On December 19, 2025, Cardano's development firm outlined an interchain roadmap to move beyond a single-chain paradigm. The five-year Cardano Vision coordinates 34 research streams across nine areas, with initiatives such as Cardinal—a trust-minimized Bitcoin–Cardano bridge—and partner chains intended to extend capabilities while preserving the network's security model.

On Dec. 17, Coinbase announced a partnership with prediction markets operator Kalshi to let U.S. customers trade event contracts, and on the following Friday it said it had filed lawsuits in states including Connecticut, Michigan and Illinois over related gambling law issues. Ripple CTO David Schwartz then joined an X discussion, clarifying how event contracts are classified as derivatives, while XRPL’s protocol-native lending system targeting institutional credit markets is expected to move into validator voting in late January 2026.

XRP climbed from $1.77 to an intraday high of $1.957, approaching the $2 level while forming a double bottom near the recent low. Trading volume dropped 42% to $2.8 billion, raising doubts about the strength of the move even as optimism around XRP ETFs and Ripple's new partnerships supports sentiment.

By late 2025, Dogecoin was logging its third straight monthly decline, with large holders showing little trading activity for four weeks. DOGE fell 21.69% in November and was down 11.42% so far in December, trading at $0.1294 below its 50-day moving average at $0.138. The token has dropped 64.3% on a one-year basis, even as 8.13 million nonempty wallets remain active on the network.

On Dec. 19, 2025, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong tweeted "I like @Solana," following the company's Dec. 17 systems update. He thanked the Solana team and highlighted the launch of Solana DEX trading via Jupiter inside the Coinbase app, with rollout in the U.S. The update also outlined stocks, prediction markets, and an institutional tokenization platform.

On Dec. 19, 2025, Binance Alpha plans to delist nine tokens, including the FROG memecoin, following a recent review that found they no longer meet its standards. The tokens will be removed from the platform's featuring list at 7:00 a.m. (UTC), while eight spot trading pairs on Binance will be delisted at 3:00 a.m. (UTC). Binance has also rolled out Web3 Loan via Binance Wallet and introduced recurring send options for Binance Pay and crypto withdrawals.

XRP users on crypto exchanges have been cautioned about potential service issues as many XRP Ledger nodes become amendment-blocked following the activation of version 2.6.2 on Dec. 18. Validator Vet explained that problems processing XRP deposits or withdrawals are likely tied to exchanges running outdated XRPL node software. Around the same period, Coinbase reported degraded XRP Ledger performance and outlined a system update on Dec. 17 that added stocks, prediction markets and Solana-based DEX assets, along with a new tokenization platform for institutions.

On December 18, 2025, Ripple's Middle East and Africa managing director Reece Merrick said the difficult phase for crypto is now in the past, reacting to a regulatory shift at the U.S. Federal Reserve. Ripple is also highlighting new XRP Ledger collaborations, an expanded XRP-linked equity strategy by VivoPower, and the first anniversary of its RLUSD stablecoin, which has climbed into the top five USD stablecoins within about a year.

In the last 24 hours, XRP, RLUSD and the XRP Ledger have seen key developments including the launch of Spot-Quoted XRP futures on CME Group and RLUSD going live on its first layer-2 networks. Ripple executive Reece Merrick described XRP as reaching a "convergence point," where technology, markets and regulation are finally aligning, while XRP spot ETFs have logged 30 straight days of inflows above $1 billion.