Circle has launched Digital Asset-Backed Borrowing for eligible Circle Mint institutions, allowing customers to deposit Bitcoin, mint cirBTC and borrow USDC through third-party lending markets on Arc or Ethereum.

Circle said on Sept. 21 that the service combines the steps needed to turn native BTC into onchain collateral and return borrowed USDC to a customer’s Circle Mint balance. Morpho is the first supported lending protocol, while Circle says Aave and other platforms are expected to follow.

Customers retain exposure to the BTC supporting their cirBTC position instead of selling the asset to obtain dollar liquidity. The borrowing position remains overcollateralized, with interest rates, collateral limits, liquidation thresholds and available liquidity set by the selected lending market instead of Circle.

Circle Mint routes BTC through third-party lending markets

Using the new workflow, an eligible institution deposits BTC and mints Circle Wrapped Bitcoin, or cirBTC. The customer then transfers cirBTC into a user-controlled Smart Wallet, posts the token as collateral with a supported protocol and borrows USDC. Borrowed funds move from the Smart Wallet into the customer’s Circle Mint balance automatically.

Repayment works through the same interface. A customer can send USDC from Circle Mint into the Smart Wallet and repay part or all of the outstanding debt. Collateral becomes available as debt is repaid, subject to the rules of the lending protocol controlling the position.

Circle does not provide the underlying credit. Its legal terms state that Circle Technology Services supplies the interface and Smart Wallet technology, while lending, collateral management and liquidations occur through third-party DeFi protocols and their smart contracts. Assets moved into the Smart Wallet are no longer held within the regulated Circle Mint environment.

Circle Mint remains an institutional service. Individual retail users cannot open standard Mint accounts, while Digital Asset-Backed Borrowing carries further jurisdiction and eligibility requirements. Circle says New York customers are excluded from the borrowing product.

Morpho starts with live cirBTC-USDC markets on Arc

Morpho provides the first lending infrastructure supported by the Circle Mint borrowing workflow. On Arc, the protocol currently operates a USDC market using cirBTC as collateral with an 86% liquidation loan-to-value threshold.

Live Morpho data viewed Sept. 22 showed $18.86 million in outstanding borrowing against $157.85 million of available liquidity. The market held $176.71 million in total size with utilization at 10.67%. No realized or unrealized bad debt was displayed at the time of verification.

Those figures can change as users supply liquidity, borrow, repay or withdraw funds. Circle’s terms make clear that displayed rates and protocol parameters come from third parties and can move without Circle controlling them. Automatic liquidation can occur if collateral values, oracle readings, interest charges or protocol settings push a position beyond the applicable limit.

Morpho had moved onto Arc when Circle’s Layer 1 went public on Sept. 16. As previously reported, the Arc mainnet launched with USDC as its native gas asset, while Morpho and Aave supplied lending infrastructure alongside applications for trading and tokenized assets.

Morpho said before the DABB release that institutional Circle Mint customers would gain access to its Arc credit markets directly through Circle’s interface. The protocol has separately proposed a $50,000 monthly incentive budget for Arc borrowing activity under its governance process.

cirBTC reserves remain above outstanding token supply

cirBTC provides the collateral connecting native Bitcoin with the Ethereum and Arc smart-contract environments. Circle first introduced the asset on Ethereum in June before bringing it to Arc on Sept. 21.

As previously reported, Circle’s cirBTC launch on Ethereum introduced 1:1 Bitcoin backing alongside Chainlink Proof of Reserve. The structure lets market participants inspect reserve information while native Bitcoin remains held separately from the circulating wrapped tokens.

Current Circle data showed 948.7508 cirBTC outstanding against 951.2586 BTC in reserves at the time of verification. Arc accounted for 396.9919 cirBTC, while Ethereum carried 551.7590 cirBTC. The displayed reserve value stood at roughly $77.19 million.

Circle says the underlying Bitcoin is held through its Bermuda affiliate and safeguarded by Circle National Trust in segregated accounts for cirBTC holders. Circle National Trust received final approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in July to operate as a federally chartered national trust bank.

