Scam Blitz, MiCA Deadline, Solana AMM Showdown

Welcome to our Crypto news in 10, a daily podcast bringing you the latest news about crypto in under 10 minutes.

It’s Sunday, December 28, 2025. Today’s crypto feed is packed — a U.S. state regulator fires off an unusual blitz of scam warnings. Lithuania reminds the industry its MiCA grace period ends this week. A top derivatives venue tackles a multimillion-dollar security incident. New infrastructure funding lands for high-throughput chains. And Solana sees a turf war brewing between a memecoin launchpad and a major DEX. Let’s get into it... fast, but with the details you need.

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First up, California just lit up the warning board.

The state’s Department of Financial Protection and Innovation issued sixteen — yes, sixteen — consumer alerts across December 27 and 28, flagging dodgy crypto websites and brokers. The list ranges from romance-style schemes to advance-fee cons, and even sites spoofing big names with look-alike branding — think fake brands using names like Uniswap LLC or ETH Wintermute.

DFPI says victims reported losses up to about 1.2 million dollars, and it urges extreme caution with unsolicited pitches, especially those that start on social media and then shift to investing. A burst of this size is rare for the agency — the last broad crypto alert barrage came in mid-June.

Consider it your friendly reminder... slow down, verify domains, and be skeptical of anyone pushing urgency around deposits. Source: The Block.

From U.S. consumer protection to EU compliance clocks... Lithuania is putting the industry on notice as its MiCA transition window closes this week.

The Bank of Lithuania reiterates that crypto-asset service providers operating in the country have until Wednesday, December 31, 2025, to be licensed under MiCA if they plan to keep serving customers into the new year. Otherwise, they should have begun an orderly wind-down — communicate clearly with clients, return assets, and stop new onboarding.

Officials say roughly 30 firms have applied so far, out of more than 370 that once registered activity, with about 120 still actually operating. After the deadline, unlicensed activity can trigger actions up to website blocking and criminal penalties that can reach four years in prison. One of the clearest national signals in the EU — the MiCA era is moving from theory to enforcement. Source: Bank of Lithuania guidance.

Context matters here. Lithuania also underscores that, during the transition, firms registered in one EU state cannot passport services across the bloc. It’s license or local only — and for e-money tokens like stablecoins, additional payment licensing may be required in 2026. If you’re a user in the Baltics — or your provider is based there — now is the moment to check their status and plan accordingly. Source: Bank of Lithuania materials.

Over to security — Deribit, the dominant crypto options venue, is working through a 28 million dollar loss that prompted a temporary halt on withdrawals.

The exchange says the loss will be covered by reserves, leaving its insurance fund untouched and operations otherwise intact. Deribit has long commanded the lion’s share of bitcoin options open interest, so even when incidents are contained, the market watches closely for dislocations in implied volatility, spreads, and liquidity while withdrawals are paused. As of now, the company emphasizes its financial position remains sound. Source: The Block.

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Into infrastructure. The DoubleZero Foundation raised 28 million dollars in a token round led by Multicoin Capital and Dragonfly to build what it calls a global fiber network for blockchains and distributed systems.

The pitch is simple: more bandwidth and lower latency for high-performance chains by aligning independent fiber providers with protocol incentives. Alongside the raise, DoubleZero unveiled a permissioned testnet targeting Solana validators and RPC providers, with a public mainnet penciled in for the second half of next year. If it works, think of it as network plumbing — less glamorous than tokens, but potentially important for throughput and consistency during peak loads. Source: The Block.

And finally, Solana’s in-house competition got real this week. Pump dot fun — the memecoin launchpad that auto-routes liquidity once tokens reach a set market cap — appears to be testing its own automated market maker.

That’s a direct shot across the bow of Raydium, Solana’s leading AMM, and markets reacted. Raydium’s RAY token slid about 28 percent on the headlines as traders weighed the risk of volumes and fees migrating away. It’s still early — feature parity, user experience, and incentives matter — but it’s a reminder that on fast-moving chains, distribution is king. If the launchpad controls the first stop of liquidity... the downstream DEX may have to fight harder to keep it. Source: The Block.

Quick perspective to tie things together.

In the U.S., a watchdog tells retail users to slow down. In the EU, a central bank tells providers to speed up into full licenses. At the same time, venues face constant security stress tests, builders raise capital to make the pipes faster, and on Solana, the competition for where a trade happens is shifting at the app layer.

Different vectors, same theme — we’re moving from the speculative era to operational maturity... with real rules, real infrastructure, and real consequences.

That’s the rundown — California’s sixteen scam alerts, Lithuania’s MiCA deadline and enforcement posture, Deribit’s 28 million dollar incident under control, DoubleZero’s 28 million dollar bet on bandwidth, and a Solana shake-up as Pump dot fun tests an AMM and Raydium’s token wobbles. Stay safe, check your providers’ licenses, and keep an eye on where your liquidity actually lands. We’ll be back tomorrow with the next wave.

Thanks for listening and see you tommorow!