“Dancing With the Stars” Season 34 set a high bar — and the Season 35 cast is delivering.
On Wednesday morning, the celebrity and pro partners were revealed for the Emmy-nominated reality competition, including multiple reality breakout stars, athletes and actors.
It also includes Jenna Dewan and Harry Shum Jr., both of whom have extensive dance backgrounds; Dewan began her career as a backup dancer for Janet Jackson, has hosted “World of Dance” and “Flirty Dancing,” and served as a judge on “Come Dance with Me.” Shum Jr. has performed as a backup dancer for Beyoncé, Alicia Keys, Jennifer Lopez and Mariah Carey.
On the pro side, last year’s winner, Witney Carson, will return — and dance while pregnant — with Guillermo Rodriguez. This season marks a big return for another pro dancer, Sharna Burgess, who will re-join the cast for the first time since 2011. She competed for 14 seasons total and won once. This season, she’s partnered with Tyler Cameron. Additionally, “Dancing With the Stars: The Next Pro” winner Adele Zaikman joins the cast and will dance with Conner Leavitt.
New to the pros this year is Hailey Bills, who was a troupe member last year. She will be half of the second-ever same-sex partnership, dancing with Sarah Jane Nader.
All the pairings were announced on “Good Morning America” on September 2. See the full list of the pairings below. The new season of “Dancing with the Stars” kicks off with a live two-night premiere on Tuesday, Sept. 16, and Wednesday, Sept. 16 on ABC and Disney+.
Maura Higgins
Image Credit: Christopher Polk
Maura Higgins is partnered with Mark Ballas.
Jackson Olson
Image Credit: Getty Images
Jackson Olson is partnered with Emma Slater.
Julia Stiles
Image Credit: Kristina Bumphrey
Julia Stiles will dance with Ezra Sosa.
Ciara Miller
Image Credit: Variety via Getty Images
Ciara Miller will dance with Brandon Armstrong.
Conner Leavitt
Image Credit: Disney
Conner Leavitt will dance with Adele Zaikman.
Guillermo Rodriguez
Image Credit: Alberto Rodriguez/Variety
Guillermo Rodriguez will dance with Witney Carson.
Monad‘s MIP-12 upgrade cut the network’s block time from 400 milliseconds to 300 milliseconds. It activated on mainnet on July 23, 2026, at round 89,758,000, and lowered Monad’s deterministic finality from about 800 milliseconds to roughly 600 milliseconds. The change came from Category Labs, the team that builds Monad, and it adjusted several other network settings at the same time.
What Is MIP-12?
MIP-12, short for Monad Improvement Proposal 12, is a governance change that shortened Monad’s consensus voting cycle by 100 milliseconds. Category Labs published the draft, the community reviewed it, and it went live through the v0.15.1 client release.
The proposal did more than shorten block time. It also lowered the block reward from 25 $MON to 18 $MON per block, a change sized to match the shorter production cycle, and it cut the block gas limit from 200 million to 150 million.
How Does Monad Produce Blocks So Fast?
Monad’s speed comes from splitting two jobs that most blockchains do together: agreeing on transaction order and running the transactions.
On Ethereum, validators must fully execute every transaction before voting on a block, leaving roughly 100 milliseconds of execution time inside a 12-second block.
Monad separates this into parallel pipelines. Validators agree on order first, through a mechanism called MonadBFT, then execution happens afterward with access to the full block window.
MonadBFT is a pipelined Byzantine Fault Tolerant protocol with linear message complexity, meaning validators don’t need to talk to every other validator on the normal path. It also resists tail-forking, a flaw in earlier pipelined designs where a bad-acting leader could fork away a previous block.
This design is what let Monad shorten block time without lowering gas throughput, which held steady at 500 megagas per second. To keep that rate, the per-block transaction limit dropped from 5,000 to 3,750, calculated by dividing the new 150 million gas limit by 40,000. The per-transaction gas limit stayed unchanged at 30 million.
What Does Faster Finality Mean In Practice?
Finality is the point where a transaction can’t be reversed except in rare edge cases. Before MIP-12, Monad reached deterministic finality in two consensus rounds, about 800 milliseconds, and speculative finality in one round, about 400 milliseconds. After the upgrade, those numbers dropped to roughly 600 milliseconds and 300 milliseconds. For applications like high-frequency trading or onchain gaming, that gap is what users actually feel.
