Singapore's largest money laundering case suspect Wang Shuiming may be extradited to China, with his accomplice being the mastermind behind the Hong Kong crypto platform scam AAX.

On December 18, India’s Competition Commission (CCI) approved Coinbase’s acquisition of a minority stake in Indian crypto platform CoinDCX. Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal later confirmed the move, noting it will deepen Coinbase’s longstanding partnership with CoinDCX. The approval follows Coinbase’s investment plan unveiled in October, when CoinDCX held a post-investment valuation of roughly $2.4 billion and annual revenue of around $141 million. While the exact ownership stake remains undisclosed, Coinbase has rejected earlier reports claiming it planned a $1 billion full acquisition of the firm.

Aster said on December 18 it will roll out its fifth airdrop phase—dubbed “Crystal”—on December 22. Here’s the phase breakdown: - Duration: 6 weeks (December 22, 2025 – February 1, 2026) - Allocation: 1.2% of ASTER’s total supply (≈96 million tokens), with an optional 3-month lockup The 1.2% allocation splits into two tiers: - 0.6% Base Allocation: Accessible for immediate withdrawal - 0.6% Lockup Bonus: Vested after a 3-month lockup Users have two claiming options: - Immediate withdrawal: Receive only the base allocation (lockup bonuses are burned) - Wait for lockup to end: Claim the full amount (base + bonus) The design aims to deliver instant liquidity, incentivize long-term holding, and speed up deflation by burning bonuses for early claims. Aster also shared its Aster Chain roadmap: - Testnet: Late December 2025 - Mainnet: Q1 2026 - Staking & Governance: Q2 2026 Launching its own L1 network will give Aster more control over fee structures, validato

On December 18, the Federal Reserve (Fed) rescinded a restrictive 2023 policy statement that imposed a "strongly opposed presumption" on state member banks’ participation in the crypto industry. The central bank said the change reflects an updated understanding of associated risks, replacing the 2023 rule with a more flexible 2025 version. Under the new policy: - State member banks with FDIC deposit insurance remain bound by strict restrictions under Section 24 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act (FDIA). - State member banks without deposit insurance may now seek Fed approval on a case-by-case basis for certain previously prohibited crypto-related activities. This expands regulatory room for banks to engage in new crypto asset activities. The Fed noted in its statement that since the 2023 policy’s release, both the financial system and regulators have updated their understanding of innovative products and services. Though the prior rule did not outright ban crypto activities, it ef

On December 18, China’s Ministry of Public Security Cyberspace Administration announced that the Qiannan Cyberspace Security Bureau (Guizhou Province) and the Economic Investigation Bureau had busted an online “virtual currency” pyramid scheme. A specialized task force deployed to multiple locations arrested 15 criminal suspects in the operation. Investigators found the scheme group touted the slogan “Anything valuable in the world can be tokenized” and ran an unregistered virtual currency trading platform (no real-name verification required). It set up tiered membership levels, with participants joining by depositing and staking virtual currency. Members earned direct referral rewards for recruiting downlines, forming a multi-tiered structure (3+ levels) involving thousands of participants. The group also created its own virtual currency, luring users with high-return promises. It artificially inflated the currency’s price and assigned tier levels based on purchase amounts—hi

BNB briefly dipped below $840 on December 18, per HTX market data, and is currently trading at $841.38—down 3.58% over the past 24 hours.

On December 18, EmberCN monitoring data shows that in 2020, only 37.8 ETH was used to purchase 1.03 quadrillion SHIB (17.4% of the total supply) at a top wallet address. Nine hours ago, this address transferred 469 billion SHIB (valued at $3.64 million) to OKX. When SHIB hit its all-time high in 2021, that 1.03 quadrillion SHIB was worth $9.1 billion. Most of the tokens remain unsold— the address still holds 966.84 trillion SHIB (16.4% of the total supply), worth $726 million.