Crypto

Markets occasionally dump a bucket of icy water on everyone at once, and on Oct. 10, it was the cryptocurrency sector’s turn. In the late afternoon, President Donald Trump threatened to hike tariffs on China, and then a total panic exploded in crypto. For a few terrifying minutes, prices looked like trapdoors into oblivion, wiping hundreds of billions of dollars off the sector’s market cap.

Flash crashes like these are obviously extremely uncomfortable for investors, but they’re clarifying because they expose weak financial plumbing, miscalibrated risk-taking habits, and shaky narratives. They also give long-term investors a checklist for what to do next. Here’s what you need to know, and what you need to do.

Image source: Getty Images.

What just happened

The catalyst for the flash crash had little to do with crypto itself, as the sector is largely unrelated to the flow of trade with China, which the newly threatened tariffs would affect. As the weekend unfolded, Trump and his advisors subsequently softened their tone, which helped markets to stabilize. But the damage was already done.

Prices fell shockingly fast. Bitcoin (BTC -3.26%) dropped by more than 12% from the prior week’s peak before rebounding somewhat. Ethereum (ETH -4.06%) slid by even more at the worst point.

Meme coins and altcoins were utterly shellacked. Dogecoin (DOGE -4.80%) briefly cratered by about 50% before stabilizing. Tokens outside the very largest cohort fell even harder. The crypto publication CoinDesk cited a 33% drop across the board for non-BTC, non-ETH assets, with many losing 80% or more, and a small handful losing close to 99.9% of their value in the same very short period.

The scale of this crash was historic. But why did it cascade so badly? Start with leverage.

The market was primed for a massive unwinding by a recent boom in the leveraged trading of perpetual futures in a handful of new decentralized exchanges (DEXes), and highly leveraged activity across the existing set of centralized exchanges (CEXes). Roughly $19 billion of forced liquidations of leveraged positions across DEX and CEX venues have been reported so far, which is the largest on record by a very large margin. The mechanism here was that the initial price shock caused by the tariff announcement caused a huge number of leveraged positions to blow up and get roughly simultaneously liquidated by the exchanges.

Then came problems with liquidity. Reports indicate that as exchanges were in the process of liquidating those leveraged positions, their own collateral used for borrowing was becoming worthless quite rapidly. This in turn caused some market makers to step back from providing their services to altcoins as volatility exploded amid the liquidations, leaving thin order books and allowing absurd air-pockets in pricing.

That’s likely why the downward price action became so intense so quickly. Without any liquidity available on tap for exchanges or market makers, and without any buyers at most of the prevailing prices, even a small amount of selling activity can create large price moves — and there was a lot of selling. There’s also some evidence that some of the crypto exchanges’ data oracles responsible for being authoritative sources of pricing information seized up or failed in the midst of this process. This heightened fear across both centralized and decentralized venues.

Separately, there is a significant amount of chatter alleging that an insider had advance knowledge of Trump’s new tariff policy announcement and took out a very large short position on Bitcoin in advance, pocketing around $200 million in the resulting crash. These allegations are not proven, though they rhyme with previous instances suspiciously perfectly timed trading in advance of tariff-related crypto market dumps. 

However, it’s important to recognize that Bitcoin was actually the least affected asset during this event, and that its price activity was not really a major contributor to the cascade downward in and of itself.

What long-term investors should do next

The big lessons from the flash crash are simple, and they will age well.

First, do not use leverage to own crypto. Leverage turns both routine and exceptional volatility events into portfolio-destroying liquidations. Blue-chip cryptos like Solana, XRP, Chainlink, and Dogecoin can gap down hard in minutes when liquidity thins. Many traders (or short-term investors) using conservative amounts of leverage — less than 2X — were liquidated right alongside the gamblers levered to 100X.

Second, keep the bulk of your exposure restricted to crypto majors like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP, and Chainlink. Bitcoin held up well, and large chains reported a swift rebound as the tariff rhetoric cooled. The fact that they have a real investment thesis that exists independent of market phenomena helps significantly, too.

Finally, stick to the long game. The flash crash revealed what was fragile. What it did not change is the multi-year thesis for the majors, which depends on adoption, infrastructure, and policy clarity. If you build your allocations around that reality, you will be positioned to survive and benefit.

SEOUL, Oct. 8 (UPI) — North Korea-backed hackers have stolen more than $2 billion in cryptoassets so far this year, according to blockchain analytics firm Elliptic.

In a report published on the company’s website Tuesday, researchers said that the sum was the result of more than 30 hacks and represented “the largest annual total on record, with three months still to go.”

This year’s record haul was driven by the theft of nearly $1.5 billion in virtual assets from cryptocurrency exchange Bybit by the North’s state-sponsored Lazarus Group, in what has been described as the biggest heist in history.

Other attacks publicly attributed to North Korea in 2025 include $14 million stolen from nine users on crypto exchange WOO X in July and $1.2 million in tokens stolen from blockchain funding platform Seedify in September.

While North Korea remains under heavy international sanctions, it has increasingly turned to hacking and cybertheft in recent years to bankroll its missile and nuclear programs.

Pyongyang funds 40% of its weapons programs through “illicit cybermeans,” the U.N. Security Council’s now-disbanded Panel of Experts estimated in an annual report released last year.

The cumulative known value of cryptoassets stolen by North Korea since 2017 is more than $6 billion, Elliptic said, adding that the actual figure may be higher.

“We are aware of many other thefts that share some of the hallmarks of North Korea-linked activity but lack sufficient evidence to be definitively attributed,” the report said. “Other thefts are likely unreported and remain unknown.”

Elliptic noted that the tactics used by North Korean hackers are evolving. While earlier attacks focused on exploiting vulnerabilities in crypto infrastructure, the majority of the hacks in 2025 have been perpetrated through “social engineering” — deceiving or manipulating individuals to gain access to their digital assets.

“This shift highlights that the weak point in cryptocurrency security is increasingly human, rather than technical,” the report said.

Lakers star Luka Doncic will not play in the team’s two preseason games this weekend, the team announced after its shoot-around Friday.

Doncic will sit out against the Phoenix Suns on Friday night at Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert and against the Golden State Warriors on Sunday night in San Francisco.

The Lakers said it was a collaborative decision made with L.A.’s performance team because of his time playing for the Slovenian national team in the EuroBasket tournament this summer.

The Lakers said the plan is to be smart with Doncic in the long term as he ramps up for the regular season that opens Oct. 21 against the Warriors at Crypto.com Arena.

LeBron James, Marcus Smart (achilles tendinopathy), Maxi Kleber (quad) and rookie Aduo Thiero (knee) also won’t play against the Suns.

Doncic played in his last game with Slovenia about a month ago, a game in which he scored 39 points but his squad was eliminated by Germany in the EuroBasket quarterfinals.

After practice Thursday, Doncic talked about easing his way into training camp while getting ready for the regular season after playing at peak level for Slovenia.

“Yeah, obviously probably take it a little bit slower than the usual,” Doncic said. “ I had a busy summer. I think month, month-and-a-half I was with national team. So, it was kind of a lot. But that got me ready for the preseason and obviously regular season. So, for me, I think it really helps.”

Bitcoin (BTC 2.64%) soared past $117,000 on Oct. 1, erasing September’s losses. Meanwhile, the U.S. government shut down for the first time in seven years, after lawmakers failed to agree on a temporary spending bill. Both gold and the S&P 500 set new record highs, though only time will tell whether the surge comes in spite of the government shutdown or because of it.

Some commentators say this supports Bitcoin’s safe-haven status, but that isn’t necessarily what happened here. The fact that stocks also rose could suggest other factors are at play. For example, there’s optimism around traditional gains in so-called “Uptober” as well as potential rate cuts. Plus, the Internal Revenue Service eased crypto treasury rules, which could reduce corporate crypto tax bills.

Image source: Getty Images.

How the shutdown could affect crypto investors

Previous government shutdowns have not had a huge effect on financial markets, particularly for long-term investors. As a cryptocurrency investor, here are a few potential shutdown consequences to have on your radar.

1. A longer shutdown could reduce investor appetite for risk

There are two ways that the current shutdown could affect consumer sentiment. The first is if it drags on for a long time. The last shutdown, which began in December 2018, extended 35 days and was the longest the U.S. has ever seen. A repeat could put even more pressure on the economy and reduce confidence in U.S. markets.

The second is if the shutdown leads to federal job layoffs, rather than the furloughs we’ve seen before. Vice President JD Vance told reporters that this possibility becomes more likely the longer the shutdown continues.

