In the third quarter, Harvard University lifted its stake in the iShares Bitcoin Trust to $442.8 million, making it the endowment’s largest reported holding and about 0.75% of its $57 billion portfolio. The university also expanded its gold ETF exposure to $235 million. That effectively favored Bitcoin over gold at roughly a two-to-one ratio. Subsequent market declines have left the crypto position showing sizable paper losses.

ZKsync plans to deprecate ZKsync Lite, Ethereum’s first zero-knowledge rollup, in 2026 as it shifts its focus to ZKsync Era and the Elastic Network. The legacy Layer 2, launched in December 2020, will remain fully operational with funds secure and withdrawals active until a planned wind-down. ZKsync expects to publish detailed migration guidance and a full shutdown timeline next year.

Coinbase has resumed services in India following a two-year suspension, currently offering crypto-to-crypto trading after securing Financial Intelligence Unit registration. The exchange plans to enable rupee deposits and direct digital asset purchases by 2026.

South Korea is advancing regulations to hold major cryptocurrency exchanges to bank-level liability standards following a November 27 hack at Upbit that resulted in $30.1 million in losses. The Financial Services Commission is reviewing provisions that would require platforms to compensate users for security breaches and system failures regardless of fault. The proposed framework mirrors existing rules applied to traditional banks under the country's electronic financial transactions law.

More than 100 publicly traded companies that adopted cryptocurrency treasury strategies have seen their stock prices fall 43% this year, while Bitcoin itself declined only 7%, Bloomberg data show. These firms raised over $45 billion through convertible bonds and preferred shares to purchase digital assets, but now face fixed payment obligations on holdings that generate no cash flow.

Bitcoin remains below $90,000, but three factors continue to support a potential year-end rally to $100,000. The Federal Reserve ended its quantitative tightening program on December 1, creating expectations for monetary easing. Order-book data shows key liquidity zones at $90,000 and $94,500, while technical charts indicate a possible breakout above $95,000 resistance if support at $84,000 holds.

CoinShares head of research James Butterfill has rejected insolvency concerns about Tether following warnings from BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes. Butterfill stated that Tether maintains over $181 billion in reserves against approximately $174.45 billion in liabilities, resulting in a surplus of around $6.78 billion. Hayes had warned on November 30 that a 30% decline in Tether's Bitcoin and gold holdings could eliminate the company's equity.

Federal prosecutors have requested a 12-year prison sentence for Do Kwon, co-founder of Terraform Labs, following his guilty plea to fraud charges in August. Kwon admitted to orchestrating schemes between 2018 and 2022 that deceived cryptocurrency investors and led to TerraUSD's $40 billion collapse in 2022. His defense team has proposed a reduced five-year term, and sentencing is set for December 11.

Polymarket is building an in-house market-making team that will trade against its own customers, mirroring a strategy used by rival Kalshi. The move comes as the New York-based prediction market prepares to resume U.S. operations after securing regulatory clearance from the CFTC. The platform has been recruiting traders, including sports betting specialists, for the new unit.