Poland’s Sejm has passed the Crypto-Asset Market Act for a second time, sending unchanged legislation previously vetoed by President Karol Nawrocki back into the parliamentary process and on to the Senate. The bill would align Poland with the EU’s MiCA rules, place crypto firms under KNF supervision, and introduce licensing, fines up to 10 million zlotys, and possible prison terms, which critics warn could make it one of the bloc’s most restrictive regimes.

Ontology completed a mainnet upgrade on December 19th, reducing ONG's maximum and total supply from 1 billion to 800 million after a community vote concluded on October 31, 2025. The update permanently burns 200 million ONG, extends the release period to 19 years, and maintains a 1 ONG-per-second emission; Binance suspended transactions during the upgrade.

On Friday, the U.S. SEC said it obtained final consent judgments against Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang, and Nishad Singh tied to FTX's misuse of funds from 2019 to 2022. Ellison consented to a 10-year officer-and-director bar, Wang and Singh to eight-year bars; all three also face five-year conduct-based injunctions.

Solana price has been under heavy pressure, with the chart printing three consecutive months of red candles and a year-on-year drop of about 40%. With 11 days remaining in 2025, SOL is still on track to overtake Ethereum in annual revenue for the first time, but trading metrics have deteriorated sharply. Active Solana wallets have fallen from 4.8 million in January to 624,000, while the price trades in a $144–$120 range where a break below support could open the door to $100.

On Dec. 18, the Bank of Japan raised its benchmark interest rate to 0.75%, the highest level since 1995, marking a clear departure from its long-running ultra-loose policy. Bitcoin traded near $87,800 after the move, but analysts warned that a sustained tightening path in Japan, combined with possible U.S. rate cuts, could squeeze yen-funded leverage and dampen demand for risk assets, including crypto. Market data also indicated U.S. investors sold into the news, while some observers argued that Japan’s negative real rates and potential balance-sheet dynamics could still support Bitcoin over the longer term.

In its latest annual outlook, Galaxy Research forecast that dollar-pegged stablecoins could process more transaction volume in 2026 than the US Automated Clearing House system, citing current growth trends and pending regulation. The report also noted that stablecoin supply has been expanding at a 30%–40% compound annual rate and already handles volumes exceeding major card networks while approaching half of ACH activity. Galaxy's analysts further pointed to new offerings from firms such as Western Union, Sony Bank and SoFi as evidence of expanding stablecoin adoption.

In a statement on December 19, 2025, European Central Bank executive board member Piero Cipollone said the ECB will enable distributed ledger technology transactions to settle in central bank money starting in 2026. The central bank has largely completed technical work on a potential digital euro and moved into a readiness phase, while political debate intensifies over privacy safeguards and legislative approval. Lawmakers in the EU are now negotiating the legal framework amid concerns that wider anti-money laundering and data retention rules could challenge promised privacy protections.

U.S. crypto oversight entered a new phase this week as President Donald Trump signaled openness to reviewing the Samourai Wallet conviction and the Senate confirmed Mike Selig to lead the CFTC. At the same time, regulators including the SEC and Federal Reserve pulled back from earlier restrictive policies, while Congress advanced targeted anti-scam legislation. Together these moves point to a shift away from enforcement-heavy strategies toward clearer rules and a more focused consumer protection approach.