Federal Reserve governor Chris Waller said that after his Oval Office interview with President Donald Trump for the Fed chair role, he walked out convinced he would not be selected. Trump is continuing to meet other candidates, including Rick Rieder, Kevin Hassett and Kevin Warsh, while Waller has publicly argued rates could be cut by 50–100 basis points amid weakening job growth. Trump has stated he wants a chair who believes in much lower interest rates and is willing to engage with him directly on economic policy.

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.

On Friday, Bitcoin rebounded toward $88,279 after a CPI-driven swing, while Ethereum rose to $2,938 and Shiba Inu (SHIB) advanced 5% to about $0.00000739. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse publicly objected to Coinbase describing XRPL issues as a "Ripple Network" incident, just as a key fixDirectoryLimit amendment was activated on the XRP Ledger. On-chain data also showed a wallet many link to an early Bitcoin holder transferring 5,152 BTC, valued near $444.73 million, to Binance, raising questions about potential weekend selling pressure.

On December 19, 2025, the crypto market rose 1.6% to a $3.05 trillion capitalization, with total trading volume at $164 billion. Ninety of the top 100 assets advanced, and all top 10 coins gained; BTC was 1.4% higher around $87,906 while ETH climbed 4.1% to $2,953.

Arthur Hayes has moved 508.647 ETH, valued at about 1.50 million US dollars, to Galaxy Digital, a transaction tracked by LookIntoChain. At the same time, his family office Maelstrom is buying high-quality altcoins during market pullbacks, while he maintains a prediction that Bitcoin could eventually reach 1,000,000 US dollars. Ethereum's recent price performance and trading metrics further frame market reactions to Hayes' latest moves.

As of December 19, 2025, total crypto market capitalization fell to $2.93 trillion, an eight‑month low that erased 2025 gains. Fear gauges hit "extreme" levels, with Bitcoin swinging between $90,200 and $84,800 and some analysts flagging possible downside toward $10,000.

On 19 Dec 2025, Intercontinental Exchange, owner of the New York Stock Exchange, was reported to be in talks to acquire a stake in crypto payments firm MoonPay at a valuation near $5 billion. This prospective deal would follow ICE's earlier backing of Bakkt and a $2 billion investment in Polymarket, expanding its reach from trading venues into consumer and institutional payment flows. MoonPay, last valued at $3.4 billion in a 2021 Series A, has also secured a limited purpose trust charter in New York, giving institutions a regulated option for crypto custody and OTC trading.

On December 19, $3.18B in BTC and ETH options expired on Deribit, with BTC notional around $2.7B and max pain near $88,000. Positioning showed heavier puts below $91,000 and notable liquidity at $85,000. Another roughly $23B of options are scheduled to expire on December 26, as open interest remains subdued near $39B in Q4.