US lawmakers took a step on Wednesday to put US President Donald Trump’s executive order to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve into law. 

The American Reserve Modernization Act of 2026 (H.R. 8957) passed the US House Committee on Financial Services in a 28-21 vote. The bill would establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a separate Digital Asset Stockpile within the Department of the Treasury for federally held Bitcoin and other digital assets acquired through criminal or civil forfeiture.

“We cannot allow Bitcoin to be held by the federal government to languish in fragmented and inconsistent custody,” said US Representative Nicholas Begich, who introduced the bill on May 21. “It poses unacceptable cybersecurity risks and fails to give an adequate accounting of what the federal government actually owns.” 

The move brings Washington closer to making Bitcoin a lasting part of the federal government’s reserves.

Related: CLARITY Act vote meets Fed rate hike: Five things to know in Bitcoin this week

The US government is estimated to hold 324,527 Bitcoin, worth $24.7 billion at the time of writing, according to Arkham Intelligence. 

Under ARMA, Bitcoin in the federal government’s reserve would have to be held for a minimum of 20 years.

The legislation requires all federal agencies to provide a full accounting of digital assets currently held or controlled by the federal government and establishes transparency measures, including quarterly “proof of reserve” reports and third-party audits. 

It would also direct a study of budget-neutral acquisition strategies for expanding the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and allow states to store their Bitcoin in the Federal Reserve.

The bill also affirms private ownership and self-custody rights of Bitcoin, describing the control of private keys as “fundamental to the principles of financial sovereignty, privacy, and personal liberty in the digital age.” 

Bitcoin Policy Institute executive director Connor Brown on Wednesday called it a “genuinely historic step for Bitcoin policy.”

In May, Strive CEO Matt Cole called it “the single most important crypto legislation that can come out of DC.” 

The committee’s approval clears a hurdle for the legislation, but it still needs to pass the full House and Senate before reaching the president’s desk. 

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Bitcoin has fallen 3.2% to a $75,702 close after losing the $77,100 range floor, while futures data has shown traders rebuilding long positions despite weak U.S. spot demand.

Bitfinex Alpha said in a Sep. 16 market update that Bitcoin traders have bought the decline through perpetual futures, even as spot-market data points to limited demand below the former range floor.

Bitcoin had traded between $77,100 and $81,300 for 24 days from Aug. 21 before breaking lower ahead of the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate decision. Tuesday’s $75,702 close left BTC 3.2% lower and below the $76,043 low set after the Aug. consumer price index report.

The close was Bitcoin’s third below $77,100 in six sessions, activating a downside path that Bitfinex had identified in an earlier report. Analysts said BTC could now revisit $73,500, the average cost basis of investors who acquired their holdings three to six months ago.

A recovery above $77,100 would weaken that scenario only if spot trading volume increases, according to the report.

Bitcoin dip-buyers rebuild futures positions

Derivatives traders initially reduced exposure during the decline but quickly returned to the market. Global Bitcoin futures open interest fell by $1.7 billion during a 3.5% peak-to-trough move on Sep. 15, then recovered to $52.15 billion by the following morning.

Open interest had stood at $52.1 billion before the breakdown, leaving total futures exposure slightly above its earlier level despite the price decline.

At the same time, funding rates stayed positive without reaching levels that Bitfinex considered overheated. Traders continued adding long exposure while Bitcoin formed lower highs and lower lows.

“Longs are being re-added as funding remains positive, albeit not overheated, even as price continues to decline with lower highs and lower lows,” Bitfinex Alpha told crypto.news.

The analysts said the recovery in open interest differs from a capitulation event, when funding usually turns negative and traders close leveraged positions. Such events commonly produce a steep fall in open interest rather than a rapid rebuild.

Aggregated cumulative volume delta, which measures market orders from buyers and sellers, also showed an increase in buy-side taker activity after Bitcoin lost $77,100. Positive price moves were accompanied by positive funding and rising open interest, which the report described as dip-buying in perpetual markets.

Liquidations still removed some leverage from the market. About $571 million in long positions across crypto assets were liquidated on Sep. 15, compared with approximately $100 million in shorts. Bitcoin and Ethereum each accounted for roughly $190 million of the long-liquidation total.

The event was the largest long liquidation since Aug. 22. During an earlier test of $77,100 on Sep. 10, total liquidations reached $562 million, with long positions accounting for 86%.

