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Investment in the GameFi sector fell by more than 55% in 2025 compared to the previous year, according to crypto data analytics platform Delphi Digital. The firm described 2025 as a difficult year for the industry, noting that highly anticipated games underperformed and enthusiasm for the sector has cooled. However, Delphi Digital added that Web2.5 games, which incorporate blockchain technology, are experiencing quiet growth.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he plans to name a successor to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell in January, adding that the possibility of firing Powell remains.

Cicely LaMothe, Deputy Director of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) Division of Corporation Finance, has completed her term, The Block reported. LaMothe was known for leading major staff statements on cryptocurrency, including one clarifying that memecoins do not constitute securities and another outlining the SEC's position on staking.

Representative Maxine Waters, the ranking Democratic member of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee, has criticized the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for halting enforcement actions against cryptocurrency firms, CoinDesk reported. In a letter to the committee's chairman, French Hill, Waters stated that the SEC has suspended or dropped actions against numerous companies and individuals accused of securities law violations, including Coinbase, Binance, and Justin Sun. She also asserted that the committee has failed to properly investigate why the SEC abandoned these actions or how it plans to prevent future fraud and manipulation.

The South Korean government's forthcoming Digital Asset Basic Act will include enhanced investor protection measures, such as strict liability for virtual asset providers and new rules for stablecoin issuers, Yonhap News reported. The legislation, which represents the second phase of the country's crypto regulations, is expected to impose no-fault liability on Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) for damages resulting from hacking or system failures, similar to the country's Electronic Financial Transactions Act. The bill will also reportedly require stablecoin issuers to manage reserves in assets like deposits and government bonds and to place over 100% of the outstanding issuance in a trust or deposit with a custodian institution to insulate against bankruptcy risk. Additionally, the act aims to align VASP obligations for disclosure and advertising with the standards of the traditional finance industry and will permit the domestic sale of digital assets, provided there is sufficient information disclosure.

The market capitalization of tokenized stocks has reached an all-time high of $1.2 billion, Cointelegraph reported, citing data from Token Terminal.

The three major U.S. stock indices finished in negative territory. The S&P 500 fell 0.35%, the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.5%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.51%.

The South Korean government’s proposal to regulate won-denominated stablecoins is expected to be delayed until next year, Edaily reported. As the second phase of virtual-asset legislation, the bill—known as the Digital Asset Basic Act—was initially slated to be drafted by year-end, with passage to follow in early 2026. However, the timeline has been pushed back due to disagreements among government agencies. The primary point of contention is reportedly whether issuance rights should be restricted exclusively to consortiums in which banks hold a majority stake of more than 51%.

Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz has stated that while Bitcoin has shown a sluggish performance this year, he anticipates a positive outcome for the cryptocurrency next year, U.Today reports. He noted that crypto has underperformed expectations in 2025 and that Bitcoin, despite its gold-like narrative, has failed to move in tandem with the precious metal. Novogratz personally believes that BTC has the necessary catalysts for a rally but has simply not yet made its move. He added that the current negative public sentiment surrounding crypto makes him feel optimistic, predicting that 2026 will be a significant year for the asset class. However, he stipulated that Bitcoin would need to break the $100,000 level to generate upward momentum.

Bitcoin skeptic and prominent gold bull Peter Schiff posted on X that Strategy's average purchase price for its BTC is $75,000, with an unrealized profit of about 16%. He argued that because the company has been buying BTC over the past five years, this equates to an average annual return of just 3%. Schiff added that Michael Saylor would have been in a much better position if he had purchased other assets instead.

Cumulative dividends paid out by BlackRock's tokenized fund, BUIDL, have exceeded $100 million, making it the first tokenized U.S. Treasury product to reach this milestone, Crypto Briefing reported.

New York Stock Exchange-listed Bitcoin mining firm Cango (CANG) plans to secure a $10.5 million investment from its major shareholder, Enduring Wealth Capital (EWCL), according to Crypto Briefing. The investment will be structured as a purchase of seven million of the company's Class B common shares by EWCL. As of Dec. 25, Cango held 7,419 BTC.

Trading volume for perpetual futures on decentralized exchanges (Perp DEXs) has surpassed $1.2 trillion, signaling their emergence as a mainstream financial product, according to an analysis by David Duong, Head of Institutional Research at Coinbase. Duong noted that perpetual futures are evolving into a core component within DeFi, integrating organically with other protocols. He explained that their combination with lending protocols, for instance, enables a variety of strategic applications. Duong forecasts that these products will eventually expand to equities, becoming a prominent trading tool for retail investors.

