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Crypto World

Texas Bitcoin reserve plan advances as federal push faces delays

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46% of Bitcoin supply now in loss, near 2022 bear levels

Texas has moved closer to holding Bitcoin directly after naming a new advisory committee to guide the state’s Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.

Summary

  • Texas has named a five-member advisory committee to guide the management, custody, and valuation of its Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
  • The state is seeking a qualified crypto custodian as it prepares to move from IBIT-based exposure to directly held Bitcoin.
  • The reserve currently holds about $10 million in Bitcoin exposure through BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust.

The Texas Comptroller’s office said Thursday that Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock will serve on the five-member Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Advisory Committee, which will advise the state on custody, valuation, and management of Bitcoin holdings.

The committee was created under Senate Bill 21, which the 89th Texas Legislature passed and signed into law on June 22, 2025. The law gave the Comptroller’s office authority to administer the reserve and set up a framework for state-level Bitcoin exposure.

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Hancock said in a statement that lawmakers gave his office a clear duty to manage the reserve with transparency, security, and strong financial controls. He added that the committee brings the expertise needed to carry out that work carefully and in the interest of Texas taxpayers.

Texas names Bitcoin reserve advisers

Alongside Hancock, the panel includes Laurie Dotter, chair of the Investment Advisory Board for the Employees’ Retirement System of Texas. According to the Comptroller’s office, Dotter brings more than 35 years of experience in investment oversight and governance.

Jamie McAvity, founder and CEO of Cormint Data Systems, also joined the committee. Cormint operates a 130-megawatt Bitcoin mining facility in Fort Stockton, which the company has described as one of the most efficient mining sites in the country.

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The committee also includes Carla Reyes, a Southern Methodist University law professor who serves on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Innovation Advisory Committee. Reyes has also testified before Congress on blockchain policy.

Gary A. Vecchiarelli, CPA, president and CFO of CleanSpark, completes the panel. The Comptroller’s office cited his work building CleanSpark’s Bitcoin trading desk, yield strategies, and digital asset governance systems.

State seeks Crypto Custodian

At the same time, the Comptroller’s office issued a request for proposals for a qualified crypto custodian to support the reserve. The RFP covers secure custody, liquidity services, and asset management.

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According to the office, the reserve currently has about $10 million of exposure through BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust. The RFP outlines a plan to transition from ETF-based exposure to direct Bitcoin holdings within 60 days of contract signing.

The custodian search places Texas among the most active U.S. states pursuing a formal Bitcoin reserve structure. The state’s approach centers on direct custody, financial controls, and support for additional digital assets over time, according to the RFP.

Federal Reserve plan is still developing

Meanwhile, the federal government has continued work on its own Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on March 6, 2025, directing the Treasury Department to create a reserve using Bitcoin already held through criminal and civil forfeitures.

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The order barred the Treasury from selling those holdings. The U.S. government’s forfeiture-linked holdings were estimated at 328,372 BTC, making it the largest known state holder of Bitcoin.

In January 2026, Patrick Witt, executive director of the President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, said legal issues still needed to be resolved before the Federal Reserve could be completed. By May 2026, Witt said a major legal breakthrough had been reached and that an announcement was close.

On Capitol Hill, Senator Cynthia Lummis and Representative Nick Begich have backed the American Reserves Modernization Act. The bill would allow the Treasury to buy up to 200,000 BTC each year for five years.

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Under the proposal, the Treasury would hold the Bitcoin for at least 20 years. If Congress passes the bill, the first open-market Treasury Bitcoin purchase is projected for the fourth quarter of 2026.

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Institutional Crypto Exec Warns MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin Capital Loop Is Breaking

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Bitcoin (BTC) Price Performance

Arca chief investment officer Jeff Dorman says Strategy’s Bitcoin accumulation playbook has hit a breaking point, with roughly $15 billion in preferred stock and $1.5 billion in annual dividend obligations now colliding with a weakening cash buffer and softer Bitcoin (BTC) price.

The warning lands after Strategy used most of its cash reserve to buy back $1.5 billion of zero-coupon convertible notes due 2029, leaving $871 million on hand to meet recurring preferred dividend obligations.

The Preferred Stock Problem

MicroStrategy holds 843,738 BTC as of May 25, after building out a preferred stock structure totaling roughly $15.5 billion across STRC, STRK, STRF, and STRD series.

The STRC tranche alone pays a variable dividend the company recently raised to 11.5%.

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Dorman argued the issuance was a wager that BTC was about to climb sharply, allowing future Bitcoin sales to fund those dividends.

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Bitcoin instead trades near $72,550, down almost 6% over the past week, weakening the implicit collateral behind that bet.

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Bitcoin (BTC) Price Performance
Bitcoin (BTC) Price Performance. Source: BeInCrypto

The Baffling Buyback

In May, Strategy repurchased $1.5 billion face value of its 2029 convertibles for about $1.38 billion in cash, locking in an 8% discount but burning through most of its depleted cash reserve.

