Crypto World
Michael Burry Nvidia Warning: AI Boom Built on Customer Concentration and Hidden Debt Risks
TLDR:
- Nvidia now depends on three customers for 64% of receivables, increasing concentration risk sharply.
- Burry argues much AI spending reflects benchmarking activity rather than sustainable long-term demand.
- Tech giants reportedly hold $662 billion in off-balance-sheet AI commitments hidden from investors.
- Private equity, insurers, and offshore reinsurers may amplify risks if AI spending slows abruptly.
Michael Burry has raised fresh concerns about Nvidia’s revenue structure, warning that the chipmaker’s financials rest on a dangerously narrow customer base.
Burry argues that current AI spending patterns resemble a temporary buildout phase rather than permanent demand.
He introduces the concept of the “bezzle” to describe inflated spending that may sharply reverse. His analysis also connects Nvidia’s risk to a broader web of hidden financial commitments across the tech sector.
Nvidia’s Customer Concentration Raises Red Flags
Michael Burry Nvidia analysis centers on a striking shift in accounts receivable data. Three customers now account for 64% of Nvidia’s total accounts receivable.
That figure stood at 33% in 2020, meaning concentration has nearly doubled in just a few years. The jump of eight percentage points in a single quarter alone draws attention.
This level of concentration means Nvidia’s revenue depends heavily on the spending decisions of very few buyers. Any slowdown from those buyers would create a sizable gap in Nvidia’s reported numbers.
Burry describes the current AI spending environment as companies “flying empty airplanes around.” The reference points to benchmarking activity, model testing, and leaderboard competition rather than real, recurring demand.
Burry’s core argument is that this benchmarking phase will eventually end. When it does, those concentrated customers will have far less reason to maintain current chip order volumes.
The financial model holding Nvidia’s growth narrative together may then face a serious stress test. Markets have largely priced in sustained demand, which makes any deceleration more painful.
The danger is not that artificial intelligence as a technology is fraudulent. Rather, the concern is that a large portion of today’s AI infrastructure spending serves a temporary competitive signaling function. Once that function is served, the underlying procurement rationale shifts considerably.
Hidden Commitments and Offshore Risk Structures
Beyond Nvidia’s customer base, Burry points to a broader financing architecture that amplifies the risk. Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Oracle carry a combined $662 billion in off-balance-sheet AI commitments, according to Moody’s.
Standard accounting rules allow companies to exclude these figures from reported financials entirely. That means the true scale of AI infrastructure obligations remains largely invisible to public investors.
Private equity firms have moved to finance this buildout by acquiring life insurance companies. Those insurers collect premiums from ordinary policyholders and redirect that capital into the PE firms’ own illiquid assets.
The risk is then pushed offshore through captive reinsurers set up in Bermuda, where capital requirements are lighter. Each layer of this structure adds distance between the underlying risk and public disclosure.
The interlocking nature of these arrangements is what makes a potential unwind so disruptive. The same PE firms own the insurance vehicles funding AI debt.
The same Bermuda structures carry the reinsurance exposure. If a major hyperscaler exits a data center commitment, every connected counterparty faces pressure simultaneously.
Burry’s warning, therefore, covers two overlapping risks. One is Nvidia-specific and tied to customer concentration.
The other is systemic, involving hundreds of billions in commitments that have been structured to remain off the books until they cannot be.
Crypto World
The Death of the Petrodollar: Nouriel Roubini Outlines Shift to AI-Backed ‘Technodollars’
Economist Nouriel Roubini has declared the “death of the petrodollar” and backed a new tokenized reserve asset called ‘Technodollar’ tied to US productive assets, marking his first formal move into digital assets after years as one of crypto’s most prominent critics.
Speaking on the Expert Council podcast this week, Roubini said stablecoins fail to protect investors from the same inflation and debasement risks that affect traditional fiat currencies.
He argued that the next reserve asset should be linked to technology, artificial intelligence, defense, semiconductors, and other parts of the US economy.
The comments came as Atlas Capital Team launched USAFi, a tokenized reserve asset issued in Dubai under the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority’s Asset-Referenced Virtual Asset framework.
