Crypto World
U.S. Treasury to propose demands that stablecoin firms be set to police bad transactions
A firm issuing stablecoins in the U.S. would have an array of new duties to head off criminals and keep government watchdogs informed about malicious actors, according to rules poised for proposal by the U.S. Department of the Treasury that were reviewed by CoinDesk.
A joint proposal from the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) will outline the deep controls that stablecoin businesses would have to put in place, including abilities to “block, freeze and reject” transactions and internal protections to comply with the Bank Secrecy Act that governs most of the U.S. financial system.
In one of the most significant moves yet to implement last year’s Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act — the first major crypto-sector law for the U.S. — the two arms of the Treasury Department that police illicit finance are setting out a tailored approach for stablecoin firms, which will be opened for a public comment period and potential revisions before it’s finalized. But the agencies are also sending a message of deference to the industry, suggesting the companies understand their own hazards best.
A summary of the joint proposal reviewed by CoinDesk said it’s focused on effectiveness “and that financial institutions are best positioned to identify and evaluate their money laundering, terrorist financing and illicit finance risks.” The department’s effort contends that a firm that’s running appropriate money-laundering preventions is generally safe from enforcement actions unless it’s showing “a significant or systemic failure to maintain that program.”
On that money-laundering front, FinCEN would expect stablecoin issuers’ programs to be able to halt specifically flagged transactions and to know where to devote “more attention and resources toward higher-risk customers and activities.” When the U.S. authorities are pursuing a specific target, the regulated issuers subjected to this proposed rule would have to scour their own records for any activity tied to individuals or entities flagged by FinCEN.
Also, the issuers will be expected to act as allies in the agency’s pursuit of entities identified as “primary money laundering concerns.” As recently as 2023, the agency had sought to tag crypto mixers such as Tornado Cash under that label, though earlier this year, the Treasury Department reversed course to suggest that mixers could serve legitimate and legal privacy uses.
On the sanctions front, OFAC would require stablecoin issuers run risk-based safeguards for stablecoin activity on primary or secondary markets, and the policies must spot and reject transactions “that may violate or would violate U.S. sanctions.” Sanction missteps — including past flagrant violations — have been a critical concern of crypto industry detractors, including recent scrutiny focused on the world’s biggest exchange, Binance.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement that his department’s latest efforts “will protect the U.S. financial system from national security threats without hindering American companies’ ability to forge ahead in the payment stablecoin ecosystem.”
The crypto industry and its stablecoin leaders — including Tether, Circle, Ripple and the firm partially owned and controlled by the family of President Donald Trump, World Liberty Financial — have been awaiting regulation that helps further establish their bespoke assets as safe and reliable. Some tensions remain in the wider crypto community, which has had a tumultuous relationship with governments since its beginnings, when its founding principles aimed to keep cryptocurrencies outside of government control.
The decentralized finance (DeFi) sector remains a space that seeks to cut away intermediaries and maintain direct interactions, but the illicit-finance controls for that arena are still unresolved in the ongoing negotiations among the industry, securities sector and lawmakers over the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act in the U.S. Senate. While the Treasury’s stablecoin proposal and others from U.S. financial regulators are beginning to sketch out the guardrails, wide swaths of crypto activity still need to be addressed.
Earlier this year, a third arm of the Treasury — the independent Office of the Comptroller of the Currency that regulates national banks and trusts — proposed its standards and procedures for issuers it’ll watch as the primary federal regulator. This week, its sister regulator, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. did the same with a largely parallel proposal.
The GENIUS Act is meant to go into full effect by 2027. Well before that, firms have been pursuing charters and partnerships to get involved in stablecoins. The Trump-tied World Liberty, for instance, applied for a charter as a trust bank in January and manages the USD1 stablecoin.
The company is under fresh scrutiny this week after reportedly being unaware that its AB DAO partner was involved in a project with potential ties to Cambodia’s Prince Group, the target of major U.S. investigations, sanctioning and the seizure last year of a record $14 billion in bitcoin . Those types of business relationships at stablecoin issuers would be under stringent new industry-managed controls in the Treasury Department’s pending proposal.
TLDR
- Ripple recently minted 9.9 million RLUSD tokens on the Ethereum blockchain.
- The minting follows a series of large RLUSD token burns conducted by Ripple.
- The newly minted RLUSD tokens are backed 1:1 by USD cash and equivalents.
- Ripple’s strategy of minting and burning tokens helps balance RLUSD supply and demand.
