Today's top news highlights:
Disney to invest $1 billion in OpenAI
Spot gold has returned to the $4,300 mark.
YouTube introduces new option to pay revenue to U.S. creators using stablecoins.
Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon sentenced to 15 years in prison by a U.S. judge.
So far in 2025, only one Bitcoin treasury company's stock price has outperformed the S&P 500.
Kalshi, together with Coinbase, Robinhood, and others, established a prediction market alliance.
Macro
Spot gold has returned to the $4,300 mark.
Spot gold prices broke through the $4,300/ounce mark for the first time since October 21, with a daily increase of 0.47%.
BBVA, the Spanish international bank, announced a multi-year strategic partnership with OpenAI, extending ChatGPT Enterprise to its 120,000 employees worldwide, a tenfold increase in reach. This collaboration aims to enhance customer experience, optimize internal operations, and drive the deep integration of AI into banking through artificial intelligence (AI) technology. BBVA plans to leverage OpenAI to develop new AI solutions to improve customer interactions, boost employee productivity, optimize risk analysis processes, and redesign internal processes such as software development. Previously, BBVA successfully piloted ChatGPT among its employees, helping them save nearly three hours per week on routine tasks. This partnership also includes dedicated training programs and a structured tool integration model to ensure the secure and consistent application of AI tools across all business areas in 25 countries. Furthermore, BBVA plans to directly serve customers through ChatGPT, accelerating its transformation into an AI-native bank. BBVA Chairman Carlos Torres Vila stated that this partnership will bring customers a smarter and more personalized banking experience. Previously, it was reported that Disney would invest $1 billion in OpenAI.
According to Bloomberg, AirAsia's operator has signed an agreement with Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia to explore issuing a ringgit-backed stablecoin in the Southeast Asian country. This comes days after a member of the Malaysian royal family announced a similar token. According to a statement released Friday, Capital A, founded by AirAsia founder Tony Fernandes, signed a letter of intent with Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia to jointly develop and test the stablecoin through the Digital Asset Innovation Centre regulated by Bank Negara Malaysia. The statement indicates that Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia will act as the issuer of the stablecoin, while Capital A may initially pilot wholesale use cases in real-world scenarios. This marks Capital A's first foray into the regulated digital asset space.
So far in 2025, only one Bitcoin treasury company's stock price has outperformed the S&P 500.
According to DLNews, a report from BitcoinTreasuries.net shows that so far in 2025, only one Bitcoin Treasury (DAT) company has outperformed the benchmark S&P 500 index (with a year-to-date return of 16%). The only company to outperform the S&P 500 is France-based The Blockchain Group, whose stock price has surged approximately 164% since January 1st. Among other well-known Bitcoin Treasury companies, Strategy's stock price has fallen 12%, Metaplanet's stock price has dropped by nearly a third, and Nakamoto, which raised over $600 million to buy Bitcoin, has seen its market capitalization plummet by over 98%.
YouTube introduces new option to pay revenue to U.S. creators using stablecoins.
According to Fortune magazine, YouTube is allowing its creators to receive earnings via PayPal's stablecoin. May Zabaneh, head of PayPal's crypto business, confirmed the arrangement, stating that the feature is officially live and currently only available to users in the United States. A spokesperson for YouTube's parent company, Google, also confirmed the news, saying that YouTube has added a way to pay creators their earnings via PayPal's stablecoin. PayPal added the ability for recipients to receive payments in PayPal's stablecoin PYUSD earlier this year.
An independent miner successfully mined block 927474, receiving a block reward of 3.133 BTC.
According to Cointelegraph, an independent Bitcoin miner successfully mined block 927474 early this morning, earning a reward of 3.133 BTC (approximately $284,000).
