[News Brief] Jul 26, morning | U.S. authorities seize more than $25 million in crypto tied to international fraud ring

U.S. authorities seize more than $25 million in crypto tied to international fraud ring

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the U.S. Secret Service Washington Field Office announced on July 21 that they had seized more than $25 million in cryptocurrency through a Cyber Fraud Task Force investigation.

Prosecutors filed five civil forfeiture complaints to seek forfeiture of the recovered crypto assets. The assets were identified as being linked to an international fraud ring that targeted residents in the United States and Canada.

The largest case involved a romance scam that affected more than 200 victims, with losses totaling about $12.1 million. Another case involved a suspicious wallet network flagged to the Secret Service by Canadian authorities, totaling about $10.4 million.

Investigators tracked more than 270 suspected victim transactions connected to fake investment platforms. Those two cases accounted for about 85% of the total assets subject to forfeiture.

The remaining cases involved restricted withdrawals, fake investment accounts, and tracing fraud proceeds. Authorities said many of the main money laundering suspects are located in Southeast Asia and identified internet addresses linked to China, Malaysia, and Cambodia.

Uniswap introduces v4-based “permissioned pools” for trading tokenized securities

According to Wu Blockchain, Uniswap introduced v4-based “permissioned pools” on July 26.

The key feature is an on-chain allowlist verification process that enables regulated assets such as tokenized securities, funds, and stocks to be traded through an automated market maker (AMM).

Launch partners include Superstate, Securitize, and Dowgo. Existing general permissionless pools on Uniswap v4 will continue operating unchanged and are not affected by this move.

Sen. Bill Hagerty calls for passage of digital asset market structure bill

U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty urged passage of a digital asset market structure bill in connection with the Clarity Act.

According to the source, Hagerty said, “Investors need certainty, law enforcement needs rules they can enforce consistently, and markets function best when everyone knows the rules.”

His comments come as discussions continue in Congress over establishing a regulatory framework for digital assets.

Wise plans to reapply for national trust bank charter after OCC rejection

Payments company Wise plans to reapply to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for a national trust bank charter in line with the U.S. stablecoin regulatory framework under the GENIUS Act, according to Odaily.

Earlier this week, the OCC rejected Wise’s application, saying the company failed to demonstrate an effective anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CFT) compliance framework and citing other risks related to illicit financial activity.

Investment bank William Blair said the renewed application is unlikely to change Wise’s fundamental stance on payment stablecoins. The firm’s core goal, it said, remains reducing cross-border transaction costs rather than promoting a specific payment method.

1,815 BTC moved from Kraken to unknown wallet

According to Whale Alert, 1,815 BTC was transferred from Kraken to an unknown wallet.

The transaction was worth about $116.64 million, marking a large bitcoin transfer out of an exchange.

Arthur Hayes received 644.723 ETH from FalconX 8 hours ago

Odaily, citing on-chain analyst Ai Yi Mo, reported that Arthur Hayes received 644.723 ETH from FalconX eight hours ago.

The received amount matched the amount of USDC deposited three days earlier, suggesting a high likelihood that it was a purchase.

According to the analysis, Hayes has bought a total of 3,914.84 ETH through major market makers and exchanges since July 15 at an average price of $1,908.86, and is currently sitting on an unrealized loss of about $113,000.

Loss-making long-term holder bitcoin supply surpasses FTX collapse level

According to Odaily, crypto analyst Killa said on X that the amount of bitcoin supply held by long-term holders at a loss has surpassed the level seen during the FTX collapse and is approaching levels last seen in the 2018 bear market.

Killa said about 80% of the major cycle-top indicators failed to trigger during the previous bitcoin bull market, suggesting future bottom indicators may also behave differently from past cycles.

He said bitcoin’s realized price is currently around $50,000 and noted that in past cycles, the market has tested the long-term holder realized price. However, he added that this does not mean bitcoin must necessarily fall to that level.

Hyperliquid burns $5 million worth of native tokens from priority fees

According to Odaily, Hyperliquid News said on X that $5 million worth of Hyperliquid’s native tokens had been burned using priority fees.

Token burns can be interpreted as a reduction in circulating supply.

Odos operator to shut down all services on July 30, 2026

According to Odaily, the operator of DeFi aggregator Odos will shut down all services on July 30, 2026.

The Odos app will switch to read-only mode starting July 27. Users will still be able to check balances and transaction history, but will not be able to make new trades.

Odos said it has never directly held user funds, and assets in external wallets such as MetaMask, Rabby, and hardware wallets remain controlled by users through their private keys. Users who created an in-app Odos wallet through Google, Apple, or email login must export their private keys or transfer assets to a self-custody wallet before July 30.

Odos was spun out of Semiotic Labs, a contributor to The Graph, in 2022 and has routed more than $104 billion in cumulative volume across about 15 blockchain networks. Its monthly volume peaked at about $7.85 billion in December 2024 before falling to the hundreds of millions by mid-2026.

Odos said the ODOS token will continue independently of the service shutdown and that Odos DAO and the operating company are separate entities. It also warned users to be cautious of scams, saying there are no plans for new products, token migrations, token claims, or airdrops.

Polymarket traders assign 17% probability to ethereum reaching $3,000 in 2026

According to Odaily, traders on Polymarket’s ethereum price market are assigning a 17% probability that ethereum will reach $3,000 in 2026.

Polymarket’s contract on whether ethereum will hit $1,000 or $3,000 first has recorded $95,300 in trading volume. The market will settle on Dec. 31, 2026, based on Binance ETH/USDT one-minute candle data.

Another Polymarket market on ethereum’s 2026 price has reached nearly $9 million in trading volume. Traders assign an 83% probability to ethereum reaching $2,000, 56% to $2,500, 12% to $3,500, and less than 4% to $5,000.

A separate Polymarket contract tracking whether ethereum will make a new all-time high this year has recorded $2.3 million in volume. Traders assign a 6% probability of a new high by Dec. 31 and a 1% probability by Sept. 30. On related Kalshi markets, the probabilities of breaking above $3,500, $3,750, and $4,000 by year-end were 15%, 12%, and 10%, respectively.