BSC News

@telcoin has switched on eUSD bank accounts in version 5 of its wallet, opening them to US residents. It is the consumer rollout the company has been building toward since securing the first US digital asset bank charter in Nebraska.
The First US Bank Accounts Tied to On-Chain Dollars
The accounts link directly to Telcoin's bank-issued, on-chain dollar stablecoin at base:0xcfa3ef56d303ae4faaba0592388f19d7c3399fb4. eUSD is backed by US dollar deposits and short-term Treasuries held in reserve. Telcoin positions these as the first US bank accounts tied directly to on-chain dollars, with Telcoin Digital Asset Bank accounts linking directly to on-chain eUSD balances, enabling seamless movement of value between traditional and blockchain infrastructure.
Telcoin received final charter approval from the Nebraska Department of Banking and Finance to launch Telcoin Digital Asset Bank, the first Digital Asset Depository Institution in the United States. Under the Nebraska Financial Innovation Act and in line with federal GENIUS Act guidelines, Telcoin is uniquely positioned to issue stablecoins, accept customer deposits, and process eUSD payments, all under the same charter.
Personal accounts are made available through Wallet V5 of the Telcoin Wallet. Unlike non-bank stablecoin issuers, Telcoin's model integrates stablecoin issuance with depository banking, allowing direct customer deposits to back on-chain tokens.
Market Reacts as $TEL Surges
Markets responded quickly. The $TEL token jumped roughly 17% on the news and daily trading volume spiked more than 500%, reflecting investor appetite for projects with tangible regulatory footing.
The launch has been a long time coming. The foundation for the charter was laid by Republican now-US Rep. Mike Flood, who introduced the Nebraska Financial Innovation Act in 2021 while serving in the Nebraska Legislature, and it passed later that year. While many peers in the blockchain industry are pursuing non-depository trust charters, Telcoin is addressing the systemic risk concerns around stablecoins highlighted by federal regulators by operating within a full banking framework.
The broader stablecoin market has grown sharply in parallel. Bloomberg reported a 70 percent increase in stablecoin usage since July, driven in part by the passage of the GENIUS Act, which provides a federal regulatory framework for stablecoins. Telcoin's regulated, bank-issued approach puts it in a distinct category from dominant players such as Tether and Circle, which operate outside the traditional depository banking system.
Sources
Telcoin Begins Digital Asset Banking Operations with Launch of eUSD Stablecoin (Business Wire)
Telcoin Digital Asset Bank Nabs Final Charter Approval (Banking Dive)
Gov. Pillen Signs First-In-Nation Digital Asset Bank Charter (Office of the Nebraska Governor)

Four months after giving up the CEO title at the Opentensor Foundation in what observers called a "Satoshi moment," Bittensor co-founder Jacob Steeves, known online as @const_reborn, is saying openly what critics have long alleged: core direction still runs through him. In a new essay, Steeves acknowledges that the AI network is not fully decentralized where it matters most, and argues that is a deliberate choice rather than a failure.
The Case for Centralized Speed
Steeves frames the current structure as a practical necessity. According to Crypto Times, the project intentionally maintains a controlled leadership structure so it can move quickly and keep pace with rapid AI development. His argument draws a direct comparison to Bitcoin: where Bitcoin needed to be fully decentralized from day one to resist financial control, AI is still in early stages and has not yet faced the same regulatory pressure, so Bittensor can grow first and decentralize later.
His plan is not a single switch-flip but a phased approach targeting roughly 18 months, with a completion date around December 2027. The roadmap calls for raising validator competition, implementing bidirectional liquidity pools, and introducing a conviction-based voting mechanism for Alpha token holders, a system that weights votes based on how long a holder commits their tokens. Steeves also points to what he considers irreversible foundations: no pre-mine, no presale, no founder allocation, five years of live operation, and 128 active subnets across the network.
Governance Under Pressure
Steeves resigned as CEO of the Opentensor Foundation in February 2026, months before publishing this roadmap. At the time, he indicated the primary shift would be legal and structural rather than operational, noting that day-to-day development would continue as before. Critics were quick to note the gap between the symbolic gesture and operational reality.
That criticism reached a breaking point on April 10, 2026. The Block reported that Covenant AI, a major subnet developer on Bittensor, announced it was leaving the network entirely. Founder Sam Dare accused Steeves of operating what he called "decentralization theatre," alleging that Steeves "maintains effective control over the triumvirate, resists any meaningful transfer of authority, and deploys changes unilaterally whenever he chooses, without process and without consensus." Covenant AI also sold approximately 37,000 $TAO tokens valued at over $10 million during the exit. $TAO dropped roughly 15 to 27% in the immediate aftermath, one of its worst single-day moves.
On the same day, a newly launched site called Tao Papers published what it described as on-chain forensics from multiple whistleblowers, claiming that of 41 Bittensor network upgrades between 2023 and 2026, 38 were proposed and deployed from infrastructure controlled by Steeves. Steeves disputed the allegations, arguing his actions fell within normal network participation and were visible on-chain.
The new essay and roadmap are, in part, a direct response to that episode. Whether a phased plan steered by the same individual constitutes a credible path to decentralization is now the central question for $TAO holders and builders considering the network.
Sources:
The Block: Covenant AI exits Bittensor, TAO drops 15%
Crypto Times: Bittensor isn't fully decentralized yet, co-founder explains why
Crypto Briefing: Bittensor founder targets full decentralization within 18 months

Off-exchange Bitcoin reserves at historic lows
The pool of $BTC sitting on over-the-counter desks has drained to levels not seen in years. CryptoQuant data shows the amount of Bitcoin held in the OTC market has dropped by around 400,000 BTC, falling from 550,000 BTC to roughly 150,000 BTC, even as whale buying has persisted. Today that figure sits somewhere in the 100,000 to 150,000 range, a sharp contrast to the peak inventory that large buyers once relied on.
OTC desks exist precisely to absorb big trades quietly. These platforms allow institutions to buy or sell Bitcoin without triggering abrupt price changes, matching large orders discreetly and away from public exchange order books. Hedge funds, corporate treasuries, and other large buyers have long preferred this route to avoid moving the market against themselves.
Why thinning supply changes the equation
Historically, OTC balances tend to rise toward the end of a bull market, but the current cycle has followed a different path, with balances continuing to move lower instead of recovering. CryptoQuant notes that this market cycle differs from previous ones, as whale accumulation has lasted longer and the pace of balance growth during the bull market has been weaker than in earlier cycles.
With fewer coins accessible through OTC channels, institutions may increasingly turn to public exchanges for large purchases, exposing transactions to real-time market pricing. As OTC balances thin, large trades executed on exchanges could amplify price swings. In short, the buffer that once absorbed institutional demand without rattling prices is shrinking fast.
That dynamic is a structural setup, not a guarantee of a rally. It requires fresh demand to materialise before tighter supply translates into meaningful price pressure. But with liquid off-exchange inventory this constrained, a central question is what happens when buyers can no longer find sellers, a scenario that could lead to aggressive price competition in the open market, with prices rising rapidly if supply remains constrained while demand persists or grows.
Sources:
CryptoPotato: Bitcoin Supply Crunch? OTC Balances Drop by 400,000 BTC Since 2022
CryptoQuant: Bitcoin OTC Desk Balance Is Declining Sharply
CoinDesk: Bitcoin's Record Holder Supply Hides a Buyer Drought, CryptoQuant Says

