The sequence began on June 30, when an anonymous wallet submitted a proposal to transfer the treasury’s holdings to a wallet it controlled, per Chainalysis. To pass, the proposal needed yes votes equal to 1% of BONK’s supply, the quorum, or minimum participation, required for it to take effect.

Over July 4 and 5, a separate wallet acquired exactly that much, spending about $4.4 million to buy BONK on the exchanges Bybit and Binance and, by one account, borrowing more through DeFi lending platforms, according to Lookonchain.

Titled “BIP #76 – Sowellian BonkDAO,” the proposal passed with just seven wallets voting, against more than 18,000 members who did not, a turnout of 2.9%.

It cleared quorum by the narrowest margin, 882.38 billion BONK in favor against a 879.95 billion threshold, almost exactly the stake the attacker had spent days assembling.

The 99.9% “yes” result was effectively a single voter agreeing with itself. Its written pitch read less like a governance motion than a boast, promising to “rebuild from the ashes, monetize holdings, stop the bleeding,” with a line noting that “all YES voters are eligible to receive tokens.”

Beneath it sat the only instruction that should have turned heads – a transfer of 4.43 trillion BONK to the attacker’s wallet.

By July 6 the voter held just enough. It cast its entire stake in favor, the proposal passed, and about $20 million in BONK automatically moved out of the treasury into the attacker’s wallet.

U.S. President Donald Trump said his pivot toward crypto was driven less by ideology than by geopolitics, arguing that if the United States did not embrace digital assets, China would. Speaking at a Monday press event at the White House to announce “Trump Accounts”—investment accounts for children under 18—Trump framed Bitcoin and crypto as a strategic industry the U.S. can’t afford to cede.

When asked whether the child-focused investment accounts would include Bitcoin, Trump responded that he became a “big crypto guy” because of competitive pressure from China. He also reiterated that he initially was not pro-crypto, but said he watched the sector grow into a “huge industry,” and later concluded that the U.S. needed to move first.

Key takeaways

• Trump said he turned pro-crypto because he believed China would advance first “if we don’t have it.”
• At the White House announcement of “Trump Accounts,” he addressed whether the new accounts would touch Bitcoin, without offering a detailed structure for crypto exposure.
• Trump described staying hands-off in discussions with his family about crypto investments.
• His remarks highlight ongoing scrutiny of crypto influence given reported family crypto-related earnings and political fundraising activity by the industry.
• He suggested investigations into crypto declined when he became more supportive, echoing criticism of enforcement shifts during his administration.

Why Trump says he shifted toward crypto

Trump’s comments added context to his changing rhetoric over the past few years. During his first term, he had said he was “not a fan” of crypto and referred to Bitcoin as “a scam.” In Monday’s exchange, he offered a different rationale: not personal conviction, but the belief that the U.S. needed to participate in a rapidly expanding market before a rival country did.

“I’ve become a big crypto guy only for one reason: If we don’t have it, China’s going to have it,” Trump said. He described watching crypto “grow” after taking less interest earlier on, and said he now sees it as a large and profitable industry.

Trump also said he got involved “a little bit for politics,” adding that he recognized “a lot of people that love crypto.” The framing matters for investors and users because it signals that, at least publicly, his administration’s stance may be justified through national competitiveness rather than consumer protection or technological neutrality.

“Trump Accounts” and the Bitcoin question

Trump delivered the remarks while unveiling “Trump Accounts,” an investment account program for children under 18 announced during a press event in the Oval Office. The question from reporters focused on whether the accounts would permit exposure to Bitcoin.

While Trump’s reply emphasized the broader importance of crypto—particularly Bitcoin’s geopolitical relevance—he did not provide specifics in the available remarks about how crypto, if any, would be implemented within the accounts. The gap between political endorsement and operational detail is important: parents, advisors, and compliance teams would need clarity on whether digital assets are directly included, held through other instruments, or excluded entirely.

For market participants, the key watch point is whether the administration follows through with concrete policy guidance that determines how, and to what extent, crypto could become part of mainstream, retail-oriented investment products for minors.

