SEC sues Mining Automatic and founder over alleged $22M crypto mining scheme

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has sued crypto mining investment business Mining Automatic and its founder, Zan Shaikh, alleging they raised $22 million from investors while spending only about 13% of the funds on mining operations.  Mining Automatic was operated by Massachusetts-based Bright Vision Distribution LLC, which the SEC said raised the money from more than 380 investors between June 2023 and May 2025.  The company allegedly promised guaranteed monthly returns from crypto asset mining despite operating a business that could not generate the advertised payouts. The SEC said investor money was instead used for marketing, personal expenses and unrelated ventures.  According to the complaint, the operation generated about $1.1 million from mining while paying investors roughly $1.8 million in purported returns. The SEC alleged the shortfall meant some payments were funded with money from other investors, giving the scheme “some of the hallmarks of a Ponzi scheme.”  Mining Automatic also allegedly spent about $7 million on advertising to attract new investors, while Shaikh used investor funds for real estate, vehicles, entertainment and transfers to his personal bank accounts.  Related: White House says it received no Democratic response related to SEC, CFTC vacancies  Mining Automatic stopped paying investors by March 2025, and the SEC

07-21انڈسٹری

Tokenized Stocks Market Hits $2.2 Billion Milestone

Two numbers published by Token Terminalon July 21 tell a story that traditional finance watchers are struggling to ignore: the tokenized stocks markethas hit an all-time high of $2.2 billionin market cap, while tokenized U.S. Treasuries on BNB Chain have surged to $4.6 billion. Together, they represent a combined benchmark that would have seemed speculative just a year ago.  Key takeawaysToken Terminal reports the tokenized stocks market cap has reached an all-time high of $2.2 billion.Tokenized U.S. Treasuries on BNB Chain have hit a $4.6 billion market cap, driven by partnerships with Circle and Securitize.Robinhood is actively exploring integration of tokenized assets to boost monetization and retail engagement.Base founder Jesse Pollak acknowledged Robinhood Chain moved faster on tokenized equities, and said Base is close to launching 1:1-backed tokenized stocks with Coinbase.The regulatory environment for tokenized financial instruments is evolving toward greater clarity and institutional acceptance.  Tokenized Stocks Market Hits $2.2 Billion  The tokenized stocks marketreaching $2.2 billion is not just a round number — it signals a structural shift in how equity exposure is being packaged and distributed across blockchain infrastructure. According to Token Terminal, the analytical platform that bridges traditional finance and on-chain data, this milestone reflects genuine adoption spread across multiple

07-21انڈسٹری

Grayscale files for a Worldcoin ETF as WLD jumps 8% – Whats next?

As the exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have rebounded from the eight-week-long outflow streak, Grayscale has taken the opportunity to strengthen its foothold in altcoin ETFs.  In its S‑1 filing on the 20th of July 2026, the asset manager proposed launching a Worldcoin [WLD] ETF with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).  The Trust, established as a Delaware statutory trust on the 10th of July 2026, is designed solely to hold WLD tokens. However, it also gives investors exposure to WLDs price without requiring them to purchase or manage the cryptocurrency directly.  Source: Sec.govMore details of the Worldcoin ETF filing  That said, Grayscale intends to list the fund on the Nasdaq with the ticker “GWLD.” This would allow the launch to happen more quickly, as per the generic listing standards.  Additionally, the filing also emphasizes that this is not a regulated commodity pool or registered investment company. Simply put, investors do not have the same protections as with conventional mutual funds or CFTC-regulated products.  In a corporate sense, the Sponsor (Grayscale Investments Sponsors, LLC) is part of a chain of Grayscale entities that are all ultimately owned by Digital Currency Group (DCG). In fact, the actual WLD and its private keys will be held by BitGo Bank

