[News Brief] Jul 17, morning | U.S. Treasury sanctions Iran-linked wallets; Tether freezes $131M in USDT

U.S. Treasury sanctions 4 Iran-linked wallets… Tether freezes $131M in USDT

The U.S. Treasury has added four cryptocurrency wallets associated with the Central Bank of Iran to its sanctions list, according to Odaily.

In response, Tether froze $131 million worth of USDT held in those wallets.

With this action, the total amount frozen across related wallets has risen to about $475 million.

Expectations rise for vote on U.S. crypto market structure bill CLARITY

On prediction market Kalshi, the odds that the CLARITY Act, a U.S. crypto regulatory bill, will be voted on before the August recess rose to around 80%.

Pete Rizzo said on X that the probability is at its highest level in recent months. The CLARITY Act aims to clarify regulatory authority and market structure for digital assets in the United States.

Key CLARITY bill language nearly complete… Senate vote possible next week

According to Odaily, Blockchain Association CEO and former CFTC commissioner Summer Mersinger said the key language of the digital asset market structure bill, the CLARITY Act, is nearly complete.

Mersinger said the Senate could vote as early as next week if lawmakers reach agreement on ethics provisions. The current sticking point is the ethics language, and the White House has reportedly held meetings with some Republican senators on the matter.

Earlier, three Senate Democrats said they would not support the crypto market structure bill without clear ethics provisions. They raised concerns about President Trump’s digital asset financial disclosures and potential corruption risks.

Because Republicans hold only a narrow majority in the Senate, some Democratic support is needed for the bill to pass.

UK moves to ease tax treatment for crypto lending and liquidity pool transactions

According to Odaily, the UK tax authority will apply “no gain, no loss” treatment to certain crypto lending and automated market maker liquidity pool transactions starting April 6, 2027.

As a result, capital gains tax will generally be deferred until users make an actual economic disposal of the underlying crypto assets.

The measure will apply to individuals and trustees, and the UK plans to amend the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 accordingly.

Under the current regime, capital gains tax may arise when crypto assets are sold, exchanged, or used. The rate is 18% for basic-rate taxpayers and 24% for higher-rate taxpayers.

HMRC said the policy goal is for gains and losses to be recognized when participants actually dispose of their crypto assets.

The change is expected to affect about 700,000 people who use crypto lending or liquidity pools.

Bybit launches local platform in Indonesia

Bybit has launched a local platform in Indonesia after acquiring a majority stake in digital asset firm PT Enkripsi Teknologi Handal, according to Odaily.

The company has rebranded from Novi to Bybit Indonesia. Bybit plans to expand services gradually, initially offering 500 cryptocurrency trading pairs.

Lawrence Samantha will serve as CEO of Bybit Indonesia, while Dionysius Evan will serve as COO. Both are former Novi executives.

According to Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority, the number of registered local crypto users stood at 21.07 million as of February 2026. Crypto transaction volume in 2025 totaled $26.85 billion, and 31 crypto-related entities had received licenses as of April.

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs see $79.15M in net inflows… Ether ETFs post net outflows

Wu Blockchain, citing SoSoValue data, reported that U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded total net inflows of $79.15 million on July 16.

BlackRock’s IBIT led with net inflows of $33.44 million.

Meanwhile, U.S. spot Ether ETFs recorded total net outflows of $28.04 million on the same day. However, Bitwise’s ETHW saw $2.28 million in inflows, the largest net inflow among individual products.

Circle partners with Argentina’s BIND Group to provide USDC liquidity to businesses

Circle has entered into a strategic partnership with Argentina’s financial services group BIND Group to provide local businesses with access to USDC liquidity.

According to Odaily, the partnership will be carried out through BEN, a licensed virtual asset service provider under BIND, and will be used for payments, treasury management, and digital asset transfers.

BIND Group is a financial services group with more than $2 billion in total assets. Its core banking entity, BIND Banco Industrial, provides services to institutional and corporate clients.

Andres Meta, vice president of BIND, said expanding institutional access to USDC is an important step forward for Argentina’s digital asset ecosystem. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said Argentina is becoming a more attractive destination for foreign investment.

Argentina is one of the Latin American markets where USDC adoption is approaching that of USDT. According to Tether-backed Ubita, USDC trading volume among Argentine users accounted for 46% of total local stablecoin trading volume.

Fed’s Logan signals need for higher interest rates

Federal Reserve official Logan indicated that interest rates may need to rise in response to elevated inflation.

According to Odaily, Logan said June CPI data suggested a slowdown in price increases, but it was not enough to confirm that inflation is back on track toward the Fed’s 2% target.

Logan said the inflation outlook has improved somewhat but remains fragile, and that a modest rate increase could help balance the outlook and risks.

All three major U.S. stock indexes close lower… Coinbase and Robinhood weaken

All three major U.S. stock indexes closed lower. Most crypto-related stocks also fell, with Coinbase and Robinhood posting notable declines.

According to Bybit market data, the Dow fell 0.20%, the Nasdaq dropped 1.62%, and the S&P 500 declined 0.50%. Coinbase fell 4.04%, while Robinhood dropped 8.27%.

Enso reveals malicious liquidity pool attack targeting wallets and DEX aggregators

DeFi infrastructure firm Enso has disclosed a malicious liquidity pool attack that returns fake best quotes to wallets and DEX aggregators. In manipulated Curve pools, exaggerated quotes totaling about $225,000 were generated.

According to Odaily, Enso said in a report on the 16th that these so-called “toxic pools” manipulate trade simulations to appear as the best price, only to execute at unfavorable prices on-chain or cause transaction failures.

Enso said one manipulated Curve pool processed more than 129,000 swaps and generated about $225,000 in falsely inflated quotes. It also caused more than 37,000 transactions to revert, consuming about $30,000 in gas fees in the process.

On Polygon, Enso also identified a malicious Uniswap v4 hook that lured routing systems with fake exchange rates and caused a 99.1% transaction failure rate. Enso said it has updated its execution protection product, Enso Shield, to detect false quotes on Ethereum and Polygon.