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As the year winds down, altcoins continue to drift lower while Bitcoin hovers in a broad $80K–$100K range. Meanwhile, Lighter DEX rolls out its LIT token with an airdrop, and the Unleash Protocol hacker has moved nearly $4M in ETH through Tornado Cash.
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News Roundup
Artificial Intelligence
AI Advances Faster Than Expected and Could Transform Society at Industrial-Revolution Scale (The Hill)
Decentralized, Centralized, & Traditional Finance
Traders Divided on Whether Lighter’s LIT Exceeds $3B Valuation After Launch (CoinDesk)
GameFi Struggled in 2025 but Sees Signs of Structural Evolution (Delphi Digital)
Institutions Apply Bitcoin Options Strategies to Altcoins (CoinDesk)
Viral “U Cards” Spur Quiet Stablecoin Use in China Despite Crypto Ban (Cointelegraph)
Tokenized Stocks Reach $1.2B Market Cap in ‘Stablecoin Moment’ (Cointelegraph)
Onchain Perpetual Futures Fuel Boom in Crypto Derivatives Trading (Cointelegraph)
Iran’s Currency Crisis Highlights Bitcoin’s Role as a Hedge (Cointelegraph)
Exchanges
Binance Pauses Visa and Mastercard Withdrawals for Ukrainian Users (Cointelegraph)
South Korea’s Financial Giants Edge Into Crypto Exchanges Ahead of New Rules (Cointelegraph)
South Korea Flags Major Crypto Exchanges as ‘Core Infrastructure’ (KBS)
Coinbase Signals Upcoming Spot Trading for Lighter Token (Coinbase Markets)
Exchange-Traded Funds
Grayscale Files for Spot Bittensor ETF After Network’s First Halving (The Block)
On Dec. 29, U.S. Bitcoin spot ETFs recorded a net outflow of $19.29 million.
U.S. Ethereum spot ETFs saw $9.63 million in net outflows on Dec. 29.
On Dec. 29, U.S. Solana spot ETFs attracted $2.93 million in net inflows.
U.S. XRP spot ETFs logged $8.44 million in net inflows on Dec. 29.
Truth Social Launches Five America-First ETFs on NYSE (GlobeNewswire)
Infrastructure
Ethereum Smart Contract Deployments Hit Record High in Q4 (Joseph Young)
Flow Drops Chain Rollback Plan After Community Backlash (Cointelegraph)
Markets
UNI Slips Despite 100M Token Burn (The Defiant)
Bitcoin Long-Term Holders Resume Accumulation After Heavy Selling Pressure (CoinDesk)
$11B Bitcoin Whale Dumps $330M ETH, Piles Into $748M Long Bets on Major Tokens (Cointelegraph)
Chinese Investors Pour $188M Into CBDC Stocks After Digital Yuan Interest Move (DL News)
Altcoins Drift Lower in Thin Year-End Trade as Bitcoin Eyes $80K–$100K Range (CoinDesk)
NIGHT Rallies After Charles Hoskinson Endorses XRP DeFi Integration (The Defiant)
Bitcoin Reclaims $89K in Rare U.S. Session Rally as Shorts Cover (CoinDesk)
Politics & Regulation
SEC Crypto Policy Leader Cicely LaMothe to Retire (The Block)
Maxine Waters Demands SEC Oversight Hearing on Crypto Policy Shifty (Cointelegraph)
South Korea’s Stablecoin Bill Delayed by Dispute Over Who Can Issue Tokens (The Block)
Russia Proposes Criminal Penalties for Illegal Cryptocurrency Mining (Interfax)
CARF Crypto Tax Reporting Takes Effect Jan. 1 Across UK, EU and Beyond (Cointelegraph)
South Korea Pushes for Receipts on All Crypto Transactions Under AML Overhaul (DL News)
Token Generation Events
Treasuries
Metaplanet Buys 4,279 BTC, Raising Holdings to 35,102 Bitcoin (CoinDesk)
Cypherpunk Expands Zcash Treasury to Over 290,000 ZEC (PR Newswire)
BlackRock’s BUIDL Passes $2B in Assets After Paying $100M in Dividends (CoinDesk)
South Korean Retail Investors Stick With BitMine Despite 80% Stock Plunge (Bloomberg)
Other News
Blockchain Security Losses Jump to Nearly $3B in 2025 Despite Fewer Incidents (SlowMist)
Australia Enforces Search ID Rules as Ireland Pushes to End Online Anonymity (Cointelegraph)
ZachXBT Ties Fake Coinbase Support Scam to $2M in Crypto Losses (Cointelegraph)
Unleash Protocol Hacker Launders Nearly $4M in ETH Through Tornado Cash (The Block)
Check This Out!
Despite a generally negative market backdrop, privacy tokens emerged as Q4 2025’s strongest performers, led by ZEC, per Grayscale.
Source: Grayscale
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