Atlas says USAFi introduces a new category of regulated digital reserve infrastructure. The token is structured as a permissionless ERC-20 asset and is directly collateralized by the Atlas America Fund, an SEC-registered, actively managed ETF listed on Nasdaq under the ticker USAF.
The Illusion of On-Chain Safety
For years, crypto investors have treated dollar-pegged stablecoins such as USDT and USDC as safe places to park capital during market stress.
Roubini said that view misses a larger problem. Stablecoins may help with payments, but they still track a fiat currency that can lose purchasing power during inflationary periods.
“Stablecoins are going to be useful as a means of payment… but if the critique of cryptocurrency was the risk of debasement that comes from inflation, then something that is not interest bearing, like a stablecoin, just a digital dollar with zero interest rate, is subject to the same kind of a debasement risk as a fiat,” Roubini said. “Stablecoins are a very imperfect way of providing this hedging. Highly imperfect is essentially a digital version of the fiat currency with all the problems of fiat currencies.”
His argument is simple. A token that only tracks the dollar does not solve the dollar’s weakness. It moves that weakness onto the blockchain.
That matters more in an economy facing persistent inflation, geopolitical shocks, and climate-related risks. In that environment, Roubini argues that investors need exposure to assets that can preserve real value, rather than digital cash that earns no yield.
From Petrodollars to Technodollars
Atlas framed USAFi around a larger shift in the global reserve system.
In a whitepaper published alongside the launch, the firm said the world has moved from the gold standard of 1944 to 1971, then to the energy-backed petrodollar from the 1970s onward. It now sees a new phase built around what it calls the “technodollar.”
The thesis is that US economic power is increasingly driven by technology rather than oil. Atlas says a reserve asset backed by AI-linked equities, semiconductors, defense technology, cyber infrastructure, short-duration Treasuries, gold, and climate-resilient real estate offers a better hedge for the modern economy.
USAFi’s collateral comes through the Atlas America Fund, which is custodied at BNY Mellon. Atlas says the fund uses machine learning to manage risk across its portfolio.
“The machines do the homework and the people on the investment committee, which Nouriel chairs, make the call,” said Reza Bundy, Atlas Capital CEO and Chairman.
Bringing the Asset On-Chain
Atlas partnered with Securitize to bring the asset onto public blockchains. Securitize is the tokenization platform behind several institutional real-world asset products, including BlackRock’s tokenized fund infrastructure.
The goal is to make USAFi usable as on-chain collateral, rather than keeping it inside a closed institutional environment.
“We think that the tokenized version of it could actually be a very good fit as working as a reserve asset for DeFi collateral,” said Carlos Domingo, founder and CEO of Securitize.
The launch also reflects a broader shift in real-world asset tokenization. Tokenized Treasuries and money market products have already gained traction, but Atlas is pitching USAFi as a more adaptive reserve asset for periods of inflation and macro stress.
For Roubini, the core point is that digital assets cannot rely only on fiat replicas. If investors want protection from debasement, he argues, the collateral itself must change.
USAFi is his first major test of that idea.
The post The Death of the Petrodollar: Nouriel Roubini Outlines Shift to AI-Backed ‘Technodollars’ appeared first on BeInCrypto.
Bitcoin (BTC) hit new two-week lows at Wednesday’s Wall Street open as traders predicted a rally to a “poor” lower high.
Key points:
- Bitcoin price action edges closer to range lows, which traders still see holding.
- A relief bounce should enter soon, they say, with targets closer to $70,000.
- US-Iran peace progress has little bullish impact on risk assets, with US stocks flat at the open.
BTC price nears range lows: Is $70,000 next?
Data from TradingView showed BTC price action dropping below $60,000 for the first time since June 10.
BTC/USD four-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
Traders had warned of increasing short interest with rising funding rates, boosting the odds of a capitulatory move lower.
“It’s time to start bouncing soon on the LTF,” trader Killa wrote in ongoing commentary on X, referring to low time frames.
“Range bound till proven otherwise.”
BTC/USD chart segment. Source: Killa/X
Killa uploaded a further chart showing a relief bounce toward $70,000, being due following the bounce.