Spot Bitcoin demand remains weak below $77,100

Futures traders have added exposure, but Bitfinex found less buying pressure in the spot market. Coinbase’s spot discount widened from 0.03% on Monday to 0.08% at the Sep. 16 daily open, indicating weaker demand on the U.S. exchange than on other trading venues.

The discount was its deepest since Aug. 15, when Bitcoin traded below $65,000 before its subsequent advance. Passive bids have absorbed part of the recent ETF selling, according to Bitfinex, but buyers have not shown enough urgency to return BTC above $77,000.

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $450.4 million in net outflows on Tuesday. Fidelity’s FBTC lost $214.8 million, while BlackRock’s IBIT recorded $161.7 million in redemptions. Together, the two funds accounted for 84% of the daily total.

The outflow ranked as the 33rd largest across the 687 trading sessions since U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs launched in January 2024. Bitfinex also ranked it as the 14th-largest daily withdrawal of 2026.

ETF demand had been stronger earlier in September. During the week ending Sep. 4, the funds attracted $986.7 million in net inflows, led by approximately $691.5 million across BlackRock’s Bitcoin products.

Tuesday’s selling therefore reversed part of the institutional support that had helped BTC remain inside its August-to-September range. Bitfinex said ETF flows should now provide a clearer reading of institutional positioning than the options market.

Recent Bitcoin buyers account for exchange deposits

Short-term holders supplied another source of selling as Bitcoin moved below its range. Exchange inflows from coins held for less than 155 days rose from about 19,400 BTC to 33,100 BTC on Tuesday.

Of the total, 23,200 BTC reached exchanges at a loss, the highest amount in a month. Loss-making deposits from the same group reached 8,260 BTC across major offshore spot exchanges, the largest reading since Aug. 11, when Bitcoin traded near $64,000.

Deposits into U.S. institutional products, including ETFs and investment wrappers, remained close to their typical level of 7,300 BTC. Bitfinex attributed the additional exchange inflows to recent buyers holding retail-sized positions rather than institutional investors.

The affected group acquired 1.23 million BTC between $77,100 and $81,300 during the previous four weeks. With Bitcoin trading below that area, the cohort now holds the coins at an unrealized loss.

The decline also accelerated as resting orders disappeared. Bitcoin fell about $1,100 between 18:30 and 18:45 UTC on Tuesday despite almost no net taker flow on Bitfinex, suggesting buyers withdrew limit orders instead of sellers aggressively striking bids.

The move occurred alongside the failed Senate cloture vote on the CLARITY Act. As previously reported by crypto.news, the motion received 50 votes in favor and 49 against, leaving it 10 votes short of the 60 required to open debate.

Bitcoin faces support at $75,412 and $73,500

Bitfinex placed the first support area between $74,985 and $75,412, combining Tuesday’s low, Strategy’s average Bitcoin purchase price, and a liquidation cluster previously located between $75,000 and $76,000.

Strategy holds 845,050 BTC at an average cost of $75,412, according to the report. Tuesday’s low fell below the company’s cost basis before Bitcoin closed about 0.4% above it.

For the support zone to hold, Bitfinex said ETF flows would need to stabilize while open interest in Sep. 18 options at the $75,000 strike remains contained. A sustained break below the area would expose the $73,500 cost basis of three-to-six-month holders.

Below $73,500, the report identified $71,300 as the short-term holder realized price. The level also sits near a $70,000-to-$71,500 volume node containing a cost-basis concentration of close to 350,000 BTC.

A return to the $62,500-to-$71,000 first-quarter range would carry more serious implications under Bitfinex’s model. The analysts said a close inside that band would indicate a return to a bear-market regime rather than a temporary dip within the post-August structure.

Options traders have also paid more for downside protection beyond the Fed meeting. Open interest for the Sep. 18 expiry rose 22% during the week, with calls increasing 30% and puts rising 12%. Longer-dated 25-delta risk reversals moved toward puts across the September, October and December expiries.

Ahead of the decision, earlier Bitfinex analysis had identified large liquidation zones near $76,000 and $82,000. The lower cluster has since been tested, with more than $500 million in liquidations clearing positions around $75,000 to $76,000.

Bitcoin’s 10-day correlation with the S&P 500 rose to 0.76 from 0.20 on Sep. 11, while its correlation with the Nasdaq 100 increased to 0.66 from 0.15. Over the same period, its correlation with gold fell from 0.79 to 0.51, according to Bitfinex.