How Does Monad Compare To Other Layer-1 Chains?
Block time alone doesn’t tell the whole story, since chains define finality differently. Still, the comparison shows where Monad now sits.
Ethereum: 12-second block time, about 16 minutes to finality
Solana: 400-millisecond block time today, moving toward a 200-millisecond target
Base: 2-second block time, about 13 minutes to finality
Arbitrum: 250-millisecond block time
Robinhood Chain: 100-millisecond block time
Monad: 300-millisecond block time, about 600 milliseconds to deterministic finality
Monad keeps full EVM compatibility while running on consumer-grade hardware across a validator set spread over more than 30 countries, which separates it from chains that need specialized infrastructure to hit similar speeds.
What Comes Next For Monad And $MON?
$MON has traded in a wide range through 2026 and is currently changing hands around $0.025 to $0.029. The token gained more than 44% over one week in late August, rising from about $0.020 toward $0.029, after the Monad Foundation announced on August 18 a program to buy back up to $60 million in locked $MON from early investors at a discount. Network total value locked has climbed alongside that rally, approaching $1 billion by late August, up from roughly $868 million earlier in the month.
Entropy Advisors data lead Tom Wan flagged the 300-millisecond milestone publicly when it activated, framing it alongside Solana’s own push toward 200-millisecond blocks. The next scheduled event for $MON holders is a token unlock on November 24, 2026, separate from this technical upgrade but likely to shape trading conditions around it.
MIP-12 lowered Monad’s block time to 300 milliseconds, cut deterministic finality to about 600 milliseconds, and rebalanced block rewards and gas limits to match. The upgrade runs on Monad’s existing split between transaction ordering and execution through MonadBFT, and it holds gas throughput steady at 500 megagas per second on a distributed, consumer-hardware validator set.
Conclusion
MIP-12 lowered Monad’s block time to 300 milliseconds, cut deterministic finality to about 600 milliseconds, and rebalanced block rewards and gas limits to match. The upgrade runs on Monad’s existing split between transaction ordering and execution through MonadBFT, and it holds gas throughput steady at 500 megagas per second on a distributed, consumer-hardware validator set.
Resources
Monad Documentation: Releases changelog covering v0.15.0, v0.15.1, and MIP-12 activation
OKX may restrict account functions and funds for 15 days or longer when cryptocurrency deposits trigger enhanced anti-money laundering reviews, CEO Star Xu said on Sept. 2.
Xu issued the warning after responding to a user whose transfer from a sports betting platform reportedly triggered an OKX risk review. The executive said funds sent from high risk addresses can result in stricter checks, with the length of a review depending on the circumstances.
Accounts confirmed to be connected to high risk or illegal activity may have their services terminated, according to Xu. His statement did not identify the user, betting platform, deposited asset or amount involved.
Xu also warned about funds originating from escrow transactions conducted through Telegram groups, Huiwang and related platforms. Such channels can create elevated source of funds risks, although a transfer from a flagged address alone does not prove that an account holder committed a crime.
OKX reviews may restrict funds beyond 15 days
Xu said an OKX risk review may continue for 15 days or longer. During that period, the exchange may restrict access to funds and some account functions while its compliance team examines the transaction history.
The statement did not establish 15 days as a fixed minimum or maximum. Xu said the duration would depend on the facts of each case, meaning reviews may conclude sooner or continue beyond that period.
Crypto exchanges use blockchain monitoring tools to assess whether deposited assets have interacted with addresses associated with scams, hacks, sanctions, darknet markets or other flagged services. They may also request transaction records and evidence explaining how a customer obtained the assets.
Blockchain screening works by tracing transaction paths and assigning risk labels to wallets. Those labels can help exchanges prioritize reviews, but they do not independently establish ownership, criminal intent or legal liability. Assets can pass through several unrelated wallets before reaching an exchange.
Xu did not disclose which blockchain analytics providers OKX uses or what risk score triggers a restriction. The exchange also has not published a detailed appeals process specific to the case that prompted his response.
OKX CEO identifies higher risk funding channels
Xu specifically cited Telegram escrow transactions and Huiwang variants as examples of channels that may expose users to elevated source of funds risks. Telegram itself is a messaging platform, but private groups can be used to arrange informal trades without the customer verification controls found on regulated exchanges.