The core dispute: income or created property?
@coincenter is telling lawmakers they have the tax treatment of crypto mining and staking rewards backwards. In written testimony submitted to the House Ways and Means Committee at a full hearing on June 9, 2026, the policy group argued that block rewards are newly created property and should only be taxed when sold, not at the moment they are minted.
Participants who validate transactions through proof-of-work mining or proof-of-stake validation create new tokens according to rules encoded in software. These newly created tokens are not paid by any counterparty. They are produced by the validator's own actions, much like a farmer growing crops or a novelist producing a manuscript. Coin Center argues that under longstanding tax doctrine, new property created through one's own labor or capital is not taxed when created, only upon sale or exchange.
The IRS's current interpretation treats block rewards as gross income upon receipt, even though income necessarily entails a payment or transfer from a third party, whereas block rewards are generated from interacting with a technology. Under existing IRS guidance, a validator owes tax based on the value of rewards at the moment of receipt. However, the validator may never sell those tokens at that price. If the market drops sharply, the tax bill can exceed the actual cash value of the rewards.
A band-aid fix, and a live lawsuit
One compromise gaining traction in Congress would tax unsold rewards after a fixed deferral window. Supporters of the Digital Asset PARITY Act, a bipartisan proposal from House Ways and Means Committee members, want to defer income recognition for up to five years and then tax further appreciation only when staking rewards are sold or spent. Coin Center views that approach as insufficient, arguing it still rests on the flawed premise that block rewards are income in the first place.
Rep. Mike Carey (R-OH) introduced the Tax Clarity for Mining and Staking Act, which would take a different approach. The bill would give miners the option of putting off the moment new assets are taxable, instead of assuming them as immediate income. Together with related bills under review, they represent the most coordinated congressional push on crypto tax policy in years.
The dispute is also playing out in federal court. Tezos network stakers Joshua and Jessica Jarrett filed a lawsuit against the IRS in a Tennessee federal court, arguing that tokens created through staking should be treated as property and taxable only upon their sale, not before. A bench trial is scheduled for September 29, 2026. The case directly challenges IRS Revenue Ruling 2023-14, which concludes that staking rewards are includible in a taxpayer's gross income in the tax year in which the taxpayer gains dominion and control over them.
The latest House bills remain at a fairly early stage of the legislative process, and with the current congressional session facing its final months, their viability remains uncertain. For now, miners and stakers sit in legal limbo, caught between a tax agency holding firm, a Congress still searching for a fix, and a courtroom that may ultimately force the issue.
Sources:
Coin Center: Six Ways Congress Can Make Crypto Taxes Work for Everyday Users
Genfinity: Crypto Groups Urge Congress to Pass Mining and Staking Tax Bill
CoinDesk: Crypto's Second U.S. Lobbying Front, Tax Policy, Sees Industry Push on Mining and Staking

Four Years of DeFi on Dogecoin, Coming to an End
@DogechainFamily, the EVM-compatible sidechain that brought decentralized finance and NFTs to @dogecoin, is winding down operations after roughly four years. The team cited market conditions that made the network too expensive to sustain as the primary reason for the closure.
Dogechain was built as a sidechain of Dogecoin, operating with a bridge that allowed users to transfer $DOGE to and from the Dogecoin mainnet and interact with EVM-based smart contracts. The network used DOGE as its gas token, keeping it tightly tied to the Dogecoin ecosystem rather than requiring a separate native asset.
At its core, the project gave $DOGE holders a way to use their coins across DeFi protocols, NFT marketplaces, and other decentralized applications without leaving DOGE exposure. That utility is now coming to a close.
What Holders Need to Do Before the Bridge Closes
The window to retrieve funds is limited. According to the shutdown notice issued in early June, the bridge will remain open for approximately 60 days, placing the deadline around early August 2026. After that point, the bridge goes dark permanently.
Any assets left on Dogechain after the deadline, including tokens, NFTs, liquidity positions, and any wrapped DOGE held natively on the chain, will become permanently inaccessible. There is no recovery mechanism once the bridge closes.
Users should act well ahead of the deadline to avoid congestion or last-minute technical issues. Connect your wallet to the Dogechain network, bridge all holdings back to the Dogecoin mainnet or another supported destination, and confirm the transactions are settled before the cutoff.
Sources:
Revoke.cash: Dogechain overview and bridge details
Thirdweb: Dogechain chain settings and bridge information

@Strive has edged out Michael Saylor's Strategy in the weekly bitcoin buying race, at least for one week. The Dallas-based firm purchased 759 $BTC between June 15 and June 21 at an average cost of approximately $65,850 per coin, inclusive of fees and expenses, bringing its total bitcoin holdings to 19,864 BTC. The company filed a Form 8-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 22, 2026, confirming the transaction.
At the stated average price, the purchase carries a total cost of roughly $50 million, the company's largest single-week acquisition in recent months. That outpaced Strategy for the same period: Strategy acquired 520 Bitcoin for approximately $35 million in the most recent reporting period, while also increasing its dedicated USD reserve by $300 million to $1.4 billion.
A Fast-Rising Treasury
The scale of the purchase is notable given how recently Strive entered the corporate bitcoin arena. A key acquisition closed in January 2026, giving Strive 12,797.9 $BTC and positioning it as one of the top corporate bitcoin holders globally, surpassing both Tesla and Trump Media and Technology Group at the time of closing. In the two weeks immediately before this latest purchase, Strive had acquired just 32 BTC and then 73 BTC in back-to-back weekly disclosures for a combined $6.8 million, making the jump to 759 coins a clear signal of a return to heavier accumulation.
The company's average acquisition cost across its full treasury position sits above current prices, a gap it shares with Strategy, the largest corporate bitcoin holder globally. Strive now ranks among the top ten public corporate holders of bitcoin worldwide. With an eye on the $4.2 billion war chest it outlined earlier this year, the company shows no sign of slowing its pace of accumulation heading into the second half of 2026.
Context: Strategy Still Dominates Overall
One week's figures aside, Strategy's overall position remains in a different league. Strategy holds 846,842 $BTC as of June 15, 2026, with an average purchase price of approximately $66,384 per coin and a total cost basis of $33.1 billion. Strive's rise, however, illustrates how quickly determined smaller firms can accumulate a meaningful stake when capital is available and the conviction is there.
Bitcoin Magazine: Strive (ASST) Buys 759 Bitcoin for $50 Million | BeInCrypto: Strategy Buys 520 Bitcoin While Building $1.4 Billion Cash Reserve | Bitcoin Magazine: Strive Treasury History and Accumulation Timeline

