The Kingdom of Bhutan plans to deploy 10,000 BTC, valued at roughly $1 billion, to support the long-term development of its new Gelephu Mindfulness City economic zone. Announced by King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck in his National Day Address, the Bitcoin Development Pledge focuses on mindful, sustainable growth and potential collateral, yield strategies, and prudent governance for the kingdom's BTC reserves.

On December 21, 2025, Galaxy Digital Research issued its 2026 outlook, calling the year too chaotic to forecast while projecting Bitcoin could reach $250,000 by end-2027. Bitcoin set a $126,080 all-time high on October 6, 2025, then slid to the low $90,000s and around $88,000 in December. The firm also anticipates strong growth in stablecoins.

PIPPIN rebounded after sliding to $0.34, rallying 20.27% to a local high at $0.48 and hovering near $0.451. According to CoinGlass, futures open interest rose 24.29% to $150.73 million while netflow jumped 136.74% to $3.09 million, suggesting buyers added exposure as $0.4 acted as key support.

According to local reports on December 21, the Bank of Korea sent an official document to major banks outlining a second-phase CBDC pilot focused on testing government subsidy payouts in digital currency. The first phase, run with seven banks for three months, was suspended after criticism over limited utility and costs in billions of won.

Alphabet paused Waymo's driverless ride-hail in San Francisco after a widespread outage left multiple robotaxis immobilized. The blackout began Saturday afternoon, peaked two hours later, and affected about 130,000 customers; roughly 21,000 homes and businesses remained without power at press time. A substation fire caused extensive damage, and no timeline for full repairs was given.

On Dec. 18, 2025, SBI VC Trade set a new start time for its "Rent Coin" lending round, covering 34 cryptocurrencies such as XRP, BTC and DOGE, while XRP ETFs collectively posted 30 consecutive trading days of net inflows with a debut U.S. spot product drawing nearly $250 million in first-day volume. Over the same period, Shiba Inu saw about 100 billion SHIB move off exchanges as downside liquidation levels clustered near $0.00777, Solana registered a 40% jump in trading volume alongside a golden cross near $132.9, and Dogecoin analysts warned of potential declines toward $0.1 or even $0.062 after losing support in the $0.16–$0.18 range.

Bitcoin core developer Jameson Lopp said moving Bitcoin to post‑quantum cryptography could take 5–10 years, citing decentralized coordination. He agreed with Adam Back that quantum computers pose no near‑term threat, while Charles Edwards warned BTC could fall below $50,000 by 2028 if node operators don't enforce BIP 360.

PUMP has dropped 39.3% from $0.0032 to $0.00196 since December 9, breaking the long-held $0.0025 support. A federal court approved an expanded class-action naming Pump.fun, the Solana Foundation and Jito Labs, while Coinalyze noted a 4% 24-hour rise in open interest despite a 1.57% price decline.