Escrow arrangements can also make a transfer harder to document. The address sending cryptocurrency to an OKX customer may belong to an intermediary rather than the original buyer or seller, creating gaps in the transaction record.
Xu used the name Huiwang, which is commonly associated with Huione, a Cambodia based group operating payment and online marketplace services. Different spellings and successor brands have appeared in public reporting, making it important not to treat every similarly named platform or address as automatically connected.
The U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network took action against Huione Group in October 2025. FinCEN’s final rule identified the company as a foreign financial institution of primary money laundering concern and cut it off from the U.S. financial system.
FinCEN said Huione Group laundered at least $4 billion in illicit proceeds between August 2021 and January 2025. The agency attributed at least $37 million to North Korean cyber heists, $36 million to virtual currency investment scams and $300 million to other cyber scams.
Those amounts are U.S. government findings concerning Huione Group. Xu did not say that every transaction involving Huiwang or its variants contains criminal proceeds. He described them as channels carrying higher source of funds risk.
Previous U.S. case placed pressure on OKX compliance
OKX’s warning comes after the exchange faced a major U.S. enforcement case over its earlier compliance controls. In February 2025, its operating company pleaded guilty to operating an unlicensed money transmitting business in the United States.
The company agreed to pay more than $500 million in penalties and forfeiture. U.S. prosecutors said OKX had served American customers despite formally restricting the market and had failed to maintain an adequate anti-money laundering program for part of the relevant period.
The enforcement action helps explain the exchange’s stricter approach to customer screening. U.S. registered crypto businesses must maintain compliance programs, retain transaction records, file required reports and screen customers against sanctions and criminal risk indicators.
A detailed review of federal rules governing cryptocurrency exchanges explains that custodial exchanges and hosted wallet providers can fall under FinCEN’s money services business framework. Covered companies face anti-money laundering, recordkeeping and suspicious activity reporting duties.
These requirements do not mean an exchange must permanently seize every deposit that receives a high risk label. Exchanges must assess available information, apply their terms and comply with legally binding orders. The appropriate response can vary by jurisdiction and transaction.
Users may need to document their source of funds
Xu advised customers not to use OKX accounts for money laundering, fraud, illegal fund transfers or other unlawful conduct. Users receiving assets from betting sites, private markets or informal trading groups may face requests to document where the funds originated.
Useful records can include withdrawal receipts, platform account statements, transaction hashes, communications with counterparties and proof showing how the underlying funds were earned. Complete records do not guarantee that an exchange will release funds, but they can help compliance teams evaluate a transaction.
Customers should also check whether the sending platform is legal in their jurisdiction and whether OKX permits transfers from it. A betting platform can be licensed in one country and prohibited in another, while an exchange may apply stricter internal policies than the law requires.
Xu did not announce a new policy, product restriction or blanket ban on deposits from sports betting services. His statement explained how OKX may respond when a transaction activates its existing risk controls.
No regulator announced an investigation connected to the unidentified user’s case. OKX also did not disclose whether the review had concluded or whether the account remained restricted.
The next confirmed development would come from OKX resolving the review or releasing more detailed guidance about affected funding sources. Until then, Xu’s statement establishes that reviews can exceed 15 days and that confirmed illegal activity may result in the complete termination of services.
Gen Z is skipping Hollywood blockbusters for low-budget indie films made by YouTubers and even a mum and son on a home computer. Al Jazeera’s Yasmeen ElTahan explains why the economics of the film industry are changing.
Ruben Östlund’s Plattform Produktion has joined “Toxic,” the forthcoming satirical workplace drama from “Club Zero” director Jessica Hausner, which is among the projects being pitched during the Venice Gap-Financing Market taking place Sept. 4 – 6.
The pan-European co-production is produced by Schubert (Austria), Essential Films (Germany), Société Parisienne de Production (France) and Plattform Produktion (Sweden). International sales will be repped by the Coproduction Office.
Told across four chapters, “Toxic” explores different aspects of the modern world of work. Through contemporary parables, it follows employees and employers within a capitalist system on the verge of outpacing itself. With a tone at times realistic, at others more absurd, it’s tied together by the human element that acts as the sand in the gears of a profit-driven world.
Working off a script co-written by Jessica Lind, Hausner said she was interested in exploring the many contradictions of capitalism, and the “mutual dependency” between workers and employers that’s fostering ever-growing economic gaps while leaving so many unfulfilled. “Is this system we work and live in the best system we can come up with?” she asked.
