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SEC and CFTC File Suit Against Goliath Ventures in $400M Crypto Ponzi Case

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Crypto Breaking News

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have filed separate civil lawsuits targeting Goliath Ventures and its founder Christopher Delgado, alleging conduct consistent with a crypto Ponzi scheme that raised hundreds of millions of dollars from investors.

The SEC’s action focuses on an alleged unregistered securities offering totaling at least $425 million from more than 1,300 investors, while the CFTC says roughly 1,600 customers contributed about $397 million tied to solicitations for crypto trading in Bitcoin and Ether. The agencies are seeking remedies that include restitution, disgorgement, penalties, and permanent bans—expanding potential consequences beyond a parallel criminal case already moving through the courts.

Key takeaways

  • The SEC alleges Goliath raised at least $425 million via an unregistered offering and that investor funds were not invested as promised.
  • According to the SEC, Delgado allegedly diverted at least $51 million for personal use and allegedly fabricated account balances and performance reporting.
  • The CFTC alleges about $397 million came from approximately 1,600 customers after solicitations connected to crypto trading in Bitcoin and Ether.
  • Both civil suits add securities and commodities-law enforcement actions, potentially enabling broader investor compensation and market bans than the criminal plea alone.
  • Delgado has agreed to a bifurcated settlement in the SEC case that would impose permanent bars, pending court approval and final determinations on financial penalties.

SEC: Alleged unregistered offering and diverted investor funds

In its complaint, the SEC said Goliath collected at least $425 million from more than 1,300 investors through what it characterized as an unregistered securities offering. The agency alleged that investors were told their money would be placed into crypto liquidity pools, but that “none” of the funds or crypto assets were actually invested in the manner represented.

The SEC further alleged that Delgado diverted at least $51 million for personal use. The SEC also said Goliath used funds and crypto assets from new and existing investors to make earlier payments—an arrangement the agency characterized as inconsistent with the investment strategy sold to participants.

According to the SEC, Goliath promised monthly returns ranging from 3% to 10% and guaranteed investor principal, claiming the returns were generated from fees paid by traders using its liquidity pools. The SEC alleges that, in reality, the company made payments by recycling investor money and fabricated account balances and performance metrics to support the scheme.

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The SEC also alleged that commissions were paid to sales agents who recruited investors. The agency said the business eventually faltered after it could no longer raise funds quickly enough to meet obligations, stopped making monthly distributions, and collapsed—an outcome the SEC said came after the company’s operations turned unsustainable.

CFTC: Commodities-law claims tied to Bitcoin and Ether trading solicitations

Separately, the CFTC said Goliath solicited funds for crypto trading in Bitcoin and Ether, attracting approximately 1,600 customers and at least $397 million. The agency’s complaint positions the conduct within commodities and trading enforcement frameworks, seeking consequences aimed at restoring losses and preventing continued market participation.

In its civil action, the CFTC is seeking restitution, disgorgement, civil penalties, trading and registration bans, and a permanent injunction. While the SEC case centers on alleged unregistered securities and the handling of investor capital, the CFTC action reflects the regulator’s view that the underlying promotional and trading-related representations also triggered commodities-law concerns.

Delgado’s SEC settlement and what it does—and doesn’t—end

In the SEC matter, Delgado agreed to a bifurcated settlement, subject to court approval. The deal, as described by the SEC, would permanently bar him from violating the securities-law provisions charged in the complaint. It would also restrict him from participating in securities transactions outside personal-account activity and from associating with a broker or dealer.

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The settlement leaves key financial components to be determined by the court, including disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and a civil penalty. In practice, this means the case can still produce significant financial exposure, even as certain legal and behavioral restrictions are agreed in principle.

Delgado is also tied to a criminal resolution. The article notes that he previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. The U.S. Department of Justice has said that at least $400 million was paid to Goliath and that Delgado admitted causing at least $250 million in investor losses. The DOJ further stated that forfeiture was part of the agreement, covering properties, vehicles, luxury goods, bank accounts, and crypto wallets traceable to the scheme.

These developments underscore why the SEC and CFTC actions matter: civil proceedings can pursue investor-focused remedies and broader prohibitions that may not be fully addressed through a plea deal alone. Together, the cases give regulators additional tools to seek compensation, impose penalties, and limit future access to regulated markets.

Why the paired SEC and CFTC cases signal a tougher enforcement stance

Running parallel civil actions under two different federal agencies is notable because it reflects a broader pattern in crypto enforcement: regulators are increasingly willing to frame the same promotional conduct through multiple legal lenses—securities and commodities—depending on how the offering and trading-related representations are structured.

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Here, the SEC’s allegations emphasize return guarantees, alleged principal protection, and promised placement into liquidity pools—elements the agency says were used to attract capital under an unregistered offering. The CFTC’s allegations, meanwhile, tie customer solicitations to Bitcoin and Ether trading, supporting its request for trading-specific bans and other restrictions.

For investors watching these cases, one practical takeaway is that “getting the money back” often depends on how quickly courts move on disgorgement, restitution, and related orders. Another is that criminal outcomes do not necessarily close the door to civil enforcement: as the regulators seek permanent injunctions and long-term participation restrictions, the civil cases can continue to shape who is barred from markets even after criminal resolution.

Next, investors and observers will likely focus on court approval of the SEC settlement terms and the final rulings on disgorgement, interest, and penalties, along with how the CFTC case progresses toward relief such as restitution and permanent bans.