- The recent minting expands RLUSD’s availability for trading and use on the Ethereum network.
Ripple has recently minted 9.9 million RLUSD tokens on the Ethereum blockchain. This follows weeks of RLUSD burns and comes as part of Ripple’s ongoing supply management. The minting process is initiated when there is demand for more RLUSD from exchanges, institutions, or retail users.
New RLUSD Minting Follows Burn Process
The official Ripple USD (RLUSD) Treasury account added 9.9 million RLUSD tokens to the Ethereum blockchain. This action comes after a series of significant burns in March and April, where Ripple removed over $230 million in RLUSD tokens from circulation. These token burns were part of Ripple’s strategy to balance the supply of RLUSD between the XRP Ledger and Ethereum.
“Minting occurs when there is demand for RLUSD, and the issuer, the Ripple Treasury smart contract, creates new tokens,” Ripple explained. These new tokens are backed 1:1 by USD cash and equivalents, held in regulated custody accounts. As such, the minted tokens are fully supported by traditional assets, ensuring their value.
With this minting, the total RLUSD supply increases, and the tokens are now available for use and trading. Ripple’s approach of minting and burning tokens is designed to keep the supply of RLUSD in line with market demand. The goal is to maintain the stablecoin’s value and ensure liquidity within Ripple’s ecosystem.
Ripple Strengthens RLUSD Presence in the Crypto Market
Ripple’s RLUSD continues to strengthen its position in the crypto market with increased demand. The recent minting adds to the ongoing expansion of RLUSD, a stablecoin designed to facilitate cross-border payments. According to a recent report, Bitrue exchange now supports trading RLUSD against tokenized gold options like PAXG and XAUT.
The stablecoin’s reserves are valued at $1.56 billion, surpassing the market supply of $1.49 billion tokens. This highlights Ripple’s ongoing growth in the stablecoin sector. Binance has also integrated RLUSD on the XRP Ledger, allowing users to transact RLUSD directly on the network.
Ripple launched RLUSD on December 17, 2024, with the aim of providing liquidity and improving cross-border payments. With multiple exchange integrations and strong backing, RLUSD is becoming more embedded in the broader crypto ecosystem.
NEAR Protocol (NEAR) joined Internet Computer (ICP) as a top performer, climbing 8.9% from Tuesday.
Strategy Executive Chairman Michael Saylor rejected the New York Times investigation identifying Adam Back as Bitcoin’s (BTC) pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.
Saylor said stylometry is “interesting, but not proof.”
Why Saylor Demands Cryptographic Evidence
Saylor pointed to contemporaneous 2008 emails between Satoshi and Back as evidence that the two were separate people.
Back first received a message from Satoshi in August 2008 confirming the Hashcash citation in the upcoming white paper.
“Stylometry is interesting, but not proof. The contemporaneous emails between Satoshi and Adam Back suggest they were distinct individuals. Until someone signs with Satoshi’s keys, every theory is just narrative,” said Saylor.
That position aligns with his broader philosophy. Saylor has repeatedly described Satoshi’s disappearance as a deliberate act that strengthened BTC by removing any central authority figure.
He once wrote that Satoshi “created a way, gave it away, and walked away.”
What MicroStrategy Has at Stake
Strategy holds 766,970 BTC acquired for roughly $54.57 billion, making it the largest corporate holder globally.
That position depends on BTC functioning as a decentralized, leaderless monetary network, not on who designed it.
BTC dipped roughly 2.4% after the NYT article dropped, falling from $68,269 to $66,634. Saylor has previously dismissed such moves as temporary noise, calling volatility “Satoshi’s gift to the faithful.”
Back himself firmly denied being Satoshi, attributing writing overlaps to shared cypherpunk interests and confirmation bias.
The stylometric analysis, led by computational linguist Florian Cafiero, found Back as the closest match among 12 suspects but described the results as inconclusive.
For Saylor, the answer remains simple. Without a signature from Satoshi’s private keys, no investigation settles the question.
The post MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor Doesn’t Buy The Adam Back Is Satoshi Story appeared first on BeInCrypto.
Standard Chartered is planning to reabsorb the client-facing custody operations of Zodia Custody into the digital assets division of its Corporate and Investment Bank (CIB).
The restructuring, which could be announced as early as this month, would leave Zodia operating only as a standalone Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform for custody technology, according to Bloomberg sources familiar with the matter.