The question cuts to the very heart of a modern condition in which “our identities and the respect we command are often defined by our job and pay grade,” she said.
“Meaning in life is really created through the ideology of our society. As an individual, I don’t think one can find meaning all alone,” she said. “Meaning is created through others — through the eyes of my fellows in society. It is very much a question bound to the system we work in.”
Through its parallel storylines, the film explores how our understanding of self-realization in the workplace is evolving, contrasting exploitation and overwork with our desire to find meaning in our professional lives. Set within four different workplaces — an advertising agency; a waste disposal company; a nursing home; and an unprofitable retail chain — it examines how deeply people have internalized performance-driven pressures, and asks whether change is possible within a system rooted in profit and success.
Hausner’s last film, “Club Zero,” was set at a British boarding school where a nutrition teacher — played by Mia Wasikowska — pushed a gospel of mindful abstinence on her students, transforming them into a cult. In a glowing review out of Cannes, Variety’s Owen Gleiberman praised the “gripping and provocative” film as an “audaciously disturbing drama.”
Speaking to Variety from her home in Vienna, Hausner explained how “Toxic” is in conversation with her previous films.
“What is satisfying? What is it that really makes a life worth living? In my films, I always try to circle around these questions,” she said. “Not only on an individual level. I’m always interested in the societal level. Why am I made to think or to believe something? This is what I try to focus on in all my films. The way we are being manipulated, in a subtle, everyday-like way, by the society we live in.”
But what happens when society is in flux? Across Europe, the director noted, governments are mulling whether the continent’s work-life balance needs to be reconsidered. “The social system is becoming less affordable. This is an economic problem,” she said. “Many countries in Europe have to shift their social expenses from social care into building more weapons.”
Meanwhile, inequality is growing, and work itself, as Hausner put it, “no longer pays off, neither financially nor in terms of fulfilment.”
As “Toxic” illustrates, that leaves societies with many difficult questions and no easy answers — least of all from the tech barons and free-market evangelists who push capitalism as the miracle cure to all that ails us.
“If we knew a better solution, we would probably already be heading there,” said Hausner. “But it’s not at all obvious what the next step is.”
It didn’t take long for politics to take the spotlight at this year’s Venice Film Festival jury press conference. Amid the wars raging in Gaza and Ukraine, as well as the unrest in the United States, jury president Maggie Gyllenhaal was asked whether cinema should be political.
“OK,” Gyllenhaal said with a laugh. “May as well get into it.”
The filmmaker, who recently directed “The Bride,” directly addressed the question by sharing her belief that movies are “fundamentally, unavoidably political.”
“Look, we could say, how are we possibly here talking about movies right now when the world is in a state of emergency?” she said. “To me, the answer has something to do with empathy. I think that film allows an opening into an opportunity to find empathy inside of ourselves.”
She added that every subject or filmmaker should have the ability to be heard. “I think we can challenge ourselves to hear stories about the most corrupt, most perverse people because it opens up the opportunity to find empathy for those people,” she says. “I am here open. I am here curious.”
Gyllenhaal was also probed about the lack of female directors in this year’s competition lineup. Only one film up for the Golden Lion — the drama “Woman Unknown” by Danish-Egyptian director May El-Toukhysolely — was solely directed by a women.
“I guess it’s finally become clear that men make better movies than women do,” Gyllenhaal deadpanned.
Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera interjected, saying that “Naza,” a documentary from “No Other Land” filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, was added to the competition lineup shortly before the festival.
Gyllenhall returned to the question, saying, “I will answer you seriously. There’s a systemic problem. It’s harder for women to get films financed.”
She wondered aloud: “Could it be possible that women, having had a different experience of being alive in the world, want to make movies about are not always deemed high art? Who decide what’s good? Who decides what is valuable?”
Gyllenhall also noted it’s “important to consider” that she was asked to be head of the competition jury. Gyllenhaal heads a seven-member jury that includes Tunisian helmer Kaouther Ben Hania, Hong Kong filmmaker Johnnie To, Afghan director Shahrbanoo Sadat, French filmmaker Xavier Giannoli, British composer Daniel Blumberg and Italian film scholar Francesco Casetti. Gyllenhaal represented the jury at the conference, while her fellow members sat in the audience.