The OCC charter permits the trust bank to provide regulated digital asset custody services. Circle National Trust does not accept deposits or make loans, and digital assets held there are not FDIC insured.

Circle states that cirBTC reserves are not lent, pledged or rehypothecated. Chainlink Proof of Reserve publishes reserve information onchain, while Circle lists Bitcoin reserve addresses so counterparties can compare native BTC holdings with circulating cirBTC supply.

Circle keeps DeFi credit outside regulated Mint custody

Circle’s legal documentation draws a line between the Circle Mint account and the DeFi borrowing position. Once collateral leaves Circle Mint for the Smart Wallet, Circle Internet Financial no longer holds those assets under the controls applying to balances kept inside Mint.

Customers control the Smart Wallet through a two-of-two multiparty computation key-management system. Circle says it cannot independently initiate, reverse or cancel blockchain transactions from the wallet. Borrowers remain responsible for monitoring their positions, maintaining collateral and reviewing protocol risks.

Liquidations are controlled by the selected lending protocol. Circle warns that falling collateral values, changing rates, oracle movements or revised market parameters can trigger an automatic liquidation without prior notice, potentially resulting in penalties or collateral losses.

Circle’s institutional USDC network has been expanding through other regulated financial channels. In related coverage, BNY began providing USDC minting, redemption, custody and transfers for institutional clients in June, while Standard Chartered introduced bank-led access to USDC minting and redemption in July.

Circle says Morpho is the first supported protocol for Digital Asset-Backed Borrowing and “support for additional protocols, including Aave, will follow as the product develops.” No timetable has been announced for Aave integration or additional blockchain deployments.

Arc support arrived five days after the network’s Sept. 16 public mainnet launch. The Arc release says cirBTC can now be used within credit, trading, lending, settlement and treasury applications built on the network, with native BTC remaining in custody while cirBTC circulates through smart contracts.

Animoca Brands has suspended talks on its proposed reverse merger with Nasdaq listed Currenc Group after the companies determined that the expected closing timeline no longer fit their short and medium term plans.

According to Animoca Brands, the decision was made mutually after the companies reviewed the time needed to complete the transaction and changing market conditions. The companies could reopen discussions if conditions permit, while Animoca said it remains committed to returning to a major public exchange.

The decision puts on hold a transaction that would have given the web3 and AI investor a route back into public markets more than six years after its shares stopped trading on the Australian Securities Exchange.

Animoca Brands keeps public listing plans in place

Animoca co founder and executive chairman Yat Siu said the company continues to work through the audit and compliance requirements needed for a listing, even as it steps away from the Currenc transaction.

“While we hold our proposed merger with Currenc Group in high regard, our corporate agility must take precedence,” Siu said.

“As we advance the comprehensive audit processes required to meet the rigorous compliance standards of a major public exchange, we will continue to pursue optimal routes to a public listing,” he added.

The company published its audited fiscal 2023 financial statements on July 17, its second set of audited financial statements released in 2026. Work on its fiscal 2024 audited accounts is underway, with Animoca describing completion of the reports as important milestones in its financial compliance roadmap.

Animoca’s investor relations records show that it has been clearing a backlog of financial statements over several years. Its 2022 annual report was released in January 2026, while reports for 2021, 2020 and 2019 were issued in June 2025, June 2023 and July 2022, respectively.

The company was previously listed on the ASX before being delisted in 2020 following scrutiny of its involvement in cryptocurrency related activities. In 2022, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission convicted and fined Animoca over failures to lodge annual reports for 2019 through 2021 and certain half year reports.

Despite remaining privately held, Animoca has continued expanding its exposure to digital assets, tokenization and artificial intelligence. In June, crypto.news previously reported on its investment in AllScale, where the companies agreed to explore stablecoin payments, treasury services and AI agent commerce. AllScale said at the time that its infrastructure supported more than 1.5 million registered wallets.

Animoca has remained active in crypto venture investing as well. Data covering the first half of 2026 placed the company among the industry’s most active investors, with 19 startup investments during the period.

Currenc deal would have handed Animoca shareholders 95% ownership

The proposed reverse merger was first disclosed in November 2025 under a non binding term sheet that called for Currenc to acquire all of Animoca Brands through an Australian scheme of arrangement.

