Treasury | Crypto

The US government sanctioned an individual and two crypto exchanges it said facilitated money laundering for a combined $5 million in digital assets linked to Iran. The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions against two digital asset exchanges it said that “the Iranian regime relies on to launder billions of dollars” amid military actions between the two countries.  In a Friday notice, OFAC said it had taken measures against crypto exchanges Shelbit and Aban Tether for “facilitating illicit cryptocurrency activity and sanctions evasion,” using the proceeds to support Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The government agency also sanctioned Iranian national Siavash Kayvanpour and crypto wallets and companies tied to him, one of which operates Shelbit. “We will continue to increase the economic pressure,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. “Whether in dollars, rials, or crypto, Treasury will hunt down and dismantle the illicit financial networks tha...

The Aug. 5 bill-coupon mix will show whether financing pressure reaches Bitcoin-sensitive risk appetite or leaves reserves stable. The post Tomorrow sees a massive liquidity trap for Bitcoin as the US Treasury is quietly draining $77 billion from bank reserves appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Tyler Williams served as Secretary Scott Bessent's principal adviser on blockchain and digital asset policy, making him one of Treasury's top voices on US crypto regulation. He is returning to the private sector after leaving his post on July 31. His exit is the fourth senior crypto departure from a position of federal power this […] The post Odds of CLARITY crypto legislation passing sink to 27% as Treasury, White House, SEC, and Senate leads quit appeared first on CryptoSlate.

A key architect of the Trump administration’s digital asset agenda is leaving the Treasury Department as Congress struggles to advance landmark crypto legislation. Tyler Williams, a senior US Treasury official overseeing digital asset policy and a key adviser to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, has left the department, according to a Monday report by Punchbowl News. In a statement shared with Punchbowl, Bessent confirmed that Williams’ last day at the Treasury Department was Friday, saying he had been “instrumental” in advancing the Trump administration’s vision of making the US the “crypto capital of the world.” Williams joined the Treasury Department in early 2025 after serving as head of policy at Galaxy Digital. During his tenure, he played a central role in shaping the administration’s digital asset agenda. According to the report, Williams is expected to return to the private sector. Read more

Tether’s reserve surplus grew to $4.11 billion in the second quarter as USDT supply rose despite a weaker stablecoin market and continued pressure across the crypto sector. Stablecoin issuer Tether generated another multibillion-dollar quarter as income from its US Treasury portfolio continued to bolster earnings, even as the broader crypto market remained under pressure. Tether’s latest quarterly attestation, released Friday, reported a net operating profit of $1.5 billion for the second quarter, driven primarily by interest earned on US Treasury holdings and repurchase agreements, or short-term loans backed by government securities. The company also reported a reserve buffer of $4.11 billion as of June 30, meaning its assets exceeded liabilities by that amount. Read more

TIPS data points to rising real yields, not inflation, a dynamic that weighs on non-yielding assets like Bitcoin. Key points:  Read more

Tokenized sovereign debt spent years sounding like a conference phrase in search of a market. But now, the category has enough working components to deserve serious attention: tokenized government money funds, onchain ownership records, programmable transfer rails, and a growing effort to turn government paper into collateral that digital markets can actually use. While this […] The post A $407 million Treasury fund reveals how Wall Street is building crypto’s missing collateral layer appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Franklin Templeton transferred a tokenized US Treasury to Virtu Financial in what Tradeweb said was the first real-time transaction settled against USDCx. Tradeweb, an institutional electronic trading platform, has executed an onchain transaction involving tokenized US Treasuries, with Franklin Templeton transferring a tokenized Treasury security to Virtu Financial in exchange for tokenized cash over the Canton Network. Tradeweb provided execution and price discovery, while the Canton Network synchronized settlement between the tokenized Treasury and tokenized cash. The companies said the trade settled in real time, but did not disclose its size. A Tradeweb spokesperson told Cointelegraph the deal marked the industry's first real-time purchase and sale of a tokenized US Treasury settled against USDCx, a USDC-backed stablecoin issued on Canton. Participants included Blockdaemon, Digital Asset, Societe Generale, Franklin Templeton, Tradeweb and Virtu Financial. Read more

On June 23, the US Treasury sanctioned nine individuals and 26 entities linked to the Prince Group transnational criminal organization and proposed expanding its Huione Group rule to include H-Pay Service PLC and any successor entity, tying both actions to Southeast Asia scam networks that cost Americans at least $10 billion in 2024. OPSeC, announced […] The post US Treasury’s $10B scam warning shows why crypto is racing to police itself appeared first on CryptoSlate.

