The U.S. Department of Justice is reportedly preparing to drop federal charges against Matthew Goettsche, the founder of BitClub Network, in a case that accused him of running a crypto mining “passive income” scheme that allegedly defrauded investors of $722 million between 2014 and 2019.

According to a report from Bloomberg Law, the DOJ’s deputy attorney general’s office ordered the New Jersey attorney general’s office to dismiss the case “with prejudice.” Shortly afterward, a court filing in New Jersey indicated the parties have reached “an agreement in principle” to resolve the pending charges, though additional time is needed to finalize the terms.

Key takeaways

• DOJ is reportedly seeking to dismiss charges against BitClub Network founder Matthew Goettsche after an “agreement in principle” outlined in a New Jersey court filing.
• Bloomberg Law reported the decision follows direction from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s office to end a DOJ approach described as “regulation by prosecution.”
• The original indictment dates to December 2019 and alleged wire fraud and unregistered securities offenses tied to BitClub’s investor “mining pool” pitch.
• Several former BitClub associates—Silviu Balaci, Joseph Abel, and Gordon Beckstead—have already pleaded guilty, making the case outcome a notable shift in enforcement trajectory.
• Investors and legal watchers will be looking for whether any dismissal is fully implemented and whether the broader DOJ pivot affects other ongoing crypto prosecutions.

A case built on a “mining pool” promise

Goettsche was indicted in December 2019 and, at the time, was scheduled to go to trial in October on charges including conspiracy to commit wire fraud and the sale of unregistered securities. Prosecutors alleged that BitClub operated from April 2014 to December 2019 as a Bitcoin mining pool where investors could purchase shares and earn passive returns.

In filings and allegations cited in coverage of the matter, BitClub’s model was said to rely on falsified earnings and fabricated mining data—claims that prosecutors and other court materials have treated as central to convincing investors to join and continue funding the scheme.

Earlier court submissions also reflected Goettsche’s description of the business as one built “on the backs of idiots,” according to court material referenced in previous reporting.

How the DOJ pivot appears to factor in

The reported change arrives against the backdrop of an April 2025 memo issued by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. As described in that memorandum, it directed DOJ to end what was characterized as “regulation by prosecution” in relation to the digital asset industry—an approach that some critics argued had been too broad and blurred the line between criminal enforcement and broader market regulation.

Bloomberg Law reported on Friday that the deputy attorney general’s office in Washington ordered the New Jersey attorney general’s office to dismiss the Goettsche case with prejudice. The same reporting cited two sources familiar with the matter.

In a subsequent filing, Goettsche’s attorneys told U.S. District Judge Claire Cecchi that the parties “reached an agreement in principle” to resolve the charges, but that they need time to finalize the terms—language consistent with a DOJ-led shift that is moving from policy direction toward case-level resolution.

The DOJ did not provide immediate comment when Cointelegraph reached out, according to the account in the source article.

Why this outcome stands out in U.S. crypto enforcement

If the dismissal proceeds, it would represent one of the more prominent reversals in U.S. crypto enforcement history—especially because the Goettsche matter has already produced guilty pleas from several alleged co-conspirators.

Three former BitClub Network figures—Silviu Balaci, Joseph Abel, and Gordon Beckstead—have pleaded guilty in connection with their involvement in the scheme, according to the details summarized in the source reporting. A dismissal of the lead founder’s charges, therefore, would not simply end a single prosecution; it could reshape how observers interpret the effect of DOJ’s policy changes on pending or future digital asset cases.

For market participants, this distinction matters. Many crypto investors follow enforcement not only to understand individual risk, but also to infer whether agencies are recalibrating what conduct they believe is best handled through prosecution versus through other regulatory or administrative channels.

At the same time, it is not yet clear what the final disposition will look like—dismissal “with prejudice” is reported as the direction, but the court filing emphasizes that the parties still need time to finalize terms. Readers should therefore treat the development as a process in motion rather than a final resolution until the court enters an order.