Trump’s family crypto interests: “I don’t talk to them”

Trump said he does not discuss his family’s crypto involvement. The question is especially sensitive given the financial disclosures and the public record around his household’s crypto exposure.

According to financial disclosures released June 30 by Cointelegraph, Trump made more than $1.4 billion last year from crypto-related activity. The disclosures cited Trump and his sons as co-founders of World Liberty Financial, a crypto platform that generated a large portion of his crypto-related income.

Despite those ties, Trump said his interest in crypto is “not a question of a personal thing.” He added, “I let my kids do whatever the hell they do. I don’t talk to them, ever, talk to them about it.”

The statement doesn’t remove the underlying concern for observers—namely whether political messaging and regulatory direction could benefit from family-linked interests. But it does show how the president is trying to separate public policy arguments from personal decision-making.

Enforcement investigations and regulatory scrutiny

Trump also addressed federal crypto enforcement, claiming that the Biden administration “dropped all investigations” after he “went very pro-crypto.” His remarks come amid a broader debate about how aggressively U.S. regulators have pursued crypto-related cases under different administrations.

In the material discussed, it is noted that under the Trump administration, the Securities and Exchange Commission stopped multiple investigations and withdrew or settled enforcement actions filed against crypto companies—some of which had donated to Trump. The president then used that alleged contrast to underscore his leverage as president.

“Every time I see a crypto guy where they dropped an investigation, I said: ‘You’re lucky I’m president,” Trump said.

For readers tracking regulatory risk, the implication is not a single policy promise but a pattern: Trump’s public support for crypto is intertwined with assertions about enforcement outcomes. That makes future developments—such as any formal guidance, legislation, or regulatory posture changes—central to understanding how U.S. compliance and litigation risks may evolve for exchanges, token issuers, and custody providers.

What to watch next

Beyond the political message, the practical question is whether “Trump Accounts” will offer transparent details on investment options and any crypto exposure. Investors and families should watch for follow-on policy documents that clarify implementation, because the difference between endorsement and enforceable product design will determine how quickly (or slowly) crypto could move into mainstream youth-facing financial tools.

U.S. President Donald Trump said he became more supportive of crypto partly because of politics, voter interest, and competition with China. 

He made the comments during a July 6 Oval Office event for Trump Accounts, a savings program for children under 18.

When asked whether the accounts could include Bitcoin, Trump said, “I’ve become a big crypto guy” because he believed the U.S. needed to stay ahead of China. He added that he was not a crypto supporter at first, but later saw the industry grow into a large market.

Trump also said he entered the sector “a little bit for politics” after seeing strong support from crypto users. The remarks offered a direct explanation for his move from crypto critic to one of the industry’s most visible political supporters.

From Bitcoin critic to industry supporter

Trump’s comments marked a clear shift from his earlier public view of Bitcoin. During his first term, he said he was not a fan of Bitcoin and other digital assets. He also once called Bitcoin a “scam” in a media interview.

His position changed as crypto became a larger political issue. In 2024, Trump’s campaign raised more than $4 million in crypto, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, USDC, and other digital assets. The campaign used the donations to court crypto voters and industry donors.

Trump said on Monday that the size of the industry also shaped his thinking. “This thing’s got a lot of life,” he said, while saying China could move into the sector if the U.S. did not act.

Family crypto ties remain under scrutiny

The remarks came days after Trump faced new questions over his family’s crypto income. As previously reported, Trump denied knowing about a $1.4 billion crypto windfall disclosed in his latest financial filing.

That filing linked much of the income to Trump-branded crypto projects, including World Liberty Financial and token-related licensing deals. Trump and his sons are listed as co-founders of World Liberty Financial, a crypto platform that has drawn attention from lawmakers and ethics groups.

Trump rejected claims that his crypto support was personal. He said he does not speak with his children about their crypto business activity. “I let my kids do whatever the hell they do,” he said during the event.

As previously reported, Trump’s 2025 financial disclosure showed crypto income above $1.4 billion, led by memecoin and World Liberty Financial proceeds. The same filing renewed debate over how public officials should handle private crypto exposure while federal policy is changing.

