The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has sued Mining Automatic and its owner, Zan Shaikh, after they allegedly raised about $22 million from more than 380 investors through a fraudulent crypto mining operation.

The SEC announced the partially settled charges on July 20, accusing the Florida resident and his company, legally registered as Bright Vision Distribution LLC, of misusing investor money while promoting guaranteed monthly returns.

Filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, the complaint covers conduct between June 2023 and May 2025. According to the regulator, Shaikh presented Mining Automatic as an experienced crypto mining business capable of generating steady income for its customers.

Investors were allegedly told their money would fund computing resources used to validate transactions on crypto networks. In return for providing this processing power, miners can receive crypto assets as rewards, creating the revenue that Mining Automatic claimed would support monthly payments.

Yet the SEC alleges the operation could not produce enough mining income to meet those promises. When payments became overdue, Shaikh and Mining Automatic allegedly gave investors misleading explanations about the cause of the delays and the condition of the business.

Investor money funded marketing and personal expenses

Only about 13% of the money raised went toward costs linked to the claimed mining operation, according to the SEC’s complaint. Much of the remaining capital was allegedly spent on marketing campaigns designed to attract more investors, along with Shaikh’s personal costs and expenses tied to unrelated businesses.

The regulator also accused the defendants of making false claims about their mining experience, technical knowledge and previous results. Other alleged misrepresentations covered how investor funds would be used and whether the mining infrastructure was operating as described.

Based on the complaint, Mining Automatic received at least $20 million more from investors than it returned to them. The figure leaves most of the roughly $22 million raised unaccounted for through investor repayments, according to the agency’s calculations.

SEC officials charged Shaikh and Mining Automatic with violating the registration and antifraud provisions of the Securities Act of 1933. The complaint also alleges breaches of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5, which prohibit fraud in connection with securities transactions.

Shaikh and Mining Automatic have consented to court judgments without the SEC’s release stating that they admitted or denied the allegations. Subject to judicial approval, the proposed orders would permanently bar both defendants from committing the cited securities-law violations.

Under the proposed settlement, Shaikh would also receive an officer-and-director ban and a conduct-based injunction. Disgorgement, prejudgment interest and civil penalties will be decided later by the court following a motion from the SEC.

The agency’s Cyber and Emerging Technologies Unit investigated the case alongside staff from its Boston Regional Office. SEC officials Joy Guo, Sejal Bhakta, Amy Gwiazda, Mark Albers and Kathleen Shields conducted the investigation under the supervision of Laura D’Allaird, while Shields will lead the litigation.

U.S. agencies pursue other alleged crypto investment frauds

Mining Automatic is the latest crypto investment operation to face a U.S. civil enforcement case. Earlier in July, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission sued North Carolina resident Trevor Vernon and Argent Capital Management LLC over an alleged $14 million commodity pool fraud.

According to the CFTC’s July 7 announcement, Vernon and Argent Capital raised money from at least 60 participants between March 2022 and February 2026. The pool traded equity-index futures, options on those futures, Bitcoin, Ether and other crypto assets.

The CFTC alleged that Vernon presented himself as a successful trader and told potential participants that the investment pool had recorded strong gains. Its lawsuit focuses on claims made while soliciting investors and the handling of the funds collected from them.

Crypto mining schemes have produced different outcomes in recent U.S. cases. Crypto.news reported this month that the Department of Justice had moved to dismiss its criminal case against the founder of BitClub Network, despite allegations that the mining operation defrauded investors of $722 million.

Outside the U.S., Taiwan’s Shilin District Court recently sentenced the alleged mastermind of the BitShine crypto exchange to 22 years in prison. Taiwan’s semi-official Central News Agency identified the defendant by the surname Shih and reported that the court convicted him of running illegal virtual asset services, fraud and money laundering.

Court findings cited by CNA showed that the group used BitShine’s appearance as a registered crypto business to conceal criminal activity. Prosecutors alleged that the operation worked with fraud syndicates and people linked to the Thento Union, a major organized crime group in Taiwan.