Under the proposed structure, Animoca shareholders would have collectively owned approximately 95% of the combined company, leaving existing Currenc shareholders with the remaining 5%. The resulting company was expected to operate under the Animoca Brands name.

The original Nasdaq listing plan was expected to close in 2026, subject to regulatory approvals in the United States and Australia as well as the completion of required audited financial statements.

Progress continued into May, when Currenc and Animoca extended their exclusivity period through June 30. At that stage, the companies said due diligence and preparation of definitive transaction documents were advancing, with closing targeted for the third quarter of 2026.

The arrangement carried a Dec. 31 long stop date that could have been extended by another six months through mutual agreement.

Tuesday’s announcement did not identify a replacement transaction or exchange for Animoca’s planned listing. The company instead said it would continue looking for routes to the public market while completing its financial compliance work.

Animoca has expanded beyond its gaming roots

Animoca’s operations have continued to develop during the period in which it worked toward a public market return.

The company has built a portfolio spanning web3, digital assets, gaming, tokenization and AI. In May, Siu said he expected AI agents to become major users of blockchain infrastructure as Animoca introduced an investment program of up to $10 million for developers building applications through its Minds platform.

Its real world asset activity has expanded through NUVA, a marketplace co created with NUVA Labs. The platform launched on Ethereum in May with access to institutional grade assets originating from Figure Technologies, whose blockchain based lending ecosystem had processed billions of dollars in loans.

Animoca has made changes to its gaming holdings at the same time. Alpha Compute completed its majority acquisition of GAMEE in May 2026, taking a 60% controlling interest in the mobile and Telegram based gaming business from Animoca at an implied valuation of $18 million.

The transaction followed an earlier agreement under which AlphaTON Capital had planned to acquire control of GAMEE and make related equity and token investments.

Currenc continues its tokenization business

Currenc, meanwhile, has continued developing its AI and tokenization operations separately from the proposed Animoca transaction.

The Singapore based fintech operates AI services for financial institutions alongside digital remittance infrastructure. In April, the company became one of the first Nasdaq listed companies to tokenize its own ordinary shares, putting representations of its equity on Ethereum and Solana through Securitize.

Currenc Capital, its wholly owned subsidiary, has since moved to provide similar infrastructure to other listed companies.

Earlier in September, Currenc Capital entered a binding consulting agreement with Nasdaq listed Mint Incorporation to support the issuer sponsored tokenization of a portion of Mint’s Class A ordinary shares on Ethereum and Solana.

Under the agreement, Currenc Capital will provide advisory and facilitation services for the planned tokenization. Mint said no trading market for the tokens currently exists and gave no assurance that one would develop or receive permission to operate.

The project comes as activity in tokenized equities has increased during 2026. Onchain real world assets reached $34.18 billion by Sept. 15, up 85.2% since the beginning of the year, while the value of tokenized equities had increased 390.4% over the same period.

Currenc’s work with Mint follows its own April share tokenization, which placed its Nasdaq listed ordinary shares on Ethereum and Solana while the company was still pursuing the proposed combination with Animoca.

Elon Musk’s X has made it easier for its U.S.-based users to turn crypto and stock market chatter on their timeline into trades without leaving the app for long.

This feature, now live, allows U.S. users to tap a cashtag like $BTC or $TSLA, see their live charts and related posts and hit the “Trade button. Tapping “Trade” then takes users to one of X’s partner platforms – Interactive Brokers, Moomoo, Gemini,

Kraken or Coinbase – where they can log in or sign up and complete the order.
X is just letting users act quickly on financial chatter on their timeline, without acting as a broker. The actual buying and selling still happens at one of the partner exchanges.

Cashtags have been available on X for years as a way to follow financial market chatter. Earlier this year, the company upgraded them with real-time prices and charts.

Adding a direct path to trade is the next step in Elon Musk’s effort to turn X into a broader finance destination.

“Cashtags close the gap between a ticker on the timeline and the market itself,” Mridul Singhai, X’s product engineering lead, said.

Trueo has announced plans to move its prediction market protocol from Base to Ethereum mainnet and asked users to avoid new Base markets expiring after January 31, 2027.

