Crypto Industry Logs Record $8.6B in Deals in 2025 Amid Trump-Era Optimism

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The crypto industry recorded a banner year for mergers, acquisitions and public listings in 2025, with dealmaking hitting a record $8.6 billion as a more accommodating regulatory stance in the United States encouraged investors and financial institutions to re-enter the sector. Key Takeaways: Crypto dealmaking hit a record $8.6 billion in 2025 as regulatory easing in the US revived investor and institutional interest. Mega-acquisitions led by Coinbase, Kraken and Ripple drove a sharp rise in mergers and acquisitions. Crypto IPO activity also rebounded strongly, with $14.6 billion raised globally. According to a report by the Financial Times , 267 crypto-related deals were completed by Tuesday this year, marking an 18% increase from 2024. Total deal value surged nearly 300% compared with last year’s $2.17 billion. Market participants expect momentum to carry into 2026 as regulatory clarity improves across major jurisdictions. Coinbase’s $2.9B Deribit Deal Leads Record Year for Crypto M&A The largest transaction of the year came from Coinbase, which agreed to acquire crypto options exchange Deribit for $2.9 billion , making it the biggest acquisition ever recorded in the digital asset sector. Other notable deals included Kraken’s $1.5 billion purchase of futures trading platform NinjaTrader and Ripple’s $1.25 billion acquisition of crypto-friendly prime broker Hidden Road. Industry executives have attributed the resurgence in dealmaking to policy shifts under President Donald Trump, whose administration rolled back enforcement actions and signaled a more permissive approach to digital assets. The change in tone has reassured traditional finance firms that had previously stayed on the sidelines, opening the door for strategic investments and consolidation. Crypto deals running at record pace with more expected in 2026 https://t.co/GelwXyhxlf — Financial Times (@FT) December 24, 2025 Beyond mergers and acquisitions, 2025 also marked a strong year for crypto initial public offerings. The Financial Times reported that 11 crypto IPOs raised a combined $14.6 billion globally, a dramatic increase from the $310 million raised through four listings in 2024. Among the most closely watched debuts were Bullish , the exchange and parent company of CoinDesk, which raised $1.1 billion, stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group with more than $1 billion , and crypto exchange Gemini, which raised $425 million. Regulatory Clarity and MiCA Compliance Fuel Crypto Dealmaking Legal experts say regulatory alignment is a key driver behind many of these deals. Diego Ballon Ossio, a partner at Clifford Chance, noted that both crypto-native firms and traditional finance players are actively acquiring companies for their licenses, particularly those compliant with the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework. He added that demand for stablecoin-related businesses is likely to persist into 2026 as new rules take shape in the US and UK. Charles Kerrigan, a partner at CMS, told the Financial Times that firms are prepared to spend heavily to remain compliant, often using acquisitions to secure regulatory approvals more quickly. He also expects forthcoming US crypto legislation to further draw in traditional financial institutions, reinforcing the current wave of consolidation. The surge in corporate activity comes even as market prices cooled late in the year. Bitcoin has fallen more than 30% from its early October peak above $126,000 and was trading just below $88,000 at the time of publication, according to market data. The post Crypto Industry Logs Record $8.6B in Deals in 2025 Amid Trump-Era Optimism appeared first on Cryptonews .

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What Prices to Expect for XRP, BTC, ETH, and ADA on Christmas?

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Traders expect lighter holiday trading, with big options deadlines and changing ETF money flows setting the stage for price swings. Total crypto market cap declined by about 0.62% in the last 24 hours, now standing at $2.94 trillion. BTC, ETH, XRP, and ADA are likely to stay within technical areas unless a strong catalyst emerges. As we approach Christmas, top cryptos like Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and Cardano are moving in different directions, responding to the overall market mood and economic news. BTC is trading around the $86,000-$88,000 area, notably below earlier peaks but still holding important ground even with lighter trading activity around the holidays. ETH has been hovering below $3,000, struggling to reclaim recent highs, while XRP remains under pressure below the $2 mark. As for Cardano (ADA), it’s been on the decline lately, dropping to roughly … Read The Full Article What Prices to Expect for XRP, BTC, ETH, and ADA on Christmas? On Coin Edition .

