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All Eyes on the Fed, All Ears on Powell: Crypto Daybook Americas

by admin September 17, 2025

By Francisco Rodrigues (All times ET unless indicated otherwise)

Global markets are treading water as investors wait on the Federal Reserve’s latest policy move, coming later today. It’s almost a given the Fed will cut interest rates by 25 basis points. Traders will instead focus on Chair Jerome Powell for signs on future policy.

The cryptocurrency market is no different. Over the last 24 hours, the CoinDesk 20 (CD20) index is practically unchanged, up just 0.2%, while bitcoin (BTC) is around 1% higher. Gold, which surged to a record $3,700 this week, slipped 0.5%. The U.S. dollar index added less than 0.2%.

Equities markets have barely moved as well. U.S. stocks slipped in yesterday’s session, while European equities are edging higher. The FTSE All-World Index advanced less than 0.1% today.

That's today. But over a longer period, cryptocurrencies have lagged behind equities.

In the last 30 days, the FTSE All-World Index rose 2.78%, while the CoinDesk 20 added 2.6% and BTC gained 1.6%. The moves suggest caution even ahead of rate cut that would boost the appeal of risk assets.

Investors are currently pricing in six interest rate cuts. Three this year, and three next year.

“Market expectations are positioned in a Goldilocks range: six cuts represent a middle ground between caution and aggression,” analysts at QCP Capital wrote in a note.

“A deviation in the dot plot, however, would challenge that balance, forcing investors to recalibrate around the risk of tighter-than-expected conditions or a Fed struggling to respond effectively to weaker growth,” the analysts added.

Markets' real test will be Powell’s press conference. A balanced message is likely to further support risk assets, while hesitation would force investors to reassess.

Despite the uncertainty, demand for spot crypto ETFs has remained robust. This week, net inflows for spot BTC ETFs are around $550 million, while spot ether ETFs brought in nearly $300 million. Stay alert!

What to Watch

Crypto
- Nothing scheduled.
Macro
- Sept. 17, 9:45 a.m.: Canada benchmark interest rate decision Est. 2.5% followed by a press conference.
- Sept. 17, 2 p.m.: Fed decision on U.S. interest rates, including updated dot plot projections. Est. 25 bps cut to 4.00%-4.25%, followed by a press conference.
- Sept. 17, 5:30 p.m.: Brazil benchmark interest rate decision Est. 15%.
Earnings (Estimates based on FactSet data)
- None scheduled.

Token Events

Governance votes & calls
- MantleDAO is voting on keeping the 2025-2026 budget at $52 million USDc and 200 million MNT. Voting ends Sept. 18.
- Sept. 17, 6 a.m.: DYdX to host an Analyst Call.
Unlocks
- Sept. 17: ZKsync (ZK) to unlock 3.61% of its circulating supply worth $10.54 million.
Token Launches
- Sept. 18: Deadline to convert MKR to SKY before the Delayed Upgrade Penalty takes effect.

Conferences

Day 2 of 2: Real-World Asset Summit (New York)
Sept. 17: The Bitcoin Treasuries NYC Unconference (New York)
Day 1 of 3: AIBC 2025 (Tokyo, Japan)

Token Talk

By Oliver Knight

Bitcoin (BTC) continues to stubbornly trade in a tight range, rising slightly to $116,000 in the past 24 hours, but failing to build momentum for a break out.
Altcoins are capitalizing on the lack of volatility with several spikes leading to bitcoin dominance sliding to an eight-month low of 57%, according to CoinMarketCap data.
Dominance is a metric commonly used to assess whether capital is flowing into bitcoin or more speculative altcoins, as seems to be the case.
Another bullish factor for altcoins is that the average crypto token RSI, an abbreviation for relative strength index, is at 45.47. This means that altcoins are edging into “oversold” territory as opposed to “overbought,” suggesting that several tokens are primed for an extension to the upside.
It's worth noting that bitcoin dominance fell all the way to 33% in 2017 and 40% in 2021, meaning that altcoins still have more room to run.
Much will depend on how bitcoin acts if it begins to test record highs at $124,000. A breakout on significant volume will likely lead to a capital rotation back to the largest cryptocurrency as investors attempt to capitalize on a potential cycle high, with the personalities such as Eric Trump calling for $175,000 before year-end.

