• KuCoin launches KCUSD with a base APR of up to 4%.
• KCUSD offers daily returns on eligible stablecoin balances.
• KuCoin plans to expand KCUSD into collateral and trading utility.

KuCoin has launched KCUSD, a new Earn product designed to help stablecoin holders generate returns on otherwise idle balances.

The product will be available to eligible retail, high-net-worth, and institutional users, with subscriptions initially starting from as little as 1 USDT, USDC, or USDG.

KCUSD will offer a dynamic base annual percentage rate (APR) of up to 4%, with users able to earn returns simply by holding the asset.

KuCoin said there will be no subscription fee, while redemptions will be available in the same asset used for subscriptions.

Returns will be credited daily and automatically added to users’ KCUSD balances.

This structure allows returns to compound daily without requiring users to manually reinvest their earnings.

During the initial launch period, eligible users who participate with qualifying new funds may receive a promotional APR of up to 6%, according to the company.

Product targets idle stablecoin balances

KuCoin said stablecoins play a central role in digital asset market liquidity, but significant balances can remain idle in trading accounts.

Users may keep stablecoins available for margin requirements or time-sensitive trading opportunities, potentially leaving those assets without a yield.

The exchange said moving such balances into traditional staking or standalone Earn products can reduce their immediate trading utility.

The trade-off is particularly relevant for institutions, market makers, professional trading firms, and high-net-worth users that maintain large stablecoin balances for extended periods.

KCUSD initially addresses this issue through a hold-to-earn model, allowing users to generate returns while holding the product.

KuCoin also plans to expand KCUSD’s utility in the future by integrating it as collateral or margin.

The company said this planned functionality is intended to reduce the trade-off between earning returns and maintaining access to capital for trading activities.

KuCoin plans broader utility for KCUSD

KuCoin CEO BC Wong said the launch reflects the company’s view that digital asset infrastructure needs to focus not only on access and liquidity but also on how efficiently capital can be deployed.

“Our long-term view is that yield, liquidity and risk utility should not remain in separate silos,” Wong said.

KuCoin described KCUSD as an infrastructure layer that could connect liquidity, asset productivity and risk management across its ecosystem. The product is expected to begin with yield generation before progressively expanding toward collateral and trading utility.

The company said the development reflects a broader shift in digital finance, with stablecoins increasingly being positioned as productive capital rather than solely as settlement assets or reserves.

Bitcoin posted its first weekly close above $80,000 in roughly four months, landing just after markets refocused on a fresh batch of U.S. inflation releases ahead of the Federal Reserve’s Sept. 16 meeting. The move comes as investors balance softer inflation prints against renewed pressure from a stronger labor market and ongoing policy uncertainty.

At the same time, analysts say BTC’s bounce still lacks the spot-market participation needed to decisively break out of the $80,000 area. On-chain and derivatives data point to a rally that has leaned heavily on futures positioning—an imbalance that typically increases the odds of volatility if macro conditions turn.

Key takeaways

• Bitcoin achieved its first weekly close above $80,000 since early May, according to TradingView data.
• U.S. CPI and PPI prints are due this week ahead of the Sept. 16 Fed decision; CME’s FedWatch Tool shows 0.25% hike odds at 58.4%.
• Japan’s record yen interventions coincide with a reported $79.57 billion drop in foreign reserves, raising questions about ongoing U.S. Treasury sales.
• CryptoQuant argues recent upside volatility was driven more by derivatives open interest than by spot/on-chain accumulation.
• Bitcoin’s weekly supertrend indicator turned “buy” for the first time since late 2025, echoing a pattern seen during the early-2023 recovery.

Inflation week before the Fed: what markets are betting on

Inflation data returned to the center of crypto sentiment after earlier employment news pushed risk assets lower. This week, the August Producer Price Index (PPI) is scheduled for release on Thursday, followed by August CPI on Friday.

Prior CPI figures offered a mixed backdrop: the August CPI print “matched market expectations” at 0.1% month-on-month and 3.4% year-on-year, following softer-than-anticipated June results. Even so, Fed leadership has continued to stress that recent improvement may not yet justify changing course. Speaking at the Jackson Hole economic symposium in late August, Federal Reserve chair Kevin Warsh said lower headline measures did not, by themselves, establish that underlying inflation trends were meaningfully improving.