The retired notes carried a zero coupon, making the timing of the buyback hard to square with rising dividend obligations.

“MSTR, BTC and Pref holders are really in bind. Someone is going to lose badly here, and it will happen in the next 4 months,” Dorman stated.

Three stakeholder groups now hold competing claims on the same balance sheet.

A potential Bitcoin sale to fund dividends would damage Saylor’s long-term thesis, while cutting payouts would punish preferred holders and raise comparisons to past STRC collapse risk debates.

MicroStrategy’s next capital move will signal which constituency comes first.

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The post Institutional Crypto Exec Warns MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin Capital Loop Is Breaking appeared first on BeInCrypto.

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Cardano Leaders Rally Last-Minute Support for $2 Million Singapore Summit Vote

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Governance Action Votes

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson and Cardano Foundation CEO Frederik Gregaard publicly backed the revised Cardano Summit 2026 proposal hours before voting closed on May 29, urging delegated representatives to approve a 7.8 million ADA treasury withdrawal for the Singapore event.

The on-chain vote requires roughly 66.67% support from active DRep stake. Recent snapshots showed yes votes near 65%, leaving the outcome dependent on unvoted stake as the May 29 deadline approached.

Governance Action Votes
Governance Action Votes. Source: adastat

What the Revised Proposal Funds

The treasury request, equivalent to about $2 million at current ADA prices, would finance a two-day Cardano Summit on October 5 and 6 in Singapore.

The proposal lands as the community debates treasury allocations and stress-tests spending discipline.

“If you have not voted yet, I encourage you to vote yes today for the revised Cardano Summit proposal,” Hoskinson urged.

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Singapore Pivot and New Accountability Rules

The Foundation pitched Singapore as Cardano’s first major summit in Asia, citing access to regional builders, asset managers, and regulators.

The revised plan trimmed the original budget by 22%, dropped the TOKEN2049 sponsorship tie, and added milestone payments, independent audits, and a public spending dashboard.

Fund administration would run through a smart contract built by Sundae Labs, with provisions returning unused ADA to the growing on-chain treasury.

An oversight committee involving Intersect and DQuadrant would track milestones under the Cardano constitution framework.

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A Test of On-Chain Governance

The vote functions as another stress test of Cardano’s shift to ADA governance under the Chang hard fork.

EMURGO CEO Phillip Pon publicly supported the alignment, while some DReps voted no, citing fiscal discipline and competing priorities given current market conditions.

Hoskinson has spent recent months signaling broader governance changes ahead for Cardano.

A failed vote would force a scaled-back or postponed Asia-Pacific debut, while approval would release funds under tight oversight.

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Crypto.com and OG bring prediction markets to U.S. SailGP team

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Crypto-linked flows to trafficking services surge 85% in 2025, Chainalysis says

Crypto.com and OG Prediction Markets have signed a multi year global partnership with the United States SailGP Team, ahead of this week’s New York Sail Grand Prix, bringing CFTC regulated prediction markets directly into elite foiling yacht racing for the first time.

With the New York Sail Grand Prix set to light up the city’s harbor this weekend, the U.S. SailGP Team has named Crypto.com and its OG Prediction Markets platform as Global Partners, tying a top tier U.S. sailing franchise to a CFTC regulated crypto backed prediction venue.

Under the multi year deal, Crypto.com becomes the team’s Official Crypto Exchange while OG is designated Official Prediction Market Partner, with both brands to appear on the American F50 catamaran, race kit and team environments at SailGP regattas worldwide.

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Crypto backed prediction markets hit the water

At the heart of the partnership is OG Prediction Markets, a standalone platform launched by Crypto.com earlier this year that allows users in the United States to trade regulated event contracts on sports, financial, political and cultural outcomes. OG is powered by CryptoCrypto.com | Derivatives North America, a Commodity Futures Trading Commission registered exchange and clearinghouse, positioning the app as a federally supervised alternative to offshore prediction venues. 

“Crypto.com has always backed those who compete at the highest level — and the U.S. SailGP Team is exactly that,” said Steve Humenik, EVP and Global Head of Legal for Prediction and Capital Markets at Crypto.com. “The OG Prediction Markets partnership reflects our long term commitment to a diverse offering of sports prediction markets, including highly technical and data driven sports like SailGP,” he added, arguing that the tie up helps make “the U.S. the Prediction Markets Capital of the World.”

The deal gives OG a highly visible entry point into a league that is already positioning itself as “Formula 1 on the water,” with 50 foot foiling catamarans capable of speeds above 60 mph racing across iconic global venues and beaming data to broadcasters in real time. SailGP says its tracking systems capture hundreds of data points per second per boat, a rich stream that underpins live odds making and now, through OG, fan facing prediction markets linked directly to U.S. team performance.

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SailGP leans harder into betting

For the United States SailGP Team, the Crypto.com and OG sponsorship arrives as the league accelerates its broader playbook around betting and interactive wagering. SailGP has already struck betting integrations with operators such as DraftKings in the U.S. and Bet365 internationally for its Rolex SailGP Championship, enabling fixed odds bets on fleet race winners, finalists and season champions.