BTC/USD chart segment. Source: Killa/X
Fellow trader RektProof had a broadly similar forecast, seeing BTC/USD trading in a range with $60,000 as its floor “for the rest of the month.”
“Overall, a move to supply and back down to the EQ lows before forming back to poor highs + 70k,” he added.
BTC/USDT one-hour chart. Source: RektProof/X
Stocks tread water as Hormuz oil transit progresses
On a macro level, US stocks appeared to have already priced in relief from the US-Iran peace deal.
Related: BTC price four-year trend calls for $76K as analysis says Bitcoin ‘not broken’
Upside was limited at the open despite US President Donald Trump offering further details of mutual cooperation between the two sides.
Trump specifically made reference to the Strait of Hormuz oil transit route, writing in a post on Truth Social that there would be “no tolls, no insurance costs, & no other charges of any kind being sought or received by Iran on ships traveling” via the route.
Source: Truth Social
The S&P 500 traded up 0.4% at the time of writing, while the Nasdaq Composite Index even turned slightly negative on the day.
Earlier, Cointelegraph reported on several factors keeping risk-asset enthusiasm in check, including forward earnings guidance by tech giant Micron Technologies and the May print of the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index, due out on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.
Crypto World
Strategy Stock Falls Below $100 for First Time in Two Years as Analysts Pick Apart Its Bitcoin Bet
Shares of Strategy, the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, fell below $100 on Wednesday for the first time since March 2024, leaving the company trading at a discount to the Bitcoin on its balance sheet and turning investor attention to which layer of its capital structure is still worth owning…. Read the full story at The Defiant
Cryptocurrency mining profitability remains under pressure across major proof-of-work networks, according to new data shared by Alphractal, which shows the sector is experiencing stagnation and reduced returns.
The analytics platform said that while miners continue to play an important role in maintaining network security and decentralization, the data suggests that profitability remains difficult across major proof-of-work networks.
Growing Pressure on Miners
Alphractal’s Mining Equilibrium Index compares miners’ average revenue per hash over 30 days against the 365-day average. Readings above 1.0 signal above-average profitability, while values below 0.5 point to stressed conditions for miners.
Among the four largest proof-of-work assets tracked by the index, Bitcoin posted the highest reading at 0.75, which makes it the strongest performer in terms of mining profitability.
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) followed at 0.66, which suggests relatively better conditions than the rest of the group. The OG meme coin, Dogecoin (DOGE), registered a score of 0.60, as mining profitability declined significantly over the years. Litecoin (LTC), on the other hand, recorded the lowest reading at 0.58, making it the weakest performer among the four assets.
However, Bitcoin’s position at the top of the list does not necessarily point to favorable conditions for miners. As recently reported by CryptoPotato, Bitcoin mining difficulty fell by more than 10%, in one of the largest downward adjustments of the year, and demonstrated that fewer miners are participating in the network. At the same time, the Bitcoin hash rate has continued to decline.
The figure briefly dropped below 790 EH/s this month from record levels above 1.2 ZH/s reached last year.
Alphractal also acknowledged that the current environment has made crypto mining increasingly dependent on access to capital, operational efficiency, and patience.
BTC Sales By Mining Companies
Several publicly listed Bitcoin miners have been selling their BTC holdings at the fastest pace since the previous crypto bear market. Back in April, The Energy Mag published a report that revealed that major mining companies such as MARA, CleanSpark, Riot, Cango, Core Scientific, and Bitdeer collectively sold more than 32,000 BTC during the first quarter of 2026.
The amount of Bitcoin sold surpassed the combined net sales recorded throughout all four quarters of 2025. The figure also set a new industry record as it exceeded the roughly 20,000 BTC liquidated by public miners during the second quarter of 2022, when the market was shaken by the collapse of the Terra-Luna ecosystem.
The post Mining Profits Dry Up Across Bitcoin, DOGE, LTC, and BCH appeared first on CryptoPotato.
Protect Progress, the super PAC affiliated with crypto industry flagship Fairshake, spent $5.5 million backing Adrian Boafo in Maryland’s Democratic primary for the 5th Congressional District on June 23, a 24-candidate field for the seat vacated by retiring House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.
