Bolivia’s Ministry of Trade and Imports has rejected a state-backed plan to use cryptocurrency for fuel imports.
This move, which marks a stunning policy reversal, signals a retreat from the government’s recent push to adopt digital assets as a workaround for dollar shortages.
Bolivia Rejects Crypto-for-Fuel Scheme Amid Energy Sector Turmoil
The initial plan, announced in March by Bolivia’s state-owned energy giant YPFB, aimed to use crypto to secure fuel imports. This was in response to acute shortages of both US dollars and refined fuel.
As reported by Reuters on March 13, the proposal had received government backing at the time.
But in a statement released Tuesday, Director of Trade and Imports Marcos Duran clarified that YPFB will not be permitted to use crypto for international transactions.
“YPFB must use Bolivia’s own resources and dollar-based financial transfers,” Duran said.
Head of digital assets at VanEck, Mathew Sigel, labels this a clear U-turn on crypto policy.
“U-Turn: Bolivia appears to back away from its crypto-for-fuel scheme,” Sigel quipped.
The crypto reversal comes after Russia’s Gazprom announced its exit from Bolivia’s Azero gas project, ending a 16-year involvement.
According to The Moscow Times, the departure reflects the broader instability in Bolivia’s energy sector, marked by falling gas production and increased reliance on fuel imports.
With dwindling foreign reserves, Bolivia has faced mounting pressure to diversify payment methods for essential imports. The crypto-for-fuel concept was seen as a bold, if risky, workaround to bypass the country’s dollar liquidity crisis.
However, the Ministry’s rejection raises fresh questions about coordination within Bolivia’s government and the viability of crypto in sovereign trade arrangements, particularly in volatile or resource-constrained economies.
Coinbase announced Verified Pools, a new service intended to attract institutional users. These liquidity pools will offer clients a secure way to take advantage of high efficiency and native on-chain infrastructure.
Liquidity pools, in general, offer many of the same advantages, but they do not have sufficient security assurances for major institutions. The exchange hopes to provide security and confidence with proactive measures like KYC and sanctions screening.
Today, the exchange announced the introduction of Verified Pools, an institutional-grade service to enhance on-chain trades and swaps.
“Verified Pools is a curated selection of liquidity pools available only with the Coinbase Verifications credential. Verified Pools is the next step in Coinbase’s commitment to advancing the onchain ecosystem and generating the next wave of onchain adoption,” the firm claimed via social media.
Coinbase’s Verified Pools hope to solve an important issue for institutional investors in the crypto space.
Specifically, how can retail users or traditional institutions participate in DeFi despite significant barriers around compliance, counterparty risk, and operational complexity?
Sketchy exchanges and business practices are epidemic in the industry, and these institutions need real assurances.
Through Verified Pools, Coinbase addresses several of these concerns. It ensures that all participants of a liquidity pool are identity-verified using Coinbase’s verification system
The whole platform is powered by Base, Coinbase’s Ethereum-centric L2 blockchain solution. This means that the service is natively on-chain and can benefit from smooth transactions while ensuring security, transparency, and accountability.
Verified Pools offer a few other attractive features for Coinbase’s institutional clients. For example, the pools are non-custodial, allowing users to maintain control over their assets.
In the main, however, the exchange is trying to offer liquidity pools with all their advantages to institutional traders, which is uncommon. The main benefits are inherent to pools in general.
In short, Coinbase’s Verified Pools can offer liquidity, efficiency, and transparency while prioritizing user security and confidence. Moving forward, the exchange plans to expand asset coverage and trading pairs, integrate more DEX aggregators, offer the service in more countries, and more.
Welcome to the Asia Pacific Morning Brief—your essential digest of overnight crypto developments shaping regional markets and global sentiment. Grab a green tea and watch this space.
Chinese mining giant Bitmain expands operations with US manufacturing plans while Vietnam’s government embraces crypto regulation through Dunamu partnerships. Meanwhile, the FBI strikes ransomware criminals and Japan pioneers NFT vending machines, marking significant blockchain adoption milestones as companies expand globally.
Bitmain Expands US Operations with First ASIC Manufacturing Plant
Chinese Bitcoin mining giant Bitmain will establish its first US manufacturing facility by early 2026, Bloomberg reported. The world’s largest ASIC chip producer plans to open its headquarters in Texas or Florida by the third quarter of 2025. Global business chief Irene Gao said Bitmain’s expansion will accelerate delivery and repair times for American customers.
Bitmain controls 82% of global Bitcoin ASIC production alongside competitors MicroBT and Canaan, who hold 15% and 2% respectively. The company will hire 250 local workers initially for manufacturing and facility maintenance roles. This expansion follows favorable crypto policies under the Trump administration and addresses previous regulatory challenges.
