Tag: CRYPTOS FoxBusiness.

Blockchain investigator ZachXBT reported today that Russian OTC broker Aleksandr Khinkis allegedly laundered over $4.7 million in crypto. The activity reportedly occurred between July 2025 and March 2026 across a single exchange account. According to the findings, three suspected ransomware payments totaling 796 $BTC drove the transactions through Bitcoin, Avalanche, and Tron networks.

Robinhood has approved a new $1.5 billion share repurchase program, giving the company more than $1.1 billion of additional capacity as management signals confidence in its strategy and financial strength.

The company said it expects to execute the refreshed authorization over about three years, while keeping flexibility to move faster if market conditions allow.

The new plan builds on Robinhood’s earlier buyback efforts. The company first launched a $1 billion repurchase program in May 2024, then raised the total authorization by another $500 million in April 2025.

By February 2026, Robinhood had already spent about $910 million buying back roughly 22 million shares at an average price of $40.64, and its March 2026 investor presentation highlighted a $1.5 billion repurchase authorization as part of a broader capital allocation strategy.

The buyback arrives as crypto markets remain under pressure, a key driver of weakness for Robinhood given its reliance on digital asset trading. Bitcoin hit a record high near $126,000 in early October 2025 and was last trading near $70,000 today, reflecting a sharp decline as risk appetite unwound.

Robinhood stock has followed a similar path, hitting a record high near $154 in early October 2025 and last trading near $69 today, down about 55% from that peak.

The company reported fourth quarter 2025 crypto trading revenue of $221 million, missing analyst expectations, while its digital asset segment has faced sustained pressure since the October market downturn.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Estefano Gomez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

Circle shares dropped nearly 20% Tuesday, falling toward the $100 level after a CoinDesk report revealed new draft language in the CLARITY Act that would ban yield on stablecoin balances.

The proposed rules would prohibit issuers from offering passive rewards for simply holding a stablecoin and restrict structures that resemble interest-bearing deposits. While activity-based rewards may still be allowed, the framework remains unclear, according to people familiar with the draft reviewed by industry participants on Capitol Hill.

The update directly affects stablecoin issuers such as Circle. Although $USDC does not currently offer yield to holders, the restriction removes a potential future pathway for the product to evolve beyond payments into a store of value. That shift weakens the broader bull case around $USDC as a more competitive financial instrument.

Circle stock had been on a strong run before the pullback. Shares surged more than 175% from an early February low near $50 to a recent high around $135 last week. The stock was trading near $102.85 at press time following the selloff.

The draft language represents a compromise after pushback from the banking sector, which argued that yield-bearing stablecoins could function too similarly to deposits and disrupt traditional lending markets. The current proposal allows rewards tied to user activity but not balances, though details on how those programs would be structured remain unresolved.

The CLARITY Act is part of a broader effort to establish a comprehensive market structure framework for digital assets in the US. A prior version passed the House, and lawmakers are now working to align competing proposals before advancing the bill through the Senate Banking Committee.

The outcome of the legislation remains a key overhang for stablecoin issuers. If passed with the yield restriction intact, it could limit how products like $USDC compete with newer yield-bearing alternatives and shape how capital flows across the digital asset ecosystem.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Estefano Gomez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

As discussions continue in the US regarding the draft Clarity Act, which is expected to shape the cryptocurrency market, the issue of yield on stablecoins has become one of the most critical topics in the regulatory process. A new draft text that emerged today allegedly suggests that, under pressure from the banking sector, direct earnings from stablecoin balances will be prohibited. This has sparked significant concern in the cryptocurrency market.

However, according to new information reported by White House correspondent Sander Lutz, significant flexibility in favor of the crypto sector may have emerged during negotiations on the draft text. According to information from two sources, the new regulatory language could allow earning returns on staked stablecoins. If this approach is adopted, users would be able to continue earning passive income by staking their stablecoin assets.

While this potential regulation is seen as a significant gain for the crypto sector, the focus of the debate has quickly shifted to the banking sector. The critical question is whether banks will view returns generated through staking as a direct threat to their business models. Indeed, another source close to the matter stated that it would be “illogical” for the banking sector to accept such a compromise, highlighting the depth of the disagreement between the parties.

On the other hand, it is reported that the aforementioned compromise text is being reviewed today by banking sector representatives on Capitol Hill. Following this review process, the stablecoin regulations are expected to take their final form and the fate of the Clarity Act draft is expected to become clear.

*This is not investment advice.

