Mining Updates

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:

According to the new Aspire Wealth Report 2025, 68% of Asian millionaires (HNWI with assets of $1 million or more) plan to significantly increase their allocation to cryptocurrencies in their portfolios by 2026. This is 24% more than last year.

The most active investors are in Singapore (78%), Hong Kong (74%), and South Korea (71%). The main reasons:

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently shared his impressions of the decentralized platform Fileverse – a tool for secure collaboration on documents based on Web3. In his post on X (formerly Twitter), Buterin stated that after months of bug fixes, Fileverse has finally reached a level of stability sufficient for real-world use.

Xiaomi officially announced: starting from 2026, all new smartphones (global and Chinese versions) will come pre-installed with the proprietary Xiaomi Wallet cryptocurrency wallet supporting Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT, and other popular assets.

The wallet will be built into the system level in the 'Security' application and will be hardware-protected using the Titan Security chip (analogous to Google Pixel). Users will be able to store, send, and receive cryptocurrency without installing third-party applications. Integration with Mi Pay for direct payments using stablecoins in stores is also promised.

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).

In a revolutionary step for privacy in blockchain, Aleo Network Foundation announced the launch of $USDCx on the Aleo testnet on December 9, 2025 – a private stablecoin backed by $USDC from Circle. This asset, built on the xReserve infrastructure, uses zero-knowledge proofs to conceal transaction details such as wallet addresses and payment amounts, while maintaining full regulatory compliance. USDCx enables seamless cross-chain transfers to standard USDC without risky bridges, making it ideal for institutions that require "bank-level" confidentiality.

In a revolutionary decision for the U.S. financial sector, published on December 9, 2025, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) confirmed that national banks can act as intermediaries in "risk-free" crypto transactions. This means that banks will be able to buy crypto assets from one client and simultaneously sell them to another, without taking on significant risks on their balance sheets. The decision, outlined in Interpretative Letter 1188, is based on an analysis of four factors: similarity to traditional banking operations, benefits to customers, the nature of risks, and permissibility at the state level.

The meme coin team $TRUMP inspired by Donald Trump announced the launch of the mobile game "Trump Billionaires Club" — the first official gaming project for fans of the 45th President of the USA. The announcement appeared on December 9, 2025, on X (Twitter) of the project, where the team shared a trailer: a voice resembling Trump promises players they will become billionaires by collecting NFT statues and badges. The game will be available on iOS, Android, and the web, without the need for a wallet — just registration.

On December 10, 2025, the company Twenty One Capital, co-founded by Jack Mallers (CEO of Strike), officially debuted on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker XXI. After merging with SPAC Cantor Equity Partners through a business combination, Twenty One entered the public market with over 43,500 $BTC on the balance sheet — valued at around $3.9 billion. This makes it the third largest public corporate holder of bitcoin after Michael Saylor's MicroStrategy and MARA Holdings.

A new hacker scandal has occurred in the world of cryptocurrency: the hacked WeChat account of Binance co-founder Yi He (@heyibinance) was used to promote the meme coin Mubarakah ($Mubarakah ) on Binance Smart Chain. On December 9, 2025, the hacker posted messages that presented the token as a "promising asset," causing an immediate surge. According to Geckoterminal, the price of Mubarakah skyrocketed by over 200% in 24 hours, reaching a peak of $0.008, and the market capitalization exceeded $8 million. This happened against the backdrop of a general rebound of meme coins on BSC.

The well-known cryptocurrency exchange Binance suspended an employee after an internal investigation revealed the use of insider information for personal gain. On December 7, 2025, the internal audit received an anonymous complaint: the employee allegedly posted on the official account @BinanceFutures on X (Twitter) less than a minute after the launch of the meme coin "Year of Yellow Fruit" on the blockchain. The token, inspired by Binance's post from December 4 about "planting wisely and harvesting abundantly," immediately soared: the price reached $0.0061, the trading volume was $13 million, and the number of holders was 3658.

Co-founder of Ethereum Vitalik Buterin sharply criticized Elon Musk for the state of discussions on platform X (formerly Twitter), calling them "unhinged" — insane and uncontrollable. In a series of posts from December 9, 2025, Buterin directly addressed Musk: "By making X a global totem of free speech and then turning it into a 'death laser' for coordinated hate sessions, you are harming the cause of free speech." This came amid a wave of anti-European sentiments triggered by a $140 million fine from the EU for violating content moderation rules.

The South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, the largest in the country, announced radical security measures after a serious hack in November 2025. Hackers stole 44.5 billion won (about $31 million) from a hot wallet on Solana, draining 24 tokens in 54 minutes. This is already the second major incident for Upbit on the same date — six years ago the Lazarus Group stole 342,000 $ETH .

In the world of cryptocurrencies, a mystery has occurred: over 300 wallets associated with the closed darknet market Silk Road have activated after more than 10 years of slumber. These "ghosts" of the past, which held bitcoins since the scandalous closure of the platform in 2013, transferred about $3.14 million (approximately 34 $BTC ) to a mysterious address bc1q…ga54 on December 10, 2025. Data from the analytical firm Arkham Intelligence confirms: the transactions occurred almost simultaneously, sparking a wave of speculation.