Investigators estimated that more than $71 million was laundered between January 2024 and April 2025, partly by converting victims’ cash into Tether’s USDT before sending it overseas. CNA reported that prosecutors identified 1,539 victims whose combined losses exceeded $39 million.

Crypto venture funding has reached $1.2 billion in July even as DeFi investment has fallen to its lowest quarterly level since late 2023.

CryptoRank data shows that investors completed roughly 25 funding rounds in July as of July 20, keeping capital active despite a sharp decline in the number of announced deals.

Monthly fundraising has moved unevenly throughout 2026. According to CryptoRank, crypto companies raised $1.14 billion in January before the total slipped to $896.3 million in February. Funding then climbed to $2.2 billion in March, supported by roughly 85 deals, the highest monthly count shown in the six-month chart.

April brought the sharpest reversal of the year. CryptoRank recorded $698.2 million for the month, while an earlier crypto.news report placed the amount at $659 million across 63 funding rounds. The crypto.news figure represented a 74% decline from March’s roughly $2.6 billion and 84 deals, taking monthly funding back toward levels last seen in 2024.

Differences between the two April totals may result from later database updates or varying methods used to classify deals. CryptoRank’s current chart nevertheless confirms the same direction: both the amount raised and the number of completed rounds fell sharply after March.

Funding rebounded to $3.89 billion in May, the highest monthly total in CryptoRank’s six-month view. Although the number of deals remained below March’s peak, larger transactions pushed the total well above every other month shown in the dataset.

By June, fundraising had cooled to $1.44 billion as the monthly deal count fell to about 60. CryptoRank’s partial July reading of $1.2 billion has come with a further decline to around 25 rounds, suggesting that a smaller pool of transactions is accounting for much of the capital raised.

Major crypto investors have continued backing selected projects

Coinbase Ventures has remained the most active fund in CryptoRank’s six-month ranking, participating in 33 investments and leading one of them. The data does not provide the value of those transactions, but the deal count places Coinbase Ventures well ahead of other funds tracked during the period.

Animoca Brands ranked second with 19 deals, followed by Andreessen Horowitz’s a16z crypto with 18 and Tether with 17, according to CryptoRank. Becker Ventures, Castrum Capital and Galaxy each participated in 10 transactions, while GSR, YZi Labs, Y Combinator and Circle Ventures completed nine apiece.

Paradigm also remained active with eight investments, according to the same ranking. Earlier in July, crypto.news reported that Paradigm had raised $1.2 billion for its fourth fund, giving the firm fresh capital for investments across crypto, artificial intelligence, robotics, software and hardware.

Co-founder Matt Huang and managing partner Alana Palmedo announced the vehicle on July 8. Paradigm described the mandate as an expansion into other technology markets rather than a withdrawal from digital assets, telling investors that the firm would continue investing “first in crypto.”

Across individual categories, exchanges attracted the most capital during CryptoRank’s six-month period, raising about $2.5 billion. Prediction markets followed with roughly $1.9 billion, while payments secured around $1.6 billion and AI projects collected approximately $1.3 billion.

Blockchain companies raised close to $767 million, according to CryptoRank’s category ranking, while infrastructure projects secured $533 million. Mining and compute companies attracted $433 million, followed by brokerages at $393 million and real-world asset projects at $340 million.

Geographically, the United States remained the most active crypto VC jurisdiction with 249 projects over the past six months, CryptoRank data shows. The United Kingdom followed with 67 projects, while Singapore recorded 57, China 32 and Japan 30. Canada accounted for 16 projects, compared with 14 in the United Arab Emirates and 12 in the Seychelles.

DeFi funding has fallen behind competing crypto sectors

DeFi projects raised about $654 million during the six-month period, placing the sector behind exchanges, prediction markets, payments, AI and blockchain in CryptoRank’s category table. The total also shows that DeFi continued receiving capital even as its position within the venture market weakened.

Quarterly data from CryptoRank shows that VC investment in DeFi has declined for three consecutive quarters. The latest quarterly amount fell to its lowest level since the fourth quarter of 2023, while the number of DeFi funding rounds in the second quarter of 2026 dropped to its lowest point since 2020.