That distinction matters for traders because the Fed’s policy reaction function depends heavily on “trend” inflation rather than isolated prints. In response to Warsh’s remarks and the broader data flow, markets shifted toward a higher probability of rate hikes for the Sept. 16 meeting.

According to CME Group’s FedWatch Tool, the consensus currently favors a 0.25% rate hike, with odds at 58.4%. This hawkish tilt intensified after last week’s nonfarm payrolls report, which came in “far stronger than expected” and included upward revisions to earlier figures. The U.S. economy added 162,000 jobs in August versus a prior estimate of 56,000.

A stronger labor market generally reduces pressure on the Fed to loosen policy—especially when core inflation remains above the Fed’s 2% objective. While some officials have discussed support for pausing rate hikes, the market is still focused on how PPI and CPI could reshape expectations in the days before the meeting.

Mosaic Asset Company suggested that the jobs report could still carry an equity-friendly angle through corporate earnings, but also warned that seasonality may complicate matters. It noted that September is traditionally equities’ weakest month and that volatility may rise into the Q4 period, with U.S. midterm elections adding another potential catalyst for turbulence.

Japan’s intervention record keeps yen and liquidity in focus

Beyond U.S. inflation, traders are also tracking Japan’s yen dynamics. Japan’s Ministry of Finance reported that foreign reserves fell by $79.57 billion from the end of July amid record currency intervention. The yen strengthened to around 155 per dollar and held that level during Monday’s Asia session.

Bloomberg previously reported that Japan may have relied heavily on selling U.S. Treasuries to fund these operations. That approach could have second-order effects for U.S. bond markets and for how long Japan can sustain intervention without drawing Washington’s response.

The concern extends to the Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) position. If yen weakness returns and further intervention becomes necessary, critics argue it could become harder for both the ministry and the BOJ to act within their constraints.

Polymarket data currently prices in a BOJ September rate increase, reflecting the idea that policy makers may need to tighten to defend the currency. With benchmark rates already at the highest level since 1995 at 1.0%, Polymarket is showing 98% odds of a 0.25% hike.

For crypto, these FX and rates headlines can matter because BTC and broader risk markets are sensitive to changes in USD/JPY, particularly where yen-carry trades and global liquidity conditions are concerned.

Derivatives surge without clear spot confirmation

Even as BTC reclaimed a key weekly milestone, analysts argue the underlying demand signal is still incomplete. CryptoQuant pointed out that the recent upside volatility was paired with sharp increases in derivatives open interest, suggesting that derivatives traders drove a large share of the move rather than spot buyers.

In one example, CryptoQuant reported that aggregate open interest rose from $25.2 billion to $27.53 billion in a single session—an increase of about $2.3 billion (+9.24%). On an hourly basis around 09:00 UTC, price action and open interest began expanding almost simultaneously, which CryptoQuant interpreted as evidence of new position-building.

At the same time, CryptoQuant said realized cap did not keep pace with the open interest jump. In its view, the rally had some spot/on-chain participation, but the dominant driver was futures leverage—creating a market structure that can unwind quickly if funding conditions change.

This imbalance shows up in how spot demand is tracking. CryptoQuant cautioned that spot demand remains negative and that it has been diverging from futures demand on a 30-day rolling basis. The platform also highlighted that spot BTC outflows increased further even after the rebound—its interpretation being that the rally did not yet translate into persistent spot accumulation.

Previous Cointelegraph coverage also flagged similar concerns, describing how apparent demand had turned negative as BTC’s dormant supply growth outpaced new issuance. For traders, the practical implication is that a sustainable breakout typically requires stronger spot absorption—conditions that remain uncertain as long as derivatives lead.

Liquidity walls around $80,000 and a bullish-but-testable trend signal

BTC’s weekly close above $80,000 marks a notable technical shift, but the $80,000 zone is not yet acting as reliable support. Sell-side liquidity continues to cluster just above the level, keeping price pinned within a narrower trading range.

CoinGlass data shows liquidity concentrated around $80,560, forming what the analysis describes as a thick wall of resistance. This helps explain why BTC has been unable to hold above $80,000 consistently despite the bullish weekly close.

Looking higher, on-chain-focused commentary from Glassnode previously identified additional dense liquidity bands—especially a band between $83,000 and $86,000. In its newsletter, Glassnode wrote that an upward impulse consumed some short orders but stopped short of the densest cluster of short liquidation “fuel” in that upper zone. Below spot, it said the move left intact a separate long liquidation band between $60,000 and $63,000, framing the current consolidation as a market trapped between boundaries.

