On Jan. 7, the full developer team at Electric Coin Company, which leads work on the Zcash protocol, resigned following a conflict with its parent nonprofit board and said it will launch a new firm and wallet. U.S. spot XRP ETFs recorded their first daily net outflows on Wednesday, with $47.3 million leaving 21Shares' TOXR and contributing to a 5% XRP price drop to about $2.13, while Bitcoin, Ethereum, prediction markets, stablecoins, and onchain crime trends also moved markets.

Ripple said it has no plans to pursue an IPO, with President Monica Long highlighting the company's ability to self‑fund growth. Flare listed FXRP on Hyperliquid on Wednesday, introducing the first spot XRP market on the DEX. The digest also includes $243 million in U.S. spot bitcoin ETF redemptions on Tuesday and a new Morgan Stanley filing for a spot Ethereum ETF.

On Dec. 16, K33 reported that prolonged selling by long‑term bitcoin holders is close to saturation after roughly 20% of supply was reactivated over two years. The firm said about 1.6 million BTC ($138 billion) has moved since 2024 and expects the two‑year supply to recover, with selling easing in 2026.

According to YouGov research commissioned by the FCA, the share of UK adults holding crypto dropped to 8% in 2025 from 12% in 2024, while awareness held at 91%. Despite fewer holders, average balances rose, with portfolios of £1,001–£5,000 reaching 21% and £5,001–£10,000 climbing to 11%.

Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan, in a note to clients late Monday, said bitcoin could break its four-year cycle and reach new all-time highs in 2026. He expects lower volatility and weaker correlation with equities, noting bitcoin was less volatile than Nvidia stock throughout 2025. According to The Block, bitcoin is down over 30% from its Oct. 6 peak near $126,000.

The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has conditionally approved national trust bank charters for Ripple, Circle, BitGo, Fidelity Digital Assets and Paxos, positioning them closer to operating as federally regulated banks. Hex Trust aims to launch and custody a 1:1-backed wrapped XRP token with over $100 million in initial total value locked to extend XRP's reach in DeFi and across multiple chains. YouTube is also enabling U.S. creators to accept payouts in PayPal's PYUSD, while Aave governance debates fee flows tied to a CoW Swap-powered interface and solo bitcoin miners record unusually lucky block wins.

On Thursday, Ark Invest purchased 124,427 Robinhood shares worth about $15.4 million across its ARKK and ARKW funds as the stock fell 9.1%. The firm also added 13,700 shares of its ARKB bitcoin ETF, roughly $417,000, and earlier on Dec. 2 bought $7.5 million of Coinbase for ARKK.

On Wednesday, the compromised WeChat account of Binance co-CEO Yi He was used to promote a BNB Chain memecoin called Mubarakah. The attacker allegedly created two new wallets, spent 19,479 USDT to buy 21.16 million tokens, and made roughly $55,000 in profit after an 800% price spike and subsequent sell-off, according to onchain analyst Lookonchain. Yi He later said the account had been recovered and warned users to stay alert to scam attempts.

Crypto investment products worldwide took in $716 million of net inflows last week, the second straight week of positive flows alongside outflows from short ETPs, according to CoinShares. The gains were driven by strong regional inflows in the U.S., Germany, and Canada and coincided with rising BTC and ETH prices and higher sector assets under management, although those assets remain below their all-time peak.