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On December 10, 2025, the National Police of Spain announced the arrest of five individuals in the case of the kidnapping and murder of a man in Mijas (Malaga), motivated by the theft of his crypto assets. The incident occurred in April: a group of armed men in masks attacked a couple, shot the man in the leg, and stole their belongings.

On December 8, 2025, the company Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) announced the acquisition of an additional 10,624 $BTC for approximately $963 million at an average price of $90,615 per coin. This is the largest purchase in over 100 days, highlighting Michael Saylor's unwavering strategy of accumulating Bitcoin as a primary reserve asset.

On December 12, 2025, the legacy vaults of the DeFi protocol Ribbon Finance (now part of Aevo) suffered an exploit totaling around $2.7 million. The vulnerability arose after an oracle update on December 6, which allowed anyone to set arbitrary prices for certain assets through a proxy contract.

A hacker created fake option contracts (oTokens) on assets like wstETH, AAVE, and LINK, manipulating prices at completion. This allowed the attacker to establish positions in their favor and withdraw hundreds of ETH, thousands of USDC, and other assets from MarginPool. The funds were distributed across 15 wallets.

Binance Research in its December report "Key Trends in Crypto — December 2025" states that the crypto market is entering a new phase of maturity. After a volatile 2025, when the market capitalization increased by 9.9%, adding over $600 billion, the focus is shifting from speculation to structural drivers: monetary easing, increased liquidity, corporate allocations in Bitcoin, and clearer regulations.

On December 15, 2025, the UK Treasury announced plans to introduce new legislation that will regulate crypto assets similarly to traditional financial products starting from October 2027. Companies providing cryptocurrency services — exchanges, custodians, and issuers — will fall under the full supervision of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

On December 15, 2025, JPMorgan Chase, one of the largest banks in the world with assets over $4 trillion, announced the launch of the first tokenized money market fund on the public Ethereum blockchain. The fund, named **My OnChain Net Yield Fund (MONY)**, started with an initial investment capital of $100 million from the bank itself.

Pakistan is taking a significant step towards integrating blockchain into public finances. On December 12, 2025, the Ministry of Finance of Pakistan signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance. The document provides for exploring the possibility of tokenizing public assets worth up to $2 billion.

Itaú Unibanco, the largest private bank in Brazil and Latin America, recommends investors allocate **1-3%** of their portfolio to Bitcoin in 2026. The Itaú Asset Management division, which manages assets worth hundreds of billions of dollars, considers $BTC an effective tool for diversification and hedging against currency risks.

On December 11, 2025, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), a key post-trade infrastructure on Wall Street, announced the receipt of a No-Action Letter from the U.S. SEC. This allows its subsidiary, the Depository Trust Company (DTC), to launch a tokenization service for real assets held in the depository on the blockchain.

On December 11, 2025, a federal court in New York sentenced Do Kwon, co-founder of Terraform Labs, to 15 years in prison for fraud that led to the collapse of the Terra/Luna ecosystem in 2022, resulting in losses of about $40 billion. Judge Paul Engelmayer called it "fraud of epic, generational scale," which caused enormous harm to investors, including loss of savings and even cases of suicide.

On December 10, 2025, the P2P cryptocurrency platform Paxful pleaded guilty to three federal charges in the USA. The company agreed to pay $4 million in criminal fines to the Department of Justice and $3.5 million in civil fines to FinCEN for knowingly facilitating illegal activities, including money laundering from prostitution, fraud, romantic scams, and sanctions violations.

The large brokerage firm Interactive Brokers (IBKR) has taken a significant step in integrating cryptocurrencies with traditional finance. Starting from December 2025, the platform allows retail investors, primarily in the USA, to fund brokerage accounts using stablecoins such as USDC (and in some cases USDT). This innovation, implemented through a partnership with Zero Hash, enables instant fund deposits 24/7, independent of banking hours and with lower fees.

The viral story of 20-year-old Brenda Oben-Vega from Montreal shocked the internet: she turned down a $1 million lump sum payment in the "Gagnant à Vie" lottery ("Winner for Life") in favor of $1000 weekly for life. Brenda explained that a stable income provides "peace and security," especially for her dream of owning a home. Over 30 years, this could amount to $1.56 million, but without considering inflation and investment potential.

On December 11, 2025, in the Manhattan federal court, Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon was sentenced to 15 years in prison for fraud involving the cryptocurrency TerraUSD ($USTC ) and $LUNA , which led to investor losses of $40 billion. Judge Paul Engelmayer called the crime "an epic fraud of generational scale," emphasizing that Kwon "created an illusion of stability while concealing systemic flaws." Prosecutors sought 12 years, defense attorneys argued for 5, but the judge dismissed both options as "too lenient," citing a million victims and "irreparable harm."

The Swiss-Singaporean bank Sygnum has published the APAC HNWI Report 2025, which indicates a boom in interest among Asian high-net-worth investors (HNWIs) in cryptocurrencies. According to a survey of over 270 professionals from 10 markets (Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, South Korea, Thailand), 87% already hold digital assets in their portfolios, with an average allocation of 17%. Nearly half (49%) allocate more than 10% to crypto, while 80% hold tokens like Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana.

Netflix has announced a new comedy film "One Attempt Remaining", which turns one of the scariest nightmares of crypto investors — a forgotten wallet password — into an absurd adventure. The lead roles are played by Jennifer Garner and an unknown actor as her ex-husband. The plot revolves around a divorced couple who won cryptocurrency years ago on a cruise during a "crazy night". Now this "prize" is worth 35 million dollars, but the password has slipped from memory. They have only 48 hours: the SEC sends a notice that the claim on the assets is expiring, otherwise — eternal goodbyes to fortune.

In a significant turn for the digital economy in the USA, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on December 11, 2025, revoked the outdated guidance from 2020 regarding "actual delivery" for bitcoin and other virtual currencies. This move, announced by acting chair Carolyn Pham, removes barriers that classified crypto assets as a separate, high-risk category, distinct from traditional commodities. Digital assets will now be regulated under a general, technology-neutral framework by the CFTC, which reduces the bureaucratic burden for exchanges and promotes integration into derivative markets.

In a revolutionary move for its digital economy, Pakistan has granted preliminary approval to leading cryptocurrency exchanges Binance and HTX to begin the licensing process. This decision, recently announced, opens the door to the legalization and regulation of the cryptocurrency market in a country with a population of over 240 million, where the youth are actively interested in digital assets. Previously, Pakistan implemented a federal regulatory framework, inviting global crypto companies to apply for licenses, signaling a shift from prohibition to integration.

Co-founder and former CEO of Binance Changpeng Zhao (CZ) stated in a recent interview that 2026 will be a turning point for the entire industry – cryptocurrencies will finally move from the category of 'speculative assets' to the class of mature financial instruments.

According to him, the key signs of maturity are already visible:

The Kingdom of Bhutan officially launched its state gold stablecoin $TER (Thrimpon-backed Electronic Reserve) on December 10, 2025, becoming the second country after Kyrgyzstan to peg a national digital asset to physical gold. Each TER is backed by 1 gram of 999.9 fine gold from the Royal Monetary Authority's vaults in Thimphu. The issuance is conducted by Druk Holding & Investments in collaboration with Singapore's Tether Asia and Kyrgyz company Xaurius (the creators of the world's first gold stablecoin $KYG).