“Having Crypto.com and OG Prediction Markets commit to a multi year Global Partnership is a tremendous statement of confidence in where the U.S. SailGP Team and this league are heading,” said Mike Buckley, Team Principal, CEO and Co Owner of the U.S. SailGP Team. Buckley called the agreement “monumental,” stressing that “the ability for fans to engage with our races through OG’s prediction platform is just the beginning of what we’ll build together.”

For Crypto.com, the SailGP partnership extends a push beyond conventional spot trading into derivatives and event contracts, following the February rollout of OG as a social prediction app where the first one million users can earn up to $500 in rewards for trading real world outcomes. It also builds on the exchange’s growing sports sponsorship portfolio and could help drive volume in regulated event markets that some analysts see evolving into a multibillion dollar asset class.

Crypto.com’s native token cronos is currently tracked on the Crypto.com market cap page, alongside major assets like bitcoin and ethereum, underscoring how deeply the exchange is embedded in both trading and fan facing products. In a previous crypto.com launch report, the company framed OG as a way for sports fans to “act on uncertainty, capitalize on the future, and celebrate triumph” in a regulated environment.

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Prediction markets are also gaining traction elsewhere in crypto, with platforms like Polymarket continuing to prove that trading on probabilities can double as a powerful information aggregator. In a related crypto.news feature, OG was cast as Crypto.com’s bid to bring that model into a regulated U.S. framework, marrying trading mechanics with social leaderboards and sports obsessed communities.

As the new livery hits the water in New York and co branded campaigns roll out across digital channels, both sides are betting that SailGP’s high speed, data heavy format can turn sailing into fertile ground for prediction market adoption. Whether fans treat OG’s contracts more like trading or like wagering, the partnership signals that the line between sports betting, derivatives and crypto native prediction markets is getting thinner with each new deal.

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CFTC Endorses Crypto Perpetual Contracts, Sets 24/7 Trading Guidance

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Crypto Breaking News

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is charting a more explicit path for crypto derivatives, approving a Bitcoin-backed perpetual futures product on Kalshi’s prediction-market platform while granting Coinbase a no-action interpretation for similar instruments. The moves, paired with the agency’s broader commentary on 24/7 trading in crypto markets, underscore a regulatory shift toward allowing regulated crypto derivatives while maintaining guardrails to manage risk, compliance, and market integrity.

In a Friday notice, the CFTC approved perpetual futures contracts tied to the spot price of Bitcoin for Kalshi’s platform. Kalshi simultaneously announced that it would launch the perpetual futures on its platform, aligning its product line more closely with a traditional derivatives venue. The Commission’s order reflects an individualized assessment of Kalshi’s request and the BTCPERP contract’s terms, the nature of the underlying market, and Kalshi’s compliance with the Commodity Exchange Act and the Commission’s regulations, including the Core Principles applicable to designated contract markets.

The perpetual futures would enable users on Kalshi’s platform—and potentially on other compliant venues—to speculate on Bitcoin price movements without taking ownership of the asset itself. The CFTC’s no-action position for Coinbase, paired with formal approval for Kalshi, signals a cautious openness to crypto derivatives while emphasizing the need for robust oversight and product design that conforms to U.S. law and regulatory standards.

Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal described the development as a “massive first for the industry” in a post on X, highlighting the regulatory milestone for a segment seeking broader access to continuous trading. The broader industry context includes Coinbase’s recent expansion of stock perpetual futures for non-U.S. traders, illustrating how major exchanges are pursuing 24/7 exposure to price movements through regulated channels.

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The Kalshi approval and Coinbase’s no-action relief sit within a broader regulatory framework that the CFTC has been actively developing around digital-asset derivatives. The elements of the Kalshi order—its terms and adherence to core market-principle requirements—are presented as a model for how crypto-based perpetual futures might be structured within U.S. oversight, while the Coinbase relief demonstrates that the agency is not granting blanket permission but evaluating products on a case-by-case basis.

Kalshi’s BTCPERP: CFTC approval and contract design

The CFTC’s action centers on a perpetual futures contract designed to track Bitcoin’s spot price, offered on Kalshi’s platform as a derivatives-like product within a prediction-market framework. The agency’s documentation emphasizes that the approval rests on Kalshi’s representations and submissions detailing the BTCPERP contract’s terms, the mechanics of the underlying market, and Kalshi’s compliance with the Commodity Exchange Act and related regulations, including the core principles applicable to designated contract markets.

Per the regulator’s description, the BTCPERP product would function without the need for the trader to own or borrow actual Bitcoin, a structure typical of perpetual futures designed to provide synthetic exposure to price movements. The decision also reflects the Commission’s effort to distinguish crypto-linked derivatives from other asset classes that may pose different risk profiles or regulatory considerations. The Kalshi development thus marks a concrete step in integrating crypto-native exposure into a regulated, exchange-like framework for market participants seeking structured, rule-based exposure to digital-asset prices.

