Cointelegraph

Full Sail, a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol on the Sui blockchain, plans to shut down after a security incident involving oracle provider Switchboard resulted in user losses.
Full Sail took to X on Tuesday to announce that the protocol is winding down, immediately disabling new deposits and liquidity provider (LP) reward claims. Regular pools will move to withdrawal-only mode after final security checks, with compensating users the protocol’s top priority, Full Sail said.
The decision follows a security incident last week that affected Full Sail’s automated vaults following a suspected compromise of Switchboard’s oracle infrastructure.
Full Sail first disclosed the incident on Saturday, saying it had confirmed a loss of funds and paused deposits and withdrawals while it investigated. Switchboard said in an X post on Saturday that it was investigating a potential compromise of its Move-based implementations and had halted its network on Aptos, Sui, IOTA and Movement.
Full Sail later said an attacker removed about $91,000 from three of its vaults. Virtue, a stablecoin lending protocol based on IOTA (IOTA), separately reported about $455,000 in losses and said the backing of its VUSD stablecoin had been impaired.
Full Sail said it will use its remaining protocol-owned liquidity to compensate users, while the team will cover any shortfall so community depositors are repaid first. The protocol expects to publish withdrawal and claim instructions within the coming days.

Hashkey joined the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation’s (DTCC) Digital Assets Advisory Services Industry Working Group as its first Asian digital asset service provider.
Hashkey joins over 100 other global financial institutions and asset managers to help define how tokenized assets are issued, settled and safeguarded at an institutional scale. Other participants include JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the company revealed in a Wednesday announcement.
DTCC is a core post-trade infrastructure provider in traditional financial markets. Its working group was formed to connect traditional finance with decentralized finance (DeFi) infrastructure. DTCC plans to launch access to tokenized securities in October, in conjunction with the working group. DTCC custodies $114 trillion in liquid assets, including stocks and exchange-traded funds.
In December, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a “no action” letter to a DTCC subsidiary, enabling it to offer a new securities market tokenization service.
SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said that the green light for the DTCC’s pilot is only the beginning, as the SEC will consider an innovation exemption to enable builders to start “transitioning our markets onchain,” without being burdened by “cumbersome regulatory requirements,” according to a Dec. 12 X post.
Atkins first proposed an innovation exemption for tokenization during his remarks at the Crypto Task Force Roundtable on DeFi on June 9.

Two Thai businessmen sued stablecoin issuer Tether in a New York district court, claiming it illegally froze $42.4 million in Tether USDt (USDT) in October, as part of a broader case tied to a pig butchering scheme.
In a Monday court filing, the plaintiffs claimed that Tether illegally froze the $42 million without a warrant in October 2025, following an informal request from US Homeland Security Investigations.
Authorities in the Eastern District of North Carolina only issued a seizure warrant for the funds later in February 2026, as part of a $61 million pig butchering case. The warrant directed the burn and reissuance of the tokens to a government wallet.
While the plaintiffs didn’t dispute their involvement in the investment scam, the lawsuit tests the freezing authority of stablecoin issuers. It also requests that authorities unfreeze the funds and pay potential punitive damages.
“The complaint is NOT denying that the government claims these coins are scam proceeds. It is saying Tether locked secondary-market holders first, kept earning Treasury yield on the reserves, and only later received a warrant that still does not, in plaintiffs’ view, authorize a private issuer to freeze, burn, or reissue their tokens,” wrote corporate and intellectual property attorney Ariel Givner in a Wednesday X post.
In a separate case in February, a US court sentenced a dual national of China and St. Kitts and Nevis to 20 years in prison for orchestrating a $73 million pig butchering scam.

Remixpoint, one of Japan’s largest corporate Bitcoin holders, sold all its altcoins, leaving about 1,506 BTC ($115 million) as its only cryptocurrency holding as it concentrates its crypto strategy around Bitcoin.
Remixpoint sold its Ether (ETH), Solana (SOL), XRP (XRP) and Dogecoin (DOGE) holdings for a combined 878.8 million yen ($5.5 million), generating a 117.8 million yen ($736,000) gain, according to a Wednesday company disclosure.
The company recorded gains on its ETH, SOL and XRP sales but sold its DOGE holdings at a 3.26 million yen ($20,000) loss. The company completed the sale on Tuesday and expects to book the gain in the second quarter of the fiscal year ending March 2027.
Remixpoint ranks as Japan’s third-largest corporate Bitcoin holder. Source: Bitcoin Treasuries
Before the sale, Remixpoint held about 901 ETH, 13,920 SOL, 1.19 million XRP and 2.8 million DOGE. Those holdings would be worth about $2.14 million, $1.36 million, $1.57 million and $226,000, respectively, based on CoinGecko prices at the time of publication.
Remixpoint said it decided to sell the altcoins after considering market conditions, their risk-return characteristics and its financial strategy. Remixpoint said focusing its crypto portfolio on Bitcoin aims to “clarify investment strategy” and “improve capital efficiency.”
Remixpoint has also been generating returns from its Bitcoin holdings. The company earned 14.92 BTC from lending between Feb. 24 and Aug. 31, valued at 164.2 million yen ($1 million), according to the disclosure.