Boafo won. Fairshake spokesperson Geoff Vetter put it plainly: “We went big, and we went early. We did our part to move Adrian Boafo from fifth place to the halls of Congress.”
That is not a boast. It is a data point. Boafo entered the race without top-tier name recognition in a district crowded with stronger-profile rivals, including former U.S. Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn, who carried Nancy Pelosi’s endorsement. The crypto PAC’s independent expenditure campaign changed the arithmetic of the race.
MD-05 is rated safely Democratic in the general election. Boafo’s primary win is effectively his congressional seat.The execution event, crypto-backed members voting as a bloc on market structure legislation, comes next.
The Maryland result is a single data point inside a larger, faster-moving pattern. Crypto legislation is stacking up in Congress, and the industry has been explicit about its strategy: build the vote count before the bills arrive on the floor, not after. Fairshake and allied crypto PACs have raised $188.9 million for the 2026 cycle، an aggressive early pace relative to the $359.4 million they deployed across the entire 2024 cycle. The Maryland win is proof of concept, not a one-off.
How $5.5M Buys a Congressional Nomination in a 24-Candidate Field
The structural logic of primary targeting is straightforward: low-turnout primaries in safe seats are the cheapest legislative votes the industry can buy. A $5.5 million independent expenditure in a crowded Democratic primary, where winning margins can be decided by a few thousand ballots, delivers substantially more ROI than the same sum deployed in a competitive general election.
Protect Progress is the Fairshake network’s affiliate vehicle for House races. The PAC began spending on Boafo well before the final push. Estimates from AdImpact and FEC data place early-cycle expenditures at $3.1 to $4.5 million by early June, including roughly $300,000 in a single week on TV and mail, before the final burst brought the total to $5.5 million.
This was a sustained intervention, not a last-minute rescue.
When AIPAC’s United Democracy Project is included, total outside support for Boafo reaches approximately $10-$11 million, accounting for more than 80% of all pro-Boafo advertising. The ads themselves did not mention crypto as an issue، they ran on endorsements from Governor Wes Moore, Senator Angela Alsobrooks, and Steny Hoyer.
The financial architecture and the campaign message were kept in separate lanes, which is legally required for independent expenditures and strategically useful for optics.
Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen called the spending an “obscene amount of big special-interest money.” That framing will repeat in November and in the next cycle. It has not yet altered the outcome of a race where Fairshake was deployed at this scale.
Crypto PAC Have Raised $188.9M This Cycle: Maryland is the Latest Proof of Concept
The Maryland congressional election was not the only race on the board Tuesday. Fairshake simultaneously spent $1.3 million backing Representative Ritchie Torres in New York’s 15th district، described internally as one of the industry’s most reliable House allies، and $516,000 on incumbent Representative April McClain Delaney in Maryland.
All supported candidates won or were winning as counts concluded.
The week prior, Fairshake had committed $12 million to Barry Moore’s Alabama Senate bid, the largest single-race deployment in the PAC’s 2026 cycle to date. The pattern is bipartisan by design: Moore is a Republican; Boafo and Torres are Democrats. The crypto PAC’s selection criterion is a candidate’s regulatory posture, not party affiliation.
The Blockchain Leadership Fund, backed by Anchorage Digital and Chainlink, also aligned publicly with Boafo in MD-05, adding a second layer of industry coordination beyond Protect Progress.
Fairshake’s broader donor base، heavily funded by Coinbase and Andreessen Horowitz, which have each contributed tens of millions to crypto-aligned political vehicles، had approximately $126 million remaining on-hand at the end of May, with general election spending not yet begun. The industry is not running low on ammunition.
Prediction market platform Kalshi currently prices a Democratic House majority at 79% odds. If that holds in November, the crypto industry will have built campaign-finance relationships with a significant portion of the incoming majority caucus, relationships established at the primary stage, before general election loyalties had to be negotiated.
The post Fairshake’s $5.5M Maryland Bet Pays Off: Boafo Heads to Congress appeared first on Cryptonews.