According to TechCrunch, World, the biometric authentication project co-founded by Sam Altman, released the latest version of its app today, introducing several new features, including encrypted chat integration and expanded cryptocurrency sending and requesting capabilities similar to Venmo. At a small gathering at World's San Francisco headquarters on Thursday, Altman introduced the new version (which developers call a "super app"), followed by details from the product team. The company stated that World Chat, as a new instant messaging tool, uses end-to-end encryption to protect user conversations and uses colored bubbles to alert users whether their conversation partners have been verified through the World system, thus incentivizing users to authenticate and confirm the identity of their conversation partners. The chat function was initially launched as a beta version in March. Another major feature announced on Thursday is an expanded digital payment system, allowing app users to send and receive cryptocurrency. The World app has been functioning as a digital wallet for some time, but the latest version offers broader functionality. Using a virtual bank account, users can also directly deposit their salary into the World app and make deposits from their bank accounts, both of which can be converted to cryptocurrency. Using these features does not require verification through World's authentication system.
Bloomberg: Coinbase plans to announce prediction markets and tokenized shares next week.
According to Bloomberg, sources familiar with the matter revealed that Coinbase Global Inc. plans to announce the launch of prediction markets and tokenized shares next week, with Coinbase officially launching these products at its product showcase event on December 17. The source also mentioned that Coinbase's tokenized shares will launch internally, rather than through partners. Coinbase executives have previously expressed interest in these businesses but have not yet officially announced plans. For weeks, screenshots of apps hinting at these features have been circulating on the social network X. A Coinbase spokesperson declined to comment on the company's specific plans but stated, "Stay tuned for the live stream on December 17 to see what new products Coinbase will be launching." This move is part of the company's effort to become a "one-stop shop," aiming to provide traders with broad access to assets and markets and keep pace with competitors who are also diversifying.
Bitcoin researchers are focusing on using "hash-based signatures" for quantum-resistant upgrades.
According to DL News, in a revised paper published on December 5th, Blockstream researchers Mikhail Kudinov and Jonas Nick explored several ways to upgrade the Bitcoin blockchain to make it quantum resistant. They argue that hash-based signatures are a highly attractive post-quantum solution because their security relies solely on the assumption of a hash function similar to Bitcoin's fundamental design. In an email to the Bitcoin developer mailing list, Kudinov introduced their research, stating, "These schemes underwent extensive cryptanalysis during the post-quantum standardization process at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), which increases confidence in their robustness." Hash-based signatures rely on hash functions, mathematical algorithms considered quantum resistant because, unlike the public-key cryptography used in Bitcoin, hash functions are difficult for quantum algorithms to break. Hash functions can be secured by simply increasing their output size to handle the potential brute-force searches by quantum computers, thus enlarging the search space and securing applications like digital signatures. However, how developers will actually implement hash-based signatures remains under discussion. Decisions need to be made on issues such as keeping verification costs low, whether to standardize various hash-based signature implementations, and whether to require the entire network's historical records to verify transactions.
The U.S. financial risk regulator FSOC no longer considers digital assets as a potential risk.
According to CoinDesk, the cryptocurrency sector no longer needs to be mentioned in the Financial Stability Oversight Council's (FSOC) annual list of risks to the U.S. financial system. However, this is not an isolated case, as the report has shifted its focus away from the "vulnerabilities" of the financial system. The 2025 FSOC report has completely removed the previously frequently used term "vulnerability," and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent acknowledged in the report's opening letter that previous analyses focused on identifying dangers that could disrupt the financial system. This 2025 report does not include any "recommendations" regarding digital assets, nor does it explicitly express concerns about the industry. Its digital asset section details how U.S. financial regulators with cryptocurrency oversight authority have changed their policy stance. The report largely praises the advantages of the digital asset sector, but in the "Illicit Finance" sub-section, it notes that stablecoins could be "abused to facilitate illicit financial transactions." However, the report also states that "the continued use of dollar-denominated stablecoins over the next decade is expected to further solidify the dollar's position in the international financial system."
Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon sentenced to 15 years in prison by a U.S. judge.
According to The Block, Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for his role in the Terra-Luna token collapse in 2022, which wiped out $40 billion. Kwon was sentenced Thursday in the Southern District of New York, a sentence exceeding the prosecution's initial demands. Prosecutors argued for a 12-year prison term due to Kwon's past misconduct and the sheer scale of the fraud, while his lawyers argued for a mere 5-year sentence. U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer stated that Kwon "chose to lie" and "made the wrong choice." In March 2023, Kwon was criminally charged with conspiracy to commit fraud, merchandise fraud, wire fraud, securities fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud, and conspiracy to manipulate the market and launder money. In August of the same year, Kwon pleaded guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud. Do Kwon may face further legal challenges in South Korea. He must serve at least half of his sentence before he can apply for a transfer to South Korea, and it has been reported that the 17 months he served in Montenegro prison will be counted towards his sentence.
