ZachXBT accuses Circle of $420M in ‘compliance failures’ since 2022
Onchain detective ZachXBT claims that Circle, the issuer of the USDC (USDC) stablecoin, has failed to freeze or blacklist about $420 million in illicit fund flows since 2022.
Circle can freeze illicit funds and blacklist wallet addresses, but either took “minimal” action to freeze illicit flows or failed to act in 15 separate hack-and-fraud cases, including those linked to North Korean (DPRK) state-affiliated hackers, ZachXBT said.
The stablecoin issuer allegedly failed to freeze $9 million in USDC from the GMX decentralized exchange (DEX) hack in July 2025, and blacklisted wallets linked to the $200 million Cetus DEX hack in May 2025 after USDC was converted into Ether (ETH), according to ZackXBT.
Kalshi onboards ex-Democratic strategist amid legal troubles
Predictions market platform Kalshi announced that a former staffer of US President Barack Obama had joined the company as a policy adviser.
In a Thursday notice, Kalshi said Stephanie Cutter would join the prediction markets company from Precision Strategies, a communications firm she co-founded in 2013. Kalshi said the addition of Cutter came as the company planned to “deepen its relationships in DC and across the country.”
According to Kalshi co-founder and CEO Tarek Mansour, Cutter’s experience allowed her to “get [the] message to the right people,” highlighting her background in government and politics. The predictions market already has staff with ties to the US government, including the appointment of the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., as a strategic adviser in January 2025, the week before his father took office.
In the last year, Kalshi has come under scrutiny from many US state-level authorities, who have filed lawsuits against the platform and other companies offering event contracts on prediction markets for sports, alleging that they constituted illegal bets.
Bitcoin ‘done’ with 85% crashes, says Cathie Wood amid new $34K target
In an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box segment on April 1, Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood stayed calm about double-digit BTC price losses.
“Believe it or not, in the Bitcoin community, down 50% — if that’s as far as it goes — they’ll consider that a real victory,” she said.
“Because you’re right; the 85-95% collapses associated with a very new technology — that’s done. This is a proven technology, it’s a proven monetary system, and it’s a new asset class.”
Wood, a longtime Bitcoin bull, was speaking as Bitcoin circled its old $69,000 all-time highs from 2021.
Those preceded a year-long bear market in which BTC/USD lost nearly 80% before bottoming at $15,600. That marked the latest such correction, with bear markets typically bringing losses around the 80% mark.
Coinbase exec says Senate CLARITY compromise is close, but no markup date set
Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal said the US Digital Asset Market Clarity Act is “moving toward” a markup hearing in the US Senate Banking Committee and could eventually move to a floor vote if senators resolve the stablecoin yield dispute and schedule a markup.
Speaking in a Wednesday interview on Fox Business, Grewal said lawmakers are nearing agreement on core elements of the crypto market structure bill, even as debate continues over stablecoin yield. “I think we’re very close to a deal,” he said.
The remarks point to possible movement on one of the last major sticking points in Senate talks over crypto market structure legislation: whether stablecoin issuers or platforms should be allowed to offer yield or similar rewards. The dispute has helped delay a Senate Banking Committee markup, leaving the broader effort to set federal rules for digital asset oversight still unresolved.
US banks have pushed for restrictions, arguing that such incentives could draw deposits away from traditional institutions and disrupt the banking system. Grewal pushed back on that claim, saying there is no evidence to support fears of deposit flight.
Taiwan should reconsider Bitcoin reserve in case of war, says think tank
Taiwan should reconsider adopting Bitcoin as a reserve asset to hedge against global turmoil and the risk of war, according to a research fellow at the Bitcoin Policy Institute.
In a report on Tuesday, Jacob Langenkamp said that should China pursue reunification with Taiwan by military force, either through a blockade or full invasion, Bitcoin would be the only reserve asset that would remain fully accessible and spendable.
“Uniquely for Taiwan, Bitcoin provides geopolitical resilience: in a PRC blockade or invasion, gold is stranded or seized, and USD reserves face potential restrictions, but Bitcoin remains fully accessible without physical transport,” he added.
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“Because you’re right; the 85-95% collapses…
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