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In brief The Marshall Islands used Stellar for universal basic income disbursements last month. It sent citizens USDM1 as a savings and payments vehicle. The island nation is currently reliant on physical cash. Decrypt’s Art, Fashion, and Entertainment Hub. Discover SCENE Access to financial services is shifting in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), as the island nation begins using digital assets to support its citizens. Late last month, some Marshallese accepted paper checks under ENRA, the RMI’s universal basic income program, while others saw a token called USDM1 appear in Lomalo, a Stellar-based “digital citizen wallet” developed by enterprise blockchain platform Crossmint. As a fully collateralized sovereign bond, the token generates yield and is designed to serve as a medium of exchange for the Marshall Islands’ 40,000 population, according to Paul Wong, director of special projects at the Stellar Development Fund (SDF). amp;amp;lt;span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="width:0px;overflow:hidden;line-height:0" class="mce_SELRES_start"amp;amp;gt;amp;amp;lt;/spanamp;amp;gt; “Unlike a stablecoin, where the issuer is actually earning yield, in this case, the asset holder is earning yield,” he told Decrypt, describing USDM1 as effectively a money market fund. The distinction between a stablecoin and sovereign bond may be somewhat trivial to Lomalo’s users, but USDM1 shows how governments can offer digital assets that serve dual purposes, while avoiding issues that may arise, for example, if a stablecoin were to lose its peg. “All they care about is whether there’s money in their account,” Crossmint co-founder Rodri Fernandez Touza told Decrypt, noting that Lomalo was built for simplicity. Touza characterized features that crypto users have grown accustomed to, such as seed phrases and “weird popups,” as unworkable for the general public. As a result, those features aren’t present in Lomalo, where Crossmint generates and manages user credentials. USDM1 disbursements are made quarterly to eligible citizens in the RMI. That provides “an opportunity to digitize the economy,” Wong said, for a country that is already dollarized and serviced by the U.S. Postal Service. Shipping containers In the Marshall Islands, physical cash is king, but not necessarily by choice. A white paper tied to USDM1’s debut describes how the Marshall Islands became increasingly reliant on physical cash after several banks withdrew from the country following the 2008 global financial crisis. As subsequent reforms altered risk-return profiles, many concluded that corresponding banking relationships with the Marshall Islands weren’t worth it. Today, the Marshall Islands has only one correspondent bank that provides services such as domestic wire transfers, with a few domestic branches across the nation’s islands. It is not uncommon for citizens to travel far distances just to cash a check, the white paper states. “If they were to lose that correspondent bank, it would be disconnected from the global financial system,” Wong said. “This instrument provides an alternative.” Although the Marshall Islands are vast, covering an area comparable to Mexico, the whitepaper notes that SpaceX’s Starlink has made internet access widely available. Still, the country relies on physical cash, often arriving via shipping containers. “Even if you want to make it work with cash, there are many times where constraints in the economy prevent people from having access to money,” Touza said, explaining that some citizens travel large distances by water, only to discover an empty ATM. The RMI’s adoption of USDM1 continues the SDF’s efforts to broaden access to financial services in hard-to-reach areas, including those affected by geopolitical conflict. The development of USDM1 was funded with a multi-million-dollar grant by the SDF. Wong said the SDF is currently working with the German government to support payroll services for healthcare workers in the Middle East. The SDF is also working with the United Nations Development Programme on several cash-disbursement projects, he added. Collaborating with a United Nations agency dedicated to refugees, the SDF helped establish an aid distribution system in Ukraine supporting Circle’s USDC stablecoin. The SDF partnered with the Ukrainian government in 2021, resulting in the creation of a payments system. Wong said that work has influenced the SDF’s approach to USDM1, including the notion that individuals are treated as the sole beneficiary of their digital funds. In practice, that could affect longstanding social dynamics for marginalized groups, he said. “That risk of physical threat is much lower,” Wong said. “When you distribute universal basic income to a woman, it’s not going to some joint account where, historically, a man has used it for purposes other than the family.”

