Tether invested $134 million in failing biopharmaceutical firm NovaBay in March, turning it into a stablecoin holding company.

The move completely altered the path of the New York Stock Exchange-listed corporation. Its name was changed to Stablecoin Development Corporat, and it was used to purchase and stake a large swath of rival stablecoin USDS (previously known as MakerDAO).

USDS, unlike Tether or USDC, is a decentralized stablecoin that’s pegged to the US dollar through overcollateralized vaults and automated liquidations. Centralized stablecoins like Tether and USDC rely on real-world assets, such as Treasury bills, overnight repo agreements, loans, and precious metals.

USDS is unrestrained by hypothetical audits, financial statements, or bank runs.

Interesting investment, but it’s not working out

The decision to reverse-merge with NovaBay so that Tether could make a not-insignificant investment in USDS and continue to accumulate and stake the stablecoin was certainly an interesting choice from the c-suite at Digifinex.

As stated on Stablecoin Development Corporat’s website, the acquisition provides Tether and USDS with “public market access,” new markets to participate in (including mortgage and prime brokerage lending markets), and possible unique partnerships.

The website also makes claims about the future of stablecoins and USDS, suggesting that within a year and a half stablecoin markets will grow from ~$300 billion to $1 trillion and forecasting revenue growth year-on-year for USDS of 81%.

However, those hypothetical benefits haven’t come to fruition.

Instead, despite a brief bump in the stock price after the announcement which saw it rise from $1.30 to almost $2.00 in early April, Stablecoin Development Corporat’s share price has collapsed to $1.00 as of writing.

Read more: What the Tether audit means for the crypto industry

Interestingly, every time that the stock briefly falls below $1.00, someone or some entity purchases enough shares to push it back up.

For example, three days ago, the price of Stablecoin Development Corporat’s shares fell to $0.94. Within 24 hours the price had miraculously recovered over 6% to just over $1.00.

If any company’s share prices fall below $1.00 for a 30-day period then the company is delisted from the NYSE.

Bizarre executive leadership

Similar to how Tether and Bitfinex operated with a strange smattering of executives and equity holders in its initial years, Stablecoin Development Corporat also plays host to a curious who’s who of financiers and influencers.

To start with, at the helm of Stablecoin Development Corporat is Michael Kazley, who seems to have fallen into the CEO role by simply being one of the main investors during the reverse merger between NovaBay and Tether.

His investment fund, R01 Fund LP, placed a large wager of over $4 million on the new entity and seemingly made few, if any, other major investments.

Kazley has stated that the c-suite see USDS (and the associated SKY Protocol) as “undervalued” and that Stablecoin Development Corporat is “wildly bullish” on it, taking on a “greater than a 9% stake.”

Read more: Tether vs. Circle: The battle for stablecoin dominance

The company’s CFO is Tommy Law, who was named as interim CFO of NovaBay back in 2023.

He’s somehow retained this position despite helping to drive the medical company into the ground and holding no certifications or licenses related to his role.

Lastly, Henry Blynn, the COO, appears to be a holdover from the final days of NovaBay. The 32-year-old was brought on as a consultant in October 2025.

Board raises more questions than answers

Stablecoin Development Corporat’s board of directors is a peculiar mix of individuals completely unassociated with cryptocurrencies and stablecoins.

For instance, Yenyou Zheng, who chairs the audit committee and nominating and corporate governance committee and sits on the compensation committee for Stablecoin Development Corporat, was listed in the ICIJ’s Panama Papers for his involvement with China Vitup Healthcare Holdings.

The now defunct Dalian, China-based entity was once listed on OTCMarkets as China Vitup Hospital before changing its name to Emergency Pest Services, and most recently to Clean Vision Corporation.

Also on the board, and sitting on all three committees, is Swan Sit, a Hong Kong native who emigrated to Boston at the age of six.

She calls herself a “thought leader and business disrupter,” and has played a marketing role for numerous brands throughout her career. It’s unclear how she’s qualified to sit on the audit or compensation committees.

Finally, Paul E. Freiman, according to a personal biography from a cancer research company, has exclusively worked for pharmaceutical companies for more than four decades. Why he’s involved with a stablecoin holding company post-biopharmaceutical dismantling is unclear.

