Japanese Financial Services Agency: Difficult to Launch Overseas ETF-Linked CFDs Domestically Before Approval of Cryptocurrency ETF

Per Trend News monitoring, prominent crypto influencer @cb_doge recently shared a viral meme depicting Elon Musk as the Grim Reaper—sinister grin, scythe in hand—cutting through a “Bureaucracy” gate emblazoned with U.S. and EU flags. The meme features a satirical twist on Oppenheimer’s quote: “I am become Meme, Destroyer of Bureaucracy,” framing memes as a weapon to cut through red tape. It quickly flooded social media with widespread shares. The meme dropped earlier this month, coinciding with foreign media confirming the premature dissolution of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)—a reform body once billed to slash $2 trillion in federal spending but short-lived. Around the same time, EU fining actions faced cross-the-board criticism. The meme satirizes the “sound and fury” of reform efforts, acting as an emotional outlet for anti-bureaucracy groups. On-chain, the $ELONREAPER token (tied to the regulatory Grim Reaper theme) reacted: 15 tokens bearing the same name hi

December 9 — Stablecoin issuer Circle announced it has secured a Financial Services Permission (FSP) from the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) Financial Services Regulatory Authority, enabling it to operate as a money services provider in the Abu Dhabi International Financial Center (IFC). Additionally, Circle has appointed Dr. Saeeda Jaffar as Managing Director of its Middle East and Africa (MEA) region. Jaffar previously held roles as Senior Vice President at Visa and Group Country Manager for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region.

On December 9, Bitget delivered emergency humanitarian aid to families severely impacted by Cyclone Diwak in Sri Lanka, partnering with a local charity. To ensure supplies reach affected communities quickly and accurately, Bitget is collaborating closely with two local organizations: social assistance group CeylonCash and nonprofit Infinite Grace Foundation, for a multi-tiered relief operation. The relief items include drinking water, much-needed thermal blankets for high-altitude regions, women’s and children’s clothing, and one-week family dry ration supplies. Aid will be distributed in stages and tiers to provide stable, sustainable support to affected families amid evolving disaster conditions.

On December 9, Paradigm’s Head of Data @notnotstorm claimed that prediction platform Polymarket has a double-counting issue in its trading volume, inflating its transaction volume data. This comment sparked widespread criticism in the crypto community, which accused Paradigm of amplifying the controversy and framing Polymarket negatively—given Paradigm’s investment in Kalshi, a direct competitor. Bankr Co-Founder @deployer pushed back, noting the "double-counted" volume issue stems from a third-party dashboard’s data collection method, not any flaw in Polymarket’s own data. He emphasized Polymarket’s transaction volume records have no fundamental errors. Dragonfly’s Head of Data @hildobby also chimed in, saying: “At least as of 2024, all reputable data dashboards have already addressed this.”

**December 9 – Per The Kobeissi Letter, the U.S. Treasury has issued a record $25.4 trillion in T-Bills over the past 12 months. (T-Bills are short-term zero-coupon bonds with maturities of one year or less.) This pushes total Treasury issuance to a record $36.6 trillion, with T-Bills now accounting for 69.4% of total U.S. debt issuance—nearing a historical high.** **The trend means the U.S. government is increasingly relying on short-term (a few months) debt to finance long-term obligations. As a result, public debt interest payments now closely track the Federal Reserve’s policy rate. If inflation rebounds and the Fed is forced to hike rates again, interest costs will surge to unprecedented levels.** **The U.S. debt crisis is worsening.**

December 9th, Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour told a podcast that competition with rival Polymarket has pushed both companies to accelerate development. Mansour compared the two firms’ rivalry to NFL quarterbacks Tom Brady vs. Eli Manning’s head-to-head matchups and soccer superstars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo’s longstanding feud. “Without Polymarket, we wouldn’t have pushed marketing and product development this hard,” he said. “This competition will help us grow the prediction market industry’s reach, hit milestones we otherwise couldn’t have reached, and ultimately benefit users long-term.” Founded in 2018, Kalshi last week announced partnerships with CNN and CNBC, raising $1 billion in funding at a $10 billion valuation. Rival Polymarket—launched in 2020—hit a $13.5 billion valuation in November.