From Sep. 8 to Sep. 15, Bitcoin fell 3.7% as the 10-year Treasury yield increased from 4.8% to 5%. The 10-year inflation-adjusted yield closed at 2.62%, raising the available return on U.S. government debt while Bitcoin continued trading as a non-yielding asset.

Crypto industry leaders are looking to US financial regulators to fill the regulatory gap after a major crypto bill establishing a regulatory framework for digital assets stalled in the Senate on Tuesday.

The Senate voted 49-50 on a motion to invoke cloture and advance the CLARITY Act, short of the 60 votes needed as Democrats raised concerns over US President Donald Trump’s crypto investments. Industry executives said the result was a disappointment, but pointed to potential rulemaking from the US Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission as the next best source of regulatory clarity. 

Speaking to Cointelegraph’s Chain Reaction before Tuesday’s vote, Fireblocks US policy director Jessica Martinez said the company would continue engaging with regulators if the legislation failed.

“We’re going to continue working with the regulators, the SEC and the CFTC specifically,” Martinez said.

Meanwhile, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse on Tuesday, following the vote, said that US regulators will “continue to work hard to issue rules to fill the legislative gap,” as a reason to remain optimistic.

Their belief comes as SEC Chair Paul Atkins reiterated his commitment to deliver clearer crypto rules at the Solana Policy Institute Summit on Monday. However, there’s concern the solution won’t give long-term investors the same confidence that legislation would provide.

“Rejecting the bill leaves firms completely dependent on agency guidance and ongoing administrative discretion,” added NEAR chief legal officer Abhishek Vaidyanathan.

“Firms setting their 2027 budgets would face another prolonged delay, forcing them back into case-by-case judgments and repeated legal work while counterparties continue to price in regulatory uncertainty,” he added. 

Bitget Wallet chief operating officer Alvin Kan told Cointelegraph that failure to advance the bill on Tuesday brings “continued uncertainty over how securities, commodities and money-transmission rules apply across different products.”

Another attempt for CLARITY

The CLARITY Act could face another cloture vote after Senator Thom Tillis moved to reconsider Tuesday’s failed attempt. Industry executives remain divided over how long the latest setback will stall the bill’s progress.

“Today’s result is a delay, not a verdict. Legislation of this scale rarely moves in a straight line, and a cloture vote can be brought again,” 1inch chief legal officer Orest Gavryliak said in comments shared with Cointelegraph.

Related: Crypto stocks slide after CLARITY Act fails to advance in Senate

Vaidyanathan was less optimistic about any immediate prospects, saying the next Congress was the likely next opportunity to address crypto market structure.

“Now that cloture failed, the next Congress is the likely next opportunity to address crypto market structure. The House has already canceled its weeks of September 21 and 28, and the Senate’s state work period begins October 5 ahead of the November 3 election.”

Polymarket odds of the CLARITY Act being signed into law in 2026 fell to 5% on Tuesday, the lowest probability since the market was opened in January. 

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She also said the Commodity Futures Trading Commission lacks the staffing to implement the law, and that the bill left gaps on money laundering and terrorist financing.

Crypto equities took it harder than the tokens. Coinbase fell nearly 9% to $174.42 and Circle dropped more than 9% to $88.26, with Galaxy Digital down 8% and Gemini 7%. Bullish and Riot Platforms each lost 5%, eToro 4%, and Robinhood, MARA Holdings, CleanSpark, IREN and Core Scientific fell between 3% and 4%.

Attention now moves to the regulators the bill was meant to bind.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is already working on its proposed Reg Crypto framework and rules for tokenized securities, which becomes the only route to the certainty the industry wanted from Congress.

Industry political action committees including Fairshake have to decide how to treat the senators who voted no before the Nov. 3 election, and a new Congress convenes in January 2027.

The Federal Reserve decides on rates later Wednesday with traders leaning toward a quarter-point hike, with it landing on a market that has just watched its legislative bid collapse and is already selling risk.

Read More: Inside the last-minute political breakdown that doomed the Clarity Act vote

The U.S. House Ways and Means Committee has advanced the Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act in a 38-5 vote, moving the first proposed federal tax framework for digital assets toward consideration by the full House.

Crypto tax bill advances with bipartisan support

The House Ways and Means Committee approved H.R. 10357, known as the Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act, during a Sep. 16 markup after more than a year of work among lawmakers from both parties.

