Abu Dhabi Greenlights Binance, Ethereum Scales Up

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Here’s what’s moving crypto this Sunday, December 21, 2025... Abu Dhabi’s regulatory power play, a sovereign wealth fund nod to corporate Bitcoin treasuries in Japan, two network upgrades you should actually care about, and where the market sits as we head into the final stretch of the year. Let’s dive in.

First — Abu Dhabi just planted a very large flag.

Binance says the Financial Services Regulatory Authority in Abu Dhabi Global Market has granted comprehensive authorization for its global platform to operate under ADGM’s framework. This isn’t a local-only license — the structure positions Binance to run spot and derivatives through three ADGM-licensed entities: an exchange, a clearing-and-custody house, and a broker-dealer. Full-scale operations are slated to flip on January 5, 2026.

It’s one of the most sweeping regulatory approvals any global crypto venue has received, effectively making Abu Dhabi a command center for Binance’s next chapter. Co-CEO Richard Teng says the license provides regulatory clarity and legitimacy to support global operations from ADGM. That’s a big statement... and a big signal about where the UAE wants to sit in the digital-asset stack. Source: Khaleej Times.

Zooming out, this fits a broader UAE policy trend.

A new federal central bank law enacted this fall brings virtual assets and DeFi into the mainstream prudential perimeter — licensing crypto players under the Central Bank, speeding up approval timelines, setting risk-based capital, Shariah governance, and stiff penalties for operating unlicensed. In plain English... the UAE is welding crypto into its banking rulebook rather than bolting it on. Source: CoinDesk.

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Story two — corporate treasuries and a quiet but notable endorsement.

Norway’s 1.7 trillion dollar sovereign wealth fund, Norges Bank Investment Management, says it voted in favor of all five management proposals at Japan’s Metaplanet ahead of the December 22 extraordinary general meeting. The measures are designed to expand capital flexibility and support its Bitcoin-denominated treasury strategy.

It’s a sliver stake, but the vote is symbolically powerful — the world’s largest sovereign investor giving a thumbs-up to a listed company explicitly pivoting into a Bitcoin-treasury model. Keep an eye on that meeting... and the follow-on treasury moves. Source: Bitcoin Magazine.

Why this matters beyond one company: 2025 has been the year listed treasuries multiplied — from U.S. names to Japan’s Metaplanet and others — using equity and preferred structures to add Bitcoin to the balance sheet. Regulatory certainty in hubs like the UAE, plus the U.S. GENIUS Act’s stablecoin guardrails, have set part of that backdrop. Abu Dhabi formalizing Binance’s status adds venue certainty at a time when CFOs care about execution risk. That connective tissue is real. Source: CoinDesk.

Story three — Ethereum’s latest brain transplant is already under the hood.

On December 3, the Fusaka upgrade went live with PeerDAS, letting validators verify portions of data instead of entire blobs. Expected impact: lower bandwidth, lower costs for rollups, and better throughput for users as layer twos scale. Developers locked the date after smooth testnet runs, and the change is one of twelve improvements bundled in Fusaka. If you’ve noticed some rollups quietly tightening fees and finality times this month... that’s the design goal in action. Source: CoinDesk.

Under the surface, account abstraction and chain abstraction work is accelerating too — think of an Ethereum interoperability layer, so cross-layer-two actions feel like a single-chain event. It’s still early research, but it points toward wallets initiating multichain actions natively, with no visible bridges or relayers. The end-user translation is simple: fewer hoops, more reliability. Source: Wu Blockchain.

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Story four — VeChain’s Hayabusa mainnet upgrade is live, and it’s not just a cosmetic tweak.

The network is moving from proof of authority toward a delegated proof of stake model, and reshaping tokenomics so VeThor generation aligns with V-E-T staking. The goal is more decentralization, steadier fees, and materially higher user rewards — part of the multi-phase Renaissance roadmap running through 2026. If you build in supply chains, compliance, or tokenized logistics, watch how this changes validator behavior and fee markets over the next few weeks. Source: BSC News.

Story five — the weekend market check.

Liquidity is thin, but key gauges are surprisingly orderly. As of this morning, CoinCodex pegs total crypto market cap around 2.9 trillion dollars, Bitcoin hovering around 88,000 dollars near the top of its recent range, and Bitcoin dominance sliding just a touch — signs of quiet rotation rather than panic.

Spot ETF flows have been choppy into mid-December, with issuers like BlackRock, Fidelity, and Bitwise seeing days of inflows and outflows. Year to date, creations remain in the tens of billions, even as price-driven assets under management pulled back from October highs. In other words... flows aren’t the firehose they were in the second and third quarters, but the pipe hasn’t shut off either. Source: CoinCodex.

Context worth flagging: policy clarity is still the macro story.

ADGM’s green light to Binance, the UAE’s central-bank law, and the U.K. grinding toward a 2027 start for its new rulebook all point to a world where crypto rails run on familiar financial plumbing. Markets don’t always sprint on that kind of news... but builders and treasurers do. Source: CoinDesk.

Quick recap...

Abu Dhabi gave Binance a global-scale regulatory home under ADGM — one of the strongest signals we’ve seen from any jurisdiction this year. Norway’s sovereign wealth fund backed Metaplanet’s Bitcoin-treasury play — a small vote with big symbolism. Ethereum’s Fusaka upgrade is live with PeerDAS — less bandwidth, more scale — while VeChain’s Hayabusa is shifting consensus and rewards to attract users and validators. And at the market level, it’s a quiet Sunday: market cap steady, dominance edging down, ETF flows mixed but intact. We’ll be watching how this week’s EGM vote, year-end liquidity, and January policy calendars set the tone for the first trading week of 2026. Source: Khaleej Times.

Thanks for listening and see you tommorow!