December 16, according to Arkham data, the address associated with the Starknet team transferred 15.75 million $STRK to two new addresses, amounting to approximately 1.5 million US dollars. Historical actions indicate that further transfers to exchange platforms will be made. One of the addresses is linked to a wallet associated with Galaxy Digital, and further withdrawals have already been recorded.
The payment company Visa announced the launch of settlements in USDC in the United States. Now issuing banks and acquirers can make direct transactions in the stablecoin through the payment system. The first participants in the program were Cross River Bank and Lead Bank. They have already started using the Solana blockchain. Full-scale expansion of the service to other partners in the United States is planned by 2026. A key innovation is the transition to daily settlements. Financial institutions will be able to move funds seven days a week, abandoning the traditional five-day schedule. This will accelerate transactions and simplify liquidity management.
Binance Wallet organizes the 42nd exclusive TGE event for Infrared Finance (IR) on December 17 from 8:00 to 10:00 UTC. To participate, users will need to use Alpha points, and details and a link to the portal will be available soon.
Bitwise expects that by 2026 Ethereum and Solana will reach new all-time highs, and Bitcoin will surpass its four-year cycle and set a record. Institutional demand for cryptocurrencies will increase, ETFs will control over 100% of the new supply of BTC, ETH, and SOL, and more than 100 cryptocurrency ETFs will emerge in the USA. A decrease in correlation between Bitcoin and stocks is also anticipated.
Mastercard announced a partnership with the ADI Foundation of Abu Dhabi to implement payments in stablecoins and tokenized assets in the region. The launch of payment cards, support for cross-border transfers, and the development of digital assets for businesses and consumers are planned. This project will help the UAE become a hub for digital finance and accelerate payment processes.
BNB Chain announced the launch of a new stablecoin that will help integrate liquidity into various areas of use and will be aimed at mass adoption. The new token is created on the basis of BNB Chain and is designed to simplify operations with digital assets.
This week, LayerZero (ZRO), Arbitrum (ARB), and Starknet (STRK) will conduct significant one-time token unlocks. On December 20, $ZRO will unlock approximately 25.71 million tokens worth $37.79 million, on December 16, $ARB — 92.65 million tokens worth $19 million, and on December 15, $STRK — 127 million tokens worth $13.2 million. Also, on December 15, Sei (SEI) will unlock 55.56 million tokens worth $6.93 million.
On December 18 at 18:00 UTC, Hedera will release an updated version of the mainnet 0.68. The update will take about 40 minutes. During this time, users may experience temporary outages in network operations.
Binance reported a breach of the frontend of the ZEROBASE platform, which allowed users to inadvertently authorize a malicious contract. The company has blocked suspicious domains, blacklisted malicious contracts, and recommends that everyone check and revoke suspicious authorizations in their wallets to avoid asset loss. Previously, ZEROBASE warned of a phishing contract on the BNB chain that posed as the official interface and attempted to gain access to users' USDT.
The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has conditionally approved trust bank charters for companies Ripple, BitGo, Digital Assets, Paxos, and Circle, allowing them to expand financial services. This decision opens new opportunities for the development of cryptocurrencies and digital assets in the U.S.
The custodial service Hex Trust will launch wrapped XRP — wXRP — at a ratio of 1:1. This will allow the asset to be moved beyond its native XRP Ledger (XRPL) network. wXRP will be available for trading in pairs with Ripple's stablecoin RLUSD on Ethereum, Solana, Optimism, and HyperEVM. There are plans to integrate more blockchains. Automated market makers will have the ability to create and redeem wrapped XRP in a "safe and fully compliant environment," according to a blog by Hex Trust. Representatives of the custodian emphasized that each unit of wXRP is backed by native XRP stored in custody. New coins can always be exchanged for the underlying asset. Users will also be able to earn through the wrapped coin via supported decentralized services. At launch, the TVL of wXRP will be $100 million. According to Hex Trust, this will create a strong foundation of initial liquidity to ensure smooth trading and stable pricing.
Binance has temporarily suspended trading of the AIA token from 20:00 on December 11, 2025, for the purpose of conducting a contract exchange at a rate of 1:1. Trading of DeAgentAI (AIA) on the Alpha 2.0 platform will resume on December 15 at 16:00 GMT+8. Previously, Binance had already removed AIA contracts from the platform.
Binance Futures started trading perpetual contracts on traditional assets, including spot gold (XAU), under the TradFi Perps brand. Unlike cryptocurrencies, trading such assets occurs on a 24/5 schedule with a daily technical break and potential market closures.
REI Network integrates AI agents SOIN Global for organizing commission-free online marketing campaigns, with access to real-time analytics, verified KOL matching, budget automation, and payments through smart contracts.
Circle introduced USDCx in the Aleo test network through Circle xReserve — a stablecoin backed by USDC and focused on the confidential infrastructure of Aleo. The integration supports global payments, e-commerce, remittances, and compliance with DeFi service requirements. USDCx has a 1:1 backing and is compatible with USDC on supported networks without the use of third-party bridges.
$COTI announced a strategic partnership with AdPriva to create a privacy-focused advertising platform based on artificial intelligence. According to the statement, AdPriva will use COTI privacy technologies for contextual advertising without cookies, tracking, and profiling, while encrypted user preferences will be stored in the COTI vault.
The TMX Group TMX Datalinx division begins providing on-chain access to data for over 1,600 companies listed on the TSX Venture Exchange, across more than 40 networks through Chainlink. The integration expands the availability of institutional-level market data for Web3 services.
$GMT begins collaboration with Automobili Lamborghini and in December will present digital Genesis sneakers for STEPN and STEPN GO applications. Users can expect the first legendary sneakers in the history of the service, access to the digital platform Fast ForWorld, and bonuses in the style of Super Trofeo. More detailed information can be found in the official GMT tweet.
Horizen launches the mainnet on Base, creating a new development environment that combines privacy, compliance, and liquidity. You can find more detailed information in the official tweet $ZEN :
Circle published a message about the launch of USDC and CCTP on $STRK . Now developers, DeFi users, and market makers can use them for various applications: including spot and perpetual trading based on DeFi, as well as round-the-clock settlements on decentralized exchanges; it is also possible to use it in the gaming economy and for global payments, supporting a fully backed digital dollar; with CCTP, seamless transfer of USDC between Starknet and supported blockchains is provided.