DOJ enforcement remains active elsewhere

The reported BitClub shift does not appear to represent an overall retreat from crypto crime cases. Other DOJ actions in recent months have continued to target fraud and theft.

In April, a California man, Evan Tageman, was sentenced to 70 months in prison for his alleged role in a criminal enterprise that stole about $263 million worth of crypto from victims through social engineering scams and burglary, according to the source article’s summary of earlier coverage.

The DOJ has also continued to freeze large pools of crypto tied to alleged investment scammers who targeted Americans, with the source article citing efforts that resulted in freezing more than $700 million in April. It further references a separate seizure of nearly $580 million in crypto connected to a criminal scam group operating in Southeast Asia earlier in the year.

Taken together, these actions suggest that while DOJ may be adjusting its strategic stance toward parts of the industry—particularly where it believes prosecution has functioned as a substitute for regulation—the department remains willing to pursue serious criminal conduct involving fraud and coercive tactics.

That tension—between a policy shift away from “regulation by prosecution” and continued case-by-case criminal enforcement—could become a key lens for the next wave of courtroom outcomes.

For now, investors and legal observers should watch for whether the New Jersey court formally dismisses the case as reported, what conditions—if any—are included in the final terms, and whether similar DOJ adjustments surface in other pending crypto prosecutions.

Getting licensed under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) framework is only the beginning for crypto custodians, as regulators turn their attention from authorization to operational resilience.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) on Wednesday launched a Common Supervisory Action (CSA) to examine the operational resilience of crypto asset service providers (CASPs), placing custody services at the center of the review.

“The signal is quite clear: for custodians, a licence is the start line, not the finish,” Sebastien Dessimoz, co-founder and managing partner at digital asset infrastructure firm Taurus, told Cointelegraph.

The review comes shortly after MiCA’s transitional period expired, marking one of the first major supervisory exercises under the EU’s new crypto framework.

From claiming security to proving it

The ESMA told Cointelegraph that the CSA will apply to a sample of authorized CASPs under MiCA. The review will assess the maturity of CASPs’ digital operational resilience frameworks for custody activities, focusing on risks including key and storage management, transaction controls, incident response and dependencies on third-party providers.

According to industry executives, the action marks a significant shift in Europe’s crypto market, where custody providers are increasingly expected to demonstrate, not simply claim, that their operational controls can withstand real-world risks.

“The shift I expect is from asserting security to evidencing it,” Dessimoz said. “This is a healthy development,” he noted, adding that digital assets are moving deeper into regulated financial infrastructure, and that requires the same security, accountability and resilience institutions expect in traditional markets.

Related: StanChart features in ESMA’s first MiCA register update since deadline

Jody Mettler, chief operating officer of BitGo and president of BitGo Trust, told Cointelegraph that institutional clients have already been asking more detailed questions about how custody providers segregate assets, manage access controls, respond to incidents and maintain business continuity during periods of market stress.

“The signal is that regulators are looking more closely at the operational standards behind digital asset services, not just whether firms are licensed,” she added.

Markus Levin, co-founder of blockchain infrastructure company XYO, said obtaining a MiCA authorization and demonstrating operational resilience are “two different tests,” adding that CASPs able to prove robust controls before regulators complete their review could gain an advantage as institutional adoption grows.

MiCA meets DORA and the debate over centralized crypto supervision

Yuriy Brisov, a lawyer at Digital & Analogue Partners, said the review sits under two EU regulatory frameworks at once: the MiCA framework, which establishes custody obligations, and the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), which sets technology risk requirements for financial firms.

“Custody technology is concentrated in a handful of vendors, so one weak supplier can hit many firms at once,” the lawyer said, adding: “Proving resilience across that supply chain, under MiCA and DORA simultaneously, is the real challenge for CASPs.”

Source: Digital Operational Resilience Act

According to Brisov, the review could set a benchmark for how regulators assess MiCA-authorized custodians and influence discussions around a more centralized approach to crypto supervision in the EU.

