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Tether, the company behind the world’s most widely used stablecoin, USDT, has revealed that it has frozen approximately $4.2 billion worth of its tokens tied to suspected illicit activity, with the majority of those actions taking place over the past three years. 

Tether Expands Crackdown On Criminal Use Of USDT

Tether said that just this week, it assisted the US Department of Justice (DOJ) in freezing nearly $61 million in USDT connected to so‑called “pig‑butchering” scams — a type of fraud in which criminals build personal relationships with victims before persuading them to invest in fake cryptocurrency schemes.

That latest action brought the total value of frozen USDT linked to alleged illicit activity to $4.2 billion. Of that amount, $3.5 billion has been blocked since 2023 alone, a Tether spokesperson said to Reuters in emailed comments late Thursday.

Earlier in the week, Tether Chief Executive Officer Paolo Ardoino highlighted the company’s recent cooperation with US authorities:

Tether’s cooperation with the Department of Justice highlights the need for blockchain transparency to empower law enforcement to act quickly and effectively against criminal activity. 

The executive added that the firm remains committed to supporting authorities in freezing illicit assets, protecting victims, and ensuring that USDT continues to function as what he described as a transparent tool for global commerce.

Tether also outlined several enforcement actions carried out over the past year that involved coordination with domestic and international authorities. 

DOJ, Brazil, Secret Service Seizures

According to the crypto company, on July 22, 2025, the US Department of Justice enabled a civil forfeiture action against Buy Cash Money and Money Transfer Company, freezing and reissuing $1.6 million in USDT allegedly tied to terror financing activities based in Gaza. 

In June 2025, Brazilian authorities also acknowledged Tether’s assistance in blocking 32 million Brazilian reais — approximately $6.2 million — linked to a cross‑border money-laundering operation conducted through Klever Wallet.

That same month, Tether worked with the Department of Justice and Seychelles-based crypto exchange OKX to support a civil forfeiture complaint seeking to seize roughly $225 million in USDT linked to pig‑butchering fraud schemes. 

In March of that same year, the US Secret Service froze $23 million in the firm’s USDT stablecoin that was allegedly associated with transactions on Garantex, a Russian exchange under sanctions. 

Additionally, in November of last year, the stablecoin issuer said it collaborated with the Royal Thai Police and the US Secret Service to trace and seize $12 million from a transnational scam network.

Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com 

Ethereum network dominance is turning out to be constructive rather than speculative as the blockchain expands beyond its Decentralized Finance (DeFi) stance. After dominating as a leader in on-chain finance, the network is now leading AI innovation.

AI Innovation Accelerates On The Ethereum Network

As the blockchain landscape expands, the Ethereum network is taking the spotlight in terms of Artificial Intelligence (AI) innovation. A recent report indicates that the blockchain is emerging as the primary hub for on-chain AI agents, suggesting an expansion beyond its roots in DeFi.

Compared to other chains, ETH is gradually becoming the home for these projects, surpassing them by a long shot. More autonomous, revenue-generating AI systems are being constantly hosted and supported by the blockchain.

As seen on the chart shared by Leon Waidmann, a data analyst and the head of research at Lisk, the number of AI agents on Ethereum has reached 27,315. Other major chains, such as Base, Monad, MegaETH, and BNB Smart Chain, have recorded 19,499, 8,348, 8,150, and 6,689 in AI agents, respectively. With this figure, the ETH network now handles 40% more AI agents than the chain in second spot.

However, this may be larger than it looks. Base, along with Arbitrum, Scroll, Linea, and MegaETH, is an Ethereum Layer 2, which means the ETH ecosystem accounts for the vast majority of all on-chain AI agents when put together. 

During this period, discussions regarding a haven for the AI agents. Providing an answer that aligns with that of the market, Waidmann stated that these agents live where the liquidity is, where the smart contracts are battle-tested. In addition, this is where the infrastructure is deepest and where the network effects are at their strongest.

Bitmine In The Center Of The AI Agents’ Growth

BMNR Bullz has revealed on X that Bitmine Immersion is positioned for Ethereum’s next phase and AI agents. With the internet shifting from moving information to moving value, the company is emerging as a pioneer of the transition. Previously considered as separate trends, blockchain, stablecoins, and AI are now converging into a programmable economic system where transactions, settlement, and capital allocation occur natively online. 

The world is seeing a change with tens, potentially hundreds, of billions of AI agents set to interact and perform economic functions over the internet. These agents will need to work with programmable money, open settlement, and neutral infrastructure, not legacy rails, and this is where Ethereum comes in.

This is structurally bullish for ETH, and Bitmine was built around that reality. Bitmine boasts roughly 4.4 million ETH, marking about 3.7% of the total supply. There is zero debt and no forced selling through cycles from the company; therefore, reserving liquidity to accumulate during drawdowns. Furthermore, the firm has locked away 3 million ETH in staking, earning native yield.

