Europe Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the EU’s 21st sanctions package against Russia, and buried inside it was an unprecedented legal weapon: the power to ban all crypto-asset services operating from any foreign country found to be helping Russia evade sanctions.
Hours later, on the same calendar day, Russia’s Deputy Finance Minister Ivan Chebeskov took the stage at SPIEF 2026 and announced punitive fees of up to 3% on Western-linked stablecoins including USDT and USDC.
INTEL: Von der Leyen says EU will double down with 21st Russia sanctions package, including powers for full third-country bans on crypto-asset services pic.twitter.com/Qia5cv5Llz
Europe 21st Sanctions Package: What the Crypto Kill Switch Actually Does
The June 9 package is not an incremental tightening, it is a doctrinal escalation. For the first time, the EU is proposing a mechanism that operates at the jurisdiction level, not the entity level. Previous packages named specific exchanges, wallets, and individuals.
The 21st package gives Brussels the authority to designate an entire country’s crypto sector as off-limits if that country is found to be hosting platforms enabling Russia crypto sanctions evasion.
Von der Leyen described the tool in unambiguous terms:
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“For the first time we will introduce the possibility of a full third country ban for crypto-asset services. It will act as a strong deterrent for the countries hosting platforms that help Russia evade our sanctions.”
Photo: Von der Leyen
The enforcement chain works like this: the European Commission identifies a foreign jurisdiction, Turkey, UAE, Kazakhstan, Hong Kong are all in the analytical frame as major intermediary hubs for Russian crypto flows, determines it is materially enabling sanctions evasion, and can then trigger a blanket ban on all crypto-asset service activity linking that country to EU-regulated markets.
Any exchange, liquidity provider, or settlement layer touching that jurisdiction gets cut off from European counterparties.
The 21st package also extends transaction bans to 20 additional non-EU entities, banks, crypto platforms, and oil traders, and adds 31 Russian banks to the existing transaction ban list.
This follows the 20th package, adopted April 23 and effective May 24, which already banned all Russia-based crypto asset service providers as a category and explicitly prohibited dealings with the state-backed RUBx stablecoin and the digital ruble.
Chainalysis, which described the 20th package as a ‘paradigm shift’ from entity-level pressure to targeting ‘evasion architecture itself,’ now faces an even harder analytical problem: the 21st package means VASPs must assess entire settlement ecosystems and jurisdictional exposure, not just screen named individuals against SDN lists.
The total value received by illicit crypto addresses reached $154 billion in 2025, with Russia-linked flows representing a dominant share, that data point is the explicit legislative rationale behind the stablecoin ban architecture taking shape in Brussels.
Dogecoin is trading near $0.07, up 0.3% over the past day after another quiet session. However, the muted move hides a weaker weekly trend. Billy Markus just reminded the market why people embraced DOGE in the first place. The full context offers another look at Dogecoin’s real-world utility.
Markus, posting as Shibetoshi Nakamoto on X, replied to a prompt from crypto retirement platform iTrustCapital about the most crypto thing he had done. He answered, “I bought a ride in the Vegas Loop with Dogecoin.” He added it was not that weekend, but it remained his favorite crypto experience. The comment referenced The Boring Company’s 2022 decision to accept DOGE through BitPay.
i bought a ride in the vegas loop with dogecoin (tho that was not this weekend but still it was the most crypto thing xD)
At launch, a single ride cost about $1.50, while a day pass cost $2.50. Elon Musk also backed the payment option, saying he would support Dogecoin wherever possible. Markus, still pointing to that purchase years later, says more about DOGE’s everyday appeal than many marketing campaigns.
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Meanwhile, the post arrived during another difficult stretch for crypto markets. The Senate delayed further consideration of the Clarity Act before the August recess. At the same time, roughly $604 million in crypto positions were liquidated during a sharp market selloff. That combination kept pressure on risk assets, including Dogecoin.
Can Dogecoin Price Break Back Above $0.10 Before the Clarity Act Deadline?
