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The U.S. Treasury Department has sent a letter to Binance, requesting compliance explanations regarding recent reports involving cryptocurrency transactions related to Iran and to strengthen regulatory cooperation.It is reported that this move comes amid ongoing scrutiny by U.S. regulators over cross-border capital flows on cryptocurrency platforms. Previous investigations and media reports have indicated that Iran and related entities may be transferring funds through centralized exchanges, drawing the attention of the U.S. Treasury and Justice Departments.

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote to Mark Zuckerberg, requesting more information from Meta regarding its latest stablecoin plan and criticizing the company's "lack of transparency" in related business as concerning.In her letter, Elizabeth Warren stated that given Meta's vast global user base, any stablecoin-related business could have a significant impact on market competition, user privacy, the integrity of payment systems, and financial stability. Previously disclosed information indicated that Facebook has been testing stablecoin payment features for certain creators in Colombia and the Philippines, with the plan based on USD Coin (USDC), requiring users to link a third-party crypto wallet address. A Meta spokesperson responded that the company "does not have a Meta stablecoin," and currently only hopes that users and merchants can use various payment methods, including third-party stablecoins, on the platform. Notably, Meta launched the stablecoin project Libra (later renamed Diem) in 2019, but ultimately terminated it in 2022 due to regulatory pressure. Warren has long been one of the toughest critics of cryptocurrency in the U.S. Congress and has repeatedly questioned Meta's stablecoin plans.

According to market news, the closed cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex submitted a motion to a federal judge this week, requesting to withdraw its $24 million settlement agreement with the SEC and asking for a full refund of the fine from the SEC.Bittrex's lawyers pointed out in the motion that when the SEC filed the lawsuit, it claimed that the relevant cryptocurrencies were unregistered securities. However, after the Trump administration took office, the SEC publicly acknowledged that the legal theory was flawed and subsequently dismissed almost all similar cases, with only the Bittrex case remaining unresolved. Bittrex believes this is unfair and is seeking equal treatment.It is worth noting that the SEC has initiated procedures to transfer the $24 million to the Treasury Department for compensation to affected customers by March 2026. Bittrex's lawyers are urgently requesting the court to issue a return order before the funds are transferred. The SEC is currently refusing to comment on this matter.

According to Decrypt, the closed cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex has filed a motion to a federal judge to withdraw its settlement agreement with the U.S. SEC and is requesting the SEC to return the $24 million fine.Bittrex was accused by the SEC of offering unregistered securities trading during the Biden administration, ultimately reaching a settlement and paying a fine, and then closed due to the "current U.S. regulatory and economic environment" that made it impossible to continue operations. Bittrex's lawyers pointed out in the latest filing that the SEC's stance on cryptocurrency regulation has fundamentally changed since the Trump administration took office, acknowledging that the legal theory that most tokens are considered securities was incorrect, that the enforcement strategy has been flawed from the beginning, and that almost all lawsuits and investigations against cryptocurrency companies have been withdrawn.Bittrex is asking the judge to order the return of the funds before the SEC transfers the money to the Treasury for compensation. In March of this year, the SEC initiated the process to transfer the fine to the Treasury.

According to official news, Aave LLC has submitted an emergency motion requesting the withdrawal of the asset freeze notice issued to Arbitrum DAO on May 1, 2026. This notice attempts to seize approximately $71 million worth of ETH, which belongs to the victims of the attack on April 18.Aave stated that attackers do not gain legal ownership of stolen property merely by stealing it, as the law clearly stipulates. The assets being recovered are intended to be returned to users affected by the attack on April 18, 2026. Freezing these assets harms the users that the recovery efforts are supposed to protect.Aave has requested the court to hold an emergency hearing and temporarily lift the freeze order, while continuing to work with the Arbitrum community and DeFi United to compensate the affected users.

According to Cointelegraph, Nominis analysis indicates that some of the "Iran-related" crypto wallets recently seized and frozen by the U.S. OFAC may not exhibit on-chain behavior characteristics consistent with the past operational patterns of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), suggesting the involvement of other state-level actors.Previously, the U.S. Treasury stated that over $340 million, totaling nearly $500 million in Iran-related crypto assets, had been frozen in the "Operation Economic Fury." Nominis CEO Snir Levi noted that historically, IRGC-related wallets typically spread funds across multiple addresses, maintain low balances in single wallets, avoid long-term holdings, and employ complex operations to reduce the risk of being frozen; however, the wallets that were seized this time show significant differences in their funding structure and behavior patterns.He believes this raises a critical question: how much of the frozen $340 million in assets is directly controlled by the IRGC, and how much involves broader infrastructures that may even overlap with financial networks of other countries.Levi also pointed out that organizations, including the IRGC and potential state-level actors from China, are continuously upgrading their use of blockchain infrastructure, and traditional static risk control labels are no longer sufficient; behavioral analysis and address clustering are becoming increasingly critical.