Trueo said in its migration announcement that the Base application will remain available while the Ethereum deployment is prepared. Trading, market resolution and redemptions will continue, while existing markets will remain accessible through their expiries. The project said TYD used as collateral will keep earning yield during the transition.

Launched on Base in March 2025, the protocol runs binary YES-or-NO prediction markets onchain. Trueo’s documentation describes trading as non-custodial, with transactions executed directly onchain through a custom Uniswap v4 hook. TYD serves as the payment asset for current market positions and oracle bonds under the present deployment.

Trueo keeps Base markets running during Ethereum move

For existing users, the migration will not immediately shut down the Base version. Trueo said markets expiring during 2026 can still be created there, while existing markets will continue operating under their current settlement system. New market ideas requiring an expiry after January 31, 2027 should wait for the Ethereum instance, according to the project.

TRUE, the protocol’s governance and oracle token, will move to Ethereum through an open-ended migration. Trueo has not announced a deadline for token holders to complete the process. The project said future staking and liquidity incentives will operate on Ethereum once the new deployment becomes available.

Current public data shows that the move has not been completed. Trueo’s official deployment documentation still lists its TruthMarketManager, OracleCouncil, OracleBonds, OrderManager and market master contracts on Base mainnet. No Ethereum mainnet deployment addresses appear on that page.

DefiLlama’s Sept. 22 snapshot attributes all $796,126.31 of tracked Trueo TVL to Base. The same data records $9,727.92 in DEX volume during the previous 30 days and identifies Base as holding 100% of tracked protocol TVL.

Ethereum liquidity and integrations drove Trueo’s decision

Explaining its decision, Trueo cited Ethereum’s network effects, available liquidity, integration options and long-term infrastructure. The team said lower execution costs on Ethereum have made mainnet more practical for its product, while the network’s roadmap offers what Trueo described as a neutral and predictable base for development.

Trueo framed Base as useful during the protocol’s earlier experimental period instead of criticizing the Coinbase-linked Layer 2. The team said Ethereum better fits its intended model of a widely integrated, permissionless and highly immutable prediction market, while liquidity growth and reduced trust assumptions remain priorities for the next deployment.

Ethereum’s existing DeFi environment formed another part of the project’s stated reasoning. Trueo said direct access to Ethereum applications and liquidity could provide more integration paths. The team described the Ethereum L1 prediction-market field as less crowded than several competing blockchain environments, presenting that assessment as part of its own migration case.

Vitalik Buterin praises Trueo’s prediction market model

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin responded publicly on Sept. 21, welcoming what he described as a new prediction-market contender on Ethereum L1. Buterin praised Trueo’s stated focus on decentralization and ethical design, calling it “not corposlop” and saying prediction markets could be used for “interesting and meaningful things.”

His response follows months of public criticism of some prediction-market products. As crypto.news reported in February, Buterin warned that the sector was becoming heavily focused on short-duration cryptocurrency price wagers and sports betting. He described the direction as an “unhealthy product market fit” and discussed hedging and real-world risk management as other possible uses.

In related crypto.news coverage, Buterin proposed prediction-market-style mechanisms as one layer of future onchain governance, paired with a separate preference-setting system intended to resist capture. His latest Trueo comments did not announce an Ethereum Foundation partnership, grant, investment or other formal arrangement with the project.

Trueo plans a new oracle system on Ethereum

Trueo said work surrounding the Ethereum deployment will include a next-generation oracle system for disputed prediction-market outcomes. The migration announcement did not give a launch date or publish Ethereum contract addresses, leaving the Base contracts as the only deployment currently listed in Trueo’s public documentation.

The current protocol uses an optimistic resolution process. Trueo’s resolution documentation says any participant can propose an outcome once a market meets its resolution criteria, beginning a 12-hour challenge period. If nobody raises a valid dispute, the proposed result becomes final at the end of the window.

When a participant challenges an outcome, Trueo’s existing dispute path can move through several levels. The Oracle Council handles an early arbitration stage, followed by escalation to TRUE holders when a further challenge meets the required conditions. At the final level, the protocol randomly selects 11 attesters to determine the market outcome and applicable slashing conditions.