For crypto investors, there are two opposing forces at play. Faltering confidence in the dollar might push people toward alternative assets. However, people are less likely to buy Bitcoin or other risky assets when they are worried about how to cover the essentials.

2. A shutdown could delay spot crypto ETF approvals

Anticipation about approval from the Security and Exchange Commission for a flurry of crypto ETFs has been building for months — even more so since mid-September, when the SEC said it would follow a streamlined generic listings process rather than approving each one individually. However, the SEC is unlikely to be able to approve new crypto ETFs when it’s operating with a skeleton staff, no matter how simple the process.

3. It may test Bitcoin’s digital gold narrative

Crypto enthusiasts have long touted Bitcoin’s potential as a form of digital gold — a safe haven during times of crisis. As a decentralized, independent asset, it does have a lot in common with gold. However, it is still a relatively new asset, and its price can be extremely volatile. Bear in mind that Bitcoin fell by over 64% in 2022 on the back of Fed rate increases that triggered exchange failures.

Bitcoin has matured a lot in recent years, particularly since the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs attracted huge inflows of institutional funds. The gridlock in Washington could put pressure on the dollar and increase economic uncertainty. That makes it a good time to see whether it can live up to its safe-haven potential.

Rate cut optimism could be behind Bitcoin’s initial shutdown surge

Investors were already hopeful that the Fed would cut rates at its October meeting. Following the shutdown, they are almost certain. The CME FedWatch tracker now puts the likelihood of a cut this month at 99%. Rate cuts have historically been positive for cryptocurrency prices, as they add liquidity to the market and make riskier assets more appealing.

The difficulty here is that the shutdown could delay the publication of the key economic data that the Fed relies on to make its decisions. The lack of jobs and inflation data could make it harder for officials to get a clear picture. This can also add to volatility, as markets can’t use public data to prepare for potential Fed moves.

How Bitcoin behaved in previous shutdowns

There have only been three government shutdowns since Bitcoin’s launch in 2009. Bitcoin’s price fell during the shutdowns of 2018 and 2019. However, it would be misleading to read too much into the data, given how much the industry has matured in the past seven, or even 12, years.

Data source: CoinGecko.

It is important to look at the government shutdown in a wider economic context. Right now, the prospect of rate cuts and IRS rules that favor crypto treasury companies may have had a bigger effect on crypto prices. But if the shutdown continues, this could dent confidence and drive investors away from risky assets.

SEOUL, Oct. 2 (UPI) — The share price of Naver surged some 10% over the past week after reports that the leading internet company of South Korea may merge with Dunamu, a major player in the country’s cryptocurrency industry.

Naver’s affiliate, Naver Financial, is reportedly in talks with Dunamu, which operates the world’s No. 4 crypto exchange Upbit, for a stock-for-stock merger. If finalized, Dunamu would become one of Naver’s subsidiaries.

Both companies confirmed Thursday that such negotiations were underway, but they declined to provide details.

“Beyond discussions on stablecoins and an unlisted stock trading platform, Dunamu and Naver Pay are exploring a range of additional collaborations. No further details or specific agreements have been finalized at this time,” Dunamu’s chief spokesman Juan Kim told UPI.

Naver Pay, the digital payments service of Naver Financial, boasts a customer base of more than 30 million. Naver holds about 70% of the firm, with Mirae Asset Group holding the remaining 30%. Dunamu remains privately held, with its founding Chairman Song Chi-hyung having a 25.5% stake.

Even if a deal is reached, it would require approval from the shareholders of both sides. At least two-thirds of participants at each company’s shareholder meeting must vote in favor.

Market sentiment suggests that approval is likely, in consideration of the recent sharp rise in Naver’s share price on the Seoul bourse. That of Dunamu has also soared in the over-the-counter trading.

Creating new digital finance ecosystems

Observers point out that amalgamation between Naver Financial and Dunamu could reshape South Korea’s financial landscape, enabling them to compete more effectively with large-sized global rivals.

One major synergy could come from the introduction of a stablecoin, a cryptocurrency pegged to a stable asset like the U.S. dollar. This compares to most other cryptocurrencies, which fluctuate greatly in value.

Daishin Securities analyst Lee Ji-eun said in a recent report that the combined entity could link its stablecoin to Naver Pay, boosting mainstream adoption.

“In the long term, they could seek to dominate the Korean currency-based stablecoin market and provide services such as investment returns and lending by utilizing deposits as collateral,” she said.

Mirae Asset Securities projects that such a business model would provide roughly $210 million in annual revenue by the end of this decade.

Sogang University Professor Yoon Seok-bin described the potential deal as “the marriage of Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 businesses.” The former represents interactive, platform-based services, while the latter focuses on decentralized technologies.

“Both Naver Financial and Dunamu are already profitable. Together, I think they can bring about various new services such as a stablecoin and an all-in-one mobile application called a ‘super app,'” Yoon said in a phone interview.

“In addition, Naver Financial will be able to help Dunamu’s Upbit go abroad. Upbit is the primary crypto exchange in the country, but has yet to establish a notable global footprint. Based on Dunamu’s strong cash flow, Naver Financial will also have a chance to challenge bigger competitors, including PayPal and Stripe,” he added.

Naver Financial recorded $1.18 billion in sales last year for an operating profit of $74 million. Dunamu logged $1.24 billion in revenue, with an operating income of $847 million. Dunamu’s operating margin amounted to 68.5%.

Some watchers say that lucrative Dunamu opted to become a Naver affiliate to achieve its long-standing goal of going public in the United States based on the global brand power of Naver, which listed its U.S. unit Webtoon Entertainment on Nasdaq last year.

Expecting the merger will be structured as an equity swap, Eugene Investment & Securities analyst Jo Tae-na said that Dunamu chairman Song would be the largest shareholder of the new company.

Her rationale: Because the value of Dunamu is about three times bigger than that of Naver Financial, such an outcome is plausible through an equity swap.

“Following the merger, a global listing is expected to lead to at least 1.5 to 2 times higher valuation compared to Dunamu’s standalone listing,” she said in a report. “If the new company goes public, its corporate value could reach $29 billion to $36 billion.”

Sept. 30 (UPI) — A 47-year-old Chinese national has pleaded guilty in Britain to a multi-billion-dollar Bitcoin scheme, according to Metropolitan Police, which said it has made what is possibly the “world’s largest” cryptocurrency seizure, worth more than $7.3 billion

Metropolitan Police said Zhimin Qian of no fixed address pleaded guilty Monday to charges of acquiring criminal property and possessing criminal property, with the property in both offenses being cryptocurrency.

The charges stem from allegations that Qian, also known as Yadi Zhang, orchestrated a massive fraud scheme in her native China, defrauding more than 128,000 victims between 2014 and 2017.

Authorities said she stored the illegally obtained funds in Bitcoin assets. She fled to Britain in September 2018 with the use of false documents and attempted to launder the proceeds by purchasing property.

wHer guilty plea on Monday follows seven years of investigation by the Metropolitan Police, authorities said.

“Today’s guilty plea marks the culmination of years of dedicated investigation by the Met’s Economic Crime teams and our partners,” Will Lyne, Metropolitan Police’s head of Economic and Cybercrime Command, said in a statement.

“This is one of the largest money laundering cases in U.K. history and among the highest-value cryptocurrency cases globally.

“I am extremely proud of the team.”

Authorities said that Qian had worked with Jian Wen, who was sentenced to more than 6 1/2 years in prison for her role in the scheme in January.

Wen, a 44-year-old former restaurant worker, had purchased two properties worth more than $672,000 in Dubai for Qian in 2019.

Authorities said that Wen was in possession of a cryptocurrency wallet with more than $403.3 million. She told police that she had worked for a Chinese national who had asked her to buy the Dubai properties and that she was unaware that the Bitcoins in her possession were the product of crime.

Metropolitan Police said it had seized more than 61,000 Bitcoin from Qian.

Specifics of how Qian defrauded victims of so much money in China were not initially clear.

“Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are increasingly being used by organized criminals to disguise and transfer assets, so that fraudsters may enjoy the benefits of their criminal conduct,” Robin Weyell, deputy chief crown prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said.

“This case, involving the largest cryptocurrency seizure in the U.K., illustrates the scale of criminal proceeds available to those fraudsters.”

The cryptocurrency market has had an extraordinary year, with top cryptos like Bitcoin (BTC -4.23%) and Ethereum (ETH -8.20%) setting new all-time highs. That upward trend has stalled recently. As I write this (September 25), Bitcoin has fallen 5% in the last week, Ethereum is down 13% and XRP (XRP -6.93%) has shed over 9% over the same time period.