In this week’s edition of the weekly recap, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed settlement agreements for Sam Bankman-Fried’s former associates whose testimony secured his conviction. Summary SEC proposed settlements for former FTX executives who testified against Sam Bankman-Fried. South Korean police busted a fake currency ring targeting crypto traders in in-person deals. Poland’s parliament revived comprehensive crypto legislation after an earlier rejection. Additionally, law enforcement in South Korea dismantled a criminal operation using counterfeit currency to defraud cryptocurrency traders and Poland’s parliament revived comprehensive industry legislation. SEC offers settlements to FTX cooperating witnesses The Securities and Exchange Commission proposed Friday settlement agreements for key members of Sam Bankman-Fried’s inner circle whose testimony proved critical during his criminal trial proceedings. These proposed resolutions address regulatory charges against individuals who cooperated with prosecutors in building the case against the former FTX CEO. South Korean police dismantle counterfeit currency scheme Authorities in South Chungcheong province are prosecuting a criminal group that manufactured fake Korean won bills to defraud cryptocurrency traders during in-person exchanges. Police discovered 9,188 counterfeit 50,000-won notes valued at approximately 459.4 million won ($330,000) in the suspects’ possession last year according to Chosun Ilbo reporting. Polish parliament advances cryptocurrency regulation The Sejm passed Thursday comprehensive crypto industry legislation by 241-vote approval. The Crypto-Asset Market Act remains unchanged from the version rejected earlier this month according to the Sejm’s press office confirmation. Coinbase challenges state prediction market restrictions The cryptocurrency exchange filed federal lawsuits in Connecticut, Michigan, and Illinois challenging state attempts to prohibit prediction markets under gaming regulations. Legal complaints seek declaratory and injunctive relief arguing that prediction markets fall exclusively under Commodity Futures Trading Commission jurisdiction rather than state gaming boards. Ethereum developers name 2026 upgrade roadmap Core development teams officially designated the network’s next upgrade as “Hegota,” defining the 2026 development cycle within the blockchain’s twice-yearly release schedule. The name blends the execution layer’s “Bogota” upgrade, following Devcon host city naming traditions, with the consensus layer’s “Heze” star designation. Bybit returns to UK market operations The exchange announced Thursday it resumed United Kingdom services including spot trading on 100 currency pairs, two years after stricter promotional and marketing regulations forced its departure. The platform serving approximately 80 million users worldwide restarted operations under updated compliance frameworks addressing UK regulatory requirements. Terraform Labs liquidator sues Jump Trading Court-appointed plan administrator Todd Snyder filed suit seeking $4 billion in damages from Jump Trading, co-founder William DiSomma, and former president Kanav Kariya for the firm’s 2022 multibillion-dollar collapse. The Wall Street Journal reported the legal action targets Jump Trading’s role in the Terra ecosystem failure, with the company confirming the lawsuit through social media communications. Annual cryptocurrency theft exceeds $3.4 billion Blockchain intelligence firm Chainalysis reported that cryptocurrency theft totaled over $3.41 billion from January through early December. The $1.5 billion Bybit exchange hack accounted for approximately 44% of the annual total, with the top three incidents representing 69% of all service losses. Indian regulators approve Coinbase-CoinDCX investment The Competition Commission of India approved Tuesday Coinbase Global’s proposed minority stake acquisition in DCX Global Limited, the parent company of local exchange CoinDCX. The approval follows CoinDCX’s recovery from a $44 million security breach that required substantial user compensation efforts. Coinbase unveils comprehensive platform expansion The exchange revealed Wednesday during a livestreamed event that U.S. customers will gain access to traditional stock trading alongside over a dozen new and updated products. Platform enhancements span prediction markets, Solana-based decentralized finance integration, and end-to-end infrastructure for creating real-world asset digital representations. Visa extends stablecoin settlement to United States The payments giant expanded its stablecoin pilot to include U.S. settlements using Circle’s USDC on the Solana (SOL) blockchain. Initial banking partners Cross River Bank and Lead Bank will enable U.S. acquirer and issuer partners to settle in USDC, with broader rollout expected throughout 2026. Strategy maintains billion-dollar Bitcoin purchases Strategy announced its second consecutive week of nearly $1 billion Bitcoin (BTC) acquisitions, adding 10,645 BTC for $980.3 million at an average price of $92,098 per coin.

