Из жизни альткоинов

Разработчики криптовалютного кошелька MetaMask добавили поддержку первой криптовалюты, пообещав увеличить количество интеграций в следующем году.

Суд в Красноярске приговорил к тюремному заключению двух подполковников полиции за «крышевание» нелегального казино, а также получение взяток в криптовалюте, сообщили в областной прокуратуре.

С 2026 года планируется ввести круглогодичный запрет майнинга на юге Бурятии и Забайкальского края, сообщило издание «Коммерсант», ссылаясь на проект протокола правовой комиссии по электроэнергетике.

В конце 2025 года на крипторынке наблюдается коррекция. Тем не менее, дела у некоторых проектов обстоят неплохо: им удается обратить на себя внимание крупного капитала. Одним из таких стал Canton Network.

North Korean-linked hackers are using fake Zoom calls to drain crypto wallets in what security researchers say has become a near-daily threat to the cryptocurrency community. According to multiple security reports, the campaign has already netted roughly $300 million in stolen funds and shows few signs of slowing.

Fake Zoom Meetings Used To Drain Wallets

According to Security Alliance (SEAL) and other researchers, attackers first contact targets through messaging apps such as Telegram. They then invite victims to a video call that looks legitimate.

During the call, the impostors claim there is a problem with sound or video and offer a “fix” — a file or a link that appears to be an official update. When the victim runs the file, malware installs and begins stealing credentials, browser data, and crypto keys.

Several attacks are reported every day, and many follow the same pattern. Researchers say these staged calls let attackers bypass normal caution because people tend to trust someone they see on camera.

SEAL is tracking multiple DAILY attempts by North Korean actors utilizing “Fake Zoom” tactics for spreading malware as well as escalating their access to new victims.

Social engineering is at the root of the attack. Read the thread below for pointers on how to stay secure. https://t.co/2SQGdtPKGx

— Security Alliance (@_SEAL_Org) December 13, 2025

NimDoor, Other Malware Strains Target macOS And Wallets

Based on reports, one strain tied to these schemes is NimDoor, a macOS backdoor that can harvest keychain items, browser-stored passwords, and messaging data.

Security teams link NimDoor and related tools to BlueNoroff, a group connected to the Lazarus Group network. BlueNoroff has a long record of attacking crypto firms and exchanges.

Once the malware is in place, wallets have been emptied within minutes. Victims often discover the theft only after seeing outgoing transactions on the blockchain.

Deepfakes And Calendar Invites Make Scams More Convincing

Researchers warn that attackers are not simply using fake names. They are also deploying AI-assisted deepfake video and voice tools to impersonate executives or known contacts.

Attackers sometimes send calendar invites that look like genuine meeting requests from platforms such as Calendly, directing targets to attacker-controlled Zoom links.

The level of social engineering makes the calls seem urgent and official, which reduces the time victims take to question what they are being asked to install.

Attackers Target Individuals And Small Firms Alike

Reports have disclosed that victims include individual traders, startup employees, and small teams at crypto companies. Losses are concentrated but widespread, with estimates around $300,000,000.

Some victims have lost funds tied to browser wallets and hot wallets; others had recovery phrases captured and used to drain accounts.

Security teams urge quick action when a suspicious update is offered during a remote session: They warn not to run it, verify separately, and treat unsolicited meeting fixes as high risk.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView

Bitcoin treasury company Strategy has announced its latest purchase, taking its total investment in BTC beyond the $50 billion milestone.

Strategy Has Added 10,645 BTC With The Latest Acquisition

As announced by Strategy co-founder and chairman Michael Saylor in a new X post, the company has completed another big Bitcoin acquisition. With this new purchase, it has added 10,645 BTC to its reserves, spending $92,098 per token or $980.3 million in total.

The buy has come just a week after Strategy made another acquisition of a similar level. More specifically, the purchase last Monday saw 10,624 BTC entering the treasury company at a cost basis of $963 million. This buy was the firm’s largest since July, and the latest one is even bigger.

On the Monday coinciding with the start of December, Strategy only added a small amount of Bitcoin to its holdings (130 BTC) and a newly announced $1.44 billion USD reserve instead took the spotlight. Saylor noted that the reserve will better equip the company to navigate short-term market volatility.

The mega BTC buys in the two weeks that have followed since then suggest that despite the existence of the USD reserve, the cryptocurrency is still the priority for the treasury firm.

