Romania's budget deficit reached 6.4% in November 2025, compared to 7.15% in 2024, which means roughly RON121 billion versus RON125 billion recorded in 2024, the country's Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan has announced in a Facebook post on Wednesday (Dec 24).
Hong Kong’s FSTB and SFC will introduce licensing requirements for virtual asset dealing and custody firms, expanding the city’s policy push that already includes a stablecoin licensing blueprint and tokenization guidance. Hong Kong regulators will proceed with legislating licensing regimes for crypto dealers and custodians after wrapping up consultations, as part of a broader push to tighten oversight. In a Wednesday announcement, the city’s Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB) and the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) said that they had concluded consultations on proposed licensing regimes, which would require firms providing crypto dealings or custody services in Hong Kong to obtain licenses once the framework takes effect. The move adds to the city’s expanding crypto licensing framework. Earlier in 2025, Hong Kong brought its Stablecoin Ordinance into force, opening a new licensing regime for stablecoin issuers. Read more
Crypto enters 2026 with mature infrastructure; now DApps must prove real utility, win users without incentives and compete directly with Web2. As the crypto space headed into the last month of 2025, the mood was different from previous cycles. The year didn’t bring another decentralized finance (DeFi) summer or non-fungible token (NFT) euphoria, but instead ushered in a slow and sober pivot toward utility. Decentralized applications (DApps) are software programs that run on blockchain networks, rather than centralized servers. By using smart contracts, DApps allow users to interact directly with apps for payments, finance, gaming or social media while retaining greater control over identities and assets. Active builders held steady in 2025 but shifted their priorities to a longer-term outlook. According to Electric Capital’s Developer Report, the number of full-time crypto developers — defined as contributors committing code at least 10 days per month — rose 5% year-on-year, even as total developer counts di...