CryptoRank’s figures indicate that investors have become more selective when backing DeFi companies, with fewer projects securing financing despite continued activity elsewhere in the crypto market. At the same time, the concentration of funds in exchanges, prediction markets and payments shows where investors committed the largest sums during the measured period.

The recent numbers leave the overall crypto VC market active but uneven. CryptoRank’s monthly data shows that capital can still rise rapidly when large deals close, while falling deal counts and weaker DeFi financing point to tighter competition among early-stage projects.

Shares in several Bitcoin mining companies jumped on Monday as major announcements tied to artificial intelligence infrastructure boosted investor confidence that the sector’s shift beyond mining is moving from concept to contracts.

In early trading, Hut 8 and IREN led the move, with other large miners and related operators—including Cipher Digital, CleanSpark, MARA Holdings, and the companies’ peers cited in the same market coverage—each rising by at least 11%. The stock surge followed new details around long-term AI data center arrangements and large-scale cloud services commitments.

Key takeaways

• Hut 8 disclosed a 15-year, $9.8 billion lease plan for an AI data center campus, reinforcing its AI infrastructure strategy.
• IREN filed disclosures showing $2.8 billion in cloud services contracts tied to AI developers.
• IREN expects over $4 billion in annual recurring revenue from its AI cloud business by the end of 2026, according to the company’s outlook.
• The rally extended beyond crypto-linked equities, coinciding with strength in broader tech indexes, including the Nasdaq and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index.
• Analysts note the AI pivot has triggered a re-rating—but also increased scrutiny as investors track insider selling at several miners.

Hut 8’s long lease and IREN’s contract haul

The immediate catalyst for Monday’s gains was a pair of widely watched disclosures. Hut 8 announced a 15-year, $9.8 billion lease for its AI data center campus, a signal that it is treating high-performance computing capacity as a long-duration business rather than a short-term hedge.

Separately, IREN’s filing described $2.8 billion in cloud services contracts with AI developers. In the same material, the company also projected that its AI cloud segment could generate more than $4 billion in annual recurring revenue by the end of 2026.

Both companies started out as Bitcoin miners, but their narratives have increasingly centered on AI infrastructure—an evolution that has drawn investor attention as mining economics have faced pressure. The market’s reaction suggests traders are rewarding visible contract commitments and long-horizon capacity planning, not only exploratory AI messaging.

Sector-wide momentum tracked by an AI infrastructure index

The stock surge was reflected in The Energy Mag’s TEM AI Infrastructure Growth Index, which tracks 20 companies across Bitcoin mining, “neocloud,” and AI infrastructure categories. The index rose 1.4% on Monday and was up more than 12% over the prior week, according to the same coverage.

That matters for investors because it frames Monday’s moves as more than isolated company-specific hype. When a curated basket of AI infrastructure and mining-adjacent names rises together, it often indicates a broader shift in risk appetite toward the theme.

Tech stocks stabilize as chip sentiment improves

Cryptocurrency-linked equities also moved in tandem with a broader recovery in technology. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.9% by midday, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index climbed 2% after slipping into a “technical bear market” the prior week—defined as a 20% or more decline from its recent high.

For market participants watching AI buildout, semiconductors serve as a useful barometer: demand for chips and the supply chain powering AI compute often influences how investors price the sector’s growth prospects. The co-movement across miners, AI infrastructure indexes, and chip-related benchmarks suggests Monday’s rally was supported by a wider sentiment tailwind.

AI pivot still faces skepticism over funding and insider activity

Even as the AI pivot draws fresh capital and a stronger valuation narrative, the year has been marked by volatility. Miners are trying to navigate a weaker Bitcoin mining environment while committing substantial resources to data centers, cloud services, and high-performance computing operations.

Blocksbridge Consulting argues that the sector’s AI shift has driven a “re-rating”—but it has also increased scrutiny, particularly around insider stock sales. In a Miner Weekly newsletter, Blocksbridge pointed to insider selling attention at TeraWulf, Riot Platforms, Core Scientific, and Cipher Mining. The transactions were reportedly conducted under prearranged trading plans, but investor focus has still intensified—an indication that markets are weighing whether equity valuations are already factoring in too much AI enthusiasm too quickly.