According to Jinshi, Federal Reserve Chairman Powell stated that whether consumption will decline to offset the impact of inflation remains an unresolved issue.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan denied former FTX CEO SBF's request for a rehearing and harshly criticized the so-called new evidence he presented as baseless and "conspiracy-laden." In a court order issued on Tuesday, the judge pointed out that SBF's claims that FTX was actually solvent, that the Department of Justice was concealing information, and that witnesses were afraid to testify due to government threats were completely contradictory to the record.SBF originally accused former FTX Digital Markets co-CEO Ryan Salame and former data science chief Daniel Chapsky of not appearing in court out of fear, but the judge emphasized that SBF could have summoned or compelled them to testify but took no action. In November 2023, SBF was found guilty on all seven counts of fraud by a New York jury and was subsequently sentenced to 25 years in prison. Last week, he voluntarily withdrew his motion for a new trial, stating that he could not obtain a "fair hearing" from Judge Kaplan, but the appeal is still ongoing.The judge also criticized SBF for creating public opinion through interviews, stating that the so-called new facts had already been raised multiple times. SBF had sought a pardon from Trump, but Trump has also made it clear that there are no such plans.

ZachXBT posted on platform X criticizing Sam Altman's associated project World (formerly WorldCoin), questioning its practice of obtaining biometric data from users in low-income countries in exchange for distributing WLD tokens.He also criticized the low circulation token design of WLD, stating that the related identity verification system has led to a black market for verified accounts, and questioned the token inflation mechanism and the issue of off-exchange holdings circulation.

According to official news, after discussions with multiple stakeholders, Aave service providers, ether.fi, KelpDAO, and other projects have submitted a governance proposal to the Arbitrum DAO, requesting the release of ETH that was frozen by the Arbitrum security committee after the rsETH incident on April 18.The announcement stated that if these ETH are released, the funds will be directed to DeFi United. Aave firmly believes that this contribution will significantly advance the path to a solution.

The DeFi Education Fund, along with Aave Labs, Uniswap Labs, Paradigm, Andreessen Horowitz, and other organizations, has sent a letter to the U.S. SEC in response to the recent statement released by the trading and markets division regarding the registration of "non-custodial user interface" brokers for crypto asset securities.The signatories support the statement that the "non-custodial user interface," which only provides a technical entry point and allows users to manage their assets independently, should be excluded from broker registration. They also urge the SEC to establish clearer and more sustainable definitions of "broker" through formal rulemaking, to avoid incorrectly categorizing neutral software tool providers, validators, RPC/API, oracles, cloud services, and other infrastructure under broker regulations. This would provide long-term legal certainty for blockchain infrastructure innovation while ensuring investor protection.Previously, the SEC's trading and markets division indicated that some DeFi trading interfaces do not need to register as brokers, allowing for policy space for related applications. Supporters believe that the new regulations could cover infrastructure participants such as validators, APIs, and oracles. Currently, the U.S. crypto market legislation, the CLARITY Act, is stalled in the Senate.

The DeFi Education Fund, along with several other crypto advocacy organizations, has officially sent a joint letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), requesting the initiation of a formal DeFi rule-making process based on recent statements.Previously, the SEC's Division of Trading and Markets had clearly stated that certain software user interfaces used for trading cryptocurrencies do not need to register as broker-dealers, giving a green light to such activities. The joint letter calls on the SEC to solidify the above principles into an objective and clear framework through announcements or comment-based rule-making, clarifying which activities fall under the definition of "broker," while excluding infrastructure service providers such as validators, API and RPC providers, oracles, and cloud services. This would provide developers with long-term legal certainty and avoid reliance on temporary guidance. Under the leadership of current Chairman Paul Atkins, the SEC has taken a positive and open attitude towards digital asset innovation, contrasting sharply with the repressive stance of the previous administration, and the industry has also played an important role in the rule-making process.