Risk & affiliate notice: Crypto assets are volatile and capital is at risk. This article may contain affiliate links. Read full disclosure

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'Betty' Is One of TIME's 50 Most Underappreciated Shows

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'Betty' Is One of TIME's 50 Most Underappreciated Shows
—Stephanie Mei Ling—HBO (1, 2); Alison Cohen Rosa—HBO

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Ethereum price drops 2.6%, can $1,850 support hold?

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Ethereum 4-hour chart shows ETH trading near $1,887 below Supertrend resistance at $1,925 as bearish momentum builds.

Ethereum price fell 2.6% toward $1,870 on Aug. 11 after another rejection below $1,950 triggered long liquidations, while traders reduced risk ahead of the latest U.S. inflation report.

Summary

  • Ethereum price fell 2.6% toward $1,870 after buyers failed to sustain a move above $1,900.
  • The daily RSI remains neutral at 51.63, but ETH is below three major moving averages.
  • Liquidation clusters at $1,895 and $1,940 could amplify a recovery, while $1,857 anchors downside liquidity.
  • Analysts identify $1,850 as the bullish invalidation level and $1,950 as the breakout threshold.

Ethereum price falls below $1,900

According to data from crypto.news, Ethereum (ETH) price traded near $1,870 during the latest session after sellers rejected another attempt to hold above the $1,900 psychological level. The decline extended from the Aug. 10 high near $1,935 and briefly pushed the token toward an intraday low of approximately $1,867.

ETH had recovered to around $1,886 by the time the accompanying charts were captured, reducing part of the daily loss. However, the rebound left the price below the short-term resistance area that has contained every advance since late July.

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The decline follows several days of compression between roughly $1,850 and $1,950. Ethereum briefly approached the upper end of that range during the previous session, but buyers could not generate enough momentum to secure a daily close above $1,900.

That rejection reversed the setup observed one day earlier, when Ethereum had held $1,900 while traders watched liquidity near $1,950. The loss of $1,900 has now returned attention to the lower boundary of the range.

The 4-hour chart shows that ETH remains in a wider recovery from its late-June low near $1,520. Still, its recent sequence of higher lows has not produced a decisive higher high above the July peak near $1,970, leaving the market without a confirmed breakout.

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Ethereum 4-hour chart shows ETH trading near $1,887 below Supertrend resistance at $1,925 as bearish momentum builds.
Ethereum 4-hour price chart — Aug. 11 | Source: crypto.news

Why Ethereum price is under pressure

The immediate pressure came from Ethereum’s failure to clear the $1,900–$1,950 resistance zone. Repeated rejections in the same area encouraged short-term traders to take profits, while the move below $1,900 exposed leveraged long positions opened in anticipation of a breakout.

The 4-hour Bull Bear Power indicator has fallen to -25.44, showing that sellers have regained short-term control. Negative readings do not guarantee an extended decline, but they show that buying pressure has weakened since ETH approached $1,930.

The 4-hour Supertrend has also flipped bearish, placing dynamic resistance at approximately $1,925. ETH would need to reclaim that level before the indicator supports another move toward $1,950.

Broader risk appetite remains cautious before the July U.S. Consumer Price Index report. The Bureau of Labor Statistics will publish the data on Aug. 12 at 8:30 a.m. Eastern, making it the next major macroeconomic catalyst for U.S. crypto traders.

A hotter-than-expected reading could support a higher-for-longer Federal Reserve policy outlook and pressure speculative assets. Softer inflation, by contrast, could improve liquidity expectations and help ETH challenge its overhead resistance.

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Rising energy prices have added uncertainty to that outlook. Higher oil costs can feed into headline inflation and complicate expectations for future U.S. interest-rate decisions, although the direct effect on Ethereum will depend on the CPI result and the market’s response.

ETH liquidation map points to $1,895 and $1,940

The 3-day CoinGlass liquidation heatmap shows a dense concentration of leveraged positions near $1,895, just above Ethereum’s current price. This is the closest major upside liquidity pool and could attract price if ETH’s recovery continues.

Ethereum 3-day liquidation heatmap shows major liquidity clusters near $1,895 and $1,940, with downside liquidity around $1,857.
Ethereum liquidation heatmap | Source: CoinGlass

A move through $1,895 could liquidate nearby short positions and accelerate a return above $1,900. The resulting forced buying may then expose smaller liquidity bands between approximately $1,915 and $1,930.

The strongest overhead concentration appears near $1,940. That level sits inside the same resistance zone that stopped Ethereum’s recent advances, making it both a technical barrier and a potential short-squeeze target.

Downside liquidity is concentrated around $1,857. A decline into that area could trigger another wave of long liquidations before buyers attempt to defend the broader $1,840–$1,850 support zone.

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The heatmap therefore places ETH between two nearby leverage targets. Price compression within this structure raises the chance that a break on either side produces a sharper move as exchanges close positions caught offside.

Ethereum technicals keep $1,850 in focus

Ethereum’s daily chart presents a mixed setup. ETH is trading below its 20-day simple moving average at $1,892.52 and its 100-day average at $1,895.32, creating immediate resistance around $1,890–$1,900.

Ethereum daily chart shows ETH below $1,900 and key moving averages, with neutral RSI and support near $1,850.
Ethereum price daily chart — Aug. 11 | Source: crypto.news

The token also remains well below the 200-day SMA at $2,040.56. That long-term average would become relevant only if ETH first breaks $1,950 and then establishes support above $2,000.

The 50-day SMA at $1,810 provides the closest major dynamic support below the current range. Its upward slope reflects the recovery from June, but a move toward that average would confirm that the $1,850 floor had failed.

Daily momentum remains neutral rather than deeply bearish. The Relative Strength Index stands at 51.63, slightly below its signal average of 53.51. That reading gives sellers some short-term control without placing Ethereum near oversold conditions.