According to Bloomberg, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has granted a license to Depository Trust & Clearing Co. (DTCC) via a no-action letter, allowing the company to custody and endorse tokenized stocks and other real-world assets (RWAs) on a blockchain. This move enables DTCC to offer tokenization services on a pre-approved blockchain for three years. SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce stated in a press release, “While the project is still in the pilot phase and subject to various operational constraints, it marks a significant step towards the market’s migration to the blockchain.” Michael Winnike, Head of Global Strategy and Market Solutions for Clearing and Securities Services at DTCC, said in an interview that with the license, DTCC will also extend its record-keeping operations to the blockchain. DTCC, as a core clearing and settlement center in the U.S. financial system, plays a crucial role in the equity and fixed-income product sectors. Many liquid assets in the U.S. market are held in DTCC’s custody arm, Depository Trust Co. The company expects to launch its new tokenization service in the second half of next year.
According to CoinDesk, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued no-action letters on Thursday to the operators of prediction market platforms Polymarket, PredictIt, Gemini, and LedgerX/MIAX, announcing that these companies are exempt from certain record-keeping requirements as long as they meet other specific requirements, and that they may clear contracts through third-party clearing members. In a press release, the CFTC stated that the no-action letters mean that the regulator will not take any enforcement action (i.e., will not bring lawsuits against these companies for violations) regarding their compliance with "certain record-keeping requirements related to swap transactions and failure to report data related to binary options transactions to swap data repositories." The CFTC stated, "No-action letters apply only to specific circumstances and are similar to no-action letters issued to designated contract markets and derivatives clearing organizations in other similar circumstances." Under the no-action letters, issuers must: ensure their contracts are adequately collateralized at all times; clear contracts only through their designated platforms; publish all relevant data on their platforms after contract execution; and comply with other specific swap transaction record-keeping requirements.
Opinion
Jurrien Timmer, Global Head of Macro at Fidelity, wrote on the X platform that market sentiment has improved after excessive speculation in the crypto market subsided. Against the backdrop of the Federal Reserve's accommodative policy and a calm bond and foreign exchange market, Bitcoin's ending in 2025 is actually quite promising. Previously, Bitcoin Treasury companies offered "yields" by issuing shares to buy Bitcoin, which may now be a drag on Bitcoin's rise, raising questions about whether another four-year cycle has ended. However, observing the mature network curve structure of Bitcoin shows that since 2010, Bitcoin has experienced five waves of upward movement, each with a smaller increase but a longer duration. Its performance in the most recent bull market (starting at approximately $16,000 in 2022) demonstrates that Bitcoin has matured considerably. According to the five-wave upward trend chart shared by Jurrien Timmer, the peak price of Bitcoin in the fifth wave may be $151,360.
CryptoQuant CEO: The Meme Coin Market is Dead
CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju cited data showing that Meme's market share in altcoins peaked in early 2025 (above 0.1), but has since fallen below 0.04. He concluded that "the Meme market is dead."
Project Updates
Pyth Network announced the launch of the PYTH Reserve mechanism, which directly links product adoption to network value by using protocol revenue to purchase PYTH tokens monthly. As a crucial component of the financial infrastructure, Pyth Network has supported over $2.3 trillion in cumulative transaction volume. This new mechanism aims to drive sustainable value growth. The PYTH Reserve allocates one-third of its funds monthly through the DAO treasury to purchase PYTH tokens on the open market, combined with a quarterly pricing optimization strategy to ensure that revenue growth directly translates into token buying pressure. Pyth's economic engine is driven by four products: Pyth Pro, Pyth Core, Entropy, and Express Relay, covering both traditional and on-chain markets, with plans to further expand revenue streams in the future. The official statement indicates that financial institutions spend $50 billion annually on market data. Pyth Pro, through transparent subscriptions and high-frequency data updates, is expected to capture at least 1% market share, achieving its $500 million annual revenue target and continuously driving the growth of the PYTH Reserve.