According to the filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the new 10,645 BTC acquisition occurred in the period between December 8th and 14th, and was funded using sales of Strategy’s STRF, STRK, STRD, and MSTR at-the-market stock offerings.

The treasury company now holds a total of 671,268 BTC, with an acquisition cost of $50.33 billion. At the current exchange rate, the firm’s holdings are worth $57.56 billion, putting it in a net profit of over 14%.

The new purchase means that 2025 has overtaken 2024 in terms of the USD amount invested by Strategy into Bitcoin, as the chart shared by CryptoQuant community analyst Maartunn showcases.

From the graph, it’s visible that the difference between the two years isn’t much right now, but 2025 still has a couple of weeks to go. It only remains to be seen whether Strategy will buy more in the coming days and if so, whether the purchases will be similar in size to the latest two.

Despite the scale of the acquisition, Bitcoin has plummeted following Strategy’s new announcement, taking both this week’s and last week’s massive purchases into the red.

The latest decline in the cryptocurrency has also come despite the fact that the spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) witnessed a net amount of inflows during the past week, according to data from SoSoValue.

BTC Price

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is floating around $86,000, down around 4.5% over the last seven days.

According to reports, the UK Treasury will extend existing finance laws to cover cryptoasset firms, with the new rules set to take effect in October 2027.

This means exchanges, wallet providers and other crypto service companies will move beyond current anti-money-laundering registration and into the same regulatory space as banks and brokers.

Regulators To Apply Existing Rules

Based on statements from ministers and officials, the Financial Conduct Authority will be the main supervisor for the sector. Firms will be required to meet standards on reporting, governance and customer protections similar to those applied in traditional finance.

The shift is described as bringing clarity for businesses that want to operate long term in the UK, while giving regulators tools to act against fraud and market abuse.

UK TO REGULATE CRYPTO UNDER FINANCIAL LAW FROM 2027

– The UK will bring cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin under full financial regulation from 2027, placing crypto alongside traditional financial products, per Reuters.

– The Treasury plans to extend existing financial laws to… pic.twitter.com/RhWK96NN51

— BSCN (@BSCNews) December 15, 2025

Consumer Safeguards And Market Integrity

Reports have disclosed that one of the core aims is stronger consumer protection. Officials say the changes will help block bad actors and reduce scams, and that the Treasury is also considering tighter rules around political donations made with crypto. The move follows a series of high-profile fraud cases and growing public concern about safety in crypto markets.

The road to full regulation will be gradual. The Treasury has circulated draft legislation and ministers expect complementary rules from the FCA and the Bank of England to be ready by the end of 2026, ahead of the legal regime going live in 2027. Consultations and regulatory sandboxes are under way, giving firms time to adjust.

How This Compares Internationally

Based on reports, the UK’s plan is being framed more like the US approach than the EU’s Markets in Cryptoassets (MiCA), which was introduced in 2024.

Officials say closer alignment with US practice should help international firms that operate across borders, but it also raises questions about how UK rules will differ from both US and EU requirements in practice.

A draft bill has been prepared and it has had only minor edits since first being published, according to government sources.

Industry responses are mixed: some firms welcome the certainty, while lawyers and trade groups want clearer detail on how existing conduct rules will apply to crypto business models. The FCA is running targeted workstreams, including tests for stablecoin issuers and custody providers.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView

Ripple, Solana, and XRP are converging at a pivotal moment as Ripple formally repositions XRP for a multichain future that extends well beyond a single partnership. At the Solana Breakpoint event, Ripple leadership outlined how integrating XRP into Solana’s ecosystem represents a strategic inflection point for the asset’s utility, liquidity profile, and long-term relevance within decentralized finance. The move signals a clear transition from chain-specific execution toward cross-ecosystem scalability, with XRP positioned as a portable liquidity layer rather than a siloed network token.

Ripple’s Strategic Play At Solana Breakpoint

The vision of a Ripple-Solana integration was shared on December 13, 2025, by Luke Judges, Ripple’s Global Partner Success Lead, during a presentation at Solana Breakpoint, one of the industry’s most influential conferences focused on blockchain performance and ecosystem collaboration. Judges made it explicit that Ripple’s roadmap no longer treats the XRP Ledger (XRPL) as the sole environment for XRP’s growth. Instead, the company is executing a deliberate multichain strategy designed to embed XRP directly into high-activity DeFi ecosystems.