Toss Bank and @SolanaFndn Sign First Direct MOU
South Korea's @toss__official, the country's third-largest internet-only bank with roughly 15 million customers, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Solana Foundation (@SolanaFndn) to test stablecoin-based cross-border remittance infrastructure on the $SOL network. The agreement was signed in Seoul on June 19 and publicly disclosed on June 22, and marks the first direct strategic partnership between a South Korean internet-only bank and the Solana Foundation.
The initial phase centers on a proof of concept for global remittance and settlement. Toss Bank will evaluate whether stablecoins running on Solana can deliver faster and cheaper overseas transfers while fitting into existing banking workflows. Beyond remittances, the two sides will jointly review blockchain-based payment and settlement models and assess potential applications in digital assets and tokenized real-world assets.
Why Solana, and What It Means
The appeal of a public chain for remittances is straightforward. Cross-border transfers routed through correspondent banking can take days and accumulate fees at each hop. A public chain settles in seconds and presents one transparent cost layer rather than several hidden ones. Stablecoins sit naturally on top of that structure, moving value across borders while the network handles final settlement, sidestepping the pre-funded nostro accounts that make traditional remittance corridors slow and capital-heavy.
Solana Foundation chair Lily Liu said the partnership could help set a new standard for global remittances by combining the trust of traditional banking with the efficiency of blockchain. Park Jin-hyeon, Head of Strategy at Toss Bank, called the deal a starting point for applying blockchain infrastructure to services the bank already operates.
The partnership fits into a broader pattern of Korean financial institutions engaging with Solana. Earlier this year, the Solana Foundation partnered with Shinhan Card on a separate proof of concept for stablecoin payments. In May, Western Union launched its USDPT stablecoin on the same network for regulated payment settlement. The Toss announcement also comes as parent company Viva Republica prepares for a US IPO in 2026 at a valuation above $10 billion, giving the blockchain partnership additional strategic weight as the firm pitches its roadmap to international investors.
For now, the deal is a pilot, not a product launch. No stablecoin, corridors, or go-live timeline have been confirmed. South Korea's Digital Asset Basic Act, which would establish a formal framework for stablecoin issuance and won-pegged tokens, remains under committee review, with the Bank of Korea and the Financial Services Commission still at odds over issuer eligibility rules. The proof of concept will need to clear those regulatory hurdles before any live settlement on a public chain becomes a realistic prospect for a Korean retail bank.
Sources:
Korea Herald: Toss Bank partners with Solana Foundation on blockchain remittances
Crypto Times: South Korea's Toss Bank and Solana Partner to Test Stablecoin Remittances
CoinDesk: South Korea proposes comprehensive digital asset law including stablecoin rules

Millions Flow Into Maryland and New York Primaries
Pro-crypto super PACs are stepping up their spending ahead of two high-stakes congressional primaries on June 23, deploying significant funds in Maryland and New York as part of a broader effort to build a pro-digital-asset bloc in Congress ahead of the 2026 midterms.
@BSCNews reports that Protect Progress, an affiliate of the Fairshake super PAC, has committed $5.5 million to back Adrian Boafo in Maryland's 5th Congressional District, the seat being vacated by long-serving Rep. Steny Hoyer. Federal Election Commission filings show Protect Progress, an affiliate of the Coinbase- and Ripple-backed Fairshake network, paid more than $3.1 million for media supporting Boafo in Maryland's 5th District. An additional approximately $320,000 has been directed toward Rep. Ritchie Torres' reelection to New York's 15th District, which also holds its primary on June 23.
Torres was among the Democratic representatives who broke with the majority of their party to vote with Republicans to pass the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, also known as the CLARITY Act. He was even a co-sponsor of the legislation, and Fairshake and Protect Progress spent more than $173,000 boosting him in a non-competitive election last cycle.
The Maryland and New York spending follows a pattern of escalating investment across the primary season. Protect Progress previously spent $5 million supporting Democrat Christian Menefee in Texas, contributing to the defeat of incumbent Rep. Al Green, who had voted against both the GENIUS Act and the CLARITY Act. The Fairshake operation also poured a combined $20 million into races in Georgia, Kentucky, and Alabama.
CLARITY Act Races Toward Senate Showdown
The wave of political spending comes as the CLARITY Act itself reaches a pivotal moment in Washington. The Senate Banking Committee advanced the bill with a 15-9 bipartisan vote, moving it closer to a full Senate floor consideration. The CLARITY Act would establish a tailored regulatory regime for crypto in the United States, an idea that carries significant bipartisan support.
The path to passage, however, remains uncertain. The bill needs 60 votes to clear the Senate's filibuster threshold, and with limited session days remaining before the August recess, that window is viewed as the most realistic deadline. The bill's chances also still depend on further negotiations over preventing the abuse of crypto and DeFi technology in financial crimes and the establishment of a government-ethics provision meant to limit the involvement of officials in the crypto industry.
Fairshake currently holds more than $191 million in cash on hand for the 2026 contests, stockpiled from industry donors including Andreessen Horowitz, Coinbase, and Ripple. The scale of that war chest, combined with a clear legislative target, signals that the crypto industry views the 2026 cycle as a defining moment for its regulatory future.
Sources
Crypto PACs pour millions into primaries as Maryland race looms (crypto.news)
Clarity Act clears U.S. Senate committee (CoinDesk)
Crypto industry scores win as Clarity Act clears Senate hurdle (CNBC)

