U.S. crypto oversight entered a new phase this week as President Donald Trump signaled openness to reviewing the Samourai Wallet conviction and the Senate confirmed Mike Selig to lead the CFTC. At the same time, regulators including the SEC and Federal Reserve pulled back from earlier restrictive policies, while Congress advanced targeted anti-scam legislation. Together these moves point to a shift away from enforcement-heavy strategies toward clearer rules and a more focused consumer protection approach.

BlackRock's spot Bitcoin ETF, IBIT, ranked sixth by 2025 year-to-date inflows even as it posted a roughly 9.6% loss for the year. The fund has taken in about $25.4 billion in net inflows, outpacing several equity and commodity ETFs, including GLD. The snapshot was highlighted on December 19, 2025.

On December 19, 2025, CryptoQuant said Bitcoin's market cycle has shifted toward bearish conditions as demand growth fell below trend since early October 2025. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs moved from accumulation to distribution in Q4 2025, with net holdings down about 24,000 BTC, while derivatives funding rates hit their lowest level since December 2023.

On Wednesday, an affiliate of Circle Internet Group, Inc. (NYSE: CRCL), the issuer of USDC, said it has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with licensed cross-border payments provider LianLian Global to explore wider adoption of the stablecoin. The collaboration will assess how USDC-based infrastructure and Circle's Arc blockchain can support faster, more transparent and cost-efficient international payments for merchants, especially in emerging markets.

DTCC partnered with Digital Asset Holdings and the Canton Network to tokenize U.S. Treasury securities custodied at DTC, marking its first step to bring custodial assets on-chain. Following an SEC No-Action Letter earlier this month, the parties are targeting a minimum viable product in the first half of 2026, with DTCC's ComposerX platforms supporting tokenization and interoperability.

RedotPay, a stablecoin payments fintech, closed an oversubscribed $107 million Series B. The company reports more than 6 million registered users across over 100 countries and an annualized payment volume above $10 billion as of November 2025, alongside over $150 million in annualized revenue and year‑on‑year transaction growth.

Hyperscale Data Inc., listed on NYSE American, reported a Bitcoin treasury of approximately $75.5 million, about 97.5% of its market capitalization, using pricing from December 14–15, 2025. American Bitcoin said on December 16 it now holds over 5,098 BTC following its September 3 Nasdaq debut, highlighting continued accumulation and a 96.5% BTC Yield through December 14.

Visa Inc. announced on Tuesday that it will let U.S. financial institutions settle payments using Circle's USDC stablecoin on the Solana blockchain, expanding its crypto-focused services. Initial users include Cross River Bank and Lead Bank, with broader U.S. access planned through 2026 and support for seven-day settlement windows to streamline treasury and liquidity management. Visa is also collaborating on the Arc Layer 1 blockchain for future USDC settlement, while Binance CEO Richard Teng highlighted that daily stablecoin transactions have already surpassed Visa's own payment volumes.

Digital asset ETPs logged $716 million in weekly inflows, lifting assets under management to $180 billion. The US led with $483 million, followed by Germany at $96.9 million and Canada at $80.7 million. Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP attracted $352 million, $338 million and $245 million respectively.