There is also the question of how large the required investment base will be. Blocksbridge estimates the industry will need another $50 billion to realize its AI ambitions, with IREN facing a funding gap of about $21.1 billion. That estimate underscores a key tension for shareholders: while contracts and revenue projections can support near-term optimism, long-term execution depends on capital availability and the ability to scale without diluting returns or extending timelines.

In that context, Monday’s announcements may be best read as an incremental validation of the thesis—evidence that miners’ AI strategies are attracting partner demand—while investors continue to watch whether funding gaps narrow and how insider behavior evolves as stock prices move.

Next, readers should track whether the announced AI leases and cloud contracts translate into measurable progress toward recurring revenue targets—and whether funding needs and insider-selling scrutiny remain manageable as the sector’s valuation adjusts to incoming details.

With a US Senate vote on the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act appearing increasingly close, negotiations are continuing behind closed doors over the bill’s final text. In an interview with CNBC published Monday, Coinbase vice chair Ryan VanGrack said Democratic lawmakers have been adding additional customer-facing protections as the Senate works through the last drafts, framing the changes as giving the legislation “more teeth.”

VanGrack emphasized that the bill’s focus should remain on consumers, arguing that the current regulatory “status quo” does not provide adequate infrastructure for customer protection. However, he did not address whether lawmakers are also finalizing ethics-related provisions—an issue some Democrats have said will be necessary for them to support the bill.

Key takeaways

• Coinbase leadership says Democratic lawmakers are strengthening the CLARITY Act’s customer protections as final Senate negotiations continue.
• Ethics provisions remain a potential sticking point, with some Democrats indicating they may oppose the bill without them.
• Political dynamics are shifting as the White House signals support, including comments tied to the death of Senator Lindsey Graham.
• Senate timelines are still uncertain: as of Monday, lawmakers had not released the final bill text or scheduled a floor vote.
• Coinbase’s earlier public objections to an earlier version of the bill may have affected Senate committee progress.

Customer protections become the latest battleground

In his CNBC remarks, VanGrack described the ongoing negotiation as fundamentally about consumer safeguards. “At the end of the day, this is about customer protections,” he said. He added that “the status quo lacks this infrastructure, lacks these protections,” and that Democrats used the opportunity to ensure customers are “first and foremost” in the legislation.

The comment matters for both investors and users because the practical impact of market-structure bills is often determined by details: how customer assets are handled, what disclosures are required, and what enforcement mechanisms exist when firms fail to meet obligations. If the CLARITY Act’s final version meaningfully strengthens those provisions, it could reduce regulatory ambiguity for exchanges and other digital asset intermediaries while tightening compliance expectations.

Ethics provisions could determine whether support holds

While VanGrack highlighted customer protections, he did not explicitly confirm any progress on ethics provisions. That omission is notable because multiple commentators cited earlier by Cointelegraph have described ethics provisions as something Democrats may require before they vote for the bill.

For lawmakers, this creates a narrow path: the bill must satisfy both regulatory policy goals and political accountability demands. For market participants, it means the primary risk may not be whether CLARITY is “good enough” on paper, but whether it can clear enough procedural and party approval hurdles in time—especially if ethics language becomes a last-minute bargaining chip.

From SEC case dismissal to renewed momentum

CLARITY’s drive to reshape US crypto regulation comes in the context of a major legal reset. Under the Biden administration, the SEC sued Coinbase alleging the company operated as an unregistered securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency. The case was later dropped after Donald Trump took office, with Mark Uyeda—Trump’s pick for acting SEC chair—heading the agency.

That backdrop helps explain why the bill is being treated as unusually comprehensive. A market-structure law would not only influence how existing enforcement is conducted, but also shape what regulated activity looks like going forward. Even so, the bill’s future still depends on Senate consensus: the fact that one major enforcement dispute was resolved does not automatically eliminate legislative disagreement on customer rules or ethics.

