Earnio Market News: The Fed eases, Ethereum scales, institutions enter crypto

The cryptocurrency market is entering a new macroeconomic environment. The Fed is gradually easing monetary policy, Ethereum is expanding network capacity, and institutions and governments are systematically integrating crypto into their strategies.

FOMC rate cut: slow but steady easing cycle

On December 10, 2025, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) delivered its third consecutive quarter-point rate cut, lowering the federal funds rate to 3.50%–3.75%, the lowest level in nearly three years.

This decision came amid ongoing debate within the Committee over how best to balance stubbornly elevated inflation and signs of a cooling labor market. 
 
For crypto markets, the December FOMC decision landed at a sensitive moment. A third rate cut in a row reinforces a slow but steady easing cycle, which historically supports risk assets by lowering the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets like Bitcoin.

More importantly, the split vote and Powell’s cautious language signaled that the Fed is no longer trying to cool the economy aggressively. Its priority is now managing stability rather than suppressing growth.

That shift tends to weaken the dollar’s momentum and open the door for renewed institutional flows into riskier assets. The December 2025 meeting gave crypto markets something they had lacked through much of the year: a macro environment that no longer works against them, but one that may gradually turn into a tailwind as 2026 approaches.

Ethereum’s Fusaka upgrade: scaling for the next cycle

On 3 December, Ethereum activated the Fusaka upgrade, a package of improvements focused on data availability and layer-2 throughput. At the heart of the release is a system that lets validators verify only slices of data instead of entire blobs, significantly reducing the bandwidth and hardware burden on full nodes.  

In practice, this has three important consequences: 

1. Cheaper and faster rollups 
   By lowering the cost of data storage for L2s, Fusaka helps keep transaction fees on rollups anchored even when demand spikes.  

2. More sustainable validator economics 
   Because validators no longer need to process every byte of every blob, the network can safely raise the ceiling on data throughput without pricing smaller operators out of the validator set.  

3. Strengthening ETH’s value capture 
   Higher and more stable blob usage means a more predictable baseline of fees being directed to Ethereum. That feeds directly into ETH’s long-term “cash-flow” narrative in the eyes of institutional investors. 

Price-wise, ETH has been trading through a choppy, corrective phase into late November and early December. After a difficult November in which Ethereum fell roughly a quarter from its local highs, the asset is now hovering in a broad range around the $3,000s as buyers and sellers re-price the post-Fusaka environment.  
 
In the last few days ethereum have seen some upward trajectory but betting on this movement might not pay out as this choppy market can be unforgiving. 

Sovereigns and regulators:
from “if” to “how” 

While the market has been busy with charts, policy and sovereign capital have quietly taken several decisive steps toward normalizing crypto as an asset class. 

UK: a new legal category for digital assets 

In the UK, the Property (Digital Assets etc) Act has now received Royal Assent. The law explicitly recognizes cryptocurrencies as a form of personal property and theoretically effectively creates a third category of property to deal with digital assets in areas like theft, insolvency and collateral.  

Canada: a bank buys Bitcoin, indirectly 

In Canada, the National Bank of Canada – one of the country’s “Big Six” banks – has disclosed a position of around 1.47 million shares in MicroStrategy, the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin. At current prices, the stake is worth roughly $273 million, giving the bank substantial indirect exposure to BTC through the company’s balance sheet.  

Texas: toward state-level Bitcoin reserves 

In the United States, the state of Texas has made its first move toward a formal Bitcoin reserve. The state acquired around $5 million of BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF (IBIT), with plans to later convert a similar amount into directly self-custodied BTC once operational frameworks are ready.  
 

Taken together, these moves show that countries are no longer debating whether crypto belongs in the system – they’re working out the operational details of how to plug it in. 

Institutions and policymakers:
a noticeably more crypto-friendly tone 

he institutional narrative has also shifted several notches in a pro-crypto direction. 

Kevin Hassett: a dovish, market-friendly Fed candidate 

White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett has emerged as a leading candidate to become the next Federal Reserve Chair when Jerome Powell’s term expires in May.  

Hassett is generally seen as Dovish relative to recent Fed orthodoxy, arguing there is “plenty of room” for rate cuts if inflation allows. And Market-sensitive, emphasizing financial conditions and asset markets as part of the decision-making process. 

For crypto, a more accommodative Fed – or even just a Fed that talks more openly about supporting growth and innovation – tends to translate into looser liquidity conditions, a weaker dollar, and a more constructive backdrop for risk assets. 

Vanguard: the anti-crypto holdout capitulates 

Perhaps the most symbolic shift has come from Vanguard, the world’s second-largest asset manager. After years of refusing to list crypto products, the firm will now allow trading of third-party crypto ETFs and mutual funds – including Bitcoin, Ether and other regulated digital-asset funds – on its U.S. brokerage platform.  

This move is Normalizing crypto exposure for tens of millions of long-term, retirement-focused investors. 

Bank of America: crypto as a strategic allocation 

In a similar vein, Bank of America has announced that its wealth-management businesses (Private Bank, Merrill and Merrill Edge) will allow advisors to actively recommend crypto exchange-traded products to eligible clients from early 2026 onward.  

The bank’s research desk suggests 1–4 % portfolio allocation to crypto for clients who understand and can tolerate volatility. That may sound small, but for a global private-wealth franchise, even low-single-digit allocations translate into meaningful and persistent demand for spot ETFs and other regulated products. 

Outlook toward 2026: from narratives to real-economy crypto 

Looking ahead, 2026 is shaping up as the year in which the market’s operating rules finally catch up with its technological ambitions. 

We have clearer legal frameworks like the UK’s digital-asset property law, EU’s MICA regulation or stablecoin Genius act. 

Sovereign and quasi-sovereign actors (Countries, major banks, States) taking direct or indirect Bitcoin exposure.  

A new wave of institutions – from Vanguard to Bank of America – treating crypto not as a curiosity, but as a small but strategic slice of diversified portfolios.  

All of this will add up and create a push towards crypto being used even more. 
 
Looking at trading, more professionals from TradFi will be entering the arena under clear regulatory and legal umbrella. Those with proven track record will be a huge edge.  
The result of this will be markets getting more effective and therefore competitive.  
 
We expect token models themselves to evolve as well. Projects that relied purely on speculative narratives or complex financial engineering will be under growing pressure to justify their existence with real cash flows, real users and real economic activity. The winners of the next cycle are likely to be protocols that solve tangible problems for businesses and consumers. 

We will see a move from loosely defined narratives and experimental tokenomics 
to a regime of clearer regulation, institutional participation and crypto systems that plug directly into the real economy. 

If that transition continues, by 2026 the crypto market could look and feel very different: less casino and vaporware, more infrastructure, product and revenue. 

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile and may involve the risk of capital loss. Before making any investment decision, it is important to consult a professional and conduct your own research. Probinex bears no responsibility for any losses that may arise as a result of investments in cryptocurrencies.