Bitcoin held near $90,000 on Tuesday as traders stepped back ahead of the Federal Reserve’s final policy decision of the year. Liquidity has thinned across major venues, ETF flows show selective rotation rather than broad de-risking, and analysts say Powell’s tone—rather than the expected rate cut itself—will determine BTC’s next major move.

A British individual allegedly connected to the theft of $243 million from a Genesis creditor may have been detained in Dubai, blockchain investigator ZachXBT stated on December 5. Approximately $18.58 million in cryptocurrency was reportedly seized from addresses linked to the suspect. UAE authorities have not publicly confirmed any arrests or asset seizures related to the case.

Kraken has entered into an agreement to acquire Backed Finance, the issuer of tokenized assets that powers its xStocks trading service. The acquisition strengthens Kraken's position in real-world asset tokenization as it prepares for a 2026 IPO. The xStocks platform has generated over $5 billion in cumulative trading volume since launch.

South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Upbit identified a critical security flaw in its internal wallet system that could have allowed attackers to derive private keys from publicly visible blockchain transaction data. The vulnerability was discovered during an emergency audit following a $30 million theft on November 27. The exchange has not confirmed whether the flaw was directly exploited in the breach, but has committed to covering all customer losses using its own reserves.

Ethereum's block gas limit increased from 45 million to 60 million on November 25 after securing majority validator support. The adjustment took effect automatically once more than half of network validators signaled approval, meeting the threshold required under current consensus rules. Ethereum scaling networks processed approximately 31,000 transactions per second over the past 24 hours, data show.

Bitcoin stabilized around $87,000 as U.S. spot exchange-traded funds recorded $129 million in net inflows on November 25, reversing weeks of sustained redemptions. Approximately one-third of bitcoin supply remains below breakeven prices, with long-term holders accumulating while short-term cohorts drive selling pressure. Analysts view the current period as bitcoin's first major institutional stress test, with market direction hinging on Federal Reserve guidance, government shutdown resolution, and post-tax-season capital flows.

Swedish fintech company Klarna introduced KlarnaUSD, a USD-pegged stablecoin on the Tempo blockchain developed by Stripe and Paradigm. The token targets the approximately $120 billion in annual fees generated by international payment transactions. KlarnaUSD is currently operational on Tempo's testnet, with a mainnet launch scheduled for 2026.

Public companies holding cryptocurrency treasuries have seen their combined market capitalization fall to approximately $99 billion from $176 billion in July. Strategy holds 649,870 BTC with an unrealized gain of $6.1 billion, while Ethereum-focused Bitmine faces a $4.52 billion unrealized loss on its 3.56 million ETH position.

Cryptocurrency liquidations reached nearly $2 billion in 24 hours as bitcoin dropped to $82,000, its lowest level since April. More than 396,000 traders had positions closed, while total crypto market capitalization fell below $3 trillion for the first time since the second quarter of 2025. The largest single liquidation involved a $36.78 million BTC-USD position on Hyperliquid, data show.