Chart-watchers are also watching for a potential resolution direction. Jesse Olson, developer of the Markets Sniper trading suite, suggested BTC/USD could be repeating a bullish chart fractal from August 2023, with $76,000 described as a potential local reversal point.

Supertrend flips green: why the weekly indicator stands out

One of the clearest trend signals cited in the market commentary is BTC’s weekly supertrend indicator. Sunday’s weekly close flipped the indicator to green for the first time since November 2025, producing a “buy” signal.

The supertrend method uses average true range (ATR) and a multiplier to calculate a trendline, then issues a buy or sell signal based on how price interacts with that level. Weekly signals are closely watched by Bitcoin traders because, as the analysis notes, a weekly close above the supertrend line has not occurred during a bear market. The last time supertrend switched from red to green was in mid-January 2023, when BTC’s bear-market bottom at $15,600 was already about two months behind it.

That historical context is part of why some traders view this as more than a short-term signal. It also aligns with other indicators analysts cited recently, including BTC’s earlier weekly reclaim of its 50-week exponential moving average—an event described as historically important for long-term trend reversals after a prolonged downtrend.

What to watch next is whether the market’s key catalysts—U.S. CPI/PPI ahead of Sept. 16, and ongoing yen-liquidity developments tied to Japan’s intervention path—translate into stronger spot participation. If derivatives remain the primary driver while spot demand stays weak, the $80,000 breakout signal may stay vulnerable despite bullish trend indicators.

BTC’s 90-day price correlation with gold has reached +0.56, its highest level since most data providers started measuring it in January 2017 and higher than its prior record of +0.5 in November 2020.

Meanwhile, the 90-day correlation of BTC with the Nasdaq 100 index slid to roughly +0.30 over the same window, a one-year low.

Pearson price correlations range from -1 to +1. Perfect correlation is +1, meaning the assets always affect one another’s price and never decouple in their correlated movements.

At 0 or “no” correlation, the assets never affect one another’s price. At -1, the assets move in perfectly opposite directions — one rising and one falling by proportionally consistent amounts.

Mathematicians choose a set length of time to determine how correlated their prices are; for example, over the last 90 days.

At a +0.56 correlation and rising, the narrative of “digital gold” is back for BTC and displacing its Nasdaq “tech play” narrative.

Noting the increased coupling, Bitwise Asset Management wrote, “The argument that BTC is ‘just a leveraged tech investment’ may not be true after all.”

Bloomberg’s senior ETF analyst similarly found that BTC correlated less with US stocks over six months than gold. The finding “blows up the claim,” he said, that BTC “is just QQQ.”

August’s debasement trade reunited gold and BTC

On a shorter, 30-day timeframe, gold’s correlation with BTC has risen to an even higher Pearson rating of +0.72. On that 30-day rolling period, its Nasdaq composite correlation sunk to 0.22.

The two assets snapped back into high correlation on one date for one reason.

After US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent commenced Quantitative Easing (QE) Lite by buying back billions of dollars in long-dated bonds, the debasement trade surged. Traders rushed into gold, BTC, and other debasement proxies.

Zcash has surged to its highest level since 2016, pushing the privacy-focused token’s market capitalization past $20 billion as momentum continues into the new week. CoinGecko data shows ZEC briefly touched $1,249.28 before easing to around $1,195 on Monday.

The move has been rapid: ZEC is up roughly 45% over the past week and about 138% across the last 30 days, according to CoinGecko’s price charts. While the latest rally is impressive, it still sits below Zcash’s launch-era peak—CoinGecko lists an all-time high of $3,191.93 on Oct. 28, 2016, when only a small supply of tokens was available.

Key takeaways

• ZEC reached the highest price since 2016, with CoinGecko reporting a peak near $1,249.28 before a pullback to about $1,195.
• The token has gained approximately 45% in a week and 138% in 30 days, helping push Zcash’s market cap above $20 billion.
• Zcash’s privacy model relies on shielded transactions using zero-knowledge proofs to hide sender, recipient, and transfer amount.
• Grayscale’s Zcash ETF—trading on NYSE ARCA under the ticker ZCSH—has supported renewed attention since it began trading Aug. 25.
• Grayscale research argues privacy demand could rise as AI makes it easier to connect public blockchain activity to real-world identities.