Thailand is tightening oversight of crypto transfers, including transactions involving self-custodial wallets, as it moves to align with global Anti-Money Laundering (AML) standards.
Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued new Travel Rule regulations requiring digital asset operators to collect information about parties involved in crypto transfers, the regulator announced Wednesday.
The rules will take effect on Feb. 27, 2027, giving crypto businesses nearly six months to develop systems for transmitting, receiving and monitoring transaction information.
Thailand joins a growing global push to track who sends and receives crypto, as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) estimated that 83% of surveyed jurisdictions had passed Travel Rule legislation as of 2026.
Self-custodial wallets face ownership checks
Under the new framework, Thai digital asset operators must verify the ownership or control of self-hosted, or self-custodial, wallets when customers send crypto to or receive it from those wallets.
Unlike wallets managed by centralized exchanges (CEXs) or custodians, self-custodial wallets give users direct control over the private keys needed to access their crypto.
Operators must also retain information accompanying every digital asset transaction for at least five years and make the records available for regulatory examination.
The requirements put more responsibility on crypto companies to identify the parties behind transfers, including those involving self-custodial wallets. Pornanong Budsaratragoon, secretary-general of Thailand’s SEC, said the rules aim to “reduce the risk of digital asset operators being used for money laundering and terrorist financing.”
Thailand moves from consultation to final rules
The final rules follow two rounds of public consultation this year, starting with proposed principles in March and a draft notification in June. The SEC said most stakeholders supported the proposals.
The Travel Rule comes as Thailand considers expanding access to other regulated crypto products. On Monday, the SEC proposed allowing intermediaries to offer retail investors access to certain crypto derivatives traded on regulated overseas exchanges.
Days earlier, the regulator advanced draft rules for spot Bitcoin and Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs), while also seeking feedback on requirements for foreign digital asset custodians used by funds investing in crypto.
Magazine: Thailand’s 0% crypto tax. Bitcoin Red Team forced to use Chinese AI: Asia Express

Crypto industry participants urged the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to avoid a blanket restriction on “novel” exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and instead evaluate products based on their individual risk parameters.
Venture capital firm a16z asked the SEC to evaluate novel products according to their underlying characteristics, coordinate fund-registration and exchange-listing reviews and adopt more predictable timelines. Digital asset investment manager Grayscale and the Crypto Council for Innovation (CCI) supported optional confidential pre-filing processes.
All three opposed changing existing investment-company classifications in ways that could automatically sweep products holding non-securities into the Investment Company Act framework.
The letters were dated Aug. 31 and posted by the SEC around the close of a 60-day public-comment period on its request for feedback concerning novel ETFs.
The SEC opened the consultation window on the next generation of ETFs on June 30, seeking feedback on whether existing regulations are adequate, how such funds should be regulated and whether changes to the registration process are needed.
Crypto industry stakeholders urge SEC for more regulatory clarity on novel ETFs
A16z argued that crypto-based ETPs now benefit from more developed market infrastructure, including exchange-approved listing standards and established disclosure requirements, and therefore should not be grouped with products holding private assets or using other novel strategies.
Grayscale similarly argued that digital asset products with established compliance and disclosure records should not face new portfolio conditions or disclosure regimes merely because they are characterized as novel. CCI called for comparable regulatory efficiencies across ETFs and non-ETF ETPs while preserving existing investor protections.
The commenters broadly opposed categorical regulatory changes that could impose additional requirements or delay product launches. However, their recommendations differed on classification, approval procedures and terminology.
One clear disagreement concerned the ETF label. a16z proposed that the term ETF should be reserved for funds under the Investment Company Act of 1940, while Grayscale said that the term ETF should describe economic characteristics regardless of the legal wrapper.
Meanwhile, CCI urged the financial regulator to create clearer registration-status disclosures rather than radically changing the current approval framework.
Magazine: What NYSE’s exploration of onchain systems means for financial markets

