Zcash founder Zooko Wilcox recently said he is bearish on Bitcoin because he believes its community culture has become closed to innovation and hostile to developers. He argued that even a strong technical design cannot survive if the surrounding culture rejects change, contrasting this with his goal of keeping Zcash highly open to evolution. His comments followed a dispute between Aleo CEO Alex Pruden and Bitcoin maximalist "Coinjoined Chris" over post-quantum security tools for Bitcoin.

The Ethereum Foundation has introduced a security-first roadmap for zkEVMs, defining three milestones through the end of 2026 that culminate in 128-bit provable security and strict proof size limits. Alongside these technical targets, Ethereum is promoting institutional adoption with an "Ethereum for Institutions" portal and highlighting its leadership in tokenized real-world assets and privacy technologies. Co-founder Vitalik Buterin has also warned that growing protocol complexity threatens trustlessness, prompting plans to simplify user interactions through smart contract wallets.

US Representatives Max Miller and Steven Horsford have released a discussion draft of the Digital Asset PARITY Act that would create a limited tax safe harbor for certain stablecoin payments. The bill would exempt regulated, dollar-backed stablecoin transactions under $200 from capital gains tax and offer an optional five-year deferral on staking and mining rewards. It also seeks to extend several existing securities tax rules to crypto assets and is slated to apply the stablecoin exemption to tax years beginning after December 31, 2025.

Ripple’s dispute with the SEC concluded in 2025, preserving Judge Analisa Torres’s earlier findings on XRP’s secondary‑market trading. Under the final framework, Ripple agreed to a $125 million civil penalty tied to past institutional sales. XRP briefly rallied into the $3 range before hovering near $1.93 amid mixed broader market conditions.

Bitcoin is trading in a consolidation range beneath a descending trendline, with price capped under the $95K supply zone and supported around $80K. On lower timeframes, $85K and $90K have emerged as important short‑term levels, while a notable liquidation cluster above $90K points to potential absorption rather than a clean breakout. Until these technical and liquidity zones are convincingly broken, the market structure leans neutral to slightly bearish.

On December 21, 2025, SantaStealer was detailed as a malware-as-a-service that prioritizes crypto wallets. It is promoted on Telegram and hacker forums with monthly plans at $175 (Basic) and $300 (Premium). Rapid7 links it to BluelineStealer and notes weak evasion, while data is exfiltrated in 10MB chunks over port 6767.

U.S. Reps. Max Miller (Ohio) and Steven Horsford (Nevada) proposed a de minimis tax exemption for stablecoin payments of $200 or less. In July 2025, Sen. Cynthia Lummis advanced a similar $300 threshold that failed to pass. Banks oppose 3%-4% stablecoin yields, while industry leaders, including Tyler Winklevoss, are pushing back.

On December 21, 2025, Binance Futures launched USDS-margined perpetual contracts for ZKPUSDT, GUAUSDT and IRUSDT with leverage of up to 40x. The new instruments expand Binance's derivatives lineup and may affect trading strategies and liquidity for the underlying tokens as traders access higher-risk, leveraged exposure.