A privacy asset resurfaces at multi-year highs

The latest rally has placed Zcash back in the spotlight for investors looking at how privacy features may translate into real market demand. CoinGecko’s figures show the token extending gains that have steadily built over the last month, rather than spiking and fading quickly.

Zcash’s “shielded” option is central to that narrative. Unlike fully public transfers on most traditional blockchains, Zcash allows users to choose between public and shielded transactions. Shielded payments use zero-knowledge proofs to verify that a transfer is valid without exposing key details such as the sender, recipient, or the amount.

That capability matters because it directly addresses a persistent concern in crypto adoption: transparency can be valuable, but it can also create traceability risks for individuals and businesses. If more market participants believe those risks are increasing, privacy-preserving assets may attract renewed capital.

Grayscale links the privacy thesis to AI-era tracing

In an Aug. 31 analysis, Grayscale’s head of research, Zach Pandl, highlighted Zcash’s privacy features as potentially becoming a “must have” for users who prioritize confidentiality. The argument is not limited to general privacy preferences; Pandl specifically pointed to the role AI could play in raising the difficulty threshold for anonymity.

Pandl said AI could increase demand for financial privacy by making it easier to link public blockchain transactions to user identities. The core idea is that even if transactions are technically pseudonymous, pattern recognition and entity linkage tools can reduce anonymity over time.

For Zcash, that framing aligns with what shielded transactions are designed to do: keep critical transaction data private while still maintaining verifiability through cryptographic proofs.

ETF-driven momentum after Grayscale’s Zcash Trust conversion

Grayscale’s product transition appears to be part of the catalyst behind the renewed interest. The firm converted its existing Zcash Trust into an exchange-traded fund, with the resulting ETF trading under the ticker ZCSH. The fund started trading on NYSE ARCA on Aug. 25, giving traditional brokerage investors a more straightforward way to gain exposure to ZEC.

According to the ETF’s website, the fund closed Friday at $83.77 per share and reported $463.2 million in assets under management. That combination—new access routes plus accumulating assets—often reinforces momentum, particularly when a token is already in a strong price trend.

At the same time, ZEC’s recent performance also underlines how investor narratives can accelerate quickly once a key access point changes. The ETF’s listing did not alter Zcash’s underlying protocol, but it did expand who can buy the exposure and how easily that exposure can be held within existing portfolio infrastructure.

What to watch next for ZEC and the privacy trade

With ZEC now at its highest level since 2016, the next question is whether the rally can hold as the market digests the ETF-driven demand narrative. Traders and long-term observers may want to monitor how liquidity and ETF inflows evolve after the initial momentum phase, and whether broader sentiment toward on-chain privacy continues to strengthen alongside the privacy-and-AI argument.

XRP is currently trading near one of the most crucial resistances after moving up from $1.10 to $1.41-$1.44 in August and September, respectively. XRP bulls have taken it up to its highest level for 12 months, but on-chain data is now posing some doubts regarding the strength of the rally.

The daily chart provides more insight into what is going on. For over 12 months, XRP bulls have been able to contain XRP within the $1.00-$1.41 range, with $1.4108 representing its most recent yearly high. The current level sees the XRP price back near this ceiling.

Key Takeaways

• XRP price is testing the $1.4131-$1.42 resistance area after rising by about 28% from $1.10 in August.
• If the breakout above $1.4131 is confirmed, XRP will face $1.50 and $1.60; otherwise, rejection could lead to a fall to $1.38 and $1.35.
• XRP market capitalization increased from $87 billion to $91 billion, supporting the rise in price.
• The number of active addresses increased to 45,000 but fell again to 35,000, indicating that network activity has cooled down amid the highs.
• XRP number of transactions decreased from 2.15 million to 1.85-1.90 million amid the price rise, generating a bearish divergence.
• For confirmation of the breakout, active addresses should return to 40,000-45,000, and transactions should be above 2 million.

Xrp Price Tests $1.41 Resistance

We looked at the XRP chart, and the short-term trend looks stronger than the broader market structure. XRP climbed from about $1.10 to $1.4131 over the past three to four weeks. That works out to a move of roughly 28%, and the rally has produced a clear series of higher highs and higher lows on the 4-hour timeframe.

The EMA 9 is also giving buyers some support. It currently stands at $1.4093, with XRP fluctuating near $1.4122. If the price continues above the stated level, short-term momentum will favor buyers. The critical levels are $1.4131-$1.42.