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Essential Upbit Maintenance: Your Guide to the New Year’s Deposit & Withdrawal Pause

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BitcoinWorld Essential Upbit Maintenance: Your Guide to the New Year’s Deposit & Withdrawal Pause If you’re a user of South Korea’s leading cryptocurrency exchange, mark your calendar. Upbit has announced a temporary suspension of deposits and withdrawals for a scheduled maintenance period around New Year’s Day. This planned pause is a standard operational procedure, but knowing the exact timeline is crucial to avoid any trading disruptions. Let’s break down what you need to know about this Upbit maintenance window. When is the Upbit Maintenance Happening? The Upbit maintenance will affect different services at specific times. The exchange has provided a clear schedule to help users plan accordingly. Digital Asset Transactions: Suspended from 11:00 a.m. UTC to 11:00 p.m. UTC on December 31st. Korean Won (KRW) Transactions: Suspended from 5:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. UTC on December 31st. Therefore, the core maintenance window for all services is from 5:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. UTC on the last day of the year. It’s important to note that trading on the exchange’s order books will typically remain operational during such audits. Why Do Exchanges Like Upbit Perform Maintenance? You might wonder why a major platform needs to halt deposits and withdrawals. This temporary suspension is not a cause for alarm but a sign of robust operational health. The primary reason for this Upbit maintenance is to conduct a thorough audit of user assets and deposits. Regular audits are a critical compliance and security measure. They ensure that the digital assets held by the exchange perfectly match the balances recorded in user accounts. This process, often called proof-of-reserves verification, enhances transparency and builds trust with the user community. In essence, it’s a financial health check-up for the platform. How Should You Prepare for the Maintenance Window? A little preparation can ensure this maintenance doesn’t impact your end-of-year crypto activities. Here are actionable steps to take: Plan Your Transfers: Complete any necessary deposits or withdrawals well before the scheduled suspension times. Check Time Zones: Confirm the UTC times in your local time zone to avoid missing the deadline. Secure Your Assets: While funds are safe on the exchange, use this as a reminder to ensure your account has two-factor authentication enabled. Monitor Official Channels: For the latest updates, always refer to the official Upbit announcement page or social media accounts. What Does This Mean for the Broader Crypto Ecosystem? Scheduled maintenance by a top-tier exchange like Upbit highlights the growing maturity of the cryptocurrency industry. Proactive audits and transparent communication about service pauses demonstrate a commitment to security and regulatory compliance that rivals traditional finance. This approach benefits everyone. It protects users, ensures market integrity, and helps legitimize digital assets for broader adoption. When exchanges prioritize these operational safeguards, it creates a more stable and trustworthy environment for all participants. Conclusion: A Temporary Pause for Long-Term Assurance The upcoming Upbit maintenance is a short, planned interruption designed to provide long-term security and verification. By understanding the schedule and preparing your transactions in advance, you can navigate this period smoothly. This routine audit ultimately reinforces the safety of your assets on one of Asia’s most prominent cryptocurrency platforms, allowing you to step into the new year with greater confidence in your exchange’s operational integrity. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) Q1: Can I still trade cryptocurrencies on Upbit during the maintenance? A1: Typically, yes. Scheduled maintenance for audits usually only suspends deposit and withdrawal functions. Trading on the spot order books often remains active, but it’s always best to check the official announcement for any specific restrictions. Q2: Are my funds safe during the Upbit maintenance? A2: Yes. Your assets remain secure in Upbit’s wallets. The maintenance is an audit to verify that all user funds are accounted for, which is a safety measure, not a risk. Q3: What happens if I initiate a transfer right before the suspension time? A3: Transactions initiated before the cut-off time will be processed. However, any deposit or withdrawal request started after the suspension begins will be queued and will only be processed once the maintenance is complete and services resume. Q4: How often does Upbit perform this type of maintenance? A4: Major exchanges conduct regular asset audits, often quarterly or semi-annually. This end-of-year schedule is common as exchanges reconcile their annual financial positions. Q5: Will the maintenance affect the price of cryptocurrencies on Upbit? A5: It is highly unlikely. Short, planned maintenance windows for deposits/withdrawals rarely cause significant price movement, as the market is aware and prepared. Major price volatility is usually driven by larger macroeconomic or industry-specific news. Found this guide to the Upbit maintenance helpful? Share it with fellow crypto enthusiasts on your social media channels to help them prepare for the New Year’s schedule and understand the importance of exchange audits! To learn more about the latest cryptocurrency exchange trends, explore our article on key developments shaping platform security and user protection in the digital asset space. This post Essential Upbit Maintenance: Your Guide to the New Year’s Deposit & Withdrawal Pause first appeared on BitcoinWorld .