Derivatives Positioning

BTC futures open interest across major venues has crept up to $32 billion over the past week.
At the same time, the three-month annualized basis has started compressing again to roughly 6-7% across Binance, OKX and Deribit, leaving the carry trade only marginally profitable.
While the OI growth suggests increasing activity and engagement in the market, the narrowing basis indicates that directional conviction, particularly on the bullish side, is weakening, with traders less willing to pay a high premium for future exposure.
The options data also presents a complex picture of market sentiment.
While the BTC Implied Volatility Term Structure chart shows an upward-sloping curve, suggesting the market expects long-term volatility to be higher than short-term, other metrics point to a more immediate bearish outlook.
Specifically, the 25 delta skew chart indicates that the skew is either flat or slightly negative for shorter-term options (1-week, 1-month), which means traders are paying a premium for puts over calls to gain protection against declines.
This short-term bearish sentiment is directly contradicted by the 24-hour put-call volume chart, which shows a higher volume of calls than puts, indicating that over the past 24 hours most options traders were positioning for a price increase.
Funding rate APRs across major perpetual swap venues have recently started to show some pickup with BTC annualized funding currently at 17%.
If the uptrend is maintained and followed by other venues, funding rates would suggest growing conviction in a directional, more bullish bet on prices.

Market Movements

BTC is down 0.22% from 4 p.m. ET Wednesday at $116,637.44 (24hrs: +1.01%)
ETH is unchanged at $4,498.24 (24hrs: +0.00%)
CoinDesk 20 is down 0.58% at 4,272.21 (24hrs: +0.1%)
Ether CESR Composite Staking Rate is down 2 bps at 2.86%
BTC funding rate is at 0.0077% (8.4589% annualized) on Binance

DXY is up 0.14% at 96.76
Gold futures are down 0.52% at $3,705.60
Silver futures are down 2.14% at $42.00
Nikkei 225 closed down 0.25% at 44,790.38
Hang Seng closed up 1.78% at 26,908.39
FTSE is up 0.20% at 9,213.65
Euro Stoxx 50 is up 0.11% at 5,377.98
DJIA closed on Tuesday down 0.27% at 45,757.90
S&P 500 closed down 0.13% at 6,606.76
Nasdaq Composite closed unchanged at 22,333.96
S&P/TSX Composite closed down 0.39% at 29,315.23
S&P 40 Latin America closed up 0.52% at 2,919.60
U.S. 10-Year Treasury rate is down 1 bps at 4.016%
E-mini S&P 500 futures are unchanged at 6,669.00
E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures are unchanged at 24,525.25
E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average Index are unchanged at 46,146.00

Bitcoin Stats

BTC Dominance: 58.3% (unchanged)
Ether-bitcoin ratio: 0.0386 (0.15%)
Hashrate (seven-day moving average): 1,021 EH/s
Hashprice (spot): $54.43
Total fees: 4.18 BTC / $483,499
CME Futures Open Interest: 144,220 BTC
BTC priced in gold: 31.8 oz.
BTC vs gold market cap: 8.91%

Technical Analysis

Bitcoin has surged from $107K to $117K, now trading above all key daily exponential moving averages.
Despite this strength, the broader bias remains cautious.
For momentum to continue, bulls will look for a decisive reclaim of the daily order block between $117K and $119K, an area that also aligns with the weekly order block established in early August.

Crypto Equities

Coinbase Global (COIN): closed on Tuesday at $327.91 (+0.27%), -0.52% at $326.19 in pre-market
Circle (CRCL): closed at $134.81 (+0.57%), +1.07% at $136.25
Galaxy Digital (GLXY): closed at $31.83 (+3.44%), -1.35% at $31.40
Bullish (BLSH): closed at $51.36 (+0.55%), -0.35% at $51.18
MARA Holdings (MARA): closed at $17.53 (+7.94%), -0.34% at $17.47
Riot Platforms (RIOT): closed at $17.52 (+5.04%), +0.23% at $17.56
Core Scientific (CORZ): closed at $16.18 (-0.86%), unchanged in pre-market
CleanSpark (CLSK): closed at $11.20 (+8.84%), unchanged in pre-market
CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI): closed at $39.86 (+2.92%), -1.15% at $39.40
Exodus Movement (EXOD): closed at $29.70 (+6.53%), -1.11% at $29.37

Crypto Treasury Companies

Strategy (MSTR): closed at $335.09 (+2.23%), +0.21% at $335.80
Semler Scientific (SMLR): closed at $29.11 (+2.54%)
SharpLink Gaming (SBET): closed at $16.95 (+0.95%), unchanged in pre-market
Upexi (UPXI): closed at $5.82 (-8.06%), +3.09% at $6
Lite Strategy (LITS): closed at $2.69 (-7.56%), +10.43% at $3.07