Market definitions are committed onchain when users create them. Trueo records the market question, approved resolution sources and supporting resolution information as immutable strings, according to its documentation. The project says the setup prevents the written market terms from being changed after deployment.

Its published integrity standards prohibit markets that directly create incentives for targeted violence, terrorism, self-harm or other dangerous conduct. Markets lacking clear, publicly verifiable resolution criteria must be canceled under the protocol’s stated rules.

Trueo has not published a deadline for launching its Ethereum deployment or completing the TRUE token migration. During the transition, the project says Base trading, resolution and redemptions will continue, while future staking and liquidity reward programs are scheduled to operate on Ethereum after the mainnet instance goes live.

Kakao Pay and KakaoBank have signed a memorandum of understanding with Fireblocks to explore stablecoin infrastructure and other digital asset services in South Korea.

Fireblocks said in its Sept. 21 announcement that the three companies will test digital asset distribution frameworks through proof-of-concept programs designed around South Korean regulatory, security and service requirements. The agreement does not announce a stablecoin, investment amount, commercial product or deployment date.

The companies plan to examine infrastructure demand and possible digital asset businesses before deciding whether any framework should advance beyond testing. Fireblocks described secure onchain infrastructure as the central technical area covered by the agreement, with stablecoins receiving specific attention.

Kakao Pay and KakaoBank will test stablecoin infrastructure

Kakao Pay brings payments experience to the project, while KakaoBank provides the banking component of Kakao Group’s work on digital assets. Fireblocks identified both executives leading the companies, Shin Won-keun and Yun Ho-young, as co-heads of Kakao Group’s Stablecoin Task Force.

Under the MoU, no single technical design has been selected publicly. The Fireblocks release says the parties will assess distribution frameworks that fit Korea’s domestic rules and security standards before testing their practical use through PoCs.

KakaoBank CEO Yun said the parties expect to combine their technology and expertise to “develop secure and accessible digital asset services.” His statement describes an intended direction and does not confirm a product launch. Kakao Pay CEO Shin said Korea’s developing digital asset market “depends on the reliable flow of digital asset distribution.”

Neither Kakao company disclosed whether a future stablecoin would be issued directly by a bank, another Kakao entity or an outside issuer. The announcement does not specify a blockchain, token standard, reserve structure, custody model or consumer rollout plan.

Fireblocks brings institutional infrastructure to the PoC

Fireblocks says its platform has been deployed by more than 2,500 institutions, including over 100 banks. Company material says its technology supports custody, settlement, stablecoin payments, tokenization, trading and compliance operations across more than 200 blockchains.

Separate data published on Fireblocks’ website says its network processes more than $200 billion in monthly stablecoin volume through more than 300 payment service providers, fintech companies and banks. The figures are Fireblocks’ own platform statistics and have not been presented as Kakao transaction volumes.

Fireblocks CEO Michael Shaulov said infrastructure for Korean banks and payment platforms needs to be “engineered to meet institutional requirements from day one.” His statement accompanied the MoU and concerned the type of system Fireblocks expects the partners to study.

The agreement does not state whether Kakao Pay or KakaoBank has committed to use Fireblocks in a production environment. PoC testing will come before any announced commercial deployment, according to the companies’ stated sequence.

Kakao’s Circle agreement came before the Fireblocks deal

The Fireblocks pact follows Kakao Group’s July agreement with Circle, which covered stablecoin payments, blockchain settlement and digital asset infrastructure. As crypto.news reported in July, Kakao, Kakao Pay and KakaoBank planned to study KRW-based digital assets, cross-border payments and tokenized financial services alongside Circle.

Under the Circle arrangement, Kakao said it would combine its consumer platform network, Kakao Pay’s payment services, KakaoBank’s banking operations and Circle’s blockchain technology. The parties discussed payment and settlement infrastructure, remittances and connections between blockchain networks and existing financial systems.

No won-denominated stablecoin was launched under the July MoU. Crypto.news reported at the time that Kakao and Circle had not set a launch date or confirmed a particular issuance model, while Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire had previously said Circle did not plan to issue its own KRW stablecoin.

