As of December 20, 2025, new Bitcoin whales account for nearly 50% of the asset's realized cap, up from 22% before this year. Corporate treasuries span 151 firms holding over 1 million BTC, and U.S. spot ETFs have recorded year‑to‑date inflows above $22 billion, highlighting rising institutional demand and firmer price bases.

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.

The Eigen Foundation has proposed ELIP-12, an incentive overhaul that would increase rewards for active restakers and fee-paying AVSs on the EigenLayer network. A new Incentives Committee would manage EIGEN emissions, redirect fees from EigenCloud services, and discourage idle stakes. Weekly EIGEN minting levels would be set by governance but could only be changed with Protocol Council approval.

On December 20, 2025, the Museum of Modern Art added eight CryptoPunks to its permanent collection, recognizing the series' significance in digital and cultural history. According to CryptoPunks, the gift was facilitated by donors including Mara Calderon and ArtOnBlockchain, with additional contributions from collectors, and the collection continues to show steady market activity.

On December 20, 2025, BitMex co-founder Arthur Hayes argued that altcoin season is continuous and that many traders overlook the true winners. He cited Hyperliquid's move from $2–$3 to $60 and Solana's rebound from about $7 in 2022 to nearly $300 early this year. The Altcoin Season Index stood at 35, indicating conditions not yet consistent with an altcoin season.

On December 19, 2025, the U.S. SEC filed proposed final consent judgments in the Southern District of New York against Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang, and Nishad Singh. The trio consented, without admitting or denying, to permanent antifraud injunctions under Section 17(a), Section 10(b), and Rule 10b-5, plus five-year conduct-based limits and multi-year officer/director bans tied to alleged misuse of FTX customer funds.

On December 19, 2025, a solo miner using NiceHash secured Bitcoin block #928,351 with less than $100 of rented hashpower, earning a 3.152 BTC reward valued at roughly $271,000. Recent on-chain data highlight several rare solo-mining block wins, even as JPMorgan reports four consecutive months of declining Bitcoin mining profitability amid a rising global hash rate.

On December 19, 2025, the U.S. Senate confirmed Michael Selig as Chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, replacing Acting Chair Caroline Pham, and approved Travis Hill as Chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The chamber backed a broader slate of nominees in a 53-43 vote, placing Selig at the center of the CFTC's ongoing crypto rulemaking and allowing Hill to extend his existing digital-asset regulatory approach at the FDIC.

PayPal said its PYUSD stablecoin will support USD.AI in extending credit and financing to AI companies, with loans disbursed in PYUSD for GPUs and data center buildouts. The partners plan a one‑year 4.5% rate on up to $1 billion in deposits starting early January as a customer incentive. The initiative accompanies broader PYUSD adoption and PayPal’s late‑October payments integration with OpenAI.