Few figures have shaped a single cryptocurrency's fortunes as decisively as Elon Musk has with Dogecoin. Yet as $DOGE sits deep in the red from its peak, the question of whether that relationship still carries weight is becoming harder to ignore.
From Meme to Mainstream, and Back Again
Musk publicly confirmed holdings in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin in 2021, the same year the memecoin surged to its all-time high. Dogecoin's all-time high of $0.7376 was reached on May 8, 2021, the same day Musk hosted Saturday Night Live. In 2022, he posted that he would "keep supporting Dogecoin," a pledge that helped cement his role as the coin's most prominent backer.
Musk has repeatedly voiced support for Dogecoin over the years, and his remarks have historically been enough to jolt attention, and sometimes price, back toward the token. That dynamic, however, appears to be shifting. Dogecoin still trades about 90 percent below its 2021 peak, and no new initiatives have been announced, underscoring how the token's visibility remains heavily tied to Musk's sporadic public engagement.
A Fading Effect
Four years on from that 2022 pledge, there has been no direct public post from Musk declaring fresh support for the asset. His most recent notable interaction came in early 2026, when he replied "maybe next year" to a post resurfacing his earlier claim that SpaceX would put a "literal dogecoin on the literal moon," though DOGE barely flinched, continuing to trade just below $0.11.
Musk still influences sentiment, but market maturity, competition, and real-world use now shape price direction more than social media activity alone. That marks a meaningful shift from the 2021 era, when a single tweet could move markets within minutes.
Dogecoin, like many other meme coins, fizzled out as rising interest rates and other macro headwinds chilled the cryptocurrency market. Without a supply limit, it cannot be valued by scarcity as Bitcoin can. Without native smart contract support, it cannot be valued as a developer ecosystem like Ethereum. That is why it has struggled to recover even as Bitcoin and Ether bounced back.
On the commercial side, Musk allows Tesla and SpaceX customers to use Dogecoin to buy branded merchandise, though not Tesla's electric cars or SpaceX's Starlink terminals. Whether that limited utility is enough to sustain long-term interest in $DOGE remains an open question for the market.
Sources
CoinDesk: Musk SpaceX DOGE Moon Comment, February 2026
Coinbase: Dogecoin Price and All-Time High Data
Yahoo Finance via Motley Fool: Elon Musk's New Dogecoin Idea

MoneyGram Steps Up Its Blockchain Role
@MoneyGram has taken a significant step in its blockchain strategy by becoming an active validator on @Solana and joining the Solana Developer Platform (SDP). As a validator, MoneyGram will help secure the Solana network, validate transactions, and contribute to its overall performance. By processing transactions and participating in consensus, each validator helps make Solana the most censorship-resistant and highest-performance blockchain network in the world.
The move marks a clear escalation for a company that has steadily expanded its on-chain presence. MoneyGram is not simply building on top of blockchains; it is now actively participating in running one.
Joining a Growing Institutional Wave on Solana
MoneyGram's entry into the Solana validator set puts it alongside a growing roster of traditional finance names committing to the network. Early users of the Solana Developer Platform include Mastercard, for stablecoin settlement, Worldpay, for merchant payments and settlement, and Western Union, for cross-border payments. MoneyGram's addition to the platform further solidifies Solana's position as a preferred destination for institutional-grade financial infrastructure.
The Solana Developer Platform is a toolkit that enables enterprises to create and scale financial applications on Solana without deep crypto infrastructure expertise. The platform bundles services from more than 20 infrastructure providers, spanning custody, compliance, wallets, and payments, into a single interface.
For MoneyGram, the validator and developer platform roles fit into a broader blockchain buildout. The company launched MGUSD, its own native US dollar stablecoin, going live in the United States on June 2 with plans for global expansion across a network serving more than 60 million active customers in nearly 500,000 retail locations worldwide. The payments giant has also been expanding its validator activity elsewhere: MoneyGram partnered with Tempo to become the blockchain network's anchor remittance validator, with the partnership focusing on stablecoin settlement and blockchain-powered global payments.
Together, these moves reflect a broader shift in how legacy payments companies are approaching blockchain, moving from cautious pilots to active infrastructure participation.
Sources:
Solana Foundation: Solana Developer Platform Launch
CoinDesk: Solana Foundation Taps Mastercard, Western Union, Worldpay for Institutional Developer Platform
Yahoo Finance: MoneyGram MGUSD Stablecoin Launch

Bitmine Closes In on Its 5% Ethereum Target
Bitmine Immersion Technologies (NYSE: BMNR), the Ethereum treasury firm chaired by @Fundstrat co-founder Tom Lee, has added another 52,203 $ETH worth approximately $92 million to its holdings, taking its total position to 5,672,956 ETH valued at roughly $10 billion. The firm is now 94% of the way toward its self-described "Alchemy of 5%" goal: owning 5% of Ethereum's total supply as a long-term reserve asset.
The milestone caps months of aggressive accumulation. Bitmine reached the 5-million-ETH mark in roughly ten months, after pivoting to a digital asset treasury strategy from its earlier roots as a Bitcoin miner. The company uplisted to the New York Stock Exchange from NYSE American on April 9, and counts ARK's Cathie Wood, Founders Fund, Pantera, Kraken, and Galaxy Digital among its institutional backers.
Bitmine's total crypto and cash holdings now stand at $10.7 billion. Of its ETH stack, 4,718,677 tokens, worth $8.2 billion at $1,733 per $ETH, are actively staked. The firm has staked more than 4.7 million ETH, roughly 87% of its holdings, generating approximately $276 million in annualized staking revenue. That yield is generated through MAVAN, the company's Made in America Validator Network, an institutional-grade staking platform built for security, performance, and resilience.
A $9 Billion Paper Loss and the Bull Case Behind It
The accumulation has not been painless. Ethereum is still trading roughly 64% below its all-time high of $4,946 reached in August 2025, meaning Bitmine is sitting on estimated unrealized losses of around $9 billion.
Lee has been unapologetic about buying into that weakness. He argues that Ethereum is benefiting from two long-term trends: the shift of financial assets onto blockchain rails through tokenization, and the rise of artificial intelligence tools that will seek neutral, public networks for payments and verification. In earlier updates, Lee said "Crypto Spring, in our view, has commenced," noting that investor sentiment remains muted even as crypto prices strengthen.
Critics have raised questions about concentration risk and the potential for a feedback loop. Lee is simultaneously chairman of Bitmine and founder of Fundstrat, whose research channels regularly amplify the company's milestones, a dynamic some argue creates a conflict between research output, public messaging, and treasury moves. There are also structural concerns: a single entity approaching 5% of a network's supply becomes a force capable of influencing validator dynamics, governance, and liquidity.
With the 5% threshold now within reach, the market will be watching closely what Bitmine does once the buying stops, and whether the staking yield alone justifies the scale of the bet.
Sources
CoinDesk: Bitmine made its largest ETH purchase this year
CoinDesk: Tom Lee says crypto spring started as Bitmine buys $238M in ether
Spazio Crypto: BitMine holds 4.66% of all Ethereum in one corporate treasury