At $0.07064, DOGE is holding just above the $0.07 floor, but only by a slim margin. The session low reached about $0.0693, showing sellers are still pressing that support. A decisive break below $0.07 could expose the $0.064 to $0.068 range, where buyers previously stepped in.
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Futures open interest has eased alongside the recent price decline, suggesting leveraged longs continue leaving the market. That points to more than a simple spot weakness. Still, price has not confirmed a breakdown, leaving the current support level in focus for the next move.
Dogecoin (DOGE)
24h7d30d1yAll time
The previous reference to $0.40 VWAP support is no longer relevant at current prices. Instead, analysts are watching whether DOGE can reclaim $0.08 before discussing a stronger recovery. Until then, the market remains well below major resistance, and momentum still favors caution.
If the Clarity Act advances before the August recess, sentiment could improve. Fresh catalysts from Elon Musk or renewed payment integrations may also help. In that case, a move back above $0.08 could reopen the path toward $0.10.
The base case remains a consolidation between $0.07 and $0.08 as traders weigh regulation and macro risks. However, a daily close below $0.07 with rising volume would strengthen the bearish outlook. Until DOGE creates a clear distance from that level, the utility story remains stronger than the chart.
Maxi Doge Targets Early Mover Upside as DOGE Tests Key Levels
DOGE at $0.07 with a multi-billion-dollar market cap means the math on a 10x from here requires a full bull cycle and sustained retail inflows. Traders rotating capital for higher-asymmetry exposure are looking earlier in the lifecycle, which is exactly where Maxi Doge ($MAXI) sits.
The Clarity Act delay and broader risk-off pressure are squeezing established meme coins hardest; early-stage presales carry their own risks but aren’t subject to the same open-interest unwind dynamics.
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Friday night: "I'll keep it chill and won't stay up all weekend trading" Monday morning: pic.twitter.com/OGFfZNxdNe
$MAXI is a meme token built on Ethereum (ERC-20) positioned around a 240-lb canine mascot embodying 1000x leverage trading culture, think gym-bro meets trading desk, which lands well with the retail demographic that drives meme coin volume.
The presale has raised $4.8 million at a current price of $0.0002831, with dynamic staking APY live for holders. Features include holder-only trading competitions with leaderboard rewards and a Maxi Fund treasury earmarked for liquidity and partnerships. DYOR applies harder here than on listed assets.
Microsoft delivered another blockbuster quarter, beating Wall Street expectations on revenue, earnings, and operating income as Azure cloud services and artificial intelligence continued to drive growth.
The stronger-than-expected results reinforced investor confidence that massive AI infrastructure investments are translating into accelerating revenue, a closely watched trend across technology and crypto markets alike.
Microsoft Crushes Q4 as Azure Growth Fuels AI Boom
The software giant reported fiscal fourth-quarter revenue of $90.0 billion, surpassing analysts’ expectations of $87.7 billion. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $4.74, well above the consensus estimate of $4.25, while operating income reached $40.6 billion, also topping forecasts.
Azure Emerges as the Standout Performer
The biggest surprise came from Microsoft’s Intelligent Cloud business.
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Revenue from the segment climbed 32% year over year to $39.3 billion, while Azure and other cloud services revenue surged 43%, comfortably ahead of prior company guidance that had pointed to growth closer to the high-30% range.
Microsoft Cloud generated $59.3 billion in quarterly revenue, up 27% from a year earlier. Meanwhile, commercial remaining performance obligations—a key measure of future contracted revenue—jumped 84% to $678 billion, highlighting sustained enterprise demand.
CEO Satya Nadella credited Microsoft’s AI strategy for the performance.
“We are advancing the frontier on the cost-to-outcome curve, ensuring every customer can turn tokens into business results,” Nadella said.
He also revealed that Azure generated more than $100 billion in annual revenue for the first time during fiscal 2026, while Microsoft 365 Copilot surpassed 30 million paid seats, demonstrating growing enterprise adoption of generative AI.
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AI Spending Continues to Accelerate
Microsoft’s earnings also showed that its aggressive AI investments remain substantial.
Operating cash flow reached $55.4 billion during the quarter, while capital expenditures continued climbing as the company expanded data center capacity to support AI workloads.