The traditional opening jury press conference took place after some uncertainty over whether Venice would hold it at all. The festival considered scrapping the event because of “scheduling issues,” but some perceived the move as a way to shield jury members from being quizzed about politics. After facing backlash, the festival reinstated the jury presser, explaining the programming conflicts had been solved.
The debate surrounding the press conference came amid heightened political tensions on the international festival circuit, where actors, directors and jury members have increasingly been pressed to address wars, Gaza, U.S. politics and the rise of the far right. The conversation around politics escalated at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year after jury president Wim Wenders said filmmakers should “stay out of politics” while fielding questions about Israel and Palestine. His remarks triggered fierce criticism and prompted Berlin artistic director Tricia Tuttle to publicly defend artists’ right to decide whether or not to speak on political issues.
Venice itself is opening against a particularly charged backdrop. An open letter issued by the Venice4Palestine collective and signed by figures including Nobel Prize-winning writer Annie Ernaux, Roger Waters, Isabel Coixet and Matteo Garrone has called on the festival to take “concrete action” in support of Palestine. The group has also asked Venice to fly the Palestinian flag throughout the festival.
The subject carries particular resonance for Ben Hania, whose Gaza drama “The Voice of Hind Rajab” premiered in competition at Venice last year and won the Silver Lion after receiving a 22-minute standing ovation.
Barbera has himself described this year’s selection as the festival’s most political in recent years, pointing to films dealing with war, Palestine, immigration, climate change, mounting social tensions and shrinking freedoms.
“Monetary policy should not mechanically react to a jump in headline inflation,” James E. Thorne, chief market strategist at wealth management firm Wellington-Altus, wrote on X. An oil shock, he argued, is “a growth shock dressed up as inflation,” and tightening into it would be “policy error masquerading as prudence.”
Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, made the same point. In a July 28, 2026 interview with CNN, he said: “Monetary policy 101 says when there is a supply shock, don’t respond. Follow the script. It’s worked pretty well … Bottom line: I don’t think they should raise rates.”
That does not mean the Fed will stay on hold on Sept. 16. The odds of a hike are rising, currently at 68%, according to the CME’s FedWatch tool. It does mean the case an increase is weaker than the tape implies. Until that decision lands on Sept. 16, another leg higher in oil can keep pressure on risk assets, including crypto. Stay alert.
Read more: For analysis of today’s activity in altcoins and derivatives, see Crypto Markets Today . For a comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”
What’s trending
U.S. pounds Iran, Tehran strikes back at bases in biggest exchange since July (Reuters): Asian and European stocks fell after renewed U.S. airstrikes pushed oil prices back to levels unseen since July, compounding the economic impact of a global selloff in bonds as disrupted energy supplies fuel inflation worldwide.
Solana, ether, xrp, lead majors slide as Iran strikes drive a broad risk selloff (CoinDesk): The selling that followed U.S. airstrikes on Iran did not land evenly. Solana and tron each shed more than 3% over the past 24 hours while bitcoin gave up roughly 1%. $XRP dropped nearly 2%.
$XRP ETFs pull in $170 million over eleven days. Goldman tops institutional holders (CoinDesk): U.S. spot $XRP exchange-traded funds have taken in fresh money for 11 straight trading sessions. The funds pulled in another $14.38 million on Tuesday, lifting cumulative net inflows to about $1.68 billion.
Bitcoin withstands $90 oil and rising yields while gold slides. A firm dollar is the catch. (CoinDesk): The headwinds hitting bitcoin aren’t landing, even as they inflict damage on traditional assets. That relative strength, however, may still be challenged by a resilient Dollar Index. Futures tied to WTI oil have topped $90 and are up nearly 9% for the week.
George Clooney attended last year’s Venice Film Festival with “Jay Kelly,” a comedic drama in which he portrayed an aging A-lister who travels to Italy to receive a life achievement award. Now the actor is getting a real Venetian tribute, accepting the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement Award on the festival’s opening day.
Before his big honor, Clooney sat for a press conference on Wednesday morning and addressed a range of topics, including the fraught state of politics in America, the rise of artificial intelligence and Paramount’s ongoing attempt to merge with Warner Bros. He also defended Mark Ruffalo, who was accused by Paramount of “antisemitic tropes” after the Marvel star attacked the deal over its potential consequences for Hollywood and accused the Ellison family of being complicit in the “genocide” against Palestinians. David Ellison is the CEO of Paramount Skydance.