The 2026 Litecoin Summit opened in Amsterdam today (June 22), the sixth edition of the event and its first outside the United States. Over two days, the Litecoin Foundation (@LTCFoundation) is running keynotes, panels, and workshops at the Tobacco Theater, with the institutional adoption story front and center for a network that has spent most of its 14 years known mainly as a payments coin.
That shift is the thing to watch. Litecoin arrives in Europe with a Nasdaq-listed treasury company, a spot ETF, and fresh SEC guidance behind it, and the schedule leans hard into what all of that means next.
A first for Europe
The summit runs June 22 and 23 at the Tobacco Theater, a historic venue on the Nes in central Amsterdam, with nine rooms and space for up to 600 people. It doubles as the official kickoff to Dutch Blockchain Week, which puts Litecoin at the front of one of Europe's larger Web3 gatherings.
Tickets are €84 for the full two days, covering all sessions, workshops, the exhibitor area, and networking. Payment is in fiat through Eventbrite or in $LTC or $BTC through Coinbase. For a multi-day industry event, that price is well below the norm, which aligns with the Foundation's framing of the summit as a community event rather than a corporate one.
The themes are familiar to anyone who has followed Litecoin: privacy, financial freedom, censorship resistance, and sound money. What is new is how much room the agenda gives to institutions and regulation.
Why is the institutional panel the one to watch?
The headline session is "Litecoin's Institutional Opportunity," scheduled for 2:00 pm on Day 1. Litecoin creator Charlie Lee (@SatoshiLite) shares the stage with Joshua Riezman, U.S. Chief Strategy Officer at GSR and a board member at Lite Strategy. Randi Hipper moderates. Lee also gives his annual "State of the Coin" address earlier in the day, at 9:45 am, setting the tone before the institutional conversation.

Charlie Lee - state of the coin - Amsterdam Litecoin summit 2026

Lite Strategy (Nasdaq: LITS) is the reason the panel carries weight. It is the first U.S. public company to hold Litecoin as its primary treasury reserve asset, built out of the former MEI Pharma after a 2025 rebrand, and it now holds roughly 894,000 LTC, according to its most recent SEC filing. The company says that this is the first time a Nasdaq-listed digital asset treasury company has taken the Summit stage.
The timing helps. The SEC issued guidance in March 2026 describing Litecoin as having digital commodity characteristics, and the Canary spot Litecoin ETF began trading on Nasdaq in October 2025. Both feed directly into what the panel is there to discuss.
What is LitVM, and why does it matter?
The second storyline is utility. LitVM (@LitecoinVM) is a zero-knowledge Layer 2 built on Litecoin, designed to bring smart contracts, DeFi, and real-world assets to a network that has never natively supported them. On June 18, days before the summit, Lite Strategy (@LiteStrategy) closed a $1.0 million lead investment in ZK Innovations, the company behind LitVM, taking governance rights and an option on future network tokens.
LitVM features on both days. Co-founder Aztec Amaya speaks on Day 2 in a session titled "The Heart of Web3," and the project is also sponsoring the Day 1 DJ party. For a 14-year-old proof-of-work chain, an EVM-compatible rollup is a real change in scope, and the summit is where the Foundation gets to make that case in person.
Privacy and the cypherpunk core
For all the institutional talk, the privacy roots are still on display. A few sessions stand out:
Quantum-Secure MWEB, presented by MWEB developer David Burkett at 9:50 am on Day 1.
Privacy in the Age of AI and Mass-Surveillance, with NYM co-founder Alexis Roussel at 10:50 am.
A dedicated privacy panel on Day 2 featuring Roussel, Stack Wallet's Diego Salazar, and others.
Regulation gets a slot worth flagging too. The "MiCA and Regulatory Landscape in the EU and Beyond" panel lands at 2:30 pm on Day 1, and the timing is pointed. The MiCA transitional period expires on July 1, barely a week after the summit closes, by which point service providers operating in the EU need a license or have to stop. Holding that conversation in Amsterdam, days before the deadline, is no accident.
What else is on the schedule?
The rest of the agenda spreads across wallets, swaps, mining, and merchant adoption. A few items to keep an eye on:
"The Biggest World First Since Satoshi Invented Bitcoin," a deliberately vague Day 2 teaser from Dr. Kapil Amarasinghe at 10:00 am.
"Spend Litecoin Anywhere," a Coinsbee session on everyday LTC purchases with Iván Escamilla Rodriguez.
A Future of Crypto Wallets panel, plus updates from Nexus Wallet and Luxxfolio.
A closing Litecoin Foundation panel on Day 2 with Charlie Lee, Alan Austin, David Schwartz, and others.
The social side is part of the pitch as well. Day 1 wraps with an evening mixer sponsored by Luxxfolio and a DJ party sponsored by LitVM, continuing a summit tradition that, in past years, has often been where the real networking happens.
For the full schedule, or to get tickets, you can visit: litecoin.com/summit, or you can watch the livestream via @litecoin on X.
Sources:
Litecoin Summit official event page with the full schedule, venue and ticket details.
Litecoin Foundation on X announcing the live schedule and evening events.
Lite Strategy announcement of its institutional panel appearance and the LITS treasury context.
Lite Strategy release on the $1.0 million LitVM investment.
Litecoin Foundation press release confirming the sixth Summit and first European edition.