For Kalshi, the milestone is more than a new product approval; it signals a potential pathway for more complex, exchange-like features within prediction markets and crypto markets that rely on transparent price discovery, reliable clearing, and enforceable settlement. The commission’s emphasis on process and compliance highlights a regulatory preference for products whose terms and market mechanics align with traditional design principles, even when the underlying asset is a digital commodity like Bitcoin.

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Coinbase no-action relief vs Kalshi approval: Regulatory nuance

In parallel with Kalshi’s approval, the CFTC issued a no-action letter relating to Coinbase’s planned BTC perpetual futures. A no-action position allows a regulated entity to pursue a particular activity without the agency taking enforcement action, provided that the firm adheres to conditions designed to address investor protection and market integrity. This stands in contrast to Kalshi’s formal approval as a designated contract market, illustrating the spectrum of regulatory outcomes the CFTC utilizes for crypto derivatives.

The practical effect is that Coinbase can potentially offer or list perpetual futures referencing crypto assets under the terms outlined in the agency’s relief, while Kalshi progresses under a full-approval framework with explicit design and market-structure requirements. The distinction matters for market participants in terms of legal certainty, risk management, and compliance planning, particularly for institutions seeking clear regulatory footing before committing capital or establishing clearing arrangements.

The contrast also highlights ongoing regulatory calibration around product features, custody, settlement mechanics, and compliance regimes. While the CFTC has shown willingness to adapt to crypto-dominated trading and clearing infrastructures, it continues to ground approvals in demonstrable adherence to oversight standards, including risk controls, disclosure, and the ability to withstand market stress scenarios.

In the wake of these actions, industry participants and observers are watching how such products will integrate with existing market structures, including how they might interact with banking relationships, liquidity provision, and cross-border activity. The pair of actions underscores a nuanced, case-by-case approach, rather than a broad green light for crypto derivatives, and reinforces the need for robust risk-management frameworks and regulatory alignment for any firm seeking to operate these products at scale.

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Regulatory stance on 24/7 trading and market structure

The CFTC separately reinforced a calibrated view on 24/7 trading for crypto derivatives, distinguishing crypto markets from other traditional asset classes where a 24/7 model may be less appropriate. The agency stated that derivatives referencing crypto assets may be well-suited for around-the-clock trading due to digital infrastructure, global reach, and the nonstop nature of crypto price discovery. Conversely, markets such as agricultural commodities may be less compatible with a 24/7 regime, given their regional bases, customer profiles, and physical-commodity considerations that influence settlement and risk management.

Industry participants have highlighted the potential benefits of 24/7 access, including tighter price discovery and more consistent liquidity during global trading hours. However, the new guidance also implies heightened attention to clearing, margining, custody, and regulatory oversight to ensure that continuous trading does not undermine investor protection or market integrity. The CME Group’s public signaling of 24/7 crypto futures trading, albeit subject to regulatory review, further indicates a shifting market architecture where continuous trading could become a baseline expectation for crypto derivatives, contingent on satisfying scrutiny from U.S. authorities.

These regulatory distinctions bear practical implications for exchanges, market-makers, and institutional investors. 24/7 access raises questions about risk controls, governance, and the monitoring of cross-border flows and settlement cycles. As U.S. regulators weigh these models, the balancing act remains: enable regulated, transparent access to crypto derivatives while maintaining robust oversight to prevent disclosures, manipulation, and systemic risk.

Jurisdiction, enforcement posture, and political signaling

Beyond product-specific decisions, the regulatory landscape for crypto derivatives intersects with questions of jurisdiction, enforcement, and governance. In a public thread, President Donald Trump highlighted support for the CFTC’s asserted authority over prediction markets, a stance echoing ongoing litigation at the state level that seeks to curb or ban certain platforms. The discussion underscores the broader policy tensions surrounding who governs complex financial innovations—federal regulators, state authorities, or a combination of both—and how such jurisdictional questions shape market access and consumer protections.

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Meanwhile, Michael Selig—the CFTC chair and sole commissioner at the time—has framed the agency’s jurisdiction as central to maintaining a consistent federal standard for crypto-related markets. As of the latest update, no nominations had been announced to fill the remaining seats on the five-member commission, a dynamic that can influence regulatory agility and the pace of decision-making as the agency navigates evolving market structures. These political and institutional factors matter for market participants because they shape the durability of regulatory commitments and the likelihood of further rulemaking, enforcement actions, or new product approvals in the crypto derivatives space. According to Cointelegraph, the Trump post reflected a push for continued CFTC authority, while Selig remained the single sitting commissioner with potential implications for governance and strategic direction.

The combination of a formal approval for Kalshi, a favorable no-action pathway for Coinbase, and a recognized potential for 24/7 crypto trading within a regulated framework points to a regulatory strategy that seeks to balance innovation with oversight. For exchanges, custodians, and liquidity providers, the evolving posture necessitates enhanced compliance programs, clear product disclosures, and rigorous risk controls aligned with the CFTC’s expectations for market integrity and consumer protection.