US-listed spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) capped their best month of 2026 alongside Bitcoin’s biggest monthly gain since November 2024.
Bitcoin ETFs attracted $3.52 billion in net inflows in August, their highest monthly total of 2026 and a sharp increase from just $172 million in inflows in July, according to SoSoValue data.
Bitcoin (BTC) gained about 25% in August, its strongest monthly performance since a 37.29% rally in November 2024, according to CoinGlass.
The August momentum quickly gave way to a weaker start to September, as ETF flows turned negative and Bitcoin briefly fell below $77,000.
August cuts year-to-date outflows by 66% to $1.77B
August’s $3.52 billion in Bitcoin ETF inflows cut year-to-date net outflows by roughly 66%, from $5.29 billion to $1.77 billion.
The biggest monthly outflows came in June at $4.51 billion, followed by $2.43 billion in May and $1.61 billion in January, according to SoSoValue data.
Monthly flows into US spot Bitcoin ETFs in 2026. Source: SoSoValue
The funds recorded net inflows on 16 of 21 trading days in August, including nine consecutive sessions from Aug. 17 through Aug. 27.
Total net assets rose to $99.61 billion at the end of August from $76.29 billion at the end of July, an increase of about 31%. Monthly trading volume climbed nearly 49% to $58.63 billion from $39.37 billion.
September starts with $236M in Bitcoin ETF outflows
US spot Bitcoin ETFs started September with $236.46 million in net outflows on Tuesday, reversing the $216.70 million in net inflows recorded on Monday. The withdrawal marked the largest daily outflow since July 31, when the funds shed $265.37 million.
The reversal came as Bitcoin briefly fell below $77,000 on Tuesday after trading above $80,000 in late August, according to CoinGecko.
Ether and XRP ETFs remained in positive territory on Tuesday. Spot Ether (ETH) ETFs attracted around $11 million on Tuesday, while spot XRP (XRP) ETFs drew $14.4 million.
August pushed Ether ETFs into positive territory for 2026, with $732 million in year-to-date net inflows after they ended July about $1.12 billion in the red.
XRP ETFs reached $502 million in year-to-date net inflows, up about 46% from $343 million at the end of July.
Magazine: Does the Bitcoin rally mean we haven’t wasted our lives in crypto?

HYPE treasury company Hyperliquid Strategies increased its equity facility with Chardan Capital Markets from $1 billion to $2.5 billion, giving the company additional capacity to raise capital through share sales.
In a Tuesday filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Hyperliquid Strategies said it amended its October 2025 Chardan Equity Facility purchase agreement to increase the aggregate gross purchase price of newly issued common shares.
The agreement allows Hyperliquid Strategies to periodically direct Chardan, a New York-based investment bank and broker-dealer, to purchase shares subject to pricing, trading volume, and other conditions. Chardan can subsequently resell the shares in the public market.
The increased facility gives the company more potential funding for its HYPE-focused treasury strategy, but drawing on it would issue additional shares and could dilute existing shareholders. The $2.5 billion represents the maximum capacity rather than funds already raised.
Hyperliquid Strategies previously reported raising $647 million through the facility and expanding its treasury to about 29.3 million HYPE tokens.
The expansion follows renewed market interest in Hyperliquid. HYPE jumped more than 20% in August after US President Donald Trump said Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Michael Selig was working to bring the decentralized trading platform into the US “in a fully compliant and legal fashion.”
Hyperliquid Strategies shares rose 30.4% following Trump’s remarks. Despite sharing the protocol’s name and holding its native token, the company says it is independent and not affiliated with Hyperliquid.

Core DAO is coordinating an emergency hard fork after validators claimed more CORE rewards than the blockchain intended to issue.
In an update, Core said the incident had been contained and that “malicious validators” could no longer draw excess rewards. It said the fork would be a forward upgrade and would not roll back the network or reverse any previously confirmed transactions.
This followed an earlier status update on Monday, in which Core said a small number of validators had accrued rewards significantly above the protocol’s intended issuance. It said the incident was limited to reward issuance and that user assets remained safe, adding that it would publish a technical postmortem.
Several exchanges restricted CORE transfers around the time of the incident. Coinbase paused sends and receives on the Core network, while Bithumb and Coinone suspended deposits and withdrawals, citing suspected or confirmed security concerns.
Bitget also suspended CORE deposits and withdrawals, citing wallet maintenance, while LBank suspended deposits because of what it described as the project’s requirements.
Core has not disclosed how much CORE was issued, how long the activity continued, or whether any of the additional tokens entered circulation. It also has not explained the vulnerability that enabled the validators to obtain the rewards. However, Core said it would publish a technical postmortem.
Cointelegraph contacted Core for further information but had not received a response by publication.