Strategy Adds to Bitcoin Reserve for Third Consecutive Week
@MichaelSaylor announced on June 22, 2026 that Strategy acquired 520 $BTC for approximately $35 million, marking the firm's third straight weekly Bitcoin purchase and lifting its total holdings to 847,363 BTC.
The acquisition is a step down from the prior week's purchase of 1,587 BTC for $100 million, reflecting a more measured pace of accumulation. The firm has established itself as the largest corporate Bitcoin holder, using a mix of equity and credit instruments to expand holdings while managing associated obligations.
USD Reserve Expansion Signals Focus on Digital Credit Obligations
Alongside the Bitcoin purchase, Strategy increased its USD Reserve by $300 million to $1.4 billion to support the credit quality of its Digital Credit securities. The move points to a deliberate effort to balance aggressive Bitcoin accumulation with the liquidity needed to service its preferred stock commitments.
The company has built its position through a mix of debt issuance, equity sales, and capital raised through preferred share instruments, including $STRC. The company's average cost basis stands at $75,700 per coin, according to its latest SEC Form 8-K filing.
Ahead of the announcement, Saylor posted on X: "Looks better with more dots," a phrase his followers have come to recognize as a near-certain preview of acquisition news on Mondays.
Sources:
BeInCrypto: MicroStrategy Buys 520 Bitcoin While Building $1.4 Billion Cash War Chest
Bitcoin.com News: Strategy Grabs 520 More Bitcoin for $35M
CoinDesk: Strategy Purchases More Than $2 Billion of BTC

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index has crossed the 72,500 threshold for the first time in the index's history, setting a new all-time high in the June 22 Tokyo session and extending one of the most significant equity rallies in the market's 76-year history.
A Market in Record Territory
The move adds approximately 25.74 trillion yen (roughly 156 billion dollars) in market value at a stroke. TradingView data shows the Japan 225 Index reached its highest-ever quote of 72,584.15 JPY on June 22, 2026. The Nikkei has now surged more than 88 percent over the past year, building on a run that has repeatedly pushed the index into uncharted territory. The index is up nearly 33 percent so far in 2026, powered largely by the global AI chip demand story.
A key driver of recent momentum has been foreign capital inflows into Japan's semiconductor and technology supply chain. Global investors are increasingly treating Japan's AI infrastructure buildout as the most directly leveraged play on the current AI spending cycle, and Goldman Sachs data shows foreign investors have poured approximately 16 trillion yen (roughly 100 billion dollars) into Japanese equities since April 2025.
Yen Weakness Amplifies the Exporter Tailwind
The rally is unfolding against the backdrop of a weakening $JPY, which is sliding toward the currency's 1986 low of 161.96 against the $USD. For Japan's industrial exporters, that dynamic acts as a significant earnings multiplier. For export-oriented companies like Toyota, exchange rates directly impact performance: a weaker yen not only enhances price competitiveness for automobiles overseas but also increases revenue when converting overseas foreign income back into yen. Companies like Toyota and Sony have reported better-than-expected earnings, attributed largely to favorable exchange rates.
The currency effect flows through the index structure itself. Many export companies are included in the stocks that have a high contribution to the volatility of the Nikkei Stock Average. As of mid-June 2026, Tokyo Electron held approximately 10 percent of the index's total weighting. The company is the world's fourth-largest supplier of semiconductor production equipment and holds a 90 percent global market share in coater and developer systems, which are essential for every advanced chip node using extreme ultraviolet lithography.
The combination of yen depreciation, surging AI-related capital spending, and broad global capital rotation into Japanese equities has produced a market environment that few analysts anticipated at the start of the year. Whether the index can hold above 72,500 will depend in large part on how the Bank of Japan responds to currency pressure and whether global AI infrastructure spending commitments continue to translate into orders for Japan's industrial sector.
Sources:
TechTimes: Nikkei 225 Crosses 72,000 as Japan's AI Infrastructure Wave Outpaces US Markets
Wikipedia: Nikkei 225 Index History
Macrotrends: Nikkei 225 Index Historical Data (1949-2026)

South Korea Moves CBDC Pilot Into Live Testing
The Bank of Korea (BOK) has officially advanced its Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) program into real-world operation, marking a significant step in South Korea's push toward a fully digital financial system. The pilot involves up to 100,000 people making real day-to-day transactions with a deposit token that is settled by banks using a wholesale CBDC.
The program, known as Project Hangang, is conducted in coordination with the Financial Services Commission (FSC). Users convert their bank deposits into deposit tokens to purchase goods and services, while the CBDC issued by the Bank of Korea is held only by participating banks and functions as a real-time settlement asset for deposit token transactions between banks. Payments are made by scanning QR codes at participating stores.
This transition marks a clear shift from technical sandbox testing to live integration within South Korea's financial architecture. The new phase trials large-scale, won-pegged deposit tokens built on a wholesale CBDC layer, aiming to cut transaction costs for both major corporations and small merchants burdened by credit card fees.
Broader Ambitions and Policy Direction
The second phase of Project Hangang adds two banks, Kyongnam Bank and iM Bank, to the program's original seven. The BOK has framed the cost-reduction potential as a key policy goal. By utilizing the deposit tokens, the BOK hopes to offer a lower-cost payment alternative for both large companies and small businesses that are currently burdened by credit card processing fees.
The pilot sits within a wider government digitization strategy. Finance Minister Koo Yuncheol has said the government wants to move one-quarter of treasury fund execution to digital currency by 2030. Meanwhile, a separate government-led initiative will test tokenized deposits for public spending, with a Sejong City pilot slated to begin and a full rollout planned for Q4 2026 as part of a regulatory sandbox.
South Korea's new central bank governor, Shin Hyun-song, has also thrown his weight behind the program. Shin used his first address in office to prioritize CBDCs and bank-issued deposit tokens, while leaving out any mention of stablecoins as South Korea weighs new crypto rules. The pilot advances as South Korea's broader Digital Asset Basic Act is delayed over disputes about who can issue KRW-pegged stablecoins.
Sources:
CoinDesk: Bank of Korea kicks off real-world testing of its CBDC with nine banks
Human Rights Foundation CBDC Tracker: South Korea
CoinInsider: Korea Pilots Tokenized Deposits for State Spending

