Department OF Justice

Raheim Hamilton, a co-creator of the dark web drug platform Empire Market, received a 40-year federal prison sentence in Chicago and agreed to forfeit 1,230 bitcoin. Prosecutors said the marketplace facilitated more than 4 million drug transactions from 2018 to 2020, with drug sales accounting for nearly $375 million of more than $430 million in activity.

Tether said its exposure to EQIBank is less than 0.034 percent of total assets after a U.S. asset seizure involving the lender’s payment processor. The case underscores persistent counterparty risk across fiat banking networks used by stablecoin issuers, while offering no apparent immediate threat to USDT reserves or its dollar peg.

A reported dark-web sale of more than 153 million American and Canadian driver’s license records has sharpened scrutiny of how businesses collect and store identity data. Privacy advocates argue that anti-fraud systems can protect users without forcing them to surrender full copies of sensitive documents.

A circulating Senate draft of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act includes a disputed crypto conflict-of-interest provision that would sunset in 2029. The bill remains under intense negotiation as lawmakers race to move a sweeping digital asset market structure package before the summer recess.

The White House is urging Senate Democrats to accept a proposed ethics provision in the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, describing it as historically broad. Democrats remain cautious because the details of President Donald Trump’s reported concession have not yet been shared with them.