Sentiment in crypto has dived lower than a snailfish in the Mariana Trench in recent months.
Miners are capitulating to AI, cold wallets are getting exploited, and you can hardly fire up LinkedIn without reading another message from a newly unemployed crypto journalist searching for new opportunities. Even for an industry that’s endured nation-state bans, exchange blowups, and years of regulatory pressure, morale has rarely felt this low.
With business models failing and public interest dropping, many long-term crypto fans have begun to question whether we’ve all wasted a decade of our lives on a pipe dream.
Source: Ash Crypto
Until the price went up, that is.
Bitcoin has just seen its best August in years with a 26% return, while Ethereum gained 34%. President Trump even sang the praises of a decentralized offshore perpetual futures venue at the White House. Crypto’s finally getting interesting again.
But a short-term price rise doesn’t mean all our dreams have come true. For anyone who spent years advocating for sovereign F-you money outside the control of the state and centralized entities, a custodial ETF is not exactly a version of BTC that sticks it to the man.
And there’s another problem with calling this a victory lap: many of the companies that helped build crypto’s foundations are no longer around to enjoy the latest pump.
Take BitMEX, one of the industry’s first Bitcoin futures exchanges that pioneered the perpetual swap and 100x leverage for degens. It’s shutting down operations in September after 11 years.
Former chief executive Stephan Lutz tells Magazine that BitMEX was a victim of its own success.
“Every legitimate crypto exchange is using the perpetual swap... every legitimate crypto exchange uses the funding mechanism to bring longs and shorts together that the founders invented originally… That isn’t going away… It’s just not a differentiating factor anymore.”
So what if crypto won — just not in the way we thought it would?
Crypto’s impact means it wasn’t a waste of time
Lutz doesn’t think crypto can simply disappear anymore because the technology has become too deeply embedded in traditional finance to be unwound.
“From my point of view, we passed the point of no return,” he says.
Utkarsh Ahuja, founder of Moon Pursuit Capital, agrees that crypto proponents have not wasted their lives, and points to the industry’s impact on payment rails, settlement and tokenization.
Stablecoins, he says, can have a “very, very lasting impact” as they become integrated into financial payment infrastructure, and “you can literally tokenize anything.”
He points to crypto’s spillover into energy, healthcare and AI, arguing that the technology is being widely used beyond the industry that created it.
Decentralized finance has also made a meaningful impact on the world and is now closer to infrastructure, than an experiment. Wanja Oberhof, chief executive of Subsquid Labs, tells Magazine:
“DeFi built the first financial system where you don’t have to trust the operator’s word: you can verify the ledger yourself, in real time, down to every transaction.”
Settlement happens in minutes rather than days, he says, while markets run 24/7 and lending protocols can clear billions transparently:
“No bank consortium ever shipped anything like it. DeFi removed the intermediary and kept the market.”
But while DeFi’s infrastructure has greatly improved, Oberhof concedes the industry “over-promised on timelines and under-delivered on user experience.”
He says the real win will come when the technology “disappears into products people use without thinking about it.”
Institutions are adopting blockchain technology like crazy, and tokenized funds, stablecoins and blockchain-based settlement are no longer ideas confined to the hallways of crypto conferences.
But crypto isn’t so much replacing the financial system as being absorbed by it.
The crypto industry’s success is a key reason it no longer feels as exciting or impactful. The more TradFi becomes involved, the more boring crypto seems, especially when compared to the days when the Long Island Iced Tea Corp changed its name to Long Blockchain Corp back in December 2017 and the stock price surged 500%. (It was delisted two months later for misleading the market).
Ether printed a God candle on Aug. 22. Source: Lark Davis
Regulation has also made crypto much more legitimate but duller at the same time.
The EU has implemented its Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA). The US has gone from treating crypto largely as a regulatory headache to building a framework around it. Senators may even pass the CLARITY act one day.
What did we lose along the way?
Despite increasing legitimacy, the crypto industry has failed to deliver on many things it promised. Dentacoin failed to revolutionize the dental industry. Bitcoin did not stop all wars. Ethereum is not the default home for global finance (at least, not yet.) Ahuja says:
“Has it delivered enough? Not yet, in my opinion. But has it changed our perception completely? Yes, it has.”
The audience has changed too.
Crypto is no longer some fringe hobby for a tiny band of libertarian cypherpunks and meme-weilding frog armies on Crypto Twitter.
Around one in five American adults, or 19%, now says they have invested in, traded or used cryptocurrency, according to Pew Research Center.
Broader ownership hasn’t made crypto easier to use. In fact, the explosion of assets and platforms has made the market harder to navigate. Users have to contemplate multiple networks, wallets, exchanges, bridges and onramps, creating the extra layers of friction that crypto was supposed to eliminate.
One in five Americans has used crypto. Source: Pew Research Center
Ahuja points to another irony: an asset class designed to be borderless is increasingly being shaped by national regulatory regimes, making it harder to move seamlessly across jurisdictions.
One Dubai-based crypto user Magazine spoke with receives their salary every month into a large centralized crypto exchange. They say they lose money when converting USDT into local currency, and then have to pay a flat 75 AED fee (roughly 20 USD) just to withdraw. They say:
“I wish I could receive a bank transfer instead.”
And then there’s the most basic promise of all: self-custody, arguably the biggest paradox the industry faces because the more valuable Bitcoin becomes, the more dangerous it is to hold your own private keys — whether for fear of being bludgeoned to death by a wrench or having your cold wallet exploited by an AI agent.
Arguably it’s this failure to deliver the future crypto once promised, that has made the bear market shutdowns and closures hit even harder.
Layoffs are rampant throughout the industry. Projects that survived even the grizzly 2022 bear market have been shutting down this year, or being forced to reinvent themselves as the money and users pivot to AI — which is newer but has seen adoption crypto can only dream of so far.
Lutz doesn’t see BitMEX’s fate as evidence that the technology failed; quite the opposite: the technology worked so well that everyone copied it, and the industry has moved from a race to invent the infrastructure to a brutal fight over market share. He says:
“Now the differentiating factor is your aggressiveness in the competition, which is a completely different game. Some play that very well, others don’t.”
Perhaps the companies and projects that built crypto were never going to be the ones that ultimately benefited most from its adoption.
So have we wasted our lives?
Well, the purists may not have gotten their sovereign money, the early companies may not have survived, and the average user may still be waiting to catch a break.
But the technology is here, the infrastructure is becoming the rails, and the 20% daily candles sure are fun to watch.
And one thing that’s always been true, when the price starts going up, the narratives change quickly to explain why it may keep going up forever.
Magazine: Do the Coldcard attacks mean all hardware wallets are now insecure?