Committee Chair Jason Smith called the vote a first for the tax-writing panel, saying members had produced a framework that would place digital assets more clearly within the Internal Revenue Code.

“This is a historic moment for this Committee: after more than a year of working together, Republican and Democrat Members have come together to establish the first-ever tax framework for digital assets,” Smith said in his opening statement.

Rather than passing through the full House, the 38-5 vote moves the proposal out of committee and makes it eligible for consideration on the chamber floor. Both the House and Senate would need to approve identical text before the measure could reach the president.

Smith said the committee built H.R. 10357 through months of study and input from lawmakers. He described the digital asset industry as a sector worth more than $2 trillion globally and argued that clearer tax rules could help prevent related companies and jobs from leaving the United States.

The committee considered a substitute amendment that replaced the introduced version with similar language and set Sep. 14, 2026, as the reference date for several provisions. Changes tied to that date include rules for wash sales, constructive sales, certain foreign entities and digital assets covered by registration requirements.

Digital asset tax rules cover fees and stablecoins

Under the committee-approved text, taxpayers would not recognize a gain or loss when using digital assets to pay qualifying network or transaction fees of no more than $10.

Network fees covered by the provision include payments used to validate another digital asset transaction. Eligible transaction costs include brokerage, trading, liquidity, and similar fees, although the bill sets conditions on the type of asset used to pay them.

Current federal treatment can create a taxable disposal when a person spends crypto, including when tokens are used to cover transaction costs. As crypto.news previously explained in its review of current federal tax treatment, the IRS treats digital assets as property, meaning a sale, exchange, or payment can create a capital gain or loss.

The $10 exception would remove gain-or-loss recognition only for qualifying fees, rather than create a general exemption for everyday crypto purchases. Certain traders, brokers, dealers, transaction validators and taxpayers conducting more than 5,000 digital asset transfers in the prior tax year would face exclusions, subject to administrative rules in the bill.

H.R. 10357 also creates simplified accounting methods for gains and losses involving widely traded digital assets. Another section provides specific treatment for qualifying transactions involving U.S. dollar stablecoins, addressing assets designed to maintain a fixed value against the dollar.

Alongside those user-facing provisions, the bill covers transfers made under digital asset lending agreements, tax rules for dealers and traders, a trading safe harbor and charitable contributions of certain digital assets. Proposed rules would also treat some stablecoin lending arrangements as debt for federal tax purposes.

For American taxpayers, the changes could alter both how gains are calculated and which records must be kept. Existing rules require taxpayers to track the cost basis and fair value of crypto involved in taxable disposals, while broker reporting through Form 1099-DA has expanded the transaction data sent to the IRS.

Crypto wash sales, mining and staking enter the framework

Anti-abuse sections of the bill would extend wash-sale rules to traded digital assets and apply constructive-sale provisions to crypto. Under current law, the statutory wash-sale restriction applies to securities but not digital assets, allowing taxpayers to sell crypto at a loss and quickly repurchase it while still claiming the loss.

H.R. 10357 would close that distinction for assets covered by the legislation. The proposal also includes rules involving foreign corporations, investment companies, straddles, and distributions of traded digital assets from partnerships to partners.

Mining and staking receive separate treatment. The bill addresses the source and character of income earned through both activities and provides rules for investment trusts engaged in digital asset staking.

Existing IRS guidance generally treats mining and staking rewards as ordinary income once a taxpayer receives control of the assets. A later sale can produce a separate capital gain or loss based on any difference between the disposal price and the value already recognized as income.

Further provisions revise digital asset broker requirements and establish a voluntary disclosure program. Eligible taxpayers could use the program to correct certain past digital asset reporting failures, while the Treasury Department would be required to study the framework and submit a report.

According to a Joint Committee on Taxation estimate, the complete bill would raise a net $500 million in federal revenue from fiscal 2027 through 2036. Its wash-sale provision is projected to raise about $1.71 billion over the period, while the exemption for small digital asset fees is estimated to reduce revenue by roughly $2.37 billion.

The bill also incorporates the FULL HOUSE Act, which would restore the deduction for gambling losses up to the amount of a taxpayer’s winnings. Smith said the provision would reverse a change that reduced the allowable deduction to 90% of winnings, potentially leaving some taxpayers with a bill even when they broke even or lost money.