ETF Flows

Spot BTC ETFs

Daily net flows: $292.3 million
Cumulative net flows: $57.34 billion
Total BTC holdings ~1.32 million

Spot ETH ETFs

Daily net flows: -$61.7 million
Cumulative net flows: $13.68 billion
Total ETH holdings ~6.61 million

Source: Farside Investors

While You Were Sleeping

Metaplanet Sets Up U.S., Japan Subsidiaries, Buys Bitcoin.jp Domain Name (CoinDesk): The world’s sixth-largest BTC treasury company formed Bitcoin Japan to run bitcoin-focused media platforms and U.S.-based Metaplanet Income to generate revenue from bitcoin-related financial products.
21Shares Hits 50 Crypto ETPs in Europe With Launch of AI and Raydium-Focused Products: 21Shares is introducing two crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs), one tracking a group of decentralized AI protocols and one offering exposure to the token of Solana-based decentralized exchange Raydium.
Hex Trust Adds Custody and Staking for Lido’s stETH, Expanding Institutional Access to Ethereum Rewards (CoinDesk): The firm’s one-click staking feature enables clients to access staking rewards and decentralized finance (DeFi) liquidity tools for stETH without setting up their own infrastructure.
Three Things Britain Wants From Trump’s State Visit — Aside From Business Deals (CNBC): The U.K. wants Trump’s visit to advance the unfinished trade deal, tackle hurdles such as steel and aluminum tariffs and lock in investment from BlackRock, Alphabet and Blackstone.
UK Watchdog to Waive Some Rules for Cryptoasset Providers (Financial Times): The FCA says it will adapt regulations to crypto’s unique risks, pledging stricter safeguards on technology and resilience while exploring whether investors should gain wider consumer protections.

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September 17, 2025 0 comments

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XRP: Be Ready in Next 24 Hours

by admin September 17, 2025

Increase in volatility
XRP needs more time

The price of XRP is close to important levels of support and resistance, indicating that a volatility spike is about to occur. Key exponential moving averages (EMAs) on the daily chart are convergent, indicating that the token is about to enter a volatility surge phase, where market activity rises sharply, thanks to tight trading ranges that accumulate volume and liquidity.

Increase in volatility

XRP is currently trading at about $3.03, above the 50-day and 100-day EMAs ($2.99 and $2.88), with the 200-day EMA ($2.57) offering solid long-term support. These averages’ tight clustering frequently indicates that the market is preparing for a more significant move. Sharp price swings of XRP have historically been preceded by such compression phases, so this setup is one to keep a close eye on.

XRP/USDT Chart by TradingView

Although the lack of further downside suggests equally strong buying support, the recent rejection near $3.20 indicates that bears are still defending resistance. A significant rally is possible if buying pressure intensifies, as indicated by the balanced momentum shown by the RSI at about 54. A slight tapering of volume is common prior to an increase in volatility. Investors should anticipate a quick and decisive move when the surge occurs.

XRP needs more time

A break above $3.20 would probably lead to $3.50, and then the psychological $4.00 mark, which is the next significant wall of resistance and an investor target. XRP’s immediate support is at $2.88 (100-day EMA), with deeper safety at $2.57 (200-day EMA), if it is unable to maintain above the 50-day EMA ($2.99). XRP would probably consolidate once more if those levels are lost, or maybe simply enter bearish territory without an attempt to recover sooner.

Ethereum & Alts Capture 85% Of Futures, BTC Share Shrinks

by admin September 17, 2025

Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure

Data shows Bitcoin has lost interest to Ethereum and altcoins recently as their combined futures volume has broken past the 85% mark.

Ethereum & Altcoins Have Seen Their Futures Volume Rise Recently

In a new post on X, CryptoQuant community analyst Maartunn has talked about the latest trend in the futures trading volume share of Ethereum and the altcoins. The futures trading volume here naturally refers to the amount that’s becoming involved in futures-related trades on the various derivatives exchanges.

Below is the chart shared by Maartunn that shows the trend in the dominance in this metric for ETH and the alts over the last couple of years:

The value of the indicator appears to have gone up for both of these assets in recent days | Source: @JA_Maartun on X

As is visible in the graph, the futures trading volume dominance has seen a sharp increase for the altcoins recently, implying that speculative interest in these coins has gone up.

