Birch Hill is an onchain credit business that assesses loan-backed collateral and configures lending vaults, with a live rollout on Base. It came onto the radar this week after Decrypt reported its October 28, 2026 $4 million seed round, led by Multicoin Capital. Honest limits: The central story, including its underwriting approach and plans for…
Former FBI agent Patrick Steven Yaroch has pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering after authorities said he used cryptocurrency credentials held in FBI systems to take funds connected to 35 investigations. The Department of Justice said Yaroch made approximately 100 fraudulent transfers and gained approximately $2,474,380.66, a figure often rounded to $2.5 million…
What is TraderTraitor, the hacking squad behind the $6.3 billion Binance heist? The FBI has attributed the theft of more than $6.3 billion in digital assets from Binance to TraderTraitor, a North Korea-aligned hacking group with a long track record of targeting cryptocurrency firms. The incident is being described as the largest cryptocurrency heist on…
Court Slaps CFTC Over Crypto Trader’s Expulsion Trevor Kitchen just forced the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to explain why it booted him from the futures markets without a proper hearing. The D.C. Circuit said the agency’s quick-trigger ban was too blunt an instrument, handing crypto traders a rare win against federal power. Kitchen ran a…
As of November 6, 2026, the closure of the T3 Financial Crime Unit has come into sharper focus following the theft from Binance and Changpeng CZ Zhao’s call for an industry security alliance. The unit, which brought together Tether, Tron, TRM Labs and later Binance, ended operations in late August, before the October 29 incident….
Trump Crypto Case Hands SEC Fresh Hammer A federal court just green-lit the U.S. government’s seizure of roughly $40,000 in Tether tokens that were allegedly used to launder Trump-Vance inaugural funds, marking the first time a U.S. judge has treated an Ethereum-based stablecoin as forfeitable property in a criminal case. The ruling matters because it…
Digital Sovereignty Alliance Managing Director Adrian Wall moderated a Strobe Summit conversation with former Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Christopher Giancarlo on U.S. digital asset policy, institutional adoption and financial-market infrastructure. The discussion, presented under the title Crypto at a Crossroads: Regulation, Institutional Adoption, and the Future of Financial Markets, centered on unresolved legislative questions…
Bitcoin steadied near $76,000 on Friday after a broad selloff in AI and semiconductor stocks pushed the cryptocurrency to its lowest level in seven weeks and triggered substantial forced liquidations across crypto markets. The rebound came as market participants awaited the latest U.S. employment data, a report that FXStreet said could influence expectations around the…
US Voters Back AI Data Center Restrictions in At Least 29 Communities Voters in at least 29 jurisdictions across the United States approved bans or new restrictions on data centers in Tuesday’s local elections, reflecting growing pushback against the infrastructure buildout underpinning the AI boom. The Washington Post reported the results as a sign of…
COURT SLAMS DOOR ON BLOCKCHAIN FIRM’S TEXAS ESCAPE Texas appeals court just told a crypto mining company it cannot force its way out of a local lawsuit by running to a higher court. The Eighth District denied mandamus relief to Envy Blockchain, NV Landco 1, and Stephen Decani, leaving them exposed in El Paso district…
Morning Minute: Democrat Sweep Pumps Crypto as CLARITY Act Talks Resurface Crypto markets traded higher after a post-midterms rally, even as the political outlook for U.S. crypto legislation appeared to shift following Democrats’ sweep of Congress. Bitcoin rose about 2% to $79.9k, while ether gained roughly 3% to $2,390. Solana added around 2% to $95….
COURT HANDS COINBASE PARTIAL WIN OVER SEC IN LISTING FIGHT The Third Circuit just cracked open a narrow door for Coinbase to challenge the SEC’s refusal to write new rules on how digital assets get listed on exchanges. The ruling doesn’t force the Commission to act, but it keeps the case alive and signals that…
SEC Wins 23-Year Battle Over Bilzerian’s Frozen Fortune The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has just slammed the door on Paul Bilzerian’s latest attempt to claw back millions of dollars frozen since 1989, ruling that the convicted financier and his family cannot tap the receivership’s cash without first proving the money is…
Hong Kong passes law requiring crypto exchanges to report customer transactions to tax authorities Hong Kong’s Legislative Council has passed a new law that will require cryptocurrency exchanges and other covered digital asset service providers to collect customer and transaction information for tax reporting, with the data set to be shared with tax authorities in…
SEC LOSES KEY FIFTH CIRCUIT FIGHT OVER ITS ENFORCEMENT POWER The Fifth Circuit just handed the SEC a stinging procedural defeat in a case that could weaken the agency’s ability to pursue unregistered crypto offerings. In a unanimous opinion released this morning, the court blocked the agency’s attempt to fast-track enforcement against a DeFi platform,…
Mercado Bitcoin faces further questions over the timeline of its response to a Nov. 2 security breach after blockchain analysis indicated that customer deposit addresses continued to be drained after the exchange said the incident had been contained. CoinDesk reported that the activity involved 36,042 customer deposit addresses on Ethereum and that the same attacker…
Bitcoin held above $80,000 on Thursday as cryptocurrencies joined a wider market rebound following the Democratic Party’s win in both chambers of Congress. The move came alongside higher U.S. equities, lower oil prices and fresh inflows into spot bitcoin and ether exchange-traded funds. CoinDesk reported that bitcoin climbed back above $80,000 early Thursday after falling…
Supreme Court Green-Lights State-Level Crypto Crackdowns The nation’s highest court just handed state regulators a powerful new weapon: the right to sue crypto exchanges and token issuers even when the SEC has stayed silent. By refusing to block a New York enforcement action against a major offshore platform, the Court signaled that federal inaction will…
South Korea’s government plans to seek a two-year postponement of its cryptocurrency income tax, moving the proposed start date from January 1, 2027 to 2029. Finance Minister Lee Hyoung-il announced the plan at a Thursday briefing, according to KBS. The change would represent the fourth delay to a framework introduced in 2020, but it is…
CFTC WINS APPEAL, KITCHEN LOSES—AND CRYPTO TRADERS JUST GOT A WARNING SHOT Trevor Kitchen just lost a major appeal to the CFTC, and the court’s ruling gives the agency more muscle over crypto trading platforms that let U.S. customers trade derivatives. The decision tightens the screws on offshore exchanges and sends a clear signal that…