XRP hit a peak of $1.4131 but couldn’t keep it, falling to $1.3988. That shows sellers are still active around this zone. A 4-hour break above $1.4131 will confirm the breakout above the yearly range for the bulls. The next target is $1.50, followed by $1.60. However, in case of failure, the first level to watch is $1.4093. A breakdown of the EMA 9 could see the price fall to $1.35, with support around $1.30-$1.35.

On-Chain Data Raises Some Questions

The market-cap figures also indicate the recent surge in XRP. XRP’s market cap increased from around $87 billion to $91 billion as the price surged from around $1.38 to $1.44, an increase of about 4.6%.

Network activity doesn’t seem particularly convincing. Active addresses rose from around 25,000 to 45,000 as the price reached $1.44, but then dropped to around 35,000.

Transaction activity is even more interesting. Transactions fell from roughly 2.15 million to about 1.85-1.90 million as the XRP price climbed from around $1.36 to $1.44.

In simple terms, XRP is trading at higher prices, but fewer transactions are taking place on the network. That makes the current rally look more dependent on investors holding XRP than increased network usage. For the move to look healthier, active addresses would need to return toward 40,000-45,000, and transactions would need to push back above 2 million.

What Comes Next for Xrp

The XRP price now has a clear line to watch: $1.4131. A strong 4-hour close above that level could open the door to $1.50 and potentially $1.60. The market-cap data also gives $91 billion an important role, with a move above that level pointing toward the $95 billion area.

If XRP gets rejected again, $1.38 becomes the first major level to watch, followed by $1.35. The technical setup is bullish in the short term, but the on-chain numbers need to improve. XRP can break above $1.41 without them, but stronger transaction activity and more active addresses would give the breakout better confirmation.

Malone Lam, the alleged ringleader of a group accused of stealing more than $240 million in Bitcoin from a Washington, D.C., investor, has been set for a plea agreement hearing after 10 other defendants admitted guilt in the sprawling crypto theft case.

The Associated Press reported that the 22-year-old Singaporean is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday, nearly two years after prosecutors accused him and his associates of using social engineering to steal more than 4,100 Bitcoin from a longtime crypto investor in August 2024.

Eighteen defendants have been charged in the case, with Lam set to become the 11th to plead guilty. A prosecutor estimated during his first court appearance that federal sentencing guidelines could recommend at least 14 years in prison if he is convicted.

Lam was arrested in September 2024 after investigators traced a month-long spending spree involving luxury cars, private jets, expensive watches, mansions and millions of dollars spent at nightclubs.

Malone Lam case began with a $240 million Bitcoin theft

The case centers on an Aug. 18, 2024, attack against a Washington resident identified in court filings as “Victim 7.”

Prosecutors said the group targeted the man because he was a wealthy, longtime cryptocurrency investor. One caller posed as a Google representative and asked about supposed attempts to compromise the victim’s account. Another pretended to work for crypto exchange Gemini and warned that malware had affected his wallet.

The callers persuaded the victim to give them access to his Google Drive and disclose security codes, allowing the group to take control of more than 4,100 BTC.

Crypto.news previously reported in September 2024 that Lam, Veer Chetal and Jeandiel Serrano were linked to the roughly $243 million social engineering attack. Blockchain investigator ZachXBT helped trace the theft and published material tied to the group.

A private recording captured the suspects reacting after gaining control of the Bitcoin, according to the AP. One voice could be heard saying, “Oh, my God! Bro, bro, I’m going to spaz out!”

The stolen cryptocurrency was subsequently moved through multiple exchange platforms as money launderers worked to convert parts of the proceeds into fiat currency, prosecutors said.

Investigators alleged that the August theft was not the group’s first operation. Lam and his associates, who had met through online gaming communities, had worked together on other multimillion-dollar thefts since late 2023 using similar social engineering methods.

Such attacks have remained a major source of cryptocurrency losses. In January 2026, a crypto holder lost more than $282 million in Bitcoin and Litecoin after being deceived in another social engineering scheme involving a hardware wallet. ZachXBT said the stolen assets were moved through instant exchanges and converted into Monero.

Investigators traced the group through an IP address

One operational mistake helped investigators identify the people behind the 2024 theft.