The Fireblocks agreement introduces another infrastructure provider into Kakao Group’s stablecoin research without replacing or ending the Circle arrangement. Fireblocks’ announcement does not describe Circle’s role in the new PoCs or state whether the two relationships will share technology.

South Korea is still developing stablecoin rules

Kakao is not the only Korean financial group testing stablecoin systems before final rules take shape. In related crypto.news coverage, KB Financial Group completed a proof of concept in May covering won-denominated stablecoin issuance, offline QR payments, merchant settlement and a Vietnam remittance test.

Toss followed with another trial in July. As crypto.news reported, the financial app operator partnered with Optimism and Sunnyside Labs for a three-month technology program examining payment settlement, compliance and privacy requirements for won-linked stablecoins.

Work on the legal framework remains unfinished. South Korea’s Financial Services Commission has said its planned framework law for digital assets will include stablecoins, while regulators continue preparing rules covering blockchain-based financial infrastructure.

The FSC said in August that discussions over the government’s second-stage digital asset legislation were still underway and cautioned that some reported provisions had not been finalized. The regulator specifically rejected claims that a proposed ownership cap for major crypto-exchange shareholders had already been settled.

A Bank of Korea payment systems report published Sept. 17 said the central bank had created a Digital Asset Research Section after South Korea’s Virtual Asset User Protection Act took effect. The BOK said the unit has participated in legislative discussions concerning KRW-denominated stablecoins while the country develops its digital asset framework.

Prediction market platform Trueo says it will migrate from Base to Ethereum, positioning the move around broader integrations and the next phase of its oracle infrastructure—an onchain component that helps determine outcomes for markets that settle on real-world data.

Trueo launched on Base in March 2025. After the migration, the team says its near-term focus will be pulling in more liquidity while also developing the next generation of its oracle system, which is central to how prediction markets get resolved.

Key takeaways

• Trueo plans to move its prediction markets from Base to Ethereum to pursue wider integration options.
• The project links the migration to building a more advanced oracle system used to verify real-world outcomes.
• Trueo argues Ethereum is better suited for a “fully permissionless” and highly credible oracle approach than staying within Base’s tighter ecosystem.
• The platform is already a top onchain prediction venue, with DefiLlama listing it among the largest by total value locked.

Why Trueo is leaving Base for Ethereum

Trueo’s core rationale is product reach. In its public messaging, the project said it expects Ethereum to provide “higher integration potential” and more upside for its roadmap, while Base would constrain partnerships and integrations mostly to the immediate Base ecosystem.

The team’s framing is less about trading or execution and more about credibility and neutrality at the oracle layer. Trueo’s co-founder, who goes by “Lumberg,” said Ethereum offers the “best” environment for an oracle designed to be credibly neutral and truthful for prediction markets.

That argument also reflects timing and development tradeoffs from Trueo’s initial deployment. Trueo noted that when it launched, Ethereum mainnet gas costs were still relatively high, and some product features were still experimental—factors that made starting on an L2 like Base pragmatic.

Oracle upgrades are central to the migration

For prediction markets, oracles are not a background detail—they are the mechanism that translates real-world events into blockchain-resolved outcomes. Trueo said that attracting liquidity will be a priority after the move, but the larger effort is the rollout of the next generation of its oracle system.

By highlighting oracle development alongside the chain migration, Trueo is effectively treating the migration as a foundation for scaling the reliability and adoption of its market-resolving process. In the team’s view, the “final form” of Trueo is meant to become a platform that is widely adopted and broadly integrated, with a high standard of credibility tied to how its markets are resolved.

From early-stage L2 to a broader, integrated platform

Trueo’s explanation underscores a common lifecycle pattern for crypto startups: begin on a scaling-friendly network while experimenting, then move toward broader connectivity as the product matures. In Trueo’s case, the company specifically contrasted the properties it could aim for on Ethereum—such as being more widely integrated and permissionless—with the limitations it believes exist when remaining within a single L2 ecosystem.

