The burn reflects a broader liquidity pullback across stablecoin markets, while USDT continues to hold its central role in crypto transfers.

Tether’s treasury destroyed the tokens on July 7. The move followed a larger $3.5 billion burn on February 10, when the issuer removed tokens during a period of weaker trading activity and reduced exposure to legacy networks. After the latest burn, Tether retained a total USDT supply of $189.6 billion, with Ethereum and TRON remaining its main transfer networks.

USDT Burn Tracks Stablecoin Liquidity Decline

USDT supply changes are closely followed as a liquidity signal across digital assets. The token is also watched for the effect of Euro Area regulations on stablecoin activity. The latest contraction came as stablecoin usage weakened across several key measures.

According to Artemis data cited in the report, active stablecoin addresses declined by 36.2% over the past 30 days. Average daily stablecoin volume also fell by 47.5%. USDT and Circle’s USDC both recorded larger-than-average liquidity outflows in the past month.

The decline in stablecoin supply has affected broader market conditions across the crypto market. The report stated that many crypto rallies are now driven by short squeezes rather than wider liquidity expansion. A recovery in stablecoin activity would mark a shift toward stronger marketwide participation.

TRON-Based USDT Liquidity Falls On Binance

USDT transfers slowed down on both the TRON and Ethereum networks, reflecting the worsening crypto sentiment in the past two months. | Source: Dune Analytics

The contraction also appeared on TRON, one of the main networks used for USDT transfers. Binance’s TRON-based USDT liquidity dropped to $806 million, down from more than $1 billion earlier.

Transfers between Binance and TRON are often used as a gauge of trading activity, particularly for Asian and global users. USDT transfer activity slowed in May and June on both Ethereum and TRON, adding to signs of lower crypto liquidity.

Binance still holds about $39 billion in stablecoin reserves, and that overall supply remained relatively unchanged during the past month. The decline on TRON therefore points to a more specific liquidity adjustment rather than a broad exchange-wide stablecoin drawdown.

USDT Keeps Lead As USDC Gains In DeFi

The $2.5 billion burn remains a limited contraction relative to USDT’s total size. Tether still has about $99.98 billion of USDT on Ethereum and more than $89 billion on TRON.

USDT remains widely used for commercial transactions and peer-to-peer transfers. At the same time, USDC has gained ground in DeFi, supported by perpetual futures activity and the Base network ecosystem.

Revolut’s decision to wind down exposure added to recent setbacks for USDT. Still, stablecoin supply remains near an all-time peak, after only a 1% monthly contraction.

The post USDT Supply Contracts Across Ethereum and TRON After Tether Burn first appeared on Coinfea.

The update marks one of the earliest blockchain efforts to modernize core cryptographic infrastructure while maintaining the network’s existing governance process before any production deployment.

The new build adds support for Falcon-512 and ML-DSA-44, both selected under cryptographic standards finalized by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology. 

According to the network, the upgrade extends across transaction signing, super representative block production signatures, peer-to-peer fast-forward node handshakes, and TRON Virtual Machine contract signature verification.

The release is mandatory for Nile testnet nodes. However, the newly added functionality will remain inactive until it receives approval through TRON’s on-chain committee governance process before any migration to the mainnet.

TRON prepares post-quantum security upgrade

Justin Sun shared TRON DAO’s statement, saying the TRON network will become the first quantum-resistant network. He added that post-quantum security represents the primary demand of the AI era and argued that decryption risks make the transition unavoidable for major blockchain networks.

Most public blockchains, including TRON, currently depend on the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm using the secp256k1 curve, the same cryptographic foundation used by Bitcoin. 

Researchers have warned that a sufficiently powerful quantum computer operating with Shor’s algorithm could theoretically derive private keys from public keys, undermining the security model protecting digital asset ownership.

To address that concern, the Nile deployment introduces Falcon-512, which relies on lattice-based mathematics, alongside ML-DSA-44, a version of CRYSTALS-Dilithium that was also selected by NIST for post-quantum cryptography.

Network activity reaches new milestones

The security upgrade follows record network activity during June. TRON processed 385.77 million transactions during the month while recording 26.97 million active addresses, both representing all-time highs. Circulating USDT on the blockchain also exceeded $86 billion, the highest level among blockchain networks.

