The Japan Fair Trade Commission plans a fact-finding investigation into AI-driven search services provided by companies including Google, Microsoft and Japan’s LY Corp., focusing on potential antimonopoly law violations related to the use of news content. The probe, described by an official as a move to better understand current practices, will also cover conversational AI operators such as OpenAI and Perplexity AI and will extend a 2023 investigation into online news distribution contracts. In parallel, European and UK regulators are tightening scrutiny of large US tech firms over generative AI training data, adtech practices and competition rules.

Crypto.com is recruiting quantitative traders to staff an internal market‑making desk that will trade sports‑linked prediction contracts directly against customers on its exchange. The role, described in a recent job posting, focuses on buying and selling event‑based financial contracts to boost liquidity and “maximize profits while carefully managing risks.” The move has intensified debate over potential conflicts of interest, as rivals Kalshi and Polymarket face lawsuits and criticism over similar in‑house trading operations.

The Federal Reserve has released a proposal and opened a public feedback portal on creating so-called "skinny" payment accounts that would let certain fintech and crypto firms access its payment systems on a limited basis. Under the plan, non-bank institutions could clear and settle their own transactions via designated accounts linked to Fed master accounts, with strict caps, no interest, and risk controls, while some policymakers have raised concerns over safeguards against financial crime.

On December 23 2025, Santiment reported that XRP's social media sentiment fell to one of its most negative readings in two months as the token traded more than 30% below recent highs. The article adds that a similar fear spike on November 21 was followed by a roughly 22% three-day rebound, while price recently slipped under $1.93.

On December 19, 2025, SWIFT detailed progress on integrating a blockchain-based ledger into its global payment network. The effort involves collaboration with more than 30 banks and aims to enable real-time, 24/7 cross-border payments with transaction validation and smart-contract features for tokenized assets. Thierry Chilosi cited prototype work with Consensys and consultations on settlement models.

Hyundai Group's headquarters in Seoul received an email demanding 13 Bitcoins and threatening detonations at 11:30 AM if unpaid, according to South Korea's police. The message cited sites in Jongno-gu and Seocho-gu; 13 BTC is worth $1.1 million (KRW 16.4 billion) at current prices. Police searched facilities and said no explosive devices were found.

On December 19, 2025, CryptoQuant's sentiment analysis indicated Bitcoin's demand has cooled since early October, with U.S. spot ETFs turning net sellers in Q4 2025 and offloading about 24,000 BTC. Derivatives data show reduced risk appetite, while short-term holders face average losses of -14.9% with BTC near $86,700 and a cost basis around $101,800.

EchoSync has introduced a copy trading dashboard on decentralized perpetual exchange Aster, linked to its Human vs AI trading competition running from December 9 to 23, 2025. Human traders currently lead the rankings with higher realized profits but larger drawdowns, while AI models show smaller losses and more consistent capital preservation. Aster has set a $200,000 prize pool with conditions favoring human winners and is adding USD1 trading pairs as its ASTER token trades 71% below its September peak.

On December 17, Robinhood's "Robinhood: Deployer" address on Arbitrum executed 500 smart contract deployments for tokenized stocks, pushing its total to 1,997 contracts since May. The cumulative value of these Robinhood-issued tokenized assets has risen from near zero in June to over $10 million by mid-December, led by ETFs and major tech stocks such as the YieldMax MSTR Option Income Strategy ETF, Alphabet, and Microsoft.