Top developments
PANews’ daily roundup highlighted a broad set of crypto and tech stories, with U.S. spot ETF flows and a new trading-related feature on X at the top of the list. On Sept. 21 Eastern Time, spot Bitcoin ETFs posted $999 million in net inflows, marking a third straight day of positive flows. Spot Ether ETFs added another $270 million on the same day. X, meanwhile, introduced live quote displays for stocks and cryptocurrencies, along with a “Trade” button that links users to Coinbase, Gemini, Kraken, Moomoo and Interactive Brokers.
The roundup also pointed to a Bloomberg report saying the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether Binance may have violated sanctions on Iran, a new governance participation incentive proposal vote launched by World Liberty Financial, xAI’s release of Grok 4.7, and updated revenue estimates showing Bittensor has entered what the report called a “revenue era.”
Regulation and macro
Bloomberg: DOJ is investigating whether Binance violated Iran sanctions
According to Bloomberg, people familiar with the matter said U.S. federal prosecutors are investigating whether Binance Holdings Ltd. violated U.S. sanctions on Iran by failing to block certain transactions on its platform. The probe is being handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan, with participation from the Justice Department’s criminal division. Authorities are examining whether Binance knowingly allowed the transactions to proceed.
ECB launches Pontes DLT settlement platform
According to an official announcement from the European Central Bank, the Eurosystem’s tokenized asset settlement infrastructure, Pontes, has gone live. The platform supports wholesale settlement of tokenized asset transactions in central bank money and uses distributed ledger technology to integrate issuance, trading, settlement and custody, while also supporting smart contract automation.
The first group of participants includes 13 banks such as Deutsche Bank, Santander, Societe Generale and the European Investment Bank, along with four DLT operators including Clearstream. Full buildout is targeted for 2028.
Google fined €403 million over location data rules
Ireland’s Data Protection Commission fined Google, part of Alphabet, €403 million, or about $463 million, after finding that the company’s handling of location data through Web & App Activity, Location History and Location Accuracy violated the GDPR. The regulator also ordered Google to bring its practices into compliance within six months.
The penalty is the DPC’s fourth-largest fine since the GDPR took effect. In 2023, the same regulator fined Meta €1.2 billion.
California woman sentenced over unreported crypto crime income
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, 37-year-old Iris Rabaya Au was sentenced to 18 months in prison for willfully failing to report more than $2.6 million in illegal income to the Internal Revenue Service.
Authorities said Au was the former girlfriend of crypto fraudster Adam Iza. At Iza’s direction, she set up shell companies, moved illicit funds used for nearly $10 million in spending, and helped acquire about $16 million in cryptocurrency for him. Between 2020 and 2023, she transferred more than $2.6 million into personal accounts without reporting it. The court ordered her to pay about $1.48 million in restitution and forfeit assets including luxury sports cars. Au pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return in March 2025. Iza has also pleaded guilty and is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 5. He is currently serving a 15-year sentence in a separate attempted Bitcoin robbery and kidnapping case.
Fairshake plans $30 million effort against Sherrod Brown campaign
PANews said crypto super PAC Fairshake is preparing to spend $30 million to block former Senator Sherrod Brown from running.
Project and platform updates
Binance to list MOONSHOTUSDT U-margined Pre-IPO perpetual contract
According to an official announcement, Binance Futures will list the MOONSHOTUSDT U-margined Pre-IPO perpetual contract at 16:30 Beijing time on Sept. 22.
Binance to adjust leverage and margin tiers for multiple U-margined perpetuals on Sept. 25
Binance said it will adjust leverage and margin tiers for COOKIEUSDT, TLMUSDT, EPICUSDT, RAVEUSDT, DODOXUSDT, MOVEUSDT, SOPHUSDT, AVAUSDT, AWEUSDT, ARKUSDT, B2USDT, UAIUSDT, VELODROMEUSDT, BLURUSDT, MOVRUSDT and LSKUSDT U-margined perpetual contracts at 14:30 Beijing time on Sept. 25.
The update is expected to be completed within one hour. Existing positions opened before the change will be affected, and users were advised to make adjustments in advance.
Binance to delist several USDC spot pairs
Binance said it will remove and halt trading for AIXBT/USDC, DOLO/USDC, ENJ/USDC, HUMA/USDC, SXT/USDC, TNSR/USDC and TURTLE/USDC spot pairs at 11:00 Beijing time on Sept. 25. Related trading bot services will also be removed. The exchange said the change will not affect trading for the same tokens in other available pairs on Binance.
Coinbase and League of Legends team up for “Mundo Dodgeball” event
Coinbase said it is partnering with LOL, or League of Legends, to host a “Mundo Dodgeball” competition, with 1 BTC going to the winner. The format is a player-created one-on-one mode in which both players choose Dr. Mundo and throw Q abilities at each other in Baron pit, with the first player hit losing the match.