Policy changes keep crypto in Washington focus

Trump also defended his administration’s crypto stance and criticized the Biden administration’s enforcement approach. He claimed that crypto companies benefited after he went “very pro crypto,” while saying some investigations were dropped after his return to office.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has changed its approach to crypto under Trump. As previously reported, crypto was removed from the SEC’s 2026 examination priorities, marking a shift from the prior focus on digital asset firms.

Congress is also weighing crypto market structure rules. As previously reported, the CLARITY Act debate remains active, with lawmakers still divided over parts of the bill, including stablecoin rules and oversight powers.

Trump’s latest comments place politics at the center of his crypto turn. They also keep attention on the overlap between campaign support, family-linked crypto ventures, and the administration’s push to make the U.S. a stronger base for digital asset companies.

BonkDAO has disclosed that attackers have drained roughly $20 million worth of BONK tokens from its treasury after exploiting a malicious governance proposal.

According to a statement published by BonkDAO on X, the unauthorized proposal allowed an unknown entity to remove approximately $20 million in BONK from the project’s treasury on the Solana blockchain.

The DAO said it has reported the incident to law enforcement and is working to recover the stolen assets while helping identify those responsible.

The disclosure quickly weighed on market sentiment. Bonk (BONK) fell about 8.5% over the following 24 hours to trade at $0.0000044 as investors reacted to the treasury breach. The incident also adds to a growing list of governance and smart contract attacks that have affected decentralized finance projects in recent months.

What happened during the BonkDAO treasury attack?

BonkDAO attributed the loss to what it described as a “malicious governance proposal,” though it did not release technical details explaining how the proposal passed or how the treasury controls were bypassed. The organization said additional information would be shared as its investigation progresses.

Launched in December 2022, BONK became one of Solana’s best-known memecoins after its developers distributed half of the token’s total supply through an airdrop. Alongside Dogecoin, Shiba Inu and Pepe, the token remains among the most recognized assets in the memecoin sector.

Market data shows the sector has already been under pressure before the attack. CoinMarketCap data indicates the combined market value of leading memecoins, including DOGE, SHIB and PEPE, dropped to roughly $22 billion last week before recovering above $26 billion in July.

Even after that rebound, the category stood at about $25.3 billion at publication, down more than 54% over the previous 12 months, according to CoinMarketCap.

Why are governance and DeFi attacks drawing renewed attention?

Recent security incidents suggest attackers continue to target decentralized protocols through different methods. In May, memecoin launch platform DxSale disclosed that it lost about $7.3 million in tokens after a cyberattack affecting liquidity providers on BNB Chain.

Although blockchain investigators identified the attacker’s wallet, one security expert said the infrastructure used to move the stolen funds could make tracing and recovery more difficult.

A separate incident has also unfolded in decentralized finance. Security company Blockaid recently said its exploit detection system identified an active attack targeting Summer.fi, a DeFi yield aggregation and automated vault management platform.

According to Blockaid, roughly $6 million had already been drained when it issued its alert, though neither the firm nor Summer.fi had released a complete technical explanation at the time.

Crypto.news also previously reported another Blockaid alert involving a smart contract exploit affecting ShapeShift’s FOX Colony on Arbitrum, highlighting how security firms can detect active attacks before full forensic reports become available.

The BonkDAO breach also comes as scrutiny of memecoin projects has intensified. Earlier, crypto.news reported that blockchain analytics firm Nansen estimated around one million investors in U.S. President Donald Trump’s Official Trump (TRUMP) memecoin had collectively lost about $3.8 million as of June 30.

The report was published days after the president disclosed earning more than $1.4 billion from crypto-related businesses, including approximately $635 million linked to memecoin projects.

American Bitcoin Corp. said its Bitcoin reserve has moved above 8,000 BTC after its latest treasury update. 

In a July 6 post on X, the company said its Bitcoin reserve has grown more than threefold since its Nasdaq debut, while its satoshis-per-share metric has also grown nearly threefold.