What’s behind this lackluster performance? And will so-called Uptober — a term based on data that shows prices often go up in October — turn the crypto tides? Let’s dive in to learn more about three headwinds facing cryptocurrencies right now.

1. Money is flowing out of crypto ETFs

Crypto often suffers from a ‘buy the rumor, sell the news’ syndrome. Speculation drives prices up in anticipation of a big event, and then they fall because investors sell once it actually happens. In the run-up to the Fed rate cut on September 17, crypto prices rallied, and spot Bitcoin ETFs saw solid inflows.

But as investors digested Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s words, they became more cautious. Particularly after a speech this week where Powell spoke of a “challenging situation” in trying to manage employment risks against inflation pressures. Lower rates often make riskier assets more attractive, but not if the benefits are offset by other economic concerns.

Sentiment is important in crypto, and right now, the fear and greed index is firmly in fear territory. That’s reflected in steep outflows from spot crypto ETFs. Per the Block data, there were over $360 million in outflows from spot Bitcoin ETFs on September 22. Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC -4.10%) alone reported $277 million in outflows. That’s one of the biggest single-day outflows we’ve seen this year.

2. Over $1.6 billion liquidated in one day

CoinGlass data shows over $1.6 billion was liquidated on September 21 — the largest amount so far in 2025. Over $500 million in Ethereum positions and around $300 million in Bitcoin positions were wiped out. The liquidation highlights how leveraged positions can quickly cascade as falling prices trigger liquidations and push prices even lower.

The use of margin and leverage in cryptocurrencies can amplify price volatility. And leverage levels in crypto are increasing. Investors can use their crypto as collateral and essentially borrow money to take a bigger position. If the market moves in their favor, it can translate into higher returns. However, if prices go the other way and there isn’t enough collateral to back up the loan, the broker may liquidate and forcibly close the position.

3. Crypto treasury companies are faltering

This year has seen a surge in companies adding cryptocurrencies — predominantly Bitcoin and Ethereum — to their balance sheets. Public companies now own about 5% of the total Bitcoin in circulation, per data from BitcoinTreasuries. Their steady accumulation is one of the drivers behind Bitcoin’s incredible price rally.

Pioneered by Strategy (MSTR -8.78%), around 200 companies now hold crypto. Many of them have raised money with the sole purpose of buying more. It can act as a hedge against inflation, and any gains from price appreciation will help their bottom line. However, if Bitcoin’s price falls, so will the value of those holdings. There’s a risk that companies may have to sell their crypto to cover their debt.

Currently, the corporate treasury model is under scrutiny. Companies are buying fewer Bitcoins. And a quarter of Bitcoin treasury companies now have a market cap that’s lower than their crypto holdings, per K33. Some are borrowing money to finance share buybacks, raising questions about the model’s long-term viability.

Image source: Getty Images.

Further volatility ahead

There’s been a lot of talk in the cryptocurrency news about the potential for sentiment to shift in Uptober. That’s because data shows that Bitcoin prices often fall in September and rise in October.

But the factors that are dragging crypto prices down won’t change just because we’re in a different month. Pay attention to jobs and inflation data. Not only will those figures influence Fed decisions about further rate cuts, but they also give us a better idea of whether the economy is slowing.

For all the headwinds, Bitcoin is holding its head above $111,000, and we may see some positive drivers before the end of the year. More rate cuts are likely, as well as SEC approval of a flurry of crypto ETFs. Plus, the government may make further progress with crypto legislation.

Whether or not the bulls can regain momentum, the recent price swings are a reminder of Bitcoin’s volatility. This remains a risky and unpredictable asset, making it important to limit your crypto exposure to only a small percentage of your wider portfolio.

Cryptocurrency prices slumped Sept. 22 with Ethereum (ETH 0.01%) losing 9% in the early hours of Monday morning. The second-biggest cryptocurrency fell from almost $4,500 to $4,075, before finishing the day at $4,200. Bitcoin (BTC 1.56%) dropped 3% and the total crypto market cap slipped back below $4 trillion.

Crypto positions saw more than $1.6 billion in liquidations in 24 hours — the biggest liquidation this year, according to CoinGlass data. Ethereum was hardest hit with more than $500 million wiped out. It’s a reminder of the way excessive leverage in crypto can quickly snowball. The market moved against investors who had borrowed to fund bullish positions. As it did, their positions were forcibly closed, which added to the broader downward pressure.

Let’s dive in to find out what the rocky start to the week means for crypto investors.

What investors need to know about the sell-off

When cryptocurrency prices are rising, it’s often easy to forget about the risk involved. Dramatic shifts and liquidations remind us that this is still a relatively new and evolving asset class.

1. Cryptocurrency volatility hasn’t gone away

Bitcoin is still a volatile asset. That volatility has lessened as it has gained traction as a store of value and attracted institutional investment, particularly through exchange-traded funds (ETFs). According to Fidelity, Bitcoin was less volatile than shares of Netflix in the two years running up to March 2024. However, the volatility is still there.

This is even more so for Ethereum, which serves a different purpose than Bitcoin and has not yet benefited from the same inflows of corporate and institutional capital. Ethereum is starting to be viewed as the smart contract workhorse of crypto, supporting a wealth of stablecoin and decentralized finance applications. However, it is still more volatile than Bitcoin as this week’s dramatic price swing demonstrates.

2. Keep an eye on crypto leverage

Investing using margin and leverage involves using borrowed funds to take a larger position in an investment. It can work in different ways, but for many crypto investors, it involves depositing assets as collateral to increase purchasing power. As an investor, it can be risky because you could lose your collateral — known as liquidation — if the market doesn’t rise or falls.

On a broader level, leverage amplifies market activity. That’s why it’s concerning that the levels of crypto leverage are coming close to those of Q4 2021 and Q1 2022. An August Galaxy report showed that total crypto-collateralized lending increased to more than $53 billion in the second quarter of 2025. That’s a 27% increase from on the quarter before.

In 2022, we saw the way that excessive leverage can quickly spiral and exacerbate market volatility. Markets are cyclical by nature, and history shows us that cryptocurrency bull runs don’t last forever. When prices start to fall, as they did at the start of the week, those declines are magnified by the various forms of buying crypto using borrowed money.

There’s also growing concern about crypto corporate treasury companies, some of which are using debt to fund their Bitcoin and Ethereum purchases. Adding crypto to company balance sheets using borrowed money has become popular this year. The danger is that when prices fall, they may need to sell their crypto to service debts, causing prices to fall further.

Image source: Getty Images.

3. Bitcoin and Ethereum are still trending upward

Dramatic price swings are always unsettling, but it’s important to keep them in context. Bear in mind that both Bitcoin and Ethereum are still outperforming the S&P 500 — in spite of the recent sell off. As of Sept. 24, the S&P 500 has gained about 16% year over year. Bitcoin is up almost 77% and Ethereum increased 57% in the same time period.

Prepare for further turbulence

Crypto prices seem to have stabilized today, with Bitcoin holding its head over the $113,000 mark and Ethereum at almost $4,200. However, Bloomberg warns that the market is braced for further volatility. It says Bitcoin options traders are betting on two extremes — a slide to $95,000 or a rally to over $140,000, showing that we may yet see more dramatic price swings.

Bitcoin and Ethereum have rallied this year, buoyed by a crypto-friendly administration, changes in regulation, and — most recently — hopes for Federal Reserve interest rate cuts. Potential Securities and Exchange Commission approvals of spot altcoin ETFs may also give the industry a boost in the coming months. Even so, economic doubts and inflation concerns continue to weigh on prices. If further rate cuts do not materialize as anticipated, crypto prices may not be able to sustain recent gains.

As a long-term investor, one way to manage volatility is to use dollar-cost averaging, buying a set amount of crypto at regular intervals rather than in a lump sum. It’s also important that crypto only make up a small amount of your portfolio, and that you set clear goals to avoid making panic investment decisions.

He’s never held public office or donned a judge’s robes, but an arch-conservative Los Angeles County attorney is racing toward confirmation on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, accelerating the once-liberal court’s sharp rightward turn under President Trump.

A competitive target shooter with a background in a cryptocurrency, Eric Tung was approached by the White House Counsel’s Office on March 28 to replace Judge Sandra Segal Ikuta, a Bush appointee and one of the court’s most prominent conservatives, who is taking senior status.

