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Binance rejected the allegations, saying it flags suspicious activity, enforces strict compliance procedures and does not permit Iranian users on the platform. A senior US lawmaker launched a congressional inquiry into crypto exchange Binance following reports that the platform processed about $1.7 billion in transactions tied to sanctioned Iranian entities and Russia’s oil “shadow fleet.” On Tuesday, Senator Richard Blumenthal, ranking member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, sent a letter to Binance CEO Richard Teng requesting documents and internal records related to the exchange’s sanctions controls and compliance practices. Citing reporting from the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Fortune, Blumenthal said Binance compliance staff had identified two partner entities, including Hexa Whale and Blessed Trust, as intermediaries enabling trade with Iranian government-linked organizations. Internal investigators also reportedly traced transfers to wallets associated with Iran’s Isl...
Bitcoin traders had mixed opinions over what caused a BTC price rebound past $66,000 as attention focused on Jane Street selling pressure. Bitcoin (BTC) sought to reclaim $65,000 as support into Wednesday’s Wall Street open as rumors swirled around US institutional pressure. Key points: Bitcoin bounces 2.5% as talk turns to alleged selling pressure from Wall Street trading company Jane Street. Read more
Strategy has become the most-shorted large-cap US stock as hedge funds ramp up bearish bets, according to data from Goldman Sachs. Crypto bank Anchorage Digital said it holds Strategy’s perpetual preferred security STRC on its balance sheet, adding an institutional backer to Michael Saylor’s Bitcoin treasury company at a time when Wall Street traders are increasingly betting against it. In a Wednesday post on X, Anchorage co-founder and CEO Nathan McCauley said the purchase shows alignment between two companies built around Bitcoin (BTC) infrastructure and corporate treasury adoption. “Conviction compounds. Institutions don’t just talk about Bitcoin, they structure around it,” McCauley wrote. “When the company that operationalizes Bitcoin infrastructure puts capital alongside the company that operationalized the Bitcoin treasury strategy…that’s a signal,” he added. Anchorage did not reveal the size or timing of the position. Read more
The $61 million USDT seizure in North Carolina shows how US authorities can trace and freeze stablecoin flows tied to pig butchering scams, as AI‑driven impersonation schemes surge. US Federal agents in North Carolina seized more than $61 million worth of USDt (USDT) tied to a large‑scale “pig butchering” crypto investment scam that preyed on victims through fake online relationships and fraudulent trading platforms. According to the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina in Raleigh on Tuesday, the scammers posed as romantic partners and claimed to have special trading expertise. They then steered their victims toward convincing but fake crypto sites that displayed fictitious investment portfolios showing unusually high returns that enticed them to invest more, before the scammers blocked their withdrawals and demanded extra fees when victims tried to get their money back. Read more
US spot Bitcoin ETF flows turned green on Tuesday, with Fidelity and BlackRock leading gains despite persistent weak market sentiment. Flows into US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds turned positive Tuesday as the price of Bitcoin made a modest recovery to $65,000, snapping a run of daily redemptions. Spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs recorded $257.7 million in inflows, marking the largest daily total since early February, according to SoSoValue data. The gains more than offset Monday’s outflows of $203.8 million, pushing weekly flows back into positive territory after five consecutive weeks of net redemptions totaling $3.8 billion. Read more
Hong Kong will build a digital asset platform for tokenized bond issuance and settlement, while moving ahead with stablecoin licensing and CARF. Hong Kong will set up a new digital asset platform this year to support the issuance and settlement of tokenized bonds, as the city pushes to move tokenization from pilot deals into core market infrastructure. In his 2026-27 budget speech delivered on Wednesday, Financial Secretary Paul Chan said CMU OmniClear Holdings, a subsidiary of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), will build the platform and extend it to other digital assets. The system will be linked with regional tokenization platforms. Chan said the platform would be “gradually extended to other digital assets and linked with other tokenisation platforms in the region,” adding that the move would consolidate Hong Kong’s role in digital asset development. Read more
River reports that Bitcoin adoption surged in 2025, cementing it as a mature asset class, even as its price has halved since hitting a peak in October. Bitcoin’s adoption by institutions, banks, merchants, public companies, and nation-states has boomed in 2025, despite the recent price drawdown, says the financial services company River. “There is no bear market in Bitcoin adoption,” River said in a report published on Tuesday, which noted that while Bitcoin (BTC) is down 50% from its all-time high, “adoption is compounding in ways that aren’t affecting the price, yet.” “Trust in Bitcoin has grown faster than that of any asset in history,” it said. “What began as an experiment is now a globally recognized store-of-value, with adoption patterns that rival the internet.” Read more