The planned migration of the quantum-resistant features to the TRON mainnet is scheduled for the third quarter of 2026, subject to governance approval.

Blockchain industry advances quantum readiness

Other blockchain organizations are also pursuing post-quantum security initiatives. Ethereum Foundation developers launched the Post-Quantum Ethereum website in March 2026, with Layer 1 protocol upgrades expected to conclude by 2029. The Solana Foundation has already deployed post-quantum digital signatures on its own testnet.

Beyond blockchain protocols, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong announced an independent advisory board focused on quantum computing and blockchain security in January 2026. 

Google has also established 2029 as its target for completing the migration of its infrastructure to post-quantum cryptography.

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The Russian government has previously announced plans to limit the cryptocurrencies available to its citizens to only the three most liquid digital assets. Non-professional investors will be allowed to trade BTC, ETH, and Tether’s dollar-pegged stablecoin USDT.

The exact list of pre-approved coins, first hinted at a month ago, was confirmed by a top executive of the Central Bank of Russia (CBR). The financial authority does not plan to expand it for the time being or increase applicable investment limits, its deputy governor told RBC Radio. Vladimir Chistyukhin referred to the time after the implementation of Russia’s upcoming law “On Digital Currency and Digital Rights.”

Russia approves digital assets for trading

The legislation, which passed its first parliamentary hurdle in April, must be adopted and come into force by July 1, 2026. In an interview, the First Deputy Chairman noted that ahead of the bill’s second reading, the CBR had indicated it could add more coins, but elaborated: “However, if we consider the initial period after the law enters into force, we do not intend to expand the scope beyond the three currencies … Bitcoin, Ethereum, and USDT.”

Chistyukhin also stressed that the Bank of Russia continues to see cryptocurrency as a volatile instrument that carries various risks, including that of funds being blocked, as in the case with Tether. According to the draft crypto law, only the cryptocurrencies that meet a set of strict criteria will be admitted to the regulated Russian market for non-qualified investors. These include having a market cap exceeding $60 billion, an average daily trading volume over 1 trillion rubles for the same period, and a trading history of at least five years before admission.

This will result in a pretty short list, which may include only leading cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana (SOL), BNB, and TRON, among a few others, Russian media commented earlier. Also quoted by the leading Russian crypto news outlet Bits.media, Chistyukhin pointed out that a future expansion will cover primarily domestic non-dollar stablecoins, so that they are “not discriminated against foreign ones.”

He remarked this would make sense only if more of them emerge, noting: “We have one company that has already issued a token for international settlements and is using it. We’ll see how this develops. Perhaps we’ll expand it. But not right away.” While the banker did not name it explicitly, a ruble-pegged stablecoin called A7A5, created by the Russian payments platform A7 and currently issued by the Kyrgyzstan-based entity Old Vector, has become the largest non-dollar stablecoin over the past year.

Russia recognized it as a digital financial asset that can be used in foreign trade to bypass financial restrictions imposed over the war in Ukraine. Speaking to RBC, Vladimir Chistyukhin also stated he sees no need to increase the previously announced crypto investment limit for Russian citizens, as it will mitigate potential losses. Non-qualified investors will be able to acquire no more than 300,000 rubles’ worth of digital assets annually, or around $4,000.

The post Russia approves purchase of only Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDT first appeared on Coinfea.

The government banned UK citizens from interacting with the sanctioned entities, while the firms and exchanges cannot establish connections to UK banking entities. The UK sanctioned long-running entities like the Exmo Exchange, as well as several companies and individuals, in connection with evading sanctions. According to the report, HTX (formerly Huobi Global), one of the key entities in the sanctioned list, had a flow analysis that showed the exchange moved over $21.06B connected to various attempts at illicit finance.

Sanctioned HTX moves $21B worth of illicit funds

According to the flow analysis, the funds were moved between May 2021 and May 2026. On-chain analysis uncovered HTX activities spanning beyond the UK’s scope of tracking Russian capital in the crypto space. As Cryptopolitan reported, HTX has been targeted by UK regulators for unlawful asset promotion. According to data from Global Ledger shared with Cryptopolitan, HTX was a hub for risky transfers of BTC, ETH, and USDT on the TRON network.