An affiliate of the political action committee (PAC) Fairshake, which was responsible for pouring more than $130 million in ads and media in the 2024 election cycle, is supporting at least one candidate in Tuesday’s primary in Massachusetts.
According to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records as of Tuesday, the Protect Progress PAC, a Fairshake affiliate, spent just over $189,000 on media to support Representative Jake Auchincloss running for reelection in Massachusetts’ 4th congressional district. Some of the funds, according to Democratic candidate Jason Poulos, were used to create “AI-generated slop mailers” supporting Auchincloss ahead of the Massachusetts primary, scheduled for Tuesday.
In an Aug. 16 letter, Poulos called on the Democratic lawmaker to “publicly renounce” Protect Progress’ efforts to potentially influence the primary and general election. The candidate claimed Auchincloss had accepted $77,500 directly from “crypto-industry sources” since 2020, pointing to the Massachusetts lawmaker’s record in voting for the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act in July 2025 — a market structure bill not signed into law as it awaits consideration in the Senate.
Protect Progress PAC mailer supporting Jake Auchincloss. Source: Jason Poulos
The $189,000 in spending marked Fairshake’s latest attempt to influence the 2026 elections through media and ads unrelated to candidates’ positions on crypto and blockchain. After the PAC and its affiliates spent about $3.6 million on House and Senate races in Alaska, Florida and Wyoming in August, Fairshake reported having $122 million cash on hand ahead of the 2026 midterms.
“With dozens of wins in House and Senate races across the country, and $122 million ready for the fall, we’re not slowing down heading into November,“ Fairshake spokesperson Geoff Vetter said in August.
Massachusetts will be one of the last US states to hold primaries, with just over two months until the general election. New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Delaware are all scheduled to hold primaries in September.

Binance is expanding further into traditional finance by launching options trading on more than 1,000 US stocks and exchange-traded funds for eligible users outside the United States.
The options will be offered through Binance’s Abu Dhabi-regulated broker-dealer, Nest Trading, with orders routed to US-registered Alpaca Securities for execution, clearing, settlement and custody.
The launch builds on Binance’s existing equities offering of more than 7,000 US stocks and ETFs and adds to a growing lineup of traditional financial products available through the platform.
Unlike equity-linked perpetual futures, the options are physically settled, meaning users who exercise them receive or deliver the underlying shares.
According to Binance, the expansion comes as trading in traditional financial products on the platform has accelerated, with TradFi perpetual futures volume reaching about $433 billion in August, roughly 15 times January’s total.
Tokenized stock market surges as exchanges expand offerings
As crypto exchanges and traditional brokerages expand into tokenized equities, the onchain stock market has expanded sharply over the past year.
Tokenized stocks now have about $2.6 billion in distributed value, up from roughly $346 million at the same time last year, according to RWA.xyz data. Monthly transfer volume has also climbed 93% over the past 30 days to $25.1 billion, while the number of holders has surged 157% to nearly 2.5 million.
The value of tokenized stocks. Source: RWA.xyz
Last week, Coinbase brought its B20 tokenized equities to Base, giving eligible non-US users 24/7 access to onchain versions of stocks including Apple, Nvidia, Meta and Alphabet. The assets can also be integrated into DeFi protocols for uses such as trading and collateralized borrowing.
Kraken also pushed deeper into equities in August, opening access to more than 7,000 US-listed stocks for eligible European customers and placing them alongside its growing lineup of tokenized xStocks.
In July, US online brokerage Robinhood launched Robinhood Chain alongside a new generation of Stock Tokens available to eligible users in more than 120 countries.
Magazine: Mystery surrounds why an OG burned $1M in Bitcoin