The metric is still significantly down for Ethereum compared to its earlier high, but it has nonetheless also enjoyed an uptick at the same time as the altcoin growth.

Combined, ETH and the alts occupy around 85.2% of the total cryptocurrency futures trading volume following the increase. This means that the remaining portion, Bitcoin, has gone below 15% in dominance.

Historically, periods like these have been a bad omen for not just BTC, but the market as a whole. Examples of these are visible in the chart during both the late 2024 and Summer 2025 price tops.

Thus, considering that Ethereum and the altcoins are once again dominating futures trading activity, it’s possible that Bitcoin and other assets may be in for some volatility.

In some other news, on-chain analytics firm Santiment has shared in an X post an update on how the various projects in the digital asset sector rank up in terms of the Development Activity. This indicator measures the total amount of work that the developers of a given project are doing on its public GitHub repositories.

The metric makes its measurement in units of “events,” where one event is any action taken by the developer on the repository, like the push of a commit or creation of a fork.

Here is the table posted by Santiment that shows the ranking for cryptocurrency projects on the basis of their 30-day Development Activity:

Looks like ICP has maintained its position at the top | Source: Santiment on X

As displayed above, Ethereum is only the 10th largest project in terms of 30-day Development Activity, despite its market cap being second only to Bitcoin. The project that’s seeing its developers work the hardest right now is Internet Computer (ICP), which has the metric sitting at a value nearly three times that of ETH’s.

ETH Price

Ethereum recovered above $4,750 earlier, but it seems the asset’s price has once again faced a pullback as it’s now back at $4,450.

The trend in the price of the coin over the last five days | Source: ETHUSDT on TradingView

Featured image from Dall-E, Santiment.net, CryptoQuant.com, chart from TradingView.com

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September 17, 2025 0 comments

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Changpeng Zhao discloses BNB treasury plans amid Binance comeback talks

by admin September 17, 2025

Changpeng Zhao has revealed bold treasury plans to grow the BNB ecosystem as speculation of his return to Binance comeback gains momentum.

Summary

BNB treasury plans gain traction as CZ outlines support for growing institutional interest.
Speculation grows over CZ’s return to Binance after he changed his X profile back to “@binance” amid reports the DOJ may lift compliance restrictions.
BNB price hits all-time high of $962, with analysts predicting a surge past $1,000 amid renewed investor interest.

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) has revealed ambitious plans to reshape the BNB ecosystem through the upcoming BNB Treasury Company. The disclosure came during a recent interview with Leon Lu, founder of B Strategy, where the former Binance CEO talked about the future of BNB, its ecosystem, and strategic plans aimed at driving long-term growth.

Describing BNB (BNB) as a “true utility coin,” CZ emphasized its unique position in the crypto space. “Very few coins have these types of benefits,” he said, referencing BNB’s multi-chain compatibility and its use across trading discounts, yield generation, launch pools, launchpads, and the Binance Alpha ecosystem.

According to CZ, BNB’s importance spans both centralized and decentralized platforms, with active use in cross-border payments and dApps worldwide. He also spotlighted strong network effects and untapped potential in regions such as Southeast Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. He stated that this “undeveloped potential” is a competitive advantage, suggesting that the BNB ecosystem still has substantial room to grow.

The discussion builds on B Strategy’s plan to launch a U.S.-listed treasury company focused on BNB, targeting a $1 billion raise with backing from YZi Labs. CZ highlighted growing institutional demand for the asset, noting that support will be offered only to strong, well-positioned projects.

“We’ve been approached by probably more than 50 companies for BNB specifically,” stated the founder, adding that, “While we cannot not support anybody who wants to buy BNB…we will only do that to a very small number of DAT companies. Basically, the very top, strong ones.”

Alongside these BNB treasury revelations, speculation about CZ’s return to Binance has also taken center stage.

Is CZ coming back to Binance?

The rumors were sparked when CZ quietly changed his X bio on Sept 17, from “ex-@binance” back to simply “@binance.” The subtle change comes nearly two years after CZ stepped down as CEO following a $4.3 billion settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice in Nov 2023.

At the time, he pleaded guilty to violating U.S. anti-money laundering laws and was fined $50 million. The terms of the settlement also barred him from managing or operating Binance, with Richard Teng stepping in as the new CEO.