A new father and still a relative unknown in national legal circles, Tung found an ally in pal Mike Davis, a reputed “judge whisperer” in Trump’s orbit. Speaking to the New York Post in mid-March, Davis touted Tung as Ikuta’s likely successor.

The Pasadena lawyer appeared on a Federalist Society panel at the Reagan Library this year, debating legal efforts to restrain “ ‘agents’ of the left.”

“Eric is a Tough Patriot, who will uphold the Rule of Law in the most RADICAL, Leftist States like California, Oregon, and Washington,” Trump wrote on Truth Social when the nomination was announced in July.

The response from California senators was apoplectic.

“Mr. Tung believes in a conception of the Constitution that rejects equality and liberty, and that would turn back the clock and continue to exclude vast sections of the American public from enjoying equal justice under the law,” said Sen. Alex Padilla.

In the past, senators from a potential judge’s home state could block a nomination — a custom Trump exploded when he steamrolled Washington senators to install Eric D. Miller to the 9th Circuit in 2019.

Tung has been tight-lipped about his ascent to the country’s busiest circuit. He did not respond to inquiries from The Times.

A Woodland Hills native and conservative Catholic convert, Tung made a name for himself as a champion of the crypto industry and elegant legal writer, frequently lecturing at California law schools and headlining Federalist Society events.

After graduating from Yale and the University of Chicago Law School, he clerked for Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Neil Gorsuch before joining the white-shoe law firm Jones Day, a feeder to the Trump Justice Department.

Many lauded the nomination when it was first announced, including the National Asian Pacific American Bar Assn.

“Eric is a highly regarded originalist who would follow in the footsteps of Justice Scalia, for whom he clerked,” said Carrie Campbell Severino, president of the Judicial Crisis Network, a conservative legal advocacy group.

Groups on the left, including Alliance for Justice, Demand Justice and the National Council of Jewish Women, have lobbied against putting Tung on the appellate court.

If confirmed, Tung will be Trump’s 11th appointment to the 9th Circuit, a court the president vowed to remake when he first took office in 2017.

During Trump’s first term, Judge Ikuta was part of a tiny conservative minority on the famously lopsided bench, a legacy of President Jimmy Carter’s decision to double the size of the circuit and pack it with liberal appointees.

Many Trump judges ruffled feathers at first, and most have shown themselves to be “pretty conservative and pretty hard nosed,” said Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law.

Their ranks include the former Hawaii Atty. Gen. Judge Mark J. Bennett, as well as the circuit’s first openly gay member, Judge Patrick J. Bumatay.

Trump’s appellate appointees helped deliver him several controversial recent decisions, including the finding in June that Trump had broad discretion to deploy the military on American streets. Another 9th Circuit ruling this month found that the administration could all-but eliminate the country’s refugee program via an indefinite “pause.”

But they’ve also clashed sharply with the Justice Department’s attorneys, even in cases where the appellate panel ultimately sided with the administration.

That’s what the president is trying to avoid this time around — particularly with his picks headed in the west, experts said.

“People on the far right are pushing [Trump] to have people who will be ‘courageous’ judges — in other words, do things that are really unpopular that Trump likes,” Tobias said.

Tung may fit the bill. In addition to his crypto chops and avowed support for constitutional originalism, he has been an ardent defender of religious liberty and an opponent of affirmative action. He shoots competitively as part of the International Defensive Pistol Assn.

Both Tung and his wife Emily Lataif have close ties to the anti-abortion movement. Tung worked extensively with the architect of Texas’ heartbeat bill; Lataif interned for the Susan B. Anthony List, an anti-abortion policy group that seeks to make IUDs and emergency contraception illegal and opposes many forms of in-vitro fertilization.

“Emily is the epitome of grace under pressure, as was evidenced … when she and Eric had to evacuate their home during the California wildfires, only days after welcoming their first child,” Severino said. “She’s worked at the highest levels, from the White House to the executive team at Walmart, and her talent is matched only by her kindness and love for her family.”

When asked by Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware whether he believed IVF was protected by the Constitution, Tung declined to answer.

It wasn’t the only question the nominee ducked. Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee accused Tung of giving only “sham answers” to their inquiries, both in chambers and through written follow-ups.

After pressing him repeatedly for his position on landmark cases including Obergefell vs. Hodges and Lawrence vs. Texas — privacy right precedents Justice Clarence Thomas wrote should be reconsidered after the fall of Roe vs. Wade — Sen. Adam Schiff pushed the nominee for his opinion on Loving vs. Virginia, the 1967 case affirming interracial marriage.

“Was that wrongly decided?” the California lawmaker asked the aspiring judge.

“Senator, my wife and I are an interracial couple, so if that case were wrongly decided I would be in big trouble,” Tung said.

“You’re willing to tell us you believe Loving was correctly decided, but you’re not willing to say the other decisions were correctly decided,” Schiff said. “That seems less originalist and more situational.”

Sept. 15 (UPI) — Israel’s Ministry of Defense announced Monday the seizure of 187 cryptocurrency wallets that have received $1.5 billion. Israel says the wallets are linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, which has been designated as a terrorist group.

While $1.5 billion moved through the wallets over time, they currently hold $1.5 million, according to a document, detailing the seizure order and freezing the wallets from making any future transactions.

“Pursuant to my authority according to section 56b of the Anti-Terrorism Law 5776 — 2016 and having been convinced that the cryptocurrency wallets specified in the list are property of the designated terrorist organization Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, or property used for the perpetration of a severe terror crime as defined by the law, I hereby order the seizure of the property,” Israel Katz, minister of defense, wrote in the Administrative Seizure Order.

Israel, the European Union and the United States are among a number of countries that have sanctioned the IRGC as a terrorist organization. Blockchain monitoring firm Elliptic said it cannot confirm whether the wallets do belong to the IRGC.

“Some of the addresses may be controlled by cryptocurrency services and could be part of wallet infrastructure used to facilitate transactions for many customers,” Elliptic said in a blog post.

This is not the first time the IRGC has been linked to the use of cryptocurrency.

In June, more than $90 million was allegedly stolen from the Iranian crypto exchange Nobitex by a pro-Israel group. Elliptic has linked Nobitex to the IRGC.

Last December, the U.S. Treasury Department added cryptocurrency addresses, which had received $332 million, to its sanctions lists.

And on Friday, the U.S. Justice Department announced it had seized $584,741 from Iranian national Mohammad Abedini, who runs a navigation systems business used by IRGC’s military drone program.

“There were always rumors that IRGC was using cryptocurrency to circumvent sanctions,” said Amir Rashidi, director of digital rights and security at the Iran-focused nonprofit Miaan Group.

“Many of these cases might, for example, involve exchanges that are not directly part of the IRGC but are connected to it, similar to many banks, financial and credit institutions, or even companies that appear to be private.”

In December 2021, Eric Benjamin Halem was riding high.

Beyond his day job as an LAPD officer, he was juggling several lucrative side hustles, business records and court filings show.

Private security. An app for aspiring actors trying to land auditions. And an exotic car rental company, Drive-LA, that was gaining a following among rappers, influencers and executives.

But Halem’s comfortable life soon began to unravel. He left his full-time position with the LAPD after coming under internal investigation, according to records submitted as part of a lawsuit. Earlier this year, state authorities charged him with insurance fraud.

Then, a few weeks ago, L.A. County prosecutors accused him of masterminding a home invasion robbery with a man with reputed ties to the Israeli underworld — part of what authorities say is a growing trend of criminals targeting victims for their cryptocurrency profits.

How Halem, 37, became embroiled with one of his alleged co-conspirators, Gaby (sometimes spelled “Gabby”) Ben, remains a mystery.

Ben, who has twice been convicted of fraud, was a close business associate of Moshe Matsri, or “Moshe the Religious,” whom authorities describe as an L.A. leader of the Israeli underground who had long operated in the San Fernando Valley and had ties to the Abergil crime syndicate, according to court filings.

In the early morning hours of Dec. 28, 2024, Halem, Ben and Mishael Mann, 20, made their way into an apartment building in Koreatown, LAPD Robbery-Homicide Det. Guillermo De La Riva wrote in a sworn declaration in favor of denying Halem’s bail.

Pierre Louis, 26, had arranged to meet up with the victim for a “digital currency transaction,” which was a ruse to allow the three other men to enter the building and wait for the victim to return, De La Riva wrote.

The men handcuffed the victim and a second person, De La Riva wrote, ordering them at gunpoint to transfer money from a cryptocurrency account and fleeing with $300,000 worth of cryptocurrency, cash and jewelry.

