On December 18, 2025, Artemis Analytics data showed stablecoin monthly transactions reached $111.7 billion, surpassing Visa at $43.3 billion and PayPal at $4.6 billion. Artemis also reported adjusted stablecoin volume above $3.3 trillion, up 64.1% month over month, while Delphi Digital estimated overall supply around $308 billion with USDT at 60.8% and USDC at 25.4%.

On December 17, 2025, CryptoQuant highlighted a sustained decline in Ethereum's Exchange Supply Ratio, and on December 18, 2025 the metric stood near 0.137, the lowest since 2016. Binance's ESR hovered around 0.032–0.0325, while nearly 36 million ETH has been staked and Layer 2 usage has shifted more supply toward DEXs. Institutional reserves and ETFs collectively hold over 12.9 million ETH.

On December 18 2025, the U.S. SEC's Division of Trading and Markets issued guidance on how broker-dealers can satisfy Rule 15c3-3's physical possession provisions when holding crypto asset securities. The staff outlined five specific conditions under which they would not object to treating physical custody as compliant, focusing on blockchain access, technical due diligence, and private key security. Commissioner Hester M. Peirce welcomed the additional clarity and urged further work on amending Rule 15c3-3 to better address crypto custody.

On December 17, 2025, Norges Bank Investment Management said it will support five Metaplanet management proposals ahead of the company’s December 22 extraordinary general meeting. Metaplanet stock rose more than 1.51% to $2.60 (404 JPY) after the announcement, and NBIM noted it will exercise its voting rights; the fund held 0.3% of the firm as of June 30, 2025.

On December 17, 2025, crypto sentiment fell into "Fear" at 25, up from 22 the prior day, according to Santiment. On-chain data shows BTC pulled back to $86,879.07 amid a divergence between weakening sentiment and relatively steady prices. Monday also saw fund outflows, including $46 million from BSOL and $257.7 million from Bitcoin-focused products.

On-chain data indicates Bitcoin is on track for its fourth consecutive annual decline. A sharp selloff during Monday’s New York session pushed the price down 3.7%, extending the year-to-date slide to 7%. Analysts at Apollo Crypto and STS Digital highlight weak follow-through, ETF outflows, and a prolonged consolidation between $70,000 and $100,000.

On December 17, Hyper Foundation outlined a plan for validators to vote on legally recognizing Assistance Fund HYPE tokens as permanently burned and excluded from circulating and total supply. The fund’s balance is estimated at about 37 million HYPE, held in a system address with no private key, and the vote will use a stake-weighted process with validator signaling due by December 21 and delegation running through December 24. This governance push follows an earlier, unsuccessful September proposal to cut approved HYPE supply by more than 45% and comes as the token trades around $26.98 with notable monthly and weekly declines.

On December 17, 2025, Securitize announced plans to issue real, regulated shares directly on-chain, with rollout targeted for Q1 2026. The tokens will place buyers on issuers' cap tables and confer proxy voting and dividend rights, and trading will occur via Web3 swap-style flows through its SEC-registered broker-dealer and ATS.

The Republic of the Marshall Islands executed the first on-chain universal basic income payout using USDM1, a dollar-backed sovereign bond, on the Stellar blockchain. The ENRA program delivers instant digital transfers to residents on remote atolls, replacing physical cash deliveries. The rollout was updated on December 17, 2025.