Property and equipment spending reached nearly $35.8 billion during the quarter and almost $116 billion for the full fiscal year, underscoring Microsoft’s commitment to building AI infrastructure despite investor scrutiny over rising costs.
The company also returned $10.2 billion to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases during the quarter.
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Why Crypto Investors Are Watching
Although Microsoft’s earnings are not directly tied to digital assets, the results carry important implications for crypto markets.
Bitcoin miners, AI-related blockchain projects, decentralized infrastructure networks, and tokenized computing platforms all benefit from continued enterprise investment in cloud infrastructure and artificial intelligence.
Strong demand for AI services also reinforces the broader investment narrative that has fueled capital flows into technology stocks and AI-linked crypto assets throughout 2026.
Microsoft’s results arrive as investors increasingly evaluate whether enormous AI infrastructure spending is generating sustainable returns. This quarter’s performance suggests demand continues to outpace supply, easing concerns that cloud providers may be overbuilding capacity.
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What’s Next?
Attention now turns to Microsoft’s earnings conference call, where executives are expected to provide guidance on Azure growth, capital expenditures, operating margins, and fiscal 2027 expectations.
For investors across both traditional finance and crypto markets, Microsoft’s latest results offer another indication that enterprise AI adoption continues accelerating. Whether that momentum remains strong through the remainder of the year could influence sentiment across technology stocks, AI infrastructure providers, and digital asset sectors closely tied to the expanding artificial intelligence ecosystem.
“BTC’s Yardstick is hovering near historic lows, while several sentiment indicators are approaching capitulation territory,” stated Fidelity in its Q3 Signals Report on Tuesday.
However, bitcoin is currently trading around 50% below its all-time high, which is still shallow compared to previous bear market bottoms.
October Eyed as Key Cycle Timeframe
The Yardstick metric compares bitcoin’s market capitalization to network hashrate via a normalized Z-score, with values below -1 standard deviation indicating undervaluation.
It essentially measures whether the asset is trading at a fair price relative to the “energy cost” of its security. Low or negative readings signal undervaluation or cheap bitcoin, while high readings signal overvaluation and expensive BTC. The metric has been firmly in the “undervalued” zone for 83% of the past 92 days.
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Bitcoin miners have faced increasing pressure as prices have fallen, yet the total hash rate has only fallen around 22% from its peak, “highlighting miner resilience.”
“As a result, the Yardstick is currently hovering near historic lows. This suggests BTC may be trading at a substantial discount relative to the energy securing the network.”
Two signals we’re watching are approaching significant levels.
BTC’s Yardstick is hovering near historic lows, while several sentiment indicators are approaching capitulation territory.
— Fidelity Digital Assets (@DigitalAssets) July 28, 2026
This has likely happened because this cycle has lower price volatility than previous ones, and the mining industry has matured, with miners now managing energy costs more efficiently, said Fidelity.
Historically, this undervalued zone has aligned with accumulation phases and relative bottoms, which lasted almost 300 days in previous cycles.
“This bear market has experienced 203 days to date, suggesting October 2026 may represent a key timeframe for investors focused on cycle dynamics.”
Joao Wedson, founder of Alphractal, said, “Bitcoin is approaching a historically important zone.” BTC’s long-term holder to short-term holder realized cap ratio has reached 3.9, approaching the level above 4 that preceded major price bottoms in previous cycles.
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The metric shows realized capital increasingly concentrated among long-term holders with strong conviction, while short-term speculative participation remains weak, indicating an advanced accumulation phase.
“This does not guarantee that the exact bottom is already in, but it shows that the market is approaching a zone previously associated with major cycle bottoms.”
BTC Price Outlook
Bitcoin has retreated by 5.5% from its five-week high of $67,000 on July 21, falling to just under $63,000 on Tuesday. However, the asset has made a minor recovery to tap $64,000 three times over the past 12 hours, failing to break resistance there.
Swissblock reported on Wednesday that Bitcoin’s “reconstruction phase” has hit another obstacle as momentum has escaped its most extreme negative readings but has now stalled.
