rewrite this title Ripple, BlackRock, And SoFi Lead Crypto Partnerships In December’s Third Week

by
Alisa Davidson

Published: December 26, 2025 at 7:40 am Updated: December 26, 2025 at 6:46 am

by Ana

Edited and fact-checked:
December 26, 2025 at 7:40 am

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The third week of December came a definite shift in cryptocurrency alliances towards regulated infrastructure, enterprise adoption, and real-world integration. These partnerships span from stablecoin settlement within conventional fintech apps to institutional blockchain deployments and compliance-led partnerships. 

We’re seeing crypto gradually integrating itself into the realm of mainstream finance, payments, and worldwide markets.

Ripple Expands Institutional Brokerage Partnership With TJM

Ripple has expanded its long-standing partnership with broker-dealer TJM Investments, deepening institutional collaboration across execution, clearing, and financing services. As part of the agreement, Ripple is making a strategic investment in TJM while continuing to provide infrastructure support for its trading and clearing operations.

Ripple described the relationship as centered on its multi-asset prime brokerage offering, Ripple Prime, noting that the enhanced partnership enables TJM to deliver stronger capital and collateral efficiency, alongside improved clearing stability and balance-sheet support. TJM plans to tap deeper into Ripple Prime’s digital market capabilities, with the goal of extending digital asset coverage for clients such as hedge funds, family offices, asset managers, and global investors.

TJM leadership said the partnership provides the infrastructure required to handle growing institutional order flow, particularly as demand for digital asset exposure accelerates.

The expansion comes during an active period for Ripple. The company recently received regulatory approval to broaden its payments operations in Singapore and to deploy its stablecoin within Abu Dhabi’s ADGM financial center. Earlier this month, Ripple also partnered with fintech RedotPay to expand stablecoin payment use cases.

The move aligns with a broader industry shift toward enterprise-focused blockchain infrastructure, including the rising adoption of permissioned ledgers by major financial institutions seeking regulatory-ready digital asset solutions.

BlackRock, Mastercard, and Franklin Templeton Partner with ADI Chain 

Just days after its mainnet launch, ADI Chain—the MENA region’s first large-scale institutional Layer 2—has secured high-profile partnerships with BlackRock, Mastercard, and Franklin Templeton, signaling early institutional confidence in a compliance-first blockchain model.

BlackRock signed a memorandum of understanding with the ADI Foundation to explore accelerating blockchain adoption across financial markets and reinforcing Abu Dhabi’s role as a global digital asset hub. The collaboration is centered on institution-grade tokenized asset structures, improved distribution, and clearly defined regulatory frameworks that support sustainable market growth.

Mastercard’s partnership focuses on blockchain-based payments and asset tokenization across the Middle East, bringing stablecoin settlement, cross-border payments, and digital asset rails to the region with regulatory alignment “built in.”

Franklin Templeton also entered an MoU with the ADI Foundation to examine regulated digital asset infrastructure within ADGM. The initiative targets compliant pathways for institutions to launch tokenized products, develop digital rails for distribution and settlement, and research stablecoins and tokenized assets that meet regulatory requirements.

These three partnerships, announced within days of launch, highlight institutional demand for blockchain infrastructure designed around regulation. ADI Chain now supports an ecosystem spanning 20 countries, with more than 50 institutional and enterprise projects in its deployment pipeline. Recent use cases range from tokenized real estate pilots to energy transition platforms and onchain payment settlement, reinforcing ADI Chain’s positioning as a regulatory-ready foundation for enterprise blockchain adoption.

SoFi Introduces Bank-Issued Stablecoin to Expand Enterprise-Grade Onchain Payments

SoFi Technologies has unveiled SoFiUSD, a fully reserved U.S. dollar stablecoin issued by SoFi Bank, positioning the company as a stablecoin infrastructure provider for banks, fintechs, and enterprise platforms. The launch allows partners to tap into SoFi’s bank-grade infrastructure to enable faster, more efficient money movement while operating within a regulated framework.

With SoFiUSD deployed on a public, permissionless blockchain, partners gain access to near-instant, 24/7 settlement at minimal cost, improving liquidity management and operational transparency. SoFi noted that it is the first national bank to offer open access to a bank-issued stablecoin, combining regulatory oversight with onchain settlement capabilities. The stablecoin is also expected to become available to SoFi’s consumer members.

SoFi’s leadership described blockchain as a financial “technology super cycle,” emphasizing that the company is applying a decade of infrastructure development to address persistent industry challenges such as slow settlement, fragmented service providers, and opaque reserve models. By pairing national bank regulation with “fully reserved on-chain technology,” SoFi aims to provide partners with a safer and more efficient settlement layer.

