The dual life of stablecoins: A lifeline for citizens and a tool for sanctioned entities involved in Venezuela and Iran's economic crises. Recent turmoil in Venezuela and Iran has again put the spotlight on the duality of stablecoins, with the US dollar-backed assets such as Tether acting as both a savior for embattled citizens and a tool for blacklisted entities to evade sanctions. Both Venezuela and Iran have been catching headlines at the beginning of 2026 amid political uncertainty and civil unrest. With both facing a host of sanctions, inflation, political instability, and a cost-of-living crisis, crypto and stablecoins have become an important part of the ecosystem. Iran has seen protests erupt across the country over the past two weeks in response to worsening economic conditions and the Iranian rial tanking to record lows against the US dollar. Read more
Smart Cashtags will enable users to track real-time price movements of crypto tokens and stocks, building on X’s long-term vision to become an Everything App. Elon Musk’s social media platform is building a “Smart Cashtags” feature for release next month, giving users access to real-time price movements of cryptocurrencies and stocks. One of the concept screenshots has also teased a highly-anticipated in-app trading feature. In a post to X on Sunday, head of product Nikita Bier said users would be able to access smart contract information linked to crypto tokens, while all assets would have “mentions” showing recent discussion about the asset and news related to the companies and teams behind them. Read more
The Ethereum ecosystem continues to see increased development and value locked in tokenized assets, according to market analyst Michaël van de Poppe. The price of Ether (ETH), the native cryptocurrency of the Ethereum layer-1 blockchain network, bottomed out in April 2025, and its price action mirrors the 2019 cycle, according to market analyst Michaël Van De Poppe. A surge in stablecoins, tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), which are traditional or physical assets represented as tokens on a blockchain, and developer activity on the Ethereum network are reasons to be bullish on Ethereum’s price, Van De Poppe said. “The stablecoin supply on Ethereum has seen an increase of more than 65% in 2025. It's doubled since the peak in 2021,” he wrote in a Sunday X post. Read more
Tax and other regulatory agencies in India claim that cryptocurrencies and permissionless blockchain tech undermine tax collection. India’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), a regulatory agency that sets anti-money laundering and know-your-customer regulations, issued new guidelines tightening rules for onboarding users to crypto platforms. The new rules force regulated crypto exchanges to verify users through live selfie pictures and geographic location verification, according to The Times of India. The live selfie pictures are verified with software that tracks users' eye and head movements to prevent AI deep fakes from being used to bypass the know-your-customer (KYC) verification process. Read more
BitMine Immersion Technologies is the largest Ethereum treasury company by holdings, with over 4 million ETH in its corporate treasury. Crypto treasury company BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) staked an additional 86,400 Ether (ETH) on Saturday, valued at about $268.7 million at the time of this writing, crossing the 1 million staked ETH milestone. The 86,400 ETH was staked in four separate transactions, according to data from crypto market analytics platform Arkham Intelligence; this brings BitMine’s total to 1,080,512 staked ETH, onchain analysis platform Lookonchain said. Staking is the process of pledging or locking up crypto tokens by validators or third-party staking service providers to secure proof-of-stake blockchain networks. Read more
History shows XMR has repeatedly failed near record highs, risking another sharp pullback unless it decisively breaks above $500–$520. Key takeaways: Monero jumped above $500 as traders favored it over Zcash amid governance turmoil. History suggests XMR risks a sharp pullback unless it firmly breaks above $500–$520. Read more