From Incubation to Independence to Reabsorption
Standard Chartered established Zodia Custody in late 2020 through its innovation arm SC Ventures, alongside Northern Trust.
The custodian later attracted minority investors, including SBI Holdings, National Australia Bank, and Emirates NBD. It now employs around 150 people across seven offices globally.
Zodia had been gaining traction. In January 2026, it became the first custodian to support AUDM, an Australian dollar stablecoin.
The following month, it launched Zodia Switch, enabling clients to swap assets directly within the custody platform without external pre-funding.
However, Standard Chartered launched its own Luxembourg-based digital asset custody last year and rolled out institutional crypto trading separately.
The overlap between parent and subsidiary made a restructuring likely.
It remains unclear whether Standard Chartered has consulted Zodia’s minority shareholders.
Banks Are Pulling Custody In-House
The digital asset custody market currently exceeds $1 trillion and is projected to reach $7 trillion by 2035 at a compound annual growth rate of roughly 23.7%.
According to the 2026 EY-Parthenon survey, 73% of institutional investors plan to increase digital asset allocations this year.
That growing demand is pulling banks deeper into direct custody. State Street and BNY Mellon have scaled internal digital custody divisions.
Morgan Stanley filed for a dedicated national trust bank charter in February to custody and stake crypto assets under federal supervision.
Analysts see the restructuring as a turning point, with some arguing that when a Tier-1 global bank moves crypto custody into its investment bank, it stops being a contest between crypto and TradFi and becomes crypto embedded inside TradFi.
Zodia was originally built as a standalone vehicle to test the waters safely, and its reabsorption only happens when the parent sees digital assets as real, fee-generating capital markets business.
Meanwhile, others suggest a wider pattern of traditional banks pulling digital asset functions from experimental ventures into core regulated operations, noting that running parallel services was simply inefficient.
“…The suits finally realized running the same thing twice is inefficient. Revolutionary,” one user stated.
What This Says About Crypto Custody Independence
The answer appears increasingly clear. Independence for bank-backed custodians served a specific purpose during the experimental phase of 2020-2023, when regulatory uncertainty made arm’s-length structures necessary.
Now that frameworks like MiCA in Europe and the GENIUS Act in the US have reduced that friction, banks no longer need buffer entities to engage with digital assets.
“This mirrors a wider trend of traditional banks pulling digital asset functions from experimental ventures into core regulated ops – driven by frameworks like MiCA and VARA,” the user added.
Zodia’s hybrid outcome is telling. The technology retains standalone value as SaaS, but the actual safekeeping of client assets, the highest-trust and highest-margin piece of the value chain, moves back onto the parent bank’s books.
That distinction reveals what banks truly want to own versus what they are willing to license out.
Crypto-native custodians like Coinbase Custody, BitGo, and Fireblocks still hold nearly half the global market.
Can they defend that share against a banking sector now determined to bring custody in-house?
The post Standard Chartered is Taking Over Full Crypto Custody Platform Zodia appeared first on BeInCrypto.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation a proposed rule that would establish a framework for stablecoin issuers supervised by the FDIC.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation proposed new rules on Tuesday to oversee stablecoins issued through the banking system under the GENIUS Act. The FDIC board of directors voted to advance the proposal, which sets parameters for how stablecoins may be issued and managed by regulated depository institutions.
The proposal represents the FDIC’s formal regulatory framework for stablecoin operations within the traditional banking sector. Details on specific requirements and implementation timelines were included in the Tuesday statement.
Sources: FDIC
This article was generated automatically by The Defiant’s AI news system from publicly available sources.
Polymarket has acquired Brahma to enhance its DeFi infrastructure and trading performance capabilities.
Polymarket has acquired Brahma, a DeFi infrastructure provider, to strengthen its platform’s trading performance and underlying infrastructure. The acquisition was announced on April 8, 2026, and aims to bolster Polymarket’s capabilities in the decentralized finance ecosystem.
Brahma’s integration into Polymarket is expected to enhance the prediction market platform’s technical infrastructure and user experience. The deal represents continued consolidation in the DeFi sector as platforms seek to improve their competitive positioning.
Source: Polymarket
This article was generated automatically by The Defiant’s AI news system from publicly available sources.
Iran will collect crypto payments as transit fees from oil tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz during the two‑week ceasefire with the U.S., an industry official told FT.
Hamid Hosseini, spokesperson for Iran’s Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters’ Union, said that crypto-denominated tolls will be charged for fully loaded vessels as the nation seeks to “monitor what goes in and out of the strait to ensure these two weeks aren’t used for transferring weapons.”
