treasury

The U.S. Treasury Department announced this week that it will include Iran's digital asset industry in the same sanctions framework it has long used to sanction the oil, banking, and financial sectors, further tightening Iran's ability to evade sanctions through cryptocurrency. This action is part of "Operation Economic Outcast," referred to as "Economic D-Day" against Iran, and represents a significant escalation of global risks for cryptocurrency enterprises.According to the new action, the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has the authority to impose sanctions on individuals anywhere. OFAC stated that Iran is increasingly using cryptocurrency as a preferred tool to evade sanctions, supporting transactions related to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and insiders of the Iranian regime. Foreign exchanges, over-the-counter desks, payment processors, and infrastructure providers that knowingly support transactions in Iran's digital asset industry will face the risk of being added to the sanctions list and losing access to the U.S. financial system.OFAC also sanctioned members of a group within Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) accused of representing Iran in attacks on critical U.S. infrastructure and published their wallet addresses. The group's co-leader Behzad Mesri and members Keyvan Fayyaz Ghareh Blagh and Arman Kahzadian's Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency addresses have been added to the sanctions list. Previously, Bloomberg reported that Iran had launched Bitcoin-backed insurance services for shipping companies, and the U.S. also froze cryptocurrency assets related to the Iranian regime in July, most of which were Tether stablecoins.

According to Whale Alert monitoring, 152,951,179 USDC from the USDC Treasury on the Solana chain has been burned, with an estimated value of approximately 152,979,858 USD.

Due to the decline in crude oil prices easing inflation concerns, U.S. Treasury prices rose, and yields on U.S. Treasuries across all maturities fell by 2 to 4 basis points.Treasury Secretary Yellen announced plans to at least double the scale of Treasury buybacks, with the yield on 30-year U.S. Treasuries having decreased by about 9 basis points to 5.19%.

According to an announcement on the official website of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the U.S. Department of the Treasury has announced the launch of the Quantum Readiness Working Group. This working group is a public-private partnership mechanism that will promote the orderly and resilient transition of the U.S. financial industry to post-quantum technology, and will connect to the roadmap for post-quantum cryptography migration developed by the G7 Cyber Experts Group.The working group will operate through three workstreams: "Industry Collaboration and Post-Quantum Cryptography Migration," "Third-Party and Vendor Readiness," and "Digital Asset and Emerging Technology Risks." It will bring together government, financial institutions, financial market infrastructure, technology vendors, and other private sector participants, focusing on identifying critical dependencies, enhancing cryptographic agility and interoperability, strengthening the protection of critical financial infrastructure, and addressing implementation challenges related to third-party dependencies and digital assets.

Vaults.fyi released the report "2026 DeFi Custody Market Status," covering 856 vaults, 131 custodians, and 18 protocols, with a total locked value of approximately $11.29 billion. Over the past year, the TVL on the supply side of DeFi decreased by 41.8%, while the TVL of custody vaults grew by 39%, increasing market share from 5.24% to 12.51%. The top 5 custodians manage 69% of the funds, and the top 10 account for 79.1%. The leading landscape has changed dramatically, with Sentora and Concrete not making the list a year ago, now ranking second and fourth, respectively, while Usual dropped from fourth to thirty-fourth.Morpho ranks first among protocols with a custody TVL of 46.2%, with the remaining 53.8% distributed across the other 17 protocols. Bitcoin collateral accounts for 54.1% of Morpho's top 25 stablecoin vaults (approximately $3.71 billion). In terms of address concentration, weighted by TVL, a single address holds an average of 47% of vault shares, with the top ten addresses collectively controlling 74%. About 33% of the custody funds require a multi-step redemption process, with a 7-day annualized yield median of 4.82%, which is 98 basis points higher than instant redemption vaults.The report also points out that traditional financial institutions such as Société Générale, Apollo, and JPMorgan have begun to deploy custody vault strategies.

The U.S. Treasury Department has expanded its sanctions framework against Iran to include the digital asset sector, stating that the relevant cryptocurrency payments exceed $100 million, which were used to assist in the sale of Iranian oil. The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), a division of the U.S. Treasury, has also imposed sanctions on nearly 60 entities, individuals, and vessels involved in nuclear energy, missiles, cyber activities, and the oil network.The sanctions in the digital asset sector allow OFAC to sanction foreign individuals and companies operating in Iran's digital asset sector or providing support services to the relevant field. The U.S. Treasury stated that Iran is increasingly using cryptocurrencies to evade sanctions, including transactions related to the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and insiders within the government. The U.S. Treasury noted that Ukrainian broker Ivan Obukhov, a UAE national, has processed over $100 million in cryptocurrency payments since 2023 to assist the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force in oil sales. OFAC has added Ivan Obukhov and his UAE company Foscom FZE to the sanctions list.

Billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller stated that the decision by Besant to spend billions of dollars to buy back U.S. Treasuries is a wrong decision. He believes that the market aggregates information that no committee can possess, and prices are the way information is conveyed to decision-makers. Druckenmiller pointed out that the Treasury's attempt to influence the bond market lacks rationale, and the current financial environment is in a loose state.

BitMEX co-founder and Maelstrom CIO Arthur Hayes stated that U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent may expand the buyback of government bonds and increase the issuance of short-term Treasury bills to suppress long-term U.S. Treasury yields, and utilize funds from the Treasury General Account (TGA) to release liquidity. Hayes believes that such "proactive fiscal issuance" operations are similar to Yellen's approach in 2023, which guided money market fund funds away from the Federal Reserve's reverse repurchase tool through the issuance of short-term debt, and previously drove up risk assets and Bitcoin.Hayes pointed out that if the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield approaches or exceeds 5%, it will significantly raise costs for residential mortgages, corporate financing, and may prompt the Treasury to further intervene in the bond market. He expects that if U.S. dollar liquidity continues to expand, Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market are likely to benefit, but there may still be significant corrections during this period.