De La Riva said he believed that after Halem’s arrest, other alleged victims might come forward.

When LAPD detectives arrested Halem earlier this month, they obtained search warrants for the $2.1-million home he had recently moved into in Porter Ranch, a scenic neighborhood in the Santa Susana foothills. They also reportedly recovered at least one of his guns from the home of his former police partner.

Halem, who went by Ben professionally, has pleaded not guilty to kidnapping and robbery and remains in Men’s Central Jail after a judge denied his application for bail. His attorney, George G. Mgdesyan, declined to comment, saying he hadn’t yet reviewed the evidence against his client.

Halem has also pleaded not guilty in the state insurance fraud case. Ben, 51, is jailed on a federal immigration hold in Florida.

Louis, Mann and another defendant, Luis Banuelos, have pleaded not guilty to felony charges. Their attorneys declined to comment.

As LAPD detectives investigated the kidnapping and robbery, they took a closer look at Halem’s side businesses, according to two department sources — including whether his startup funding came from organized crime and whether his companies were a front for money laundering. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.

In recent years, business was taking off at Drive-LA, which boasted a fleet of rare luxury vehicles for rent, including a 2020 Bentley Continental GT and a Lamborghini Urus, and had nearly 60,000 Instagram followers. With glowing media coverage and venture capitalists opening their checkbooks, Halem planned to open a second location in Phoenix.

He was co-hosting a podcast for car enthusiasts, and former associates told The Times that a reality show based on his life was in the works. On social media, he cultivated the image of a carefree young entrepreneur, with photos of himself posing on the steps of a private jet, at a Formula 1 race and courtside with NBA superstars Dwight Howard and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Halem launched an app called kaypr in 2017 that matched aspiring actors “to available roles,” allowing them to audition remotely from anywhere in the world. For a security firm where he had a leadership role, he worked “music festivals, celebrity details, and large-scale events.” Among his clients was action film producer Randall Emmett, who has faced fraud claims and allegations of abuse toward women. Emmett has denied the allegations.

In a blog post, Halem described himself as a thrill seeker who has always chased “speed, precision, and a little bit of calculated chaos.”

According to an online biography, Halem grew up in Los Angeles and attended UC Riverside before joining the LAPD. He spent nearly half his 13 years on the force as a training officer and was qualified as a sharpshooter.

His last assignment was at West Valley Division, which patrols areas featured in crimes involving suspects with ties to Israeli organized crime, including the wealthy enclave of Encino. Several former colleagues who spoke with The Times described Halem as a solid if unremarkable officer.

In 2014, Halem was injured during an encounter with a suspect in the West Valley area who had holed up inside an apartment and pelted officers with objects. An LAPD review board found that Halem’s decision to fire a beanbag shotgun at the suspect was in line with department policy.

By the time he left the LAPD in 2022, Halem was pulling in $188,500 in salary and benefits, according to the Transparent California database.

And his other businesses were apparently far more lucrative than his day job. In an interview with Internal Affairs detectives investigating him for insurance fraud, Halem boasted that he was raking in more than $1 million in profit annually from Drive-LA, according to a department source who reviewed the Internal Affairs file and was not authorized to discuss the matter.

Halem was also targeted by numerous lawsuits, one of which cited a WhatsApp conversation in which an LAPD sergeant said that Halem’s “business smells dirty” and suggested that there were other LAPD officers who were “involved in his business dealings.”

“[If] there is any misconduct on their part they will be held accountable,” the sergeant wrote in the WhatsApp exchange, referring to the other officers.

It’s not clear whether the LAPD investigated whether other officers were involved. The department did eventually clear Halem of the insurance fraud allegations. But his alleged misdeeds had come to the attention of the state Department of Insurance, which charged both him and his brother, Jacob Halem, with misrepresenting details in a roughly $200,000 insurance claim related to a Bentley crash in January 2023. The case is pending.

After leaving his full-time LAPD job, Halem worked as an unpaid reserve officer. In March, he was stripped of his police powers after he was charged in the insurance fraud case.

Ben, who moved to the San Fernando Valley from Israel as a young adult, worked in real estate and was a partner at his late mother’s restaurant.

Federal prosecutors described him as a flashy high roller with an affinity for high-end watches. His Israeli mafia connections allowed him to launder money through Jewish-owned businesses across the Valley, prosecutors alleged in documents filed in the case.

Ben was deported after each of his fraud convictions, federal court records show. In one of the cases, prosecutors alleged that he orchestrated a so-called bust-out scheme, recruiting people to open bank accounts on his behalf in exchange for a small fee.

He and his brother, Amin Ben, were also accused of defrauding senior citizens by entering their homes disguised as HVAC repairmen and then photographing their driver’s licenses and bank statements.

Based on wiretaps described in a federal sworn affidavit, federal investigators believed the brothers could move freely in and out of the country, despite their legal troubles, because of Amin Ben’s connection to an official at the Israeli Consulate who was “able to facilitate and issue travel documents.” Prosecutors also alleged that the brothers were captured on a recording threatening to kill the Israel-based family of an LAPD detective investigating one of the federal cases.

The check-cashing business that Ben ran with Matsri, the alleged Israeli crime boss, in an Encino strip mall was a front for alleged fraud schemes, according to a declaration filed in court by an LAPD Major Crimes detective.

Investigators determined that the pair bought more than 230 airline tickets, worth more than $600,000, using phone credit card approval codes and then resold the tickets to local Israelis at discount rates, an FBI agent wrote in a sworn affidavit.

When they arrested Ben and Matsri in October 2010, authorities seized 16 high-end watches and a handgun from Ben’s home.

In 2015, Matsri was sentenced in a separate federal case to 32 years in prison for drug trafficking, money laundering and extortion.

Land records show that Ben was living in a glitzy mansion in the Hollywood Hills, where neighbors said they often saw him driving a black Rolls-Royce. The mansion’s owner sued him after he stopped paying rent for five months, eventually racking up a $150,000 tab, court records show.

Ben continued to live at the residence until moving out in March.

Approximately one-half of the top 100 cryptocurrencies (as ranked by market cap) have outperformed Bitcoin (BTC 1.40%) over the past 90 days. During that time period, Bitcoin is up an unremarkable 2%. In comparison, a number of top altcoins have soared 75% or more.

So which is the next crypto that’s ready to explode in 2025? To answer that question, it’s helpful to understand which altcoins are currently soaring in value, and what they all have in common. Let’s take a closer look.

Which cryptocurrencies are outperforming Bitcoin?

Right now, 45 altcoins are beating Bitcoin soundly. The list of top performers includes a few meme coins, such as Pudgy Penguins (PENGU 0.58%), which is up a head-spinning 148% over the past 90 days on August 26. The good news is that investors can safely ignore these meme coins due to their mercurial, volatile nature. If anyone can explain why digital penguins have gone viral over a long, hot summer, please tell me.

The name that really jumps off the list of top performers is Ethereum (ETH 1.49%), which is up 75% over the past 90 days. The world’s second-largest cryptocurrency is attracting the attention of both retail and institutional investors, due to its recent explosive run.

Image source: Getty Images.

Moreover, several top decentralized finance (DeFi) cryptocurrencies have turned in some stunning performances over the past 90 days. For example, both Chainlink (LINK 1.45%) and Uniswap (UNI 0.44%) are up 55%. Not to go too deep into the weeds here, but both of these are ERC-20 tokens, meaning that they were designed to run on the Ethereum blockchain.

Both of these cryptocurrencies are direct plays on the growth potential of decentralized finance, and especially on the surge in new activity happening within the Ethereum blockchain ecosystem. From my perspective, these DeFi tokens are exactly the sorts of cryptocurrencies that can explode later in 2025.

Based on the above, it’s possible to put together a convincing investment thesis for the second half of 2025. The spate of new crypto legislation coming out of the United States, combined with the growing pace of crypto adoption around the world, is leading to new opportunities for DeFi tokens, and especially those that run on top of the Ethereum blockchain. If any cryptocurrency is going to pop soon, it will likely be one of these.

Meet Ondo, the crypto that could explode soon

It may be too late to get in on Ethereum, but there are some intriguing options lurking elsewhere within Ethereum’s blockchain ecosystem. One that has my attention is Ondo (ONDO 2.92%). It’s currently ranked No. 38 among all cryptocurrencies, with a nearly $3 billion market cap.

Ondo is also an ERC-20 token (just like Chainlink and Uniswap), but is probably off the radars of most investors. It is only down 2% over the past 90 days, so it’s basically running neck-and-neck with Bitcoin.