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Analyst Ted Pillows identified $1,850 as a must-hold area if Ethereum is to produce another push above $1,900. His chart places subsequent upside levels near $2,000 and $2,190, while a confirmed loss of the current support could open a decline toward $1,700 and eventually the $1,550 region.

Daan Crypto Trades offered a similar range assessment, arguing that ETH must break and hold $1,950 to open a move above $2,100.

“Especially seeing how compressed price has been here, a breakout (to either side) should come with a decent squeeze of positions that are caught offside.”

He also marked $1,850 as the bullish invalidation level. Together, the two assessments establish a clear short-term structure: $1,850 controls the downside, while $1,950 separates continued consolidation from a stronger recovery.

U.S. CPI could decide Ethereum’s next move

Institutional demand provides some support despite the short-term price weakness. U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs attracted approximately $244.9 million during the week ended Aug. 7, according to recent flow data.

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Those inflows challenge the idea that institutional investors have completely withdrawn from ETH. However, ETF demand has not yet been strong enough to force a breakout through the $1,950 resistance area.

The next directional move may depend on whether U.S. inflation data strengthens or weakens the dollar and Treasury yields. A favorable response could help Ethereum reclaim $1,900 and target the $1,925 Supertrend level, followed by the $1,940–$1,950 liquidity zone.

Failure to recover $1,900 would keep ETH vulnerable to another test of $1,857 and $1,850. A daily close below that support would expose the 50-day SMA near $1,810, while sustained selling could place the July consolidation area around $1,700 back in focus.

For now, Ethereum remains compressed between a well-defended floor and heavy overhead supply. The reaction at $1,850 or a confirmed break above $1,950 will provide stronger evidence of the market’s next trend.

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Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.

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Chainlink price rallies on Standard Chartered $200 call

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Chainlink daily chart shows LINK rising 4.5% to $8.67 above $8.48 resistance, with the next Fibonacci level at $8.93.

Chainlink price rose 4.5% to $8.67 on Aug. 11 after Standard Chartered initiated coverage with a $200 target for 2030, while technical indicators pointed to improving short-term momentum.

Summary

  • Chainlink gained 4.5% to $8.67, breaking above the daily chart’s $8.48 Fibonacci level.
  • Standard Chartered projected LINK could reach $200 by 2030 as asset tokenization expands.
  • LINK’s 4-hour Supertrend turned bullish, establishing immediate dynamic support near $8.21.
  • Liquidation clusters above $8.70 and $8.90 could pull LINK price toward the next resistance zone.

Chainlink price rallies above $8.48 resistance

According to data from crypto.news, Chainlink (LINK) price traded at $8.67 at the time of writing, up 4.5% over the previous 24 hours. LINK opened the daily session near $8.30, fell briefly to $8.29, and then climbed as high as $8.72.

Chainlink daily chart shows LINK rising 4.5% to $8.67 above $8.48 resistance, with the next Fibonacci level at $8.93.
Chainlink price daily chart — Aug. 11 | Source: crypto.news

The move pushed LINK above the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level at $8.48, calculated from its May high of $10.87 to its June low near $7.00. That level had restricted several recovery attempts since late July.

Holding above $8.48 would give buyers a stronger base for challenging the 50% retracement at $8.93. The latter also sits near a local high identified by trader Daan Crypto Trades, making the $8.90–$8.93 area the most important immediate resistance zone.

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LINK has now recovered about 24% from its late-June low. However, it remains below its May peak and has yet to confirm a broader trend reversal on the daily chart.

The daily Aroon indicator showed a sharp improvement in bullish momentum. Aroon Up reached 100%, compared with Aroon Down at 28.57%, indicating that LINK recorded a recent high while downside momentum weakened.

Still, the Chaikin Money Flow remained marginally negative at -0.01. The reading suggests that the price breakout has not yet received strong confirmation from sustained capital inflows. A move above zero would add weight to the bullish setup.

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Standard Chartered’s $200 LINK target drives demand

The rally followed a Standard Chartered research note that initiated coverage of LINK with a $200 price target for the end of 2030. The target represents a gain of more than 2,200% from the token’s current price.

Geoff Kendrick, the bank’s global head of digital assets research, reportedly set interim targets of $13 for the end of 2026, $41 for 2027, $82 for 2028, and $133 for 2029.

The forecast rests largely on Standard Chartered’s expectation that tokenized assets held on public blockchains could grow from about $340 billion to $4 trillion by the end of 2028. The bank expects increased tokenization to raise demand for oracle data, cross-chain transfers, and compliance infrastructure.

Chainlink currently secures more than $110 billion in oracle-dependent value, representing about 70% of the global market and over 80% of the value secured by oracles on Ethereum, according to figures cited in the report.

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Standard Chartered also estimated that Chainlink’s fee revenue could expand about 25-fold by 2030 as tokenized assets move between traditional finance and decentralized networks. However, the $200 figure remains a long-term forecast rather than a guaranteed price outcome.

The positive report arrived as LINK supply on centralized exchanges continued to decline. More than 15.7 million tokens reportedly left exchanges over a recent one-month period, reducing exchange-held supply by about 12%.

Separately, approximately 1.26 million LINK, valued at more than $10 million at the time, left centralized platforms in one day in early August. Exchange withdrawals can reduce immediately available selling supply, although they do not reveal whether holders intend to accumulate, use the tokens on-chain or transfer them elsewhere.

LINK technical indicators favor another test of $8.90

The 4-hour chart supports the short-term bullish case. LINK broke above the Supertrend resistance near $8.37, causing the indicator to flip positive and establish trailing support at $8.21.

