📣 Message from Us
Welcome back. 👋 Each week we cut through the noise and explain what’s driving crypto. This will be our last regular newsletter for the year as we take some time off to spend time with loved ones. We hope you have a wonderful Holiday Season, and we’ll see you in 2026!
- Validator Digital
📈 This Week in Markets
Crypto continued to trade sideways this week, with no clear direction taking hold. Bitcoin briefly pushed into the low-$90K range a few times, but each move was quickly reversed, sending prices back toward the mid to upper $80Ks and reinforcing the broader range.
Zoomed out, the market remains stable and directionless. Zoomed in, momentum is still lacking as participants appear content to wait. With year-end approaching and few near-term catalysts, direction is more likely to be established in the weeks following the start of the new year rather than before it.
🔦JPMorgan Launches MONY, a Tokenized Money Market Fund
What Happened
J.P. Morgan Asset Management launched MONY, its first tokenized money market fund, on the Ethereum public blockchain. The fund was seeded with $100 million of JPMorgan’s own capital and will be available to qualified investors through the bank’s Morgan Money platform, where investors receive blockchain-based tokens representing their ownership.
What a Money Market Fund is
Money market funds are a $6-plus trillion market in the U.S. and are widely used by institutions to manage cash with high liquidity and low risk, mainly holding short-term U.S. Treasury securities and similar instruments. They function as a fundamental building block of corporate and institutional cash management.
How this Changes Money Markets
MONY doesn’t change what the fund holds. What changes is the infrastructure: ownership and transactions are recorded on a public blockchain, enabling faster processing, broader settlement options, and access beyond traditional market hours.
Why this Matters
This is notable because it brings a core cash-management product—one of the largest pools of institutional capital—onto a public blockchain. JPMorgan continues to lead in this space by linking traditional liquidity tools with on-chain settlement, signaling that institutional tokenization is moving beyond early experiments.
Image Generated with Gemini
⏩ What Else You Need to Know
SEC Issues Guidance on Crypto Wallets
The SEC released new guidance explaining how crypto custody works and the difference between self custody and third party providers. As institutions adopt crypto infrastructure, questions around control, access, and responsibility are becoming central operational issues, and the SEC’s guidance signals that the market is maturing.Michael Selig Confirmed as CFTC Chair
Michael Selig was confirmed as chair of the CFTC, ending a long leadership gap at the agency. He is widely viewed as crypto-friendly, having pushed for clearer digital asset rules and criticized regulation by enforcement, making his appointment notable as the CFTC’s role in crypto oversight continues to grow.House Unveils Bipartisan Crypto Tax Framework
House lawmakers released a bipartisan draft framework aimed at modernizing how digital assets are taxed, including clearer rules for stablecoins and staking rewards. The proposal signals growing agreement in Washington that clearer, more practical tax rules are needed as crypto adoption expands.Federal Reserve Rolls Back Crypto-Focused Bank Guidance
The Federal Reserve withdrew its 2023 crypto-related guidance and moved digital asset activity into its standard bank oversight framework. The change removes prior crypto-specific restrictions and gives banks clearer rules for offering crypto-related services under existing risk management standards.Visa Launches USDC Settlement in the U.S.
Visa is allowing select U.S. banks to use USDC to settle obligations with each other, using the stablecoin as a backend settlement asset rather than the traditional method. For users, nothing changes at checkout, but banks gain access to continuous settlement, which can reduce operational friction, reduce costs, and reflects Visa’s effort to modernize how money moves between institutions.
Image Generated with Gemini
📊 Chart of the Week
Volatility of Bitcoin Continues to Lower
The above chart shows that Bitcoin’s annualized volatility has declined steadily over time and, in 2025, has been lower than Nvidia’s, even as Nvidia remains one of the most watched stocks. The trend highlights how Bitcoin’s market behavior is changing as participation broadens and trading becomes deeper and more consistent.
🧩 Blockchain 201: What is an NFT?
Most tokens are identical to each other, like matching poker chips. An NFT is different — it’s a token where each one is unique, more like a deed, a certificate, or a limited-edition collectible.
An NFT represents a specific item: a piece of art, a membership pass, a ticket, a game asset, or a credential. Because it lives on the blockchain, anyone can verify who owns it and how it’s changed hands.
People use NFTs to prove ownership of digital items, access communities or experiences, or carry assets across different apps and games. Each one has its own identity and purpose, which enhances how digital ownership works online.
As more assets and activity move on-chain, networks become busier and more expensive to use. Solving that congestion is what Layer 2s are designed for, the next part of the story.
Next Week: What is a Layer 2?
Last Week: What are Tokens vs. Coins?
Thanks for reading this week.
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See you next week,
Don’t speculate, validate.
- Validator Digital
Disclaimer: Individuals have unique circumstances, goals, and risk tolerances, so you should consult a certified investment professional and/or do your own diligence before making investment decisions. The author is not an investment advisor and may hold positions in the assets covered. Certified professionals can provide individualized investment advice tailored to your unique situation. This newsletter is for general educational purposes only, is not individualized, and as such should not be construed as investment advice.