CLARITY Act remains stalled after Senate vote

Committee approval arrived one day after the Senate rejected cloture on the motion to proceed with H.R. 3633, the vehicle for the CLARITY Act. The Sep. 15 vote ended 49-50, leaving the measure 11 votes short of the 60 required to begin debate.

The result was procedural and did not constitute a final vote on the market-structure legislation. Still, it stopped senators from opening debate, offering amendments or moving toward passage at that stage.

Unlike the tax-focused H.R. 10357, the CLARITY Act addresses how digital assets and market intermediaries would be regulated. Its provisions seek to define the respective roles of the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission, including expanded CFTC authority over digital commodity spot markets.

Before the vote, disagreements centered on presidential crypto interests, protections for decentralized finance developers and stablecoin rewards. A previous Senate vote analysis also identified the limited congressional calendar as an obstacle because any Senate changes would need approval from the House.

Federal agencies may continue developing policy under their current authority while the legislation remains stalled. In a Sep. 16 assessment, Michael Saylor said the SEC, CFTC and Treasury could proceed without waiting for Congress, though the CFTC does not hold the complete spot-market powers contemplated by the bill.

The official Senate record lists the cloture motion as rejected and gives no date for another vote. Sen. Thom Tillis changed his vote to “no” after the outcome became clear, placing him on the prevailing side and preserving his ability under Senate procedure to move for reconsideration.

The Federal Reserve has raised its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 3.75%–4%, delivering its first increase since July 2023 as inflation and energy costs remain elevated.

Fed rate hike receives unanimous FOMC support

The Federal Reserve said the Federal Open Market Committee voted unanimously to lift the federal funds target range from 3.5%–3.75% to 3.75%–4%.

All 12 voting members supported the increase, giving Fed Chair Kevin Warsh a united decision at his first policy meeting to produce a change in interest rates. The committee had voted 9–3 to leave rates unchanged at its July meeting.

Policymakers said inflation remained elevated and described the increase as a step that would support a more timely return to the Fed’s 2% target. Officials also said domestic spending had remained resilient while productivity growth and capital investment stayed strong.

The latest statement removed previous language that linked inflation mainly to supply shocks. According to analysts cited by Reuters, the change suggested that officials were paying more attention to persistent price pressures rather than treating recent inflation as a temporary result of disrupted supplies.

During his press conference, Warsh said the committee would “deliver price stability.” The pledge came after annual headline consumer inflation climbed to 3.4% in August, while core CPI increased 0.3% from July and 2.4% from a year earlier.

Producer prices also came in above forecasts before the meeting. Components of the PPI report that feed into the Fed’s preferred personal consumption expenditures price index led economists to expect firmer August PCE inflation.

Fed projections point to another increase in 2026

The Fed’s economic projections showed that 16 of 18 policymakers expect at least one additional quarter-point increase before the end of 2026. Only two officials projected no further change from the new range.

Warsh did not submit an individual rate projection, according to Reuters. The median forecast places the federal funds rate at 4%–4.25% at the end of 2026 and at the same level at the end of 2027.

Goldman Sachs Asset Management global fixed-income chief Kay Haigh told Reuters that the projections did not indicate the start of an aggressive tightening cycle. Haigh said one more increase in December was the firm’s base case, although incoming inflation readings and energy prices would influence the decision.

The projections correct the original report’s claim that 12 of 18 policymakers expect another increase. Current figures show 16 officials anticipate at least one more move.

Prediction-market traders also expect another increase during 2026. Polymarket contracts cited in the original report placed the probability of two quarter-point hikes during the year at 69%, including the increase announced Wednesday.

Traders showed less confidence in an immediate follow-up move. The platform assigned a 62% probability that the Fed would leave rates unchanged after its next meeting, placing more attention on December as the possible date of another increase.

Oil and inflation strengthen the case for higher rates

Energy prices became an important part of the policy backdrop after renewed conflict in the Middle East disrupted supply routes and pushed Brent crude above $100 per barrel.

Ahead of the Fed announcement, Brent traded near $108 after gaining 2.9% during the previous session. Oil later fell about 0.6% after reports that Saudi Arabia was offering additional cargoes through Oman, according to Reuters market data.

Higher energy costs raised concerns that fuel and transport prices could keep headline inflation above the Fed’s target. Rate increases cannot restore disrupted oil supplies, but the central bank can use tighter financial conditions to prevent energy-driven price gains from spreading through consumer demand, wages and other parts of the economy.