What’s tempting about Ondo is that it’s a direct play on all the goodness happening within DeFi. It’s a token primarily favored by institutional investors, and promises to bring “institutional grade” finance to crypto.

Ondo is primarily used for real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, which is one of the hottest investment ideas within DeFi right now. This refers to the process of transforming real-world assets (such as stocks and bonds) into blockchain assets.

This cryptocurrency also has the support of World Liberty Financial, the crypto venture affiliated with the Trump family. In February, World Liberty Financial scooped up nearly $500,000 worth of Ondo tokens.

Moreover, I’ve already seen a recent glimpse of the amazing upside potential of Ondo. At the end of last year, Ondo more than tripled in value and hit an all-time high of $2.14. Given that Ondo is now trading for around $1, this implies that Ondo could have the potential to double in value, in order to regain its all-time high. Asking for Ondo to do much more than that, though, might be too much.

Picking winners in crypto

Be aware: It is notoriously difficult to pick the next big winner in crypto. Investment narratives fall in and out of favor. Meme coins come and go, and top cryptos can rise or fall, often based on no apparent reason. Risk and volatility are very much an issue any time you venture beyond Bitcoin or Ethereum.

But if you’re willing to take on the risk, then it might be time to look for coins that haven’t popped yet. The best investment opportunities are those that are linked to the Ethereum DeFi investment narrative. This narrative jas already worked with Chainlink and Uniswap, both of which are up big over the past 90 days.

Could Ondo be next?

Country steps up crackdown on online scammers, who lure victims using promises of romance to invest in fake cryptocurrency investments.

Nigeria has deported 102 foreign nationals, including 60 Chinese and 39 people from the Philippines, who were convicted of “cyber-terrorism and internet fraud”, according to the country’s anticorruption agency.

The announcement by Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Thursday comes as the country steps up a crackdown on online scam operations, which lured victims through online romances to hand over cash for fake cryptocurrency investments.

EFCC spokesman Dele Oyewale later told the AFP news agency that another group of 39 Filipinos, 10 Chinese and two people from Kazakhstan had also been deported since August 15.

More deportations were also scheduled in the coming days, he added.

The anticorruption agency released pictures of Asian men wearing surgical face masks, lined up at airport check-in counters.

The deportees were among 792 suspected cybercriminals arrested in a single operation in the affluent Victoria Island area of Lagos in December. At least 192 of those arrested were foreign nationals, of whom 148 were Chinese, the EFCC said.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, has a reputation for internet fraudsters known in local slang as “Yahoo Boys”, and the EFCC has busted several hideouts where young crime suspects learn online scamming skills.

According to the agency, foreign gangs recruit Nigerian accomplices to find victims online through phishing scams. The attackers typically try to deceive victims into transferring money or revealing sensitive information such as passwords to accounts.

The scams target mostly Americans, Canadians, Mexicans and Europeans, the EFCC said.

Experts say the fraudulent investment schemes used by cyber-scammers have become increasingly sophisticated and dynamic as they leverage the latest technologies and digital tools.

The schemes ultimately leave victims – many of whom invest their savings, business capital, and borrowed money – unable to do anything but watch their hard-earned money disappear.

Experts also warn that foreign “cybercrime syndicates” have set up shop in Nigeria to exploit its weak cybersecurity systems.

Aug. 14 (UPI) — The State and Treasury departments are offering rewards of up to $6 million for information leading to arrests in a Russian-operated cryptocurrency scheme, officials announced Thursday.

Garantex, a Russian-operated cryptocurrency exchange, allegedly used a series of criminals and cybercrime organizations to launder billions of dollars using hacking software, ransomware, terrorism and drug trafficking schemes, the FBI and Secret Service said.

“Between April 2019 and March 2025, Gartantex processed at least $96 billion in cryptocurrency transactions,” a release from the State Department said.

The State Department is offering individual rewards of $5 million and $1 million for Russian national Aleksandr Mira Serda, and other Garantex leaders.

The department is also targeting Grinex, a cryptocurrency exchange that was established as Garantex’s successor.

Cryptocurrency entrepreneur faces up to 25 years in prison over the $40bn collapse of the TerraUSD and Luna tokens.

South Korean cryptocurrency mogul Do Kwon has pleaded guilty to fraud in the United States in a case tied to the $40bn collapse of the TerraUSD and Luna tokens.

Kwon, the cofounder of Singapore-based Terraform Labs, entered the plea at the Southern District of New York on Tuesday, according to court filings.

Kwon admitted to one count of conspiring to commit commodities fraud, securities fraud and wire fraud, and one count of committing wire fraud.

As part of his plea, the crypto entrepreneur agreed to forfeit more than $19m in proceeds from his crimes, according to prosecutors.

Kwon had in January entered a plea of not guilty to nine counts in the case, including securities fraud, wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy.

“Do Kwon used the technological promise and investment euphoria around cryptocurrency to commit one of the largest frauds in history,” US Attorney Jay Clayton said.

“Kwon attracted tens of billions in funds to Terraform’s ecosystem by promising a self-stabilising stablecoin. By the time the markets discovered the ecosystem was unstable, it was too late: the system collapsed, and investors around the world suffered billions in losses.”

Kwon, who is due to be sentenced on December 11, faces a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison.

Kwon was extradited to the US in December 2024, following his arrest in Montenegro after spending months on the run from authorities.

Published on
08/08/2025 – 14:08 GMT+2

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Binance is partnering with Spain’s Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) to allow crypto customers to store their funds with the bank instead of keeping them directly on the crypto exchange, according to reporting by the Financial Times.

The move is aimed at rebuilding trust with investors after Binance was hit with a record fine from US regulators nearly two years ago.

Binance is the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, and it handles billions of dollars in trades each day across hundreds of cryptocurrencies.

What does this mean for crypto?

BBVA, as a bank, will act as an “independent custodian” or a separate and trusted third party and ensure a greater level of safety when it comes to customers’ funds or assets that are traded through Binance.

As the second largest bank in Spain and praised for its innovation and sustainability, BBVA will act as a security guarantee, giving traders a reduced risk while encouraging them to invest in the high-returns crypto exchange.

By storing them with BBVA, if Binance runs into trouble, like being hacked, declaring bankruptcy or facing regulatory action, the funds would still be safe with BBVA.

Banks are much more closely regulated than crypto exchanges, so BBVA’s obligation to follow compliance rules should lead to more interest in crypto overall.

Essentially, the move is akin to putting your valuables in a safe or a secure bank, instead of being displayed in a storefront as they’re being bought and sold.

Binance trying to clean up its reputation

Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, got slammed in 2023 with a record $4.3 billion (€3.69bn) fine after US regulators accused it of not keeping checks on its trading floor.

US officials said Binance allowed shady funds to flow through its exchange and allegedly permitted laundered money to be used, helping its big clients dodge the rules.

Founder Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao stepped down and served four months in prison for failing to stop money laundering.

Now, with regulators watching its every move, Binance is trying to clean up its act and by partnering with Spain’s BBVA, hopes to prove it can play by the rules.

When Julie Vanloo drew her second traveling violation before halftime, the crowd’s disapproval rose in unison.

On the floor, with tempers simmering on the Sparks’ bench, a delay-of-game whistle drew another round of jeers from the Crypto.com Arena crowd.

The calls weren’t the only sources of frustration for the Sparks — the team also was trailing the last-place Connecticut Sun by 10 points.

Still, the flare-up might have been what the Sparks needed to rally to a 102-91 victory over the Sun to earn their eighth win in nine games.

“Since the beginning of the season, I’ve been optimistic about what this team would look like and why I want to be here and why I want to continue to be here,” Dearica Hamby said. “[This team is] one of the fastest teams I’ve been with. … We’re not done yet, we’ve got a lot more to accomplish.”

After their deficit swelled to 13 points late in the second quarter, the Sparks (14-15) went on a 14-0 run, trimming the Sun’s lead to 51-49 by halftime.

In the third quarter, Hamby helped the Sparks keep pace with the Sun (5-24). Hamby racked up six points, an assist and a defensive rebound over four minutes.

A three-pointer by Rae Burrell late in the third quarter gave the Sparks a 66-64 lead. The Sun managed to tie it in the fourth quarter before a Cameron Brink three with 8:06 left gave the Sparks the lead for good.

Sparks teammates (from left) Rickea Jackson, Cameron Brink and Rae Burrell react during the fourth quarter Thursday.