Central to this announcement was the introduction of wXRP, a wrapped version of XRP that will operate on the Solana network. The initiative is supported by Hex Trust, which handles custody and issuance, and LayerZero, which provides the cross-chain messaging infrastructure. Importantly, wXRP maintains a 1:1 backing with native XRP, ensuring holders retain full price exposure while gaining access to Solana-based applications. This structure allows Ripple to expand XRP’s reach without diluting its underlying value proposition.

Judges emphasized that the integration is aimed at practical market outcomes rather than experimentation. By placing XRP inside Solana’s high-throughput environment, Ripple is targeting deeper liquidity, higher transaction velocity, and sustained demand from users already active in decentralized trading and lending.

XRP Enters A Multichain Era

Ripple’s expansion of XRP into multiple networks marks a shift toward broader blockchain interoperability. Against this backdrop, the operational impact of wXRP becomes clearer. By bringing XRP onto Solana, Ripple is enabling direct participation across decentralized exchanges, lending and borrowing markets, and liquidity protocols. This expansion unlocks yield strategies and advanced trading instruments that were previously out of reach for XRP holders operating solely within the XRP Ledger. At the same time, wallet integrations such as Phantom, which serves roughly 20 million users, significantly extend XRP’s accessibility and day-to-day usability within Solana’s ecosystem.

Beyond Solana, Ripple has made clear that this is a template, not an endpoint. Judges confirmed that similar cross-chain deployments are planned for Ethereum, Optimism, HyperEVM, and other networks aligned with Ripple’s broader DeFi and RLUSD strategy. 

That long-term architecture is anchored by the XRP Ledger itself, a point reinforced by J. Ayo Akinyele, Head of Engineering at RippleX. As activity and liquidity extend across multiple chains, XRPL remains the stable foundation supporting these integrations. Through this strategy, Ripple positions XRP as a cross-ecosystem settlement and liquidity asset, capable of supporting multiple networks while anchored by the stability of XRPL.

Tether has seen its Juventus buyout attempt rejected as majority stakeholder Exor has told the stablecoin giant its share is not for sale.

Tether Fails To Acquire Premier Italian Football Club Juventus

On Friday, Tether announced that it had submitted a proposal to acquire Juventus, one of the biggest football brands in the world. The stablecoin firm had previously acquired a 10% minority stake in the club, and with this new plan, it had intended to execute a full buyout.

The first stage had included a proposal to Exor, the holding company of the Agnelli family and majority stakeholder of Juventus. According to Reuters, Tether had offered the firm 2.66 euros per share, a notable premium above the then closing price of 2.19 euros.

In a press release, Exor has responded to Tether, saying that its board has unanimously rejected the bid for its 65.4% controlling stake in Juventus. “Exor reaffirms its previous, consistent statements that it has no intention of selling any of its shares in Juventus to a third party, including but not restricted to El Salvador-based Tether,” noted the company.

Founded in 1897, Juventus has established itself as one of the biggest football clubs globally, with a particularly memorable period of success coming during the 2010s, in which it won nine consecutive titles in the Serie A, the first division of Italian football.

With Exor turning down the deal, the USDT issuer will have to reconsider its approach to the club popularly dubbed as The Old Lady. So far, Tether hasn’t issued any statements in answer.

In the original announcement, Tether had announced that if the firm is able to acquire Exor’s stake, it will move to acquire the remaining shares of the club through a public tender offer at the same share price. This would put the total valuation of Juventus at about $1.17 billion.

Tether had also noted that in the event that the transaction is completed, it will also be prepared to invest 1 billion euros in the football club. “Tether is in a position of strong financial health and intends to support Juventus with stable capital and a long horizon,” said CEO Paolo Ardoino.

While The Old Lady enjoyed a strong period in the last decade, the 2020s haven’t been as kind. Since the 2019-20 season title win, Juventus hasn’t come close to becoming the Italian champion, with its best finish being third place during the 2023-24 season. Juventus also became part of a financial scandal in 2023, with Serie A punishing it with a 10-point deduction for false accounting. Thus, Tether’s interest has arrived when the club has been in a bit of a slump.

USDT, Tether’s stablecoin, has been experiencing growth recently, with its market cap hitting a new record of $186.23 billion, according to data from DefiLlama.

Bitcoin Price

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading around $89,700, down 2.5% over the last week.