South Korean prosecutors reportedly accused a man of poisoning a business partner with pesticide in a dispute over losses due to crypto trading. A South Korean man has been indicted on attempted murder charges after allegedly poisoning his business partner with pesticide-laced coffee amid a dispute over more than $816,000 in crypto losses, according to local reports. The Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors’ Office has accused a man in his 30s of adding the pesticide methomyl to his business partner’s drink during a meeting at a café in November, local news outlets Chosun and Asia Business Daily reported on Monday. After drinking the coffee, the victim lost consciousness and collapsed. He was rushed to the hospital and regained consciousness three days later, according to reports. Read more
Bitcoin rallied above $66,000 following a positive close from US stock markets, putting Monday’s AI and tech-stock driven sell-off to rest. Will $60,000 remain the BTC bottom? Bitcoin’s (BTC) bleed slowed on Tuesday as US markets recovered from Monday’s AI and software-stocks-driven selloff. At the US market closing bell, the Dow locked in a 370-point gain, while the S&P 500 held on to a 0.77% rally. The swift recovery of US equity markets appears to have played a role in easing negative pressure on crypto investors looking to cut risk asset exposure. Bitcoin analysts continue to stress the importance of the former $65,000 support being reclaimed and the $60,000 level holding, with many suggesting that a dip below the latter figure would swiftly usher in new lows in the low $50,000 range. While Bitcoin now trades 49% away from its all-time high, BTC market resource Material Indicators flagged a $4.5 million spot purchase by “mega whales” on Tuesday morning. In the post, Material Indicators noted that while ...
Coinbase, World Liberty Financial and Laser Digital are also in line for a banking charter in the US, after Crypto.com received conditional approval for a charter on Monday. Global financial services firm Payoneer is the latest in a growing number of companies to file for a national trust bank charter in the US, which could enable it to issue a stablecoin and provide various crypto services. Payoneer said on Tuesday it filed with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to form PAYO Digital Bank, a week after it partnered with stablecoin infrastructure firm Bridge to add stablecoin capabilities to its platform, which is mainly focused on cross-border transactions. Payoneer said that it is seeking to issue a GENIUS Act-compliant stablecoin, PAYO-USD, to serve as the holding currency in Payoneer wallets, in addition to allowing customers to pay and receive stablecoins. Read more
Bitcoin Depot is moving to require ID for all transactions as regulators have cracked down on crypto ATM operators over scams and money laundering concerns. The biggest Bitcoin ATM operator in the US has begun phasing in a new requirement for users to provide identification for every transaction at its crypto ATMs amid increasing pressure from regulators and lawmakers for operators to curb illicit activity. Bitcoin Depot said on Tuesday that it began the rollout earlier in February across the company’s US network ATMs, with the goal of helping to detect suspicious activity in real time and eliminate misuse by bad actors, such as account sharing, identity theft, and account takeover. “Continuous verification allows us to detect suspicious activity based on customers, locations, or transaction amount before a transaction is approved,” Bitcoin Depot CEO Scott Buchanan said in a statement. Read more
Bloomberg reports that Stripe is in early acquisition talks with PayPal as the payments giant has battled competition, leadership turmoil and an 85% stock drop from its peak. Payment processing firm Stripe is reportedly considering an acquisition of all or parts of its rival PayPal Holdings. Stripe is in early talks and has expressed preliminary interest in PayPal or parts of its business, though no deal is guaranteed, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. Stripe, which enables enterprises to accept payments, make payouts, and automate financial processes, said on Tuesday that it was valued at $159 billion in a tender offer to shareholders and employees, a 74% jump from a year ago. Read more
Anthropic alleges Chinese AI companies DeepSeek, Moonshot and MiniMax made 24,000 accounts and 16 million Claude exchanges to scrape its AI bot for training. Artificial intelligence firm Anthropic has accused three AI firms of illicitly using its large language model Claude to improve their own models in a technique known as a “distillation” attack. In a blog post on Sunday, Anthropic said that it had identified these “attacks” by DeepSeek, Moonshot, and MiniMax, which involve training a less capable model on the outputs of a stronger one. Anthropic accused the trio of generating “over 16 million exchanges” combined with the firm’s Claude AI across “approximately 24,000 fraudulent accounts.” Read more