Now, reports allege that the DOJ is close to lifting the compliance oversight placed on Binance, a move that would remove one of the final legal barriers potentially preventing CZ’s return. However, CZ has previously denied any intentions to return as CEO again, saying he has no wish to return to the company even if allowed.

Still, the timing and subtle hints have sparked fresh speculation. Meanwhile, BNB price itself has been in an uptrend, recently soaring to a new all-time high of $962, defying broader market consolidation.

BNB treasury buzz fuel rally, price eyes $1,000 milestone

Per crypto.news data, the Binance Coin price is up 2.7% on the 24-hour chart, trading around $956 at press time. It has also increased by 8.2% and 13.7% on the week and month respectively, signaling high bullish activity partly fueled by the ongoing treasury buzz.

The altcoin has been enjoying a massive interest from institutional investors. Alongside the upcoming BNB Treasury Company, several other firms like Nano Labs have unveiled Windtree Therapeutics their various long-term bet on the asset, adding weight to the bullish momentum.

Meanwhile, the Binance Coin price has entered a bullish continuation, forming a clear uptrend with consistent volume increases. The MACD remains strongly bullish, with the MACD line above the signal line and widening, suggesting ongoing upward momentum. The RSI is at 70.82, which is entering overbought territory, signaling a possible short-term pullback or consolidation.

BNB Price chart | Source: crypto.news

Should the treasury plans continue, BNB may be positioned for further gains. Immediate resistance lies at $980, and a breakout above this could open the door to retesting the $1,000 psychological level. Strong support can be seen around $920, with deeper support near $880 if a correction occurs.

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September 17, 2025 0 comments

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XRP, BNB, and Hyperliquid Lead Crypto Gains Ahead of Crucial Fed Decision

by admin September 17, 2025

In brief

Layer 1 tokens take the lead as investors prepare for the highly anticipated FOMC meeting.
Analyst attributes XRP, BNB, and Hyperliquid’s out-of-pocket performance to coin-specific development.
With altcoin open interest briefly surging above Bitcoin’s, investor appetite continues to remain elevated.

With the Fed’s crucial interest rate decision in less than 12 hours, a select few altcoins have taken the lead, outperforming others.

BNB takes the lead with a 2.5% return in 24 hours, closely followed by Sui, Hyperliquid, and XRP with 2.2%, 1% and 0.7% growth, respectively.

Altcoins are riding on the coattails of coin-specific developments and not due to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s rate cut decision scheduled on Wednesday at 2 pm ET, Lai Yuen, investment analyst at Fischer8 Capital, told Decrypt.

Hyperliquid and BNB are benefitting from “chatter around digital asset treasury buying flows, underpinned by solid businesses and clear value-accrual models,” Yuen explained.

The excitement surrounding XRP is fuelled by the newly approved spot ETF, which could launch as early as this week, he added.

Still, Layer 1s have continued to outperform other sectors like meme coins, Layer 2s, or gaming over the past seven and 30 days, data from Velo shows.

With the S&P 500 index and gold up 0.25% and 0.60% on the day and just below their respective record highs, Yuen noted that equities and gold were seeing a strong bid heading into the FOMC, while “crypto continues to lag with majors capped by lower highs.”

Despite the short-term bearish market structure, institutions continue to accumulate.

Last week’s $2.34 billion inflow into U.S. Bitcoin exchange-traded funds pushed global exchange-traded product holdings to new highs, according to a previous Decrypt report.

Meanwhile, crypto prime broker FalconX has withdrawn 413,075 SOL from Binance, Coinbase, ByBit, and OKX on Tuesday, data intelligence platform Arkham shows.

That could be a sign of accumulation from larger players as they seek to reduce their stockpiles on exchanges to sell quickly.

Speculation surrounding altcoins has climbed to new highs as noted by the recent surge in altcoin open interest that briefly overtook Bitcoin’s on September 13, per Coinanalyze data.

The uptick in leverage highlights the investors’ “eagerness for alt season,” ahead of the fourth quarter’s historically bullish performance, Stephen Gregory, founder of crypto trading platform Vtrader, previously told Decrypt.

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September 17, 2025 0 comments

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Blockchain-Based RWA Specialists Bring $50M to Apollo's Tokenized Credit Strategy

by admin September 17, 2025

Blockchain-based real world asset (RWA) specialists Centrifuge and Plume have launched the Anemoy Tokenized Apollo Diversified Credit Fund (ACRDX), backed by a $50 million anchor investment from Grove, a credit infrastructure protocol within the Sky Ecosystem.

