Crypto exchange-traded products posted $446 million in net outflows over Christmas week, extending a cautious pattern that has persisted since the sharp market correction on Oct. 10. Total outflows have reached $3.2 billion over that period, even as year-to-date inflows stand at $463 billion and assets under management are up only 10%. Newer XRP and Solana ETPs continued to attract capital, while Bitcoin and Ether products, particularly in the United States, faced sustained redemptions.

Onchain metrics compiled by Nansen indicate that in December, major networks such as Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum and Avalanche processed more transactions even as fee revenue declined. Ethereum’s transaction count rose 16% while fees fell 57%, and Polygon transactions jumped 82% with a 47% drop in fees, highlighting the impact of recent scaling upgrades. In contrast, BNB Chain, Base, HyperEVM and Solana recorded simultaneous declines in both activity and fee income amid a subdued crypto market.

Aave token holders have rejected a governance proposal that sought to move control of the protocol's domains, social accounts, naming rights and other intellectual property into a DAO-controlled entity. The snapshot vote closed with 55.29% voting against, 3.5% in favor and 41.21% abstaining, exposing broader disputes over token value capture, governance influence and token-equity structures within the protocol.

In December 2025, the NFT market's total valuation fell to $2.5 billion, down 72% from the $9.2 billion peak recorded in January. Alongside the price weakness, unique buyers, sellers and transactions all declined, while most top NFT collections saw double-digit floor price drops over the past 30 days despite a few art-focused projects and Sports Rollbots showing relative resilience.

U.S. spot Ether ETFs snapped a seven‑day outflow run with $84.6 million in net purchases on Monday. XRP funds also drew $43.9 million, their strongest daily intake since early December, while Solana, Chainlink and Dogecoin products showed mixed momentum, with the former two seeing steady accumulation and DOGE activity fading.

According to new modeling by RWA.io, fragmentation across blockchain networks is imposing an economic drag of up to $1.3 billion per year on tokenized real-world assets as crosschain price gaps and capital friction persist. The report cites typical 1%–3% price spreads for equivalent tokens on different chains and average losses of about 3.5% per capital reallocation, warning that at a projected $16 trillion–$30 trillion RWA market by 2030, annual efficiency losses could reach $30 billion–$75 billion.

On Wednesday, the SEC's Trading and Markets Division detailed how broker-dealers can custody tokenized stocks and bonds under Rule 15c3-3, requiring exclusive control of private keys and defined operational, security and governance measures. Commissioner Hester Peirce separately raised trading-venue questions as Nasdaq (Nov. 30), Securitize (Tuesday) and Coinbase (Thursday) advance tokenized equity initiatives.

Data compiled by Dune and Keyrock shows that Polymarket's average user retention exceeds that of more than 85% of 275 crypto projects, including DeFi platforms, wallets and trading apps. In December, major firms such as Coinbase, Gemini, Phantom and Bitnomial moved into prediction markets, aiming to leverage event-driven engagement tied to elections, sports and macroeconomic data.

Hyper Foundation has called a validator vote to classify HYPE held in Hyperliquid's Assistance Fund system address as permanently inaccessible, excluding those balances from circulating and total supply. The address holds about $1 billion, and a "Yes" outcome would treat these tokens as burned for governance, including USDH reserve yield routed there.