The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) has reportedly frozen 10 million pounds, or about $13.5 million, as part of an investigation into online sports company Sorare.
According to a Monday report from UK news outlet The Sun, the NCA was conducting a probe into Sorare over claims of unlicensed gambling. The company is behind digital trading cards on the blockchain and signed a four-year, $162-million partnership deal with the Premier League in 2023, which was terminated at the end of last season.
The Sun reported that the NCA froze $13.5 million in cash following a January 2025 order from the Westminster magistrates’ court. A spokesperson reportedly said that the order was intended “to prevent dissipation of the funds while the NCA investigates any potential links between those funds and alleged third-party criminality.”
In June, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said it had sent letters to clubs in the Premier League, warning about “questionable sponsorship deals” with companies not authorized to operate in the country, including those involved with crypto.
Some of the Premier League clubs have crypto-related sponsors for the upcoming season, including stablecoin issuer Circle for Chelsea and the OKX exchange for Manchester City. However, the number of sponsorship deals between crypto companies and sports teams globally has reportedly declined since 2022 following the market downturn and concerns over public ties to the industry.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has proposed overhauling decades-old rules governing transfer agents as blockchain-based recordkeeping and tokenized securities become more prominent in US markets.
The proposal would update requirements covering registration, recordkeeping, safeguarding and securities transfers, while introducing new rules aimed at risks emerging from increasingly digital and automated market infrastructure.
“Market participants are actively seeking to bring blockchain-native, or ‘onchain’ transfer agents into the U.S. market,” the SEC said, pointing to models for blockchain-based recordkeeping, tokenized fund administration and cross-chain interoperability.
The agency said its existing framework does not adequately address those developments, particularly risks involving cybersecurity, operational resilience and the safeguarding of securities and investor records.
Under the proposal, transfer agents would face expanded reporting requirements and new compliance standards, including rules governing restrictive legends on securities and the use of third-party service providers.
SEC’s proposed Transfer Agent Rules. Source: SEC
The SEC said its transfer agent rules have not been substantively updated since the late 1970s and early 1980s, when the industry still relied heavily on paper certificates and manual recordkeeping.
The regulatory agency is seeking public comment on the proposed changes, with comments due 60 days after the proposal is published in the Federal Register.
Related: CFTC chair says agency will move forward on crypto regulation if CLARITY fails
SEC pursues broader securities rule changes
The SEC is “on a mission to simplify its rules,” according to analysis from law firm Cahill Gordon & Reindel sent to clients on Tuesday.
In May, the SEC proposed three major changes to public-company rules. The proposals would allow companies to opt for semiannual reporting, simplify the existing filer classification system and expand access to streamlined registered securities offerings.
Last week, the SEC sent a proposed overhaul of custody rules for investment advisers and investment companies to the White House for review, with potential changes covering how firms hold crypto assets for clients. The changes could provide clearer standards for how investment advisers and funds custody digital assets while complying with federal securities rules.
Magazine: Does the Bitcoin rally mean we haven’t wasted our lives in crypto?

Prediction market platform Kalshi announced action against US House of Representatives candidate Laurie Buckhout and ousted Republican lawmaker George Santos over using insider information for trading on event contracts, in one of the first lifetime bans the company has imposed since its launch in 2021.
In separate notices of settlement of disciplinary action announced on Friday, Kalshi’s compliance department said it had permanently suspended Santos from trading on the prediction markets platform and imposed a $71,356 penalty. Buckhout received a three-year suspension and a $2,590 penalty.
Both restrictions by Kalshi were made in response to investigations into Santos and Buckhout trading using event contracts that could be manipulated by their own actions. According to the platform, Buckhout, running in North Carolina’s 1st congressional district, “announced her candidacy for public office and was added as a market option for a contract on a North Carolina Congressional election,” while Santos “engaged in trading activity in certain markets related to his attendance at the State of the Union address” in February 2026.
“If a Trader is a decision maker, either directly or indirectly, or has any influence, directly or indirectly, no matter the scale and importance of the influence, on the outcome of the Underlying event of any Contract, that Trader is prohibited from attempting to enter into any trade, either directly or indirectly, on the market in such Contracts,” state Kalshi’s rules.
The actions by the company represented a significant crackdown at a time when prediction market platforms are under scrutiny by state and federal lawmakers over claims that many of the event contracts are susceptible to manipulation. President Donald Trump’s teleprompter operator, Gabriel Perez, was fined $172,000 by federal regulators after trading event contracts on Kalshi related to Trump’s speeches.
While Kalshi’s compliance department reported that Buckhout “cooperated with the inquiry” and agreed to the three-year trading ban and penalty, the platform made no such statement in Santos’ case suggesting that the former US lawmaker had cooperated with its investigation.
Buckhout remains the Republican candidate for North Carolina’s 1st congressional district in the 2026 midterm elections, while Santos, formerly a representative for New York’s 3rd congressional district, was expelled from Congress in December 2023 amid fraud allegations.
In response to the settlement, Santos said in a Monday X post that Kalshi was an “unserious company.” Buckhout reportedly called her actions betting on her own congressional race a “dumb mistake.”
As of Tuesday, Kalshi still listed event contracts related to the outcome of Buckhout’s North Carolina race, giving Democratic incumbent Don Davis a 63% chance over the Republican’s 41%.
Event contract for Laurie Buckhout in North Carolina House race. Source: Kalshi
CFTC taps emergency authority in fed-state prediction markets legal battle
Kalshi and other prediction market platforms like Polymarket face several lawsuits filed by individual US state gaming authorities over allegations the companies are facilitating illegal bets on sporting events. At the same time, the sole commissioner and chair of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Michael Selig, claims that the agency has “exclusive jurisdiction” over prediction markets and vowed to take legal action against any state authority challenging this position.
Last month, the CFTC, in a rare move, invoked emergency authority opposing the state of New York attempting to bar Kalshi from offering contracts tied to sports, elections and other events.
Magazine: Does the Bitcoin rally mean we haven’t wasted our lives in crypto?

