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Crypto news: Bitcoin, markets, regulation, exchanges and the projects behind them.
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European central banks are pushing to expand existing restrictions on stablecoin yields to cover crypto lending and staking products, arguing that such offerings distort financial system competition by blurring the line between payment tokens and bank deposits.
Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, has purchased a $100 million stake in stablecoin issuer Circle as part of a five-year agreement to promote the USDC stablecoin, according to a report by CoinDesk. The deal includes Circle selling 1.24 million shares at $80.84 each, with Binance set to receive a monthly fee tied to the volume of USDC held through its wallet infrastructure.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are leading an investigation into whether Binance knowingly allowed trading that violated US sanctions on Iran, according to a report Tuesday that provides new detail on a Justice Department probe first disclosed months ago. The Justice Department’s Criminal Division in Washington is also involved in the probe.
· 3 sourcesOndo Finance has introduced a new system allowing approved institutional investors to convert stocks and exchange-traded funds directly into their tokenized equivalents, or redeem the tokens for the underlying shares, using an in-kind transfer process via Alpaca accounts.
Fairshake, the cryptocurrency industry’s leading political action committee, has committed $30 million to oppose former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) in his bid to reclaim the Senate seat he lost in 2024. The group confirmed the spending plan on Monday, setting the stage for another expensive showdown in the Buckeye State.
· 2 sourcesThe European Central Bank (ECB) plans to purchase tokenized bonds using its own funds, a landmark move to integrate central bank reserves with blockchain-based securities markets. The size, timing and operational details will be decided by the ECB's executive board once preparatory work is complete, with the broader Pontes initiative targeting full implementation by 2028.
The cryptocurrency industry's political action committee Fairshake has committed $30 million to oppose the re-election campaign of Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, according to a report from CoinDesk. The expenditure is the largest single spending from the industry's campaign arm in the 2026 election cycle.
The European Central Bank (ECB) has deployed its Pontes platform to settle wholesale tokenized assets in central-bank money, marking a significant step in modernizing Europe's financial market infrastructure, while the retail digital euro remains a distinct and parallel project.
· 2 sourcesBitcoin surged 44% in the third quarter of 2026, a gain that market observers say could signal the start of a full-blown crypto bull run, according to a recent CoinDesk report.
Bitcoin hit $85,000 on Monday, propelled by a short squeeze that liquidated $648 million in bearish positions, according to data from CoinGlass. Open interest in bitcoin futures rose 7.59% to $156 billion, indicating traders are adding to positions rather than pulling back, even as forced buy-ins drove the price higher.
· 2 sourcesSouth Korea's second-largest bank, Hana Bank, has issued the country's first digital bond using Euroclear's blockchain platform, a $100 million foreign-currency issuance that settled on the same day instead of the typical three to five business days.
Prediction market platform Kalshi has been accused of reporting fake crypto trading volumes after a critic flagged a series of identical $5,500 trades on the platform. Kalshi responded that its volume figures follow an industry-wide convention of tracking maximum potential payouts rather than actual cash spent, and pointed to its public regulatory filings as evidence of transparency.
A North Korean cyber group dubbed WaterPlum—also known as Contagious Interview—has stolen at least $10.7 million in cryptocurrency by posing as recruiters for legitimate crypto, AI, and NFT firms, infecting at least 30,000 devices across more than 100 countries, according to a joint advisory from Japan, Germany, Australia, and the US.
The US Senate failed to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act on a cloture motion that garnered just 49 votes in favor and 50 against, far short of the 60 required, but Republican Senator Thom Tillis's last-minute switch to 'no' may keep the bill alive for a future vote.
· 2 sourcesCrypto platform Gemini's stock has fallen 80% from its initial public offering price, reducing its market value to approximately $753 million and reviving speculation that the company could be a takeover target, according to a report from CoinDesk.
Despite widespread expectations among cryptocurrency traders that this week would bring a total market wipeout, Bitcoin has held its ground, prompting analysts to argue that the digital asset's price stability reflects a fundamental decoupling from US political risk.