Crypto World
Lummis Sets July as Senate Floor Deadline for Clarity Act, Tells Dimon to Read the Bill
Senator Cynthia Lummis announced Wednesday morning that the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act will reach the Senate floor in July, setting the first hard public commitment to a floor date from the bill's lead sponsor. Lummis made the announcement on Fox Business's "Mornings with Maria," saying the… Read the full story at The Defiant
Months of negotiations have brought the CLARITY Act to its final review stage, with Senator Cynthia Lummis confirming a July 4 release of the updated text ahead of a Senate push later in July.
Summary
- Senator Cynthia Lummis said the final CLARITY Act text will be released around July 4 for public review.
- Senate leaders are working to schedule floor consideration of the crypto market structure bill in July.
- Law enforcement groups and anti-trafficking advocates continue to oppose Section 604 over AML and oversight concerns.
According to Lummis, who spoke with Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo, Senate negotiators are preparing to publish the updated legislative text after months of discussions involving lawmakers, industry stakeholders, and banking representatives. She said the bill will be made available for one final round of feedback before lawmakers seek a Senate floor vote later in July.
Speaking during the interview, Lummis said negotiations on the legislation have been ongoing since last Labor Day and have required extensive work to address concerns raised throughout the drafting process. She stated that lawmakers spent thousands of hours examining issues tied to both the CLARITY Act and the recently debated GENIUS Act while also considering objections raised by parts of the banking industry.
Following the publication of the text, Lummis said Senate leadership is working to secure floor time next month. She added that discussions with Senate Majority Leader John Thune are focused on placing the legislation on the chamber’s July agenda.
Senate prepares next step for crypto market structure bill
The expected release comes as lawmakers continue refining a framework intended to establish regulatory boundaries for digital asset markets in the United States.
During the interview, Lummis pushed back against criticism from JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, who had argued that the bill could allow crypto companies to offer rewards programs resembling interest-bearing banking products without being subject to the same safeguards as traditional financial institutions.
Responding to those concerns, Lummis said the criticism does not accurately reflect the legislation’s current language. She pointed to Section 301 of the bill, which she said was revised during negotiations to address issues raised by banks and regulators.
According to Lummis, the updated provisions ensure that rewards offered by crypto firms are not linked to account balances in a way that resembles interest payments. She also said the legislation includes additional anti-money laundering measures that were incorporated during the drafting process.
Her remarks come as lawmakers continue balancing demands from the crypto industry with concerns raised by traditional financial institutions over consumer protections and regulatory consistency.
Section 604 continues to attract opposition
While Senate negotiators move toward publication of the final text, several organizations have recently urged lawmakers to reconsider another part of the legislation.
As crypto.news previously reported, four law enforcement organizations sent a letter to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and White House digital assets adviser Patrick Witt, warning that Section 604 could create regulatory gaps and make investigations involving digital assets more difficult. The groups argued that the provision could weaken Know Your Customer and Anti-Money Laundering requirements compared with standards applied in traditional finance.
Section 604 incorporates the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act and would prevent certain non-custodial participants, including open-source developers, self-custody tool providers, software contributors, and some decentralized finance infrastructure operators, from automatically being classified as money transmitters.
Separately, the Alliance to End Human Trafficking urged Senate Republican Leader John Thune and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer to revisit the same provision. The organization said the proposed language could create ambiguities that complicate efforts to monitor financial activity linked to human trafficking, organized crime, child exploitation, sanctions evasion, and other illicit conduct.
Those objections add to the list of issues lawmakers are weighing as the CLARITY Act enters what Lummis described as its final public review phase before Senate consideration.
Ripple won a regulatory milestone in Japan this week — but it needed a rival blockchain to do it.
Earlier today, SBI VC Trade, a crypto arm of the $11 billion Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings, listed Ripple’s dollar-pegged stablecoin for trading, heralding it as the country’s first “Type 4 electronic payment instrument” under Japan’s revised Payment Services Act.
However, the only Ripple USD (RLUSD) tokens that SBI traders in Japan can deposit or withdraw are on the Ethereum blockchain.