The public image of Andrew Tate is built on certainty success and control The documented record is more fragmented This is not a moral judgment This is a timeline of how events unfolded Early life Born in Washington DC in 1986 Father was a chess master and US Air Force veteran After his parents divorce he moved to Luton England with his mother There was no college path Work and training started early 2008 to 2016 Kickboxing years Tate turned professional and competed internationally He won multiple world titles Career record 76 wins 9 losses 1 draw He retired after eye injuries and retina damage 2016 to 2021 The money engine phase After retirement he pivoted into online businesses A webcam operation scaled into a high cash flow business He moved to Romania with his brother Tristan He launched Hustlers University later rebranded as The Real World Short clips controversy and provocation became the distribution engine Attention became the funnel 2022 The visibility shock Clips went viral across TikTok and other platforms Accounts were banned across major social networks In October 2022 Tate converted to Islam Later his account was restored on X Soon after Romanian authorities arrested him 2023 to 2024 Legal pressure and crypto overlap The Romanian case expanded Assets were seized including crypto holdings Despite restrictions his online presence grew louder Crypto became part of the narrative June 2024 The DADDY token Tate promoted the DADDY memecoin The token briefly reached a large market cap Then collapsed close to zero This marked a visible shift From motivation branding To crypto influencer behavior 2024 to 2025 Trading activity and losses Wallets commonly linked to Tate began drawing attention On Hyperliquid About $727000 USDC was deposited Trading behavior showed High leverage positions Frequent re entries Rapid liquidations Summary of activity • More than 80 trades • Win rate around 35 percent • 84 liquidations • Estimated losses between $700000 and $800000 Onchain snapshot Ethereum side A wallet linked through public attribution holds roughly $70000 Mostly ETH and small low cap tokens Solana side Another wallet linked through activity patterns holds about $140000 Primarily memecoins Several positions are tokens he publicly promoted The contradiction Public persona Hyper successful Mocks losing traders Projects certainty and mastery Onchain behavior High leverage Poor timing Emotional re entries Losses stacking quickly This does not make him unique Many influencers trade this way But it exposes a gap Confidence online does not equal competence onchain 2024 to 2025 Personal and legal escalation No confirmed marriage records Claims of 10 to 12 children remain unverified March 2025 Brianna Stern filed a civil case in Los Angeles alleging assault September 2025 A three year restraining order was agreed Tate countered with a $50M defamation claim The Romanian case remains active with expanded allegations UK authorities approved charges and requested extradition Florida opened an investigation after Tate traveled to the US in 2025 Closing context The Andrew Tate crypto trading story does not align with the image he sells The data is public The wallets are traceable The outcomes are measurable The open question is not whether confidence works online It is why certainty sells so well Even when the onchain record tells a different story

🏦 JPMorgan Pushes Back on Stablecoin Hype $USDC $USD1 JPMorgan analysts say stablecoins are unlikely to hit multi-trillion scale soon, forecasting a $500B–$600B market by 2028 instead. — CoinMarketCap X #Stablecoins #Crypto #Banking #MarketOutlook

DeFi puts complex financial products into the hands of users and protocols, enabling them to execute simple transactions like a swap - to more complex strategies like a delta neutral stablecoin based on staking yield and funding rate arbitrage (as was recently done by the USDe developer Ethena). The problem for many users is that there exists no perfect protocol or tool to help them execute their specific strategy or workflow. Some users may take to Twitter to ask “Is anyone building the thing I need?”. The very brave may even try to manually cobble together their strategy by clicking buttons and signing Tx’s across multiple protocols; monitoring everything in a spreadsheet. This is the manual, transactional approach to DeFi. It’s spurned a cottage industry of YouTubers like The Calculator Guy and Taiki Maeda who’ve garnered a following by making the technically overwhelming approachable through shareable spreadsheets and click by click guides. This is where Intents come in. “Intent based products are a move away from the transactional approach to DeFi,” Aperture’s McDavid Stoddard told The Block. In the transactional model, the transaction is “typically too complicated for the end user to fully understand what’s happening,” he said. Intent based architectures enable the average DeFi user to gain access to “the types of execution and pricing that previously were only accessible to well capitalized prop shops operating with an in-house developer team. Even a devoted DeFi user armed with YouTube premium and tracking spreadsheets would fail to get the level of execution and expressibility that is possible with an Intent based DeFi UX.” With Aperture’s Liquidity Intents solution, built atop Uniswap V3, the user declares an end goal for their LP position and the transaction is only executed if it matches the user’s desired outcome. A user can, for example, declare that they want their liquidity position to rebalance once ETH hits 3,500 USDC per ETH, rebalance to a 50:50 ratio at a range of 3,400 to 3,600 USDC, and specify the acceptable range of price impact from swaps and gas fees. A decentralized network of solvers then works out possible transaction flows which are then simulated and ranked. Aperture has launched with one centralized solver, with third-party solvers including one from Propeller Heads joining the network in Q2. As well as building out its network of third-party solvers, Aperture’s future roadmap includes several more key components to a fully fledged Intent based DeFi UX. A Large Language Model (LLM) will enable users to express their intent in natural language and have it mirrored back to them in a highly readable Domain Specific Language (DSL) created by Aperture, which can then be delivered to solvers as the user’s “declaration of truth.” Stoddard likens the UX to ordering a pizza. “You tell the operator, ‘I want whatever your biggest meatiest pizza is.’ The operator will mirror back to you, ‘Okay, you want our XL meat lovers’ pizza?’ And then the user says, ‘Yes, that one!’” Aperture’s UX will enable the user to declare their DeFi Intents in similar terms. “The user will say, ‘I want you to rebalance me to the highest yielding pool,’ and then the Intents chatbot will mirror back to them the highly readable DSL output which the user will be able to eye-ball and confirm.” This post is commissioned by Aperture and does not serve as a testimonial or endorsement by The Block. This post is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment, tax, legal or other advice. You should conduct your own research and consult independent counsel and advisors on the matters discussed within this post. Past performance of any asset is not indicative of future results. Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures. © 2025 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.