“The structure continues to stabilize, but buying participation has not expanded enough to carry price forward,” they said.
Organizations representing law enforcement officials in the US have reportedly proposed changes to a comprehensive cryptocurrency market structure bill under consideration in the Senate, with only days left until the chamber breaks for a month-long recess.
According to a Tuesday Politico report, the National Association of Assistant US Attorneys and the National District Attorneys Association sent a letter to the White House asking for changes on provisions regarding developers in the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act. The changes proposed to the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act (BRCA) within the CLARITY Act included that guidelines on developers not “create, expand, or modify criminal liability under Federal law.”
In response to reports on the proposed changes, White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt said that the provisions were “not even close” to the Trump administration’s position, and implied that it was not the result of “productive negotiations.” Senator Catherine Cortez Masto has reportedly been pushing the White House to address the BRCA before any potential vote.
The provisions came as the CLARITY Act faces pushback from many Democrats over ethics rules in the bill regarding US President Donald Trump’s crypto investments, which netted him $1.4 billion in 2025. As of Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune had not scheduled a vote on the legislation before the chamber breaks for state work periods.
The US Senate is scheduled to start state work periods from Aug. 7 to Sept. 14, giving lawmakers a limited window to pass crypto market structure before the recess and potential complications from the 2026 midterm elections in November. Thune told reporters last week that the Senate was unlikely to vote on the bill before the August recess.
”Even if CLARITY were brought up today, the procedural steps — cloture → amendment process → second cloture → up to 30 hours of debate — make finishing before recess extremely difficult without [unanimous consent] agreement to waive process, which is rare on contested bills,” said Anne Kelley, a partner at consulting firm Mercury Strategies, in a Monday X post.
CLARITY could shift crypto authority to US commodities regulator
One of the key points of the crypto market structure bill would be to change the regulatory purview over digital asset largely from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which currently has fewer tools and resources to address enforcement and oversight issues. Both agencies are also currently understaffed at the leadership level, with only one CFTC chair and three SEC commissioners.
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An ARK Invest analyst says the cryptocurrency industry is entering what he describes as its biggest consolidation phase yet, with revenue increasingly concentrated among a handful of dominant protocols.
In a Wednesday post on X, Lorenzo Valente, a research associate at ARK Invest, said investors have become increasingly selective, making it harder for crypto projects and exchanges without strong product-market fit to attract capital. As weaker projects struggle or shut down, revenue is becoming concentrated among a small number of dominant protocols, he said.
As evidence, Valente said perpetual futures exchange Hyperliquid and memecoin launchpad Pump.fun account for roughly 67% of total crypto application revenue. Including synthetic dollar protocol Ethena raises the top three’s combined share to nearly 80%, highlighting what he described as record-high revenue concentration across the sector.
Valente added that he expects the trend to accelerate in the coming months, leading to more mergers and acquisitions, Chapter 11 bankruptcies, project shutdowns and acqui-hires. Despite the shakeout, he described the consolidation as “extremely bullish” for the crypto industry.
The comments come as several crypto exchanges have announced plans to wind down operations in recent days, underscoring mounting pressures across parts of the industry.
Last week, BitMEX announced it would shut down its exchange in September after a strategic review by owner HDR Global Trading. The exchange had recently accelerated the delisting of trading pairs and derivative contracts, citing insufficient trading interest.
Days later, BitMart announced it would end trading services on Aug. 26 before winding down operations entirely in January 2027. The exchange said the decision followed a review of its operating conditions, market environment and future strategic direction.
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Consolidation has also come through acquisitions. Earlier this month, Bybit launched a locally operated exchange in Indonesia after acquiring a majority stake in local digital asset firm NOBI, expanding its presence in one of Asia’s largest crypto markets.
President Donald Trump threatened a forceful response after Iran fired missiles at U.S. forces in Jordan, ending a brief pause in fighting and sending oil prices sharply higher.
Summary
Trump vowed to hit Iran “very hard” after missiles targeted American forces in Jordan.
