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From major acquisitions to regulatory warnings, and from cryptocurrency trading to digital payments, here’s a rundown of the top crypto news you might have missed this week. Click on the links in the table of contents below to dive into each story:
Robinhood Agrees to Purchase Indonesian Brokerage and Crypto Platform
The acquisition includes PT Buana Capital Sekuritas and PT Pedagang Aset Kripto, and is expected to close in the first half of 2026, pending regulatory approval. Current majority owner Pieter Tanuri will serve as a strategic advisor following the transfer of the licensed entities, marking a significant move in the cryptocurrency and digital asset space.
By leveraging the acquired infrastructure, Robinhood aims to offer U.S. equities and digital assets to a market of 19 million capital market investors, streamlining the process and avoiding the lengthy procedure of obtaining new operating permits from the Financial Services Authority, a key development in the fintech and cryptocurrency industry.
IMF Warns of Stablecoin Risks to Emerging Economies
The International Monetary Fund released a report highlighting dollar-pegged digital assets as a potential threat to monetary sovereignty in developing nations, emphasizing the need for stricter oversight to prevent these instruments from destabilizing local financial systems, a crucial consideration in the global cryptocurrency market.
- The financial body stated that “currency substitution” in high-inflation economies could weaken central bank control over interest rates and capital flows, underscoring the importance of regulatory vigilance in the digital asset space.
- The organization urged regulators to implement stricter oversight to prevent these $300 billion instruments from destabilizing local financial systems, a key challenge in the cryptocurrency and fintech industry.
Market observers disputed the urgency of the alarm, arguing that the sector remains too small to impact global foreign exchange markets, and that the vast majority of stablecoin volume facilitates cryptocurrency trading rather than real-world commercial payments, a nuanced perspective on the role of stablecoins in the digital asset market.
Paxful Admits to Facilitating Money Laundering and Sanctions Evasion
The peer-to-peer cryptocurrency platform entered a plea agreement with the Department of Justice to resolve charges of conspiring to violate the Bank Secrecy Act and the Travel Act, a significant development in the regulatory landscape of the cryptocurrency industry.
As part of the resolution, the company will pay a $4 million criminal forfeiture and a separate $3.5 million civil penalty to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, a total significantly reduced from federal guidelines due to the firm’s documented inability to pay, highlighting the complexities of cryptocurrency regulation.
‘Ethereum Has Already Bottomed’: Tom Lee’s BitMine Adds $112 Million in ETH to Treasury
Tom Lee, the company chairman, argued that traditional financial institutions have decisively selected the Ethereum network as the primary infrastructure for digitizing real-world assets, and that while Bitcoin serves as a store of value, Wall Street requires a programmable smart contract layer to tokenize stocks, bonds, and real estate, a key insight into the intersection of traditional finance and cryptocurrency.
To back this high-conviction thesis, the firm executed the purchase of 33,504 tokens through institutional broker FalconX, pushing its total reserves to approximately 3.86 million units, a significant investment in the Ethereum ecosystem.
YouTube Adds PayPal Stablecoin Payout Option for US Creators
The Google-owned video platform integrated PayPal’s USD-pegged token (PYUSD) as a formal payout method for creators in the United States, following PayPal’s rollout of the feature to recipients in the third quarter, a significant development in the adoption of stablecoins for digital payments.
This integration allows eligible accounts to bypass traditional banking settlement times by receiving revenue directly on-chain, streamlining the process and highlighting the potential of blockchain technology for efficient and secure transactions.
Xiaomi Taps Sei Network for Native Wallet Integration on Global Devices
The consumer electronics giant agreed to install a dedicated digital asset application on all units shipped to markets outside China and the United States, utilizing multi-party computation security and allowing account access through existing Google or Xiaomi credentials rather than complex seed phrases, a significant step in the mainstream adoption of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology.
Sei Labs allocated $5 million to a developer fund to build applications for the manufacturer’s annual output of 168 million devices, with future phases of the deal involving the acceptance of stablecoin payments at 20,000 retail locations, a major development in the integration of cryptocurrency into everyday commerce.
Bhutan Launches Sovereign Gold-Backed Digital Asset on Solana Blockchain
Gelephu Mindfulness City, a special administrative region within the Himalayan kingdom, issued the “TER” token to serve as a sovereign-backed digital currency, with each unit corresponding to physical bullion reserves held in secure custody by DK Bank, and the Solana network providing the settlement infrastructure for the instrument, a unique example of a country embracing blockchain technology and cryptocurrency.
This initiative broadens the nation’s digital asset portfolio beyond its extensive state-owned Bitcoin mining operations, which utilize the country’s hydroelectric resources, highlighting the growing role of cryptocurrency and blockchain in national economies.
This article is published on BitPinas: Crypto News Catch Up | Dec. 7 – 13, 2025
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