President Donald Trump signed a federal executive order on Thursday at the White House that prevents U.S. states from enforcing their own artificial intelligence laws and centralizes oversight in Washington. The directive establishes a Justice Department task force to challenge conflicting state rules in court, orders a 90-day review of state AI laws, and ties certain broadband and grant funding to alignment with federal AI policy.

On December 12 2025, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a mixed decision on Apple's appeal of a contempt order in its App Store dispute with Epic Games, upholding key findings against the company while granting limited relief. The court affirmed that Apple violated a prior injunction by imposing a 27% fee on certain external transactions, and asked the trial judge to reassess what commission Apple can charge developers for use of its intellectual property. Around the same time, Epic's Fortnite was reinstated to the U.S. Google Play Store after a separate settlement and injunction reshaped Google's in-app payment rules.

On December 10, Web3 security provider CertiK presented its latest security practices at the Global Blockchain Show during Abu Dhabi's fintech week, with CBO Jason Jiang delivering a keynote on fintech innovation, digital transformation, and virtual asset rules. Jiang referenced CertiK's 2025 H1 Web3 Security Report, which recorded about $2.47 billion in security-related losses, and urged the industry to improve wallet hygiene, threat intelligence sharing, and basic operational security to support wider blockchain adoption.

On December 11, the U.S. SEC issued a No-Action Letter for DTCC’s Depository Trust Company, approving a three-year pilot to tokenize certain U.S. securities on selected blockchains. Under the program, scheduled to begin in the second half of 2026, DTC may mint and burn blockchain tokens representing security entitlements it already holds, using registered wallets and a permissioned setup. The initiative covers eligible assets such as leading index-tracking ETFs, U.S. Treasuries and Russell 1000 constituents, while requiring DTCC to file quarterly reports on participants, tokenized values and operational issues.

YouTube now allows US creators to receive payouts in PayPal's PYUSD stablecoin. The feature is live for US-based users, with PayPal converting earnings into PYUSD for those who opt in. Google confirmed support for PYUSD payouts, while PayPal handles the crypto settlement end-to-end.

XRP attempted a recovery above $2.150 but reversed, sliding under $2.080 and $2.050 before marking a $1.993 low. The hourly chart shows price below the 100-hour SMA with trendline resistance near $2.040; key levels to monitor include $2.080 on the upside and $2.00 to $1.9880 on the downside.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has granted the Depository Trust Company, a subsidiary of DTCC, a no-action letter to pilot tokenization of traditional securities on selected blockchains from the second half of 2026 for three years. The program will cover US Treasuries, major index-tracking ETFs and Russell 1000 components, with tokenized assets retaining the same rights and protections as their conventional versions and being offered to DTC participants and their clients.

BitcoinTreasuries.Net reported that, since November, corporate Bitcoin treasuries have faced sizeable unrealized losses. In a sample of 100 firms, 65% bought BTC above current market prices, leading some companies to sell part of their holdings. The report anticipates about 40,000 BTC added to public company balance sheets in Q4 2025, a tally below each of the previous four quarters.