Standard Chartered has launched a blockchain-based tokenised deposit solution for Ant International enabling real-time transfers in HKD, offshore RMB and USD, techinasia reported on Dec. 18. The bank is deploying the solution on Ant's Whale platform as part of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority's Project Ensemble initiative to advance distributed ledger technology in the region. Ant International, the first client to use the service, gains 24/7 treasury management and liquidity transfers, while both Standard Chartered and Ant International sit on the EnsembleTX group supporting tokenisation use cases in Hong Kong. Standard Chartered has been part of the Project Ensemble architecture community since May 2024, helping to define industry standards and test tokenised application scenarios.

U.S. President Donald Trump stated on December 18 that he would soon announce his nominee for Federal Reserve chair, according to reports from BlockBeats. President Trump indicated that the prospective chair would advocate for significantly lower interest rates. These remarks clearly signal President Trump's preference for a nominee who champions substantial rate reductions within the central bank.

India's Competition Commission cleared Coinbase on Dec. 18 to acquire a minority stake in local crypto platform CoinDCX, BlockBeats reports. The approval follows an investment plan announced by Coinbase in October, when CoinDCX was valued at about $2.4 billion post-money with annual revenue of roughly $141 million. Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal said the move will deepen the firms' long-term partnership. The exact stake size has not been disclosed, and Coinbase has denied earlier reports of a full $1 billion acquisition.

The Federal Reserve on December 18 withdrew a restrictive 2023 policy that imposed a "presumption of strong disfavor" on state member banks engaging in crypto activities, replacing it with a more flexible framework, BlockBeats reports. Under the new policy, insured state member banks remain subject to strict limits under Section 24 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, while uninsured state member banks can now seek Fed approval case-by-case for certain previously prohibited activities. The Fed said financial markets and supervisors' understanding of innovative products have evolved since 2023, when rules largely prevented banks from holding crypto assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum on balance sheets or issuing stablecoins. The shift follows the Fed's earlier termination of a special crypto bank supervisory program this year and joint digital asset custody guidance released with the OCC and FDIC.

Brazil’s main stock exchange, B3, plans to launch its own tokenization platform and a stablecoin, according to a report by CoinDesk. The initiative follows recent regulatory approvals for crypto assets in Brazil and is intended to integrate blockchain technology into traditional securities trading, CoinDesk reported.

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said on Dec. 17 that the U.S. labor market is very weak and current employment growth unsatisfactory, adding that Fed rate cuts would help the job market, BlockBeats reports. He noted inflation remains above the central bank's target but should decline over the coming months, and said inflation expectations are anchored.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) has begun a limited pilot of tokenized U.S. Treasuries on the Canton Network following approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, The Block reported. According to the report, the initiative follows DTCC’s previous blockchain-based experiments for post-trade settlement and is part of its ongoing exploration of distributed ledger technology in Treasury markets.

More than 250 U.S. listed companies have begun holding cryptocurrencies on their balance sheets this year as President Donald Trump publicly embraces digital assets, the New York Times reports. Trump has called himself the "first crypto president," rolled back earlier strict oversight after taking office, supported pro-crypto legislation, and launched a memecoin named TRUMP. These moves have pushed the once-marginal crypto industry into the core of the U.S. financial system, with some newly listed firms lacking mature businesses and instead focusing on accumulating Bitcoin and other tokens. Analysts quoted in the report said Trump's policies are channeling crypto-related risk into the stock market, increasing investors' exposure to volatility as corporate structures become more crypto-focused.