Analysts at Goldman Sachs and Citizens say Coinbase, Robinhood, and Circle could be early winners of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) push toward tokenized stocks, citing new opportunities in custody, tokenization infrastructure, and stablecoin settlement, according to a report from CoinDesk.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has approved the listing of tokenized stocks — digital representations of traditional equities on a blockchain — though with significant caveats, according to reports. The decision follows the failure of the Clarity Act in the Senate, which would have established a dedicated framework for digital securities.
· 2 sourcesThe Clarity Act, a bill designed to establish a comprehensive legal framework for cryptocurrency markets in the United States, appears to have stalled, with federal agencies now moving to substitute their own regulations in its place. The shift has prompted debate over whether agency rules can provide the lasting stability the industry has sought.
Haruko, a cryptocurrency technology provider, has been struck by a cyberattack that affected 15 of its clients, with some smaller hedge funds losing funds due to weaker security controls, according to sources familiar with the incident.
Bitcoin surged past $80,000 on Friday, touching $81,000 during the Wall Street open, as rebounding US 30-year bond yields and oil supply worries drove a 6% daily gain and sparked $250 million in short liquidations.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has submitted proposed crypto market rules to the White House for review, moving ahead with regulation as Congress remains deadlocked on the Clarity Act. Separately, the Securities and Exchange Commission is opening a new path for tokenized stock trading.
· 2 sourcesEuropean Central Bank President Christine Lagarde personally intervened to block Binance’s application for a license under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, prompting Greek authorities to stall the approval process despite prior indications that the application was complete, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.
Two cryptocurrency billionaires have donated £72 million ($97 million) to Nigel Farage's Reform UK party within 48 hours, in what analysts say are the largest individual political donations in British history and a major scaling up of crypto industry political backing.
· 4 sourcesHardware crypto wallet maker Trezor has warned customers that a cyberattack on its third-party email provider, Brevo, allowed hackers to send around 347,000 phishing emails targeting Trezor users, marking the second such incident in as many months following a breach at shipping partner ShipMonk.
Italian banking giant UniCredit is looking for a technology partner to build infrastructure for crypto trading, custody and tokenized investment products, according to a report from Bloomberg cited by Cointelegraph. The discussions remain at an early stage, with areas of interest spanning crypto custody and brokerage capabilities, tokenized investment products and stablecoin-based fixed-income securities.
US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recorded their largest daily outflow in nearly two months on Thursday, with $282.6 million pulled from the funds, part of a three-day total of $449 million. The withdrawals reverse part of the $3.8 billion in net inflows accumulated during the funds' strongest three-week stretch of 2026.
A revised version of the CLARITY Act, posted by Senator Cynthia Lummis, would require U.S. regulators to determine whether people or groups controlling 'non-decentralized finance trading protocols' must comply with securities, commodities, and anti-money laundering requirements. The bill defines non-decentralized protocols as those whose functionality, operation, or rules can be materially altered by a person or coordinated group, or whose controllers can restrict users, or whose transactions are not governed solely by transparent, pre-established rules.
Europe's securities regulator has warned that deepening links between the crypto sector and traditional finance could increase the risk of shocks spreading across the broader financial system, citing tokenized equities, decentralized finance exploits, and prediction markets as particular areas of concern.
Nasdaq has invested $100 million in Payward, the parent company of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, as part of its expansion into tokenized stock products and round-the-clock trading, according to a company announcement.
· 2 sourcesUnited States authorities have restrained over $52 million in cryptocurrency linked to Xinbi Guarantee and its vendor network, seizing the scam marketplace's Telegram channels and two wallets as part of a coordinated enforcement operation.
The ringleader of a cybercrime crew that stole and laundered hundreds of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency has pleaded guilty in the United States. Malone Lam, 22, a Singaporean national living in Miami, admitted to one count of racketeering conspiracy after helping orchestrate the theft of cryptocurrency from wealthy individuals between October 2023 and May 2025. The group's members first met while playing the popular video game Minecraft online.
