Bitcoin has underperformed U.S. tech stocks in H2 2025, with the Nasdaq up 17% while BTC fell about 15%, and last week slipping from $94k to below $90k. CPI arrives Thursday (18th) and the BoJ decision Friday (19th December), with Glassnode highlighting a $85.5–$87k liquidation zone and $83k as U.S. spot ETF cost basis, as $94k stands as heavy resistance.

In 2025, a New York Times report alleged that U.S. President Donald Trump and his family profited from dismissed or settled crypto enforcement actions through political contributions and business relationships. The report claimed that one-third of Biden-era crypto cases were dropped, far above the rate in other sectors, and highlighted examples involving Coinbase, Binance, and other firms. SEC Commissioner Hester M. Peirce later argued that many of these cases lacked a proper legal foundation and should not have been filed.

Mantra’s OM token has lost over 99% of its value in 2025 after an April crash, with the project team and exchange OKX trading accusations over what caused the collapse. OKX alleged the team borrowed large amounts of USDT using OM as collateral to inflate the token price before liquidations triggered heavy selling, while Mantra’s CEO denied any ongoing legal battle with the exchange as the project prepares to migrate OM to MANTRA by 15 January 2026.

Aave Labs is under scrutiny from Aave's governance community after a CowSwap integration reportedly redirected swap revenue away from the DAO treasury. One delegate estimated the DAO could lose more than $10 million in annual fee income under the new structure, intensifying debate over who owns the protocol's brand, interfaces, and revenues. While critics accuse Aave Labs of privatizing value that should accrue to tokenholders, the firm argues its long-term development work and products like Aave V4 and GHO still channel revenue back to the DAO.

Bitcoin has traded around $90.2k and stayed under $100k for four weeks, even after a recent dovish U.S. Federal Reserve rate cut. Analysts see potential support from the Fed's shift toward 'stealth QE' into Q1 2026, but flag risks from the 19 December Bank of Japan decision and a mid-January MSCI index review that could still pressure BTC price.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has proposed creating a dedicated gas futures market to help large network users and investors better predict and hedge transaction costs on Ethereum. The suggestion has split opinion, with some specialists warning about manipulation risks and questioning whether the network’s highly dispersed gas demand can sustain such a market, according to experts. Although recent scaling upgrades have pushed gas fees lower, uncertainty over Ethereum’s long-term roadmap is keeping the debate over Buterin’s proposal alive.

Stolen crypto value rose to $3.25 billion in 2025, up 8.2% from $3.00 billion in 2024 and 24% above 2023. A New York Times report citing Chainalysis said more than $25 billion in illicit funds moved via stablecoins in 2024, a framing critics say overlooks that crypto accounts for only 0.14% of global illicit activity. Industry groups led by Tether point to on-chain enforcement, including freezing over $300 million in October 2025 and more than $3 billion overall.

Japan-based Metaplanet, the world's fourth-largest Bitcoin treasury firm, has made no BTC purchases since September 29, 2024, despite Bitcoin falling 30% from $112,000 to $89,000. The company's market-to-net-asset-value ratio dropped below 1x in late October, constraining its ability to raise capital for new acquisitions. Metaplanet last acquired 2,744 BTC on September 29, bringing total holdings to 30,823 BTC.

Two Hyperliquid team members sold 75,000 HYPE tokens worth over $2.2 million following the project's first token unlock on November 29, according to on-chain data. The sales precede scheduled monthly unlocks of approximately 10 million HYPE tokens extending through October 2027. Market observers are monitoring the distributions closely amid concerns about sustained selling pressure on the asset.