Kalshi, together with Coinbase, Robinhood, and others, established a prediction market alliance.
Kalshi and Crypto.com, along with industry leaders such as Coinbase, Robinhood, and Underdog, announced the formation of the Coalition for Prediction Markets (CPM), aiming to promote the development of safe, transparent, and federally regulated prediction markets. Prediction markets are considered a powerful tool for understanding economic, cultural, and political trends, and this year the total trading volume in prediction markets has reached $28 billion. The Coalition will focus on strengthening the federal regulatory framework, establishing nationally unified market standards, preventing insider trading, and ensuring market transparency. At the same time, the Coalition will oppose the expansion of state-level regulation to avoid the chaos and harm to consumer rights caused by fragmented regulation.
Jupiter will launch its stablecoin JupUSD next week.
According to Cryptobriefing, Jupiter COO Kash Dhanda announced at the Solana Breakpoint event that Jupiter will launch its stablecoin JupUSD next week. JupUSD will be available soon, with real-time trading and yield features enabled simultaneously. Dhanda added that a third use case is planned for the first quarter of 2026, which he described as "very interesting." Previously, in October, it was reported that Ethena and Jupiter were partnering to launch JupUSD, a native stablecoin within the Solana ecosystem.
Coinbase-incubated x402, a payment protocol built specifically for AI, has launched its V2 version.
According to The Block, x402, an open-source payment protocol incubated by Coinbase and designed specifically for artificial intelligence (AI) agents, is releasing a major upgrade approximately six months after its initial launch. x402 V2 essentially transforms the previously simple, one-off payment system into a mature, internet-facing unified payment layer. Version V2 includes a series of backend improvements designed to make it easier to create customizable payment processes, better wallet and identity features, and support for "traditional payment systems." The biggest upgrade in V2 is the unification of x402's payment interface. x402 V2 standardizes the way networks and assets are identified in the protocol, "creating a single payment format that is universal across different blockchains and traditional payment systems." This means that x402 will "support multiple chains by default," enabling support for native tokens of other blockchains such as Base or Solana without requiring custom logic. Furthermore, the system is compatible with "traditional payment systems" such as ACH and bank card networks. The updated system also introduces dynamic "payTo" routing, supporting payment processes such as usage-based billing, subscriptions, prepaid payments, and multi-step transactions. Developers can also inject "lifecycle hooks" for conditional tools or metric monitoring, and create more customized payment walls.
Important data
According to on-chain analyst @ai_9684xtpa, Hyperliquid's current open interest (OI) reaches $7.73 billion, with the "1011 Insider Whale" address accounting for 7.94% of the total OI. Since the "1011 Insider Whale" opened its position on December 7th, the growth rate of OI on the Hyperliquid platform has accelerated, and the copy trading effect may still exist. Hyperliquid OI has risen continuously for the past seven days, reaching its peak since November 20th. Since the market bottomed out on November 21st, leverage has continued to increase (OI growth is consistent with the K-line trend), and it shows a high concentration on HL.
According to Hyperbot data, the "whale that opened short positions after the flash crash on October 11" has just added approximately 627 ETH to its long positions, bringing its total long ETH holdings to 151,094.52 ETH (approximately $492 million). The whale's total holdings are currently $614 million, with a total unrealized profit of $12.22 million.