A group of 21 major financial institutions plans to establish a new company to develop and issue stablecoins, offering another sign of traditional finance’s push into digital dollars as regulatory frameworks take shape.
The consortium, announced Tuesday, includes Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Citi, Deutsche Bank, UBS, Santander, MUFG and Fidelity Investments. It plans to launch a US dollar-denominated stablecoin in the first half of 2027, subject to the company’s formation and other conditions.
According to the announcement, the group ultimately plans to expand into stablecoins denominated in other G7 currencies, with a euro offering identified as its next priority.
The consortium said its stablecoin will target wholesale, institutional and retail markets, including use cases such as cross-border payments and digital asset settlement. The initiative is intended to comply with both the US GENIUS Act and the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), where applicable.
The venture builds on an initiative announced last October, when an initial group of 10 banks said they were exploring a 1:1 reserve-backed form of digital money available on public blockchains. The consortium has since more than doubled in size, bringing together financial institutions across North America, Europe, East Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
Banks deepen push into stablecoins
The move comes as stablecoins have grown considerably in recent years, with the passage of the GENIUS Act and MiCA creating clearer regulatory pathways for adoption.
Elsewhere, Singapore is considering allowing jointly issued cross-border stablecoins into its regulatory regime, according to a Tuesday announcement, revisiting its earlier decision to restrict the framework to domestic issuance.
Institutional interest was already taking shape in early 2025, when a Fireblocks survey of 295 executives found that 90% of respondents were using or planning to use stablecoins.
Since then, major financial institutions have expanded their presence in the sector. Societe Generale’s crypto subsidiary has issued euro- and dollar-denominated stablecoins, while Fidelity recently launched its US dollar-pegged FIDD stablecoin.
SocGens crypto subsidiary has issued euro- and dollar-denominated stablecoins, as has Fidelity, with its FIDD US dollar-denominated entry. Last month, Standard Chartered backed a Hong Kong dollar stablecoin venture.

Ethena has launched a global money app built around its USDe synthetic dollar, expanding the crypto-native asset into everyday payments, savings and cross-border transfers.
According to Tuesday’s announcement, the self-custodial Ethena Pay app allows users to hold USDe through a dollar-denominated balance, earn as much as 6% in annualized rewards and spend funds through a payment card, while supporting fiat onramps.
The beta rollout includes 48 countries across Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, Asia and other regions, though the initial rollout is limited to 400 users, with access set to expand weekly, Ethena said in a Tuesday thread on X. Avalanche will serve as the exclusive settlement layer for payments and transfers.
Source: Ethena
Users can deposit fiat or crypto, with funds converted into USDe (USDe). The app enables using IBAN details to move money to and from external bank accounts into local currencies. MoonPay-owned Iron provides backend infrastructure.
Ethena Pay is not initially available in the US, EU, Canada, Taiwan or South Korea, though Ethena expects to expand into those markets during the beta, subject to regulatory approval.
Ethena’s USDe grows as ENA rallies
Ethena is an Ethereum-based protocol behind USDe, a synthetic dollar designed to maintain its value near $1 without relying on traditional banking infrastructure.
USDe uses crypto collateral alongside hedging strategies, including derivatives positions, to help maintain its peg. The asset has grown to a market capitalization of about $4.1 billion, making it the sixth-largest stablecoin, according to DefiLlama data.
USDe market cap. Source: DefiLlama
Ethena also operates ENA, the protocol’s governance token, which has a market capitalization of roughly $1.5 billion. The token has rallied sharply over the past month, gaining about 68%, but remains well below its previous highs.
On Friday, the Ethena Foundation proposed directing 95% of the net revenue it receives from Ethena’s core businesses toward ENA buybacks once USDe’s circulating supply reaches $7.5 billion. ENA rose more than 10% following the proposal and gained 27% over the week.
The token recorded about $595 million in trading volume over the past 24 hours, up 16% from the previous day, and was trading around $0.16 on Tuesday, according to CoinGecko.
Magazine: Does the Bitcoin rally mean we haven’t wasted our lives in crypto?