The irony is rich. Ethereum is the primary competitor of the XRP Ledger (XRPL), the blockchain that Ripple incubated.
The Japanese approval of RLUSD as its first Type 4 instrument is unambiguous. The supported chain is Ethereum, and RLUSD on any other chain will not be accepted for deposit, including XRPL-based RLUSD.
Additional blockchains could earn approval in the future, although regulators have not specified any particular timeline for review.
Type 4 electronic payment method
Japan’s 2023 amendments to its Payment Services Act created a dedicated regulatory bucket for fiat-pegged stablecoins.
These “electronic payment instruments” separated digital money-type tokens from ordinary crypto assets like ether or XRP, which aren’t pegged in value to any fiat currency.
Pursuant to Article 2 of the act, Type 1 instruments include currency-denominated value usable for payment to and tradable with unspecified persons, Type 2 covers value instantly exchangeable with Type 1, and Type 3 covers instruments with specific trust beneficiary rights.
Type 4 is a residual, catch-all slot for property value designated, by cabinet office ordinance, as otherwise equivalent in value to the first three categories.
It’s the bucket regulators can reach for when an instrument doesn’t fit cleanly anywhere else.
That residual quality explains the awkward legal footnote in SBI VC Trade’s own announcement. The RLUSD token is not a trust beneficiary right under US law, the company noted, yet SBI workers were able to help it gain Type 4 classification for Japanese purposes anyway after establishing its financial equivalencies to the USD to the satisfaction of regulators.
The Type 4 label is as much a classification as a regulatory admission that Ethereum has some superiority over the XRPL.
RLUSD didn’t slot neatly into the three main categories, but thanks to the help of Ethereum, it was able to gain a catch-all designation.
It’s issued by Standard Custody & Trust Company, a New York-chartered Ripple subsidiary, and is backed by dollar deposits and short-term Treasuries subject to monthly, third-party attestations.
It’s the second dollar stablecoin on the SBI VCTRADE platform, which has handled Circle’s USDC since March 2025. USDC is a Type 3 instrument in Japan.
An XRP milestone using Ethereum
Still, XRP influencers framed the event as a win. RLUSD started trending on X.
The president of SBI VC Trade billed the listing as a milestone and credited Ripple Labs for the momentous occasion.
Jack McDonald, Ripple’s senior vice president for stablecoins, praised Japan’s regulatory clarity and applauded RLUSD’s ability to link Japanese institutions with global liquidity.
Neither executive dwelt on which blockchain was actually linking up the liquidity.
“They launched this one on ETHEREUM,” one account posted in reply to celebratory coverage.
A separate post highlighted the fine print on the approval. RLUSD is live “on Ethereum ONLY” as a Japanese Type 4 electronic payment instrument and capped at roughly $6,200 per transaction, a ceiling that matches the 1 million yen per-transaction limit set in SBI VC Trade’s own announcement.
Most of RLUSD already lives on Ethereum
The Japanese listing isn’t an anomaly. Indeed, despite being a Ripple project, the majority of RLUSD tokens have historically existed outside of the XRPL.
As Protos reported on June 15, around $879 million of the token in circulation was parked on Ethereum, ahead of roughly $760 million on the XRP Ledger.
Read more: Ripple dumps XRP to pump RLUSD — still 0.2% the size of USDT
Ethereum’s dominance had been wider earlier in the cycle, with Ethereum holding close to 88% of RLUSD supply as recently as October 2025.
Coin listing sites like CoinMarketCap reinforce the preeminence of Ethereum-based RLUSD, listing RLUSD’s primary blockchain as Ethereum and pointing to the token’s ERC-20 contract address as its primary smart contract, rather than any XRP Ledger issuance.
Dwarfing the size of XRPL, Ethereum gave RLUSD deeper liquidity, mature DeFi venues like Aave and Curve, and a far larger base of dollar-stablecoin holders.
For a Japanese exchange wiring up a new asset, Ethereum-based RLUSD was the quickest path to approval and trade listings.
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Congressional scrutiny has intensified around World Liberty Financial (WLFI) after Senate Democrats raised concerns about a major foreign-linked investment. The lawmakers are seeking additional information about a reported transaction involving entities connected to the United Arab Emirates. Meanwhile, the issue has emerged alongside ongoing debates over digital asset legislation in Washington.