The Russian capitals were moved through other intermediary high-risk entities, including Garantex, Grinex, A7A5, and darknet markets. HTX was the hub for inflows and outflows from other entities as well. HTX also interacted with older laundering venues like Huione Group, Nobitex, and other threat actors. Huione Group moved $4.41B, becoming the second most active entity to use HTX.

HTX still processes $1.1B in daily volumes and remains one of the top centralized exchanges. The market, linked to Justin Sun, is also one of the key venues to process USDT on the TRON network and gain liquidity from the TRON ecosystem. The spotlight on HTX came from Russia’s well-established pathways of crypto laundering. The Grinex exchange was one of the major laundering markets, at least until it froze all trading following a hack in April.

Grinex held $16.54B worth of USDT and A7A5 between March 2025 and April 2026. The sanctions evasion network is also linked to the Russian state bank Promsvyazbank and oligarch Ilan Shor. The Garantex exchange was also used in the past five years, laundering $14.52B in ETH, USDT, and USDC just for 2024. Garantex and Grinex were excluded and isolated from the crypto CEX network, and lost some of their volumes. Despite this, the exchanges continued working against the sanctions and still processed funds.

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According to TAC’s disclosures of the event, the exploit targeted the TON side of its cross-chain layer, draining funds across USDT, BLUM, and tsTON. TAC said the vulnerability was isolated to native TON Jettons bridged from the TON network, and that the TAC token itself, TON, and all ERC-20 tokens were unaffected. The TAC token has taken a beating since the exploit, with the price dropping more than 21% over the last week. Market cap is down to $79 million from over $91 million before the May 12 disclosure of the hack.

TAC reclassifies hack incident as white hat incident

TAC first disclosed that it had been hacked on May 12. The message from the team on X claimed that it had paused the bridge after receiving reports from security partners. The team quickly moved to allay fears by insisting that the issue was limited in scope, affecting only a subset of bridged assets rather than the protocol’s broader infrastructure. The TAC team gave an insight into how it would handle the coming days.

The TAC Protocol team said: “Our focus is on making users whole and fully restoring bridge liquidity through a legally structured sale of Foundation’s TAC token treasury reserves.” By May 14, TAC had positive news to share. The team said that after the exploiter took its offer to return funds to the designated multisig wallet on Ethereum and a corresponding address on TON, it came to the decision not to pursue litigation, a decision that it coordinated with its security partners and law enforcement.

With the refunds, the TAC Protocol hack quickly went from exploit to white hat incident, with a 10% bounty offered up as an incentive, which comes to about 13 ETH + 300ZEC. It is standard practice in Web3 to offer hackers a percentage of stolen funds in exchange for returning the majority of the loot. Transit Finance took a page from that book earlier this week after it lost $1.88 million from a deprecated TRON smart contract. The team sent a message to the hacker, offering a percentage of the stolen funds as a bug bounty.

TAC’s exploit adds to a pattern of bridge and cross-chain vulnerabilities in early May 2026. Transit Finance attributed its breach to a contract that had been deprecated since 2022 but still held exploitable code. Security firm GoPlus Security flagged two private key compromises on May 12 totaling $238,000, and blockchain security company Blockaid identified a $456,000 exploit on Aurellion Labs’ uninitialized Diamond proxy contract on Arbitrum, according to a Cryptopolitan report.

The losses follow a rough April. CertiK reported approximately $651 million lost to exploits across the sector that month, the highest since March 2022, when excluding the Bybit incident in February 2025. The KelpDAO bridge exploit ($293 million) and Drift Protocol hack ($285 million) accounted for most of April’s damage. TAC Protocol’s bridge remains paused. The team has not disclosed a timeline for resuming operations, but it said it will direct the remaining balance, minus the white hat bounty, to its multisig wallets.

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Crooks are taking advantage of fear and trust to defraud users with respect to sensitive information. The government is alerting that the tricks are getting more sophisticated and prevalent.

