Weekly Crypto Recap: Trump Denies UAE World Liberty Stake; China Bans Unapproved Yuan Stablecoins; Gemini Exits Markets
Key developments this week: Former US President Donald Trump denied knowledge of reports that a UAE-linked investor acquired a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial, saying his family manages investment matters. China’s central bank, joined by nine agencies, issued a joint notice banning issuance of unapproved yuan-pegged stablecoins and classified most real-world-asset (RWA) tokenization as illegal, reinforcing strict crypto controls. Gemini announced withdrawals from the UK, EU and Australia and cut 25% of its workforce to reduce costs and refocus on priority areas. Russia’s Sberbank tested and plans crypto-backed lending after issuing a Bitcoin-backed loan to a major miner. Market events: Tether’s USDT reached a record $187.3 billion market cap in Q4 2025 despite an October crash. South Korean exchange Bithumb suffered a flash crash after an accounting error that briefly showed users credited with 2,000 BTC. Other items: Polymarket filed trademarks for POLY and $POLY; Brazil’s committee moved to ban algorithmic stablecoins; Ripple gained an EU electronic money license in Luxembourg; Jeffrey Epstein was linked to a past $3m Coinbase investment in released emails. Relevance for traders: watch increased regulatory risk from China’s ban (affecting yuan-stablecoin products and RWA tokenization), potential liquidity and regional service frictions from Gemini’s market exits, and stablecoin flow impacts from USDT’s record growth. Monitor BTC price action following exchange incidents (Bithumb) and institutions experimenting with crypto-backed lending for credit-market linkage signals.
Neutral
The overall market impact is neutral. China’s explicit ban on unapproved yuan-pegged stablecoins and tightening of RWA tokenization is negative for projects tied to the Chinese onshore market and yuan-stablecoin products, raising regulatory risk and likely reducing product development or liquidity in that niche. Gemini’s exits and layoffs signal tightening in exchange services and could reduce liquidity in certain regions, a modest negative for market depth. Conversely, USDT’s record market cap and Sberbank testing crypto-backed loans show continued institutional demand and stablecoin utility, supporting market stability. Exchange incidents like Bithumb’s flash crash are short-term volatility triggers but historically do not change long-term trends if systemic issues are contained. For traders: expect short-term bouts of volatility around regional service disruptions and regulatory headlines, while macro liquidity (notably from large stablecoins like USDT) and institutional experiments with lending provide medium-term support. Historical parallels: past Chinese crackdowns (2017/2021) caused immediate sell-offs and exchange outflows but global liquidity and stablecoin growth restored market activity; similarly, exchange outages typically cause transient price dislocations rather than sustained market direction changes. Monitor on-chain stablecoin flows, regional exchange volumes, and policy updates out of China for trading signals.