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Chainlink 4-hour chart shows LINK breaking above Supertrend resistance at $8.37 as bullish momentum strengthens toward $8.90.
Chainlink price 4-hour chart — Aug. 11 | Source: crypto.news

Price also cleared the narrow consolidation range between roughly $8.10 and $8.40 that had been in place since the beginning of August. Buyers must now defend the former upper boundary around $8.36 during any retest.

The Awesome Oscillator rose to 0.116 and printed an expanding green bar above the zero line. This shows that short-term momentum is accelerating relative to the longer-term average.

Immediate resistance sits around $8.72, corresponding with Tuesday’s intraday high. A close above that level would leave $8.90–$8.93 as the next target. Beyond $8.93, the daily Fibonacci chart identifies resistance at $9.39, followed by $10.04.

A rejection from the current area would put $8.48 back in focus. Below that, the former Supertrend resistance at $8.36 and active Supertrend support at $8.21 form the main defense for the breakout.

Losing $8.21 could invalidate the immediate bullish setup and expose LINK to $7.91, the daily chart’s 23.6% Fibonacci level. The larger downside liquidity concentration sits near $8.00, making that psychological level important if broader crypto market conditions weaken.

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Liquidation map points to volatility above $8.70

CoinGlass’ one-week LINK liquidation heatmap shows that the token has already moved through a dense concentration of leveraged positions around $8.45–$8.55. LINK’s price was approaching another set of liquidation bands above $8.70 when the chart was captured.

LINK one-week liquidation heatmap shows price approaching short-liquidation clusters above $8.70, with major downside liquidity near $8.00.
Chainlink liquidation heatmap | Source: CoinGlass

Further short-liquidation liquidity appears between approximately $8.80 and $8.90. If LINK holds above $8.60, these positions could provide fuel for another short squeeze toward the $8.93 technical target.

On the downside, the largest visible liquidation cluster lies near $8.00–$8.05. A failed breakout and decline below $8.21 could therefore accelerate as leveraged long positions are closed.

Daan Crypto Trades also identified $8.90 as the key level needed to confirm a continuation. The trader said LINK had returned to its highest-volume historical price area and was holding higher-time-frame support.

“I want to see a move above $8.9 to break the local high and get a move going,” Daan said.

For U.S. traders, the next macro risk is the July Consumer Price Index report. A stronger-than-expected inflation reading could pressure crypto assets by reducing expectations for Federal Reserve rate cuts. LINK’s ability to hold $8.48 during a broader risk-off move would provide a clearer test of whether the Standard Chartered-driven demand can extend beyond the initial rally.

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Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.

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eToro to buy TradeZero as crypto trades fall 73% year over year

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eToro to buy TradeZero as crypto trades fall 73% year over year

eToro has agreed to acquire U.S.-focused brokerage TradeZero for up to $231 million as the trading platform pushes further into the American market while crypto activity among its users continues to fall.

Summary

  • eToro agreed to acquire U.S. brokerage TradeZero for up to $231 million as it expands its presence in the American trading market.
  • TradeZero generated about $80 million in revenue with an 81% gross margin during the 12 months ended June 30, 2026.
  • eToro reported $1.34 billion in crypto revenue for the second quarter, down about 30% from $1.9 billion a year earlier.
  • Crypto trading activity continued to fall, with July trades dropping 73% year over year to 1.4 million and the amount invested falling 50%.
  • The TradeZero acquisition is expected to close in the first half of 2027, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.

eToro said Tuesday that the cash-and-stock transaction would add TradeZero’s active-trader customer base and brokerage infrastructure to its U.S. operations, with the acquisition expected to close in the first half of 2027 after regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions are met.

The company expects the purchase to increase adjusted earnings per share during the first year after completion. TradeZero generated about $80 million in revenue during the 12 months ended June 30, 2026, with an 81% gross margin, according to eToro.

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Founded in 2015, TradeZero serves active traders in the United States and also operates in Canada and international markets. Its platforms provide trading in stocks and options alongside extended-hours access, short-selling tools, market scanners and other services geared toward frequent traders.

“Today’s announcement is an important step in building our US business,” eToro co-founder and CEO Yoni Assia said. He added that combining the companies would provide “a faster path to launching new products for US customers.”

TradeZero deal adds to eToro’s U.S. expansion

The acquisition would give eToro additional infrastructure in a market where the company has operated since launching its U.S. platform in 2019. Europe and the U.K. have historically accounted for much of eToro’s business, while the company has been expanding in the Americas and Asia-Pacific.

Under the transaction terms, eToro would pay cash and issue up to 2.5 million new Class A shares, with total consideration reaching as much as $231 million after customary purchase-price adjustments.

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Jefferies is acting as eToro’s exclusive financial adviser, while Simpson Thacher & Bartlett is serving as its lead deal counsel. J.P. Morgan Securities is advising TradeZero, with Choate, Hall & Stewart serving as the brokerage’s lead counsel.

The deal was announced alongside eToro’s second-quarter results, when adjusted earnings reached $0.68 per share, above the $0.61 expected by analysts surveyed by LSEG. Net trading income from equities, commodities and currencies increased 24% year over year to $141.6 million, led mainly by equities trading.

Trading patterns among existing customers also changed during the quarter. More than 60% of users who had traded commodities during the previous two quarters went on to trade equities during the second quarter, according to the company.

Chief Financial Officer Meron Shani said nearly nine in ten of the users who moved from commodities into equities had also traded cryptocurrencies on eToro, showing significant overlap between customers using its different asset classes.