Ben-Sasson Enters the Debate
StarkWare co-founder Eli Ben-Sasson stepped into the growing debate around the Ethereum Foundation on June 21, striking a measured tone. He said he was not joining those criticising the foundation, nor was he claiming Ethereum is near its end. He also said he was not trying to defend it by saying everything was fine. "Ethereum has many strengths, and it also has its politics," he wrote.
Ben-Sasson noted that StarkWare's first paid project in 2019 and 2020 focused on a post-quantum ZK-STARK system to scale Ethereum and make it quantum-ready. He also pointed to StarkWare's later choices, including STARKs, Cairo, zkVM work, native account abstraction and Bitcoin scaling, noting those decisions were not always popular and were sometimes viewed as "misaligned." Ben-Sasson said he was glad the team made them, as he sees them as the right technical calls.
His main point centred on how Ethereum should judge teams and ideas. Ben-Sasson expressed optimism about what lies ahead, writing: "I hope the new system that will arise will give a lot of weight to merit and technology, and less to alignment."
A $30 Million Funding Problem
Ben-Sasson's comments come as the Ethereum Foundation faces a difficult stretch. Hsiao-Wei Wang stepped down as co-executive director and board member after returning from a sabbatical, following the earlier exit of fellow co-executive director Tomasz Stańczak. At least eight senior figures have departed the Ethereum Foundation over the past five months, raising concerns even as Ethereum faces increased competition from rival blockchains.
Compounding the leadership churn is a warning about money. Trent Van Epps, a former Ethereum Foundation contributor who spent five years coordinating core protocol development, has warned that Ethereum's core development could slide into a funding crisis within three to nine months. He argues that sustaining Ethereum's network of more than ten client teams, researchers, and coordination groups costs roughly $30 million a year, with no replacement mechanism announced. The Client Incentive Program, a four-year effort that funded client teams through staking rewards, expired in April 2026 without a successor. Van Epps estimates the combined effect could open a "slow-burning funding crisis" within three to nine months, framing the gap not as a one-time episode but as a symptom of structural problems in how the ecosystem gathers and allocates funding.
Not everyone shares the alarm. Tom Lee called the prospect of a genuine funding crisis a "zero chance" scenario, reflecting a divide in how the market is reading the situation. Van Epps's comments remain an independent assessment rather than an officially confirmed projection, and the Ethereum Foundation has not publicly endorsed the three-to-nine-month estimate.
The warning ties the funding question to the foundation's "Subtraction" philosophy, its stated effort to reduce its relative influence over Ethereum, while leaving gaps that no other institution has stepped in to fill. According to Van Epps, the loss of stable economic incentives could lead to the migration of senior researchers and technicians to other commercial sectors, weakening the technical capacity to implement scalability upgrades or shield the network against quantum computing.
Sources:
Eli Ben-Sasson calls for merit over alignment in Ethereum debate (crypto.news)
Ethereum could face core development funding crisis within nine months (The Block)
Ethereum Core Development Funding At Risk As Major Client Incentive Program Expires (FinanceFeeds)

An audacious New York lawsuit seeking legal title to roughly 3.8 million dormant $BTC, including coins widely attributed to Bitcoin's pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto, is facing mounting legal and on-chain resistance that has significantly complicated the plaintiffs' strategy.
The case, filed under the pseudonym "Noah Doe" alongside two anonymous Wyoming LLCs named ABC Company and XYZ Company, seeks a declaratory judgment granting ownership of 39,069 dormant Bitcoin addresses collectively holding approximately 3.8 million BTC. The plaintiffs' legal theory rests on New York Personal Property Law Article 7-B, a lost-and-found statute designed for tangible physical objects, arguing that dormant wallets qualify as abandoned property. To keep filing costs low, the plaintiffs assigned each address a nominal value of under $10, despite analysts placing the collective market value at roughly $293 billion.
The plan was to secure a quiet default judgment worth hundreds of billions of dollars. It has not gone quietly.
On-Chain Evidence Undermines the "Lost" Argument
Since the case was filed, the blockchain itself has begun working against the plaintiffs. 52 of the specifically named addresses have transferred roughly 34,335 BTC, worth approximately $2.48 billion at current prices. Alex Thorn, head of firmwide research at Galaxy Digital, reported that 29 of those addresses moved funds after being formally served in the case. Coins that move are difficult to classify as abandoned, and that on-chain activity is now a central problem for the plaintiffs' core legal argument.
The address list also includes wallets carrying the Patoshi nonce pattern, an on-chain fingerprint widely associated with Satoshi Nakamoto's early mining activity. According to Galaxy Digital's analysis, roughly 21,923 Patoshi-pattern addresses hold approximately 1.096 million BTC. Satoshi-linked coins have been closely studied by researchers and forensic analysts for years, making an abandonment argument particularly difficult to sustain.
Court Stay and Legal Pushback
The case was on course to produce an uncontested default judgment until pro-Bitcoin attorney Ian Cohen stepped in. Cohen filed an amicus curiae brief arguing that Article 7-B was written for tangible physical objects, not entries on a globally distributed blockchain, and that dormancy is not the same as legal abandonment. His brief also challenged the adequacy of the plaintiffs' on-chain notification method and raised jurisdictional questions, noting that BTC has no cognizable legal address in New York.
The court responded. On June 5, 2026, Justice Kathy King issued an order staying further proceedings, including any efforts to obtain default judgments, until July 14, 2026. Without that intervention, the case risked proceeding to a default ruling with no adversarial opposition, given that the 39,069 defendant wallet addresses were unlikely to appear in court.
On June 18, plaintiffs' attorney David Lin filed a motion to vacate or narrow the stay, arguing a non-party amicus should not have the power to halt proceedings and that the statutory deadline for defendants to respond should be allowed to expire. Cohen filed a rebuttal the following day, and a hearing on his amicus application is set for July 14 at 10:30 a.m. at 60 Centre Street, New York. The court has not yet ruled on the motion to lift the stay.
Sources:
CryptoSlate: $2.48B BTC transfers challenge dormant wallets lawsuit
Bitcoin.com News: NY Court pauses default judgment after lawyer argues wallets were not abandoned
Baker McKenzie Blockchain Blog: The Lost Bitcoin Litigation analysis