A 22-year-old man has pleaded guilty to stealing bitcoin worth $339 million and using the proceeds to buy a fleet of sports cars, rent mansions in Miami, and spend millions at nightclubs, including $US569,000 in a single night in Los Angeles.
· 3 sourcesVisa is connecting its settlement network with onchain lending, enabling stablecoin-linked card programs to access working capital through blockchain credit markets, the company announced. The move comes as stablecoin payment volume on Visa's network jumps nearly 200% year over year.
A hacker stole roughly $340 million worth of bitcoin from Liquid Network, a settlement exchange used by multiple cryptocurrency platforms, in one of the largest crypto heists this year — but has returned most of the funds after the bug that enabled the theft was patched, according to a former Blockstream executive.
Hackers who drained approximately $320 million in Bitcoin from the Liquid Network federation wallet have returned 3,400 of the 4,000 BTC they took, according to a CoinDesk report on Monday. Talks are underway for the remaining 600 BTC, worth roughly $47 million at current prices, as the hackers — who claim to be 'whitehats' — say they will return the funds after the underlying vulnerability is patched.
· 4 sourcesLiquid, a Bitcoin sidechain developed by Blockstream, suspended operations on Sunday after unidentified actors claiming to be white-hat hackers withdrew approximately 4,000 Bitcoin worth $320 million from the network’s federation wallet, triggering a halt to new transactions and the suspension of L-BTC deposits and withdrawals on exchanges.
US-listed spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds have recorded their strongest three-week inflow stretch of 2026, drawing a combined $3.8 billion as Bitcoin trades around $80,000, according to data from SoSoValue.
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has identified $12.7 billion in cryptocurrency transactions linked to overseas scam centers, according to a report released Thursday that points to transnational criminal organizations operating from compounds in Southeast Asia as the primary perpetrators of digital asset fraud against US residents.
Bitcoin dropped below $80,000 on Friday after the US Labor Department reported the economy added 162,000 nonfarm payroll jobs in August, nearly triple the consensus estimate of 56,000. The surprise print prompted traders to rapidly reprice the odds of a Federal Reserve rate cut this month, sending the cryptocurrency from $81,300 to a local low of $78,600 before a partial recovery to around $79,500.
US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded $730.9 million in net inflows on Thursday, the largest single-day haul since January 14, as Bitcoin’s price climbed back above $80,000. The surge in institutional flows comes amid renewed market optimism, though on-chain data indicates underlying demand remains tepid.
Coinbase has launched regulated crypto derivatives trading in Canada, offering eligible users perpetual and dated futures with up to 10x leverage on Bitcoin, Ether, Solana and other assets. The products are available through Coinbase Financial Markets, a CFTC-registered futures commission merchant operating in Canada under foreign dealer and futures commission merchant exemptions.
The UK's National Crime Agency has frozen £10 million ($13.5 million) in cash under a January 2025 court order from the Westminster Magistrates' Court as part of an investigation into Sorare, the crypto-based fantasy sports platform that sponsors Premier League football clubs.
Singapore's central bank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), is proposing amendments to its stablecoin regulations that could allow certain jointly issued cross-border stablecoins to qualify under its regime, reversing an earlier decision to restrict the framework to domestic issuance.
Strive, the publicly traded asset manager and Bitcoin treasury company, has purchased 1,800 Bitcoin for approximately $143 million, boosting its total holdings to 23,156 BTC and making it the fifth-largest publicly traded corporate holder of the cryptocurrency.
Sber, Russia’s largest bank, has projected that regulated cryptocurrency exchanges in the country could handle more than $46 billion in trading volume during the first year after legalization, with volumes potentially growing to 7.5 trillion rubles by 2029, according to a report by Cointelegraph.
Strategy, the world's largest corporate Bitcoin holder, has acquired 4,603 Bitcoin for $370 million — its first purchase in two months — ending a pause that began in June, according to Cointelegraph.
· 2 sourcesDecentralized finance protocol More Markets has suffered a $9.3 million exploit, with an attacker draining approximately 15.5 million Wrapped Flow (WFLOW) tokens from its mFlowWFLOW lending reserve, according to Web3 security firm Blockaid.