Senate Democrats Seek Review of WLFI UAE Investment
Five Democratic senators have urged Republican committee leaders to examine a reported investment involving WLFI. The lawmakers requested a congressional hearing and highlighted potential conflicts linked to foreign interests. As a result, the issue has drawn fresh attention to the company’s ownership structure.
According to the senators, the investment agreement was completed shortly before Donald Trump returned to office. They stated that a UAE-linked partner received a 49% stake in WLFI through the arrangement. Additionally, the lawmakers reported that foreign buyers paid $218 million to entities connected to Trump and envoy Steve Witkoff.
The senators identified Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan as the lead investor in the transaction. They argued that the reported ownership structure raises questions about foreign influence. Consequently, they requested sworn statements from administration officials and others connected to the deal.
The lawmakers also pointed to policy developments that occurred after Trump took office. They noted that the UAE received more than $1.4 billion in arms approvals since January 2025. Furthermore, exports of advanced artificial intelligence chips exceeded $1 billion during the same period.
Democrats want authorities to clarify what officials knew about the reported payments and timing. Therefore, they are seeking records and testimony from relevant parties. The request forms part of a broader effort to examine potential conflicts involving public officials.
The inquiry adds another layer of political pressure on WLFI and its associated projects. At the same time, lawmakers continue to debate how digital asset businesses should operate. As discussions continue, congressional committees may face increased pressure to address the concerns.
Clarity Act Debate Adds New Dimension to Dispute
The controversy has surfaced while Congress continues work on the CLARITY Act. The legislation aims to establish a clearer regulatory framework for digital assets. Therefore, lawmakers remain engaged in negotiations over several key provisions.
Senate Democrats have proposed ethics measures tied to the legislation. The proposal would restrict federal officials from creating, promoting, or sponsoring crypto assets. Consequently, the amendment could affect projects associated with current government officials.
The proposed restrictions could impact crypto ventures linked to Trump. Lawmakers specifically referenced World Liberty Financial and the TRUMP meme coin. As a result, the debate has expanded beyond market regulation and into ethics oversight.
White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt has become involved in discussions surrounding the bill. Reports indicate that he is working to address concerns related to the ethics provisions. Meanwhile, lawmakers continue to negotiate the final structure of the legislation.
Supporters of the ethics proposal argue that stronger safeguards would reduce potential conflicts. However, opponents maintain that broad restrictions could affect participation in emerging technologies. Therefore, the issue remains a key point of disagreement in Congress.
The dispute highlights the growing intersection between digital assets and national politics. At the same time, regulators and lawmakers continue shaping future crypto policy. As congressional discussions move forward, both the WLFI inquiry and the CLARITY Act debate are expected to remain prominent topics.
Cboe, one of the largest U.S. derivatives exchanges, said it is entering the prediction-market arena and is reviving binary options on the S&P 500 index after abandoning them more than a decade ago, a move that brings it into competition with platforms such as Kalshi and the crypto-native Polymarket.
A binary option is a yes-or-no bet that pays a fixed amount if an outcome occurs, in this case whether the benchmark U.S. equity index crosses a specific level. That is close to what Polymarket and Kalshi already offer, though their offerings go beyond stock market forecasts to cover political and sporting outcomes as well as other topics.
The introduction follows Cboe’s success with same-day S&P 500 options, contracts that expire within hours and now make up about 30% of U.S. options volume, calling attention to the demand for fast, outcome-based trades.
“Investors increasingly seek products that allow them to express a specific view on future events and market outcomes,” said Milan Galik, CEO of Interactive Brokers, which is carrying the binary contracts, in a statement.
The contracts will also become available on Charles Schwab later this year.
Second time round
Cboe has tried this market before. It first listed binary options on the S&P 500 and the Cboe Volatility Index in 2008, but they failed to draw interest and were pulled, with the last such contract expiring in 2017.
The Death of the Petrodollar: Nouriel Roubini Outlines Shift to AI-Backed ‘Technodollars’
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