Amid the chaotic situation in the financial world, Monero ($XMR), the popular privacy coin, plunged by over 5% on Tuesday, declining its value from $362 to $339 on a daily chart.

At the moment, the cryptocurrency’s price is revolving around $339.67 with a market capitalisation of $6.28 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. The shocking part of this drop is that it comes when the demand for Monero ($XMR) cryptocurrency reached an all-time high.

Monero ($XMR) Privacy Demand Hits New Peaks in 2026

According to fresh data on non-custodial swap platforms and reports, cross-chain swap activities for Monero are growing in the first quarter of 2026. $BTC-to-$XMR swaps have become the top trading pair on many instant-exchange sites, which sometimes accounts for over 3.6% of all swaps.

Monero itself is now among the most-swapped cryptocurrencies, which accounted for around 16% of activity across platforms. According to the official data, privacy-based swaps, including $XMR pairs, have reached their highest share ever at 5.55% of total crypto swaps.

Apart from this, daily Monero transactions on its own network are holding steady above 40,000, which is near all-time highs. The network’s hash rate is also increasing, which is showing strong user and miner support.

Amid the rise in fear of privacy-based assets, many people are worried about privacy. Governments around the world are establishing strict regulations for the crypto sector. Recent developments in laws in the EU, U.S., and other countries are asking for the sharing of details of transfers, and tracking tools can easily follow Bitcoin transactions.

Not just this, data breaches on big exchanges have also exposed user info. These kinds of cases have raised safety concerns. As a result, many are adopting Monero for real financial privacy.

Platforms like GhostSwap are playing a crucial role in this to meet the growing demand by providing no-KYC swaps between Bitcoin and Monero using atomic swap technology and decentralised liquidity pools.

Technically speaking, the current outlook for Monero is looking neutral to slightly bearish in the short term. Major platforms like TradingView are showing a strong sell signal based on moving averages despite the growth in their demand. The Monero price is now trading below major short-term lines such as the 10-day, 20-day, and 50-day exponential moving averages.

The Relative Strength Index (RSI) is revolving around 45 to 51, which is in neutral territory and suggests there is still room for movement without being overbought or oversold. The MACD indicator is showing less selling pressure in recent readings, while oscillators are still in a neutral state.

For Monero, there are major support levels seen around $320 to $340, where the price may find buying interest if the decline continues. There are strong support levels that revolve around $300. On the upside, resistance is noted at $370, which is a level that has rejected the price multiple times recently. This is a level that has rejected the price multiple times recently, followed by tougher hurdles at $380 to $400. The chart is showing consolidation after a pullback with good network performance, like steady transactions.

The overall crypto market is struggling to break the consolidation zone. After soaring above $70,000 in the past week many times, the Bitcoin ($BTC) price failed to sustain a rally and quickly plunged below this support level.

Also Read: Pi Token Price Slides Amid Thin Volume and Market Caution

Cryptocurrency analytics company MakroVision has shared its latest technical analysis of Ethereum. According to the company’s analysis, Ethereum managed to retest the $2,130 level, continuing its short-term recovery process for some time.

However, strong selling pressure encountered after reaching this level made it difficult for the price to maintain its position above this region.

MacroVision notes that while a short-term recovery is technically still valid in the current market structure, momentum has weakened recently. The analysis adds that the failure of attempts to break above $2,130 indicates continued selling pressure on upward movements. This situation, it is stated, makes price movements more delicate in the short term.

Highlighting key technical levels, the company notes that the $2,130 range is a critical threshold for Ethereum. If the price manages to hold above this level, a new upward attempt could be on the horizon, with $2,400 emerging as the next significant resistance. It’s worth noting that this region was strongly rejected during the last upward attempt.

However, there are warnings that if Ethereum clearly falls below the $2,130 level, the current recovery could weaken and the market outlook could deteriorate again. According to MacroVision, this scenario increases the risk that the recent upward movement will remain merely a technical reaction rather than a lasting trend reversal.

*This is not investment advice.

Banks Took $434 Billion From Americans Last Year — Is it Time for Bitcoin?

Banks extracted hundreds of billions from American savers last year — and the scale of it shows a deep structural issue in America’s financial system. Bitcoin might help.

In 2025, U.S. banks generated roughly $434 billion in net interest income, or about $1,670 per adult, according to research from River.

The mechanism is straightforward: banks take customer deposits, lend or invest those funds at higher rates, and return only a fraction of the yield to depositors. With most savings accounts offering close to zero interest, that spread compounds into one of the most reliable profit engines in the economy.