Regardless of the executive leadership, board of directors, hypothetical plans for exponential growth, and wildly bullish sentiment on the stablecoin ecosystem, Stablecoin Development Corporat has been struggling to keep it’s corporate head above the water of a depressed cryptocurrency market.

Protos will keep an eye on whether the newly minted company can meet its own expectations or soon be relegated to the Pink Sheets.

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Bitcoin price extended its breakout to $72,490 on Aug. 20 after forced short covering pushed the price through its 200-day moving averages, but an overbought daily reading raises the risk of a pullback.

Bitcoin price breaks above its 200-day averages

According to data from crypto.news, Bitcoin (BTC) price traded near $71,900 on Binance at the time of writing, up about 3.8% on the daily chart after reaching $72,490 earlier in the session.

The move extended a breakout that began when BTC cleared the $64,000–$66,000 range that had contained the price through much of July and the first half of August. Bitcoin rose from below $65,000 to nearly $70,000 during the first stage of the rally before buyers pushed it above $72,000.

The daily chart shows that Bitcoin has now crossed its 200-day simple moving average at approximately $69,010 and its 200-day exponential moving average near the same level. BTC had remained below both trend indicators since its sharp June decline.

The breakout also took Bitcoin above its shorter moving averages. The 20-day SMA stood at $64,595, while the 50-day and 100-day averages were grouped between $64,264 and $66,211.

That cluster may become a wider support area if the price gives back part of the rally. Holding above the 200-day averages would provide a stronger sign that the move represents more than a temporary derivatives-driven rebound.

Short liquidations accelerated the Bitcoin rally

The one-week CoinGlass liquidation heatmap shows that Bitcoin moved through several layers of leveraged short positions as it crossed $66,000, $68,000, and $70,000.

The densest liquidity visible before the breakout was concentrated around $65,000–$66,000. Once Bitcoin crossed that area, forced purchases by traders closing bearish positions helped carry the price toward $69,000.

Further short-liquidation bands between $69,000 and $71,000 added fuel to the advance. The heatmap shows fewer established liquidation clusters above the current price because BTC reached the area rapidly and had spent little time building leveraged positions there.

The rally followed a long period of compression around $63,000–$65,000. Market data supplied with the charts showed more than $1 billion in Bitcoin short liquidations during one hour, and $2.7 billion in bearish positions closed across the broader crypto market.

Liquidations can increase the speed of a move because exchanges automatically buy Bitcoin to close short positions. However, demand generated by forced covering can fade once the largest short clusters have been cleared.

Momentum supports buyers but RSI warns of overheating

Bitcoin’s 4-hour chart remains bullish after the Supertrend indicator flipped positive. Its trailing level has risen to $67,752, placing the first dynamic support roughly 6% below the current price.

The Chaikin Money Flow reading of 0.28 also shows that buying pressure has accompanied the breakout. A positive CMF reading means more volume has entered Bitcoin during periods when the price closed near the upper part of its trading range.

The daily chart carries a clearer warning. Bitcoin’s 14-day relative strength index jumped to 78.7, well above the 70 level commonly used to mark overbought conditions.

An overbought RSI does not require an immediate reversal, especially during a short squeeze. It does show that the rally has moved faster than its recent trend, increasing the chance of consolidation or profit-taking.

The latest daily candle also produced a high near $72,490 before the price eased below $72,000. Buyers must therefore turn the $69,000–$70,000 region into support to prevent the breakout from becoming a brief move above the 200-day averages.

Analysts watch $67K and $65K for a pullback

Crypto trader Daan Crypto Trades said in an Aug. 20 X post that Bitcoin had made a higher high and was testing its daily 200-day moving-average region.

Daan placed the move inside a wider $60,000–$80,000 range and said the trend had improved on the daily chart. However, the trader expected volatility to remain elevated after Bitcoin escaped the compressed range.

Lennart Snyder offered a more cautious assessment in a separate X post. Snyder said Bitcoin had entered a larger range but remained below important resistance, leading him to favor waiting for the price to settle before opening a new position.

Snyder identified the midpoint of the breakout candle around $67,000 as one area where momentum traders could look for support. He placed a deeper potential buying zone at $65,000–$66,000, near the upper boundary of Bitcoin’s former consolidation range.

Those levels broadly match the technical charts. The 4-hour Supertrend stands near $67,752, while the daily moving-average cluster between $64,264 and $66,211 could offer support during a larger retracement.

