Trump Shuts Down SBF Pardon Hopes as Iran Goes Woke on Crypto 😤
Welcome to another edition of your favorite weekly news round-up… from Coinigy
Now, if you were holding out hope for an SBF pardon, Trump just drained SBF's hope wallet to zero, and those dreams just fell apart in what looks like an FTX collapse, and the betting markets knew exactly what to do with news like that.
Meanwhile, while Western regulators are tightening up on crypto companies, Iran's been playing a completely different game, moving big crypto money to fund militant operations. That's not exactly the use case we had in mind for financial freedom, but here we are.
Here are the Highlights:
- Donald Trump Says No Pardon for FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried
- Iran Used $2 Billion in Crypto to Run Its Militant Proxies in 2025
- Registered crypto companies must reapply for approval, UK regulator says
- Coinbase pushes back against banks to keep rewarding users for holding stablecoins
Donald Trump Says No Pardon for FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried
President Donald Trump has firmly ruled out granting a pardon to Sam Bankman-Fried, ending lingering speculation that the former FTX CEO could receive clemency despite his high-profile conviction. The comments came during a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times, where Trump addressed potential pardons for several controversial figures and made it clear that Bankman-Fried would not be among them. Meanwhile, following the news, betting odds on an SBF pardon collapsed from 20% to just 6%, signaling that traders now see clemency as highly unlikely.
Iran Used $2 Billion in Crypto to Run Its Militant Proxies in 2025
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) transacted more than $2 billion in cryptocurrency to avoid sanctions and fuel cybercriminal operations, according to Chainalysis. The figure could be higher, given that it only accounts for sanctions designations from the US. Crypto crime surged to unprecedented levels in 2025. According to data compiled by Chainalysis, illicit cryptocurrency transactions increased by 162% compared to the previous year, totaling at least $154 billion. Sanctioned jurisdictions have significantly expanded their reliance on cryptocurrencies as a means of bypassing financial restrictions.
Registered crypto companies must reapply for approval, UK regulator says
The U.K.'s financial regulator said companies looking to offer crypto-related services in the country will need to be authorized under new rules that take effect in October 2027. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said the requirement also applies to companies that are already registered as crypto companies under its money laundering regulations (MLRs). The authority awarded Ripple, the developer and issuer of payments token XRP, MLR registration on Friday. The FCA will started accepting applications in September, it said in a Thursday notice on its website.
Coinbase pushes back against banks to keep rewarding users for holding stablecoins
Coinbase is pressuring lawmakers to preserve its ability to pay users rewards for holding stablecoins, as Congress prepares to move forward on a sweeping crypto bill. The Senate is set to mark up the U.S. crypto market-structure bill this week, but language targeting yield-bearing stablecoin accounts has emerged as a sticking point. If the bill goes beyond disclosure requirements and restricts non-bank firms like the Nasdaq-listed crypto exchange Coinbase from offering rewards, the company may pull its support, Bloomberg reports, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Other Highlights Worth Mentioning
Ripple Gets Green Light From FCA to Scale Crypto Payments in the UK - Decrypt
Senate Republicans race toward crypto vote on bill with uncertain Democratic buy-in - CoinDesk
Florida becomes latest state to pursue bitcoin reserve ahead of 2026 session - The Block
New BlackRock report exposes a historic shift in crypto that leaves only one blockchain controlling the settlement layer - Cryptoslate
COINIGY FACT OF THE DAY
On this day in 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto sent the very first Bitcoin transaction on the Bitcoin network.
On this day in 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto made history by sending the first-ever Bitcoin transaction to cryptographer Hal Finney. Nakamoto sent Hal a total of 10 BTC in a transaction that was recorded in block number 170 of the blockchain. This milestone marked the beginning of peer-to-peer cryptocurrency transactions and validated Bitcoin's functionality as a decentralized digital currency, demonstrating that the technology outlined in the Bitcoin whitepaper could work in practice.
COINIGY MEME OF THE WEEK