Closing perspective

Taken together, the latest CFTC actions illustrate a measured experimental phase for U.S. crypto derivatives: approvals and reliefs are being granted on a case-by-case basis, anchored by explicit regulatory principles and ongoing oversight. As the market structure for crypto assets evolves—potentially toward 24/7 trading, regulated clearing, and more transparent pricing—market participants should monitor regulatory filings, enforcement signals, and policy developments that could redefine licensing, supervision, and cross-border activity in this rapidly changing landscape.

Risk & affiliate notice: Crypto assets are volatile and capital is at risk. This article may contain affiliate links. Read full disclosure

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Mashinsky targets FTX and rewrites Celsius narrative

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Mashinsky targets FTX and rewrites Celsius narrative

Beyond attacking the process that put him behind bars, Alex Mashinsky is now trying to recast Celsius’ collapse as an FTX‑driven hit job, even though he already confessed to manipulating CEL himself.

Summary

Beyond attacking the process that led to his conviction, Mashinsky is trying to recast the story of Celsius’ collapse by pinning much of the blame on FTX and its former chief executive Sam Bankman Fried.

In materials submitted to the court, he accuses Bankman Fried of attempting to “destroy Celsius” and claims that market manipulation of the CEL token was orchestrated out of FTX, not by Celsius insiders.

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Those claims stand in direct tension with his own plea and the criminal record.

In December 2024, Mashinsky pleaded guilty in the Southern District of New York to one count of commodities fraud and one count of securities fraud, admitting that he “illicitly manipulated the price of CEL, Celsius’s proprietary crypto token, while he was secretly selling his own CEL token at artificially inflated prices.”

By May 2025, Judge John G. Koeltl sentenced him to 12 years in prison, three years of supervised release and forfeiture of more than $48 million in criminal proceeds, one of the stiffest penalties to emerge from the 2022 crypto lending implosions.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Mashinsky misled customers between 2018 and 2022 by portraying Celsius as a safe “bank of the crypto industry” while putting user funds into risky, largely undisclosed strategies and simultaneously pumping CEL.

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That conduct ultimately left users unable to access around $4.7 billion in deposits when Celsius froze withdrawals and collapsed, a shortfall later reflected in a $4.72 billion judgment the Federal Trade Commission obtained against Mashinsky personally.

In April 2026, a federal court approved an FTC order permanently banning him from crypto and broader financial services and imposing a $4.72 billion monetary judgment, with only $10 million actually payable so long as it is satisfied through his existing Department of Justice forfeiture obligations.

Cohen Pavon walks with time served as cooperation pays

Mashinsky’s motion also leans on his fractured relationship with former Celsius Chief Revenue Officer Roni Cohen Pavon, whom he now accuses of attempting a “hostile takeover” of the company.

He has gone as far as to publicly release text messages with Cohen Pavon to bolster that narrative, even though the former executive turned government cooperator and was a key witness against him.

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Cohen Pavon, who in 2023 was indicted alongside Mashinsky on conspiracy, securities fraud, market manipulation and wire fraud charges tied to CEL price manipulation, ultimately pleaded guilty and cooperated with prosecutors.

Nearly three years after his arrest, a federal judge in the Southern District of New York sentenced him to time served plus one year of supervised release, ordering him to pay over $1 million and a $40,000 fine – a strikingly lighter outcome than his former boss’s 12 year term and $48 million forfeiture.

The split screen is stark: the man who fronted Celsius on YouTube and in interviews promising safety and “unbanking yourself” is now attacking his own lawyers, his former lieutenants and a rival exchange as he tries to unwind a sentence grounded in his admitted manipulation of CEL and misrepresentations to hundreds of thousands of depositors.

What remains unclear is whether any judge will give credence to his new FTX centric theory of the case, or whether Mashinsky’s latest move will simply be remembered as a last ditch bid by a once celebrated crypto lender to claw back a narrative already cemented in guilty pleas, regulatory bans and billions in documented user losses.

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Texas man charged over alleged $12.3 million AI crypto arbitrage scam

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Texas man charged over alleged $12.3 million AI crypto arbitrage scam

The SEC has charged Texas resident Nathan Fuller over an alleged $12.3 million AI crypto arbitrage scheme that promised triple digit returns in weeks.

Summary

  • SEC alleges Fuller raised about $12.3 million from roughly 150 investors
  • Promised 40 to 50 percent returns in 30 to 45 days and over 100 percent in 21 days
  • At least $6.2 million allegedly misappropriated, $5.5 million used in Ponzi like payouts

U.S. securities regulators have charged Texas resident Nathan Fuller with orchestrating a fraudulent cryptocurrency trading scheme that raised roughly $12.3 million from about 150 investors through entities including Privvy Investments between October 2022 and mid 2024, according to a litigation release from the Securities and Exchange Commission SEC.

