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7 May 2026, 01:30

ZachXBT: $150 Million DSJ Crypto Ponzi Collapses, $41.5 Million Frozen

Crypto on-chain investigator ZachXBT said the DSJ Exchange, also known as DSJEX, and BG Wealth Sharing Ponzi scheme collapsed last week after allegedly drawing in more than $150 million. The case now carries a second, market-relevant dimension: a rapid cross-chain laundering attempt that moved more than $92 million in less than a week and triggered a coordinated freeze of over $41.5 million. ZachXBT said he helped lead an initiative involving Tether, Binance’s Security Team, OKX and US law enforcement after tracking the movement of funds between April 27 and May 3. According to his account, illicit actors attempted to obscure the money trail across multiple chains before a portion of the assets could be immobilized. “The $150M+ DSJ Exchange (DSJEX) / BG Wealth Sharing Ponzi scheme collapsed last week,” ZachXBT wrote on X. “From April 27 – May 3, illicit actors laundered $92M+ across chains to obscure the trail. I helped lead an initiative with Tether, Binance Security Team, OKX, & US law enforcement that has since frozen $41.5M+.” $150M Crypto Ponzi Collapses After Regulators Warned Investors According to ZachXBT, DSJ and BG had been operating since 2025, promoting daily returns of 1.3% to 2.6% alongside referral commissions and rank-based bonuses. He described DSJ as a fake trading platform and BG as the investment group tied to the scheme. A purported CEO, Stephen Beard, allegedly fronted the operation, while domains and hot wallets were rotated regularly in an apparent effort to evade enforcement. The crypto scheme’s recruitment engine, ZachXBT said, was built around social channels rather than sophisticated DeFi mechanics. Fake trading signals were allegedly pushed through a group on BonChat, a Hong Kong messaging app. He credited Dehek and BehindMLM for early coverage of the investment fraud. Regulatory warnings had already been piling up before the collapse. ZachXBT said 13 regulators across five continents had publicly warned about DSJ and BG, while US law enforcement seized one BG-linked domain, Bgwealthsharing.com, on April 23, 2026. The unraveling appears to have followed a familiar Ponzi pattern : withdrawals were disabled, then users were asked for more money. On May 2, ZachXBT said Beard posted a video claiming DSJ would soon pursue an IPO and demanded a 12% “tax” on account balances as part of a supposed regulatory process. “By this point, withdrawals had already been disabled,” ZachXBT wrote. The laundering trail, as described by ZachXBT, moved through several routes. Funds from DSJ and BG hot wallets were allegedly processed through Tokenlon swaps, Bridgers, Butter Network and USDT0 bridging, USDD wrapping and unwrapping, and consolidation across hundreds of addresses. He published multiple Ethereum and Tron hot wallet addresses tied to the investigation. The largest traced outflows, according to ZachXBT, went to Cobo-linked deposit addresses. He said he traced more than $93 million in outflows from consolidations to multiple deposit addresses between April 27 and May 3, with Cobo receiving $63 million in total. He also performed timing analysis to identify withdrawals, located Solana and Tron deposits to Binance, found matching Tron withdrawals, and provided those details to relevant parties. That work, he said, led to $38.4 million being frozen by Tether on May 4, with more than $3.1 million additionally frozen at various services and exchanges. ZachXBT framed the case as less technically complex than many crypto crime investigations, but still significant because of the scale of victims and the speed of the laundering attempt. “While these Chinese investment frauds are obvious to most, they purposely target unsophisticated retail investors via social media,” he wrote. “Reading through victim posts, many still seem to be in denial that they were scammed.” He advised victims of BG or DSJ to file police reports in their own jurisdictions, and directed US victims to IC3.gov. ZachXBT also cautioned that the $150 million estimate may understate the real damage, saying the figure is “likely significantly higher” because the scheme had been operating since 2025 and thousands of victim exchange withdrawals had been identified. At press time, the total crypto market cap stood at $2.68 trillion.

