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According to official news, Ondo Finance has announced that it has submitted a no-action request to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding its Ondo Global Markets (OGM) product, seeking regulatory confirmation that recording certain securities interests in a tokenized form on the Ethereum mainnet under specific models will not trigger enforcement risks.Ondo stated that the introduction of on-chain records helps improve collateral monitoring efficiency, optimize the redemption process, and simplify the reconciliation system. This is essentially an optimization of the operational layer of existing products rather than a reconstruction of market structure. Under compliance, public blockchain infrastructure can operate in conjunction with traditional systems.

On the occasion of its thirteenth anniversary, Gate founder and CEO Dr. Han published an open letter titled "Releasing the Power of Change Amidst Cyclical Transitions," reflecting on the platform's journey from early exploration to global development, and systematically elaborating on his judgments regarding industry cycles and future trends.Dr. Han pointed out that as CeFi continues to extend towards DeFi, the platform is moving from a centralized trading vehicle to a more open ecological structure. The cryptocurrency industry is shifting from "narrative-driven" to "infrastructure-driven," with the focus of competition shifting from products and scale to system capabilities and structural advantages. In the next cycle, platforms with infrastructure capabilities will no longer just be market participants but will become an important part of the rules.Dr. Han stated that Gate is gradually transitioning from a builder to a shaper of industry structure, continuously investing in trading depth, risk control capabilities, and global compliance systems, while simultaneously laying out in areas such as RWA, TradFi, DeFi, and AI. In addition, Gate is advancing its global brand building by establishing partnerships with top international sports IPs like the F1 Red Bull Racing Team and Inter Milan, accelerating connections with a broader global user base.In the future, Gate will continue to lay out around infrastructure capabilities, deepening investments in ecological connections, technological capabilities, and global systems to address a new stage of higher-dimensional industry competition.

According to CoinDesk, federal prosecutors submitted documents to the judge questioning the authenticity of a letter claimed by FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried to have been sent from prison. Prosecutors pointed out that the letter was actually sent via FedEx from the Palo Alto or Menlo Park area, which does not match the Terminal Island federal prison where he is located, and the letter incorrectly labeled his federal prison as a state facility, using a typed signature instead of a handwritten one, violating the federal prison's prohibition on using private couriers to send mail.Although prosecutors did not directly accuse SBF or his associates of forging documents, they stated that the aforementioned inconsistencies are sufficient to raise reasonable doubts about the letter's origin, which will affect the credibility of related evidence in his motion for reconsideration. SBF is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence for fraud and conspiracy and is actively seeking a reconsideration, but the appellate judges have shown clear skepticism towards his claims.

Stripe's annual letter for 2025, released on platform X, states that its total transaction volume for platform business reached $1.9 trillion last year, a 34% increase year-over-year, accounting for approximately 1.6% of global GDP. Stripe has acquired Privy, which supports 110 million programmable wallets, and Metronome, a company with a usage-based billing model.According to Stripe's monitoring, the transaction volume of stablecoin payments doubled in 2025 to about $4 million, with 60% being B2B transactions. Stripe co-developed a payment-specific blockchain called Tempo with Paradigm, which is currently being tested by institutions such as Visa, Nubank, and Shopify, with its mainnet set to launch soon. Additionally, Stripe has developed the Agent Commercial Protocol (ACP) with OpenAI and launched a new primitive called Shared Payment Tokens, allowing agents to initiate payments without disclosing credentials.In terms of financing and credit, Stripe Capital supported over 81,000 businesses in 2025, with financing amounts increasing by 45% year-over-year. Stripe stated it will continue to optimize each transaction through tools like AI-driven Radar and Optimized Checkout Suite, aiming to be the best way to build businesses in the AI era.

The chief Democratic member of the U.S. Senate Homeland Security Committee's investigative panel, Richard Blumenthal, has launched an investigation into Binance due to reports that the platform may be involved in sanction evasion related to Iran.In a letter to Binance CEO Richard Teng, Blumenthal requested documents regarding records of Iranian users using Binance, internal compliance investigation materials, and information on related employee terminations. Media reports indicate that Binance's compliance team had found that partners Hexa Whale and Blessed Trust were used as money laundering intermediaries and provided trading channels for entities related to the Iranian government, while employees involved in the investigation faced disciplinary actions or termination. Binance has denied the related allegations.

According to Bleepingcomputer, Trezor and Ledger users have fallen victim to physical letter scams, where fraudsters impersonate official organizations to lure users into scanning QR codes that lead to phishing websites, and deceive them into providing their recovery phrases under the pretext of "identity verification checks" and "transaction checks," thereby facilitating the theft of cryptocurrency assets.

