Cryptocurrency and Blockchain
The cryptocurrency sector saw significant regulatory and institutional developments today as World Liberty Trust Company received a national trust bank charter to issue its USD1 stablecoin, while Bitmine expanded its Ethereum holdings to 4.8% of the total supply. However, the market faced severe security issues, including a $100 million Bitcoin exploit on Coldcard hardware wallets and Harmony's decision to roll back its blockchain after an exploit created forged ONE tokens. Additionally, Binance faced scrutiny for reportedly sharing user data with Russian authorities, and Austrian regulators fined Bitpanda under new MiCA rules.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency granted preliminary conditional approval for a national trust bank charter to World Liberty Trust Company, an affiliate of the Trump family-backed World Liberty Financial. The approval authorizes the entity to directly issue and redeem the USD1 stablecoin in-house, cutting out current partner BitGo Bank and Trust. The charter is limited, prohibiting the institution from taking deposits, making loans, or seeking a Federal Reserve master account, but it requires a minimum capital of $20 million alongside a qualified internal audit manager. World Liberty Financial is approximately 38% owned by an entity tied to Donald Trump Jr. and other family members, prompting Senator Elizabeth Warren to introduce the Ending Presidential Corruption in Banking Act to block banking applications involving top elected officials and their families.
Ethereum developers are weighing 66 proposals for the 2027 Hegotá upgrade, including a package of changes aimed at native privacy. Only one measure, a censorship-resistance fix called FOCIL, has been approved so far. FOCIL takes transaction inclusion decisions away from a single block builder, allowing a committee of validators to force pending transactions into blocks. Alongside FOCIL, developers are considering Frame Transactions, or EIP-8141, which lets users customize how transactions are approved, executed and paid for. Two accompanying proposals, Keyed Nonces (EIP-8250) and EIP-8272, would allow transactions to use separate counters and prove themselves against recent cryptographic records without relying on outside relayers. Standard ether transfers will remain transparent, but the changes would reduce the external infrastructure required by privacy applications.
Binance provided Russian authorities with transaction records and personal data belonging to a customer accused of financing terrorism through crypto donations to Ukrainian campaigns. Russian investigators used the information to build a case against IT specialist Yuri Belenkiy, who was detained in September 2025 and remains in jail awaiting trial. The Investigative Committee alleged Belenkiy sent more than $700 between January 2023 and March 2024 to the Ukrainian military and the Azov Brigade. Binance handed over Belenkiy's transaction history alongside his date of birth, address, phone number, passport number, and residency permit. The exchange routed the requests through a dedicated email address directed at Russian and Belarusian law enforcement. A Binance spokesperson declined to comment on individual cases, stating the exchange cooperates with lawful information requests globally. The data sharing occurred despite Binance executing a full exit from Russia in September 2023 by selling its local operations to CommEX.