BitcoinTreasuries data showed American Bitcoin holding 8,000 BTC, worth about $512 million, among publicly traded Bitcoin treasury companies. The same tracker ranked the company near the top tier of public corporate BTC holders, ahead of GD Culture Group and Galaxy Digital in the U.S. list.

ABTC stock rises after reverse split

ABTC traded at $8.49 at the time of writing, up 14.1% on the day, according to Google Finance data. The stock opened at $7.98, touched an intraday high of $9.31, and fell as low as $7.40, with volume above 2.17 million shares.

The move followed American Bitcoin’s 1-for-15 reverse stock split. The company said the split became effective at 5:00 p.m. on July 2, with Class A shares set to trade on a split-adjusted basis on Nasdaq from July 6 under the same ABTC ticker.

American Bitcoin said the split would reduce issued shares from about 1.09 billion to roughly 73 million. The company said the action was mainly meant to lift the per-share price and help maintain compliance with Nasdaq’s minimum bid price rule.

Mining output supports treasury growth

As previously reported by crypto.news, American Bitcoin posted an $81.8 million net loss in the first quarter of 2026. The loss came as Bitcoin fell 22% during the quarter, which led to a $117.2 million non-cash charge on the company’s digital asset holdings.

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The company still mined 817 BTC in the quarter and cut its cost per Bitcoin to $36,200. That was down 23% from $46,900 in the fourth quarter of 2025. American Bitcoin also bought 803 BTC during the quarter, taking its holdings to 7,021 BTC as of March 31.

CEO Mike Ho defended the operating result at the time. “The underlying business was profitable and we did not sell a single coin,” he said, referring to the company’s mark-to-market charge.

Hut 8 link remains central to ABTC strategy

American Bitcoin was launched by Hut 8 and Eric Trump in March 2025. Hut 8 said at the time that the company aimed to build a large pure-play Bitcoin miner while developing a strategic Bitcoin reserve.

As previously reported by crypto.news, American Bitcoin is backed by Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. The company has built its model around self-mining and treasury accumulation, rather than shifting away from mining toward artificial-intelligence data centers.

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The latest treasury update shows that American Bitcoin continues to add BTC despite pressure on its share price earlier this year. The company’s stock rebound after the reverse split gives ABTC a higher trading price, but its performance still remains tied to Bitcoin prices, mining costs, and investor demand for public Bitcoin treasury firms.

Former Tether chief investment officer Richard Heathcote is seeking to sell part of his 1.26% stake in the stablecoin issuer, according to a Bloomberg report. 

The report said Heathcote is working with PJT Partners and has started talks with potential buyers.

The planned transaction covers only part of his holding, not the full stake. Bloomberg did not report a valuation for the sale. A completed deal could offer a rare public marker for Tether’s private shares, because the company does not trade on a public exchange.

The report comes after Tether became one of crypto’s largest private companies by revenue and reserves. Any private stake sale may draw attention from investors who want exposure to stablecoin growth without buying shares in a listed company.

Tether remains privately held

Heathcote stepped back from daily duties in March, when Tether named Zachary Lyons as chief investment officer. Tether said Heathcote would stay connected to the company in a non-executive advisory role after helping guide its reserve management and investment strategy.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino has pushed back against public-listing talk. In an April 2025 post on X, he said, “Tether doesn’t need to go public.” The comment remains relevant as the reported Heathcote sale comes through a private process rather than an IPO.

• Volume ran 16.19% above the seven-day average, enough to show participation but not enough to confirm a clean breakout.

• The sharpest activity came near the session low around $1.1110, when volume reached 106.5 million XRP, about 129% above the 24-hour average.

• Buyers later pushed XRP toward $1.1507, but the move failed to hold near the upper end of the range.

Technical Analysis

• The key development is that XRP defended the $1.11 area, but failed to turn the rebound into a sustained move above $1.13-$1.14.

• The earlier breakout above $1.08 remains intact, but the next leg higher needs stronger volume through resistance.

• The rejection near $1.1507 shows sellers are still active around the same zone that capped recent recovery attempts.