“The findings will feed into two live debates: the review of MiCA and the proposal to move supervision of all CASPs from national regulators to ESMA,” he said.

Magazine: The biggest blockchain upgrades still to come in 2026

The US Federal Reserve named Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) co-founder Marc Andreessen to help lead a task force studying how artificial intelligence and other new technologies could affect productivity and jobs.

Andreessen will serve on the Fed’s Productivity and Jobs task force alongside Charles I. Jones, a Stanford University economics professor currently on leave at Anthropic, and Asha Sharma, Microsoft’s executive vice president and Xbox CEO.

The new task force will assess how general-purpose technologies such as AI will affect employment and productivity to better inform the central bank’s policymaking, the Fed said in a Thursday press release.

The group is one of five task forces launched under new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, each responsible for examining important areas of monetary policy conduct. The other task forces will focus on the Fed’s policy communication, balance sheet policy, data quality and inflation frameworks.

Andreessen co-founded Andreessen Horowitz, which has become one of Silicon Valley’s most influential venture capital firms and a major backer of crypto and AI startups.

Andreessen and Warsh’s ties date back to the early 1990s at Stanford University. During a 2025 interview with CNBC, Warsh said that both Andreessen and Palantir’s Peter Thiel “have been friends from my days in college.” 

Andreessen publicly supported Warsh’s appointment as Fed chairman. “I’ve known Kevin for 30 years; he combines great insight in economics and finance with keen understanding of technology and business,” he wrote in a Jan. 30 X post following US President Donald Trump’s nomination.

Source: Marc Andreessen

Warsh launches Fed task forces

Warsh revealed the leadership-driven overhaul and the creation of the five new task forces during a press conference on June 17.

“These subjects are timely, consequential, and, in my view, worthy of a fresh look,” said Warsh during the press conference, adding that each of these will be independently led by “some of the very best minds—both inside and outside the economics profession.” 

Warsh also said that the central bank will strive to publish policy statements and guidance in shorter, clearer language.

Related: Hyperliquid shows how onchain perps could challenge Wall Street: Pantera

FOMC divided over AI’s economic impact

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is sharply divided over the economic impact of AI and whether it is an inflationary or disinflationary technology. Some view AI as a long-term disinflationary productivity booster, while others argue that the current spending on AI infrastructure is actively increasing inflation.

During a May 27 speech, Governor Lisa Cook said that she expects AI to further “boost productivity growth, contributing to my expectation that GDP will grow robustly,” but added that it presents the risk of “higher inflation.” 

In former Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s statements from March 2026, he said that data center spending is “putting pressure on all kinds of goods and services” and is “probably pushing inflation up at the margin.” 

Magazine: Strategy sells $216M Bitcoin, Bollinger bullish on BTC: Hodler’s Digest, June 29-July 6, 2026

Zcash price has rallied past $500 after open interest jumped to $1.02 billion and traders accumulated positions ahead of the July 28 Ironwood upgrade.

According to data from crypto.news, Zcash (ZEC) price has risen more than 7% over the past 24 hours to trade above $500, extending its weekly gain to around 10% as traders increased exposure ahead of the network’s Ironwood upgrade.

Alongside the price rally, derivatives participation has accelerated, while technical indicators point to sustained buying momentum. The latest move has also coincided with a recovery across the crypto market, where Bitcoin reclaimed the $64,000 level and improved sentiment for several major digital assets.

Network upgrade has become the key catalyst

Scheduled to activate at block 3,428,143 on July 28, the Ironwood upgrade has become the main catalyst behind renewed interest in Zcash. Zcash core developer Sean Bowe stated that the proposal has received support from major participants across the Zcash ecosystem.

The upgrade follows the discovery of a critical vulnerability in the Orchard shielded pool in May. According to the Zcash development team, the flaw could theoretically have allowed counterfeit ZEC to enter circulation without being detected, although no such exploitation was reported.

