Stacy in Dataland (´⊙~⊙`)

Circle heads into 2026 with mixed signals. Stablecoin usage keeps accelerating, but rate cuts directly compress their core revenue engine. Still, +66% YoY annualized revenue growth puts them ahead of most fintech peers.

Maple scaled with the RWA wave. TVL went from $45M in 2024 to $2.8B today, and in the last two months alone, the protocol earned more than in almost the previous three years combined. Timing and execution matter.

Tokenized stocks quietly upgrade crypto’s value prop. Better assets raise product quality, pull more activity onchain, and expose users to what 24/7 global markets actually feel like. No pitch deck needed.

Let's vote for Hyperliquid, fam. They definitely deserve it more vs. Falcon. Vote here

Aggregation has always been the money printer: own discovery and flow, not the supply. Amazon, Meta, WeChat, Revolut — different eras, same trade-off: users gladly pay extra to remove friction. Crypto wallets and trading terminals pulling in millions in fees show the same rule applies on-chain.

Pendle is basically a stablecoin venue now: 80%+ of markets are stables, with USDe and sUSDE from Ethena leading at ~$1.2B TVL. The dip on Sept 25 came from the USDe ETH market expiry — dominance snapped right back after. Yield tells capital where to sit.

Midweek is full of interesting updates. Check it out ↓ General ➖ 4pillars: 2026 Outlook: Restructuring - Jay's Perspective ➖ 4pillars: 2026 Outlook: Restructuring - Ponyo's Perspective ➖ 4pillars: 2026 Outlook: Restructuring - Steve's Perspective ➖ DL Research: Measuring crypto adoption is hard; the Bybit Index offers a complete picture ➖ Binance: Weekly: “QE-Lite” vs. “Stagflation-Lite”, ADGM Crypto Hub, Ripple Makes Waves ➖ Galaxy: Weekly Top Stories - 12/12/25 ➖ Galaxy: From Solana Breakpoint to Wall Street: Tether, TradFi, and Tokenization Market ➖ CoinShares: Market update - December 12th, 2025 ➖ CoinShares: Equities update | December 15th 2025 ➖ CoinShares: Digital asset fund flows | December 15th, 2025 ➖Crypto.com: Market Update (November 2025) ➖ Glassnode: BTC Market Pulse: Week 51 ➖ Glassnode: Trapped Under Overhead Supply ➖ Galaxy: Decoding Market Signals from Gold to Global Yields DeFi ➖ 4pillars: The Definitive Guide to Prediction Markets ➖ 4pillars: No Cap, Just Cap: Introducing Verifiable Finance ➖ The Defiant: Prediction Market Monthly Volumes Grew 130x Since 2024: Keyrock, Dune Blockchains & networks ➖ Cryptorank: Stablecoin Chain Prospects: The Plasma Case ➖ DL Research: TrustLinq Seeks to Solve Cryptocurrency’s Multi-Billion Dollar Usability Problem ➖ CoinGecko: Solana & Base Still Lead Despite Lower Mindshare in 2025 ➖ CoinMarketCap: Introducing Midnight: The Compliance-Ready, Privacy-First Blockchain Tokens & currencies ➖ CoinGecko: State of Memecoins Report 2025

Prop AMMs didn’t make noise – they just ate Solana. From basically zero in early 2024 to 30%+ of total volume by end-2025, liquidity dynamics quietly flipped. Big structural shift, still flying under most radars.

Since its August 2025 launch, Sport Fun moved fast: $4.3M in athlete trading fees within four months. Add $226K from contract renewals and $5M+ in Special Pack sales, and you’re looking at just under $10M total revenue already. Strong early signal, no commentary needed.

By monthly active users, Solana stands as the most used chain among major L1s and L2s. With roughly 98M MAU, it ranks #1 and has nearly five times the user base of Base.

BNB Chain is now the second-largest home for BlackRock’s BUIDL, holding $500M in AUM. The entire amount is custodied by Ethena and Anchorage as collateral backing USDtb.

In early 2025, Algorand rolled out v4.0, allowing wallets with at least 30,000 ALGO to earn block rewards by running a node or delegating to a third-party operator. Block proposers receive half of transaction fees plus a Foundation-funded bonus that gradually decays and is supported through 2027. The system avoids lockups and slashing, instead removing inactive or malicious nodes from validator selection.