Bitrace’s crypto crime report for the first half of 2026 said more than $174.9 billion in stablecoins flowed to high-risk addresses tied to six areas: online gambling, money laundering, gray and black market trading, fraud, sanctions and freezes. The report said the figures exclude HTX-related hot wallets and user addresses from sanctions statistics because of what it described as overly aggressive sanctions activity by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, or FCDO, while activity linked to Huione Group and Xinbi Group remained classified under gray and black market trading to avoid double counting. The report also highlighted several major developments across the period. Potato Guarantee shut down its public-group business in January, with demand shifting quickly to Xinbi Guarantee. The UK sanctioned Xinbi Guarantee on March 26 and HUOBI GLOBAL S.A., the entity behind HTX, on May 26. Bitrace also pointed to two major hacks that it said were tied to state-backed actors: the $285 million Drift Protocol attack on April 1 and the roughly $292 million KelpDAO LayerZero bridge theft on April 18. Together, those incidents accounted for about 60% of all security losses in the first half. Across specific categories, Bitrace said gambling-linked addresses received more than 57.4 billion USDT, laundering-linked addresses handled more than 20 billion USDT, gray and black market trading addresses took in more than 77.3 billion USDT, and fraud-linked addresses received more than 16 billion USDT. It also said Tether and Circle recorded 3,192 freeze events in the period, affecting 2,576 unique blockchain addresses and freezing more than $1.5 billion in stablecoins.

BitoGroup said it has launched the pilot phase of Bito.ONE, an enterprise-grade stablecoin settlement solution, with O-Bank selecting the company to build an institutional stablecoin settlement service. The two sides have also introduced a corporate cross-border stablecoin collection service and moved into the validation and implementation stage. According to the announcement, the pilot covers a collaboration model between a virtual asset service provider and a bank, including corporate collections, transaction verification, stablecoin-to-fiat exchange, and settlement. Companies will be able to receive and send USDT and USDC through an existing corporate online banking portal, without building their own wallets or handling private keys. BitoGroup said Bito.ONE includes stablecoin payment functions, wallet and on-chain transaction management, AML and CFT controls, on-chain fund flow analysis, sanctions screening, transaction monitoring, and fiat settlement. The company added that it launched its Bito.Enterprise brand this year after Taiwan’s virtual asset special act passed its third reading, and said it plans to continue expanding cooperation with financial institutions and corporate users.

JPMorgan said Apple’s 2026 fall launch largely matched expectations, but the bigger story was how the company structured pricing rather than the headline increase alone. The bank noted that iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max each rose by $100 at entry level, while steeper increases were concentrated in 1TB and 2TB models, a move that could lift blended average selling prices by more than $100. It also pointed to Apple’s tools for limiting consumer sticker shock: the Apple Upgrade program backed by Klarna, carrier subsidies of up to $1,200 from AT&T and T-Mobile for iPhone 14 and newer devices, and official trade-in credits of up to $885. In JPMorgan’s view, those options could leave monthly out-of-pocket spending for upgraders roughly unchanged from last year. The bank also highlighted Apple’s first foldable, the iPhone Duo, which starts at $1,999, just $100 above Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold8, as well as new AI-focused features on Apple Watch and lower AirPods pricing. JPMorgan kept its Overweight rating on Apple and said early pre-order data and supply-chain orders are likely to be the next key signals for the stock.

India’s Financial Intelligence Unit, FIU-IND, has issued compliance notices to 15 offshore crypto platforms, alleging they continued to serve Indian users without registering under the country’s anti-money laundering framework. The list includes Weex, Blofin, Rezorex, Bitunix, DigiFinex, Toobit, XT.com, Latoken, WOO X, Pionex, ChangeNow, SimpleSwap, Fixedfloat, WhiteBIT and Guardarian. According to the notice, India’s rules apply to any crypto platform serving users in the country, even if the company has no physical office there. The move marks FIU-IND’s second major enforcement wave after action in 2023 against nine larger offshore exchanges including Binance, Kraken and KuCoin. India had brought crypto platforms under the same AML regime as banks in March 2023, requiring registration, know-your-customer checks, recordkeeping and suspicious transaction reporting. Days before the latest action, The Economic Times reported that Indian users were converting stablecoins such as USDT into gift cards through platforms in Sweden, Germany and Singapore, then using them back in India for groceries, fuel and gold. FIU-IND also warned the public that crypto products and NFTs are currently unregulated and that losses tied to such platforms may have no regulatory remedy.

The Bank of Italy has issued a notice requiring payment service providers and crypto-asset service providers to keep using procedures linked to the Travel Rule to review financial transactions, with no minimum amount threshold allowed. Under the notice, affected firms must verify the names of originators and beneficiaries when establishing a customer relationship, when the Council of the European Union makes a decision, and at the time each transaction is carried out. They must also compare those names against sanctions lists covering individuals and companies. The notice also states that automated systems must not apply any minimum transaction threshold that would limit the scope of reviews. Where needed, transfer delays may be accepted to strengthen sanctions screening. The report was cited by Bitcoin.com News.

The Bank of Italy has issued a notice requiring payment service providers and crypto-asset service providers to keep using travel rule-related procedures to review financial transactions, with no minimum amount threshold allowed. The notice says firms must verify the names of both the originator and the beneficiary when establishing a customer relationship, when the Council of the European Union makes a decision, and at the time each transaction is carried out. Those names must also be checked against sanctions lists covering individuals and companies. The central bank added that automated systems must not apply minimum thresholds that would limit transaction screening, and that transfer delays may be accepted when needed to strengthen sanctions checks.

Apple’s Sept. 9 launch event introduced its first foldable phone, the iPhone Duo, alongside the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, Apple Watch Series 12 and AirPods 5. Even with a new hardware category on stage, BiyaPay data showed AAPL closed at $315.34, down 0.28% on the day. The muted stock reaction pointed to a gap between product excitement and what investors still want to see. The market focus has shifted beyond whether Apple can launch something new. Attention is now on whether the foldable form factor can open a fresh replacement cycle, whether Apple Intelligence and Siri AI can become real user behavior rather than keynote language, and whether Tens can build investor confidence in a more product-led Apple after succeeding Tim Cook. Apple said the iPhone Duo features a 7.6-inch inner display, a 5.4-inch outer screen, an A20 Pro chip and multitasking support, with pricing starting at $1,999. Preorders begin on Oct. 16 and sales start on Oct. 23. The company also said Siri AI will launch in beta with iOS 27, with a focus on personal context, on-screen awareness, cross-app actions, privacy and on-device processing. For investors, the next test now moves to preorder numbers, launch demand, supply-chain output and future earnings results.

Tether carried out a large-scale freeze targeting Telegram-based cryptocurrency guarantee platforms on Sept. 8, according to an address analysis published by blockchain security firm Beosin. The firm said 19 frozen addresses were linked to Xinbi Guarantee and held about $43.437 million, while another 31 merchant addresses tied to the same platform accounted for more than $9 million. Beosin also traced the largest frozen address, identifying it as a Xinbi deposit address with roughly 10.78 million USDT frozen. The address had received nearly $143 million and transferred $132 million, and Tether also froze addresses up to five hops downstream in that flow. Another major payout address had processed about $920 million, with around $205 million sent to merchants related to Xinbi Guarantee and $26.61 million sent to merchants linked to Tudou Guarantee. The report places the freeze in the context of shifting guarantee-platform activity in Southeast Asia, where Beosin says enforcement pressure pushed business from Huione Guarantee to Tudou Guarantee and later toward Xinbi Guarantee. The firm added that Xinbi has now shifted to USDD, which it described as a stablecoin that cannot be frozen.