Visa announced a partnership with Aquanow on November 27 to enhance payment settlements using stablecoins, targeting financial institutions across Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The collaboration aims to accelerate cross-border transactions and reduce costs through blockchain technology integration. Visa's annualized transaction rate using USDC now exceeds $2.5 billion.

South Korea's Upbit halted deposit and withdrawal services following unauthorized transfers of approximately $37 million in Solana-based tokens on Nov. 27. The exchange relocated remaining assets to cold storage and initiated comprehensive security audits across all blockchain networks. Upbit committed to fully compensating affected users from corporate reserves.

S&P Global Ratings downgraded Tether's USDT stability assessment from 'constrained' to 'weak' on Wednesday, citing increased exposure to volatile assets including Bitcoin and transparency concerns. The move has sparked intense debate among China's estimated 20 million underground crypto users who rely heavily on USDT despite the national ban on digital asset trading.

Nasdaq-listed ALT5 Sigma Corporation has seen its share price fall 80% following its August announcement to accumulate World Liberty Financial (WLFI) tokens. The fintech firm, which repositioned itself as a digital asset treasury in 2024, now faces executive departures, potential regulatory scrutiny, and investor backlash. The company had proposed raising $1.5 billion for WLFI token reserves, but the initiative faces mounting challenges from internal instability and governance concerns.

South Korean crypto exchange Upbit disclosed a security incident on November 27 involving approximately $36m in Solana-based assets transferred to an unknown wallet. The platform immediately suspended deposit and withdrawal services and committed to covering all losses from its own reserves without impacting customer balances. The breach occurred nearly six years after Upbit lost 342,000 ETH to North Korean actors in a November 2019 attack.

Three large traders established combined long positions worth $92.87 million on Bitcoin and Ethereum through Hyperliquid on November 26, data show. The positions utilized leverage ranging from 2x to 25x. Separately, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin transferred $2.9 million in ETH to privacy protocol Railgun.

South Korean technology conglomerate Naver announced the acquisition of Dunamu, operator of cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, in an all-stock transaction valued at $10.3 billion on November 26. Dunamu will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Naver Financial upon completion. Upbit commands over 80% of South Korea's cryptocurrency market share.

S&P Global has downgraded Tether's USDT stablecoin to a stability rating of '5,' the lowest on its assessment scale. The ratings agency cited elevated exposure to risky assets and inadequate reserve buffers as primary concerns. Tether's risky asset ratio has reached 24%, with Bitcoin exposure at 5.6% exceeding S&P's recommended buffer threshold of 3.9%.