Report | Crypto

Bloomberg reported Flow Capital plans to tokenize its private credit fund to raise additional capital, but crypto execs warn tokenization doesn’t magically make hard-to-trade assets liquid. Flow Capital Partners is planning to tokenize its private credit fund through Singapore-based DigiFT, Bloomberg reported Friday, as the Hong Kong credit manager looks to tap blockchain-based distribution for its next capital raise. According to the report, Flow Capital plans to bring its $150 million private credit fund on the blockchain through Singapore-based tokenization platform DigiFT by the end of April, seeking to raise an additional $30 million in tokenized shares by the end of 2026, Jacky Tian, chief investment officer of Flow Capital, said. The $30 million raise is part of the company’s plans to expand the size of the fund to $250 million with a target net return of 12%. The fund launched in mid 2025, with $125 million in seed capital, according to the company. Cointelegraph has approached Flow Capital and DigiFT...

Mining companies are now split between those liquidating Bitcoin to cover operating expenses and those holding their BTC in reserve to fuel future growth. Publicly traded Bitcoin (BTC) mining companies sold more BTC in Q1 2026 than in all four quarters of 2025, as business conditions tighten for the mining industry.  Publicly listed BTC miners, including MARA, CleanSpark, Riot, Cango, Core Scientific and Bitdeer, have collectively sold more than 32,000 BTC in Q1 2026, according to TheEnergyMag. The Q1 sales surpassed the 20,000 BTC sold in Q2 2022 during the crypto bear market triggered by the collapse of the Terra-Luna ecosystem, setting a “new record” for BTC miner sales in a single quarter, TheMinerMag said.  Read more

CEO Tarek Mansour said in an interview that Kalshi would prevent kids from using a parent’s ID to skirt its age restrictions by launching a parent portal and AI verification. Kalshi co-founder and CEO Tarek Mansour reportedly announced a new strategy for the prediction markets platform to crack down on minors illegally using its services. According to a Wednesday Semafor report, Mansour said that Kalshi was launching a “portal for parents” to submit their identification to check whether their children were using the platforms under their names. There have been incidents in which minors have been able to bypass Kalshi’s age requirements — a US-based user must be 18 years old — by using one of their parent’s IDs for verification. “We are also adding selfies to accounts, where you can basically look at the face of a person, and it can tell you obviously if this person is not the actual parent that’s 50 years old,” said Mansour, according to Semafor. Read more

South Korea’s FSS said API trading now makes up 30% of crypto turnover and warned it will crack down on abusive automated trading patterns, local media reported Monday. South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said Monday that API-based trading now accounts for about 30% of crypto buy-and-sell turnover, warning that some traders are using automated tools to inflate volumes and manipulate prices. According to reports from Yonhap News Agency and Maeil Business Newspaper, the regulator warned that some traders are using automated tools to inflate volumes and manipulate prices, citing cases involving repeated small trades, spoofed orders and coordinated activity across multiple accounts.  The FSS said it will launch targeted investigations into accounts suspected of using APIs for excessive or abnormal trading patterns, signaling closer scrutiny of automated trading activity in the market.  Read more

Polymarket links briefly appeared under mainstream outlets in Google News results for event-driven queries but were later removed. Polymarket betting markets reportedly appeared inside Google News results alongside established news publishers before disappearing. A Google spokesperson told The Verge that the platform’s appearance in News was an error. “This site briefly appeared in Google News in error, and it is no longer surfacing in News,” spokesperson Ned Adriance reportedly said. Before removal, Polymarket links were shown directly beneath mainstream outlets when users searched event-driven queries. In one example cited by website Futurism, a search for “will ships transit the strait” related to the Strait of Hormuz returned a Polymarket market predicting outcomes on vessel passage alongside reporting from Reuters and The Guardian. Read more

With a potential scheduling conflict, several senators want to know if the president plans to attend a luncheon for memecoin holders in Florida or just seeking to generate fees. Three US senators have reportedly asked one of the people behind US President Donald Trump’s memecoin whether the president intends to “dangle access” to himself at a luncheon event, given he is already planning to attend the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner the same day.  According to a Thursday Politico report, Senators Elizabeth Warren, Richard Blumenthal, and Adam Schiff sent a letter to Bill Zanker, the individual behind the launch of the memecoin Official Trump (TRUMP). The lawmakers questioned whether Trump had been leveraging his appearance at a luncheon event scheduled for April 25, which the memecoin project announced in March. “[O]rganizers are promoting a conference by dangling access to President Trump to potential attendees (and in doing so, are encouraging purchases of his meme coin that will generate tran...