Bond markets had already adjusted to the inflation risk. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield reached 5% before the decision, its highest level since 2007, while traders assigned a probability of more than 92% to a quarter-point increase.

As crypto.news previously reported, the market fell before the announcement, with total cryptocurrency capitalization declining more than 2% to about $2.6 trillion. Bitcoin dropped below $76,000 as traders prepared for higher U.S. borrowing costs.

Following the announcement, the two-year Treasury yield rose about 3 basis points to 4.693%. The 10-year yield slipped 1 basis point to 4.985%, while the 30-year yield fell 3 basis points to 5.331%.

The U.S. dollar index gained 0.5% to 100.18. Stock moves remained limited, with the S&P 500 up 0.2% and the Nasdaq gaining 0.7% shortly after the decision, according to Reuters.

Bitcoin approaches $76,000 after the Fed decision

Bitcoin traded between roughly $75,000 and $75,800 around the announcement before briefly advancing toward $76,000. The modest rise followed a rate decision that futures traders had almost fully priced in.

Earlier technical coverage found that Bitcoin defended $76,000 after falling to an intraday low of $75,605 and then recovering toward $76,900. Liquidation clusters sat near $75,000 on the downside and between $77,600 and $78,500 above the market.

The cryptocurrency remained under pressure after losing around 4% during the previous U.S. session. More than $540 million in bullish crypto positions were liquidated over 24 hours, while U.S.-listed spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded over $450 million in net outflows on Sep. 15, according to data reported by Reuters.

Higher Treasury yields can place pressure on Bitcoin and other risk assets because U.S. government debt offers investors increased returns without the volatility associated with cryptocurrencies. A firmer dollar can also raise the cost of dollar-priced assets for investors outside the United States.

Monetary policy was not the only source of selling. A separate report on the vote showed that the Senate’s CLARITY Act cloture motion received 50 votes to 49, leaving it 10 votes short of the 60 required to open debate.

The procedural defeat prevented the chamber from considering amendments or holding a final vote on the digital-asset market structure bill. The proposal sought to divide federal oversight of cryptocurrencies between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

US prosecutors on Tuesday charged two former Robinhood engineers with commodities fraud and wire fraud for allegedly using confidential information about upcoming cryptocurrency listings to profit from perpetual futures trades on Hyperliquid. 

According to the US Department of Justice (DOJ), Hefu Chai and Huaisong “Jerry” Xiang bought perpetual contracts linked to tokens ahead of Robinhood Crypto listings. The DOJ alleged each profited more than $50,000 from the trades between 2025 and 2026. 

The DOJ said Chai and Xiang had access to a private company Slack channel containing information about planned listings. Prosecutors allege they used that information to open long positions on Hyperliquid, closing them when their value increased after their debut on Robinhood. 

The allegations have parallels to the Coinbase insider-trading case in 2023, in which a former employee used confidential information to profit from listings of new tokens by directly buying the underlying asset, though the Robinhood case extends the issue into decentralized derivative markets.

Cointelegraph contacted Robinhood for comment but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

Robinhood barred employees from trading around listings 

According to the DOJ’s complaints, Chai worked at Robinhood from around 2021 until May 2026 and served as a technical lead responsible for new digital-asset listings. Xiang worked there from around 2024 until September 2026 as a software engineer involved in crypto listings.

Robinhood designated both engineers as “Coin Aware Individuals,” giving them access to a private Slack channel containing planned listing dates, according to the complaints. 

The company’s policy prohibited members of the group from trading on Robinhood or any other platform 24 hours before or after a listing or delisting announcement.

Prosecutors allege Chai traded perpetuals ahead of at least 10 announcements involving tokens including Cat in a dogs world (MEW), Moo Deng (MOODENG), Aster (ASTER), Plasma (XPL), Hyperliquid (HYPE), Ethena (ENA) and Aerodrome Finance (AERO). Xiang allegedly first traded Popcat (POPCAT) perpetuals in March 2025 before trading ahead of at least 10 other listing announcements.

Related: US prosecutors drop OpenSea NFT fraud case after appeals court reversal

US Attorney Jamie McDonald said corporate insiders cannot evade securities and commodities laws by trading misappropriated information through perpetual futures, tokenized securities or similar instruments.

Each defendant faces one count of violating the Commodity Exchange Act, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years, and one count of wire fraud, which carries a maximum of 20 years. 

The charges against Chai and Xiang remain allegations, and both defendants are presumed innocent unless convicted.

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