Fake FBI tokens manipulate fear and urgency

Scammers are also sending counterfeit tokens to TRON wallets without any prior communication. These look as usual, since arbitrary transfers are typical of crypto wallets. The scam is initiated when users tap on the token information.

The message purports to be a release of FBI, and it threatens that the FBI is investigating. It charges money laundering sins to the users and poses a threat of asset limitation. The alert system urges users to make fast decisions without verifying them.

The victims are taken to external links that seem valid. The sites replicate the official government or financial sites in persuasive designs. Personal data is requested of users, such as identification and wallet details.

After the data has been introduced, the attackers get access to accounts and funds. The stolen property is transferred through several wallets. This undertaking renders the process of monitoring and retrieving very hard for the authorities.

The FBI has said that it does not, by any means, send tokens or seek information in that way. The users are encouraged not to respond to suspicious tokens and links.

The FBI issues a warning and urges reporting

The FBI’s New York office has tackled the problem in public. It advised against taking into consideration any tokens that purport to represent the agency. It also recommends not to post personal information on websites that are not well-known.

Officials underlined that lawful investigations do not work with random blockchain messages. Incidents should be reported by the users using the official reporting platforms. This assists the authorities in monitoring trends and reacting more quickly.

The fraud is based on psychological stressors and not on the technicality. Attackers leverage authority and fear to ensure that they have high probabilities of a rapid response by users. This minimizes critical thinking and predisposes it.

The crypto community has responded differently. Some users ridicule the TRON network, and those who are concerned. This atmosphere can also make the users lose focus on the true threats.

Crypto scams grow into organized global systems

Fraud within cryptocurrency remains at an alarming pace. In 2025, the losses had reached at least $14 billion. It is estimated that the number can go well above 17 billion because the investigations are still ongoing.

The impersonation scams have been on a swift increase in recent years. Cases of this have been reported to have increased by more than 1400%. It is less expensive to deceive credible individuals compared to developing new identities, which criminals find difficult to establish.

The contemporary schemes involve blockchain technology together with social engineering. Attackers employ fear, urgency, and authority to manipulate the actions of users. This strategy has been very successful in other regions.

The analysts term this as the industrialization of fraud. Various sections of every operation are now being dealt with by organized groups. Others are scriptwriters, some phishing tools builders, and others are money launderers.

Entry barriers are low for the fraudsters. Phishing kits are sold as cheaply as $20. Whole scam systems can be found below $500.

These operations have been enhanced by artificial intelligence. AI is used to produce realistic messages and automated conversations. This will enable fraudsters to victimize a large number of people simultaneously.

New strategies are still being responded to by law enforcement. Efforts are being made to detect victims as early as possible and restrict financial harm. Regardless of such attempts, scam networks keep on developing at a rapid pace.

The post TRON users targeted by fake FBI tokens spread across the blockchain scam first appeared on Coinfea.

The project relates digital assets infrastructure to international payment systems and financial organizations.

The collaboration puts TRON into a collaboration with over 85 companies in the expanding crypto ecosystem of Mastercard. 

These participants encompass fintech companies, exchanges as well as banking partners dealing with digital asset payments.

The two organizations claimed that the program enables practical blockchain payment applications. 

These are business transfers, settlement across financial networks, cross-border remittances, and payouts.

Mastercard builds broader crypto collaboration network

The Crypto Partner Program by Mastercard is a program designed to bring together blockchain firms and other conventional financial providers. 

The project will enhance the speed at which the digital assets become a part of the daily financial operation.

The corporation noted that a partnership is necessary since digital asset payment is becoming popular all over the globe. 

Blockchain infrastructure is becoming increasingly utilized with the presence of financial rails.

Mastercard reported that the demand for blockchain settlement tools by enterprises remains on the rise. 

Some of the most rapidly growing segments are the cross-border payments and business transfers.

The program is also based on previous programs at Mastercard. These are the Start Path accelerator of blockchain startups and the Engage program, which facilitates crypto card partnerships.

TRON DAO claimed its involvement is an indication of the increased necessity of collaboration between blockchain networks and worldwide payment providers. 

The organization noted that on-chain payments would have to coordinate numerous participants in the industry.

TRON DAO suggests that blockchain networks have to interface with existing financial infrastructure so as to facilitate real-world financial activity.