07-21انڈسٹری

Crypto Markets Add $70B Daily as Bitcoins Price Hits Monthly High: Market Watch

Cardanos ADA is among the top performers in the past 24 hours.  Bitcoins price rebounded swiftly after the Monday morning dip below $64,000 and has gained over two grand since then, climbing to a monthly peak of over $66,000.  The altcoin space has turned green as well. ETH is inching closer to $1,950, XRP is testing the $1.13 resistance, while ADA has stolen the show from the larger caps.  BTC Sees Monthly Peak  The previous business week began on a familiar note, as BTC priced in the weekend attacks in the Middle East and dropped below $62,000 from over $64,000. The bulls stepped up after the favorable CPI data for June, pushing the asset to $65,500 for the first time in three weeks.  However, its progress stalled there, and bitcoin dipped to $62,500 by Friday. Nevertheless, the bulls were more persistent once again and initiated an immediate recovery right before and during the weekend, in which the cryptocurrency climbed back to $64,000.  It tried to take down $65,000 on Sunday, but it was stopped and dropped once again on Monday morning. This time, it was a lot less painful, and it quickly rebounded from the daily low of $63,750.  It jumped past $65,500 earlier today before another

07-21انڈسٹری

CLARITY Act ‘clears key hurdle’ – White House agrees to crypto ethics deal

President Donald Trump has reportedly backed an ethics deal, effectively clearing the final obstacle to the crypto market structure bill, the CLARITY Act.  According to reports, the ethics language arrangement was reached by the White House and Republican Senators Cynthia Lummis and Bernie Moreno.  Although the text was expected to be made public soon, the details of the deal remained unknown. Besides, Democrats had yet to see the text, at least as of writing.  The ethics provision came back to light after Trump made over $1.4B from his crypto ventures. Democrats, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, insisted that there was no need for the CLARITY Act if it does not rein in Trump‘s ’corruption in the industry.  For the bill to pass the Senate floor vote, Republicans will need about 7-10 Democrats to reach the 60-vote threshold. It remains to be seen whether Democrats will back the reported ethics provision.  According to crypto platform SoSoValue, however, this could unlock Democratic support.  The CLARITY Act has cleared a key hurdle, with Trump agreeing to include crypto ethics provisions in the bill, removing the last major political obstacle to securing Democratic support and advancing it to a Senate vote.  Global crypto race heats up as CLARITY Act delays  Separately, White

07-21انڈسٹری

Inside Cardano's 'Van Rossum' hard fork, and what it means for users

It adds new capabilities to Plutus, the platform developers use to write Cardanos smart contracts, unifying the built-in functions available across the platforms three versions so older applications gain newer features.  The upgrade also tightens several of the ledgers validation rules, including one guaranteeing that no two stake pools can reuse the same cryptographic identity key.  “As well as Plutus improvements and Plutus Cost Model enhancements, this upgrade lays the foundation for the next upgrade, the Dijkstra era hard fork, which will introduce Ouroboros Leios to Cardano,” Input Output wrote in a development report on Friday.  Ouroboros Leios is a scaling proposal for the proof-of-stake consensus model that Cardano runs. It is expected later in 2026 and aimed at sharply increasing transactions per second without weakening the protocols security guarantees.  Van Rossem is the procedural groundwork for Ouroboros, both in the ledger changes it ships and in the precedent it sets: that Cardano can now upgrade itself by vote.  The hard fork is named for Max van Rossem, a Cardano governance contributor who helped shape the networks constitution and died in October 2025.  What the hard fork means for a Cardano user  There are no visible changes for someone casually holding or spending ADA. Transactions work the

07-21انڈسٹری

Vermont Passes Chatbot Mental Health Law That Raises Questions About Therapists Rubber-Stamping AI Advice

New AI mental health law by Vermont raises the question of therapists possibly rubber-stamping AI.  getty  In today‘s column, I examine a new law in Vermont regarding the use of AI for mental health advisement. Overall, the law is generally on par with many other states that have enacted similar laws. There aren’t any especially unusual conditions or extraordinary requirements.  That being said, the Vermont law is a handy vehicle for considering a frequent and potentially challenging stipulation in these budding state-level laws about the oversight of AI for mental health. The key indication in most of these laws is that a therapist or mental health professional must be somewhere “in the loop” and serve as a reviewer and potential approver of any mental health recommendations or similar outputs from the AI.  On the face of things, this makes sense. A professional therapist will presumably catch the AI in providing untoward or misguided mental health advice to users. One worry is that therapists performing this oversight role will potentially fall into a classic trap, namely, they will begin rubber-stamping whatever the AI says. This is quite possible and usually due to the therapist being lulled into believing that the AI is always right, plus

