WuBlockchain’s daily crypto news selection covered five items spanning U.S. macro data, DeFi commentary, a criminal fraud ruling, a crypto investment probe in Guinea, and a lawsuit over paid access to government-related posts on Truth Social.
U.S. jobless claims hit 209,000; July PPI slows to 4.7%
Initial jobless claims in the United States for the week ended Aug. 8 came in at 209,000, above the 202,000 consensus estimate and the highest level since the week of July 11. The previous reading was revised to 200,000 from 199,000.
In the same update, U.S. July producer price index inflation was reported at 4.7% year over year, the lowest since March. The figure was below the 4.9% expectation and the prior 5.50% reading.
Andre Cronje says DeFi has turned into “onchain finance”
Andre Cronje, founder of Flying Tulip and a core developer at Fantom, said in a recent program that the vast majority of decentralized finance protocols are no longer truly decentralized.
Cronje said “real DeFi” must be decentralized, immutable, and free of intermediaries, and argued that most live protocols no longer fit that definition.
He said the addition of traditional banking-style structures such as circuit breakers, emergency controls, decision-makers, curators, and risk committees has pushed the sector toward a new financial model he described as “onchain finance” or open finance, with part of DeFi’s original immutability and decentralization given up in the process.
Data from DefiLlama showed DeFi total value locked, or TVL, has been cut in half over the past 10 months, falling from $167 billion in early October 2025 to $75 billion.
Guizhou court sentences defendant in crypto airdrop fraud case
A court in Pingba district, Anshun, Guizhou, recently heard and ruled on a fraud case that used a virtual currency “airdrop project” as cover. The defendant, surnamed Zhao, was sentenced to seven months in prison.
According to the case summary, Zhao lured the victim, surnamed Zhang, who had already suffered heavy investment losses, by promising capital protection and high returns. Zhao persuaded Zhang to put the remaining funds in an account into an “airdrop project” on an app, promising a return of 100 to 200 USDT-equivalent coins within two days and falsely claiming the money would be transferred to a “public chain.”
Zhang then exchanged $1,757 for Ether and completed the transfer through a wallet link provided by Zhao. The link actually led to a personal account Zhao had registered using his girlfriend’s identity. After repeated but unsuccessful attempts to recover the funds, Zhang reported the matter to police.
The court said Zhao had concealed the truth to fraudulently obtain another person’s property and that the amount involved was relatively large, constituting fraud. Because Zhao confessed truthfully after being taken into custody, made full restitution, and voluntarily admitted guilt and accepted punishment, the court imposed a seven-month prison sentence and a fine of 5,000 yuan.
Hundreds in Guinea caught in alleged crypto Ponzi scheme
Hundreds of people in Guinea were recently drawn into crypto asset platforms by promises of high returns, investing amounts ranging from several hundred euros to several thousand euros, and later found themselves unable to withdraw funds.
Guinea’s central bank said in a public notice that virtual currencies do not have legal tender status locally and are not guaranteed. It said such schemes are Ponzi schemes in nature. One platform named in the case, McGivern, shut down on Aug. 10.
The central bank has instructed digital payment systems including Orange Money to block and flag related transaction accounts. Judicial authorities have also opened an investigation to identify and pursue those responsible and to help victims recover part of their losses.
Trump sued over paid priority access through Truth API
The Intercept Media and the nonprofit Freedom of the Press Foundation have sued U.S. President Donald Trump, asking a court to stop Trump Media from giving paying customers faster access to his Truth Social posts through Truth API.
The service is priced at $60,000 to $100,000 per month. The plaintiffs argue that government information publicly released by the president should not be made available on a priority basis to paying users.
The suit also asks the court to declare it unconstitutional to publish government information exclusively through Truth Social and to bar the Trump administration from continuing to release such information in that way.