The fund gives blockchain investors exposure to Apollo’s diversified global credit strategy, spanning direct corporate lending, asset-backed lending and dislocated credit, a type of mispriced debt due to market stress and lack of liquidity.

ACRDX will be distributed through Plume’s Nest Credit vaults under the ticker nACRDX, making the strategy accessible to institutional investors on-chain. By packaging Apollo’s portfolio in tokenized form, the fund aims to lower entry barriers and increase transparency for investors seeking exposure to private credit markets, according to a press release.

Apollo, a $600 billion-plus asset manager, is one of several traditional finance firms active n exploring blockchain rails. Its digital assets head Christine Moy said the initiative expands access to institutional-grade strategies while helping “build the onchain DeFi economy” alongside Grove and Centrifuge.

The product combines Apollo’s investment management with Centrifuge’s tokenization infrastructure and Plume’s real-world asset–focused blockchain. Chronicle will serve as oracle provider, and Wormhole will handle cross-chain connectivity. Subject to approval, Anemoy will oversee the fund as manager.

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September 17, 2025 0 comments

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4.5 Trillion Shiba Inu Lost as Key Metric Flashes Red

by admin September 17, 2025

On September 16, the leading memecoin, Shiba Inu, faced a major setback in its deflationary metric, according to fresh on-chain data shared by renowned blockchain tracking platform, Shibburn.

According to the data provided by the tracker, the SHIB burn rate has moved in an unusual direction, showing a sharp decline of 57.88% over the last 24 hours. The data, which appears concerning to the SHIB community, shows that only 69,420 SHIB tokens were burned in the last day.

It is important to note that SHIB burns are regular measures taken by the SHIB team to permanently remove certain quantities of SHIB from circulation.

While this is done by sending SHIB tokens to dead or inaccessible wallets, it is a decisive action taken to consistently reduce the asset’s circulating supply, thereby fueling scarcity for the token.

SHIB stabilizes at $0.00001308

The negative trend in SHIB’s deflationary metric comes amid a broad crypto market rebound, where prices of leading cryptocurrencies are seen moving on an upside trajectory. However, the price of SHIB has only shown a decent surge of 1.48% over the last day, sparking debates among the crypto community.

While other cryptocurrencies have shown notable increases in their daily gains, investors are worried that the negative trend in the Shiba Inu burn metric might have caused a slowdown in the token’s potential ascent.

Further data shared by the tracker shows that the decline in the key metric was even more pronounced on its 7-day chart. Notably, the token has seen just 2,741,316 SHIB sent out of circulation over the last week, marking a decrease of 87.11%.

Israel’s Counterterror Unit Flags Large Stablecoin Flows Linked To Iran

by admin September 17, 2025

Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure

Israeli authorities have identified a cluster of crypto addresses they say moved about $1.5 billion in Tether (USDT) that is connected to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

According to reports, the National Bureau for Counter Terror Financing (NBCTF) of Israel flagged 187 wallet addresses and asked platforms and service providers to take action.

Immediate freezes were limited, and most of the funds appear to have been moved before they could be held.

Israel Names Wallets And Asks For Action

The NBCTF supplied a list of 187 addresses it believes are tied to the IRGC. Tether responded by blacklisting 39 of the flagged wallets, which blocked those addresses from further on-chain transactions.

Reports indicate that only about $1.5 million is presently frozen or held, while the larger sum — roughly $1.5 billion in incoming transfers over time — has largely been shifted through other addresses and services.

Image: MEXC

Questions Remain Over Ownership And Flows

Reports have disclosed that blockchain analytics firms have urged caution about attributing direct ownership of every flagged address to the IRGC.

Companies like Elliptic have said that some wallets could belong to exchanges or third-party services used by many different users, which complicates claims of direct control.

Tracing crypto flows is possible but messy, and the distinction between transaction volume through a wallet and direct ownership matters in legal terms.

How The Funds Were Handled On-Chain

Israeli authorities say they tracked large USDT flows into the flagged network over months. While a small portion was located and frozen, most of the tokens were reported to have been moved before enforcement steps could be completed.

As of today, the market cap of cryptocurrencies stood at $3.96 trillion. Chart: TradingView

Tether’s decision to blacklist some wallets shows one way stablecoin issuers can act, but the moves do not recover funds that have already left the flagged addresses. The situation highlights how quickly assets can be shifted among many addresses.

