Crypto Markets Rally Ahead of Holidays as Regulation and Innovation Drive Growth

The cryptocurrency market experienced a modest rally ahead of the Christmas holidays, with major digital assets recording gains on Monday, Dec. 22. Bitcoin (BTC) rose 2.5% over the past 24 hours to $90,125, while Ethereum (ETH) surged 3.2% to $3,060. The total cryptocurrency market cap currently stands at $3.13 trillion, up 2% on the day. The rally was led by altcoins, with Sky (SKY) rising 6.7% to $0.068 and NEAR Protocol (NEAR) gaining 6.2% to $1.55. However, not all assets were in the green, with Canton (CC) falling 14.9% to $0.089 and Aave (AAVE) dropping 11.3% to $154.79. In other news, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is debating the strategic focus of the newly rebranded Base App, questioning whether it should focus on finance, social features, or both. The app currently functions as both a wallet and a social hub, but Armstrong is exploring different paths for its development. Regulatory developments are also driving growth in the sector, with Coinbase suing three states over prediction market restrictions. The lawsuits were filed in Connecticut, Illinois, and Michigan, with Coinbase arguing that prediction markets should fall under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's (CFTC) federal oversight, not state gaming regulators. Meanwhile, Synthetix is launching a perpetual derivatives DEX on Ethereum, which will use a hybrid onchain-offchain order matching system to bypass Ethereum mainnet's latency and high gas fees. The launch will debut with Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana derivatives with up to 50x leverage. In addition, Intuit has partnered with Circle to add stablecoin capabilities across its platform, aiming to speed up payments, refunds, and remittances across the finance management giant's products. The partnership reflects a growing trend among fintech and traditional financial firms to explore stablecoins and blockchain-based payment rails. The tokenized equity sector has also seen significant growth, with the market capitalization of tokenized stocks approaching $1 billion, up 2496% from just $32 million at the beginning of the year. Major traditional finance (TradFi) and DeFi companies are piling in to win the tokenized equity race, with popular retail platforms such as Robinhood diving headfirst into tokenized equity trading. However, not all news is positive, with DPRK hackers continuing to avoid DeFi lending protocols to swap and obscure stolen cryptocurrency. According to a report by blockchain forensics firm Chainalysis, hackers linked to the government of North Korea stole at least $2.02 billion worth of crypto in 2025, bringing the cumulative total DPRK-linked losses to $6.75 billion. Despite these challenges, the cryptocurrency market remains optimistic, with the total value locked (TVL) in DeFi rising from about $50 billion in 2024 to nearly $175 billion by October. The sector is expected to continue growing, driven by innovative launches and regulatory developments. Sources: * Crypto Markets Rally Ahead of Holidays (The Defiant) * Magma Devs Launches RPC Smart Router on Google Cloud (The Defiant) * Coinbase CEO Debates Base App’s Strategic Focus (The Defiant) * Curve DAO Rejects $6.2 Million Swiss Stake Funding Proposal (The Defiant) * Tokenized Equity Sector Surges 2500% in 2025 (The Defiant) * Coinbase Sues Three States Over Prediction Market Restrictions (The Defiant) * DPRK Hackers Avoid DeFi Lending Even as On-Chain Laundering Scales: Chainalysis (The Defiant) * Bitcoin Stabilizes Near $88K as Selling Pressure Persists (The Defiant) * Synthetix Unveils Perpetual DEX on Ethereum Mainnet (The Defiant) * Intuit Partners with Circle to Integrate Stablecoin Infra, USDC Across Its Platform (The Defiant)