Brent crude jumped nearly 8% as traders priced in renewed risks to Middle East supplies.
The Dow fell 2.14%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq also closed sharply lower.
Bitcoin briefly recovered to $64,435 after the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged.
Trump vows retaliation after Iran missile attack
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards fired several ballistic missiles at a U.S. air base and military center in Jordan. U.S. officials said American forces intercepted the missiles, with no immediate reports of casualties.
Trump promised retaliation during comments at the White House.
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“So it’s our turn,” Trump said. “We’re going to hit them very hard.”
Trump left open the possibility of a future agreement with Tehran but gave no details about the timing or scale of a U.S. response. He also said he had been briefed about a drone strike on a U.S.-owned gas storage tanker at Egypt’s Damietta port.
American and Saudi forces separately carried out joint strikes against Iran-backed groups in Iraq. The attacks killed at least 20 members of the Popular Mobilization Forces, according to the group.
Saudi Arabia’s direct involvement marks a further expansion of the conflict. Riyadh had previously tried to limit its military role while defending oil facilities and shipping routes from attacks linked to Tehran-backed groups.
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Oil jumps as shipping risks return
Oil prices surged as traders reassessed the chances of prolonged disruption across the Strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
Brent crude futures settled $6.65, or 7.91%, higher at $90.74 per barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude gained 6.56% to $84.46. The rally accelerated after Trump promised further action against Iran.
Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remained limited, while Houthi militants continued to threaten vessels near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Only five commodity ships passed through Bab el-Mandeb on Wednesday, down from 39 on Tuesday.
Falling U.S. inventories added to the price pressure. Government data showed crude stockpiles declined by 7.2 million barrels to 404.5 million, their lowest level since 2018.
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US Treasury targets Iran-linked crypto payments
Washington also expanded its financial campaign against Tehran. The U.S. Treasury sanctioned two companies accused of operating an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-backed maritime insurance scheme.
Treasury officials said the firms forced commercial vessels to buy mandatory insurance before passing through the Strait of Hormuz. One of the sanctioned companies, HormuzSafe Marine Services Authority, allegedly accepted Bitcoin and other digital assets to bypass Western sanctions.
“The United States will not allow Iran to hold global commerce hostage or use international shipping to finance the IRGC’s terrorism, aggression, and repression,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
The action also covered vessels accused of transporting Iranian crude and petrochemical products. Treasury has sanctioned more than 100 vessels linked to Iran’s shadow fleet since the start of 2026.
For U.S. crypto businesses, the action raises sanctions-compliance risks around wallets or payments tied to Iranian shipping operations.
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Bitcoin recovers as US stocks close lower
Wall Street ended the session sharply lower as rising oil prices, renewed fighting and concerns about artificial intelligence spending weighed on risk appetite.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2.14%, while the S&P 500 lost 1.50%. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.68%, extending its decline from its June record.
Bitcoin initially fell below $64,000 following reports of the Iranian attack. It later recovered to about $64,435 after the Federal Reserve maintained its benchmark rate at 3.50%–3.75%. Three of the 12 policymakers voted for a quarter-point increase.
Markets will now focus on Trump’s response, access through the Strait of Hormuz, and whether higher energy prices push the Fed toward a September rate increase. Further military action could restore selling pressure across stocks and crypto while keeping oil prices elevated.
Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh told markets on Wednesday to stop trading his intentions and start trading the data. Participants are learning to play the ball, not the referee, he said.
The remark landed hours after the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) held rates steady in a 9 to 3 vote. Warsh refused to call the outcome a pause.
Why Warsh Told Markets to Play the Ball
Warsh built his press conference around one message. Inflation sits above target, and the committee intends to bring it down.
The FOMC statement kept the federal funds range at 3.50% to 3.75%. It carried no forward guidance, a clear break from the Jerome Powell era.
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Warsh also rejected the idea of a flexible goal. Five years of elevated prices, he argued, left an impression that the Fed quietly tolerated inflation above 2%.
He played down the June core Consumer Price Index (CPI) print as well. The trend matters more than any single month, he said, and inflation cannot be cured in nine weeks.