Stablecoins and settlement tools drive payment innovation

The central component of the Mastercard digital asset strategy is composed of stablecoins and tokenized deposits. 

The Multi Token Network used by the company is a settlement layer between financial institutions.

Under this system, controlled stablecoins and tokenized bank deposits could be transferred to other networks that were a part of the system. It is aimed at quicker and more programmable settlement.

Mastercard also launched its Crypto Credential system. This tool substitutes the use of wallet addresses with human-readable identifiers and automates compliance checks.

The ecosystem of the partners consists of a number of large crypto companies. These participants are Binance, PayPal, Ripple, Circle, Gemini, Paxos, Crypto.com, OKX, and Bybit.

There are infrastructure providers as well. These are Fireblocks, Chainalysis, MoonPay, and Worldpay.

Mastercard has extended the list of products, also regarding this strategy. In February, the company launched a joint venture with ConsenSys and Monavate on the MetaMask Card.

The card enables payment with the help of stablecoins and tokenized assets over supported networks. It has its operations in the United States and some foreign markets.

Strategic partnerships shape Mastercard crypto expansion

The joint venture is based on previous talks of acquiring Zerohash by Mastercard. The payment company had considered buying the company at a price of between $1.5 and $2 billion.

Zerohash rejected the acquisition and would later seek a $250 million funding round. The company had the aim of reaching a $1.5 billion valuation.

Mastercard is reportedly a company that is still deliberating on a strategic investment in it. No ultimate choice has been established.

Mastercard was also interested in the acquisition of BVNK, a London-based financial technology company. The firm keeps extending its activities in the digital asset payments market.

The fact that TRON becomes a partner program demonstrates the widening of the crossroads between blockchain networks and the global payment systems. 

The partnership is an indication that it is still working towards converting digital assets into the conventional financial framework.

The post TRON teams up with Mastercard in global crypto collaboration first appeared on Coinfea.

Ten Ten claimed the reason she made the revelation is that: “After my last post, he sent out a wave of lies about me using Chinese KOLs. They’re the same ones he’s been paying for years to pump coins before the rug.” She said these influencers are anonymous, coordinated with projects, and profit by pushing retail traders to buy just before sell-offs. She said some get as much as 20,000 USDT per post. “Once the pump ends, they disappear. Retail loses everything, and no one helps them,” Ten Ten added.

Justin Sun’s alleged ex-girlfriend lays more allegations

Ten Ten said Justin didn’t use bots or fake users; she claimed that he used real people. “He made his employees give him their ID cards and phone numbers,” she wrote. “Then he had Wang Bingyu open accounts using their names. After that, he started selling TRX through those accounts.” Ten posted the names of twelve people from mainland China, alleging that all of them worked under Justin at the time.

The list included Zhao Ling, Liu Jintong, Huang Kaijie, Du Xuewen, Quan Yueyuan, Han Min, Zhao Jitong, Liu Tingting, Liu Siqin, Zhang Xin, Jiang Nijun, and Wei Shuai. “I have full records—emails, exchange activity, login logs, phone data. Everything,” the woman said. She claimed she can hand it over to investigators through secure channels.

She said some of these people were later locked up in Chinese jails “under random excuses.” She didn’t say what charges they faced, but said they were removed after playing their part. “They gave him the access, helped him cash out, and then got discarded,” she wrote. Ten Ten said Justin used public hype to build interest around TRX.

“He made people think he was a genius,” she wrote. “But it was just media tricks. He printed coins, told stories, and made everyone believe.” She said the only real plan was to pull in buyers and exit while prices were high. She explained that KOLs were paid to time their signals around these dumps, and they’d post just before a coin crashed. “It was all planned. It happened again and again.”

“In many cases, project teams even collaborated with capital pools and Ponzi-style operations to artificially drive up token prices, jointly harvesting retail investors and then splitting the profits with those capital pools,” said Ten. “There were no big ideas,” she wrote. “No vision. Just greed.” She said retail traders were always the target, and that the system was never built for them.