Morgan Stanley has filed amended registration statements with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for spot Ethereum ($ETH) and Solana ($SOL) exchange-traded funds, setting a 0.14% annual sponsor fee for each product. The fee is the lowest disclosed for any spot crypto ETF in the US market across both asset classes.
Undercutting the Competition
The updated filings, submitted on June 18, are the second round of amendments for both applications, which were originally lodged in January 2026. The June 18 submission marks the first time a specific fee was confirmed for either product, as prior amendments added structural details but left the fee blank.
The 0.14% fee is lower than the current cheapest US spot Ether ETF fee of 0.15% charged by the Grayscale Ethereum Staking Mini ETF, and below the lowest spot Solana ETF fee of 0.19% charged by the Franklin Solana ETF. BlackRock's iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHA) carries a 0.25% sponsor fee, while Bitwise's Solana staking ETF (BSOL) launched at 0.20%.
The filings name the funds the Morgan Stanley Ethereum Trust, ticker MSSE, and the Morgan Stanley Solana Trust, ticker MSOL. Both funds are set to trade on NYSE Arca.
Staking Component Adds Further Appeal
Figment Inc., Galaxy Blockchain Infrastructure LLC, and Coinbase Canada Inc. are listed as staking service providers. Morgan Stanley plans to stake a portion of the Ether and Solana held by the funds to generate additional rewards, with 5% of staking rewards paid to staking service providers and custodians. That structure means 95% of staking rewards would remain inside each fund, giving investors both spot price exposure and incremental yield.
If the SEC approves the funds, the Ether trust would become the 11th US spot Ether ETF and the Solana trust would be the seventh spot Solana ETF to launch in the United States. The filings are preliminary, and the SEC must declare both registration statements effective before shares can trade. Filing an amendment typically signals active dialogue between an issuer and the SEC's review staff, but no firm launch date has been set for either fund.
Unchained Crypto: Morgan Stanley Files Amended ETH and SOL ETF Registrations at Market-Low 0.14% Fees
Bitcoin.com News: Morgan Stanley Sets 0.14% Fee on Amended Ethereum and Solana ETFs Filing

Ecosystem validator and XRP Ledger Foundation community director @Vet_X0 has drawn attention to five coordinated infrastructure upgrades taking shape on the $XRP Ledger, framing them collectively as building blocks for a more secure and financially capable protocol.
Quantum Readiness and Protocol Security
The most structurally significant effort on the list is quantum preparedness. Ripple has introduced a multi-phase roadmap to prepare the XRP Ledger for a post-quantum future, with a target for full readiness by 2028. The plan includes an emergency "Q-day readiness" phase that would force a migration to quantum-safe accounts and enable fund recovery via zero-knowledge proofs if quantum threats arrive sooner than expected. Phase 2 is already active in the first half of 2026, with Ripple's applied cryptography team testing NIST-standardized post-quantum algorithms against real XRPL workloads and benchmarking their effects on signature size, storage, bandwidth, and throughput.
Alongside the quantum work, two security-focused initiatives are reinforcing the protocol from different angles. Back in March, Ripple revealed the establishment of a dedicated AI-powered red team to continuously scan the XRP Ledger for vulnerabilities. The team has publicly reported 287 xrpld issues on GitHub so far, with 231 remaining open and 49 resolved. Assessments shared publicly emphasize that these findings have had no impact on system stability, accessibility, or the security of user funds.
Formal verification is being applied to the codebase as well. RippleX said formal verification work is moving from the long-running Payment Engine to newer native DeFi protocols, including Single Asset Vault and the upcoming Lending Protocol, marking a shift toward proving protocol correctness before high-stakes features are shipped. A vulnerability in core Layer-1 C++ code can have ledger-wide implications, making the verification step particularly important for features embedded directly at the protocol level.
Native Lending and Improved Liquidity Infrastructure
January saw the release of XRP Ledger version 3.1.0, which introduced the Lending Protocol feature. Still undergoing the voting process, this system enables the creation of loans directly on XRPL. It is envisioned that credit intermediaries will be able to utilize funds pooled in Single Asset Vaults to issue unsecured, fixed-term loans on-chain.
The liquidity side of the equation is also being upgraded. In May, the XRP Ledger Foundation published an AMM v2 draft standard adding StableSwap and Concentrated Liquidity pools with the aim of improving capital efficiency. Together, the lending protocol and AMM v2 position XRPL to compete more directly with established DeFi ecosystems, without relying on external smart contracts.
Taken together, the five upgrades outlined by @Vet_X0 represent a broad modernization push that spans cryptographic security, on-chain finance, and protocol-level reliability. Whether viewed individually or as a coordinated programme, they signal a deliberate effort to extend the XRP Ledger's infrastructure well into the next decade.
Sources:
Ripple: Post-Quantum Readiness on the XRP Ledger
CoinDesk: Ripple's Four-Phase Quantum-Resistant Plan for XRPL
Crypto.news: Ripple Tests XRP Ledger Lending Code for Layer-1 Flaws

Bot Turned Against Itself
Jaredfromsubway.eth, one of crypto's most prolific MEV bots, lost more than $7.5 million on Saturday after an attacker turned its own automated systems against it. The exploit did not rely on a smart contract bug or a phishing attack. An attacker drained roughly $7.5 million from the bot after tricking it into approving token spending it never should have granted. Security firm Blockaid, which flagged the incident, confirmed the bot was not hit by a smart-contract bug, a phishing attack, or a private-key leak.
The attacker spent weeks deploying 66 counterfeit token contracts that imitated Wrapped Ether (WETH), USD Coin (USDC), and Tether (USDT). The setup was built around fake wrapper tokens and liquidity pools. The attacker created routes involving fake versions of WETH, USDC and USDT paired with fake tokens in trades that appeared profitable to the bot's automated execution system. Once the bot granted approvals, the attacker left those approvals open instead of consuming them inside the expected trade path.
Those open approvals were then used to transfer WETH, USDC and USDT out of Jaredfromsubway.eth's contracts, draining more than $7.5 million. At least 1,000 ETH subsequently entered Tornado Cash, suggesting the attacker shifted focus from extraction to concealment. Notably, the JaredFromSubway account later claimed the loss was actually $15 million and offered a $1 million bounty for the full return of the funds.
A Hunter Becomes the Hunted
The irony of the incident is hard to miss. Sandwich bots monitor pending transactions and insert trades before and after users to capture price movement, often leaving retail traders with worse execution. Prior Cointelegraph Research found sandwich attacks cost Ethereum traders about $60 million annually, with Jaredfromsubway.eth tied to roughly 70% of attacks between November 2024 and October 2025.
In May, the bot reportedly targeted a small swap by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, renewing debate over toxic MEV and the need for better user protection. Now the tables have turned. Blockaid clarified that the incident exploited the bot's automated MEV opportunity detection and approval mechanism, a category of risk that has received far less attention than code audits.
It also remains unknown whether the attacker targeted Jaredfromsubway.eth specifically or simply set a trap that caught any bot scanning the mempool. If the method can be generalized, it could become a repeatable exploit against a whole class of MEV bots on Ethereum and even on layer-2 networks where similar bot architectures exist.
Sources:
CoinDesk: Ethereum's biggest sandwich bot drained of $7.5 million in ironic exploit
BeInCrypto: Ethereum's Most Notorious MEV Bot Loses $7.5 Million in On-Chain Honeypot Trap
Crypto.news: JaredFromSubway MEV bot gets drained in $7.5m approval trap