In comments posted publicly, Trueo also described Ethereum as the “best fit” for combining permissionless operation, strong immutability characteristics, and credible oracle behavior—qualities it says align with its ambition to be a widely adopted prediction market platform rather than a niche app confined to a single rollup.

Where Trueo stands in onchain prediction markets

Trueo is already recognized among the larger onchain prediction venues. DefiLlama ranks the platform as the 14th-largest onchain prediction market by total value locked, with TVL reported at $795,687 at the time of publication.

That matters because migration decisions in the prediction market sector can directly affect liquidity and user participation. Even when the underlying smart contracts and oracle logic evolve, chain selection influences where users already operate, where liquidity pools exist, and how quickly new partnerships can integrate.

Trueo’s plan to prioritize liquidity following the move suggests the team is aware of those transition risks—particularly in a category where market depth and participation can be sensitive to where markets are hosted.

As Trueo executes its Ethereum migration, readers should watch for two things: how quickly liquidity can be reassembled on the new chain, and what changes land in its next-generation oracle system—since the oracle design is likely to determine how credible and widely usable its prediction market resolution process becomes.

U.S. federal prosecutors have been investigating whether Binance knowingly allowed trading that violated Iran sanctions, nearly three years after its $4.3 billion federal settlement, according to a Sept. 22 Bloomberg report.

Bloomberg said the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office is leading the inquiry, while the Justice Department’s Criminal Division in Washington is participating. Prosecutors are examining Binance’s compliance controls and whether the exchange knew about the transactions under review, according to the report. Reuters said it had not independently verified Bloomberg’s account.

Binance responded that it maintains a zero-tolerance policy for sanctions violations. The exchange said, “We fully cooperate with law enforcement, and we remain committed to rooting out and shutting down bad actors.” The Justice Department declined to comment to Reuters, while the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office was not immediately available for comment outside normal business hours.

Binance Iran sanctions probe focuses on compliance controls

The reported investigation centers on whether Binance knowingly permitted trading that should have been stopped under U.S. sanctions, according to Bloomberg’s account cited by Reuters. The report did not identify the transactions under review or disclose when prosecutors began examining them.

Scrutiny of the exchange’s Iran-related controls had surfaced months earlier. In March, crypto.news reported that Senators Elizabeth Warren, Chris Van Hollen and Ruben Gallego planned congressional oversight of a reported Justice Department investigation involving Iran-linked transactions. At the time, the inquiry was described as examining whether networks connected to Iran used Binance to evade U.S. sanctions.

Binance disputed claims made in several February reports. In a March 6 response to a Senate inquiry, the company described parts of the reporting as “demonstrably false, unsupported by credible evidence, and defamatory in several material respects.” Binance said its know-your-customer rules prohibit users residing or located in Iran from accessing Binance.com.

$61 million forfeiture complaint names Binance-linked accounts

A separate court action filed on Sept. 14 provides fresh public records concerning Iran-linked funds that moved through accounts on Binance. The Southern District of New York filed a verified civil forfeiture complaint seeking all USDT held in 10 cryptocurrency addresses, court records show. The case is United States v. All USD Tether Held in the Following Cryptocurrency Addresses, No. 1:26-cv-08010.

Prosecutors valued the targeted cryptocurrency at approximately $61 million and alleged it represented proceeds from black-market Iranian crude oil and petroleum sales. The complaint says the money was intended to finance Iranian government and military bodies, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The filing alleges two Chinese companies, Blessed Trust and Hexa Whale, used Binance trading accounts while handling proceeds connected with Iranian oil sales. Prosecutors said a network of cryptocurrency actors laundered more than $1.5 billion in illicit oil proceeds, while Blessed Trust and Hexa Whale used the U.S. financial system to send or receive tens of millions of dollars.

The forfeiture complaint does not accuse Binance itself of wrongdoing in that proceeding. The Justice Department states that a civil forfeiture complaint contains allegations that remain unproven until a court enters judgment for the government. As crypto.news reported in related coverage, the case is directed at the cryptocurrency held in the identified wallets, not a criminal charge against Binance.

Court records describe the assets as USDT held on addresses operating on the TRON network. The complaint says Tether would burn the tokens covered by a seizure warrant and issue replacement tokens of equal value for transfer into U.S. government custody.

