TLDR CRYPTO 2025-12-18

SEC SAYS BROKER-DEALERS NEED TO MAINTAIN CRYPTO PRIVATE KEYS

The SEC's Division of Trading and Markets indicate that a broker-dealer can treat itself as having possession/control when it has exclusive access to the private keys needed to transfer the token. It also requires written policies and systems to protect keys from theft, loss, or unauthorized use, plus preparedness for operational events like network attacks, blockchain malfunctions, and hard forks, and processes to comply with legal orders to freeze/burn/seize assets. Custodians must monitor protocol/governance developments and reduce exposure if there are material security or operational weaknesses.

FEDERAL RESERVE WITHDRAWS RESTRICTIVE 2023 POLICY

INTRODUCING TEMPO TRANSACTIONS

Tempo Transactions is a new native transaction type designed for payments at scale. Core features include paying network fees in any USD stablecoin, batch + concurrent transactions, fee sponsorship, scheduled payments, and passkey-based auth (FaceID/biometrics). Tempo positions these as protocol-level primitives to support enterprise-grade workflows like payroll, payouts, subscriptions, neobanks/wallet UX, and commerce. Crossmint, Fireblocks, Privy, and Turnkey are among the ecosystem partners rolling out support.

COINBASE CONTINUES “EVERYTHING EXCHANGE” PUSH

👉 BRIDGE NOW!

HOW BANKS LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE STABLECOINS

Fears of stablecoins causing immediate “deposit erosion” were overstated, as there is little evidence of deposit outflows tied to stablecoin growth because deposits are “sticky” because of the checking account's role as the hub for payroll, bills, credit, and mortgages. Rather than displacing banks, stablecoins can discipline banks into paying better rates and improving efficiency, expanding lending/intermediation and consumer welfare. The GENIUS Act addresses run/liquidity risk by requiring stablecoins to be fully backed by cash, short-term Treasuries, or insured deposits, with operational details left to regulators. The upside case is payments plumbing because stablecoins enable 24/7 atomic settlement, reducing cross-border delays and “trapped” liquidity.

THE RAMPING BOTTLENECK

Stablecoin ramps are the real adoption bottleneck as bank-funded ramping in the US/EU/UK can cost 0-0.3%, while parts of Africa can hit 15–20%. Global card on-ramp completion is ~21% (Africa ~6% and Asia ~7%), and cards are structurally mispriced for stablecoins because there's no product margin to hide MDR/chargeback risk.

BEWARE THE LOFTY PROMISES OF TRADFI FIRMS EMBRACING TOKENIZATION

TradFi's tokenization press releases hype 24/7 settlement and programmability, but they largely ignore the existential risk that permissionless onchain rails pose to their incumbent moats. These firms can't get the upside without meaningful cannibalization and mistakes along the way. If these firms fail, they'll use adoption carrots and regulatory sticks to push crypto toward permissioned, captured “crypto-like” systems.

AAVE WILL WIN: 2026 MASTER PLAN

Aave's 2026 strategy prioritizes three pillars: Aave V4 (hub-and-spoke liquidity to unify pools and bootstrap new markets), Horizon (institutional RWA lending market targeting the “next trillion” in assets), and the Aave App (consumer fintech-style UX plus “Push” zero-fee on/off-ramp to drive the first million users). Aave has historically done $3.33T in cumulative deposits and originated ~$963B in loans. It had a peak of $75B net deposits, has 59% DeFi lending share, and does $885M in annual fees.

COW SWAP VOLUME MUCH BIGGER THAN POLYMARKET, BUT VALUATION IS FLIPPED

Regular trading processes much more volume than prediction markets.

DAO CONTROL OVER AAVE IS A MISTAKE

Increasing DAO control over Aave risks slowing decision-making and weakening execution, because “when everyone has control, no one really does.”

ETHEREUM ACTIVE USERS BACK NEAR ALL-TIME HIGHS

Ethereum weekly active users are back near ATHs at ~2.4M unique active addresses/week.

AQUA BY 1INCH: SHARED, SELF-CUSTODIAL LIQUIDITY

Aqua has proposed a DeFi liquidity model where assets stay in the user's wallet and strategies get conditional access via smart contracts, meaning tokens only move during an actual swap or settlement.