Japan’s JGB yield now at 30-year high
Global long-term bond yields are now at the highest level since the 2008 financial crisis as major long-dated sovereign bonds continued to sell off into trading on Tuesday.
The sell off comes only days after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made headlines by announcing that the maximum size of debt buyback transactions would be increased to $4 billion from September.
While the Treasury does not conduct monetary policy, some commentators have compared this to a form of yield curve control. This has brought the debasement narrative, keenly followed by Bitcoin and precious metal investors, back into the spotlight.
https://x.com/TFTC21/status/2094786021401493831
Japan’s 10-year government bond yield surged to 3% for the first time since 1996 on Tuesday, while the 30-year JGB yield topped a record 4.18%. The 10-year US bond yield also surged to a new multi-year high and stands at 4.78% at the time of writing.
10-Year Japanese government bond. Source: TradingView
Officials in both countries face a mutual bind with respect to the Japanese yen: Tokyo can neither raise policy rates without incurring an operating loss that ultimately hits the Finance ministry, nor repatriate capital without divesting the Treasury securities on which Washington’s financing depends.
Industry commentators such as Arthur Hayes have argued for years that the Fed will eventually use its Foreign and International Monetary Authorities (FIMA) repo facility. Through this swap line, Japan’s Finance ministry could borrow dollars against its Treasury holdings and sell them for yen, strengthening the currency without causing an imminent sovereign bond crisis.
This mechanism would create new dollar liquidity, which is why Hayes recommends positioning in Bitcoin (BTC), gold and crypto. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hinted at the future use of the FIMA facility in August.
Rising long-term yields may be the first sign that Hayes’s scenario is being priced in. Robin Brooks, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution commented on X: “For the past two years, Japan has been in a “Liz Truss” bond market crisis whereby its currency falls even as government bond yields go ever higher. We’ve never had a major G10 sovereign experience something like this and it’s deeply destabilizing…”
10-year interest swap rate and trade-weighted JPY.
Source: Robin Brooks on X.com
Bitcoin continues sideways movement
In the face of Tuesday’s bond sell-off, Bitcoin has been trading sideways near the $78,000 mark, following a minor corrective decline from its morning high close to $79,000.
Cointelegraph previously reported on a thick patch of resistance between the current spot price and $86,000. This has slowed Bitcoin’s upside momentum despite positive news and renewed interest in the debasement trade.
Overall sentiment across recent reports remains mixed to cautiously optimistic in the short term after the strong August recovery, with the $76,000-$82,000 range as the key battleground for the coming weeks.
S&P 500 index futures sold off by 0.3% on Tuesday and the gauge now hovers around 7,660, the lowest level since Aug. 4. This comes as tensions in the Iran war flare up once more. Oil prices rose more than 2%, with WTI around $88 per barrel and Brent above $92, fueled by renewed US-Iran fighting, including strikes, tanker incidents in the Strait of Hormuz, and comments from President Donald Trump.
S&P 500 out-of-hours futures. Source: X.com

A fake Claude desktop application is being used to distribute RevStealer, a Windows malware strain built to steal crypto, password and browser data.
According to a Monday report by cybersecurity company Morphisec, RevStealer was previously distributed through GitHub repositories and game-cheat-themed sites but the most notable is a fake “Claude Opus 5 Free Desktop” project that impersonates AI developer Anthropic and promises free access to Claude. The researchers noted that the malware is designed to leave few traces and searches browser databases, cookies, password-manager records, VPN and remote-access settings, messaging data, screenshots and selected documents. RevStealer also targets over 50 cryptocurrency wallets.
The malware checks whether the machine looks like a real user device before unlocking its malicious payload, looking at available memory, the number of processor cores, hostname, username and graphics hardware. It also monitors for the debugging delays typical of malware analysis environment.
If RevStealer detects anything out of the ordinary, it does not move on to the next stages of infection and malicious activity. If the system passes those checks, the payload is decrypted, stored under a random name and covertly executed.
The report follows the discovery by Russian cybersecurity company Kaspersky of a new malware framework targeting cryptocurrency investors called OkoBot, which can harvest crypto wallet files, browser data and user credentials, inject malicious extensions and capture wallet application windows to steal assets.

Blockchain enterprise solutions provider Ripple has partnered with digital asset infrastructure company SettleMint to offer financial institutions solutions for custody, issuance and management of tokenized assets across their full lifecycle.
The strategic partnership will integrate Ripple’s institutional digital asset custody infrastructure, Ripple Custody, and SettleMint’s Digital Asset Lifecycle Platform (DALP) to offer institutions a less complex way to secure digital assets, Ripple announced on Tuesday.
A day earlier, digital asset service provider Coincheck Group partnered with wallet infrastructure provider DFNS to build digital asset wallet technology and custody services in Japan.
DFNS’s wallet-as-a-service offers institutions full transaction lifecycle management, including workflow orchestration and governance controls, under a single platform that supports more than 100 blockchain networks.
Both partnerships are seeking to build more institutional digital asset services to address the infrastructure gap hindering the entry of regulated financial institutions.
The Asia-Pacific region ranked as the fastest-growing area for onchain crypto activity and experienced a 69% year-over-year increase in value received, according to Chainalysis’ 2025 global adoption index.
Many countries in the region are developing their own cryptocurrency regulatory frameworks. In July, Japan’s parliament passed revisions that classify crypto assets as financial assets under Japan’s Financial Instruments and Exchange Act.
Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama signaled the intent to bring crypto under the same umbrella as traditional finance assets in January, to ensure that citizens will “benefit from digital and blockchain-based assets.”