SoFiUSD is designed for broad use cases, including crypto trade settlement, card network payments, retail transactions, and international remittances through SoFi Pay. It will also support Galileo partners processing billions in payments annually and offer a dollar-denominated option for users in volatile currency markets. The launch builds on SoFi’s recent move to offer consumer crypto trading, reinforcing its strategy to bridge traditional banking with onchain financial infrastructure.

Intuit and Circle Team Up to Bring USDC Settlement Into TurboTax and QuickBooks

Intuit has entered a multi-year partnership with Circle to integrate USDC-based stablecoin payments across TurboTax and QuickBooks, signaling a move toward faster and lower-cost settlement within mainstream financial software. Through the agreement, Intuit gains access to Circle’s payments infrastructure to support flows tied to tax refunds, payroll, and business payouts.

USDC, issued by Circle, remains the second-largest dollar-backed stablecoin globally, with circulating supply exceeding $78 billion. While Intuit has not outlined a public rollout timeline, the collaboration centers on embedding stablecoin settlement into existing products, potentially starting as backend infrastructure rather than a consumer-facing wallet feature.

The partnership gives Circle exposure to one of the largest recurring money-movement engines in consumer finance. Intuit processes billions of dollars annually across tax, invoicing, and small-business payments, serving a customer base of more than 100 million users. Stablecoins are increasingly viewed by large fintechs as an alternative to legacy rails like ACH and wires, particularly for 24/7 and cross-border settlement.

Momentum has accelerated following clearer U.S. regulation under the GENIUS Act, which established a federal framework for dollar-backed stablecoins. Circle’s leadership framed the deal as extending the “speed, power, and efficiency” of USDC into everyday financial workflows, while Intuit positioned the integration around enabling faster, lower-cost payments across business and tax-focused platforms.

Crypto.com has announced a new partnership with ERShares and Signal Markets to develop a prediction market intelligence platform designed to translate market expectations into real-time economic insight. Revealed on December 15, the initiative aims to move beyond traditional financial analysis by combining macroeconomic data with continuously updated probability models.

Built through Crypto.com’s Derivatives North America arm, which operates under CFTC registration as both an exchange and clearinghouse, the platform is structured to aggregate data across interest rates, inflation, employment, equities, commodities, digital assets, and corporate earnings. Rather than isolating single events, the system emphasizes how markets collectively respond to policy changes, data releases, and corporate results as they unfold.

Crypto.com provides trading, custody, and payment systems, in addition to direct access to a global user base. ESHARES contributes the research methods and data-integration expertise acquired through ETF and index management, while Signal Markets supports the technical infrastructure for probability modeling and forecasting which is capable of turning uncertainty into quantifiable results.

The partnership showcases a transition to financial instruments, which give more weight to the market expectations rather than relying on the past models. The platform, which relies on constant signals and not on fixed assumptions, is set to equip the users in a more proactive manner to interpret the cross-asset dynamics and the risks coming up. The introduction is also consistent with the expansion of Crypto.com into event-driven and prediction-based markets across different industries.

BlockchainUnmasked Joins U.S.-Led IVAN Partnership to Combat Illicit Crypto Activity

The blockchain intelligence firm BlockchainUnmasked has become a member of the Illicit Virtual Asset Notification (IVAN) Public-Private Partnership, a U.S. government initiative that centers on identifying and counteracting illicit activities involving digital assets. IVAN is a coalition of government agencies, law enforcement and private firms that share intelligence about the threats posed by virtual assets and thereby becomes a global coordinated response to crypto-enabled crimes.

By entering into the alliance with IVAN, BlockchainUnmasked will offer its capabilities in forensic intelligence and investigation to facilitate information sharing, victim recovery actions, and thwarting of illicit financial networks, among others. The company has described its partnership with IVAN as a means of enhancing trust and security in the crypto ecosystem and emphasized the role of public sector collaborations in making the space safer and more transparent, and also addressing the issue of criminal misuse directly.

BlockchainUnmasked, in the past, has provided support to over 16,000 victims of crypto-associated crimes and has been involved in over 20 federal investigations with a total of more than $1.4 billion in digital assets. The joining of IVAN partnership is another milestone in that direction. Besides, Circle and Binance are among the other major industry players in the partnership indicating the evolving harmonization between regulators, law enforcement, and crypto- native firms.

Alisa, a dedicated journalist at the MPost, specializes in cryptocurrency, zero-knowledge proofs, investments, and the expansive realm of Web3. With a keen eye for emerging trends and technologies, she delivers comprehensive coverage to inform and engage readers in the ever-evolving landscape of digital finance.

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