As part of Ironwood, developers will permanently retire the Orchard pool and prevent any new transactions from entering it. A redesigned shielded pool will replace it with stronger security measures, including formal verification, external security audits and quantum-resistant note designs intended to strengthen supply integrity and improve confidence in private transactions.

At the same time, improving conditions across the digital asset market have added another layer of support. Bitcoin’s recovery above $64,000 has encouraged renewed buying across altcoins, while Ether has continued moving toward its 50-day moving average near $1,800. XRP has also held support around $1.09, helping sustain positive sentiment ahead of the Zcash network upgrade.

Technical indicators continue to favor buyers

Growing participation in the futures market has reinforced the recent advance. Derivatives data shows trading volume jumped 49% to $1.98 billion, while open interest climbed 27.32% to $1.02 billion, indicating traders have continued opening new leveraged positions before the July activation.

On the technical side, ZEC has reclaimed several important resistance levels after recovering from roughly $368 in late June. The 4-hour chart shows the price moving above both the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement level at $459.71 and the 78.6% level at $484.63, leaving the recent swing high as the next obstacle.

Momentum indicators continue to support the bullish structure. The 4-hour MACD remains in positive territory with the MACD line holding above the signal line, while the RSI sits near 65, suggesting buying strength remains intact without entering deeply overbought territory.

The daily chart also shows the Aroon Up indicator at 100% and Aroon Down near 14%, a combination that typically signals a strong prevailing uptrend. Even so, ZEC continues trading just below the Supertrend resistance around $516, making that zone an important hurdle before buyers can attempt another leg higher.

Commenting on the latest setup, crypto analyst Ardi noted that a decisive move above $510 would invalidate the current local swing resistance and could increase the probability of a rally toward $540.

While the analyst outlined that bullish scenario, the rapid increase in open interest also indicates leveraged positioning has become more crowded, leaving ZEC vulnerable to sharper price swings if momentum weakens near resistance. 

Bitcoin closed the worst half-year in its recent history near $60,000, down from $93,000 in January and fresh off a 21-month low, and almost none of the damage came from crypto itself. The Federal Reserve and record ETF outflows did it, and the same two forces meet again at the July 28-29 policy meeting that will likely decide whether the bottom is in or another leg waits below. These are the levels, the scenarios, and the honest case on both sides.

Bitcoin enters July 2026 trading near $60,000, and the number understates how strange the year has been. The largest cryptocurrency began January above $93,000, peaked at $126,000 back in October 2025, and spent the first half of 2026 grinding down to a fresh 21-month low near $58,000 in late June, a decline of more than half from the top.

What makes it unusual is the absence of a villain: Bitcoin’s historic crashes came with something breaking, the Terra collapse in 2022, the FTX failure months later, and this time nothing inside crypto broke.

No major exchange failed, no large stablecoin lost its peg, and the US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve stayed in place. The damage came almost entirely from two external forces: the Federal Reserve and the money leaving Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, and those same two forces are set to decide what happens next.

The pivotal event sits at the end of the month. The Federal Reserve meets on July 28-29, and prediction markets put roughly a 70% probability on the Fed holding rates steady, with the small remaining chance pointing toward a hike, not a cut, meaning a monetary rescue for risk assets this month looks unlikely.

Around that decision sits a market that is deeply oversold, largely deleveraged, and quietly being accumulated by long-term buyers even as ETF holders sell, a genuinely mixed setup that supports the range this piece will map rather than a confident call in either direction.

This prediction breaks down the month the way a trader would: the price levels that matter in both directions, the bearish case built on the Fed and the ETF exodus, the bullish case built on oversold conditions and whale accumulation, three concrete scenarios with the triggers that would produce each, the analyst and prediction-market targets worth knowing, and the honest bottom line on a month whose direction one meeting will largely set. None of it is investment advice, and Bitcoin’s volatility means every level here can be overrun by a single headline.

The U.S. Department of Justice has reportedly moved to dismiss its criminal case against the founder of BitClub Network despite allegations that the crypto mining scheme defrauded investors of $722 million.