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Crypto trading on eToro has continued to fall

Crypto activity remained much weaker than a year earlier despite eToro continuing to invest in digital-asset products.

The company reported $1.59 billion in total revenue for the second quarter, compared with about $2 billion during the corresponding period of 2025. Revenue reported from crypto assets fell to roughly $1.34 billion from $1.9 billion a year earlier.

Because eToro reports cryptoasset revenue on a gross basis, much of the figure is offset by the cost of acquiring the cryptoassets involved in customer transactions. Crypto-related cost of revenue reached about $1.35 billion during the quarter, while net income attributed to crypto assets was $19.7 million.

Total company net income stood at $53.4 million, while equities and commodities-related trading generated about $141 million in net trading income.

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The decline followed weakness recorded earlier in the year. In May, crypto.news reported on eToro’s results showing that April crypto trades had fallen 32% from a year earlier to 2 million, while the amount invested per crypto trade dropped 22% to $207. The company nevertheless posted $82 million in first-quarter net income, up 37% year over year.

The drop accelerated into July. eToro recorded about 1.4 million cryptocurrency trades during the month, 73% fewer than a year earlier, while the amount invested in crypto fell 50%.

Earlier first-quarter figures showed the same pattern in crypto-related earnings. Crypto generated about $13 million in profit during Q1, down from $46 million in the same quarter of 2025, even as eToro’s overall net contribution increased to $258 million.

At the same time, assets under administration reached $17 billion at the end of March, up 15% year over year, while funded accounts increased 12% to 4.02 million. By April, assets under administration had increased further to $18.7 billion.

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eToro is still building its crypto business

Lower crypto trading activity has not stopped eToro from adding products and infrastructure tied to digital assets.

On April 30, the company completed its acquisition of Zengo, a self-custodial crypto wallet provider that uses multi-party computation technology rather than conventional seed phrases. eToro said the purchase would help connect its traditional financial products with onchain infrastructure.

The company also activated its BitLicense earlier this year to begin offering cryptocurrency trading in New York. At the time, eToro had expanded its crypto offering to more than 150 assets globally, including more than 100 assets available to U.S. customers.

In July, eToro led a $12.5 million strategic investment in decentralized perpetual futures exchange Extended, with Jump Crypto also participating. As previously covered by crypto.news, the financing was accompanied by a partnership between Extended and Zengo to explore access to financial markets through onchain trading infrastructure.

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Extended operates using StarkWare’s StarkEx technology and focuses on perpetual futures that can be traded through a self-custodial structure. The platform opened trading to all users in late 2024.

eToro has also pushed equities onto blockchain rails

eToro’s work around digital assets has included attempts to combine its equities business with blockchain-based settlement rather than relying only on cryptocurrency trading.

In July 2025, eToro announced plans to issue tokenized versions of U.S.-listed stocks on Ethereum, alongside 24/5 trading for 100 U.S. stocks and exchange-traded funds. The company also disclosed work with CME Group on spot-quoted futures.

Under the proposed tokenization model, users would be able to move supported stock tokens onto Ethereum and redeem them against underlying positions held through eToro. Assia said at the time that the company planned to start with stocks as part of its tokenization work.

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The initiative followed eToro’s 2019 acquisition of Danish tokenization company Firmo and its subsequent introduction of tokenized gold, silver and fiat currencies. Its U.S. product expansion has since continued alongside those blockchain initiatives, including New York crypto trading, the Zengo purchase and the planned acquisition of TradeZero.

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Russia names Bitcoin, Ether and USDT for regulated crypto trading

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Russia names Bitcoin, Ether and USDT for regulated crypto trading

Russia’s central bank has proposed allowing Bitcoin, Ether and Tether’s USDT to trade on regulated exchanges as the country prepares to open its new crypto market framework to investors.

Summary

  • Russia’s central bank has proposed allowing Bitcoin, Ether and USDT to trade on regulated exchanges under the country’s new crypto rules.
  • Non qualified investors would be limited to 300,000 rubles in annual crypto purchases through each intermediary and must pass a risk knowledge test.
  • Qualified investors would face no purchase limits for crypto traded on exchanges or over the counter markets, although testing requirements would still apply.
  • The proposal follows Russia’s new crypto law signed on Aug. 4, which gives the Bank of Russia authority to decide which digital currencies can enter organized trading.
  • The central bank is accepting comments on the proposed list and related requirements until Aug. 24.

The Bank of Russia said Tuesday that the three crypto assets have been included in a proposed list of digital currencies that could qualify for organized trading, based on requirements covering market capitalization, trading activity and price history in overseas markets.

Bitcoin, Ether and USDT meet the regulator’s proposed criteria because they have sufficient market size, average daily trading volume and at least five years of trading history outside Russia. The list has not yet been finalized, with the central bank accepting public comments until Aug. 24.

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The selection provides an early indication of which cryptocurrencies ordinary Russian investors may be able to buy once the country’s new digital asset law takes effect on Sept. 1. Under the rules, non-qualified investors will only be allowed to purchase cryptocurrencies that satisfy standards set by the central bank.

Bank of Russia crypto list starts with BTC, ETH and USDT

Access for retail investors will remain subject to a 300,000-ruble annual purchase limit through each intermediary, equivalent to about $3,650 at current exchange rates. The cap applies separately to purchases made through brokers, crypto exchange services and asset managers.

Before completing any transactions, investors will also have to pass a knowledge test covering crypto investing and its associated risks.

“Before making transactions, all investors, regardless of their status, will have to pass a test and familiarize themselves with the risks of investing in crypto assets,” the Bank of Russia said.