Why the bill’s path has been uneven

The CLARITY Act has not moved in a straight line. Coinbase’s internal stance may have contributed to earlier procedural friction. The article notes that Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong announced in January that the exchange could not support the legislation “as written,” and that this may have delayed a markup of an earlier version in the Senate Banking Committee.

Since then, several Coinbase executives—including chief legal officer Paul Grewal—have reportedly moved to publicly support passage of the bill, according to a post shared on X. That shift suggests the final negotiating draft may have incorporated changes Coinbase demanded. But it also underscores why investors should be careful about assuming political progress automatically resolves industry concerns: support can evolve as language changes, and the Senate’s final text may still differ from earlier versions that drew criticism.

Beyond the policy debate, the political environment is intensifying. After the death of Senator Lindsey Graham, Trump said on social media that members of the Senate should pass CLARITY “in honor of” the South Carolina lawmaker, calling him “a big supporter” of the bill. Separately, reports referenced by Cointelegraph say Republican lawmakers met with Trump to discuss the legislation amid Democrats’ worries about the president’s connections to the crypto industry.

As of Monday, lawmakers had not released the final text of the bill and had not scheduled a floor vote, leaving timing uncertain even as negotiations continue.

What to watch next as the Senate weighs the final draft

The near-term focus should be on whether the Senate publishes the final CLARITY Act text and, crucially, whether ethics provisions are addressed in a way that satisfies skeptical Democrats. If those elements are resolved, momentum could accelerate quickly; if not, customer-protection improvements may still fall short of what is needed for the bill to clear the chamber.

Hackers have disabled Kenyan President William Ruto’s official website, replaced its homepage and demanded a ransom of 5 Bitcoin.

According to a report, the Kenyan government opened an investigation after attackers took control of president.go.ke on July 18 and posted insulting messages directed at Ruto. The hackers also threatened to release unspecified information unless officials paid the ransom by Saturday evening.

William Kabogo, cabinet secretary for Kenya’s Ministry of Information, Communications and the Digital Economy, confirmed that the government’s ICT Authority activated its cybersecurity response protocols after detecting the breach. Officials restricted public access to the website while technical teams worked to contain the attack and begin a forensic review.

“At this time, there is no evidence of unauthorized access to sensitive data, data exfiltration, or loss of information. Government systems and digital services remain secure and operational.”

Tether Gold has gained commodity status in Abu Dhabi, as DefiLlama data shows XAUT’s locked value has climbed more than threefold to about $2.86 billion over the past year.

Abu Dhabi Global Market has recognized XAUT as an Accepted Spot Commodity, allowing regulated firms in the international financial center to provide services involving the tokenized gold asset when they hold the required permissions.

Under the designation, eligible companies can add XAUT-related products to their regulated offerings inside ADGM. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino described the decision as a clearer route for approved firms seeking to support the asset, while ADGM linked the addition to an expanded selection of products available within the financial center.

The decision follows ADGM’s earlier recognition of Tether’s USDT as an Accepted Fiat Referenced Token. With both assets now accepted under separate regulatory categories, Tether can place its dollar stablecoin and gold-backed token within one of the Middle East’s largest international financial centers.

ADGM’s treatment of XAUT applies only to firms that secure the relevant regulatory approvals. The designation does not give every company operating in the financial center automatic permission to offer trading, custody or other XAUT services.

Tokenized gold demand has lifted XAUT’s locked value

DefiLlama figures show that Tether Gold’s total value locked has risen from approximately $826 million to $2.86 billion within a year. Based on those figures, the increase amounts to about 246%, placing XAUT among the largest products in the tokenized commodity market.

RWA.xyz estimates that tokenized commodities hold about $4.46 billion in distributed value. The data platform places the full tokenized real-world asset market at roughly $34.73 billion, giving commodities a share of nearly 13%.

Against those figures, XAUT’s reported $2.86 billion in locked value represents a substantial portion of the commodity category tracked by RWA.xyz. Differences between TVL and distributed-value methods mean the two datasets are not directly interchangeable, but both indicate that gold-backed tokens account for a large share of commodity tokenization.

