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Gold (GC=F) futures opened at $4,568 per troy ounce Monday, up 0.3% from Friday’s closing price of $4,552.70. The gold price fell below $4,500 after hitting an all-time high in early trading. Investor profit-taking and reported progress on a Ukraine peace deal may have contributed to gold’s pullback from its record high Monday morning. Gold has surged in recent days on trends that have been at work throughout 2025. A weaker U.S. dollar, falling interest rates, and broad economic and geopolitical uncertainty have stoked institutional and retail investor demand. The yellow metal rose above $4,500 a troy ounce before Christmas…

Perpetuals-focused Ethereum-based Layer 2 decentralized exchange (DEX) Lighter has announced the debut of its native cryptocurrency, the Lighter Infrastructure Token (LIT), to align traders, builders, and backers as it looks to blend traditional markets with DeFi. The LIT token supply is divided evenly: 50% to the ecosystem, 50% to the team and investors. An immediate airdrop rewards early participants with free money by instantly converting their 12.5 million points (earned in 2025) into LIT tokens. This represents 25% of the project’s total fully diluted value – the maximum possible tokens if everything is issued. The rest funds future rewards, partnerships,…

QAT Community has introduced a dedicated professional user service channel designed to support experienced market participants operating within more advanced product and service environments. The initiative represents a structural update to how professional users access service resources, navigate support processes, and interact with specialized service teams.The new service channel is intended to address the operational needs of professional users by providing a clearly defined point of access, structured service workflows, and more predictable response coordination. Rather than expanding product offerings, the update focuses on improving how services are delivered and managed for users with more complex usage requirements.As part of…

Lululemon founder and large shareholder Chip Wilson is looking to restore investor faith in the yoga-gear maker by changing the makeup of the board of directors.

The national average home equity line of credit interest rate continues to fall. For 2026, the year will begin with the lowest HELOC rates in more than three years. That’s a hugh advantage that homeowners looking to access the value in their homes will have in the new year. According to Curinos data, the average monthly HELOC rate is 7.44%. This rate is based on applicants with a minimum credit score of 780 and a maximum combined loan-to-value ratio (CLTV) of 70%. With mortgage rates refusing to budge, homeowners with home equity and a favorable primary mortgage rate may feel…

Ethereum developers earlier this month agreed on the name and rough timing of the network’s second major upgrade scheduled for 2026, settling on “Hegota” as the next milestone in the blockchain’s development roadmap.Hegota will follow “Glamsterdam,” Ethereum’s next major upgrade, which is currently expected to roll out in the first half of 2026. That sequencing places Hegota tentatively in the second half of the year, continuing a faster cadence of protocol upgrades than Ethereum has historically maintained.The decision reflects a relatively new approach to Ethereum development, with core contributors aiming to ship network changes more frequently rather than bundling large…

U.S. stock futures were little changed on Sunday as investors look to end the year on a high note.

DURALUMEN Trading Center is advancing its long-term platform strategy by strengthening its academy framework, placing digital asset education at the center of its ecosystem development. As market structures grow more complex and user expectations evolve, the platform is focusing on structured learning resources designed to improve market understanding, risk awareness, and informed participation.Rather than positioning education as a supplementary feature, DURALUMEN Trading Center integrates learning resources as a core component of its platform ecosystem. The initiative reflects a long-term perspective that emphasizes knowledge accessibility, user awareness, and sustainable engagement within the digital asset environment.Building a Structured Learning FrameworkThe DURALUMEN Academy…

The dollar index (DXY00) on Friday ended the day little changed, but fell about -0.6% on the week.  The dollar traded on a weak note despite Tuesday’s stronger-than-expected US GDP report of +4.3% and the reduced odds for Fed easing.  The markets initially reduced the odds for a -25 bp rate cut at the next FOMC meeting to 13% from 20% after Tuesday’s GDP report, but the odds have since crept higher to the current level of 20%. The dollar continues to see underlying weakness as the FOMC is expected to cut interest rates by about -50 bp in 2026,…

A lot happened in policy tied to crypto this year. Congress passed — and the president signed — the first major piece of crypto legislation in U.S. history this year. Federal regulators have dramatically scaled back their enforcement actions against crypto companies while announcing more rulemaking efforts aimed at bolstering the industry. Companies themselves have felt more emboldened to launch new products and services in the U.S.You’re reading State of Crypto, a CoinDesk newsletter looking at the intersection of cryptocurrency and government. Click here to sign up for future editions.The narrativeLast year, CoinDesk’s policy team explained what we’d be looking…