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Mt. Gox Hacker Unloads 1,300 Bitcoin As $360 Million Still Remains

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Mt. Gox-linked bitcoin tied to Aleksey Bilyuchenko is continuing to filter onto exchanges, extending a slow, closely watched stream of legacy supply that on-chain analysts have been flagging since the fall. Mt. Gox Hacker Unloads More Bitcoin Arkham analyst Emmett Gallic said entities related to Aleksey Bilyuchenko deposited another 1,300 BTC, about $114 million, into unknown exchanges over the past seven days. The wallets still hold roughly 4,100 BTC (around $360 million), and have sold a total of 2,300 BTC. Gallic wrote via X on Dec. 23: “The entity related to Aleksey Bilyuchenko has deposited another 1.3K BTC ($114M) to the unknown exchanges in the past 7 days. They still hold 4.1K BTC ($360M). They have sold a total of 2.3K BTC.” Bilyuchenko has been charged by the US Department of Justice in connection with the Mt. Gox hack . The Dec. 23 deposits build on earlier posts in which Gallic described a methodical unwind rather than a one-off dump. On Nov. 9, he said bitcoins “once belonging to BTC-E cofounder Aleksey Bilyuchenko are slowly being sold off through unknown exchanges,” citing 110 BTC deposited over two days. That Nov. 9 note also emphasized uncertainty around who is actually controlling the funds. “Unclear if he’s still jailed in Russia or in control of these funds, but Moscow courts have seized most of his other assets,” Gallic wrote. The repeated use of “unknown exchanges” suggests the destination clusters are not cleanly attributable to major, labeled venues in the datasets Gallic is using. For market participants, that makes the flow harder to handicap: deposits can signal intent to sell, but the execution path is less transparent than transfers into well-known exchange wallets. In an Oct. 17 post, Gallic went further, alleging that “almost 8K BTC … related to the WEX/BTCE case are controlled by Russian authorities,” including “the 6.5K BTC that moved earlier today.” He attributed that control to a specific unit—“3rd department of the 2nd service of the CSS of the FSB”—and linked to a Russian-language investigative article. Who Is Bilyuchenko? In Russia , Bilyuchenko has faced a separate WEX-related criminal case that has already produced a conviction. On March 18, 2024, the Moscow City Court upheld an earlier guilty verdict against Alexey Bilyuchenko, described in local reporting as a system administrator of the WEX exchange. Bilyuchenko was accused of embezzling 3.1 billion rubles in WEX assets; the Meshchansky District Court sentenced him in September 2023 to 3.5 years in prison and a 500,000-ruble fine, and the appeal court left that decision in place, bringing the verdict into legal force. In the United States, the posture is different: prosecutors have unsealed charges . The case is still ongoing. In June 2023, the Department of Justice announced the unsealing of charges against Bilyuchenko and Aleksandr Verner in the Southern District of New York, accusing them of conspiring to launder approximately 647,000 bitcoin tied to the 2011 Mt. Gox hack. The SDNY indictment charges both men with conspiracy to commit money laundering, carrying a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison. Separately, Bilyuchenko is charged in the Northern District of California with conspiracy to commit money laundering and operating an unlicensed money services business, tied to allegations that he worked with Alexander Vinnik and others to operate BTC-e from 2011 until it was shut down in July 2017. DOJ listed a maximum potential penalty of 25 years on those NDCA charges. At press time, BTC traded at $87,756.

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After $50M USDT Theft, Binance’s CZ Pushes Wallets to Block Poison Addresses by Default

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Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has renewed calls for stronger, industry-wide defenses against address poisoning scams. In a recent post, the former Binance CEO argued that such attacks are solvable through better wallet-level protections. Combating Address Poisoning Attacks CZ said wallets should automatically check whether a receiving address is associated with known poisoning activity and block users from sending funds to it. He noted that this is feasible through on-chain queries and also urged the creation of real-time security alliances that maintain shared blacklists of malicious addresses. This will allow wallets to flag risks before transactions are signed. The crypto exchange founder added that Binance Wallet already issues warnings when users attempt to send funds to poison addresses and suggested that spam micro-transactions used to pollute transaction histories should be filtered out entirely from wallet interfaces. “We can completely eradicate this type of poison address attacks.” Trader Loses $50M in USDT His reaction comes days after a high-profile incident in which a crypto trader lost nearly $50 million in USDT after falling victim to an address poisoning attack, according to on-chain investigators. Data shared by Lookonchain revealed that on December 20, the victim mistakenly transferred 49,999,950 USDT to a scammer-controlled address shortly after withdrawing the funds from Binance. As is common practice, the trader first sent a 50 USDT test transaction to what they believed was their own wallet. An attacker, using an automated script, then generated a spoofed address that closely resembled the legitimate one. The spoofed address matched the first five and last four characters while differing in the middle, precisely the section many wallets shorten with ellipses. The scammer sent small transactions from this lookalike address to poison the victim’s transaction history. Roughly 26 minutes after the test transfer, the victim appears to have copied the spoofed address from their history and sent the full $50 million sum. According to SlowMist, the attacker rapidly laundered the funds by swapping USDT to DAI, then converting it into around 16,690 ETH before depositing most of it into Tornado Cash, in a bid to complicate recovery efforts. The victim later posted an on-chain message offering a $1 million whitehat bounty for the return of the funds. Last May, a crypto investor lost roughly $68 million worth of wrapped bitcoin (WBTC) after falling victim to the scam. Blockchain data showed the victim mistakenly sent more than 1,150 WBTC to a hacker-controlled wallet after copying an address from their transaction history. The post After $50M USDT Theft, Binance’s CZ Pushes Wallets to Block Poison Addresses by Default appeared first on CryptoPotato .