7 May 2026, 01:15

Ethereum chosen as Wall Street’s on-chain treasury with $8B locked

BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, Fidelity, and WisdomTree doubled the US government bond market on Ethereum to $8 billion in just six months. Token Terminal posted a chart on X showing the market increased from about $4 billion in November 2025 to $8 billion in May 2026 (a 100% increase in 6 months). Source: Tokenterminal What is a tokenized Treasury, and why does putting one on a blockchain matter? A US Treasury is a loan you give the US government, which promises to pay you back with interest after a set period. Banks, pension funds, insurance companies, and governments worldwide hold trillions of dollars’ worth of them because governments have never defaulted on loans. In that case, tokenized treasuries work like a US treasury, but using tokens that represent ownership instead of a paper certificate or digital record at a traditional bank. Adding tokenized treasuries to a blockchain makes sense because they settle in seconds, at any time of the day, and any day of the week, including weekends and holidays. In comparison, a traditional Treasury bond settles in one to two business days. On top of that, users do not need a brokerage account, a US bank account, or even to be in the United States to hold a tokenized Treasury. As long as you have a crypto wallet and the right compliance details, you are good to go. Unlike a traditional treasury, users can program tokenized Treasuries to automatically pay yield into a DeFi lending pool. Users can also use them as collateral to borrow stablecoins or move them between wallets instantly. Finally, anyone can verify fund movements and balances because the system records every transaction on a public blockchain. Who are the biggest influencers, and how much does each one hold? BlackRock’s BUIDL fund, managed by Securitize , holds the largest share, at about $2.63 billion in tokenized Treasury value. The USDY token by Ondo Finance comes in second with roughly $2.14 billion , while Franklin Templeton’s iBENJI is third with around $2.1 billion . Other products also made a noticeable impact, including Centrifuge’s JTRSY at $1.14 billion, WisdomTree’s WTGXX at $978 million, Superstate’s USTB at $850 million, and Ondo’s OUSG at $682 million. Why Ethereum instead of Bitcoin or Solana? Ethereum leads because it is a programmable blockchain that runs smart contracts that automatically pay interest to every wallet that holds a tokenized Treasury token, without supervision. According to rwa.xyz data , all big tokenized Treasury products either run on Ethereum or use it as their primary chain, even when they also support other networks. Bitcoin lacks smart contracts, so users can’t program it to handle tasks automatically. Solana, on the other hand, supports smart contracts and processes transactions faster and more cheaply than Ethereum, but it’s technically a newer system with a small track record. Ethereum has a longer history and a bigger pool of audited code, so most large financial institutions choose the blockchain first. Data from rwa.xyz shows Ethereum holds $8 billion in tokenized Treasuries, as BNB Chain follows suit with around $3.4 billion. Solana, Stellar, and XRP Ledger each hold under $1 billion, making Ethereum the biggest holder among all other blockchains combined. Similarly, Ethereum provides a well-documented history that allows a bank’s legal team to better explain to regulators how a product works because regulators are familiar with the blockchain’s smart contract standards. Why did the market double in only six months? Interest rates remained high enough to make Treasuries attractive; each token could yield around 5% to 10% per year. Major institutions also launched products and expanded into new chains, exposing the products to more users and attracting fresh capital. Similarly, the price of Ethereum increased from $1,748 in February 2026 to around $2,464 in May, a gain of more than 40%. This growth attracts investments from institutions that are confident their collateral will also increase in value. Will this growth continue? No, there is nothing in financial markets that is a guarantee. The risks, however, are real. One reason Ethereum went from $4 to $8 was that the US Treasury raised interest rates to fight inflation. That meant the yield on US Treasury bonds also went up, but money might flow elsewhere if the US Federal Reserve cuts interest rates sharply. The US also hasn’t passed clear laws on tokenized securities. Many large institutions have already developed products that comply with the new laws, but if these laws change, the same companies will face setbacks. If you're reading this, you’re already ahead. Stay there with our newsletter .

7 May 2026, 01:05

Evernorth Adding Ripple Legal Chief to Board Ahead of XRP Treasury Push

Evernorth is expanding its leadership team as it moves toward a planned public listing. The company said the strategy is designed to support institutional adoption of XRP through a regulated public-company structure. Evernorth Expands Leadership Team Evernorth Holdings Inc. announced on May 5, 2026, that it is expanding its leadership team with new board members

7 May 2026, 00:04

Can Bittrex win back $24M as SEC abandons Biden-era crypto cases?

Bittrex is fighting to recover $24 million from the SEC. The once-popular crypto exchange, which shut down after a tough settlement under the Biden administration, now sees a real chance under the current Trump-era SEC that has dropped its hard line on digital assets. This case could test whether other crypto firms that were punished before can challenge old penalties and win refunds. Bittrex’s lawyers filed a motion asking a federal judge in Seattle to vacate the old judgment and order the SEC to return the 2023 payments. They argue that the regulator has completely changed its view of crypto, rendering the original case unfair. What happened to Bittrex? In 2023, the SEC sued Bittrex for running an unregistered securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency. The agency claimed many tokens traded on the platform were unregistered securities. Instead of fighting in court, Bittrex settled and paid $24 million, comprising $14.4 million in alleged profits and interest, plus a penalty. It neither admitted nor denied the charges. The company had already agreed the year before to pay the Treasury Department $29 million to resolve sanctions issues involving countries such as Iran, Cuba, and Syria. Soon after the SEC settlement, Bittrex announced it was shutting down its U.S. operations. It said the regulatory and economic environment made it impossible to keep going profitably. Why Bittrex thinks it deserves the money back now Bittrex’s motion points out big shifts at the SEC since President Trump returned to power. The new leadership has said most crypto tokens are not securities. The agency has dropped nearly all similar lawsuits against crypto companies and exchanges. In the filing, Bittrex’s attorneys wrote: “Two-and-a-half years after extracting a settlement from a bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange premised on the legal theory that the tokens that traded on the exchange were securities, the SEC has (a) conceded that its legal theory was wrong… (b) acknowledged that its enforcement strategy was misguided from the start, and (c) dropped every similar case and investigation except this one.” It would be fair for Bittrex to benefit from this change of heart, just like other firms have. In March 2026, the SEC tried to move the $24 million to the Treasury for possible distribution to harmed customers, but efforts to identify those customers fell short. Bittrex wants the judge to return the funds to the company before any transfer happens. A big test for crypto enforcement This fight is more than just about one company’s money. It could set an important example for other crypto businesses hit by enforcement actions during the Biden years. Many in the industry complained that the SEC, under former Chair Gary Gensler, used a “regulation by enforcement” approach that stifled innovation without clear rules. The current SEC is taking a friendlier stance toward digital assets. By dropping cases and softening its position on what counts as a security, it has created hope that past settlements based on the old view can be revisited. Bittrex filed for bankruptcy protection not long after the SEC lawsuit. Getting $24 million back would be a meaningful boost for its estate and former stakeholders. However, success is not guaranteed. Courts do not easily undo final settlements, even when agencies change direction. An SEC spokesperson declined to comment on the ongoing case when contacted. Legal experts are watching closely. If the judge sides with Bittrex, it might open the door for more challenges from other firms. If not, it could signal that old penalties will remain in place despite the policy shift. For the crypto industry, this case highlights how quickly the regulatory wind can change in Washington. Bittrex’s attempt shows that companies are ready to push back when the rules of the game appear to shift in their favor. The outcome could influence how future SEC actions are handled and whether past punishments feel truly final. The smartest crypto minds already read our newsletter. Want in? Join them .