The SEC alleges Fuller told investors he had built a proprietary artificial intelligence powered high frequency arbitrage “trading robot” that could generate extraordinary, low risk profits on crypto assets, while in reality diverting millions of dollars for personal use and running what regulators describe as a Ponzi style operation.

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SEC says AI crypto robot pitch hid $12.3 million fraud

According to the complaint, Fuller marketed investment contracts that promised returns of “over 40 to 50 percent” within 30 to 45 days, and in some cases “guaranteed” returns of more than 100 percent in as little as 21 days, claims that far exceed even the most aggressive yield offerings seen during previous cycles of speculative crypto mania such as the collapse of Mirror Trading International and other arbitrage themed schemes flagged by the SEC.

Alleged Ponzi mechanics and AI hype

Regulators say the vaunted AI trading robot “did not operate as advertised,” and instead of deploying most of the capital into legitimate cryptocurrency markets, Fuller allegedly misappropriated at least $6.2 million of investor funds for personal expenses including luxury goods and travel, while using approximately $5.5 million to make payouts to earlier investors, mimicking the classic flows of a Ponzi scheme.

The SEC’s filing describes a pattern of forged account statements, fabricated documents, and false performance updates that were used to reassure investors and entice new victims, echoing recent enforcement actions against AI branded crypto scams that used fake trading dashboards, doctored screenshots, and scripted chat group “testimonials” to lure users into bogus platforms, as in a separate $14 million WhatsApp based AI tip operation detailed by the Hacker News.

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Court documents cited by ChainCatcher further note that Fuller sold these products through several vehicles tied to Privvy Investments, part of a broader wave of AI infused marketing that has swept both traditional and digital asset markets since 2023 and has already drawn multiple enforcement actions for deceptive practices targeting retail investors.

The SEC is seeking permanent injunctions, disgorgement of what it calls ill gotten gains plus interest, and civil penalties against Fuller, continuing a long running crackdown on crypto themed Ponzi operations that cloak themselves in technical jargon, from early bitcoin based schemes highlighted by the SEC to more recent “AI trading” clubs that promise risk free yields.

In a previous crypto.news report on SEC actions against AI labelled trading platforms, regulators warned that guaranteed double digit monthly returns in crypto or any other asset class are a red flag, particularly when the strategy is described as secret, proprietary, or too complex to explain, a pattern mirrored almost exactly in the allegations against Fuller.

Elsewhere, crypto.news has chronicled how courts have increasingly refused to treat bankruptcy as a refuge for crypto fraud operators, with judges denying discharge when they find concealed assets or falsified records, an issue Fuller has already faced in parallel proceedings over Privvy’s finances, while a separate crypto.news analysis has traced how AI hype provides cover for old fashioned Ponzi architecture dressed up in algorithmic jargon.

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Given the SEC’s latest complaint and the broader pattern of enforcement, investors drawn to AI themed arbitrage pitches have one more high profile reminder that any promise of triple digit returns in a matter of weeks, especially in opaque crypto strategies, is far more likely to end in litigation than in life changing gains.

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Fed’s Daly says price stability must not “harm the economy”

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Fed’s Daly says price stability must not “harm the economy”

Mary Daly says the Fed cannot restore price stability by “harming the economy,” underscoring a cautious stance on rates as inflation lingers above target.

Summary

  • San Francisco Fed’s Mary Daly stresses price stability remains “crucial” but warns against over-tightening
  • Daly’s comments echo her earlier calls for “patience” and “deliberate calibration” on rate cuts
  • Her stance comes as markets price in later Fed easing, raising questions for risk assets including crypto

Mary Daly, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, said restoring price stability remains “crucial” for the U.S. central bank, but warned that the Federal Reserve cannot pursue that goal in a way that “harms the economy,” according to a summary of her latest remarks.

The comments, reported via Chaincatcher, signal that Daly continues to frame monetary policy as a balancing act between bringing inflation back to the Fed’s 2% target and preserving labor market strength.

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Daly’s emphasis on balance builds on earlier statements where she has described policy as “in a good place” and argued the Fed can “afford patience” as it evaluates incoming data. In a prior speech, she said monetary policy must be calibrated carefully because “progress is not victory” on inflation, and that uncertainty about both price pressures and employment requires a scenario based approach rather than a single forecast path.

Daly’s balancing act on inflation

In earlier public appearances, Daly has stressed that the Fed’s dual mandate requires it to “stay on our policy course if we’re going to do our part to restore price stability,” even as she acknowledged that inflation had been “coming in too high.” At the same time, she has repeatedly warned that keeping rates “too high for too long” risks undermining employment, arguing that if restrictive policy causes mass layoffs, “you’ve given people low inflation, but you’ve taken their jobs,” which she said is “not the dual mandate.”

That tension is visible in more recent commentary, where Daly has urged a “measured, data‑dependent approach” and insisted the Fed must “work on price stability without overreacting.” Market participants have interpreted those remarks as a signal that the Federal Open Market Committee is likely to hold its policy rate in the current 5.25 to 5.50% range for longer, delaying rate cuts until there is clearer evidence that inflation is firmly on track to 2%.

