US Federal Judge Aleta Trauger granted Kalshi a preliminary injunction against Tennessee, finding its sports event contracts fall under CFTC jurisdiction. A US federal judge in Tennessee temporarily blocked the state from enforcing its gambling laws against prediction markets operator Kalshi’s sports event contracts. The ruling, issued by Judge Aleta Trauger of the US District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee on Thursday, allows Kalshi to continue offering sports-related event contracts to users in the state while its lawsuit against Tennessee regulators proceeds. Trauger found that Kalshi is likely to succeed on the merits of its claim that federal commodities law preempts Tennessee’s attempt to regulate its sports markets as illegal gambling. Read more
Stablecoin ecosystem A7A5 has faced accusations of sanctions evasion and, according to some analysts, is creating an alternative, sanctions-free financial network. As cryptocurrency is becoming increasingly intertwined with the traditional financial world, it’s also forming the foundation of a parallel, shadow financial system. A January report from TRM Labs found a surge in illicit or illegal crypto use to an all-time high of $158 billion. This included a massive increase in crypto flows related to sanctions evasion. This was led primarily by A7A5, a Russian ruble-based stablecoin launched by Russia-based company A7. Some $39 billion in sanctions-related crypto flows were attributed to the A7 wallet cluster. Read more