Use cases for XAUT are also moving beyond spot trading and custody. Bitcoin lending platform Ledn announced in June that it plans to accept the token as loan collateral later this year, which would let customers borrow against tokenized gold without selling their holdings.

Ledn’s planned integration would place XAUT inside a crypto-backed lending product, adding a borrowing function to an asset mainly used for gold exposure. The company has not yet disclosed detailed terms such as loan-to-value ratios, interest rates or the exact launch date.

For regulated firms in ADGM, the new status could make similar services possible when their licenses cover the relevant activity. ADGM’s announcement, however, did not identify which firms intend to add XAUT or set a timeline for the first regulated offerings.

Tether is extending its reach across payments and finance

Beyond tokenized gold, Tether has continued investing in payment systems and financial platforms. Last week, crypto.news reported that the company led a $7 million Series A round for Pact Labs alongside Blockchange Ventures and Lasagna.

According to crypto.news, the financing will support Pact Labs’ payroll and payment infrastructure while helping businesses adopt USAT, Tether’s dollar-backed stablecoin designed for the US market. The partnership focuses on wage payments rather than crypto trading, targeting a US payroll sector that processes more than $11 trillion each year.

Another investment has extended Tether’s presence in Latin American finance. Bloomberg reported that the company contributed $20 million to a $197 million equity round for Argentine digital bank Ualá, adding the platform to Tether’s portfolio of stablecoin-related investments.

Ualá announced the round in March and identified Tether among the participants, though it did not disclose the issuer’s contribution at the time. Allianz X led the financing, while Bloomberg later reported the size of Tether’s individual investment.

These investments come as Tether faces questions over USDT’s future availability on US crypto platforms. CoinDesk reported that the first anniversary of the GENIUS Act has renewed attention on whether the foreign-issued stablecoin can meet the law’s requirements before its transition period ends.

President Donald Trump signed the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act into law one year ago, introducing a three-year compliance window. CoinDesk reported that uncertainty remains over how some deadlines will apply to foreign issuers such as Tether.

Circle has taken steps to align its operations with the incoming US framework, according to the report, while Tether has not publicly explained how it plans to bring USDT into full compliance.

The ADGM recognition gives XAUT a defined regulatory route in Abu Dhabi while Tether develops separate products and investments across gold, payroll and digital banking. USDT’s position in the United States, however, will depend on how regulators implement the GENIUS Act and whether Tether satisfies the final requirements.

The White House’s top crypto adviser Patrick Witt said he will no longer take a leave of absence at the end of the month for military training, allowing him to remain at the White House to help advance the CLARITY Act in the Senate.

“Last week, it was reported that I was set to leave for mandatory training as part of my service in the Georgia Army National Guard, right before Clarity hits the Senate floor,” Witt said in an X post on Monday. 

“While I remain committed to fulfilling my service obligation, I am grateful to report that my training has been deferred, and that I will be able to see this effort through to the end,” he added. 

Source: Patrick Witt

The CLARITY Act, which would create the first comprehensive US regulatory framework for the crypto market, faces a make-or-break deadline to pass the Senate before the Aug. 8 recess. Witt is the White House’s lead negotiator on the legislation. 

Witt, who has served as the executive director of the President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets since August, had been expected to report for Judge Advocate General (JAG) training with the Georgia Army National Guard on July 27. The training will qualify him to serve as a legal officer in the Guard. 

Related: Democrats added certain consumer protection rules to CLARITY: Coinbase exec

According to a report from Crypto In America on Tuesday, Witt had already deferred his mandatory military training in April to remain at the White House to work on CLARITY Act negotiations, which stretched on longer than expected. This is the second time Witt has deferred his training.

Harry Jung to leave White House Crypto Council

Witt staying at the White House comes as Harry Jung, the Deputy Director of the President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, announced he will leave his post. 

“In two weeks, I will leave government service with immense gratitude,” said Jung in a post to X on Monday. “These past two years transformed America’s position on crypto. I’m proud of all we accomplished.” 

Jung was originally slated to take over Witt’s responsibilities in the crypto council while he was on military leave, according to Crypto In America. 

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