Recent Bitcoin price movements appear to be heartbeat trades, which are unrelated to actual investor sentiment, according to Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas. The term refers to an abnormal trading pattern driven by short-term objectives like tax savings, so named because the resulting price action resembles a heartbeat. This activity often occurs when ETF managers conduct large-scale transactions to avoid capital gains taxes during asset rebalancing.

Sky Protocol (SKY), which rebranded from MakerDAO (MKR), announced it has bought back 29.3 million SKY, worth 1.9 million USDS, over the past seven days. The protocol has now spent over $96 million on SKY buybacks since the program launched in February 2025.

The cryptocurrency industry is poised to enter a more stable, institution-focused phase, even if Bitcoin enters a bear market, according to financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald. The firm noted that while the crypto market appears to be at the start of a downturn based on the four-year halving cycle theory, it does not anticipate the large-scale liquidations or structural failures seen in the past. Cantor Fitzgerald attributes this outlook to several factors, including the entry of institutional investors, growth in sectors like real-world asset (RWA) tokenization and decentralized exchanges (DEX), and fundamental market improvements driven by a changing U.S.-centric regulatory environment. The firm projected that even if prices do not rally next year, the period will be characterized by strengthening infrastructure and solidifying institutional adoption.

The spot price of silver has plummeted more than 10% from the previous trading day, falling below $71 per ounce. The sharp decline comes after the precious metal set a new all-time high above $83.75 on the morning of Dec. 29. Silver is currently trading at $70.96, a 10.53% decrease from the prior day's close.

The queue for staking Ethereum (ETH) has surpassed the queue for unstaking for the first time in six months, Cointelegraph reported. Currently, approximately 745,619 ETH is waiting to be staked, while 360,528 ETH is in the unstaking queue. Some market observers are noting the potential for a bullish ETH trend, as similar crossovers have historically preceded price increases.

Trend Research, a subsidiary of LD Capital, withdrew an additional 13,462 ETH, valued at $39.31 million, from Binance a short time ago, according to on-chain analyst ai_9684xtpa. The associated address has withdrawn a total of 46,036 ETH in a single day. It currently holds approximately 626,071 ETH, worth $1.83 billion, acquired at an average price of $3,105.5. The position has an estimated unrealized loss of $110 million.

According to CoinNess market monitoring, BTC has risen above $88,000. BTC is trading at $88,010.91 on the Binance USDT market.

The three major U.S. stock indexes have opened lower. The S&P 500 is down 0.44%, the Nasdaq Composite has fallen 0.74%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average has slipped 0.17%.

The Web3 industry suffered hacking losses totaling $3.95 billion in 2025, an increase from the previous year, according to blockchain security firm Hacken. In a recent report cited by Cointelegraph, Hacken noted that the damages were heavily concentrated in the first quarter, which saw over $2 billion in losses. The analysis attributed more than half of the total amount to hacking groups linked to North Korea. The report also found that most security breaches stemmed from a lack of operational security discipline rather than smart contract vulnerabilities, with code-related losses amounting to only $512 million. Hacken projects that security standards across the industry are likely to improve starting next year as regulatory recommendations become mandatory.

Nasdaq-listed company Tron (TRON) has announced an $18 million equity investment from Justin Sun, the founder of the Tron (TRX) blockchain. The company stated it plans to use the investment to expand its holdings of TRX.

Approximately 30% of the 1.7 million addresses on the prediction market platform Polymarket have realized a profit, according to an analysis by blockchain analyst defioasis. The findings, posted on X, indicate that profits are heavily concentrated, with fewer than 0.04% of all addresses accounting for over 70% of total gains, amounting to $3.7 billion. While the majority of profitable addresses (63.5%) earned between $0 and $1,000, their collective earnings represented just 0.86% of all realized profits. An address earning over $1,000 placed in the top 4.9% of users. The analyst also noted that large-scale losses were uncommon, with just over 140 addresses losing more than $1 million.

Bitmine purchased an additional 44,463 ETH, valued at $130 million, last week, according to Onchainlens. The company now holds a total of 4,115,250 ETH, worth approximately $12.04 billion.