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The regulator said restrictions on non-qualified investors are intended to limit their exposure to sharp and unpredictable crypto price movements. Qualified investors must also complete testing, although they will not face the same purchase ceiling when trading cryptocurrencies through exchanges or over-the-counter markets.

The proposed asset list follows President Vladimir Putin’s signing of Russia’s digital currency law on Aug. 4, which placed the Bank of Russia in charge of deciding which cryptocurrencies can trade through organized markets and how the venues will operate.

As previously covered by crypto.news, the legislation created regulated access to cryptocurrencies for both retail and qualified investors while keeping crypto payments for ordinary goods and services prohibited inside Russia. The law’s main provisions are scheduled to take effect on Sept. 1.

Under the same legislation, crypto exchange providers must enter a special registry, hold at least 15 million rubles in equity and join an approved financial-market self-regulatory organization. Existing exchange services have until July 1, 2027, to comply with the registration requirements.

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Exchanges will operate under new central bank rules

Before the law was signed, the Bank of Russia had already begun setting operating standards for the institutions that will support organized crypto trading.

In late July, the regulator released draft operating rules covering cryptocurrency exchanges, digital depositories and providers of digital currency accounts. The proposals allow exchanges to establish their own trading procedures while calculating market prices and weighted average prices for listed assets.

Digital depositories, which will maintain records of customer cryptocurrency holdings and transactions, would face minimum equity requirements ranging from 50 million rubles to 250 million rubles depending on the services they provide. The central bank also proposed requiring the capital backing such businesses to remain liquid and consist of high-quality financial assets.

The new system gives the Bank of Russia authority to maintain official registers of approved crypto market participants and establish requirements covering custody, accounting, trading and investor access.

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Russian lawmakers had been working on the framework for several months before Putin signed it into law. During the legislative process, non-qualified investors were consistently assigned a 300,000-ruble annual limit for purchases of cryptocurrencies classified as sufficiently liquid.

A revision approved in July also removed wallet disclosure requirements that would have forced investors to declare their crypto wallet addresses. Instead, users were expected to report balances and transaction volumes under the revised proposal.

The same version allowed cryptocurrency to be used to buy Russian securities and locally regulated digital financial assets, while some large transfers abroad or to third parties could be delayed for up to two days. State Duma Financial Market Committee Chairman Anatoly Aksakov did not specify the transaction threshold that would trigger such a freeze.

Russian banks prepare for regulated crypto trading

Major Russian financial institutions have already begun preparing products for the regulated market.

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Alfa-Bank has been testing cryptocurrency trading inside its Alfa-Investments brokerage application with a small group of qualified investors, according to reported testing in July. Its test interface reportedly included Bitcoin, Ether, Tether, USD Coin, Solana, Litecoin and Zcash.

The bank also plans to build a digital depository and crypto-to-ruble exchange infrastructure during 2026. Wider customer access remains dependent on regulations issued by the Bank of Russia, with Alfa-Bank previously saying a retail rollout could come closer to the fourth quarter if the regulatory timetable permits.

Sberbank has been making similar preparations. As reported by crypto.news earlier, the bank has been working on a crypto wallet and digital asset depository, with its custody infrastructure targeted for Dec. 1. It has also considered providing access to foreign crypto exchanges depending on the final licensing requirements.

T-Bank has also discussed plans to offer buying, selling, storage and crypto balance tracking through its mobile applications, while seeking approval to operate a digital depository. VTB has considered similar services as Russian banks prepare their systems for the regulated market.

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Crypto payments remain banned inside Russia

The opening of regulated trading does not remove Russia’s existing prohibition on using cryptocurrency as a domestic payment method.

Under the law signed Aug. 4, cryptocurrencies cannot be used to pay for goods, services, information or intellectual property within Russia. Advertising that presents crypto as an option for ordinary domestic payments is also prohibited.

Separate provisions permit cryptocurrencies to be used for certain cross-border settlements between Russian residents and foreign counterparties. Exporters and importers can use eligible digital assets for foreign trade without the retail transaction limits applied to investment purchases, either through intermediaries or directly through crypto wallets, according to the regulatory framework.

For domestic investors, the immediate regulatory process remains focused on determining which assets can enter organized trading. Bitcoin, Ether and USDT are the first cryptocurrencies named under the central bank’s proposed eligibility criteria, while comments on the list and related requirements can be submitted to the Bank of Russia through Aug. 24.

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'Downward Dog' Is One of TIME's 50 Most Underappreciated TV Shows

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Grvt to build $100 million USDY position under Ondo partnership

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Jump Capital bets on enterprise AI with new $350M Fund VIII

CeDeFi trading platform Grvt has partnered with Ondo Finance to build a position of up to $100 million in the tokenization firm’s yield-bearing USDY product over the next 12 months.

Summary

  • Grvt plans to build a $100 million position in Ondo Finance’s USDY token over the next 12 months.
  • USDY returns will feed into Grvt Earn’s base rate, allowing users to access the yield without buying or managing the token directly.
  • At USDY’s current APY of about 3.5%, a fully deployed $100 million position would generate roughly $3.5 million in annualized gross yield.
  • The planned allocation would equal about 4.6% of USDY’s current $2.14 billion in assets under management.

According to Grvt, USDY will be integrated into Grvt Earn, where the tokenized Treasury product will become another source of returns behind the platform’s existing base yield rather than an asset users need to buy or manage directly.

Grvt plans $100 million USDY position

Under the arrangement, Grvt will hold and manage USDY on its own balance sheet, while income generated by the position will feed into the single base rate offered through Grvt Earn. The structure is designed to give users access to returns from several sources through one balance.