• The hourly structure weakened after XRP failed near $1.1308 and slipped back toward $1.1249, leaving a lower-high pattern intraday.

• XRP remains in a consolidation phase between support near $1.11 and resistance near $1.14-$1.15.

What traders should watch

• $1.1110 is the key downside level after buyers defended it during the session.

• $1.1249-$1.1270 is the immediate support zone after the latest intraday pullback.

• $1.1308-$1.1325 is the first resistance area bulls need to reclaim.

• $1.14-$1.15 remains the bigger test after repeated failures near that zone.

The Trump administration’s plan for a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve has run into legal and agency questions.

Bloomberg reported that officials are still deciding which department can hold and manage the government’s Bitcoin.

The issue centers on whether the Treasury has clear legal authority to control a volatile digital asset as a federal reserve asset. The Commerce Department has also emerged as a possible home for the reserve, while the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel works with both agencies on a lawful structure. The review keeps the plan active, but it also shows that control of the reserve remains unsettled.

Treasury role faces legal review

Trump’s March 2025 executive order said the Treasury secretary should create an office to manage the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. The order said the reserve would hold BTC forfeited through criminal or civil proceedings, including assets already controlled by federal agencies.

The order also said government BTC placed in the reserve should not be sold and should be kept as reserve assets. Still, the same order required Treasury to review legal and investment issues, including where the accounts should sit and whether new legislation was needed to operate the reserve.

White House says structure is still under review

A White House spokesperson told CoinDesk that the administration continues to evaluate the best structure for the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and the U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile. 

“To deliver on the president’s vision, the Trump administration continues to evaluate the best structure,” Liz Huston said.

As previously reported by crypto.news, White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt said in May that officials had made progress on legal and custody safeguards. He called the work a “breakthrough” and said an announcement was expected in the coming weeks, though the latest report shows that the structure remains under review.

Congress and custody remain key questions

The latest report shows that the reserve still depends on more than a presidential order. As previously reported by crypto.news, the U.S. already has a Bitcoin reserve on paper, but the main question is whether it can become a working program with clear custody and purchase rules.

Lawmakers have also tried to turn the reserve into law. crypto.news previously reported that the American Reserve Modernization Act would create a Treasury-run Bitcoin reserve, require a 20-year holding rule, and call for audits, proof-of-reserve reports, and reviews of budget-neutral purchase methods. No federal bill has completed passage, leaving executive agencies to solve the custody issue for now. 

BitcoinTreasuries data showed the U.S. government holding 328,372 BTC, worth about $20.7 billion as of July 7. The tracker ranks the U.S. as the largest known government holder of Bitcoin, ahead of China, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, and El Salvador.

That large holding gives the reserve plan weight, but the new legal review shows the structure is not settled. 

For now, the debate is not about buying more Bitcoin. It is about who can legally control seized BTC, how federal agencies should store it, and what rules should govern a reserve built from forfeited assets.

TeraWulf began as a bitcoin miner, running warehouses of specialized computers to earn newly issued coins, a business whose margins tightened after last year’s halving cut the mining reward in half.

Like several of its peers, it has pointed its power capacity and sites at hosting AI computing instead, where a single tenant on a long lease offers steadier income than the volatile economics of mining. The company still runs a bitcoin operation, but the Anthropic lease and its wider pipeline may now define its value.

Meanwhile, TeraWulf added it will sell its entire 50.1% stake in the Abernathy data-center joint venture in Texas to a group led by its partner Fluidstack for about $530 million, monetizing roughly $450 million of invested capital at a premium and freeing cash to expand data centers it owns outright.

The deal fits a rotation CoinDesk has tracked all year. As of March 2026, Bitcoin miners sold more than 15,000 coins from peak holdings and signed over $70 billion in AI computing contracts, chasing the steadier margins of the AI trade, the same shift of capital toward artificial intelligence that has pulled money out of crypto through a losing first half.

The lift stood out against a soft day for bitcoin itself. The token slipped toward $61,900 on Monday after Strategy disclosed the sale of 3,588 bitcoin for about $216 million, a sharp step up from the 32 coins it sold weeks ago.