Explaining crypto to relatives this holiday season

Blockworks nailed the annual holiday tradition: trying to explain crypto to family members who think Bitcoin is either fake money or a guaranteed scam. The piece reframes crypto in plain-English terms: payments, infrastructure, digital ownership, rather than charts and buzzwords. It’s a reminder that mass adoption doesn’t start with whitepapers, it starts with people not feeling stupid when they ask questions. Crypto’s biggest UX problem is still communication. (Blockworks)

Macro nerves hit BTC and ETH

Bitcoin and Ethereum wobbled as US unemployment hit its highest level since 2021, rattling already fragile risk sentiment. While not a crypto-specific panic, this does signal macro anxiety spilling everywhere at once. When growth fears rise, traders pull risk first and ask questions later. Crypto still trades like a macro asset when it suits the market. (Decrypt)

BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF keeps pulling money — despite losses

BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF was one of the few funds with massive inflows in 2025, even while performance stayed negative. That tells you something important: institutions are allocating strategically, not chasing short-term returns. This is slow, patient capital, and it behaves very differently from retail momentum trades. Sometimes conviction stays strong when prices don’t. (CoinDesk)

Visa moves USDC settlement on Solana

Visa has begun USDC settlement in the US using Solana, quietly expanding stablecoin rails inside one of the world’s largest payment networks. This move is about speed, cost, and programmability at scale. When Visa integrates something, it’s usually because customers asked for it, not because crypto Twitter did. Another win for stablecoins doing real work behind the scenes, and driving arguably one of the biggest innovations in payments. (Decrypt)

PayPal’s PYUSD finds a role in AI financing

PayPal’s PYUSD stablecoin is being tapped to finance AI infrastructure, linking two of the biggest tech narratives into one payment rail. Stablecoins make sense here: fast settlement, global reach, and no banking bottlenecks. Stablecoins are the new “enterprise plumbing.” When AI needs money to move, stablecoins are increasingly the obvious choice. (CoinDesk)

🎯 Coinbase goes all-in on markets, stocks and Solana DeFi

Coinbase unveiled a sweeping expansion across prediction markets, stock trading, and Solana DeFi integration, blurring the line between TradFi, crypto, and “everything apps.” The strategy here is: keep users inside one ecosystem no matter what they want to trade. Less switching, more stickiness, more revenue streams. Coinbase doesn’t want to be an exchange anymore… it wants to be the interface. (Decrypt)

🏛️ Crypto loses a key ally in Congress

Senator Cynthia Lummis, widely viewed as crypto’s strongest advocate in US politics, announced she will retire next year. Her departure creates a real leadership gap just as regulation enters a critical phase. Crypto has more institutional support than ever, but fewer true champions inside government. Policy progress may get quieter, slower, and more fragile. (CoinDesk)