Beyond holding and staking, Bitmine is building a staking and validation network, MAVAN, created to bolster its assets and expand to stake other companies’ crypto over time. This network will position the company at the forefront of ETH’s next phase and AI agent, and as part of the infrastructure layer supporting external capital.

Crypto analyst CasiTrades has declared that XRP’s macro plan hasn’t changed, with the targets still the same. Her comment follows the recent relief rally, which saw the altcoin record double-digit gains. 

XRP Still At Risk Of A Further Decline As Macro Plan Remains Intact

In an X post, CasiTrades stated that XRP hasn’t broken resistance and that there has been no change in the macro plan. This update followed the recent relief bounce, with the altcoin rallying to as high as $1.46. The analyst remarked that the larger plan hasn’t changed, as the recent bounce did not break resistance, and that the altcoin has not made a new low, so the plan remains the same. 

She also mentioned that nothing shifts until one of the two things happens for XRP. The first is that if the altcoin reaches the lower support zones at $1.11 or $0.87. The second is a potential break above the resistance at $1.67. Until one of these happens, CasiTrades noted that the current price action is just movement inside the same range. 

The analyst said that selling pressure should start building into the clear wave 3 down, which is what she is focusing on next. She noted that subwaves are now hinting at the lower macro support at $0.87, which could mark the bottom for XRP, as highlighted in her accompanying chart. 

CasiTrades remarked that anything below $1 is a good buying opportunity while she expects this drop to this target to play out within days to weeks. The analyst also predicts that this move down should kick off a macro W3, noting that the extensions are $6.50, $10.50, and $13. A rally to these targets will mark a new all-time high (ATH) for the altcoin. 

Elliot Wave Points To Rally To $31

Crypto analyst Egrag Crypto predicted that XRP could still rally to between $15 and $31 based on an Elliott wave analysis. His accompanying chart showed that the rally to $15 will happen on Wave 3, while the rally to $31 will happen on Wave 5. He noted that the altcoin is currently in Wave 2 and that the current pullback sits perfectly within normal Wave 2 retracements. 

The analyst added that XRP is still inside the macro channel and there is no invalidation yet. For confirmation of Wave 3, Egrag Crypto stated that the price must reclaim the Wave 1 high with a weekly close and momentum expansion. Until that happens, he warned that the current price action is still corrective, although he is confident that Wave 3 should start soon. 

At the time of writing, the XRP price is trading at around $1.40, down over 3% in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Окончание календарной зимы совпало с замедлением падения цены биткоина и крупных альткоинов. Неопределенность все еще высока и с ситуацией в экономике, и в американской политике. Однако запал продавцов явно поубавился.

Два экономических советника бывшей администрации бывшего президента США Джо Байдена, Райан Каммингс (Ryan Cummings) и Джаред Бернштейн (Jared Bernstein), опубликовали статью в The New York Times, где объяснили, почему, по их мнению, действующий президент не сможет помогать крипторынку.

Государственный криптовалютный резерв Казахстана не будет представлять из себя запас цифровых валют, рассказали Bits.media в Национальном банке республики. Власти намерены вкладываться в финансовые инструменты, косвенно связанные с криптоактивами.

Директор по трейдингу платформы аналитики QCP Capital Иван Ли (Ivan Lee) в интервью программе Wealth Tracker назвал биткоин «гибридом, меняющим свой характер» в зависимости от ситуации на рынке.

Ripple has published a new whitepaper arguing that institutional crypto market structure still lacks the settlement, credit and risk infrastructure needed to support large-scale participation. In the paper, Ripple says digital assets need a Digital Prime Brokerage model built around centralized credit intermediation, aggregated liquidity and T+1 net settlement if the market is to mature beyond its exchange-centric architecture.

Ripple’s Managing Director for Middle East & Africa Reece Merrick announced the whitepaper via X: “Traditional finance meets digital assets, but the bridge can still be a little shaky. Managing a matrix of exchanges and bilateral risks isn’t just a headache, it’s an inefficiency tax on your capital. The new Ripple whitepaper introduces the Digital Prime Broker (DPB) model, transforming complex risk into a streamlined 1:1 relationship.”

Ripple Targets Crypto Market Fragmentation

The whitepaper, titled The Blueprint for Institutional Digital Assets Trading, frames today’s OTC crypto market as structurally inefficient compared with foreign exchange. Ripple argues that institutions are still forced to operate across fragmented venues where execution, custody and credit are bundled together, collateral is siloed, and firms must maintain multiple bilateral relationships. The paper identifies three main frictions: multiplied credit risk, trapped capital and fragmented asset risk.

Ripple’s core claim is that crypto should borrow more directly from FX market structure. “This paper explains why digital asset markets require a prime brokerage–style model that features centralized credit intermediation, netted T+1 settlement, and the unbundling of execution, custody, and credit into clearly defined roles,” the paper says. It adds that the Digital Prime Broker, or DPB, should function as “core shared infrastructure” that can be tuned to different client requirements rather than forcing everyone into a single rigid model.

