Daily Update

Latest in Blockchain | December 4, 2025

Crypto Twitter misread a BlackRock report and Ethereum did an upgrade.

Aren Rendell

04 Dec 2025 — 4 min read

Welcome to the Meridian Update. We are watching the SEC investor advisory committee panel discussion on equities tokenization today. Exciting stuff. Expect more tomorrow. Let’s dive in.

BlackRock keeps talking about on-chain assets

Our view is the Crypto Twitter narrative about the things BlackRock published and Larry Fink, its chief executive officer (CEO), said yesterday is not quite right.

BlackRock is the world’s largest asset manager. Its CEO keeps talking about the “tokenization of all assets.” That CEO was a skeptic, historically, of on-chain assets. But now, Bitcoin has become its largest source of revenue.

So yesterday, that CEO appeared on-stage with the CEO of Coinbase. Coinbase is a company that exists off-chain, as in it is a publicly traded company listed on NASDAQ, to build things for and related to the on-chain world. It is best known for its centralized exchange (CEX) for crypto assets and app for engaging with that exchange.

Separately, BlackRock released its annual investment outlook report, the BlackRock “2026 Global Outlook.”

Here is how Crypto Twitter spun that report:

“JUST IN: $12 trillion BlackRock says US national debt will accelerate crypto adoption.”

Crypto news outlets framed it similarly: “U.S. Debt Growth Will Drive Crypto's Gains, BlackRock Says in Report on AI.”

This narrative is incorrect. It seems they misread the report. Or, they conflated what the report said with what the CEO of BlackRock separately said very briefly in the context of a much longer discussion about many other topics.

What did the report actually say? Two things, separately:

Governments are highly indebted and BlackRock is underweight US Treasuries.
The future of finance is evolving quickly, and crypto, or blockchain technologies, are part of that. Specifically, the report highlighted that stablecoins are “...evolving from a tool native to crypto to a bridge between digital and traditional finance.”

Something one should know about a US dollar stablecoin is that it is not a hedge against the US dollar crumbling. A US dollar stablecoin is, if operating correctly, supposed to be exactly pegged to the US dollar. That is, it should have the same value as a US dollar. So if the US dollar decreases in value…you get the point.

The report did not say that US debt growth will drive crypto gains. So the BlackRock report saying US debt growth will drive crypto gains caught Crypto Twitter’s attention. That would’ve made sense…except that the report didn’t say that.

Anyway, BlackRock’s CEO did say something else. Again, completely outside of the context of the report. He said that Bitcoin is, “an asset of fear.” He added:

“The long-term fundamental reason you own [Bitcoin] is because of debasement of financial assets because of deficits…If you’re buying it as a hedge against all your hope, then it has a meaningful impact on your portfolio.”

Look, maybe we’re being pedantic. But we believe that things being accurate and true is important. It’s OK to get things wrong some times. Hopefully, a wonderful daily newsletter that keeps people informed on what’s happening in the on-chain world comes along to correct the record, and life goes on.

In any case, BlackRock really does keep talking about crypto. Probably because, in 2025, a major theme is that people want exposure to on-chain assets in off-chain ways. And BlackRock does off-chain ways!

The Fusaka network upgrade has happened. And what, exactly, is that?

We wrote about the Fusaka upgrade to the Ethereum network back in early October. The Ethereum network, one of the best-known blockchain networks, had just successfully tested the Fusaka network upgrade.

Yesterday, the Ethereum network did the real deal. It fully upgraded the actual Ethereum network. People on Crypto Twitter know this as the “mainnet.” That’s the main network, which exists in difference to “testnet,” or test network, which is used for…testing network changes.

And so far so good! There was a lot of excitement on Crypto Twitter, and you can find out why from a nice marketing video posted to the Twitter account managed by the Ethereum Foundation. And a longer video here.

For a closer look at this story, we turn to what we wrote back in early October:

“Blockchain networks don’t just sit there. Sometimes people do something and the blockchain networks change.

We talk a lot about the Solana network here on the Meridian update, but it is not the only blockchain network (gasp!). Ethereum is older than Solana. Its native token, ETH, has a larger market cap than SOL, the Solana network’s native token.

The Ethereum network is in a multi-year process of major changes. Yesterday, it took a successful step toward one of those changes. Some of the on-chain world was buzzing from the news that a test of something called the Fusaka upgrade was a success. It was the first of three tests before the change goes live.

The idea behind the Fusaka upgrade is to make the Ethereum network able to handle more transaction volume, a common criticism of the network. Keep an eye on this. The founder of Ethereum is.”

The change is now live.