On Monday, Ark Invest led by Cathie Wood increased positions in BitMine, Coinbase, Circle, Block, Bullish and its Ark-21Shares Bitcoin ETF, according to its trade filing. Purchases included $17 million in BitMine, $16.26 million in Coinbase and $10.8 million in Circle across ARKK, ARKW and ARKF, as all six holdings finished the day lower.

On 16 December 2025, Ripple outlined a shift in how it develops RLUSD, treating it as regulated settlement infrastructure that can operate across multiple blockchains rather than a single-chain stablecoin. Following its conditional approval to act as a U.S. trust bank, the company is focusing RLUSD on layer-2 environments, emphasizing regulatory compliance, issuer control, and interoperability with XRP, while rolling out deployments slowly and permissionedly.

Bitcoin is trading near $90,000 as traders balance current macro headwinds against scenarios in which looser US monetary policy and the 2026 midterm cycle fuel a major rally. Some analysts project that if quantitative tightening ends, rates are cut, and liquidity improves, BTC could climb into a $300,000–$600,000 range, while others focus on nearby resistance between $90,000 and $94,000 and diverging expectations over whether $100,000 will be reached before 2026.

XRP has extended its decline after falling below the $1.950 area and is now trading under $1.90 and the 100-hour Simple Moving Average. The price recently formed a low near $1.8550 and faces resistance at $1.90, $1.920 and a bearish trend line around $1.980. If XRP fails to reclaim the $1.90–$1.920 zone, it risks further downside toward supports at $1.820, $1.7650 and potentially $1.7320.

In a report released Monday, Bank of America said recent actions by the OCC, FDIC, and Federal Reserve mark a shift in U.S. crypto policy from discussion to implementation, especially around stablecoins and tokenized deposits. The bank expects a multi-year transition that could move more payments and real-world assets on-chain under banking regulation, and argues that institutions will need to experiment with tokenized assets and settlement models to stay competitive.

Nasdaq has submitted a proposal to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to expand trading in stocks and ETPs from 16 to 23 hours per day across five weekdays. The plan details a day session from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET, a one-hour pause, and a night session from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. The trading week would open Sunday 9 p.m. ET and close Friday 8 p.m. ET.

PayPal has applied to establish PayPal Bank as a Utah-chartered industrial bank, aiming to expand into insured deposits, business lending, and interest-bearing savings accounts. At the same time, the company is deepening its crypto strategy through the PYUSD Savings Vault on Spark, which advertises a 4.25% APY and follows an earlier goal to grow PYUSD deposits from $200 million to $1 billion.

According to reporting, since Donald Trump took office the US SEC has dropped, paused, or dismissed roughly 60% of its cryptocurrency cases and investigations, while traditional securities enforcement has largely continued. High‑profile matters involving Ripple Labs and Binance are among those affected, drawing criticism from opponents who see possible political influence and support from industry voices who argue prior oversight was excessive. The shift coincides with increased Trump‑linked crypto activity, internal leadership changes, and ongoing warnings from departing Democratic commissioner Caroline Crenshaw about potential market contagion.