Prosecutors said Serrano created an account on a cryptocurrency exchange to hold nearly $30 million in stolen assets but failed to conceal his internet protocol address. Investigators traced it to a home in Encino, California, that he was renting for $47,500 per month.

By then, members of the group had started spending their proceeds.

Serrano was vacationing in the Maldives when investigators identified him as a suspect, while Lam and his associates spent $4 million at Los Angeles nightclubs within a month, according to authorities.

Lam alone spent more than $569,000 during one night at a Los Angeles club. The FBI said he used stolen cryptocurrency to buy a $2 million watch and more than 30 vehicles, including customized Porsches, Lamborghinis and Ferraris.

Chetal bought his parents a Lamborghini and kept $500,000 in cash inside a duffel bag hidden in their washing machine.

Their spending soon created another security problem. Roughly a week after the Bitcoin theft, several masked men intercepted Chetal’s parents while they were driving in Danbury, Connecticut.

The attackers beat Chetal’s father with a baseball bat, forced the couple into a van and bound their hands, according to the AP. Prosecutors said the group intended to use the parents to pressure Chetal into surrendering his portion of the stolen cryptocurrency.

Witnesses contacted police, and officers arrested the alleged kidnappers before the ransom plan could be completed.

Physical attacks involving cryptocurrency holders and their relatives have become more common. Chainalysis estimated that criminals stole more than $30 million through successful physical crypto attacks worldwide during the first half of 2026.

The blockchain analytics firm documented 46 attacks through late June, of which 12 resulted in payments. Family members or people connected to crypto holders accounted for roughly 25% to 30% of documented cases by early 2026.

FBI arrests followed the group’s spending spree

The FBI searched Chetal’s apartment in Brunswick, New Jersey, on Sept. 9, 2024, finding $37 million in stolen cryptocurrency in his possession. Chetal subsequently agreed to cooperate with investigators.

Nine days later, agents arrested Serrano at Los Angeles International Airport while he was wearing a watch valued at $500,000.

Serrano initially denied involvement but later acknowledged possessing roughly $20 million in cryptocurrency stolen from the Washington victim, prosecutors said. His charges remain pending.

Lam was arrested the same day at one of the Miami properties he had been using. Prosecutors later alleged that an off-duty law enforcement officer warned him that authorities were preparing to make the arrest.

“We always talked about what it would be like if I were to go down, but never thought it would be this crazy,” Lam told associates during a recorded jail call cited in his indictment.

His spending surprised U.S. Magistrate Judge Alicia Valle during his initial appearance in Miami.

“I could only think of Ferris Bueller gone bad,” Valle said, referring to the main character in the 1986 film “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”

The arrests did not immediately stop stolen funds from being spent. Prosecutors said another defendant, Ferro, later used proceeds from the scheme to pay Lam’s legal expenses. Ferro pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy and declined to address the court when he was sentenced in May.

Social engineering losses remain high

The Lam case is part of a series of large cryptocurrency thefts in which attackers have targeted people instead of exploiting blockchain code.

Another elderly American lost $330.7 million worth of Bitcoin in April 2025 after attackers used a social engineering scheme to take 3,520 BTC, according to ZachXBT. The funds were subsequently moved through more than 300 wallets and at least 20 exchanges.

Federal data have recorded substantial losses from crypto-related fraud. The FBI received 181,565 cryptocurrency-related complaints involving $11.37 billion in losses during 2025, while investment fraud accounted for 61,559 complaints and $7.23 billion in reported losses.

Cybersecurity researcher Allison Nixon, who has tracked an online hacker subculture known as The Com, told the AP that the large sums available through crypto fraud have attracted young offenders and called for more law enforcement resources.

“If we don’t seriously ramp up the resources to take these people down and do it faster, then it’s going to spread more and more,” Nixon said.

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who is overseeing Lam’s case, has already sentenced three of his alleged co-conspirators. Two defendants involved in laundering the stolen funds received prison terms of roughly six years.

Chetal pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in November 2024 and is awaiting sentencing, while Tucker Desmond received probation after pleading guilty to destroying evidence connected to other members of the group.

Desmond told the court during his March sentencing that he had become “obsessed with the image of success rather than actually becoming a hard-working individual myself.”

During Ferro’s sentencing in May, defense attorney Kevin Wilson described the defendants as mischievous “young kids,” an argument Kollar-Kotelly rejected.

“Being young only goes so far,” the judge said.