Circle is issuing an additional 1 billion USDC on the Ethereum network

On December 9, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin took to X (formerly Twitter) to share his observations, noting he had previously flagged that the Ethereum Foundation was short on experience with the P2P network layer—prioritizing cryptoeconomics, BFT consensus, and the block layer while often taking the network layer for granted. That dynamic has shifted, however, thanks to PeerDAS’s performance. Buterin highlighted that @raulvk and other Foundation members have made “heroic contributions” to PeerDAS’s smooth operation, as well as the development of a roadmap focused on faster propagation, stronger resilience, and parallel network privacy improvements. He expressed optimism about further progress ahead.

On December 9, Japanese publicly-listed fashion firm ANAP Holding purchased an additional 54.51 bitcoins, per BitcoinTreasuries.NET, bringing its total holdings to 1200.2 bitcoins.

On December 9, Santiment tweeted: “With Bitcoin’s market cap hovering around $90,000, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market value continues to see net outflows from centralized exchanges (CEXs). Over the past year, 403,200 BTC have flowed out of CEXs, and the net amount of exchange-held Bitcoin has dropped by 2.09%. Overall, this is a long-term bullish signal: historically, the lower the exchange-held supply, the less likely significant sell-offs that trigger asset price downturns are to occur.”

**Dec. 9 (Decrypt) — A San Jose, Calif., woman lost nearly $1 million to a cryptocurrency “piggyback” scam after consulting ChatGPT to verify her situation, according to a new report.** Margaret Loke first connected with a man named “Ed” on Facebook in May. Claiming to be a wealthy businessman, “Ed” built an emotional bond with Loke before guiding her to invest in crypto. Loke transferred over $490,000 from her retirement account and an additional $300,000 via a home equity loan to the purported crypto platform. When the account was suddenly “frozen” and “Ed” demanded $1 million to unlock the funds, Loke shared details of the situation with ChatGPT. The AI responded that the setup matched a known scam pattern and advised her to report the incident to authorities. An investigation later revealed the funds were sent to a bank account in Malaysia and withdrawn by the scammer.

December 9th Reuters columnist and financial journalist Jamie McGeever notes that while Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s eight-year term wraps up next May, markets broadly expect Trump’s chief economic advisor Kevin Hassett to take his place. But market pricing clearly signals traders don’t believe a Hassett-led Fed will ease monetary policy significantly as Trump has hinted. In fact, interest rate futures show just 75 basis points of easing is expected by the end of next year — equal to three 25-basis-point rate cuts. Most likely, two of those cuts will come before Powell departs, leaving only one after the new chair takes office in the second half of 2026. The key driver? During the Fed chair transition, inflation is still projected to hover around 3%. By the time the new chair assumes office, real interest rates may be near zero — meaning monetary policy is already very accommodative.

On December 9, per Onchain Lens data, a newly created address withdrew 900 Bitcoins from Galaxy Digital—valued at roughly $81.15 million.