Why It Matters For Sanctions And Crypto Compliance

According to market and regulatory coverage, the case illustrates the ongoing challenge of stopping sanctioned actors from using crypto to move value.

Stablecoins like USDT are widely used for cross-border transfers, and their scale makes them attractive for many users.

Lawmakers and regulators will likely watch how exchanges, wallets, and issuers respond, since cooperation by private firms can make enforcement more effective.

Featured image from Meta, chart from TradingView

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September 17, 2025 0 comments

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Algorand bets on gamification to grow retail community

by admin September 17, 2025

Algorand’s head of strategy and marketing, Marc Vanlerberghe, explains how the network plans to take on other DeFi giants.

Summary

Algorand is preparing a completely on-chain retail-focused rewards campaign
The chain seeks to highlight Algorand’s speed, security, and ease of use
Marc Vanlerberghe, Algorand’s Head of Strategy and Marketing, explains why the network avoids hype

Algorand is launching a major campaign that hopes to close the awareness gap when it comes to its technical capabilities, UX, and community. The 13-week gamified campaign, set to start on September 22, hopes to engage Web3 users and demonstrate what the network can do.

Marc Vanlerberghe, Algorand’s Head of Strategy and Marketing, explained to crypto.news the inner workings and the goals of the campaign, as well as some of the advantages he believes Algorand has over other chains.

Crypto.news: You’ve recently unveiled an on-chain rewards campaign. What are some elements that set it apart?

Marc Vanlerberghe: We’ve designed the campaign differently. It’s completely gamified — a 13-week experience where users earn points instead of direct payouts. We’re avoiding “do this transaction and get $5” mechanics, because those just attract farmers who move on once the rewards dry up. Instead, users earn points that could translate into prizes.

The second key element is community building. Real stickiness comes from people feeling part of the Algorand (ALGO) ecosystem, not from one-off payments. A lot of the campaign is focused on onboarding users into the Algorand community.

What is more, the entire campaign is being run on-chain. Points, referrals, and game mechanics are all recorded on-chain. Even the prize winners are selected by the chain itself, using Algorand’s verifiable random function.

Our consensus mechanism is built on VRF — a lottery system where every algo you stake is like a lottery ticket. Every round, block proposers are selected randomly. The more algos you stake, the higher your chance.

What makes this secure is that each node runs the lottery locally. When a node wins, it proposes a block and attaches cryptographic proof. Only then does the network know who the proposer is — and by that time, it’s too late for an attacker to act.

It’s a very elegant design: lightweight, resilient, and highly decentralized. You don’t need big data centers to run a node — I run one on a mini-PC. Anyone can do it, which is the ultimate proof of decentralization. If only data centers could run nodes, you wouldn’t have censorship resistance. But with Algorand, you do.

CN: What are your main goals with the rewards program?

MV: The goal is to attract more retail users to Algorand. We’re not targeting Web2 novices who’ve never touched blockchain. Instead, we’re aiming for people who already have experience on other chains, so they can see what Algorand offers. Over the past six months, we’ve introduced major changes, so we think it’s worth highlighting them.

At the beginning of this year, we rolled out staking rewards for the first time in Algorand’s history. We’re now compensating stakers and node runners for helping secure the network, which has greatly boosted decentralization. We have close to 3,000 node runners today, making us probably the second most decentralized network after Ethereum.

Alongside that, we’ve expanded staking options: running a node, liquid staking, delegated staking, and other methods of participation. We want to communicate these opportunities more broadly. In addition to staking, we’ve seen a wave of new projects launch in the past six months.

For example, a prediction market called Alpha Arcade recently went live. It’s the first prediction market to offer parlays, which makes it very unique. We also saw the launch of Haystack, a mobile-first DeFi app, and new AI agent projects. Beyond that, more stablecoins are being introduced, along with tokenization initiatives — such as Midas, which is tokenizing U.S. Treasuries, and Lofty, which is doing real estate tokenization.

With all this activity, we want to ensure people are aware of what’s happening on Algorand. The campaign’s goal is to introduce retail users to these apps while showing why Algorand is a mature blockchain that provides a strong user experience.

CN: From a user perspective, what’s the selling point of Algorand compared to other Layer-1s or Layer-2s?

MV: As you may know, Algorand has always focused on underlying technology. But what matters most is how that translates into user experience. For example, we don’t fork, we don’t have transaction failures, and we offer instant finality. Users don’t need to wait for confirmations. We think this makes Algorand one of the smoothest DeFi experiences available, and we want people to try it for themselves.