Hosseini’s comments signal Tehran’s willingness to use cryptocurrency for toll payments, highlighting the expanding real‑world use cases of digital assets in high-stakes geopolitical developments.
This isn’t new — nations at odds with the U.S. or its allies have long turned to crypto as a way to bypass traditional banking channels that leave a paper trail. Russia has indeed used cryptocurrency as part of broader efforts to evade Western sanctions, and in Iran’s case, Tehran is exploring digital payments as it looks to unlock funds for rebuilding the war-destroyed infrastructure.
The proposed framework will require tankers to notify cargo details to Iranian authorities via email, and the toll will reportedly be calculated at $1 per barrel of oil. Authorities will then instruct on how to settle the fee in digital assets, with officials citing bitcoin as a potential payment method.
Hosseini suggested that empty tankers would transit without charge, but fully laden vessels must comply with the reporting and crypto payment process before being cleared for passage.
“Once the email arrives and Iran completes its assessment, vessels are given a few seconds to pay in Bitcoin, ensuring they can’t be traced or confiscated due to sanctions,” he said.
The comments also indicated Tehran may direct traffic along the northern route of the Strait close to its coastline, a move that could raise questions about whether Western and Gulf‑linked shipping firms are prepared to navigate the risky Iranian waters.
Crypto World
Deposit Flight Concerns Over Stablecoin Yield Are ‘Quantitatively Small’: White House Report
A White House Council of Economic Advisers study released Wednesday concludes that banning stablecoin yield would have minimal impact on bank lending and would harm consumers.
The White House Council of Economic Advisers released a study Wednesday examining stablecoin yield and its impact on deposit flight and bank lending. The report finds that eliminating stablecoin yield would increase bank lending by just 0.02%—approximately $2.1 billion—while resulting in a net welfare loss to consumers. The findings directly contradict concerns from some Senate Banking lawmakers who had pressed the White House to release the report.
The report concludes that deposit flight concerns related to stablecoin yield are “quantitatively small,” noting that most stablecoin reserves remain within the banking system with only a limited share removed from lending activity. The executive summary states: “a yield prohibition would do very little to protect bank lending, while forgoing the consumer benefits of competitive returns on stablecoin holdings.”
Sources: White House
This article was generated automatically by The Defiant’s AI news system from publicly available sources.
Standard Chartered PLC is reportedly seeking to fully acquire Zodia Custody Ltd. to merge it with one of its digital asset divisions, sources close to the matter told Bloomberg on Wednesday.
The ‘restructuring’ plan, which could come as soon as this month, contemplates merging Zodia’s crypto custody business into one of the investment bank’s divisions that provides similar services, the sources told Bloomberg.
The sources also said Standard Chartered is considering allowing Zodia Custody to continue operating as a separate software-as-a-service (SAAS) business for cryptocurrency custody.
The people close to the negotiations, according to Bloomberg, did not clarify whether Standard Chartered has approached Zodia Custody’s minority shareholders, which include Northern Trust Corp., Emirates NBD Bank PJSC, National Australia Bank Ltd. and SBI Holdings Inc.
Emirates NBD and Northern Trust declined to comment, while SBI Holdings and NAB did not immediately respond to requests for comment, Bloomberg wrote.
Standard Chartered told CoinDesk it would not comment on the news of the potential takeover. Zodia did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation.
Standard Chartered has expanded its digital asset footprint in recent years. The bank launched its own digital asset custody services out of Luxembourg in January last year and introduced crypto trading for institutional clients last summer, becoming one of the first global banks to offer spot bitcoin and ether trading.
Banks have ramped up their digital asset activities as regulatory clarity improves in key regions such as the U.S. and Europe. Crypto custody in particular has become a competitive battleground, with firms including State Street, BNY Mellon and Morgan Stanley expanding their presence, with Morgan Stanley recently naming Coinbase and BNY Mellon as custodians for a proposed bitcoin ETF.
Zodia, which was aimed at financial institutions and began custodianship of emeralds in June 2025, raised $18.5 million in a Series A funding round in July of last year to expand and develop its stablecoin payment services.
The firm was originally established in 2020 as a joint venture between Standard Chartered and Northern Trust and has since raised external capital multiple times. Zodia Custody employs around 150 people across seven offices in London, Dublin, Luxembourg, Singapore, the UAE, Sydney and Hong Kong.
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