Bitwise’s acquisition of Chorus One expands the company’s staking capabilities to more than 30 blockchains, including Solana, Hyperliquid, Monad, Avalanche and Sui. Crypto asset manager Bitwise has acquired the staking services company Chorus One, which oversees more than $2.2 billion in staked assets and could help Bitwise expand its portfolio of crypto staking products. Bitwise said on Tuesday that 50 of Chorus One’s employees will join Bitwise Onchain Solutions, where several billion dollars' worth of crypto assets are already staked. The acquisition could see Bitwise diversify its range of exchange-traded products, including staking, as the Securities and Exchange Commission has shown support for a broader range of crypto investment products. Read more
Ether faces a bearish trend as onchain fees and network deposits hit multiyear lows. Until derivatives metrics stabilize, ETH price remains at risk. Key takeaways: ETH futures liquidations reached $224 million after a 9% price drop, while the network’s onchain activity fell to a 12-month low. ETH’s high correlation with Bitcoin and massive outflows from exchange-traded funds suggest further downside risk for Ether price. Read more
The EU authority tracking compliance under the MiCA framework issued a warning to those marketing crypto derivatives as “perpetual futures or perpetual contracts.” The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the financial markets regulator and supervisor in the European Union, issued a notice to remind entities to assess investment vehicles providing leverage exposure to cryptocurrencies. In a Tuesday notice, ESMA said that derivatives products, including those marketed as “perpetual futures or perpetual contracts” tied to cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) or Ether (ETH), likely fell within the scope of intervention measures applied to contracts for differences, or CFDs. The EU Authority warned companies to “take appropriate steps to identify, prevent, or manage conflicts of interest that may arise from the offering of these products.” “Where these derivatives meet the definition of a CFD, they are subject to the applicable product intervention requirements, including leverage limits, a mandatory ...
The exchange now allows US customers to trade thousands of stocks and ETFs commission-free alongside crypto, with 24/5 access and instant funding. Coinbase has opened stock and exchange-traded fund trading to all US users, allowing customers to buy and sell equities alongside crypto within the same app on a 24/5 basis. The rollout includes commission-free trading, fractional shares, and instant funding with USD or USDC. According to a company post on Tuesday, thousands of stocks are available to trade 24 hours a day, five days a week, with approximately 6,000 securities currently supported and plans to expand that number in the coming weeks. Coinbase said it aims to introduce stock perpetual futures for non-US users through Coinbase Bermuda Ltd., subject to regulatory approval, and said it intends to offer tokenized equities in the future. Read more
Kraken’s new contracts, built on the xStocks framework, offer up to 20x leverage on tokenized benchmarks tied to US equities and gold. Crypto exchange Kraken has launched trading of tokenized equity perpetual futures on its regulated derivatives platforms, allowing eligible non-US clients to trade 24/7 leveraged exposure to major US stock indexes, gold and individual companies including Nvidia, Apple and Tesla. According to Tuesday’s announcement, the contracts are structured as perpetual futures, derivatives that trade without expiry, and are offered to eligible clients outside the United States. Kraken described the products as the first regulated tokenized equity perpetual futures to be listed on a derivatives venue. The products are built using the xStocks framework, which issues blockchain-based representations of publicly traded stocks and exchange-traded funds. Kraken said the contracts reference tokenized equity benchmarks rather than directly holding the underlying shares. Read more
MoonPay debuts infrastructure enabling AI agents to transact with stablecoins onchain as both crypto and non-crypto companies race to build the “agent economy.” Crypto payments and stablecoin infrastructure company MoonPay has introduced a new software layer that gives artificial intelligence systems direct access to blockchain-based financial networks, a development that could allow AI agents to independently hold and move digital assets rather than rely on human intermediaries. The product, called MoonPay Agents, is a non-custodial tool that allows AI agents, or agentic AI, to create wallets, hold digital assets and execute onchain transactions without human intervention, once funded. The launch reflects a broader push to integrate autonomous AI systems with crypto infrastructure, potentially allowing algorithms to interact directly with decentralized finance protocols and other blockchain applications. Read more
Bitcoin remains pinned below $65,000 as random bouts of intense selling pressure persist, but one onchain indicator has stabilized, providing insight into when spot market demand may return. Onchain data tracking Bitcoin’s (BTC) investor profitability has dropped back toward the long-term average, indicating a possible valuation reset. At the same time, crypto exchange order flow shows an easing of aggressive selling pressure, with the spot cumulative volume delta (CVD) rising marginally even as the spot trading volume dropped to $6 billion from $7.6 billion. These changes are shaping the expectations around when stronger spot demand may return for BTC and whether or not this would lead to a trend reversal. Glassnode analyst Chris Beamish said that the Bitcoin market value to realized value (MVRV) ratio has normalized after the prior +1 standard deviation extremes were fully reset. Read more8791 items