That pledge arrived with a condition. Where necessary and appropriate, Warsh said, the committee will not hesitate to act. His tone marked a shift from his first FOMC presser in June, which pushed risk assets lower.
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How Bonds, SPY, and Bitcoin Responded
Warsh flagged that nominal and real yields now sit materially higher across the Treasury curve. The Fed is trying to stay out of that repricing, he added, and let the market signal come through unfiltered.
The 10-year Treasury yield eased to 4.620% after touching roughly 4.650% earlier in the session. Traders had spent the week weighing Fed rate hike odds before three dissenting Fed officials backed a quarter point increase.
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) turned positive at $742.00, up 0.17%. Gold spot pushed above $4,100, its strongest level of the session.
Bitcoin (BTC) followed the rebound. Bitcoin’s latest price action put it near $64,237, up 0.84% over 24 hours, with a market capitalization of $1.29 trillion.
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Bitcoin, Bond Yield, Gold and SPY Price Performance. Source: TradingView
Even so, the long end stays under pressure after global bond yields climbed to their highest levels since 2008.
Why Peter Schiff Says Warsh Cannot Deliver
Not everyone accepted the framing. Peter Schiff, chief economist and chief executive at Euro Pacific Asset Management, argued that only the language has changed.
“For all of Warsh’s tough talk about the Fed’s newfound commitment to achieving the 2% inflation target it failed to hit under Powell, so far the Fed has done nothing differently with respect to interest rates or its balance sheet. It’s business as usual,” said Schiff.
Schiff pointed to the long end of the curve as his evidence. Investors are selling Treasuries and buying gold, he said, rather than taking the pledge at face value.
Warsh described the weeks ahead as a period of watchful thinking rather than watchful waiting. September will show whether the data, and not the referee, agrees with him. Meanwhile, US President Trump thinks the Fed chair is brilliant.
Tether’s US-focused USAT stablecoin has launched on Celo, marking its second mainnet deployment after Ethereum and extending the token to a network widely used for digital-dollar payments.
Summary
USAT now supports native minting and burning on Celo rather than relying solely on bridged tokens.
Celo users can pay network gas fees with USAT through the blockchain’s CIP-64 fee abstraction.
USAT has reached a market capitalization of about $185 million since launching in January.
Tether recently led a $7 million Pact Labs round to expand USAT into US payroll payments.
USAT adds native issuance and gas payments on Celo
Tether announced the USAT deployment on Wednesday, several months after the two companies disclosed plans for the launch in March. Celo becomes the stablecoin’s second supported mainnet following its initial rollout on Ethereum.
BREAKING: USA₮ is now live on Celo!
The US Dollar-backed stablecoin issued by @Anchorage & supported by @Tether is deployed on Celo, the most widely adopted network for stablecoin payments — with mint, burn & gas currency support on day one
USAT holders will be able to use native mint-and-burn functions on Celo. Native issuance reduces the need to move tokens through third-party bridges, which can introduce additional technical and custody risks.
The token can also be used to pay transaction fees on the network. Celo introduced this function through its CIP-64 upgrade, which allows approved ERC-20 tokens to serve as gas currencies instead of requiring users to hold a separate network token.
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“Expanding USA₮ to Celo was a deliberate decision,” Tether US CEO Bo Hines said in a statement.
“USA₮ is designed to operate in environments where digital dollars are already being used at scale, and that is what Celo has built, with hundreds of thousands of people transacting on the network every day.”
Celo already handles 28% of cross-chain USDT transfers
Celo has become Tether’s largest USDT distribution network by weekly active users since the flagship stablecoin launched on the blockchain in 2024, according to the announcement.
The network accounts for 28% of cross-blockchain USDT transfers. It also holds more than 90% of the market for XAUt0, the omnichain version of Tether Gold.
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Tether’s transparency data lists about $470 million in authorized USDT on Celo, making it the token’s eighth-largest supported blockchain by that measure. Authorized tokens include inventory available for future issuance and do not necessarily represent the amount currently circulating.
