Blockhead

USB sticks loaded with USDT changed hands in Caracas hotels and restaurants as a chain of intermediaries multiplied, according to a Financial Times investigation that has already produced criminal charges against former executives at the Polish energy group's Swiss trading arm.

Coinbase led the selloff with a decline of roughly 10%, and total crypto market capitalization fell more than 3%, as the bill's defeat closes off, for now, the market-structure framework the industry had lobbied for over several years.

The exchange will repurchase its CET token before shutting down entirely, becoming the second major platform to exit the market in three months after BitMEX's July closure.

The concessions clear a key obstacle to Tuesday's cloture vote, though prediction markets still put the bill's odds of passing at roughly one in four.

Ethereum outpaced Bitcoin's ETF demand for a fourth straight week even as both assets traded in a narrow range with the Fed's rate decision and a Senate procedural vote on the CLARITY Act both due this week.