Implications for markets and policy path

Daly’s latest message that price stability cannot be achieved by “harming the economy” underscores why many officials remain wary of aggressive moves in either direction. Her stance aligns with projections from banks such as Goldman Sachs, which recently pushed back expectations for the first Fed rate cut to September 2026 and now sees inflation running near 2.9%, implying restrictive policy for longer and a tougher backdrop for risk assets.

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While Daly did not provide specific forecasts for growth, unemployment or the exact timing of any rate adjustments in the Jin10 summary, her comments suggest the Fed will continue to lean on incremental, data‑driven decisions rather than pre‑committing to a rapid easing cycle. For investors across bonds, equities and crypto, her insistence that the central bank must both “restore price stability” and avoid “harming the economy” reinforces the idea that the Fed is steering a narrow path between renewed inflation and a policy induced downturn.

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Coinbase Wins CFTC Approval to Offer Global Crypto Perpetuals and Options to US Clients

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Coinbase Reportedly Courts Anthropic to Bolster Exchange Security Infrastructure

Coinbase Financial Markets became the first US-regulated futures commission merchant (FCM) cleared to connect domestic clients to global crypto perpetuals and options markets, the exchange said May 29, opening access to a multi-trillion dollar category previously closed to US traders.

New guidance from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) cleared the path. Institutional clients gain regulated access to instruments that account for roughly 80% of global crypto trading volume, and Prime client onboarding began immediately.

Why US Traders Lost Access for Years

Until now, US customers had no compliant route to perpetual swaps and crypto options, the two largest categories of digital-asset trading.

Many institutions stood up offshore entities to reach these markets, adding counterparty exposure and duplicative infrastructure costs.

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The arrangement removes the need for offshore trading workarounds and consolidates global liquidity through a single regulated broker.

The guidance also extends prior CFTC steps such as the leveraged spot trading framework cleared in late 2024.

Deribit Access Anchors the Launch

Options on Deribit, which Coinbase acquired last year, are live through Coinbase Financial Markets, with perpetual futures contracts to follow.

Deribit holds more than $31 billion in bitcoin (BTC) options open interest.

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Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said US users had been locked out of roughly 80% of global crypto markets, framing the CFTC clearance as the end of that gap.

Earlier US-regulated perpetual-style contracts arrived through Cboe’s continuous futures this year, but those products are limited to domestic venues and do not route to global liquidity.

“This morning, the @CFTC took historic action to permit the listing of a true bitcoin perpetual contract by a CFTC-registered exchange, charting a path for one of the most liquid segments of the crypto asset markets to exist within the US regulatory framework,” noted CFTC chair Mike Selig.

Retail access is expected later. Coinbase has not disclosed a timeline.

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The post Coinbase Wins CFTC Approval to Offer Global Crypto Perpetuals and Options to US Clients appeared first on BeInCrypto.

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FedEx Freight (FDXF) Spinoff Goes Live June 1: Everything You Need to Know

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Brian Armstrong's Bold Prediction: AI Agents Will Soon Dominate Global Financial

Key Takeaways

  • FedEx Freight launches as an independent company on June 1 trading under ticker FDXF
  • Shareholders of FedEx receive one FDXF share for every two FDX shares owned; parent company maintains approximately 20% ownership
  • When-issued trading shows FDXF around $185 per share, though analysts believe fair value could reach $275 based on Old Dominion comparables
  • Management projects medium-term revenue growth of 4%–6% with operating profit expansion of 10%–12%
  • Parent company FDX carries a consensus Strong Buy rating from 21 Wall Street analysts with a $423.15 average target price

The separation of FedEx Freight from its parent company is finally arriving. The less-than-truckload (LTL) division launches independent trading on Monday, June 1, debuting on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker FDXF.

As the LTL division of FedEx, this business caters to industrial clients requiring freight transportation over shorter routes without needing full truckload capacity. The company competes directly with established players like Old Dominion Freight Line and XPO.

This spinoff represents the culmination of a strategic shift. FedEx has been streamlining operations to concentrate on its primary express shipping and logistics segments. Though consistently profitable, the Freight division represented a relatively modest component of the overall enterprise.

For fiscal 2026, FedEx Freight projects revenue of $8.7 billion alongside operating income of $1.1 billion. To put this in perspective, the remaining FedEx operations are forecast to generate nearly $94 billion in revenue during the same period.

In when-issued trading ahead of the official launch, FDXF shares have been exchanging hands near $185. This represents the market’s preliminary assessment before the stock formally begins regular trading.

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The Valuation Opportunity

This is where the situation becomes compelling. Old Dominion, widely regarded as the premier LTL operator, commands a forward earnings multiple approaching 40x. Meanwhile, FedEx as a consolidated entity trades at approximately 18x forward earnings. This substantial valuation disparity provides the fundamental rationale for executing this separation.