According to a report by Bloomberg Law, citing two people familiar with the matter, the Office of the Deputy Attorney General directed federal prosecutors in New Jersey to dismiss the case against BitClub Network founder Matthew Goettsche with prejudice, a move that would permanently end the prosecution if approved by the court.

A filing submitted to U.S. District Judge Claire Cecchi on Wednesday showed Goettsche’s legal team informed the court that both sides had reached “an agreement in principle” to resolve the case but required additional time to finalize its terms. The filing did not disclose the details of the proposed agreement.

If the dismissal proceeds, it would reverse one of the Justice Department’s highest-profile cryptocurrency fraud prosecutions after Goettsche spent years facing charges linked to the alleged operation of BitClub Network between 2014 and 2019.

Case has changed under the DOJ’s crypto policy

Federal prosecutors indicted Goettsche in December 2019 on charges including conspiracy to commit wire fraud and selling unregistered securities. His trial had been scheduled for October this year.

Court records allege BitClub Network marketed itself as a Bitcoin mining pool that allowed investors to purchase mining shares in exchange for passive income. Prosecutors claimed the company manipulated reported mining returns and fabricated earnings data to persuade existing members to invest more while attracting new participants.

Earlier court filings also alleged that Goettsche privately described the business model as being built “on the backs of idiots,” a statement prosecutors cited as evidence of the scheme’s intent.

The reported decision follows an April 2025 memorandum issued by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, which instructed Justice Department prosecutors to end what he described as “regulation by prosecution” in cases involving the digital asset industry. Bloomberg Law reported that the directive formed part of the background to the department’s latest decision.

Three former BitClub executives have already admitted their roles in the operation. Silviu Balaci, Joseph Abel, and Gordon Beckstead each pleaded guilty in connection with the alleged fraud, making the reported dismissal of Goettsche’s case a notable departure from the prosecution’s earlier course.

Prosecutors continue pursuing large crypto fraud cases

While the BitClub case appears headed toward dismissal, the Justice Department has continued bringing criminal cases involving alleged cryptocurrency fraud and financial crime.

In February, federal authorities arrested Christopher Alexander Delgado, founder and chief executive of Goliath Ventures, on charges connected to an alleged $328 million Ponzi scheme, according to the Department of Justice. Prosecutors allege Delgado raised more than $300 million by promoting cryptocurrency liquidity pools that promised consistent monthly returns, while only about $1 million was invested in legitimate crypto assets. Investigators further allege that most of the funds were used to repay earlier investors and finance personal expenses, including luxury travel, corporate events, and multimillion-dollar homes in central Florida.

Separately, the Department of Justice announced in April that California resident Evan Tageman received a 70-month prison sentence for participating in a criminal enterprise that stole roughly $263 million in cryptocurrency through social engineering attacks and burglaries.

During the same month, the department also announced the freezing of more than $700 million in crypto linked to investment scams targeting U.S. victims, while authorities in February seized nearly $580 million connected to an alleged scam network operating across Southeast Asia.

Outside the crypto sector, federal prosecutors have also continued pursuing major financial crime cases. Last December, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced the conviction of filmmaker Carl Erik Rinsch on wire fraud, money laundering, and related financial charges after prosecutors alleged he diverted funds provided by Netflix for a science-fiction television series instead of using them for production.

Robinhood says eligible US-based customers will soon be able to connect third-party AI agents that can place cryptocurrency trades on their behalf—an extension of its “agentic trading” push that the firm previously rolled out for equities and options.

The company did not provide a specific US launch date, but Robinhood indicated UK customers would be next in line. The move positions automated, rules-based trading as the next layer of retail crypto access, while also tying it to broader blockchain ambitions including Robinhood’s recently launched Ethereum layer-2 network, Robinhood Chain.