“I support Mark Ruffalo’s ability to speak freely,” Clooney said. “It’s ridiculous. We’re not going to ban speech. I believe in free speech even when I completely disagree with it. That’s important. In fact, it’s part of how democracy works.”
Clooney called the pending merger “a complicated thing” and suggested he “doesn’t know how it works out.”
“I don’t see how the merger financially ends up making sense for the people who are trying to do it. We’ll see. I worry when a big company swallows up another company,” he said. “I always worry whenever big companies are consolidating because it means a lot of people are going to lose their jobs.”
On the topic of AI, Clooney predicted that it’s “going to be a very big part of this industry” and worries that “it’s going to hurt us in a lot of ways.” He expressed a concerned about the complications that AI will pose for actors, cracking that “I would like to avoid being in a tampon commercial 20 years after I’m dead.”
Clooney was also probed about the state of journalism, having directed 2005’s “Good Night, and Good Luck,” a drama about the conflict between the veteran CBS reporter Edward R. Murrow and Senator Joseph McCarthy. Clooney also earning a Tony nomination for his Broadway debut in “Good Night, and Good Luck,” a play based on his film.
“The state of journalism is in question. The richest people in the world are owning the Washington Post and Twitter, and that is a concern,” he said, referring to Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. Yet Clooney remains optimistic. “There’s a lot of room for great journalists. I do believe that information will find it’s way out.”
Clooney has a long history with the Venice Film Festival, having first attended with 1998’s Steven Soderbergh’s ”Out of Sight” and returning many times over the years with movies such as 2005’s “Good Night, and Good Luck,” 2007’s “Michael Clayton,” 2013’s “Gravity,” 2017’s “Suburbicon,” 2024’s “Wolfs” and 2025’s “Jay Kelly.” Clooney was a particularly welcomed presence at this year’s press conference after he missed the press conference for “Jay Kelly” because he was diagnosed with a sinus infection.
Clooney joked that he’s been getting nostalgic has he prepares to receive a career honor.
“I’m 65 years old — everything is melancholy,” he said. “You brush your teeth and you’re like, ‘My teeth used to be so much better…’”
One of Hollywood’s biggest stars, Clooney’s influence spans television and film, starting with his breakout role on “ER” and continuing with films such as “Syriana,” “O Brother Where Art Thou,” “Up in the Air” and the “Oceans” trilogy. Although he’s directed several films, Clooney says he’s stepped back as a filmmaker to focus on acting.
“The reason is because I have two 9-year-old kids — in order to spend time with them,” Clooney said. “If I act in a movie, it’s three months. When I direct a movie, it’s a year. And I cant do that anymore. I can’t pull the kids out of school anymore. I’m happy to doing this, being an actor again. It’s fun. I’m a character actor now.”
Clooney teased that he’s excited for one upcoming project — a new “Oceans” heist with Brad Pitt and Matt Damon. “I would do anything with them,” he said. “As soon as we get our schedules to work, we’re going to film.”
Two Thai businessmen sued leading stablecoin issuer Tether over its freeze of 42.4 million $USDT, alleging the firm blocked the tokens months before U.S. authorities obtained a seizure warrant.
Nutthawat Rukthammachalern and Natthawat Kasamvilas said in an Aug. 31 complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York that Tether froze 42.4 million $USDT across 10 Ethereum addresses on Oct. 30, 2025.
They allege Tether acted on an informal request from a U.S. law enforcement agent, with no warrant or other legal process issued until Feb. 19, according to the complaint.
CoinDesk has reached out to Tether for comment but hasn’t heard back at the time of writing.
The plaintiffs said they acquired the $USDT through secondary-market business transactions and had no direct relationship with Tether.
They want the court to order Tether to remove the addresses from its blacklist and prevent it from destroying the frozen tokens and issuing replacements to a government-controlled wallet before a final forfeiture ruling.
The lawsuit also seeks damages and the return of interest or other income Tether earned from reserves backing the frozen $USDT. Its claims include conversion, trespass to chattels and unjust enrichment.
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright has arrived in La Guaira for the signing of a deal that will see the US seize effective control of a large portion of Venezuela’s oil reserves. While Wright praised the agreement, critics have likened it to deals imposed by colonial powers.