(Luke Hales / Getty Images)

“We’ve hung in there and, as I’ve said, didn’t lose sight of the big picture when we had all those injuries and a lot of adversity,” Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said. “We’ve had a lot of adversity in that sense, and took some tough losses. But it’s a great group. They’re good people and they want this team to do well.”

Julie Allemand was a consistent force throughout the game, finishing with 10 points, 11 assists and 11 rebounds to become the 22nd player in WNBA history to record a triple-double.

“She was just dialing today, she was really good,” Roberts said. “It was impossible in the second half to take her out of the game. … She was just unbelievable.”

From the opening quarter — when Allemand flashed her handle with a flurry of steps, an in-and-out dribble and a hard drive before dishing to Rickea Jackson for a three-pointer at the extended elbow — the Allemand Act didn’t let up.

She proved to be an essential floor general for the Sparks, as the Sun held leading scorer Kelsey Plum to just one point in the first half.

“KP didn’t have a great offensive first half,” Allemand said. “I’m trying as a point guard to see what I need to do to help this team — if it’s scoring, if it’s rebounding, playing defense, offense, depending how [to] fuel my teammates on the court, and I think that’s what I did today.”

Hamby finished with 21 points, five rebounds and four assists and Jackson scored 20 points. Plum surged in the second half to finish with 18 points and Burrell had nine points off the bench.

With Brink back proving to be strong on both ends — she finished with 11 points, five blocks and two rebounds — the Sparks turned Crypto.com Arena’s boos into all cheers by the end of the game.

Amid a rally that’s seen the crypto market cap hit $4 trillion for the first time, JP Morgan is now moving toward crypto-backed loans, signaling that its anti-crypto stance is quietly melting away.

The move reflects a shift in how US banks view crypto, with the approvals of GENIUS Act and Clarity Act at last week’s Crypto Week also fueling positive sentiment. Crypto investors are well aware of this institutional pivot and so are exploring opportunities to maximize their gains in the weeks ahead.

With it looking like a new altcoin season is imminent, which cryptocurrencies could benefit the most from the increasing institutional adoption? We take a closer look at JP Morgan’s move and explore four of the best cryptos to buy amid this development.

JP Morgan Eyes Crypto Loans

JP Morgan may start lending directly against crypto assets, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, according to a report by The Financial Times. The loans are expected to be finalized by 2026, although this is subject to change.

However, an unidentified source told The Financial Times that JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon’s previous remarks about the crypto industry have alienated some potential clients.

Dimon has been critical about crypto in previous years, with the exec even calling it a “scam” in 2018. However, he appears to finally be succumbing to positive sentiment fueled by ETFs, regulatory clarity, and increased investor demand.

“The same banks that laughed in 2017? They are positioning now,” wrote Wise Advice on X.

Indeed, it’s another step toward the full integration of digital assets into the traditional finance (TradFi) sector, something that could bolster the crypto industry’s credibility and adoption. This could drive substantial gains for investors who position correctly.

As such, here are four cryptos that could benefit the most from the news:

Bitcoin Hyper

However, Bitcoin is limited in terms of speed, fees, and functionality. Transactions take around 60 minutes to finalize, fees can cost over $100, and the network is primarily limited to sending and receiving functions. That’s why the Bitcoin layer 2 blockchain, Bitcoin Hyper, could be the best crypto to buy now.

It’s a Bitcoin-aligned blockchain with sub-second finality, dirt-cheap fees, and smart contract support. The blockchain is built using the Solana Virtual Machine, meaning Solana developers can port their apps to the network in minutes. And Bitcoin Hyper does not sacrifice security or decentralization. Transactions are reported to L1 in batches, ensuring immutability and long-term security.

The project is currently undergoing a presale and has raised $4.1 million to date, demonstrating significant investor interest. With Bitcoin spearheading the current rally by recording a new all-time high last week, sentiment around the BTC ecosystem is bullish.

And as institutional appetite for Bitcoin rises, we could well see the $HYPER price surge once it lists on exchanges in the near future. Visit Bitcoin Hyper.

Arbitrum

While Bitcoin Hyper may offer the strongest option among Bitcoin L2s, Arbitrum is winning in the Ethereum realm. It’s an Ethereum L2 built using Optimistic Rollups technology, which allows for the submission of transaction batches back to Ethereum in a single transaction, making it cheaper and faster than using Ethereum L1 directly.

Arbitrum’s total value locked has surged by almost 50% since April, rising from $2 billion to $2.9 billion. There are also over $3 billion worth of stablecoins on the Arbitrum network. This is dry powder that could be invested in $ARB or ecosystem tokens as the bull market unfolds.

It’s worth noting that the project has also seen substantial TradFi adoption recently, with eToro announcing it will launch its tokenized stocks trading platform on the app.

Similar to Bitcoin Hyper, increasing institutional appeal in Ethereum will drive users to seek out aligned infrastructure with heightened transactional capabilities. We can already see remnants of this playing out with eToro’s app plans. That’s why $ARB has rallied 74% this month.

TOKEN6900

TOKEN6900 is a new meme coin highlighting the absurdity of modern finance. JP Morgan FUDed Bitcoin below $50,000, only to offer it to clients at $120,000. Money printers are on (brrr,) and meme coin prices are skyrocketing. It’s peak brain rot season.

TOKEN6900 is a meme coin that, rather than pulling you away, aims to help you capitalize on this absurdity. It follows in the footsteps of SPX6900 – which hit a new all-time high last week and is up over 1,000% since last year – and vies to deliver huge gains on what it calls “collective meme-fueled delusion.”

However, while SPX6900 is currently worth $1.8 billion, TOKEN6900 is undergoing a presale. The presale is rapidly approaching the $1 million raised milestone, reflecting strong demand but also leaving massive room for growth.

However, the $T6900 presale has a $5 million hard cap. This means investors must act quickly or risk missing out, especially given the current bullish conditions in the market. Visit TOKEN6900.

Solana

Solana made a name for itself with its meme coin infrastructure, featuring tokens like Bonk, Dogwifhat, and OFFICIAL TRUMP, alongside platforms like Pump.fun, which created a vibrant rail for light-hearted speculation.

But Solana is more than a home for joke tokens. It’s an increasingly popular asset for institutional players. BlackRock and Franklin Templeton migrated their tokenized money market funds to the chain this year, and the Solana Foundation secured a partnership with R3, allowing clients such as HSBC and Barclays to utilize the network.

R3’s website emphasized that the move provides Solana with access to broader liquidity and a new investor pool, while offering TradFi players the benefits of Solana’s DeFi ecosystem. These benefits include access to regulated real-world assets (RWAs) and new yield opportunities.

Currently, Solana trades at $199, having rallied by 4% today despite the broader market trading at breakeven. $SOL has also flipped BNB to become the fourth-largest cryptocurrency, underlining its strengthening position in the market.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. ModernDiplomacy.eu is not a licensed crypto-asset service provider under EU regulation (MiCA). Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile and involve significant risk. Always conduct your own research and consult a licensed advisor before making any investment decisions.

Ethereum has broken past $3,800 for the first time since December 2024, driven by major whale accumulation and a growing pipeline of technical upgrades. The upcoming Fusaka fork, expected in November this year, is a key step toward Ethereum’s next phase of scalability, while developers are already gearing up for Glamsterdam, a major execution-layer upgrade after Fusaka.

Behind the scenes, institutional firms are quietly amassing ETH, betting big on the future of decentralized finance and Ethereum’s role as its core infrastructure. On-chain data shows whales and institutions have accumulated 681,103 ETH (worth over $2.5 billion) since July 1, according to Lookonchain.

Meanwhile, XRP has solidified its position as the third-largest crypto by market cap, hovering just shy of its all-time high, at $3.50. The rise of Ripple’s crypto comes after favorable regulatory calls, which opened new institutional doorways into XRP, including a ProShares XRP leveraged ETF.

Together, these moves have pushed the CMC Altcoin Season Index to 57, up from 12 in April of this year. Historically, when Ethereum outperforms Bitcoin, altcoins follow. Capital rotation from BTC to altcoins comes next, and often new tokens gain unprecedented momentum, sometimes reaching all-time highs.

We reviewed four popular cryptocurrencies that could define this altseason. Each of our choices offers different utility and thesis, making them suitable for different investor and trader profiles.

Snorter Bot (SNORT)

With the growing number of meme coin launches on Solana, traders desperately need tools to stay on top of a chaotic market. Snorter Bot offers what many meme coin traders have been calling for: automated sniping tools and lightning-fast execution ready at hand.

