC said it obtained final consent judgments against Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang, and Nishad Singh tied to FTX's misuse of funds from 2019 to 2022. Ellison consented to a 10-year officer-and-director bar, Wang and Singh to eight-year bars; all three also face five-year conduct-based injunctions.

In its latest annual outlook, Galaxy Research forecast that dollar-pegged stablecoins could process more transaction volume in 2026 than the US Automated Clearing House system, citing current growth trends and pending regulation. The report also noted that stablecoin supply has been expanding at a 30%–40% compound annual rate and already handles volumes exceeding major card networks while approaching half of ACH activity. Galaxy's analysts further pointed to new offerings from firms such as Western Union, Sony Bank and SoFi as evidence of expanding stablecoin adoption.

In a statement on December 19, 2025, European Central Bank executive board member Piero Cipollone said the ECB will enable distributed ledger technology transactions to settle in central bank money starting in 2026. The central bank has largely completed technical work on a potential digital euro and moved into a readiness phase, while political debate intensifies over privacy safeguards and legislative approval. Lawmakers in the EU are now negotiating the legal framework amid concerns that wider anti-money laundering and data retention rules could challenge promised privacy protections.

Coinbase, in a 2026 outlook released this week, said a provision of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed in July 2025 will limit deductions for gambling losses starting in 2026. The exchange argued prediction markets could be a more tax‑advantageous alternative, and it has partnered with Kalshi while suing Michigan, Illinois, and Connecticut over CFTC jurisdiction.

On December 19, 2025, SWIFT detailed progress on integrating a blockchain-based ledger into its global payment network. The effort involves collaboration with more than 30 banks and aims to enable real-time, 24/7 cross-border payments with transaction validation and smart-contract features for tokenized assets. Thierry Chilosi cited prototype work with Consensys and consultations on settlement models.

On Friday, December 19, Moca Network launched MocaPortfolio, a platform granting its community access to token allocations from projects in the Animoca Brands ecosystem. The first live allocation features Magic Eden's ME token, with 2,195,000 ME available to eligible MOCA stakers. MocaPortfolio has set aside $20 million worth of tokens from Animoca Brands portfolio projects, with further token offerings planned over time.

Malaysia's RMJDT, a ringgit-pegged "royal" stablecoin on the Zetrix blockchain, is positioned for payments and cross-border trade settlement and backed by ringgit cash and short-term government bonds. The project includes a 500 million Malaysian ringgit Zetrix-token treasury with plans to reach 1 billion ringgit to stabilize network costs and validator support, reflecting a broader Asian push toward licensed stablecoin issuance and regulated onchain settlement in local currencies.

EchoSync has introduced a copy trading dashboard on decentralized perpetual exchange Aster, linked to its Human vs AI trading competition running from December 9 to 23, 2025. Human traders currently lead the rankings with higher realized profits but larger drawdowns, while AI models show smaller losses and more consistent capital preservation. Aster has set a $200,000 prize pool with conditions favoring human winners and is adding USD1 trading pairs as its ASTER token trades 71% below its September peak.