Data compiled by Dune and Keyrock shows that Polymarket's average user retention exceeds that of more than 85% of 275 crypto projects, including DeFi platforms, wallets and trading apps. In December, major firms such as Coinbase, Gemini, Phantom and Bitnomial moved into prediction markets, aiming to leverage event-driven engagement tied to elections, sports and macroeconomic data.

Dune Analytics data shows Polymarket's open interest has risen to about $326 million in 2025, representing a 170% increase since the start of the year and marking a new annual high. Activity is concentrated in sports, politics, and crypto markets, while a previous $385 million peak in political open interest during the 2024 U.S. election underscores the platform's sensitivity to major events.

On December 17, 2025, security firm PeckShield reported an exploit against Yearn Finance V1's legacy TUSD vault, with losses of about $300,000. The attacker swapped the proceeds for 103 ETH held at address 0x0F21…4066 and allegedly used flash loans and price distortions on a misconfigured vault. A researcher linked the method to a similar 2023 Yearn vulnerability.

On December 17, 2025 in Tortola, BVI, Space announced a public sale for its native $SPACE token on Solana, starting 6:00 PM UTC with variable distribution and clear-price settlement. The team targets $2.5M, sets a floor FDV of $50M and a $99M ceiling, accepts USDC, USDT, and SOL, and allocates 50% of platform revenue to buyback-and-burn.

November NFP showed 64,000 jobs added, while unemployment climbed to 4.6%, the highest since September 2021. The series also recorded 105,000 losses in October and a 33,000 downward revision for August–September. On December 16, Joseph Wang and Anna Wong noted labor softness and disinflation that could give the Fed scope to cut rates.

Aave stated on December 16 that the SEC had closed its four-year investigation, referencing a letter the team received in mid-August. Founder Stani Kulechov said the process drained resources and declared "DeFi will win." Following the update, AAVE fell about 4% to $183, while Binance Altcoin Netflow pointed to exchange outflows and possible accumulation below $200.

On December 17, 2025, Whale Alert tracked a 3,000 BTC transfer worth $260,387,071 into Binance's "15KX2" deposit address. Arkham tied the sending wallets to Matrixport, and two Matrixport-linked wallets moved about 4,000 BTC ($347.56 million) to Binance the same day. Bitcoin hovered near $86,600, with no confirmed spot selling visible in the order book.

HashKey, described as Hong Kong’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, began trading on the HKEX main board on Wednesday after completing a $206 million IPO. The deal was sharply oversubscribed across retail and international tranches, but the first trading session saw the share price briefly rise before slipping below the IPO level. The offering, which sold 240 million shares and attracted nine cornerstone investors, is seen as part of a broader lineup of crypto firms targeting public listings in 2025.