According to CoinDesk, Cardano's core development company Input Output submitted nine funding proposals for the 2026 community treasury, totaling $46.8 million, a significant reduction of about 52% from last year's $97.5 million, marking the first step towards gradually reducing reliance on community funds.The nine proposals focus on two main directions: first, the consensus upgrade plan Leios, which is expected to increase Cardano's transaction processing capacity by 10 to 65 times, aiming to exceed 1,000 transactions per second, with testing planned for June and full launch by the end of the year; second, the Bitcoin DeFi system Pogun, which allows Bitcoin holders to lend and earn through Cardano without having to trust centralized institutions, with lending features expected to be publicly released in the second quarter.This voting involves about 1,000 elected representatives (DReps), with the voting deadline set for May 24. The results will test whether the Cardano community views Input Output as a regular funding applicant.Meanwhile, the new stablecoin USDCx in the Cardano ecosystem has reached a circulation of 14.6 million coins within weeks of its launch, and the total locked assets on the network have increased from $137.5 million to $142.7 million.

ZachXBT posted that it does not recommend users to use Bitcoin Depot's Bitcoin ATM service and questioned its recent allowance for a U.S. elderly fraud victim to exchange $25,000 in fiat for BTC through the ATM.ZachXBT stated that the victim was quoted at $108,000 per BTC, while the market price at that time was about $75,000, and ultimately the $25,000 only exchanged for 0.232 BTC, with an actual value of about $17,500. It also mentioned that Bitcoin Depot was recently exploited, resulting in a loss of $3.26 million, equivalent to about 54 BTC, and went unnoticed for several days.

On-chain detective ZachXBT questioned Kraken's due diligence process for the listing of $M (Memecore) spot trading on July 3, 2025, stating that approximately 7.9 million $M had been withdrawn from Kraken to 18 newly created addresses, of which a total of about 11.7 million $M is currently held, valued at approximately $39.8 million at the current price.He also mentioned that a suspected Memecore team address received 200 million $M during the token generation event (TGE) and transferred 5.3 million $M to the Kraken deposit address on July 3, 2025.

On-chain detective ZachXBT questioned Kraken's review process for the listing of Memecore (M) spot trading and pointed out that there were anomalies in the related on-chain fund flows.He stated that approximately $7.9 million flowed out of Kraken to 18 newly created addresses, which currently hold a total of about 11.7 million M (currently valued at approximately $39.8 million). At the same time, he claimed that a suspected team address had previously deposited about 5.3 million M into Kraken, raising market concerns about token distribution and trading behavior.

According to Decrypt, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (a senior Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee) wrote to SEC Chairman Paul Atkins, stating that he may have "deliberately misled" Congress regarding the decline in the number of new enforcement actions by the SEC during a hearing, and pointed out that if there are significant false statements made to Congress, it could involve criminal liability.The report cites enforcement data disclosed by the SEC for 2025, stating that the SEC added a total of 456 new enforcement actions last year, of which about 200 were from the previous administration, and approximately 256 were added during the current administration, significantly lower than the average of about 765 per year over the past decade. Warren believes that the sharp decline in enforcement actions, staff reductions, and sudden leadership changes may weaken the SEC's ability to protect investors and maintain market order, and questions whether there is political favoritism and selective enforcement. The SEC declined to comment on this.

The U.S. banking industry has questioned the stablecoin yield report released by the White House, arguing that the conclusions of the report are based on incorrect issues.The White House Council of Economic Advisers' research report states that banning stablecoin yields would have a negligible impact on bank lending, only potentially increasing loans by about $2.1 billion. Sayee Srinivasan, chief economist of the American Bankers Association, and Yikai Wang, vice president, stated that the core policy concern is whether allowing stablecoins to generate yields would encourage deposit outflows, particularly from community banks to large institutions, thereby increasing financing costs and reducing local lending. The American Bankers Association acknowledges that the financial incentives to pursue high-yield stablecoins will prompt households and businesses to move funds out of banks. Currently, the cryptocurrency and banking industries are negotiating the terms of a Senate bill, with the prohibition of interest payments on stablecoins being a key point of contention.

According to the Financial Times, OpenAI investors are questioning its $852 billion valuation, stating that its strategy is shifting. Some OpenAI investors have indicated that these changes may make OpenAI vulnerable to threats from Anthropic and Google.