The decision closes a legal battle spanning more than a year, after Dunamu moved to overturn the sanction and halt its enforcement. A South Korean court has canceled the Financial Intelligence Unit’s (FIU) three-month partial business suspension of Dunamu, the operator of crypto exchange Upbit, according to local reports. Yonhap News Agency reported on Tuesday that the Seoul Administrative Court sided with Dunamu in its lawsuit against the FIU, overturning the sanction tied to alleged Anti-Money Laundering (AML) violations.  The court said clear rules existed for transactions above 1 million won (about $675), but found that regulations for smaller transfers were not specific enough, weakening the basis for enforcement within the case.  Read more

Empty tankers will reportedly be permitted to pass through the waterway under the US-Iran deal, but certain ships will need to pay a tariff of $1 per barrel of oil in Bitcoin. Hours after US President Donald Trump claimed that Iran and the United States had agreed to a two-week ceasefire that included opening the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian authorities are reportedly considering charging ships using the waterway in cryptocurrency. According to a Wednesday Financial Times report, a spokesperson for Iran’s Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters’ Union said empty oil tankers will be able to pass through the Strait of Hormuz without incurring charges, but certain ships will need to pay a tariff of $1 per barrel of oil in Bitcoin (BTC). The spokesperson, Hamid Hosseini, reportedly said Iranian authorities would also assess each ship using the waterway over the two-week period to ensure it wasn’t transporting weapons. Read more

The draft proposal from South Korea’s ruling party reportedly bars stablecoin interest and calls for technical standards to ensure interoperability across blockchain networks. South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party is reportedly preparing a draft bill that would classify stablecoins as foreign exchange payment instruments and require tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) to be backed by assets held in trust.  Citing an integrated draft of the proposed Digital Asset Basic Act, the Seoul Economic Daily reported on Wednesday that stablecoins used in cross-border transactions would be treated as “means of payment” under the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act, placing related businesses under oversight even without separate registration. The draft bill would also require issuers of tokenized RWAs to place underlying assets in managed trusts under the Capital Markets Act.  Read more

Argentine lenders are reportedly testing JPMorgan’s JPM Coin to improve settlement speed and efficiency, even as the central bank maintains restrictions on crypto services. Argentine banks are reportedly testing JPMorgan’s deposit token infrastructure for back-end settlement workflows, even as the country’s central bank still bars lenders from offering most crypto-related services to clients, according to local outlet iProUP. A group of financial institutions has begun piloting JPM Coin, a deposit token designed for institutional use. Banco CMF is among the confirmed participants, working through its newly launched corporate unit QORP as part of JPMorgan’s minimum viable product, per the report. “In the first phase, banks are expected to work on integrating available services to verify improvements in settlement times and interbank reconciliations of integrated banks,” Maximiliano Cohn, chief information officer of CMF, reportedly told the outlet. Read more

The $500 billion valuation would put Tether ahead of every US bank except JPMorgan Chase, surpassing Bank of America and placing it among the world’s largest financial firms. Tether is pressuring investors to commit to a fundraising round at a $500 billion valuation within the next two weeks, saying that it may delay the raise if demand falls short. The El Salvador-based firm has been seeking fresh capital since late last year but has faced resistance from investors wary of the valuation, The Information reported Friday, citing unnamed sources. If commitments fall short of expectations, the company is likely to delay the raise. The $500 billion target would place Tether among the world’s largest financial firms, exceeding every US bank except JPMorgan Chase. JPMorgan, the largest bank in the world, has a market capitalization of about $794.55 billion, while the second-largest bank in the country, Bank of America, has a market cap of $352.86 billion. Read more

The reported acquisition talks come as South Korea is considering a 20% cap on major crypto exchange shareholders, which would force major platforms to restructure ownership. South Korean brokerage Korea Investment & Securities (KIS) is reviewing a potential stake in crypto exchange Coinone, according to Korean media reports and company comments, though no deal has been finalized. Citing people familiar with the matter, the Korea Herald reported that KIS started engaging with regulators and politicians as part of a broader process tied to a potential investment in Coinone. Coinone also said no specific transaction had been decided. The news comes as South Korea considers a proposal to cap major shareholders’ stakes in domestic crypto exchanges at 20%, a move that could force ownership changes across parts of the sector if enacted. Coinone Chairman Cha Myung-hoon reportedly controls about 53.44% of the exchange, meaning a stake sale could become one way to adapt if the proposed cap advances into law. Read more

According to the company CFO, Bithumb was “strengthen[ing] accounting policies and internal controls” ahead of its IPO plans, already delayed from 2025. South Korea-based cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb is reportedly expecting its initial public offering (IPO) sometime after 2028, in another delay after restructuring and regulatory hurdles. According to a Tuesday report from Maeil Business News Korea, a Bithumb official said that it would “focus on preparing for the listing until 2027.” CFO Jeong Sang-gyun said at the company’s annual shareholder meeting that Bithumb was “strengthen[ing] accounting policies and internal controls” following an IPO advisory contract with Samjong KPMG. Shareholders reconfirmed CEO Lee Jae-won for a two-year appointment at the Tuesday meeting, but the delayed IPO timeline was the latest after Bithumb initially expected a 2025 listing. Under Lee, the exchange faced a six-month suspension and a $24 million fine from South Korean authorities for alleged anti-money-laundering violati...