On the upside, a sustained close above $72,500 would leave the $74,000 area as the next nearby psychological level. Bitcoin would then face a broader supply region between $78,000 and $80,000, where the market traded before the June sell-off.

US liquidity and ETF demand remain key

The breakout came as US Treasury yields and the dollar pulled back following the Treasury Department’s reported plan to increase long-dated bond buybacks from $2 billion to at least $4 billion per operation in September.

Lower yields can support non-yielding assets such as Bitcoin by reducing the relative return available from government bonds, though the derivatives data indicate that forced short covering was a major immediate driver of the rally.

Data from SoSoValue also showed $517 million in net inflows into US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds on Aug. 19. Continued ETF demand would offer stronger evidence that institutional buying is replacing the short squeeze as the source of support.

A renewed rise in US yields, weaker ETF flows, or a daily close below $69,000 would weaken the breakout. Holding the 200-day averages while the RSI cools would give buyers a firmer base for another attempt above $72,500.

US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) saw a surge in demand on Wednesday, pulling in $517.2 million in net inflows—marking their biggest single day since May 4. That strong session helped lift total August net inflows to $1.47 billion, extending a momentum shift that has become increasingly noticeable as the month progresses.

According to data referenced by Cointelegraph, the funds have drawn in roughly $1 billion since Monday, representing their strongest weekly net inflow since the week ended Jan. 16, when they attracted about $1.42 billion.

Key takeaways

• Bitcoin spot ETFs recorded $517.2 million in net inflows on Wednesday, the largest single-day figure since May 4.
• August net inflows reached $1.47 billion as inflow strength continued after Monday’s near-$1 billion total.
• Spot Ether ETFs added $189.2 million in net inflows on Wednesday, bringing this week’s Ether inflows to about $291.5 million.
• ETF inflows coincided with a broad crypto price rally and US Treasury action to expand long-dated debt buybacks.
• Market attention also returned to US crypto policy progress, following renewed discussion of the CLARITY Act.

ETFs post best day since May amid risk-sensitive market signals

The latest ETF numbers arrived alongside a rising crypto tape. At the time of writing on Thursday, Bitcoin was trading near $72,000, up 11% over the prior 24 hours, according to CoinGecko. Ether also gained sharply, up 19% to $2,286.

The close timing matters because it suggests the inflows were not isolated to ETF-specific flows alone. Instead, they came during a day when broader market conditions appeared to favor assets perceived as hedges against currency debasement rather than pure “risk-on” trades.

Cointelegraph quoted Jonatan Randin, senior market analyst at PrimeXBT, saying the Treasury’s move to expand buybacks at the long end helped push yields and the US dollar lower—while gold and silver outperformed equities. In his view, the market interpreted the action as a currency-related development rather than a growth catalyst.

Why Treasury buybacks and regulation talk may be feeding the same narrative

The Wednesday ETF inflow surge was linked to two parallel storylines: the US Treasury’s decision to expand buybacks of longer-dated government debt, and renewed attention on crypto regulation after President Donald Trump urged Congress to advance the CLARITY Act at a White House event.

Cointelegraph’s reporting connected the Treasury decision to the broader price action, including the way Bitcoin traded in sympathy with gold and silver. Randin’s comments emphasized that Bitcoin’s correlation shifted toward the “debasement trade”—an environment where investors often look to hard assets rather than companies or conventional growth exposure.

Investors tend to focus on the interaction between rates, the dollar, and liquidity expectations because those factors can influence whether demand flows into speculative or “hedging” allocations. When ETFs see strong net inflows while Bitcoin’s price behavior resembles traditional hedges, it can indicate a different driver than simple momentum trading.

Ether ETFs also benefit as weekly inflows climb

While Bitcoin led the day’s flows, Ether ETFs also contributed to the broader picture. Spot Ether ETFs logged $189.2 million in net inflows on Wednesday, increasing this week’s net inflows to about $291.5 million.

That matters for market structure: simultaneous strength across major spot products can reinforce the impression that inflows are responding to a macro or policy-driven catalyst rather than reflecting a rotation limited to a single asset.

At the same time, the gap between Bitcoin’s $517.2 million inflow and Ether’s $189.2 million highlights how investor positioning still appears weighted toward Bitcoin as the primary institutional gateway for spot exposure.