According to GoPlus monitoring, the developer/creator of the DOYR token issued nearly 10,000 types of MEME coins through three associated addresses, profiting over $1.2 million. They initially bought 208.5 million DOYR tokens, then quickly sold them off in batches, making only $4,200 in profit. However, it was subsequently discovered that this address issued 3,333 types of MEME coins using the same pattern over 187 days, generating a total profit of over $350,000. Through Dev's asset aggregation address, two other associated addresses were found to have also issued over 6,000 types of MEME coins during the same period. Specifically, the address starting with 0x096a issued 3,445 types of MEME coins, profiting over $260,000, and the address starting with 0xc9A4 issued 2,744 types of MEME coins, profiting over $480,000. The aggregation address 0xe352 received over one million US dollars from the above three issuing addresses and then deposited them into the MEXC exchange. A statistical analysis of the top ten most profitable tokens from three related addresses revealed that they primarily consisted of Chinese MEME tokens and MEME tokens related to comments made by figures like Binance's top female figure and CZ (Chengdu's CEO). Examples include: $高手 (gaoshou, meaning "expert"), $你装什么 (ni zhuang shenme, meaning "What are you pretending for?"), $真是大举了 (zhen shi da ju le, meaning "That's too much of a compliment"), $某安人生 (mou an rensheng, meaning "A certain life on Binance"), $#BNB, and $信我兄弟 (xin xin wo xiong ge, meaning "Believe me, brother"). However, DOYR tokens, which previously boasted a peak market capitalization of $30 million, now only have $4 million remaining.
According to Hyperbot data, Huang Licheng has just added to his long ETH position, bringing his current position to 8,000 ETH (worth approximately $26.05 million). This represents an increase of 1,100 ETH compared to the initial position of 6,900 ETH nine minutes ago. The current average opening price is $3,243.53, with a floating profit of approximately $114,100.
A new wallet has received another 700 BTC from Galaxy Digital, worth $64.8 million.
According to Onchain Lens, a new wallet has received another 700 BTC from Galaxy Digital, worth $64.8 million. The wallet now holds a total of 1,900 BTC, with a total value of $176 million.
Investment and financing/acquisition
According to Fortune, crypto infrastructure startup LI.FI announced the completion of a $29 million funding round led by Multicoin Capital and CoinFund. The funds will be used to build its cross-blockchain price discovery and transaction path optimization tools. This round will be used to expand into areas such as perpetual contracts, prediction markets, and yield strategies, and plans to expand the team. The company is currently profitable. LI.FI provides aggregated routing services for fintech, wallets, and trading platforms, and its current partners include Robinhood, Binance, and Kraken, with a monthly trading volume of $8 billion. Its platform is described as "crypto Google Maps," helping businesses complete multi-chain transactions at minimal cost.
Disney to invest $1 billion in OpenAI
The Walt Disney Company and OpenAI have reached a landmark agreement, with Disney investing $1 billion in OpenAI equity. Disney will become the first major content licensing partner for OpenAI's Sora model. Disney will also become an OpenAI customer, leveraging its APIs to build products, tools, and experience services, including projects for Disney+, and deploying ChatGPT for its employees.
According to The Block, Rushi Manche, former co-founder of Movement Labs, announced the creation of a new investment firm, Nyx Group. The firm plans to invest up to $100 million in liquidity in projects about to launch their own tokens, providing comprehensive operational support including compliance, community building, and governance. Nyx Group claims to have already begun investment operations, supporting only founders with whom it has "deep trust," focusing on projects with market traction such as active users, revenue, and community. Manche stated that this model aims to fill the current gap in funding and guidance for entrepreneurs, aspiring to become the "most founder-friendly" crypto investment firm. Manche was previously dismissed from Movement Labs due to a controversy involving the manipulation of 66 million MOVE tokens; related legal proceedings are still ongoing.
Ripple has completed its $200 million acquisition of stablecoin platform Rail.
According to Cointelegraph, Ripple has officially completed its $200 million acquisition of stablecoin platform Rail.
Institutional holdings
Matrixport deposited 2,000 BTC into Binance, worth over $180 million.
According to Onchain Lens monitoring, Matrixport transferred 2,000 Bitcoins (BTC) to Binance 15 minutes ago, which is worth approximately $180.33 million at the current market value.
Keel launches $500 million plan to promote on-chain RWA development in Solana.
According to CoinDesk, Keel, the capital allocation platform under the Sky ecosystem, announced the launch of a $500 million investment plan called "Tokenization Regatta," which aims to attract real-world asset (RWA) projects to the Solana network through financial support and resource matching. The plan will provide direct financing for RWA projects issuing debt, credit, and funds, and more than 40 institutions have already expressed interest.
According to BitcoinTreasuries.NET, UK-listed Satsuma Technology (formerly Tao Alpha PLC) has reduced its holdings by 579 bitcoins, and now holds a total of 620 bitcoins.