Google and lenders move to finance a $5 billion Texas data center for Anthropic as a US judge blocks a federal push to restrict the AI firm’s use. Google is preparing to support a multibillion-dollar data center project in Texas leased to Anthropic as competition for AI infrastructure accelerates. The project, operated by Nexus Data Centers, could exceed $5 billion in its initial phase, with Google expected to provide construction loans, Financial Times reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. A consortium of banks is also competing to arrange financing by mid-year, per the report. According to the report, Anthropic recently signed a lease for the 2,800-acre campus, which forms part of its broader infrastructure tie-up with Google. Construction is already underway, supported by early-stage debt financing from Eagle Point, a publicly traded closed-end investment company. Read more

US authorities launched the “Operation Red Sunset” probe into Bitmain last year over potential espionage and grid risks. Senator Elizabeth Warren has reportedly asked the US Commerce Department to explain how it is handling potential national security risks tied to Chinese crypto mining giant Bitmain, following previous reports that the firm has been under federal scrutiny. In a letter sent Thursday to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Warren requested documents and communications related to Bitmain, which manufactures a large share of the world’s Bitcoin mining equipment, Bloomberg reported on Friday. In November last year, it was reported that US authorities had launched an investigation into Bitmain over potential national security risks. The probe, known as “Operation Red Sunset” and led by the US Department of Homeland Security, aimed to examine whether Bitmain’s ASIC machines could be remotely accessed for espionage or used to disrupt the US power grid. Read more

Brent crude oil, the global benchmark stands at about $107 per barrel at the time of writing. Onchain perpetual futures linked to real-world commodities like precious metals and oil have surged in trading volume, signaling an investor rotation from altcoins to commodity-linked digital assets, according to a report published Thursday by digital asset bank Sygnum. Trading volume for oil and precious metals perpetual futures markets on the Hyperliquid decentralized exchange (DEX) accounts for over 67% of HIP-3 contracts in Q1 2026, also known as “Builder-Deployed Perpetuals,” on the Hyperliquid platform, according to the report. Previously, indexes accounted for about 90% of HIP-3 trading activity, but this has fallen to about 17%, according to Sygnum. Read more

The SEC’s handling of cases involving Justin Sun and Elon Musk was among the factors that caused the agency’s top enforcement official to quit, according to sources. Update (March 25, 12:18 am UTC): This article has been updated to add a response from the SEC. The US Securities and Exchange Commission's former top enforcement official reportedly clashed with the regulator’s top brass before resigning last week, with part of the reason being how the agency handled cases involving those close to US President Donald Trump. Margaret Ryan, the ex-director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement, wanted to pursue fraud and other charges in cases involving those in Trump’s orbit, but was resisted by SEC Chair Paul Atkins and other Republican political appointees, Reuters reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. Read more

Bithumb was reportedly given a six-month partial suspension by South Korea’s Financial Intelligence Unit for alleged anti-money laundering failures. Bithumb, South Korea’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, is reportedly seeking to reappoint CEO Lee Jae-won despite recent alleged anti-money laundering failures and other controversies, according to the Korea Times. The exchange will convene its regular shareholders’ meeting on March 31, and a proposal to keep Lee in the top job will be put to shareholders, the Korea Times reported on Sunday, citing industry sources. His current term expires at the end of the month, and a successful renewal would keep Lee as the exchange’s CEO for another two years. Cointelegraph has contacted Bithumb for comment. Read more

UK Finance said that tokenized deposits could play a “vital role” in a future multi-money system alongside other digital assets. Banks are exploring tokenized deposits as they test ways to move commercial bank money onto blockchain-based payment and settlement infrastructure, according to a new report from real-world asset data platform RWA.io The report, which was authored by RWA.io with contributions from industry participants including UK Finance, Citi, BNY, JPMorgan’s Kinexys, Standard Chartered, ABN Amro and Digital Asset, argues that tokenized deposits are emerging alongside stablecoins and central bank digital currencies as part of a broader onchain cash stack. Tokenized deposits are digital representations of traditional bank deposits on blockchain or other distributed ledger infrastructure. Unlike many stablecoins, they are direct liabilities of the issuing bank and sit within existing banking frameworks, including deposit insurance, capital requirements, and Anti-Money Laundering and Know Your Custo...

Indian crypto exchange CoinDCX says the fraud complaint is part of a wider impersonation scam, citing more than 1,200 fake sites using its brand. Indian crypto exchange CoinDCX co-founders Sumit Gupta and Neeraj Khandelwal have reportedly been arrested in India following a police complaint alleging their involvement in a crypto investment fraud. The Economic Times reported Saturday that the pair were arrested by the Thane Police on allegations of criminal breach of trust, citing local officials. Other local media, including Entrackr, reported that the founders had been called for questioning rather than arrested. The case reportedly centers on a website that allegedly posed as the CoinDCX platform and stemmed from a first information report (FIR) filed by a 42-year-old insurance consultant who claimed to have lost about 71 lakh Indian rupees (roughly $75,000) after being lured to invest via the fake site, according to an earlier report by the Times of India. Read more