YZi Labs issued a letter to the board of CEA Industries stating that CEA Industries' claim of a "secret agreement" with YZi Labs is completely false. The board was already aware of the contents of the agreement, and the law firm Winston & Strawn also provided advice, with board members Alexander Monie, Hans Thomas, and then-CEO of 10X Capital Namdar being involved throughout. The so-called "secret" is merely a misleading statement to the public.The request by CEA to terminate the Strategic Services Agreement (SSA) is equally absurd. YZi Labs terminated the agreement on December 11, 2025, and formally notified the board in writing on December 13. The SSA did not result in any payments and does not affect the negotiations of the 10X asset management agreement.The board is attempting to cover up the facts under the guise of an "investigation," concealing their inaction regarding known circumstances. YZi Labs calls on the board to immediately clarify the misleading statements, fully disclose the related party transactions involving Hans Thomas, and effectively safeguard shareholder interests.

In response to a recently circulated so-called "lawyer's letter," Binance stated that the document was not issued by Binance and is a forged document. Previously, X user Lewsiphur accused Binance of being insolvent and claimed that it would have a more severe impact on the market than FTX. Subsequently, he shared a suspected cease-and-desist letter allegedly issued by Binance, stating that failure to delete the relevant content within the specified time would result in legal action.The official Binance customer service account responded, stating: "This letter did not come from Binance, but is a forged document with strong subjective speculation. We remind users to be vigilant against false documents and misleading information." As of now, the aforementioned related accusations have not been deleted.Regarding the recent bankruptcy rumors surrounding Binance, the company has repeatedly denied them and stated that such claims lack factual basis. Binance co-founder He Yi also mentioned that the concentrated withdrawal behavior initiated in the community can be seen as a stress test to some extent, and on-chain data shows that the related activities have not led to a decrease in the platform's asset scale.

BC.GAME today released a public letter to the community, stating that it will return to the "hardcore" product route and launch the "Zero Edge Plan." The letter mentioned that the platform "may have lost its soul" in the pursuit of scale and expressed its intention to return more initiative to the community.According to the introduction, the platform will allocate 1 billion platform tokens to the community; and in designated games, through the Tacoback mechanism, it will return 100% of the house edge to users, emphasizing a closer experience to "pure fairness." In addition, BC.GAME also previewed the advancement of the "Bet Anything" mapping/synthesis betting platform, low-threshold prediction markets, and "Trustless Trust" decentralized architecture, aimed at more open gameplay and community participation.

On January 7, Sun Yuchen, the global advisor of Huobi HTX, published a letter to users stating, "The past year has been one of rapid changes and structural reshaping in the crypto industry. Huobi HTX does not chase short-term hype but chooses to cultivate steadily amidst fluctuations and achieve robust growth. Huobi HTX will continue to solidify its underlying capabilities, optimize product experiences, and always prioritize user needs."According to the "Huobi HTX 2026 Kickoff Report | Defining the Next Round of Growth with Long-Termism" released on the same day, Huobi HTX achieved multiple robust growth milestones in 2025, including: a total of over 55 million registered users globally, with 6 million new users added throughout the year; an annual trading volume of approximately $3.3 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 39%, achieving a net inflow of $608 million. In addition, the platform maintained a safety record of zero incidents throughout the year and was included in Forbes' list of "The Most Trusted Crypto Exchanges in the World 2025."

According to official news, Binance has released its 2025 Co-CEO Year-End Open Letter, revealing that its global user base has surpassed 300 million. The open letter points out that currently, on average, 1 in every 27 people globally uses crypto assets, indicating that the industry is moving from a niche phase to broader everyday applications.In terms of business data, Binance stated that the total product trading volume on the platform reached $34 trillion in 2025. Among this, retail-led trading volume grew by 125% year-on-year, while institutional trading volume increased by 21% year-on-year. On most trading days, nearly half of the global BTC and ETH trading volume occurs on the Binance platform. Binance also disclosed that its Web3 business continues to grow. Over the past year, more than 60% of mainstream on-chain transactions were completed through the Binance wallet, with the Alpha 2 product accumulating over $1 trillion in trading volume, and 17 million users participating in on-chain project exploration, receiving approximately $780 million in airdrop rewards.In terms of compliance and security, Binance stated that the user asset balance verified through Proof of Reserves (PoR) has reached $162.8 billion. Over the past year, the platform intercepted $6.69 billion in risky funds through risk control and AI models, reducing the success rate of phishing attacks to 0.4%. Additionally, Binance has currently obtained 29 compliance and security certifications globally, with a compliance team size of 1,280 people.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong responded to an open letter initiated by some community members regarding Base. A major point in the open letter states that Base seems to be increasingly leaning towards a creator economy framework rather than an on-chain economy, repeatedly promoting creator tokens.Brian Armstrong stated that the Base chain has a wide range of uses, suitable for various application scenarios: payments, trading, DeFi, building applications/companies, and more. Our goal is to ensure that every developer on Base can benefit from revenue sharing. I believe that social dynamics are crucial for content distribution—whether for emerging applications/companies/developers, investments, prediction markets, social trading features, Alpha/insights, and so on. Cryptocurrency serves as a great ranking metric, and due to the presence of real value exchange (unlike the bot farms commonly seen in traditional social media), it is harder to fake.Therefore, I believe dynamics are important, especially when equipped with a native cryptocurrency like feature for likes. However, it is currently uncertain which type of content will ultimately perform best in the dynamics. We can only know after publishing and collecting data. User interactions within the app are an important metric for iteration.