At the same time, inflation has remained persistently above the Federal Reserve’s stated 2% target for years. In real terms, that means savers are losing purchasing power annually. When your bank pays 0.1% but inflation runs several percentage points higher, the result is not just stagnation — it’s erosion. Quietly, consistently, and at scale.

This dynamic helps explain why alternative systems — particularly Bitcoin — continue to resonate. For many, the issue is no longer just access to financial services, but whether those services are aligned with their long-term interests at all.

Yet the frustration isn’t limited to legacy banking. The fintech sector, once positioned as a corrective force after the 2008 financial crisis, is now facing its own identity crisis, Bitcoin might help.

Tricking users to gamble with their money

Over the past decade, companies like Robinhood, Coinbase, and Cash App lowered barriers to entry, onboarding millions of new users into investing, payments, and digital assets. For the first time, financial tools that were once reserved for the wealthy became widely accessible.

But according to River CEO Alex Leishman, that mission has drifted. What began as democratization has, in many cases, turned into monetization of user behavior. Investment platforms now promote memecoins, leveraged derivatives, and even sports betting-style features. The interface may look like a brokerage account, but the incentives increasingly resemble a casino.

The distinction matters. Data consistently shows that most retail participants lose money in high-frequency trading environments. Futures markets see the vast majority of traders underperform.

Options trading often results in repeated losses for the average user. And in jurisdictions where sports betting has expanded, personal bankruptcy rates have climbed in the years that follow.

This convergence — finance, gaming, and gambling — has been driven by a simple motive: engagement. The more often users trade, bet, or speculate, the more revenue platforms generate.

Push notifications, streaks, instant settlement, and social features all reinforce short-term behavior. Over time, the line between investing and entertainment becomes difficult to distinguish, according to River and Leishman.

Leishman’s critique is not that risk-taking should be eliminated, but that it should be transparent. Casinos don’t present themselves as wealth-building tools. Increasingly, financial apps do.

It’s time for bitcoin

Bitcoin, in contrast, sits outside this framework. Bitcoin does not promise yield, nor does it rely on user engagement to sustain itself. Its value proposition is narrower but more rigid: a fixed supply, a decentralized network, and the ability to self-custody without reliance on intermediaries.

Despite more than a decade of growth, ownership remains relatively low — less than one-fifth of American adults. That suggests two things at once: adoption is still early, and the gap between existing financial systems and viable alternatives remains wide.

The broader question now is directional. The original promise of fintech was to expand access and improve outcomes. In many ways, it succeeded. But access alone is not enough if the underlying products leave users worse off.

Banks continue to extract value through interest rate spreads. Bitcoin doesn’t. Fintech platforms increasingly optimize for activity over outcomes. And users — more informed, but also more exposed — are left navigating a system that often rewards participation more than prudence.

The opportunity, as Leishman frames it, is to realign incentives: build tools (like bitcoin) that prioritize long-term wealth creation over short-term revenue, and offer products that founders would trust their own families to use.

This post Banks Took $434 Billion From Americans Last Year — Is it Time for Bitcoin? first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Renowned technical analyst Francis Hunt, a guest on Michaël van de Poppe’s show, made striking statements about the future of the global financial system and Bitcoin’s place within it. Known for his predictions regarding gold and debt crises, Hunt shared his technical and macroeconomic analyses, which are of particular interest to Bitcoin investors.

Francis Hunt, while evaluating Bitcoin’s ($BTC) recent performance, drew attention to the asset’s decline in value against gold. According to Hunt, Bitcoin has begun to lose its “exponential growth” characteristic seen in past cycles.

Hunt argues that Bitcoin’s market capitalization can be misleading. He notes that in the early years, the low circulating supply allowed small capital inflows to create massive price movements, but as the asset grew, maintaining this momentum became more difficult.

The analyst claimed that “real and big money” is flowing into gold instead of Bitcoin. He stated that giant economies like China are closing their trade deficits with gold, and that Bitcoin has not yet achieved reserve asset status at the state level.

Hunt, noting that Bitcoin’s chart against gold ($BTC/GOLD) is weakening, believes the risk-return ratio is currently unfavorable for Bitcoin. He warned investors by asking, “Is it worth risking a drop to zero for Bitcoin to potentially rise from $70,000 to $120,000?”

Hunt, cautious about Bitcoin, noted that there are technically stronger assets in the cryptocurrency market. He specifically pointed out that the resilience shown by assets like Tron (TRX) and Binance Coin (BNB) during a bear market is technically interesting, arguing that these assets could emerge as key digital payment tools in the event of a potential collapse of the banking system.

*This is not investment advice.