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USDY is a tokenized secured note issued by Ondo Finance and backed primarily by short-term U.S. Treasurys, shares in Treasury-focused exchange-traded funds and bank deposits. Data cited in the announcement puts USDY’s assets under management at about $2.14 billion, with approximately 15,626 holders.

At that size, a fully deployed $100 million Grvt position would account for about 4.6% of USDY’s current assets under management. With USDY currently offering an annual percentage yield of roughly 3.5%, the allocation could produce around $3.5 million in annualized gross yield if the full amount is deployed and the rate remains at that level.

USDY accrues yield daily, and Grvt plans to combine the returns with other income already supporting Grvt Earn. Existing sources include revenue generated by the trading platform and lending activity through Aave.

Grvt CEO Hong Yea said the company designed Grvt Earn so customers could keep their capital earning returns without managing the infrastructure behind individual yield sources.

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“We built Grvt Earn so users can keep their capital productive without having to manage the financial plumbing underneath it,” Yea said. “Together, we are creating a model where one balance can draw from multiple financial markets while remaining ready to trade.”

Rather than distributing USDY directly to Earn users, Grvt will manage the token on its balance sheet and incorporate the resulting returns into the product’s base rate. Users can therefore retain a single balance on the platform while Grvt handles the underlying allocation.

Yea said Ondo provides Grvt with access to the U.S. Treasury market through a tokenized product and linked the planned allocation size to the company’s expectations for using such assets in onchain financial services.

“Our target of building a USDY position toward $100 million reflects the scale at which we believe tokenized assets can support everyday onchain financial products,” he said.

Ondo Finance has expanded Treasury products onchain

The agreement adds another distribution channel for Ondo Finance, which has built several products that bring traditional securities onto blockchain networks.

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USDY has previously been introduced into other decentralized finance markets. In February 2025, crypto.news reported on a campaign between Ondo and NAVI Protocol on Sui that used USDY as part of a liquidity incentive program. Participants could supply liquidity and qualify for rewards distributed in NAVX and USDY.

Ondo also operates OUSG, its tokenized short-term U.S. government Treasury product. Unlike USDY, which is structured as a yield-bearing secured note, OUSG provides qualified investors with tokenized exposure to short-duration U.S. government securities.

In May, an institutional settlement test involving JPMorgan, Mastercard, Ripple and Ondo used OUSG for a cross-border redemption on the XRP Ledger. The test moved the tokenized Treasury asset through blockchain infrastructure while JPMorgan’s Kinexys network handled the dollar payment to Ripple’s bank account in Singapore.

Ondo had previously expanded OUSG to the XRP Ledger in June 2025, allowing qualified purchasers to mint and redeem the product around the clock using Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin for settlement. At the time, OUSG had more than $670 million in total value locked across supported networks.

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The company has since expanded beyond Treasury products. In June, Ondo brought a group of tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs to Hyperliquid’s HyperEVM, initially supporting 35 securities including SPY, QQQ, Nvidia, Tesla, Alphabet and Netflix. Its Ondo Global Markets platform had accumulated more than $970 million in total value locked and nearly $18 billion in cumulative trading volume at the time.

Tokenized Treasurys have become a major RWA segment

Grvt’s planned USDY allocation comes as U.S. government debt has become one of the largest categories in the tokenized real-world asset market.

As previously covered by crypto.news, the value of tokenized real-world assets excluding stablecoins reached roughly $31 billion to $34 billion by May 2026, compared with about $5.4 billion at the start of 2025. Tokenized U.S. Treasurys accounted for approximately $15 billion, while Ethereum hosted about 60% of tokenized RWA value.

Several large financial firms now operate products in the segment. BlackRock’s BUIDL is a tokenized money market fund distributed through Securitize, while Franklin Templeton’s BENJI represents shares in its OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund.

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Franklin Templeton has also continued adding distribution routes for BENJI. In May, Kraken parent Payward agreed to integrate the product into its platform for collateral and cash-management uses, allowing eligible clients to put idle dollar balances into an onchain yield product.

A month later, Franklin Templeton added BENJI to MoonPay Trade, enabling institutional customers to exchange stablecoins including USDC and USDT for the tokenized fund through MoonPay’s onchain trading infrastructure.

Grvt expands after $19 million funding round

For Grvt, the Ondo deal follows a capital raise that gave the platform additional funding to develop its hybrid trading infrastructure.

In September 2025, Grvt raised $19 million in a Series A round for its zero-knowledge-powered decentralized exchange. The platform operates on ZKsync and combines elements of centralized trading infrastructure with onchain settlement and self-custody.

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Grvt has positioned its architecture around privacy, security, and scalability for onchain financial markets. The September financing followed the development of its exchange infrastructure and was intended to support continued expansion of the platform.

More recently, Grvt released its own token as it continued building products around its trading and yield services. Grvt Earn now sits alongside that exchange infrastructure, with platform revenue and Aave lending already supplying parts of its yield before the planned USDY allocation is fully deployed.

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Bitcoin Miner Riot Stock Jumps 24% After $9.1B Anthropic AI Deal

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Anthropic has agreed to pay Riot Platforms $9.1 billion over 20 years for computing capacity at the miner’s Rockdale, Texas campus, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke to Bloomberg on Monday.

Riot’s stock jumped 24% in after-hours trading following the report, a sharp reversal after shares had already closed the regular session down more than 5%.

The Deal and the Market Reaction

Riot disclosed the agreement itself earlier Monday, describing a 20-year contract to supply 191 megawatts of capacity, enough to power roughly 143,000 homes at any given moment, to an unnamed “leading frontier AI” company.