Algorand, it feels different. Transactions finalize in under three seconds. They never fail, never roll back, and you don’t have to wait long for confirmation times. It’s smooth, almost Web2-like. We want users to experience that for themselves: a chain that never fails, never forks, and where finality is instant.

The system is also very secure. That’s the beauty of Algorand’s consensus. Since attackers never know which proposer will be selected, they can’t target them ahead of time. And once a block is proposed, it’s already too late to interfere.

It’s also very easy to run a node. I run mine on a mini-PC — you don’t need specialized hardware or massive bandwidth. That accessibility has made Algorand one of the most decentralized networks.

CN: Given these advantages, why isn’t Algorand bigger?

Well, Algorand is actually quite big. If you look at the facts, over 3 billion transactions processed, strong traffic, and active users. The perception may lag, but the reality is very strong. This may be because we never played the hype game.

Algorand has always focused on building robust technology and attracting real users. We don’t overhype announcements. That may have hurt perception, but it’s not due to a lack of capability or adoption. Now, with this campaign, we’re doubling down on communication to close that gap.

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September 17, 2025 0 comments

NFT Gaming

Amended Lawsuit Accuses TaskUs of Concealing Coinbase Data Breach

by admin September 17, 2025

In brief

The amended complaint claims TaskUs’s India operations were at the center of a coordinated bribery scheme to steal customer information.
Plaintiffs allege the company concealed the breach, firing investigators and failing to disclose details in securities filings before a $1.6 billion Blackstone buyout.
Coinbase reimbursed affected users, tightened controls, and ended its relationship with TaskUs, Decrypt was told.

Amendments to a class action in New York against TaskUs have added new claims of systemic security failures and concealment in a breach tied to Coinbase customer data.

The amended complaint, filed on Tuesday at the Southern District of New York, adds key elements to earlier disclosures about how Coinbase’s customer data was handled across the timeline of the massive breach, from its origins in late 2024 to Coinbase’s eventual disclosure in May, with losses estimated to reach as much as $400 million.

“This was a criminal bribery scheme beginning in late 2024 that exploited both external vendors and a small number of Coinbase CX staff outside the U.S., enabling social-engineering scams against less than 1% of monthly transacting users,” a Coinbase spokesperson told Decrypt.

The crypto exchange said it notified affected users and regulators immediately, and reimbursed impacted customers as it tightened vendor and insider controls.

Coinbase has since ended its relationship with TaskUs, refusing to “pay the criminals” instead creating “a $20 million reward for information leading to arrests and convictions,” the spokesperson confirmed with Decrypt.

TaskUs did not immediately return Decrypt’s requests for comment.

Key changes to the complaint describe a coordinated scheme inside TaskUs’s India operations, where employees were allegedly bribed to photograph sensitive account information and pass it to criminals. Plaintiffs say the conspiracy spread beyond front-line staff, prompting TaskUs to dismiss around 300 employees in January.

‘Coordinated criminal campaign’

The outsourcing firm’s public statements allegedly “belie a far broader and coordinated criminal campaign that involved dozens, if not hundreds of TaskUs employees,” the complaint reads.

The filing also accuses TaskUs of concealing the scope of the breach. According to plaintiffs, the company “ took steps to silence those with knowledge of the breach” and fired its own human resources personnel tasked with investigating the breach in February.

It later continued to tell regulators it had suffered no material breach, and moved ahead with a $1.6 billion buyout through Blackstone before Coinbase acknowledged the incident in May.

A Form 10-K filing from TaskUs in February did not cite any factors pertaining to the Coinbase breach, which meant that it was effectively claiming it “was not aware of any material data breach impacting the company,” before Coinbase acknowledged the incident in May, the amended complaint alleged.

The amended complaint also expands on claims that TaskUs ignored Section 5 of the FTC Act, framing the lapses as systemic rather than isolated.

Those standards guide “what businesses should do to avoid ‘unfair’ or ‘deceptive’ practices, Andrew Rossow, public affairs attorney and CEO of AR Media Consulting, told Decrypt. “While not all guidance is legally binding, ignoring it can show that a company was careless or misleading.”

Courts and regulators are weighing whether the compromised data was sensitive enough to expose people to identity theft or financial loss, Rossow explained.

They will also examine whether safeguards such as encryption or multi-factor authentication were employed, whether the risks were foreseeable, whether security promises aligned with reality, and whether consumers had any means to protect themselves.

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September 17, 2025 0 comments