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Pundit Sends XRP Warning to Investors

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At a moment when market sentiment around XRP appears increasingly fragile, a recent commentary from BullRunners founder Nick Anderson presents a sharply different perspective. Rather than focusing on short-term price weakness, Anderson points to a series of institutional developments that, in his view, suggest strategic accumulation is underway. At the same time, retail investors remain focused on losses. Anderson notes that XRP has declined significantly from recent highs, trading below the two-dollar level after being near $3.65 only months ago. He describes rising fear across social platforms and private messages, with many holders questioning whether to exit their positions. Against this backdrop, he argues that major financial players are moving in the opposite direction. Ripple #XRP WARNING! Why Smart Money is Scaling NOW Breaking Crypto News? pic.twitter.com/WARf7rHPou — BULLRUNNERS (@BullrunnersHQ) December 23, 2025 XRP ETFs Pass a Major Milestone Central to his analysis is the rapid growth of XRP exchange-traded funds . According to Anderson, XRP-focused ETFs have surpassed one billion dollars in total assets under management. Products launched by firms such as Grayscale, Bitwise, Franklin Templeton, and Canary Capital are reportedly reaching this level faster than any other digital asset ETF, except Bitcoin and Ethereum. He emphasizes that these funds are physically backed, meaning real XRP must be purchased to support new shares. Despite declining prices, Anderson reports that institutions continue to buy millions of dollars’ worth of XRP daily. He adds that further momentum is expected, with additional issuers, including 21Shares, receiving approval to bring new XRP ETF products to market. For him, the combination of falling prices and steady inflows points to long-term positioning rather than short-term speculation. Exchange Supply Tightens as Buying Continues Another data point highlighted is the reduction of XRP held on exchanges . Anderson states that more than one billion XRP have been left on trading platforms over the past two months. In his assessment, this trend suggests decreasing available supply at the same time ETFs require continuous purchases to back new shares. He contrasts this activity with what he describes as retail panic selling, arguing that professional fund managers and large institutions are accumulating while individual investors react emotionally to price movements. The imbalance between shrinking exchange supply and rising institutional demand, he says, creates conditions that often precede market recoveries. Banks pen the Door to Broader Access Anderson also points to regulatory developments in the United States. He explains that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has cleared national banks to facilitate XRP transactions for customers as riskless principal trades. This would allow major banks to offer XRP buying and selling directly through standard banking apps, without holding the asset on their balance sheets. In his view, this approval could expose XRP to millions of users who are unlikely to engage with cryptocurrency exchanges. He argues that banks do not invest in such infrastructure without anticipating future demand, suggesting that institutional clients are already signaling interest. Ripple’s Strategy and Long-Term Positioning Turning to Ripple’s corporate actions, Anderson highlights the company’s application for a U.S. bank charter , which would grant access to the Federal Reserve system. He frames this as a step toward embedding XRP into regulated financial infrastructure rather than treating it purely as a speculative asset. We are on X, follow us to connect with us :- @TimesTabloid1 — TimesTabloid (@TimesTabloid1) June 15, 2025 He also references Ripple’s recent billion-dollar acquisitions, including firms focused on institutional trading and corporate payments, as well as the rollout of its RLUSD stablecoin. According to Anderson, while institutions may prefer stable instruments for balance sheet management, XRP remains essential as the bridge asset enabling cross-currency movement within this framework. Fear, Fundamentals, and Market Timing Anderson concludes that current conditions reflect a familiar pattern in financial markets. While sentiment remains pessimistic and price action weak, he believes the underlying fundamentals are strengthening through ETF growth, banking access, and Ripple’s expansion. He cautions that further downside or sideways movement is still possible in the near term, but maintains that periods of elevated fear often coincide with strategic accumulation by large players. Disclaimer : This content is meant to inform and should not be considered financial advice. The views expressed in this article may include the author’s personal opinions and do not represent Times Tabloid’s opinion. Readers are advised to conduct thorough research before making any investment decisions. Any action taken by the reader is strictly at their own risk. Times Tabloid is not responsible for any financial losses. Follow us on X , Facebook , Telegram , and Google News The post Pundit Sends XRP Warning to Investors appeared first on Times Tabloid .

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