Market data cited in the roundup put the value of 1 BTC at about $85,000.
X adds live stock and crypto quote displays
X has launched live quote displays for stocks and cryptocurrencies. The feature includes a “Trade” button that can send users to Coinbase, Gemini, Kraken, Moomoo and Interactive Brokers.
WLFI community opens vote on governance participation incentive plan
World Liberty Financial has opened voting on a proposal titled “Launch the WLFI Governance Participation Incentive Program,” with a target launch date before Oct. 1, 2026.
If approved, unlocked WLFI holders would be able to lock tokens for at least 180 days and would need to participate directly in at least one governance vote every 90 days to receive dynamic rewards. Delegated voting would not count. The reward pool could be funded by the WLF treasury, fees from World Liberty Markets, and other ecosystem and marketing incentives, with replenishment planned every two weeks. The proposal would replace an ecosystem proposal approved on March 12, 2026.
Trueo to move from Base to Ethereum mainnet
Decentralized prediction market Trueo said it will migrate from Ethereum’s Base network to Ethereum mainnet. Vitalik Buterin said he was glad to see Ethereum L1 gain a strong new prediction market participant, adding that the project is committed to decentralization and ethical principles and is genuinely trying to use economic primitives to explore interesting and meaningful applications.
xAI releases Grok 4.7
xAI released Grok 4.7, saying the model uses a larger base model and reinforcement learning training aimed at complex long-horizon tasks. The company said it improved coding, long-context handling and self-verification.
Grok 4.7 is now available in Cursor, Grok Build and the API. Pricing is $2 per million input tokens and $6 per million output tokens. xAI said the model shows clear gains over Grok 4.6 on coding, office work and safety benchmarks.
Coinbase launches IPO subscription feature with Oura as first deal
According to Coinbase’s official X account, eligible users can now apply for IPO allocations at the offering price through licensed broker-dealer Coinbase Capital Markets before Oura begins trading publicly.
Oura’s updated prospectus shows an IPO price range of $40 to $44 per share, with 50 million shares offered. At the midpoint, the company would be valued at about $13.5 billion. It plans to list on Nasdaq under the ticker OURA.
Deals and fundraising
Animoca Brands and Currenc Group pause reverse merger talks
According to The Block, Animoca Brands and Nasdaq-listed Currenc Group have jointly paused talks on a proposed reverse merger that was intended to take Animoca public. The plan was first announced in November 2025.
Animoca said it remains committed to relisting on a mainstream exchange. Chairman Yat Siu said “corporate flexibility” currently takes priority over the merger.
Views and analysis
glassnode says altcoin cycle signal has shifted
glassnode said the altcoin cycle signal has just turned from Bitcoin dominance to altcoin season. The firm said that during the first leg of gains in August, Bitcoin moved while altcoins stayed relatively muted, but the latest rally has spread across the altcoin market.
Xiao Feng says Ethereum does not need a renaissance
At ETHShanghai 2026, Wanxiang Holdings vice chairman Dr. Xiao Feng said Ethereum does not need a renaissance and still has an important application base as a blockchain infrastructure platform with relatively high market share. He said the foundation’s ultimate goal should be to gradually decentralize its own role until it is no longer needed.
Speaking about Hong Kong, Xiao said the city has advantages including its common law system and can explore digital asset and stablecoin practices. On the intersection of crypto and AI, he said payments for AI applications will involve tokenized digital twin currencies, while volatility in computing power prices will require financial tools for risk management. He added that CME plans to launch computing power index futures in October. AI infrastructure will require financing in the trillions or more, in his view, which means a more global capital market with 24-hour trading support is needed.
Bittensor enters what report calls a “revenue era”
Subnet Summer said the August edition of the SubConnect Bittensor Revenue Index shows Bittensor has entered a “revenue era.” At present, 24 to 25 subnets are generating commercial revenue, and that figure is expected to rise to 35 to 40 by year-end.
The report estimates annual ecosystem revenue at $28 million to $35 million, with more than $100 million projected by the end of 2026. About 14 subnets have already launched revenue-driven Alpha token buyback programs, and that number is expected to reach 20 to 25 by year-end. Commercial activity is concentrated in infrastructure, enterprise AI and applied AI. The report also said subnet maturity is increasingly being measured by customer adoption rather than benchmark scores.
Vitalik says Ethereum is exploring a recursive STARK mempool
At ETHShanghai 2026, Vitalik Buterin said in remarks around EIP-8288 that Ethereum is exploring a recursive STARK mempool mechanism to ease the tension between quantum safety, privacy and network scaling.
He said post-quantum signature verification could currently cost 100,000 to 300,000 gas, while privacy-proof transactions could consume hundreds of thousands to more than a million gas. The proposal would separate signature and proof verification from on-chain execution, allowing mempool nodes to aggregate them into a unified proof for mainnet verification. If developed further, the mechanism could reduce costs for post-quantum transactions, private transactions and Layer 2 state proofs, and could shorten Layer 2 proof submission intervals from several minutes to once per minute. The mechanism remains at the proposal, simulation and testing stage.
