After a year-long push to cut zkEVM proving latency, block proofs on Ethereum fell from around 16 minutes to 16 seconds with a 45-fold cost reduction, and most mainnet blocks now verify in under 10 seconds. On Dec. 18, the Ethereum Foundation announced that real-time proving goals have been met and unveiled a 2026 roadmap that prioritizes 128-bit provable security, explicit proof-size caps, and formal verification of recursion architectures. The new milestones require all zkEVM teams to adopt EF’s soundcalc tool, reach at least 100-bit provable security by May 2026, and hit full 128-bit security with sub-300 kilobyte proofs by the end of 2026.

On December 20, 2025, a crypto investor mistakenly sent $50 million in USDT to a poisoned address. Within 30 minutes, the funds were swapped to DAI and then 16,690 ETH, with 16,680 ETH routed through Tornado Cash; on-chain timestamps show a 0.005 USDT test and the large transfer minutes apart.

Fidelity's Jurrien Timmer points to a possible Bitcoin floor around $65,000 in 2026, while BTC trades near $88,100 and key EMAs signal short‑term pressure. Metaplanet's ADRs begin US trading on December 19, 2025 with Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas as depositary, and MSCI's index exclusion proposal for firms holding over 50% digital assets could be decided by January 15.

VanEck has filed another amended registration for an Avalanche-linked exchange-traded fund in the United States, detailing a structure that would allow staking of a substantial share of its AVAX holdings. The proposed ETF, which aims to list on Nasdaq under the ticker VAVX, would combine spot exposure to AVAX with on-chain rewards managed by Coinbase Crypto Services and charge a 0.30% management fee. The multiple amendments highlight ongoing regulatory discussions and could set a precedent for staking-enabled ETFs tied to other proof-of-stake networks if approved.

A crypto user mistakenly sent 49,999,950 USDT to a look‑alike address, an incident attributed to address poisoning, according to SlowMist. The funds were rapidly moved into ETH, split across wallets, and partly routed via Tornado Cash; on December 20, 2025, Cos shared the involved addresses. The wallet had been active about two years with frequent USDT transfers.

On December 20, 2025, Bank of Russia governor Elvira Nabiullina said cryptocurrency mining is among the factors supporting the ruble’s strength. She noted the sector’s gray-market share makes its impact hard to measure. The ruble was a little over 80 per U.S. dollar, after rising above 110 in January and touching around 76 earlier in December.

Bitcoin is trading sideways as $415 million in options are scheduled to expire over the next seven days, with half of that open interest due on 26 December. If buyers can continue to defend the $85k–$88k support band through the expiry window, analysts expect conditions for a FOMO-driven breakout and a bullish base heading into 2026.

On December 20, 2025, on-chain analyst Ali Martinez cautioned that XRP's support weakens below $1.77, raising the odds of a corrective move toward $0.79. His view, based on Glassnode's URPD distribution, highlights thin realized volume under $1.77, with intermediate levels at $1.41, $1.27, and $1.01 seen as fragile. At press time, XRP traded at $1.95, up 4.5% day-on-day but down over 4% week-on-week.