Separate market estimates place Celo’s total circulating stablecoin supply near $136 million. USDT accounts for about $78.8 million, giving Tether a 57.6% share of that market.
Opera has also launched a self-custodial stablecoin wallet on Celo with Tether’s support. The product has reportedly reached more than 18 million users worldwide.
USAT targets regulated dollar payments in the US
USAT launched in January and has grown to a market capitalization of about $185 million. That remains a small fraction of USDT’s roughly $180 billion supply, but the two tokens serve different markets.
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Tether designed USAT around the requirements of the US GENIUS Act. The stablecoin maintains reserves in cash or liquid cash equivalents, including US Treasury securities, to support one-to-one redemptions.
Anchorage Digital Bank, a federally chartered crypto bank supervised by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, issues the token. Hines joined Tether US after serving as executive director of the President’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets from January through August 2025.
The regulated structure places USAT at the center of Tether’s effort to expand beyond crypto trading and into everyday US payments.
Tether extends USAT into the $11 trillion payroll market
As crypto.news reported in mid-July, Tether led Pact Labs’ $7 million Series A funding round alongside Blockchange Ventures and Lasagna. The deal aims to integrate USAT into payroll and payment systems used by American employers.
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Pact Labs plans to let businesses process wages through blockchain payment rails while adding embedded digital wallets and related financial services. Tether is targeting a US payroll market that processes more than $11 trillion annually.
Celo’s low fees, mobile-focused design and existing stablecoin activity could provide another settlement network for those applications. The blockchain began as a Layer 1 in 2020 before moving to an Ethereum Layer 2 built on the OP Stack in March 2025.
Binance.US plans to apply for a U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Designated Contract Market (DCM) license next month, marking a major step in its expansion beyond spot crypto trading.
CEO Stephen Gregory reportedly announced the move at RareEvo, saying the exchange aims to launch regulated prediction markets as part of its broader comeback strategy centered on lower fees, perpetuals, and new trading products.
Binance.US Targets CFTC Approval for Prediction Markets
Binance.US is preparing to apply for Designated Contract Market (DCM) status with the CFTC next month, a move that would pave the way for the exchange to offer regulated prediction markets in the United States.
🚨SCOOP: @BinanceUS plans to apply to the @CFTC for a Designated Contract Market (DCM) next month with the goal of offering prediction markets to customers, CEO @Stevie_Satoshi just told me on stage at @RareEvo Conference. The move is part of the exchange’s broader comeback…
CEO Stephen Gregory, known online as Stevie_Satoshi, revealed the plan during an on-stage conversation with journalist Eleanor Terrett at the RareEvo conference.
The announcement represents another milestone in Binance.US’s efforts to rebuild its U.S. business following years of regulatory challenges and reduced product offerings.
A Bigger Comeback Strategy Takes Shape
Prediction markets are only one part of Binance.US’s broader strategy.
According to Gregory, the exchange is also focused on reducing trading fees and expanding beyond traditional spot markets into products such as perpetual contracts. The goal is to attract more traders while competing more directly with U.S. crypto exchanges offering a wider range of regulated products.
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A DCM designation is the regulatory framework that allows exchanges to list futures, options, and certain event contracts under CFTC oversight. Obtaining the license would place Binance.US among platforms pursuing regulated prediction markets as demand for event-based trading continues to grow.
Why Investors Are Watching
The announcement comes as prediction markets gain increasing attention across financial markets, with traders using event contracts to hedge risk and express views on elections, economic data, sports, and other outcomes.
For Binance.US, securing a DCM license could significantly expand its product lineup while reinforcing its regulatory credentials in the United States.
However, the company has not yet submitted its application, and any approval process could take months. CFTC review timelines vary, and there is no guarantee the application will be approved.
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What’s Next?
Investors will now watch for Binance.US’s formal CFTC filing, expected next month. Any updates on the application process, regulatory feedback, or future product launches could shape the exchange’s next phase of growth and influence competition in the rapidly evolving U.S. prediction markets sector.
Binance.US did not immediately respond to BeInCrypto’s request for comment.
(@solidintel_x) June 9, 2026
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