In 2025, Trump-themed crypto launches surged and then dropped, with losses of 80% to 99% by December 23, while Bitcoin turned lower after October highs. On November 3, Scion Asset Management disclosed puts on Nvidia and Palantir, and in October gold set records as shutdown fears spiked; later, a Bloomberg JGB index declined more than 6% as yields rose.

On December 28, 2025, Robinhood's 'Hood Holidays' campaign awarded $750,000 in Bitcoin on its second day, after offering $500,000 in Dogecoin and luxury physical prizes on day one. Some users reported app crashes and error messages during the narrow claim window, while Robinhood's HOOD shares closed at $118.13, down 1.92% on the day and 6.05% over the past month, despite mixed analyst views on its outlook.

In 2025, gold and silver together increased their market capitalization by $16 trillion, with both metals far outperforming major equity benchmarks. Gold has risen about four times as much as the S&P 500, while silver has gained roughly eight times more and surged 175% for the year. Silver prices in Shanghai have climbed to $85 per ounce, outpacing US spot prices ahead of new Chinese export controls set for 2026. Over the same period, Bitcoin has dropped 6% after previously being up 40% earlier in the year.

On December 27, China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee approved a revision of the Foreign Trade Law, which will take effect on March 1, 2026. The overhaul spans eleven chapters and eighty-three articles, strengthening tools for sovereignty, security, digital and green trade, and dispute countermeasures, as industrial profits fell 13.1% in November after a 5.5% October decline.

JPMorgan has frozen the accounts of Y Combinator-backed stablecoin startups Blindpay and Kontigo due to their business links with Venezuela, which is under extensive U.S. sanctions. The bank, which works with other stablecoin firms, says the move is driven by legal and compliance risks tied to high‑risk jurisdictions. Around the same period, the Trump administration intercepted multiple Venezuelan oil tankers and expanded sanctions on shipping companies moving the country's crude.

At the Fortune Brainstorm AI conference in San Francisco on Friday, CoreWeave CEO Michael Intrator argued that talk of a circular AI economy overlooks a real global squeeze on hardware, energy, and infrastructure. He said shortages now extend beyond chips to raw materials such as copper, while demand for AI compute from major technology firms remains strong despite stock volatility, debt concerns, and fears over secondary markets for used GPUs.

A former Coinbase customer support agent in India has been arrested in Hyderabad after being tied to a major breach that began in May, involving hackers who bribed overseas staff to obtain user data and demand a $20 million ransom. Coinbase’s security chief said access for those leaking data was cut off once detected, but the company now faces up to $400 million in costs from the incident and broader scrutiny over internal security and political influence.

According to a report updated on December 27, 2025, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in a CNBC interview the U.S. will return to the moon during President Donald Trump's second term and outlined an "orbital economy" plan. He cited Artemis work with SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Boeing, noting a $9.9B boost from Trump's bill. The piece also described SpaceX buying over 1,000 Cybertrucks amid weak Tesla sales.

The New York Fed said $30.5 billion of trades in the on‑the‑run 10‑year Treasury failed to settle in the week ended December 10, the largest delivery fails since December 2017. The squeeze followed a $42 billion November 12 auction and was exacerbated by balance‑sheet runoff that has reduced SOMA reinvestments since mid‑2022.