Musk says AI intelligence is improving exponentially
Elon Musk reposted a comment on progress in open-source large models and wrote that “intelligence is improving exponentially.” The post he commented on said open-source models including GLM 5.3 Flash, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, Qwen 3.8 Next Flash and Qwen 3.8 27B have, on the whole, surpassed mainstream models that were regarded as “frontier intelligence” by the end of 2025.
OpenAI and Anthropic were once close to a cross-testing pact
According to The Information, OpenAI and Anthropic previously discussed signing a legally binding agreement under which each side would stress-test the other’s AI models to identify potential safety risks. The talks took place before a recent series of cybersecurity incidents and warnings from industry figures about AI risks. No agreement has been reached.
Key data and on-chain activity
14-year-dormant wallet moves all 600 BTC
Lookonchain said a Bitcoin wallet dormant for more than 14 years moved all 600 BTC it held, worth about $51.28 million at current prices.
When the wallet received the coins 14 years ago, they were worth only $4,800, with Bitcoin trading at about $8. Based on current pricing, the unrealized profit on the position reached about $51.28 million, representing a 10,683x return.
USDe briefly depegs to $0.9202 on Binance, then recovers
Binance market data showed Ethena’s synthetic dollar USDe briefly lost its peg on the exchange, with the USDe/USDT pair falling as low as $0.9202. It has since recovered, and was quoted at $0.9997 at the time cited in the roundup.
Spot Ether ETFs record $270 million in daily net inflows
According to SoSoValue, U.S. spot Ether ETFs recorded $270 million in total net inflows on Sept. 21 Eastern Time. BlackRock’s ETHA led with $110 million in net inflows and has now accumulated $13.067 billion historically. Fidelity’s FETH added $72.958 million, bringing its historical cumulative net inflows to $2.320 billion.
As of publication, total net assets for spot Ether ETFs stood at $17.817 billion, with a net asset ratio of 5.24% and cumulative historical net inflows of $13.520 billion.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs bring in $999 million, extending inflow streak to three days
According to SoSoValue, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs posted $999 million in total net inflows on Sept. 21 Eastern Time, marking a third consecutive day of inflows. BlackRock’s IBIT led with $381 million and has now accumulated $64.506 billion in historical net inflows. ARKB from Ark Invest and 21Shares added $289 million, bringing its historical total to $1.370 billion.
As of publication, total net assets for spot Bitcoin ETFs stood at $110.135 billion, with a net asset ratio of 6.3% and cumulative historical net inflows of $56.160 billion.
Crypto-linked U.S. stocks fall in premarket trading
Binance market data showed broad weakness in crypto-related U.S. equities before the open. Circle (CRCL) fell 2.82%, Strategy (MSTR) dropped 3.07%, Robinhood Markets (HOOD) lost 2.17%, Coinbase Global (COIN) declined 2.56%, and BitMine (BMNR) slipped 2.06%.
Bitmine buys 12,500 ETH
PANews said Bitmine bought 12,500 ETH worth about $34.55 million.
Machi account jumps from $800,000 to $10 million overnight
PANews said the Machi account rose from $800,000 to $10 million overnight as market conditions improved, with floating profit now above $5.142 million.
Trader liquidated four times in 14 hours
PANews said one trader was liquidated four times in 14 hours, with 375.8 BTC in short positions wiped out.
Address that made $3.666 million on ETH adds another $19.97 million
According to Ai Yi monitoring, a “smart money” address that made $3.666 million by buying low and selling high in ETH in August added another $19.97 million position. Address 0x4ce…ee4a7 withdrew 7,216 ETH from Binance an hour earlier and has accumulated 14,783 ETH since yesterday, worth $39.90 million in total. The average withdrawal price was $2,699.44, and the position was showing a floating profit of $720,000.
“Garrett Jin whale entity” opens 500 BTC short at $85,994
According to Ember monitoring, the “Garrett Jin whale entity” closed a $112 million BTC long yesterday at $84,455, locking in $8.38 million in profit, then reversed direction in early trading and opened a 500 BTC short at $85,994, worth about $43.31 million.
Ethereum ICO whale buys back 8,630.6 ETH
According to Ember monitoring, an OG whale that participated in Ethereum’s 2015 ICO sold 11,552 ETH six months ago at $2,027 and bought back 8,630.6 ETH early today at $2,749.
BitMine adds 27,562 ETH over the past week
BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) said its ETH holdings have reached 5.98394 million ETH, equal to 4.9% of Ethereum’s total supply. The company added 27,562 ETH over the past week. Including 212 BTC and cash, its total crypto and cash holdings now stand at $17.1 billion.
Chairman Tom Lee said the company is now 98% of the way toward its goal of holding 5% of Ethereum’s supply.