Binance says the firms were offboarded after reviews

Binance has given its own timeline for Hexa Whale and Blessed Trust. In its March congressional response, the exchange said law enforcement contacted it in April 2025 about transactions between Binance wallets and outside addresses with possible terrorism-financing connections. Binance said it supplied KYC and transaction records connected with Hexa Whale in June 2025 and continued reviewing the account afterward.

The company said it removed Hexa Whale from Binance.com on Aug. 13, 2025. A separate set of law-enforcement requests concerning transactions involving other outside wallets arrived during summer 2025, according to Binance. The exchange said investigators then performed a source-of-funds review and offboarded Blessed Trust in January 2026.

Binance maintains that, to its knowledge, no Binance account transacted directly with an Iran-based entity. In another March statement, the company said its investigation found approximately $126.1 million eventually reached wallets linked to Iran after multiple blockchain hops, with as much as $24.1 million reaching IRGC-related wallets. The figures are Binance’s account of its internal review and have not been presented by the company as findings of a court.

The exchange said claims that it fired compliance employees for escalating concerns were false. Binance acknowledged that one employee was dismissed after an internal investigation over what the company described as an unauthorized disclosure of user information, while other compliance workers left voluntarily.

Binance has pointed to staffing and monitoring data while defending its controls. The company says more than 1,500 people work in compliance-related functions, representing roughly 25% of its global workforce. It reported processing more than 71,000 law-enforcement requests during 2025 and claimed exposure to four major Iranian crypto exchanges fell 97.3%, from $4.19 million to $110,000 over two years.

2023 guilty plea imposed monitors and compliance reforms

The current scrutiny follows Binance’s November 2023 criminal resolution with U.S. authorities. The exchange pleaded guilty to offenses involving the Bank Secrecy Act, operating an unregistered money-transmitting business and violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Binance agreed to a total criminal financial penalty of $4.316 billion.

In that case, the Justice Department said Binance knowingly failed to install controls that would stop U.S. customers from trading with users in sanctioned jurisdictions. Federal prosecutors said Binance caused more than $898 million in trades between U.S. users and users ordinarily resident in Iran from January 2018 through May 2022.

The settlement required Binance to retain an independent compliance monitor for three years and improve its anti-money-laundering and sanctions systems. Separate coordinated resolutions involved FinCEN, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Later scrutiny centered on whether the post-settlement controls were functioning as required. As crypto.news previously reported, Treasury-related oversight gave authorities access to Binance books, records and systems under separate monitoring obligations, while Iran-linked transaction reports prompted renewed questions about compliance.

Meanwhile, the Sept. 14 forfeiture matter is proceeding separately in the Southern District of New York. Prosecutors are seeking a judgment allowing the United States to retain the USDT named in the complaint, while the filing itself states that its allegations remain unproven unless the court awards judgment to the government.

XRP added 7% to nearly $1.52 and SOL 5% to just under $117. Ether rose 3% to nearly $2,740, while BNB and TRX each picked up between 1% and 2%. ZEC was the only large token to fall, down 4% to just above $1,450.

Liquidations in the past hour came to under $11 million, down from more than $300 million an hour at the peak of Monday’s move, which leaves the next leg dependent on buyers rather than sellers being forced out.

AI trade roars back

Equities set a firm tone through the Asian session, meanwhile.

MSCI’s Asia Pacific gauge rose nearly 1% for a fifth straight day of gains, led by chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, which tracked Monday’s rally in U.S. semiconductor stocks. South Korea’s Kospi advanced 2% and Taiwan’s benchmark hit an intraday record.

Artificial intelligence is doing the pulling. The Wall Street rally followed early signs of success for Meta Platforms’ new AI agent, and AMD is on course to pass $1 trillion in market value.

Meta Platforms released Muse, an AI agent that works across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, nearly two weeks ago and it has since passed ChatGPT to become the top free app on Apple’s U.S. App Store. The app has drawn nearly 3 million installs worldwide and almost 40% more iOS downloads in the U.S. and Canada than ChatGPT managed in its own first 12 days on mobile, data from app-tracker Apptopia shows.