To ensure the bot doesn’t aim at any rotten apples, it comes equipped with advanced rugpull and honeypot detection. Protective measures like these have become paramount in an environment where over 98% of all meme coins launched on Pump.fun exhibited rugpull and pump-and-dump characteristics.

SNORT token holders also pay 0.85% transaction fees for operating the bot, compared to the 1.5% paid by users who don’t own the token. Additionally, token holders unlock the bot’s complete feature set, which includes unlimited snipes and copy trading. The latter can be an excellent tool for automatically replicating the trades that are making pro traders a fortune.

The experts at Cryptonews believe this is an easy 100x thanks to Snorter Bot’s fast and secure swaps, limit orders, and copy trading, the full potential of which is only possible with SNORT.

$SNORTER BOT IS THE BEST BOT ON SOLANA?! EASY 100X GAINS WITH $SNORTER?!

Snorter Bot has already raised over $2 million in its presale and offers a dynamic yield of 186% for those who stake the token. With the growing number of meme coin launches during the altseason, demand for valuable tools is likely to increase, and SNORT is well-positioned to benefit from this trend. Visit Snorter Bot Presale.

Jupiter (JUP)

Jupiter is one of the largest DeFi platforms of Solana with nearly $3 billion in total value locked (TVL), according to DeFillama. This is one of the most profitable platforms with an annualized revenue of $224 million as of June 2025.

That’s not surprising given how fast the project has grown. What started as a simple price aggregator is now a fully-fledged ecosystem that offers fast token swaps with recurring purchases and limit orders, advanced manual meme coin trading (on Jup Pro), and a perpetual futures platform.

While users can trade ETH, SOL, and BTC with leverage on the Perps platform, it’s still far from the level of Hyperliquid, which offers faster execution and a significantly wider range of cryptocurrencies to trade. Despite that, it shows what the team is capable of if they decide to expand on their offering.

JUP is the governance token of Jupiter that incentivizes voting by rewarding voters with more JUP tokens. In the past, JUP voters also received allocations from all tokens that launched via the Jupiter launchpad, including Zeus and DeBridge.

Recently, a partnership between Jupiter and Huma Finance allowed JUP stakers to participate in the HUMA presale at a fixed price of $0.0075. Currently, HUMA trades at $0.03858, giving presale investors a return of over 400%. Rumors suggest that a similar scenario could unfold with the upcoming Meteora token launch, where JUP stakers will receive a presale allocation with conditions similar to those of the HUMA presale.

Emijaop.Turbo, an analyst on X, predicts JUP will trade at $3 before the end of the year, which would represent a 400% increase from current prices.

TOKEN6900 (T6900)

TOKEN6900 is a new meme coin presale that latches onto and aims to outperform its peer, SPX6900. With a parodic view of both the financial and cryptocurrency markets, suggesting that we’re past the stage where trading makes sense, it caters to those disillusioned with the absurdity of modern finance.

Unlike other meme coins that offer, or pretend to offer, some utility, TOKEN6900 promises nothing. There’s no roadmap to look forward to, no utility, and no promises. This meme coin thrives simply on “Vibe Liquidity.”

And while it has nothing to offer but memes and the chance to be part of something that could potentially become epic, TOKEN6900 does pay out staking rewards during its presale. A dynamic yield of 66% could be enough for early investors to increase their holdings without making new purchases.

Borch Crypto, a popular crypto YouTube analyst, believes T6900 could explode soon because it features the same vibes and humor as SPX6900 and could attract a similar profile (and number) of investors.

Crypto Presale Alert: Why T6900 Might Explode Soon [URGENT] 🚀

Once the presale ends, the token will list at $0.007125 with a hard cap of $5 million. Compared to the nearly $2 billion market cap of SPX6900, T6900’s value is a drop in the ocean, giving it enormous potential to grow. TOKEN6900 has already raised close to $1 million in its presale, showing strong demand. This might be a second chance for anyone who missed SPX6900. Visit TOKEN6900 Presale.

Hyperliquid (HYPE)

Hyperliquid is the most popular decentralized perpetual exchange, aiming to bridge the gap between centralized exchanges and DeFi. It offers near-instant trading with zero gas fees, no wallet connect popups, and a clean UI.

These features have been made possible thanks to its own Layer-1 blockchain, which doesn’t rely on Ethereum or Solana to execute orders. This means the platform isn’t bottlenecked by congestion issues or architectural design choices on other chains.

The platform supports direct deposits from over 30 chains, and users gain access to spot, margin, and perpetual futures. Hyperliquid gained popularity in the past few months thanks to James Wynn, a prominent crypto trader who turned $4 million into $90 million, before losing it all while trading BTC with 40x leverage.

HYPE is the platform’s native token, providing governance rights, while also being used to cover gas fees on the Hyperliquid blockchain. While there are staking rewards, the rate is low, around 2%, and may not be suitable for all investors.

CHARLiE, a crypto analyst on X, predicts HYPE will soon trade at the $52 zone, maintaining a bullish trend.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. ModernDiplomacy.eu is not a licensed crypto-asset service provider under EU regulation (MiCA). Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile and involve significant risk. Always conduct your own research and consult a licensed advisor before making any investment decisions.

Meme coin enthusiasts are celebrating Dogecoin’s (DOGE) rally toward its five-month high, as it gained about 90% from its June lows. All of the top 10 meme coins by market cap were up double-digits over the past week, pushing the entire sector’s valuation above $84 billion.

This bullish sentiment toward meme coins isn’t happening in isolation. Bitcoin dominance slipped to around 60% on July 21, while CoinMarketCap’s Altcoin Season Index shows a gradual trend shift in favor of altcoins.

Against this backdrop, investors are enthusiastically backing TOKEN6900 (T6900), a satirical meme coin that’s building on the success of the SPX6900 (SPX) token. While Dogecoin continues to enjoy global recognition and SPX is hitting all-time highs, TOKEN6900’s minimalist manifesto and rapidly growing crypto presale could allow it to outperform the veteran meme coin in the current leg of the bull cycle.

Analyst Eyes Bullish Dogecoin Target After This Breakout

This breakout triggered a wave of buy orders, coinciding with a 24-hour volume spike of over 2 billion DOGE.

In the meantime, corporate interest in Dogecoin is further adding to the bullish expectations for the meme coin. Recently, US-listed entity Bit Origin Ltd’s stock experienced a double-digit gain after it acquired roughly 40.5 million DOGE for its treasury.

Another catalyst for DOGE is the growing optimism around a spot-based Dogecoin ETF. Prediction markets are now assigning an 80% probability to a DOGE ETF approval in 2025, especially following the recent successes of Ethereum and XRP products.

But opportunistic investors recognize that, despite these bullish catalysts, Dogecoin’s upside is still limited compared to that of a low-cap meme coin. This is why they’re now shifting their focus to TOKEN6900, a viral meme coin that’s about to reach the $1 million raise milestone in its presale.

TOKEN6900: The Anti‑Index Meme Coin With Viral Momentum

TOKEN6900 has secured more than $925,000 in its recently launched presale, while riding the broader optimism that has re-energized the meme coin market.

The meme coin openly embraces the absurdity of meme coins, branding itself as the anti-S&P 500 token that doesn’t track any index or pretend to solve real-world problems. This honest narrative has drawn comparisons to the recent sensation SPX6900, another viral meme coin which TOKEN6900 “one-ups” by having one extra token in total supply.

SPX6900 has skyrocketed by over 692% in just the past four months, hitting a brand-new ATH of $2.03 on July 20. Since its inception two years ago, SPX6900 has delivered a staggering 75,658,386% return, lifting its market cap to more than $1.8 billion. An early $100 investment in SPX would be worth over $75 million today.

What’s worth noting is that the term “spx6900” has seen an uptrend on Google search, and crypto analysts predict buying interest will spill over to T6900 next. With altcoin season already underway and retail traders on the hunt for the next big altcoin to explode, T6900 positions itself as a rare high-upside opportunity.

A micro-cap like TOKEN6900 could outperform Dogecoin by orders of magnitude if momentum and community fandom continue to build. To buy T6900 and enter at a position that could yield millions, visit the TOKEN6900 official presale page and connect a compatible Web3 wallet (like Best Wallet).

Buyers can also immediately stake their holdings for a high annual reward of up to 66% without waiting for the presale to end.

Visit TOKEN6900 Presale

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. ModernDiplomacy.eu is not a licensed crypto-asset service provider under EU regulation (MiCA). Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile and involve significant risk. Always conduct your own research and consult a licensed advisor before making any investment decisions.