☕️ US Treasury sanctions Russia-linked A7 network; Fed hikes rates The US Treasury moved to sever a multi-billion-dollar Russian shadow banking network, while the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates by 25 basis points following resilient job growth.
1. US Treasury sanctions Russia-linked A7 shadow banking network — FinCEN and OFAC targeted the A7 Network, proposing a ban on transactions with its sub-agents. The network processed $179.1 billion via a ruble-backed stablecoin on Ethereum and Tron to bypass Western banking cutoffs. 2. Federal Reserve hikes interest rates to 3.75-4% range — The FOMC unanimously voted to lift the policy rate by 25 basis points after August nonfarm payrolls expanded by 162,000. Higher policy rates sustain elevated capital costs for risk assets and decentralized finance yields. 3. Nasdaq Ventures invests $100M in Kraken parent Payward — The exchange operator will back Payward to launch the Nasdaq Equity Token framework in 2027. Payward will also integrate Nasdaq market surveillance technology across its crypto and derivatives trading venues. 4. SEC and Ripple dismiss appeals, finalizing $125M penalty — A joint stipulation ends years of litigation over unregistered $XRP distributions. A district court judgment requiring Ripple Labs to pay a $125 million civil penalty and adhere to a registration injunction remains in effect. 5. Ethereum developers propose issuance burn to cap staking — Draft EIP-8363 aims to eliminate the yield floor for validators, capping the staking ratio below 50%. The proposal seeks to protect solo stakers from dilution and reduce incentives for large-scale operators to expand.
📊 Bitcoin trades at $84,414, Ether is at $2,662, and total market capitalization stands at $2.84 trillion amid a Fear & Greed Index reading of 72.