Key takeaways

• Robinhood plans to let eligible customers connect third-party AI agents to execute crypto trades with predefined guardrails.
• A US rollout date for crypto agent trading was not announced; UK access is expected to come first.
• Robinhood’s equities/options agent product went to beta in late May, and more than 70,000 agentic accounts have been created since then.
• Robinhood said its Robinhood Chain processed 17 million transactions from nearly 350,000 wallet addresses in its first week.
• Despite growing integrations for AI-agent payments, on-chain activity routed through some agent-payment rails remains limited—Artemis data cited $2 million in June for x402-facilitated volume.

Robinhood expands “agentic trading” to crypto

During a presentation on Friday, a Robinhood executive said the goal is to let users collaborate with AI agents to build trading strategies that include specific constraints, reducing the need for constant account monitoring.

Robinhood’s crypto agent trading offering will be available to eligible customers in the United States, but the firm did not specify when that eligibility window will open. The company also said it would extend access to its UK customers before—or alongside—US expansion.

For context, Robinhood has already been experimenting with AI-driven investment decisions in traditional markets. According to Robinhood’s own messaging, equities traders can already use agentic accounts to request investments in areas such as crypto mining stocks, including via the same underlying concept of delegating certain actions to AI agents under user-defined rules.

How the system works—and what Robinhood is integrating

Robinhood’s approach centers on offering “agentic accounts” through multiple third-party AI providers. The company said it will connect eligible users with agents from companies including Anthropic, OpenAI, and SpaceX’s Grok.

In addition to crypto trading, Robinhood also indicated it is enabling some eligible users to have credit card purchases executed on their behalf by AI agents—suggesting the firm is building out a wider portfolio of delegated actions rather than limiting autonomy to markets only.

For retail investors, the key promise is practicality: instead of tracking markets continuously, a user can define boundaries for an AI agent and let it act when those conditions are met. However, readers should watch how Robinhood frames “guardrails” in the crypto context—especially around risk limits, trade frequency, and what happens if an agent’s assumptions about market data break down.

Autonomy meets Robinhood’s blockchain strategy

The crypto agent-trading update comes alongside Robinhood’s expanding on-chain infrastructure efforts. Earlier this month, the company launched Robinhood Chain, an Ethereum layer-2 network.

Robinhood executive Johann Kerbrat said Robinhood Chain processed 17 million transactions from nearly 350,000 wallet addresses during its first week. While this figure is not directly tied to agent trading activity, it helps explain why autonomy is becoming a strategic focus: systems that delegate actions to software agents can benefit from faster settlement and composable on-chain workflows.

Robinhood also pointed to traction on its agent product in equities and options. The company said over 70,000 agentic accounts have already been created by equities and options traders since late May, when the platform launched a beta version of the agentic trading feature.

Broader AI-agent payments momentum—yet activity still trails expectations

Robinhood’s push reflects an industry-wide belief that AI agents will become frequent users of blockchain payments, particularly as agents increasingly handle real-world tasks and financial decisions. Earlier coverage from Cointelegraph noted optimism from major crypto and fintech executives, including Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire, about AI agents becoming dominant users of blockchain payments over the next few years.

Several recent integrations illustrate how AI-agent spending is being wired into crypto rails. In May, Amazon Web Services integrated Coinbase’s x402 payments protocol into Amazon Bedrock AgentCore, enabling agents to transact using the USDC stablecoin.

More broadly, crypto wallet startup Oobit launched in April a Visa-supported virtual card aimed at enabling AI agents to make online purchases in USDt (USDT) on behalf of businesses.

Still, available data suggests adoption of agent-centric payment rails remains early. According to Artemis data cited in the original report, only $2 million in transaction volume was facilitated through the AI agent-supported x402 protocol in June. That discrepancy—between high-level momentum and relatively modest on-chain routed volumes—may matter for investors evaluating which parts of the agent-payment stack are gaining real traction first.

What to watch next

Robinhood’s next steps—especially the timing of crypto agent trading for US customers, the exact implementation of “guardrails,” and whether agent-linked activity grows beyond initial experimentation—will determine whether delegated trading becomes a durable retail feature or remains a niche capability as the wider ecosystem develops AI-agent payments.