Bloomberg’s sources, who asked not to be identified because the information is private, said that the company is Anthropic. Neither Riot nor Anthropic has confirmed the identity publicly.

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The stock swing was dramatic even by Riot’s volatile standards. Shares closed regular trading at $19.40, down $1.12, before climbing to $24.13 in the after-hours session, a gain of $4.73 from the close. That put the after-hours price well above Monday’s intraday range of $19.13 to $20.46 and closer to the stock’s 52-week high of $30.32.

Volume topped 17.5 million shares against a daily average near 16.8 million, and Riot’s market cap stood at roughly $7.3 billion heading into the move.

The company’s latest earnings report also landed Monday, adding another variable for traders parsing the after-hours action. Total revenue went up 14% year-over-year to $174 million, while there was a GAAP net loss of $237 million, translating to $0.68 per diluted share.

Per the report, Riot mined 1,587 BTC in the quarter, each costing $49,912 to produce, bringing its holdings to 11,380 BTC valued at about $728 million at current rates.

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Miners Have Been Funding AI Expansion With Bitcoin Sales

Riot’s move into AI hosting builds on a pattern that has been building for over a year. The company sold 3,778 BTC in the first quarter of 2026 alone, worth about $289.5 million, while continuing to mine and expand its high-performance computing footprint.

That selling has continued since. In early August, on-chain trackers flagged a 381 BTC deposit from Riot to an exchange, a move typically read as a precursor to a sale.

Riot isn’t alone. Analyst Shanaka Anslem Perera wrote in July that public miners, including MARA, CleanSpark, Cango, Core Scientific, and Bitdeer, sold more than 32,000 BTC combined in the first quarter and redirected that capital toward AI infrastructure contracts worth an estimated $70 billion across the industry.

Mining Bitcoin cost roughly $80,000 per unit for much of the year, well above the asset’s price, while AI hosting contracts offered several times that return. “They did what any business would,” Perera wrote.

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The exodus briefly rattled Bitcoin’s network, pushing hash rate down about 4% and breaking a five-year streak of growth, before difficulty adjustments restored profitability for the miners who stayed, and the network kept producing blocks on schedule.

The post Bitcoin Miner Riot Stock Jumps 24% After $9.1B Anthropic AI Deal appeared first on CryptoPotato.

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Riot’s Anthropic Deal Lifts Bitcoin Miner Stocks, But It’s Bad News For BTC

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Riot, along with other traditional BTC miners have been on the rise recently.

Riot Platforms’ $9.1 billion Anthropic lease sent RIOT and rival miner stocks sharply higher this week. But the rally points to a shift that could hurt Bitcoin (BTC) itself. Miners are increasingly funding AI buildouts by selling down the coin they mine.

The lease covers 191 megawatts at Riot’s Rockdale, Texas campus over 20 years, worth up to $16.1 billion with extensions. Rival miners TeraWulf, Cipher Mining, and Hut 8 rallied in sympathy the same day.

Miner Stocks Are Rallying On Power Contracts, Not Bitcoin

Riot closed Monday up 4.33%. Cipher Mining gained 5.39%, TeraWulf rose 3.40%, and Hut 8 added 3.39%. Bitcoin slipped 0.49% over the same stretch and has struggles to move beyond the $62,000 – $65,000 range. It is quite clear that the boost the these Bitcoin mining stocks has very little to do with BTC and thus is not helping the price of the underlying asset.

Riot, along with other traditional BTC miners have been on the rise recently.
Riot, along with other traditional BTC miners have been on the rise recently. Image Source: Trading View

BeInCrypto tracked the same decoupling in July. TeraWulf, IREN, and Hut 8 surged then on AI leasing news, pulling further away from Bitcoin’s own price moves. Riot’s Anthropic deal extends that pattern.

Why The Same Shift Is A Headwind For Bitcoin

The AI pivot funding this rally is not free. Riot’s Bitcoin holdings fell from 15,680 BTC to 11,380 BTC in the second quarter, a drawdown of 4,300 coins. The company sold monthly output and treasury reserves to fund its AI buildout at Rockdale.

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That pattern could matter more broadly. Miners that once held Bitcoin as a byproduct of their business are becoming net sellers of it. The proceeds are going into data center leases instead of new mining rigs.

Analysts have priced the stocks on the lease, not the ledger. Riot CEO Jason Les described the shift in the company’s second-quarter earnings statement.

“[Riot has] now executed leases totaling 241 megawatts of capacity, representing approximately $9.8 billion of long-term, contracted revenue with two of the most important companies in the AI ecosystem.”

That framing helps explain the market reaction. H.C. Wainwright raised its Riot price target to $40 from $25 on the Anthropic news. Needham lifted its target to $30. Both cited contracted megawatts rather than Bitcoin output.

It also flips the old trade of buying miner stocks for indirect Bitcoin exposure. Capital chasing Riot, TeraWulf, or Hut 8 is increasingly a bet on AI real estate. Part of that bet is funded by selling the asset those stocks used to track.

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None of this means Bitcoin mining is disappearing. Riot’s mining revenue still reached $113.7 million in the second quarter even as leasing revenue grew. But the same deal that sent RIOT soaring came bundled with a steady drawdown in Bitcoin supply worth watching.

The post Riot’s Anthropic Deal Lifts Bitcoin Miner Stocks, But It’s Bad News For BTC appeared first on BeInCrypto.

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'Rain Dogs' Is One of TIME's 50 Most Underappreciated TV Shows

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'Rain Dogs' Is One of TIME's 50 Most Underappreciated TV Shows
—James Pardon—HBO

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