The U.S. Treasury has imposed sanctions on nearly 60 entities, individuals, and vessels related to Iran, involving nuclear, missile, cyber, and oil networks.Potential secondary sanctions have been implemented against five industries, including digital assets, technology, gold, aviation, and shipping; a general license has been suspended for certain remittances to Iran.

According to Fox Business News, Wall Street executives say that U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen is prepared to take aggressive measures to push the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield towards around 5%.

On-chain data shows that at 21:46 Beijing time today, USDC Treasury minted an additional 250 million USDC on the Solana chain.

According to CNBC, two senior officials from the U.S. Treasury revealed that the Treasury may utilize a fiscal general account (TGA) close to $1 trillion to fund its recently announced expansion of the government bond purchase program. Using the TGA account will give the Treasury greater ability to influence long-term bond yields.Last week, the U.S. Treasury unexpectedly announced that it would increase the repurchase scale of long-term "off-the-run securities" from $2 billion to at least $4 billion. U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen stated that the scale of such operations could even exceed this new minimum level. However, the Treasury did not specify how it would fund these purchases at that time.Most market participants previously believed that the Treasury would raise funds by increasing the issuance of short-term Treasury bills. If the TGA account is utilized, the market's perception of this plan may change.The TGA is essentially a "checking account" that the U.S. government has with the Federal Reserve, similar to an emergency fund pool for the government. The funds in this account come from existing tax revenues.

Federal Reserve's Kashkari downplayed market concerns about rising U.S. Treasury yields, stating that the market is functioning well and the recent surge is unlikely to affect discussions on monetary policy.Kashkari noted that trading in the U.S. Treasury market is proceeding normally, liquidity is ample, and the federal funds rate remains the primary tool for reducing inflation.

According to Fortune, Bitcoin surged significantly this week, breaking through the previous range of $62,000 to $67,000 that lasted for several weeks, and rising above $77,000 on Friday. The important turning point in the market occurred after the U.S. Treasury announced an expansion of its long-term Treasury bond repurchase program, leading to a decline in long-term U.S. Treasury yields and the dollar, while alternative assets like Bitcoin and gold strengthened simultaneously.The U.S. Treasury stated that it would at least double the scale of long-term Treasury bond repurchases to alleviate the ongoing selling pressure in the bond market. Meanwhile, the total amount of U.S. Treasury debt surpassed $40 trillion, combined with inflation and energy price pressures, raising concerns in the market about the purchasing power of the dollar and long-term fiscal conditions. Funds began to flow into the so-called "debasement trade," with Bitcoin accumulating a rise of over 20% this week.Previously, many traders bet that BTC would continue to be constrained around $67,000, but after the Treasury's actions pushed yields and the dollar down, Bitcoin broke through that price level, forcing short sellers to cover. Since covering positions requires buying BTC, this further drove up the price and triggered more liquidations. According to CoinGlass data, over $4 billion in cryptocurrency short positions have been liquidated during this rally as of Friday.Additionally, Trump urged Congress to advance the CLARITY Act at a cryptocurrency conference held at the White House this week. CFTC Chairman Mike Selig subsequently stated that he would use existing authority to promote the government's cryptocurrency policy agenda, which also provided a policy-level catalyst for this market rally.

As the cryptocurrency market continues to rebound, Bitcoin mining companies and digital asset treasury company stocks rose over the weekend. The market believes that the U.S. Treasury's announcement to expand the long-term Treasury bond repurchase program has improved liquidity expectations, boosting risk asset sentiment and further enhancing the performance of crypto-related stocks.Bitcoin mining company Canaan's stock price rose over 25%; MARA Holdings continued to rise after gaining nearly 16% on Thursday. Digital asset treasury company Strive, which holds over 20,000 Bitcoins, rose more than 16% on Friday. Additionally, Trump stated that the U.S. government may purchase Bitcoin in a "large-scale" manner in the future.The market's rise is also driven by improved expectations for U.S. regulation. U.S. President Trump again called on Congress on Thursday to advance the CLARITY Act, which aims to further clarify the regulatory framework for digital assets in the U.S., delineating the regulatory responsibilities of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the cryptocurrency market.

According to Whale Alert monitoring, Tether Treasury issued 1 billion USDT.

Regarding Besant's increased investment in U.S. Treasury buybacks, Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan stated, "When the government artificially suppresses long-term interest rates, it erodes the value of savings. Investors need to purchase hard assets to escape this predicament. Bitcoin is the fastest horse in this race."

According to Whale Alert monitoring, Binance transferred 400 million USDT to Tether Treasury.

According to businesswire, Bitcoin treasury company BSTR Holdings announced that it has reached an agreement with Cantor Equity Partners to terminate the business combination agreement signed by both parties on July 16, 2025.The reason for termination is that under the current market environment, the valuation of Bitcoin and publicly listed Bitcoin treasury companies continues to be under pressure, leading to a mismatch in the capital market, which restricts the amplifying effect of financing tools such as convertible bonds and perpetual preferred stocks in Bitcoin treasury strategies.BSTR stated that it will continue to promote institutional-level Bitcoin asset management business once the market environment stabilizes.