Drift Protocol lost $286M in a hack; investors sue Circle for not freezing USDC despite capability. Circle CEO says court order needed; Drift switches to USDT.
China’s top court said it will study adjudication standards for virtual currency and cross-border finance disputes, while mainland regulators keep widening restrictions on stablecoins, tokenized assets, and crypto investment activity. Hong Kong is moving ahead with new licensing frameworks.
A fresh dispute over ethics provisions has added uncertainty to the U.S. Senate’s push to advance crypto market structure legislation. On July 22, seven Democratic senators issued a joint statement saying the Republican version of the CLARITY Act still falls short in several areas, including ethics rules for elected officials, consumer protection, safeguards against illicit finance, conflict-of-interest provisions, and broader market integrity protections. The statement came as the bill was widely seen as nearing completion. Earlier in the week, Treasury Secretary Bessent had said the legislation had reached its final stage. But because the measure needs 60 votes in the Senate, Republicans will need support from roughly 10 Democrats, making bipartisan negotiations central to the bill’s path forward. Senator Cynthia Lummis, one of the lead negotiators, said ethics provisions and parts of the illicit finance language would continue to be discussed over the weekend. A central sticking point is whether state attorneys general should be allowed to bring criminal or civil actions against people covered by the ethics rules. With the Senate set to begin its summer recess on August 7, lawmakers have less than two weeks left if they want to bring the bill to a vote before the break.
The CFTC has filed a civil case against Vernon, alleging he raised money from at least 60 investors, hid more than $8.6 million in losses, and used about $3 million to pay existing investors.
U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres handed Miles Guo 30 years in prison and ordered $889 million forfeiture over a $1 billion fraud involving Himalaya Exchange and H Coin. SEC also filed civil charges. China separately prosecuted 1,200 people for crypto-related money laundering.
Ohio investment manager Rathnakishore Giri was sentenced to nine years in prison after U.S. prosecutors said his Bitcoin derivatives Ponzi scheme raised more than $10 million from investors.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has sued Wisconsin to halt state enforcement actions against federally regulated prediction markets, arguing such contracts are derivatives under exclusive federal jurisdiction.
Annie Altman has filed an amended civil complaint in federal court, accusing Sam Altman of long-term sexual abuse between 1997 and 2006. A judge said standalone assault claims were time-barred but allowed the case to proceed under Missouri’s child sexual abuse law.