A bipartisan group of US senators told the Treasury that its application of stablecoin laws should be done in a way that “preserves and promotes State participation.” A bipartisan group of US senators led by Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis has urged the Treasury to ensure that state authorities are given the ability to regulate stablecoin issuers as the department considers how to implement the GENIUS Act. In a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday, the lawmakers said it was critical that the Treasury implement a section of the law giving a pathway for certain issuers to be regulated by the states “in a manner that preserves and promotes State participation.” The GENIUS Act allows issuers that have a stablecoin with a market value of $10 billion or less to be regulated by a state authority if that state has laws largely similar to the bill. Read more

A public comment letter argues that regulated stablecoin issuers need clearer compliance standards to avoid sanctions risks tied to secondary-market activity. Anchorage Digital, a federally chartered crypto bank and stablecoin infrastructure provider, has submitted a public comment letter supporting the US Treasury Department’s proposed Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and sanctions framework for the GENIUS Act, arguing that the rules largely strike the right balance between compliance and innovation. In a letter published Wednesday, Anchorage said the proposed framework appropriately places AML obligations on regulated stablecoin issuers while urging Treasury to clarify secondary-market sanctions liability, enterprise-wide AML programs and correspondent account requirements. Specifically, Anchorage argued that issuers should not face strict liability for failing to independently identify sanctioned users who transact on secondary markets through their smart contracts. Read more

Bitcoin traders have spent the past week bracing for the wrong kind of surprise, watching rate-cut bets evaporate as a run of firm labor data pushed the odds of a Federal Reserve hike by year-end toward 85% and dragged the 10-year Treasury yield up near 4.5%. Understandably, it dominates the screens, given how much of […] The post A needed $900B Treasury cash rebuild could quietly drain the liquidity Bitcoin needs appeared first on CryptoSlate.

The sanctions come four days after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US had seized nearly $1 billion in crypto from Iranian crypto exchanges and wallets since late February. The US Treasury has sanctioned four Iranian crypto exchanges, including the country’s largest, Nobitex, marking the latest effort in its campaign called “Economic Fury” that aims to cut Iran off from the financial system. The Treasury said on Tuesday that it added crypto exchanges Wallex, Bitpin and Ramzinex to the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s sanction list, prohibiting US businesses and persons from providing services to those platforms. “While Iran’s economy is in free fall, the regime has chosen to co-opt digital asset technologies for its own corrupt agenda, including evading sanctions and transferring wealth out of the country,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Read more

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US has seized roughly $1 billion in Iranian crypto assets, double the figure disclosed in late April. The United States has seized roughly $1 billion in Iranian crypto assets, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday, adding that some of the wallet owners may not yet know the funds are gone. “I believe that we have seized about a billion dollars of their crypto,” Bessent said while speaking at the Reagan National Economic Forum. “Just outright grabbed the wallets. Some of them may be typing in right now and not have realized that their wallet had been grabbed,” he added. Bessent said the seizures are part of the US financial pressure campaign against Iran, known as Operation Economic Fury. Launched in March 2025, the operation has targeted Iranian assets across multiple fronts, seizing cryptocurrency, freezing bank accounts and working with European allies to confiscate properties. Read more

There's a huge contradiction sitting at the center of modern American finance. The same industry regulators tried to isolate from the mainstream financial system has become one of the largest US Treasury buyers on the planet. Tether, the company behind the world's largest stablecoin USDT, closed 2025 with total direct and indirect exposure to US […] The post Tether’s $141 billion Treasury pile reveals the stablecoin risk now embedded in US debt appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Bitcoin was created as a response to the kind of debt-financed monetary disorder now playing out across global bond markets. The original thesis was that when governments borrowed recklessly and debased their currencies, hard-money assets would absorb the resulting demand. What that thesis left unresolved is the possibility that the debt spiral could tighten financial […] The post Bitcoin’s hard-money thesis is colliding with 5% Treasury yields appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Bitcoin faces renewed Treasury yield pressure after Japanese investors sold $29.6 billion of US government, agency, and local authority debt in the first quarter, the largest quarterly net sale since the second quarter of 2022. As Bloomberg reported, the catalyst was an abrupt turnaround in Federal Reserve rate expectations when oil prices jumped, making existing […] The post Bitcoin faces Treasury yield pressure as Japan sells nearly $30 billion of US debt appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Bitcoin touched $77,711 intraday before recovering to near $78,225, spending a second consecutive session under macro stress as US Treasury yields held near multi-month highs. The 10-year yield reached 4.599%, while the 30-year climbed 11.8 basis points to 5.131%, its highest level since May 2025. BTC is down 3.9% from its May 15 opening above […] The post Bitcoin has one level left before macro pressure opens the path to $75k as Treasury yields extend two-day correction appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Bitcoin’s latest retreat below $80,000 shows how quickly the bond market has reclaimed control of crypto trading, even after lawmakers advanced one of the industry’s most closely watched regulatory bills. Data from CryptoSlate showed that the top asset was trading at $79,083 as of press time, down more than 3% after another failed attempt to […] The post US Treasury yields surge to new highs as liquidity tightens, pushing Bitcoin back below $82,000 resistance appeared first on CryptoSlate.

The Economic Secretary to the Treasury highlighted an upcoming consultation on payments encompassing digital assets and AI agents.