07-21انڈسٹری

Bitcoin Market Absorbs Record $1.5 Billion Anthropic Copyright Ruling

Crypto News  A US federal judge granted final approval to Anthropics $1.5 billion settlement with authors this week, finalizing the largest known payout in an American copyright case and sending a costly signal across the AI and crypto sectors. Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin signed the order on Monday, overruling objections that the figure was too low. The decision matters for a market where AI-themed tokens and the broader altcoin complex increasingly track the fortunes of large language-model developers. Bitcoin (BTC) held near $66,000 as the ruling landed, with trader sentiment stuck in extreme fear and capital rotating cautiously between technology equities and digital assets.  The dispute began in 2024, when a group of authors sued Anthropic, alleging the company used pirated copies of their books to train Claude, the large language model that powers its chatbot and increasingly its coding tools. The complaint placed Anthropic among a widening cohort of AI developers — builders of everything from consumer chatbots to AI trading bots — facing legal exposure over the data used to train their systems. Anthropic argued that ingesting published books to build a model constituted fair use, a defense that would later shape both the litigation and the settlement framework the court

07-21انڈسٹری

Top 3 Altcoins to Watch For Fourth Week of July 2026

Three altcoins to watch this week: Pump.fun (PUMP) leads with a sharp breakout after gaining 34% in seven days.  Pi Network (PI) rebounds from its all-time low, while Injective (INJ) climbs its Fibonacci ladder. However, the three charts tell different stories about momentum. The table below summarizes where each token stands.CoinPrice7-DayTrendRSIPUMP$0.00198+34%Bullish70PI$0.100+24%Bearish (recovering)~50INJ$5.27+11%Bullish~58  PUMP Breaks Out Above 0.382 Fibonacci Level  Pump.fun trades near $0.00195 after a 34% weekly gain, the strongest of the three. The token surged almost 20% on July 19 alone. It has cleared two Fibonacci levels, the 0.236 at $0.00167 and the 0.382 near $0.00200.  Price also broke above the previous swing high around $0.0018. The Bollinger Bands are expanding, and the price rides the upper band. This pattern often signals the start of a fresh uptrend.  PUMP daily chart Source: Tradingview  The token remains tied to activity on its Solana launchpad. However, the relative strength index (RSI) sits at 70, on the edge of overbought territory. A move back below the 0.236 level would weaken the bullish case.  Pi Network Rebounds From Record Low but Stays Bearish  In contrast to PUMP, Pi Network shows strength without a healthy structure. PI trades near $0.100, up about 24% for the week. The token set a record low

07-21انڈسٹری

Tether Gold XAU₮ Wins ADGM Approval in UAE

Tether Gold (XAU₮) wins ADGM approval, allowing regulated firms in Abu Dhabi to offer services tied to tokenized gold.  The United Arab Emirates has taken another step in expanding its regulated crypto market.  Tether Gold (XAU₮) has received recognition as an Accepted Spot Commodity within Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM).  The move gives licensed firms a regulated route to provide services linked to the tokenized gold asset. It also strengthens the UAEs growing role in digital assets and tokenized real-world assets.  Tether Gold XAU₮ Approved Under ADGM Spot Commodity Framework  Tether announced on July 20 that ADGM now recognizes XAU₮ as an Accepted Spot Commodity.  The company shared the update through its official website and confirmed it through its official X account.  Tethers XAU₮ Recognized as Accepted Spot Commodity in ADGM  The approval allows firms operating within ADGM to offer products and services involving XAU₮.  Those firms must still hold the required regulatory permissions before supporting the token. According to Tether, the recognition followed continued discussions with ADGM.  Those engagements focused on demonstrating the projects compliance standards, transparency, and operational resilience.  XAU₮ represents ownership of physical gold on the blockchain. Each full token corresponds to one troy ounce of gold stored in a London Good Delivery bar, giving users digital access

07-21انڈسٹری
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