What to watch next: whether ETF inflows hold after the catalyst

The immediate question for readers is whether the Wednesday surge was a one-off reaction to Treasury headlines and renewed regulatory urgency—or the start of a more sustained inflow trend. With Bitcoin and Ether both sharply higher and ETF inflows reaching notable multi-month highs, investors will likely watch subsequent daily flow prints, changes in yields and the dollar, and any tangible movement around US crypto policy discussions.

Cybersecurity firm Rapid7 unveiled a new cryptocurrency phishing campaign known as Operation Asterix, targeting roughly 885,000 phone numbers from several countries to steal cryptocurrency investors’ assets.

The phishing campaign led to 5,576 accounts matched to users on crypto exchange Binance, which were queued for attack, while the recovered logs also showed fake emails impersonating Crypto.com, according to a Monday report by Rapid7.

Of the 885,000 phone numbers, the largest file included 316,002 German mobile numbers, with additional directories covering Hong Kong, Bulgaria, the UK, the US, Canadian fintech companies and additional Ledger-related lists. 

Phishing attacks and social engineering scams drove the majority of the crypto industry’s losses in the first quarter of the year, accounting for $306 million out of the total $482 million lost, according to blockchain security company Hacken.

As part of the Asterix phishing campaign detailed by Rapid7 analysts Anna Sirokova and Jan Recinsky, attackers drove victims to fake apps impersonating Ledger, Trezor, and Exodus, seeking to steal their seed phrases. Attackers reached out to victims through fake support emails and phone inquiries.

Operation Aseterix kill chain from acquisition to exfiltration. Source: Rapid7.

Cointelegraph has contacted the analysts for further comment on what they found regarding target filtering, hardware wallet spoofing and self-custody vulnerabilities. We will update this article when they reply.

Earlier in August, wallet provider Trezor reported a breach of personal data affecting about 14,000 users through its shipping provider, ShipMonk.  

In July, a crypto investor lost nearly $1 million after signing a malicious phishing token approval transaction on Ethereum. 

In November 2023, a fake Ledger Live app on the Microsoft Store resulted in the theft of $588,000 across 38 transactions. 

Related: DefiLlama delayed mobile launch over phishing apps on Apple Store, founder says

Asterix phishing campaign boasts 13% “hit rate” 

Attackers matched 43,066 accounts to cryptocurrency users with exchange accounts, validated from the larger German dataset of over 316,000 phone numbers, meaning that the campaign has a “hit rate” of approximately 13.6%, according to Rapid7. 

The report also identified a checker for Kraken, which sought to bulk-validate phone numbers against accounts from the cryptocurrency exchange. The cybersecurity company said that the recovered artifacts showed that artificial intelligence tools were used as a significant part of the phishing campaign.

Phishing attacks are a long-standing headwind for the crypto industry, as they enable attackers to exploit human behavior rather than the code of a protocol. 

On May 25, onchain analyst “b-block” warned that scammers used Google to deploy malicious phishing ads impersonating decentralized exchange Uniswap, reportedly stealing more than $400,000 from victims. 

Leading crypto industry figures, including Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao, have previously called for better wallet security measures to avoid phishing scams, after an investor lost $50 million in an address poisoning scam in December 2025.  

Magazine: How a ‘Wrong Number’ message turned into a $3.4M crypto scam 

The UK government sent more than 81,000 warning letters during the 2025/2026 financial year to crypto holders it suspects of owing unpaid taxes.

A freedom of information request seen by the BBC revealed that the volume of letters from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) had tripled from 27,714 in 2024.

Unpaid taxes stem from crypto bull run

HMRC believes most of the unpaid taxes stem from gains made during the crypto bull run between 2022 and 2025.

The letters remind UK crypto users that if they sell, give away, exchange or make a purchase with crypto, they may need to pay capital gains tax. 

If they don’t pay, they face a possible penalty of up to 100% of their owed tax with interest. This increases when it comes to offshore transfers. 

HMRC plans to track wealthy crypto holders with ease

Neela Chauhan, a partner at accounting firm UHY Hacker Young, told the BBC, “A lot of the traders are young, have had little previous exposure to HMRC and often work under the assumption that HMRC has limited visibility over their activities.”

Chauhan adds that tax authorities suspect many crypto investors are evading tax, and that tracking the unpaid taxes of wealthy crypto users will be like “shooting fish in a barrel” once HMRC acquires new powers next year.