6 May 2026, 23:32

Circle Urges OCC to Finalize Strong GENIUS Act Stablecoin Rules

Circle urged the OCC to finalize clear, consistently applied GENIUS Act rules for payment stablecoin issuers. The company said the proposed framework should support reliable redemption and strong risk controls for regulated digital payment instruments. Circle Backs National Stablecoin Licensing Standards Circle Internet Group (NYSE: CRCL) revealed May 5 that it had submitted comments on

6 May 2026, 23:30

Nasdaq President: SEC Regulatory Shift Opens Door to Blockchain Experimentation

BitcoinWorld Nasdaq President: SEC Regulatory Shift Opens Door to Blockchain Experimentation Nasdaq President Tal Cohen said a softening in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) approach to cryptocurrency regulation is enabling a new wave of experimentation with blockchain technology and asset tokenization. Speaking in remarks reported by CoinDesk, Cohen described the current regulatory climate as a marked departure from the previous environment of uncertainty that had effectively stalled industry innovation. A Shift in Regulatory Tone Cohen noted that under the SEC’s previous posture, the lack of clear guidelines created a chilling effect across the digital assets sector. Many financial institutions and technology providers hesitated to invest in blockchain-based systems, fearing regulatory backlash. Now, he argued, a more constructive dialogue with regulators is emerging, allowing companies like Nasdaq to move beyond theoretical discussions into practical development. Nasdaq’s Expanding Blockchain Investment Nasdaq, which provides trading technology to more than 130 markets worldwide, is responding to this shift by increasing its investment in blockchain and tokenization initiatives. The company sees these technologies as central to modernizing capital markets infrastructure. Tokenization, the process of representing real-world assets as digital tokens on a blockchain, is a particular area of focus. Cohen indicated that Nasdaq is actively building and testing new systems designed to integrate these capabilities into existing market structures. Why This Matters for the Broader Market The endorsement from a major market infrastructure operator like Nasdaq carries significant weight. It signals that blockchain technology is moving from the periphery of financial innovation toward mainstream institutional adoption. For investors and market participants, this development suggests that regulatory clarity could accelerate the deployment of tokenized securities, potentially improving liquidity, settlement times, and transparency in traditional markets. However, Cohen also cautioned that the environment remains evolving, and sustained progress depends on continued cooperation between regulators and industry players. Conclusion Cohen’s comments reflect a growing sentiment among financial executives that the SEC’s evolving stance is creating a more favorable environment for blockchain experimentation. While the regulatory landscape is not yet fully settled, Nasdaq’s increased commitment to tokenization and blockchain technology underscores a pivotal moment for the integration of digital assets into regulated financial markets. The coming months will reveal whether this shift leads to tangible products or remains a cautious exploration. FAQs Q1: What exactly did Nasdaq President Tal Cohen say about the SEC? Cohen stated that the SEC’s shift in regulatory approach is reducing past uncertainty and encouraging more experimentation with blockchain and tokenization in financial markets. Q2: How is Nasdaq responding to this regulatory change? Nasdaq is increasing its investment in blockchain and tokenization technology, actively building and testing systems that could modernize capital markets infrastructure. Q3: Why is tokenization important for traditional markets? Tokenization allows real-world assets like stocks, bonds, or real estate to be represented digitally on a blockchain, potentially improving liquidity, settlement speed, and transparency. This post Nasdaq President: SEC Regulatory Shift Opens Door to Blockchain Experimentation first appeared on BitcoinWorld .