On December 20, a phishing incident resulted in the theft of $50 million in USDT, and the affected address is now pushing for legal action and asset recovery. The victim, working with law enforcement and on-chain researchers, has offered the attacker a $1 million white hat bounty in exchange for returning 98% of the stolen funds. The case underscores persistent security gaps in crypto markets and has drawn attention to stablecoin risks and industry protection standards.

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.

Bybit is set to re-enter the UK market on December 19 through a partnership with London-regulated exchange Archax, enabling spot trading across 100 cryptocurrency pairs. The relaunch focuses on aligning with UK financial promotion rules, providing transparent access and products tailored to local users. Bitcoin's market value stands at $1.76 trillion with a price of $88,153.56 and 24-hour trading volume of $55.17 billion amid this move.

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said the digital euro's preparatory phase is complete. The ECB is urging EU institutions to pass legislation by 2026, with a pilot possibly starting in 2027 and a potential launch in 2029. The initiative is designed to complement cash and strengthen resilience in European payments.

On December 18, Intuit said it partnered with Circle to enable USDC payments across TurboTax and QuickBooks. The collaboration aims to deliver faster, lower‑cost settlement for users, but a launch timeline and user‑flow specifics were not disclosed. The news was met with a positive market reaction.

On December 18, Polygon Foundation reported a disruption on the Polygon PoS network that affected certain RPC nodes but did not stop block production. The team attributed the issue to a faulty validator proposal, deployed patches for node operators, and confirmed that operational RPC nodes continued to process transactions. Following the incident, the POL token fell about 4%, while separate market data showed it trading at $0.11 with a market cap of $1.13 billion and deeper declines over the past 24 hours and 90 days.

On December 17, Ripple and AMINA Bank unveiled a partnership to integrate Ripple Payments for 24/7 real-time cross-border settlement, with AMINA described as the first European bank to adopt the service. The collaboration seeks to reduce correspondent-banking friction and improve stablecoin settlement capabilities for crypto-native enterprises.

Binance co-founder He Yi has introduced a reward program offering up to $5 million for credible evidence of fraud or insider trading involving listing agents. The initiative is designed to deter fake intermediaries, reinforce that Binance does not charge listing application fees, and respond to market concerns highlighted by the sharp decline in Ronin's token price. Ronin has seen a 28% drop in 24 hours and a 36.59% fall over 30 days, with its market cap at $113 million and price at $0.16 as of December 17, 2025.

On December 15, Anatoly Aksakov said Russia will not recognize cryptocurrencies as legal tender, limiting them to investment use. The State Duma's stance aligns with the central bank's opposition to crypto payments and reinforces ruble-only settlement rules. Earlier Finance Ministry ideas on exchange oversight and taxation signal differing views within government.