The American Bankers Association (ABA) has criticized finalized rules from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) governing how payment stablecoins can be issued and how custody arrangements should work. In a Wednesday statement, the industry group said the OCC’s interpretation—approved as part of the regulatory framework implementing the GENIUS Act—misread Congress’s intent, particularly on the question of stablecoin yield. Key takeaways The ABA argues the OCC removed earlier safeguards that would have treated certain third-party yield arrangements as effectively violating the GENIUS Act’s yield prohibition. ABA warns issuers could offer “economically equivalent” rewards while technically avoiding the statutory ban, creating regulatory gaps. The Blockchain Association said the OCC’s revision better matches the statutory text, while banking groups fear ambiguity. The rules are set to take effect ahead of the GENIUS Act’s implementation in January 2027, with ad...

Bitcoin’s price momentum is being weighed down by a familiar on-chain mechanism: investors who bought in later 2025 are effectively “crowding” a key resistance area near $87,000, according to new analysis from Glassnode. At the same time, inflows into US spot Bitcoin ETFs appear to be strengthening demand around $80,000, where multiple cost-basis benchmarks and order-book liquidity converge. The tug-of-war is taking place across two zones. Above, several breakeven levels from different investor cohorts repeatedly cap upside attempts. Below, support is forming as bid liquidity concentrates around the $80,000 psychological threshold and related cost-basis bands. Key takeaways Glassnode says the breakeven for a cohort of Bitcoin buyers from late 2025 is now around $87,700, acting as resistance when BTC trades toward that level. A cluster above $87,000 includes the 2026 opening price at $87,490 and the 20-month simple moving average near $87,165. Bitcoin support around $80,000 is rei...

The American Bankers Association (ABA) has criticized the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s (OCC) finalized rules for the GENIUS Act, arguing that the regulator’s approach to payment stablecoin yield diverges from what Congress intended. In a notice issued Wednesday, the industry group said the OCC’s final framework contains “several positive steps,” but falls short on safeguards meant to address how stablecoin issuers could structure economically similar returns while attempting to avoid the law’s yield-payment restriction. The ABA’s response centers on a specific change from the OCC’s earlier proposal. According to ABA, the OCC removed a provision that would have created a presumption that certain third-party arrangements violate the GENIUS ban on yield payments. The banking group warns that this decision leaves room for “economically equivalent” yield to be delivered through indirect structures. Key takeaways The ABA says the OCC’s final GENIUS rules weaken safeguar...

Tether is backing Bolivian fintech Peso with a pre-seed investment aimed at scaling USDT-based payments across Latin America, according to a Wednesday announcement on Tether’s website. The funding is intended to expand Peso’s stablecoin payment infrastructure in Bolivia and beyond, including services designed to connect USDT with local currencies via banking rails and merchant payment systems. Tether did not disclose the investment size. Key takeaways Tether invested in Bolivian fintech Peso to expand USDT payment infrastructure across multiple Latin American markets. Peso has already integrated USDT payments into Yango’s food delivery platform in Bolivia, enabling customers to pay with USDT. The fintech supports QR payments, merchant point-of-sale tools, and virtual accounts linked to Bolivia’s banking network using ACH transfers. The move aligns with growing local demand for dollar-denominated alternatives amid Bolivia’s ongoing US dollar shortage and inflationary pressures. ...

President Donald Trump used a White House roundtable on cybercrime to highlight the scale of fraud affecting Americans, citing losses of more than $20 billion in 2025 and claiming federal actions that he says disrupted criminal proceeds tied to foreign scams. The remarks came amid ongoing political scrutiny over allegations that Trump and members of his administration have benefited from digital-asset-related business interests. Speaking at the Wednesday event, Trump said “countless” Americans lost over $20 billion from cybercrime in 2025 through impersonation schemes, ransomware attacks, scam operations, and other tactics. He also stated that federal officials froze $1 billion in “cybercurrency tied to foreign scammers” and prevented $1.6 billion in 2025 losses from reaching criminals after a March executive order. Key takeaways Trump claimed federal freezes totaling $1 billion in proceeds he linked to “cybercurrency” connected to foreign scammers, alongside actions intended to stop...

Recent reports of more than $200 million in crypto losses linked to tampered hardware wallets and predictable—rather than properly random—seed generation have renewed scrutiny of self-custody. The core issue is not that every investor failed to follow best practices; it’s that some risks can be introduced upstream, through devices or supply chains that holders cannot independently verify. At the same time, physical attacks targeting crypto owners are increasing, with Cointelegraph citing wrench attacks occurring in France roughly every 2.5 days this year. That broader threat landscape makes a single-storage approach harder to justify—even for cautious users. Many experienced holders now emphasize diversification across storage methods to limit what can go wrong if one layer is compromised. Key takeaways Security problems are no longer limited to “user error” or “lost seed phrases”; tampering and poor randomness can also undermine hardware wallet setups. Crypto ETFs can reduce the o...

The Cardano Foundation is urging European Union policymakers to avoid creating a fresh, stand-alone regulatory regime specifically for decentralized finance (DeFi) and staking. In a submission to the European Commission, the foundation argues that lawmakers should apply existing financial rules based on what an activity actually does and what risks it creates—rather than classifying the activity according to the underlying technology. In a 19-page response posted Wednesday, the foundation also draws a line between users who directly participate in decentralized networks and intermediaries that package services around custody, asset control, or other forms of managed exposure. The distinction, it says, matters for how obligations under EU law should be structured. Key takeaways The Cardano Foundation says DeFi and staking should be regulated by activity and risk, not by the technology used to deliver them. It calls for clearer separation between direct user participation and interme...