Under that framework, a client would execute one master agreement with a prime broker, while trades done with approved liquidity providers and market makers would be given up to that broker. Ripple argues this replaces a web of bilateral exposures with a single contractual counterparty, simplifying legal, compliance and settlement workflows while reducing failure risk across venues.

The paper leans heavily on capital efficiency. Ripple says the current market still relies on gross settlement or full prefunding, which forces repeated intraday asset transfers and leaves collateral stranded across exchanges. In one example, it says a client buying 100 BTC and selling 80 BTC during the same cycle would only need to settle 20 BTC net under a T+1 model, cutting gross fund movements by roughly 89%.

It also argues that the existing system hides financing costs rather than removing them. Ripple says offshore exchanges and bilateral liquidity providers often apply default swap rates of around 11%, roughly 7% above the risk-free rate, implying a daily funding cost of about 1.92 basis points, or $192 per $1 million per day. In Ripple’s telling, a DPB model would make those costs explicit instead of embedding them in spreads or subsidizing them through interest-free client collateral.

The paper also includes outside support from XTX Markets COO Mike Irwin, who writes: “A Digital Prime Brokerage model will enable institutional participants, including retail aggregators, to reduce operational risk, unlock trapped capital, and scale growth. As clients increasingly favor net-settled, prime-based structures, liquidity providers and venues will have to adapt. Adoption, however, will depend on prime brokers supporting specific client needs and constraints rather than enforcing a rigid, one-size-fits-all model.”

XRP is present, but not as the main story. Ripple says the XRP Ledger could support early settlement through onchain credit lines that fund obligations ahead of the standard T+1 net settlement cycle, with funding costs charged transparently to the party requesting early liquidity. That makes XRP part of the proposed plumbing, but the whitepaper’s main thesis is broader: institutional crypto still needs better market structure before it can look more like mature finance.

At press time, XRP traded at $1.4129.

Сенатор-демократ от штата Массачусетс Элизабет Уоррен (Elizabeth Warren) на слушаниях в банковском комитете Сената США призвала не выдавать банковскую лицензию семейной криптоплатформе Дональда Трампа World Liberty Financial.

Банк России и правительство меняют правила оборота криптовалюты. Появится контроль за обменниками и биржами, обменять рубли на крипту станет сложнее. К чему приведут готовящиеся изменения?

Полиция штата Флорида задержала 34-летнего основателя фирмы Goliath Ventures Кристофера Александра Дельгадо (Christopher Alexander Delgado). Бизнесмена обвиняют в мошенничестве на $328 млн и отмывании денег через криптовалюты.

The Bitcoin price crash from $126,000 to $60,000 has naturally sent most of the market into a panic, and with sentiment still in the red, the probability of the price falling lower remains high. At this time, the focus has now turned to predictions of when Bitcoin will hit a bottom. Over the years, a number of factors have determined when the price has reached its bottom. But taking into account the current climate, crypto analyst BarneyXBT has outlined three different reasons arguing for and against why the Bitcoin bottom might be in.

Reasons Why Bitcoin Price Could Still Be In A Bear Market

In the post shared on X, BarneyXBT gives three things to consider that might show that Bitcoin is still in a bear market. The first reason given to consider Bitcoin being in a bear market is that large investors are still selling their coins. Satoshi-era whales have been recently seen selling, while Vitalik Buterin, founder of Ethereum, has been selling ETH.

Next on the list of reasons points to the current macro climate. With the tariff war still mostly unresolved, interest rates staying the same, and consumer confidence plunging, the analyst says the macro climate is a “mess.”

The last reason given is the fact that retail seems to be completely gone from the market. This is proven by the lack of liquidity currently flowing into the market. In addition to this, there has been no emergence of new narratives, such as was seen with Artificial Intelligence (AI) back in 2024, among others.

The Argument For A Bull Market

On the flip side, the analyst also gives reasons that suggest that Bitcoin could still be in a bull market. One is the fact that sentiment has plunged to levels not seen since the FTX exchange crash. Now, this is important because the sentiment reached a low at this point, and then the market began to recover.

Another reason is that institutions are not going to let their investments be in vain. The likes of BlackRock and Fidelity have poured billions of dollars into their ETF products, and BarneyXBT explained that it is unlikely they spent this much on infrastructure just to walk away.

Lastly, there is the legendary Bitcoin halving cycle. Past performances show that the bull run has always revolved around the Bitcoin halving, which happens once every four years. Thus, it is possible the BTC price could recover as another halving rolls around in 2028.

Крупная американская майнинговая компания MARA Holdings сообщила, что ее убыток в последнем квартале прошлого года превысил $1,7 млрд. Причиной убытков майнер назвал снижение курса биткоина и рост расходов на обслуживание инфраструктуры.

Зарегистрированным в России площадкам собираются запретить операции с анонимными криптовалютами типа Monero и Zcash, следует из законопроекта «О цифровой валюте и цифровых правах». Власти планируют вести перечень запрещенных токенов и черный список лиц, в адрес которых запрещены криптопереводы.