South Korea's consumer prices rose 2.3% year-on-year in December, remaining above the Bank of Korea's 2% goal for a fourth straight month. Core inflation held at 2%, pointing to limited scope for a near-term rate cut. Analysts said high food costs, a weak won and firm housing demand continue to pose upside risks.

In a December 30 filing, interim US Attorney Jay Clayton asked a New York federal judge to reject the DeFi Education Fund's amicus brief in the criminal case against Anton and James Peraire-Bueno over a $25 million Ethereum MEV exploit. Prosecutors argued the brief repeats legal arguments already decided and adds no new facts, while DEF warned the prosecution could chill DeFi development and a retrial window has been floated for late February or early March 2026. The case is being closely followed across the crypto sector because of its potential impact on MEV practices and developer risk.

Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley has argued that the sharp decline of Iran's currency and rising protests in Tehran underscore Bitcoin's role as a hedge against currency devaluation. Since the June war with Israel, the rial has lost over 40% of its value, inflation has climbed above 42%, and gold coin prices have hit record highs while authorities have tightened rules on Bitcoin mining. Iranians are facing mounting economic pressure from sanctions, banking troubles, and soaring food prices, while some analysts say restrictive crypto policies are limiting people's ability to protect their savings.

UK consumer card spending fell 0.2% in 2025, marking the first annual drop since 2020 as households reacted to higher living costs and weak income growth. While discretionary outlays such as clothing and entertainment rose only modestly, spending on health, beauty, and pharmacy items jumped 9.5%, showing a shift toward smaller indulgences despite overall caution.

On-chain perpetual futures trading in 2025 exceeded $1 trillion in monthly volume, according to Coinbase's David Duong. DeFiLlama reports roughly $972 billion over the past 30 days, with Hyperliquid, Lighter, and Aster among the leading DEX venues. Hyperliquid Labs also scheduled a 1.2 million HYPE distribution for January 6.

BlackRock's BUIDL tokenized money market fund has distributed around $100 million in dividends since its launch in March 2024, according to Securitize. The onchain fund has grown beyond $2 billion in assets, expanded from Ethereum to several other major blockchains, and is fueling debate over the risks and growth prospects of tokenized money market products.

As of December 30, 2025, tokenized stocks have reached a combined market capitalization of $1.2 billion, with the strongest gains in September and December. Institutional activity accelerated via launches from Backed Finance and Securitize, while Nasdaq filed with the SEC to list tokenized shares. Observers liken the moment to early stablecoin and DeFi phases.

Flow abandoned plans for a full-chain rollback after a December 27 exploit siphoned about $3.9 million, following heavy criticism from developers and bridge operators. The FLOW token fell more than 50%, briefly near $0.079, while phase one sets EVM operations to read-only and temporarily restricts affected accounts.

On December 29, 2025, Ethereum’s staking queue flipped net positive, with about 745,000–746,000 ETH waiting to enter validators versus roughly 360,000 in the exit line. Over the weekend both queues hovered near 460,000 ETH before entries accelerated, and analysts say the exit queue could soon reach zero. The shift comes alongside renewed demand from institutional treasury managers.