Should FDXF achieve valuation parity with Old Dominion’s trading multiple, Wall Street analysts project a fair value near $275 per share — representing nearly 50% appreciation from current when-issued levels.

However, Old Dominion maintains superior profitability metrics. The company is projected to generate approximately $1.5 billion in operating profit from $5.7 billion in revenue during 2026, reflecting materially higher margins than FDXF currently achieves.

Narrowing this margin differential will be critical for FDXF to justify a comparable valuation multiple. Management has established targets for 10%–12% annual operating profit growth over the medium term, which should support margin improvement.

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For reference, Old Dominion has delivered roughly 8% average annual operating profit growth over the trailing five-year period. Analysts project this growth rate will accelerate to approximately 11% moving forward — essentially matching FDXF’s stated objectives.

Distribution Details for Existing Shareholders

Current FedEx shareholders will receive one FDXF share for every two shares of FDX held as of the established record date. The parent company will retain approximately 20% ownership in the freight operation following completion of the spinoff.

FDX stock has demonstrated robust momentum leading into this separation event — gaining more than 40% year-to-date and climbing over 80% during the trailing twelve-month period through Friday’s close.

From an analyst perspective, FDX maintains a consensus Strong Buy rating based on recommendations from 21 Wall Street analysts, comprising 17 Buy ratings, 3 Hold ratings, and 1 Sell rating. The consensus price target stands at $423.15, suggesting approximately 3% upside from prevailing price levels.

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FDXF commences regular-way trading on Monday, June 1.

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Payouts.com warns on AI agent payments

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Payouts.com warns on AI agent payments

Payouts.com co-founders say the future of agent payments combines stablecoin rails with programmable control layers built for enterprise trust.

Summary

  • Payouts.com CEO Leor Ceder says programmability, not wallets alone, will define which AI agents enterprises can trust by 2027.
  • Co-founder Barak Hirchson lists five non-negotiable controls that make autonomous agent spending safe and auditable at scale.
  • Stablecoins win in cross-border and machine-to-API micropayments; programmable infrastructure determines which rail gets used everywhere else.

Payouts.com co-founders Leor Ceder and Barak Hirchson say the next wave of AI agent commerce runs on stablecoin rails, and on the programmable control layer built on top of them. In their view, wallets are a necessary foundation, but the durable enterprise value sits in what governs them.

The position adds a critical dimension to the wallet-led narrative dominating agent payments today. Juniper Research forecasts cross-border B2B stablecoin payments will hit $5 trillion by 2035, up from $13.4 billion in 2026, with B2B taking 85% of total stablecoin transaction value.

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Where stablecoins win and where smart rail selection matters

Hirchson, Payouts.com’s chief solutions officer, said rail selection is decided by the recipient: country, payment method, urgency, amount, and cost all factor in. Stablecoins win cleanly in two scenarios.

The first is cross-border versus SWIFT, where wire fees and FX spreads can eat 4 to 5% of a transaction. The second is machine-to-API micropayments, where the x402 standard already routes pay-per-call API invoices in stablecoin. Crypto.news reported that AI agents have settled $73 million across 176 million transactions on crypto rails, with USDC handling 98.6%.

“PIX clears in under ten seconds in Brazil for free, UPI handles hundreds of millions of transactions a day in India at near-zero cost,” Hirchson said. “The agents that scale are the ones that can pick the right rail per transaction, not the ones locked into a single rail based on what their limited wallet supports.”

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The five non-negotiable agent controls

Hirchson laid out five controls he said are non-negotiable before companies let agents transact autonomously: scoped credentials, hard spend caps enforced at the protocol level, cryptographically signed mandates, idempotency at the payment layer, and a fail-closed posture.

“This is what programmable spending actually means. You define the envelope once, the infrastructure enforces it forever, and the agent operates freely inside it,” he said. “Is the industry building these fast enough? Not uniformly.”

Some wallets shipped recently include hard caps and signed mandates, he said. Others ship with an API key and a balance, which he called the worst-case configuration for a compromised key.

What the agent payment stack looks like by 2027

Ceder said the interesting question by May 2027 will not be which stablecoin wins. It will be programmability: how granularly enterprises can define what an agent is allowed to do, how reliably that policy is enforced, and how cleanly compliance can be proven after the fact.

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“The wallet wars happening right now will look the way the browser wars look in retrospect: necessary, formative, and not where the durable value got captured,” Ceder said. The compliance layer must be built into the infrastructure rather than the agent, with every payment passing a cascade of principal, account and jurisdiction checks before any money moves.

Coinbase and Cloudflare have built the x402 protocol into a fast-growing settlement rail for agents, with the standard recently joining the Linux Foundation. AWS embedded x402 into Amazon Bedrock AgentCore Payments earlier this month, while Solana and Google launched Pay.sh as a parallel route.

For Payouts.com, the bet is that the control layer above those rails is where enterprise spend will land. The agent stays autonomous. The envelope around it does not move.

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