The U.S. prosecution has submitted a letter to the Southern District of New York Federal Court opposing the court's acceptance of the amicus brief submitted by the digital asset advocacy organization DeFi Education Fund while considering whether to re-examine a case related to Ethereum MEV.U.S. Acting Attorney Jay Clayton stated in a document addressed to Judge Jessica Clarke that the brief "is detached from the trial record and merely reiterates legal arguments previously rejected by the court," and should not be accepted. The case involves brothers Anton and James Peraire-Bueno, who are accused of exploiting approximately $25 million through automated MEV bots on Ethereum. In November, the court declared a mistrial after the jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict on guilt or innocence. Subsequently, the U.S. government requested the court to schedule a retrial as soon as possible in late February or early March 2026.According to the draft brief submitted by DEF on December 19, the organization supports the dismissal of the case or a not guilty verdict, arguing that such prosecutions create uncertainty and fear for DeFi developers, potentially stifling industry innovation and driving participants away. The prosecution, however, contends that these views do not provide new legal grounds. The direction of the case remains unclear. If the brothers are found guilty of the same charges in the retrial, they could face up to 20 years in prison for each count. The outcome of the case is also seen within the industry as having significant implications for MEV behavior and the related compliance boundaries.

The founder of the cryptocurrency trading platform Gate, Dr. Han, released an end-of-year open letter focusing on Gate's achievements over the past year and sharing his insights on the Web3 industry's maturation and long-term strategic thinking. This year also marks the important milestone of Gate's twelfth anniversary. Looking back at the platform's development, Gate has continuously made breakthroughs in trading volume and compliance construction: its spot trading volume and liquidity rank second globally, while its contract trading volume and overall strength remain in the top three worldwide. At the same time, Gate has been advancing its compliance layout in key markets such as Dubai, Europe, Australia, and the United States, laying a solid foundation for long-term international development.In the open letter, Dr. Han pointed out that 2025 is a critical turning point for Web3 to transition from concept to real application. As blockchain infrastructure, user experience, and compliance environment gradually mature, Web3 is moving out of niche technology circles and beginning to enter broader real-use scenarios. Gate will continue to promote Web3 in a more "seamless and authentic" way, integrating it into everyday scenarios such as investment, wealth management, payment, and digital asset management.Looking ahead to 2026, Gate hopes to connect a complete digital economic life with a unified Gate App. Dr. Han stated that Gate does not seek to be the fastest but aims to move more steadily and sustainably, accompanying more users as they step into the next phase of Web3.

OKX founder and CEO Star released the 2025 year-end letter, stating that financial freedom is not without rules, but rather a financial system that remains reliable, verifiable, and selectable when tested. In 2025, amidst multiple extreme market fluctuations, OKX maintained stable system operations, processing a peak of 1.72 million transactions per second on October 11, with order delays maintained at 20 microseconds.Star pointed out that OKX maintained a 3%–5% asset redundancy throughout the year, continuously publishing Proof of Reserves (PoR), with the main asset reserve ratio consistently above 100%. At the same time, OKX continued to invest in security, anti-fraud, self-custody, and compliance market expansion. In 2025, the platform's global trading volume increased by 16% year-on-year, DEX trading volume grew by approximately 262%, and the global user base surpassed 120 million.

According to Cointelegraph, 18 bipartisan lawmakers in the U.S. sent a joint letter to the IRS urging the modification of the "double taxation" rules for crypto staking before 2026, suggesting that taxes should only be levied upon sale, rather than being immediately taxed upon receiving rewards.Lawmaker Mike Carey stated that this move aims to provide fair tax treatment for digital assets and support the U.S. leadership in blockchain innovation.