“They were there to get drained,” she said. Ten Ten said she doesn’t care about gossip. “People keep talking about me,” she wrote. “But that’s not what matters. The only thing that matters is that everything he built was fake.” She then followed up with a joke that, “I also have an ‘Epstein files’ of the crypto world.”

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BNB Smart Chain will follow the overall upgrade of the Binance decentralized ecosystem. The Fermi hard fork is expected on January 14, with the main goal of decreasing block time and increasing transaction output. The hard fork will accelerate BNB Smart Chain to 0.45-second blocks, reaching a major protocol milestone. It builds on previous Pascal and Maxwell forks.

BNB Smart Chain prepares for the Fermi hard fork

The upgrade will push BNB Smart Chain closer to the limits of block propagation, retaining predictable uptime with a higher transaction load. Nodes will upgrade to version 1.6.4 and later 1.6.5 to run the updated network parameters. The BNB decentralized ecosystem gave way to Solana in terms of popularity, but remained a staple in trading and other apps.

As reported by Cryptopolitan, BNB Chain is fourth in terms of app revenues, standing behind Solana, TRON, and Ethereum. The chain moved ahead of Base, with $21M in revenues for the past month. The Opinion prediction market, GMGN perpetual futures DEX, and PancakeSwap are the biggest fee generators on the chain. Op BNB Chain also completed its hard fork, coming into force on January 7.

The fork’s key change was PR #305, decreasing block time from 500 to 250 milliseconds. All nodes are upgraded to propagate the new blocks. Op BNB Chain is one of the main Layer 2 networks, working to scale the overall ecosystem. BNB Chain remains one of the most active networks, retaining relatively low transaction fees.

Despite the leadership of Ethereum and Solana in terms of liquidity and trading value, BNB Chain leads in market share based on transactions and general on-chain activity. The Binance on-chain ecosystem accounts for up to 40% of overall traffic in early 2026. The increased demand was one of the main drivers for the network upgrades. BNB Chain and BNB Smart Chain carry a growing ecosystem of decentralized swaps, DeFi, wrapped tokens, and other apps.

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The discussion focused on how TRON and blockchain innovation can help the United States strengthen its position in the global digital asset landscape. Sun emphasized the importance of political backing, highlighting the GENIUS Act as a catalyst for driving significant policy reforms.

TRON seeks greater political engagement in the US

In a public statement, Sun expressed appreciation for Bo Hines’ support of the GENIUS Act and acknowledged the role of the Digital Sovereignty Alliance in facilitating critical conversations around crypto legislation. Sun stated that the TRON network is positioned to contribute meaningfully to US digital asset leadership, citing innovation, scalability, and growing adoption as key factors. He noted that Hines’ involvement in promoting crypto-friendly regulation represents a pivotal shift in US policy direction.

Hines, a former congressional candidate and rising figure in the Republican Party, has quickly emerged as a key player in shaping national crypto policy. His role as executive director has attracted the attention of major industry figures, including Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and partners from Andreessen Horowitz. Since his appointment, Hines has met with over 50 stakeholders in the crypto space, signaling the administration’s commitment to engaging directly with industry leaders.

TRON to go Public through reverse merger with SRM

In a related move, Sun announced plans to take TRON public in the United States via a reverse merger with SRM Entertainment. SRM, a company known for producing souvenirs and toys, confirmed the deal on Monday, which includes a $100 million equity investment by Sun. The agreement involves issuing preferred shares and warrants, potentially raising the total value to around $210 million. As part of the arrangement, SRM will rebrand to Tron Incorporation and Sun will serve as an advisor. Proceeds from the investment will be used to create a TRON crypto treasury, following a model similar to that of Michael Saylor’s Bitcoin strategy.

Market response and political reactions

Due to the announcement, the price of SRM shares increased by more than 460 percent, thus the market cap of the company reached about 140 million. Despite the fact that, Eric Trump denied his participation in the intended public offering, he expressed solidarity with Justin Sun and went ahead to laud the progress of TRON. He has termed Sun a reputable head in the crypto realm and a close friend. The trends have led to speculations by investors that TRON can gain more ground with party backing and regulatory clarities.

The post Justin Sun Meets US Crypto Leader to Boost TRON’s Role in Digital Asset Policy first appeared on Coinfea.