The move comes after US authorities seized thousands of Bitmain ASICs in November 2024 over sanctions concerns. Producing domestically offers a solution to ongoing regulatory issues while capitalizing on America’s Bitcoin mining boom. Full-scale manufacturing is anticipated by the end of 2026.
FBI Strikes Chaos Ransomware Group
The FBI seized $2.4 million worth of Bitcoin from cybercriminal “Hors” of the Chaos ransomware group. The Dallas-based FBI operation confiscated 20.28 BTC in a significant victory against international cybercrime. Chaos emerged in February 2025 as a dangerous new threat linked to the BlackSuit gang.
Today, FBI Dallas made public the seizure of over $1.7 million worth of cryptocurrency as part of ongoing efforts to combat ransomware. The seized funds were traced to a cryptocurrency address allegedly associated with a member of the Chaos ransomware group, known as “Hors,” who… pic.twitter.com/uWeIMMGE9J
The group specializes in double extortion attacks across multiple countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom. Their sophisticated ransomware-as-a-service model targets Windows, Linux, and network storage systems with advanced encryption capabilities. This successful seizure demonstrates law enforcement’s growing ability to track cryptocurrency transactions despite anonymity measures.
Dunamu Meets Vietnam PM Over Crypto Market Expansion
South Korean crypto exchange Upbit’s parent company, Dunamu, met with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in Hanoi. According to Vietnamese state media, Vice Chairman Kim Hyung-nyeon discussed strategic partnerships for Vietnam’s digital asset ecosystem development and regulatory framework establishment. The meeting included Hana Financial Group executives exploring blockchain-based asset management platforms.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met with Kim Hyung-nyeon, Vice Chairman of Dunamu, the parent company of Upbit. Source: Voice of Vietnam
Dunamu promised comprehensive cooperation, including technology transfer, infrastructure development, and talent cultivation based on global regulatory experience. Prime Minister Chinh instructed the Finance Ministry to lead pilot operation resolutions while directing central bank support. Vietnam plans comprehensive institutionalization, including regulatory sandboxes, tax systems, and investor protection standards for balanced industry growth.
Upbit ranks as the world’s fourth-largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume according to CoinMarketCap data.
Japan Launches World’s First NFT Vending Machines
Japanese company 24karat partnered with Dapper Labs to sell sports NFTs through nationwide AIICO vending machines. The world-first initiative brings digital collectibles, including NBA Top Shot, to physical retail locations. Customers tap touchscreens and scan QR codes for wallet-free purchases without blockchain knowledge required.
The image shows an actual vending machine deployed at TV Asahi headquarters in Roppongi Hills in Tokyo. Customers tap touchscreens and scan QR codes for wallet-free purchases. Source: 24karat
Grayscale Research just published its new “Top 20” list for promising altcoins in Q3 2025. The list mostly remains the same from Q2, removing Lido DAO (LDAO) and Optimism (OP) to add Avalanche (AVAX) and MORPHO.
The firm assessed these altcoins on their market sector performance and individually. AVAX and OP are both smart contract protocols, but it swapped the two out due to company-specific circumstances.
The firm uses a diverse set of criteria to assess its preferred altcoins, tracking which market sectors perform better than others. Today, Grayscale released its new recommendations for Q3 2025:
We have updated the Grayscale Research Top 20. The Top 20 represents a diversified set of assets across Crypto Sectors that, in our view, have high potential over the coming quarter. This quarter’s new assets are Avalanche $AVAX and Morpho $MORPHO. All the assets in our Top 20… pic.twitter.com/gqy0NBLsE1
However, AVAX and OP are both smart contract protocols, and Grayscale assessed that this sector didn’t grow or shrink much. In other words, Avalanche’s business developments must account for its place in Grayscale’s list.
Grayscale further clarified that Ethereum’s new focus on interoperability could make an L-2 like Optimism redundant. AVAX’s organic growth stands out in contrast, making it a clear choice for Grayscale’s list.
The firm expressed similar concerns for LDAO, as the SEC might approve ETF staking soon, removing the blockchain’s main market appeal.
MORPHO grew significantly in the last year, but that isn’t why Grayscale put it on the Top 20 list. Instead, the research firm was highly optimistic about its potential to outperform competitors in its own market sector:
“This past month, Morpho announced Morpho V2, designed to bring DeFi to traditional financial institutions. Grayscale Research is optimistic about the future of on-chain lending activity, and Morpho seems well positioned to potentially capture a meaningful share of that growth,” Grayscale claimed.
Grayscale’s findings and commentary are insightful, but it’s important to remember that it’s a research firm, not a market mover. It cautioned potential investors that all 20 of these tokens are very volatile.
In fact, all four of these assets slightly decreased in value since Grayscale released this list, even the ones it was optimistic about.
