Roman Storm’s landmark trial is still ongoing, and federal prosecutors admitted that they’re considering charges against employees at Dragonfly Capital, a VC that backed Tornado Cash.
The presiding Judge sealed a statement describing the specific employees in question. However, the possible charges wouldn’t be directed at Dragonfly or the entire firm. General Partner Tom Schmidt was asked to testify, but pled the Fifth.
Today, they referred to Tornado Cash’s other business connections, specifically its VC backer Dragonfly Capital.
AUSA Rehn: We’ve spoken with Tom Schmidt’s lawyer John Bostick Judge: Are you looking at possibly prosecuting everyone at DragonFly? AUSA Rehn: Not everyone, but Schmidt and
Rehm: My chief says we’ll ask to seal this Judge Failla: Yes, I seal it
Apparently, these emails discussed whether or not to add KYC guidelines to Tornado Cash. Some online commentators speculated that the firm explicitly advised Tornado Cash to disregard KYC protocols, but this is controversial.
Possible New Charges
In any event, US prosecutors claimed that they’re considering charges against several Dragonfly employees due to their possible involvement in Tornado Cash’s alleged illegal activity.
These charges wouldn’t apply to the entire corporate entity or every employee, but the presiding Judge agreed to seal the exact transcript of this exchange.
Tornado Cash’s lawyers requested that Tom Schmidt, a general partner at Dragonfly, testify on the platform’s behalf. However, Schmidt’s attorney invoked the Fifth Amendment, refusing to do so.
Essentially, he argued that Schmidt would be forced to bear witness against himself, which is unconstitutional. It’s unclear if this argument will hold up, but Schmidt didn’t testify today.
For now, then, it’s difficult to make any predictions about Dragonfly’s entanglement with the Tornado Cash case. If prosecutors decline to criminally charge the prominent VC firm, this might jeopardize Schmidt’s bid for immunity.
Of course, the defense called him as a witness, so he could potentially refuse to testify without the Fifth Amendment’s protection.
The trial is now in recess for the weekend, and closing arguments are expected next week.
OKB, the native token of crypto exchange OKX, surged by more than 110% in just one hour on Wednesday, recording an all-time high (ATH) of $142.88.
The surge followed a significant announcement, with the reaction mimicking token reactions to listing news on popular exchanges.
OKX Announces Token Burn and X Layer Upgrade: All You Need to Know
According to on-chain data and statements from OKX, the exchange permanently removed 65,256,712.097 OKB tokens, worth billions of dollars, from circulation in a single transaction.
The burned tokens came from historical buybacks and treasury reserves. As is typical of token burns, they were sent to a “black hole” address, making them irretrievable.
In a break from past practice, OKX exchange confirmed it will end all manual burns. Further, the exchange will adopt an automatic smart contract burn mechanism instead.
This permanently fixes OKB’s total supply at 21 million, mirroring Bitcoin’s scarcity model. Once the smart contract upgrade is completed, both minting and manual burning will be disabled.
Strategic X Layer Overhaul
The announcement was part of a broader “PP Upgrade” to OKX’s X Layer, a public chain built with Polygon’s zkEVM technology.
The upgrade boosts transaction throughput to 5,000 TPS, slashes gas costs to negligible levels, and enhances compatibility with Ethereum.
OKX outlined a clear focus on DeFi, global payments, and real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, backed by ecosystem funds, liquidity incentives, and infrastructure upgrades such as improved cross-chain bridges and compliance services.
Further, OKX will also phase out its OKTChain due to its overlap with the X Layer. Trading in OKT will halt on August 13, 2025. The exchange automatically converts OKT to OKB based on the average closing prices between July 13 and August 12, 2025.
“OKTChain will fully shut down by January 1, 2026,” an excerpt in the announcement alluded.
Nevertheless, OKB will remain the sole gas token for X Layer. The Ethereum Layer-1 (L1) version of OKB will be phased out in favor of the X Layer version.
OKX Rallies 163% Amid Positive Market Reaction
Crypto trader Henry hailed the burn, crediting OKX CEO Star Xu for the bold supply-cut decision. Extreme scarcity, technological upgrades, and ecosystem expansion ignited frenzied buying, pushing OKB into record territory.
“As expected of you, Star, Boss Xu, with a technical background, it feels like this move was probably your suggestion,” Henry remarked.
Following the announcement, OKB price rallied 163% to establish a new ATH of $142.88. The explosive rally comes as token burns reduce supply, thereby bolstering demand.
The token retraced slightly from its new peak, as traders rushed to book early profits. Still, analysts note that a fixed 21 million cap combined with growing utility in DeFi, payments, and RWA markets could provide a strong foundation for sustained price momentum.
Meanwhile, it is worth mentioning that such parabolic moves often invite volatility. Also, whether OKB can hold onto its new valuation will depend on how quickly developers and users adopt X Layer’s expanded capabilities.
With the X Layer upgrade now live and the largest OKB burn in history complete, OKX appears to be positioning its ecosystem as a major player in high-throughput, low-cost blockchain infrastructure.
Welcome to the US Crypto News Morning Briefing—your essential rundown of the most important developments in crypto for the day ahead.
Grab a coffee and watch this space. Analysts say the next big move for Bitcoin (BTC) may be closer than it looks. With technical signals flashing and macro forces shifting, analysts are starting to lean bullish.
Crypto News of the Day: Bollinger Eyes Breakout as Macro Tailwinds Gather
Bitcoin is drawing renewed attention from analysts, with John Bollinger, the inventor of the Bollinger Bands indicator, sounding the alarm for a potential breakout.
Bitcoin looks to be setting up for an upside breakout. $BTCUSD More as the week gets going.
Bollinger’s post suggests technical momentum is building, with macro and political developments aligning with bullish setups.
Nic Puckrin, founder of The Coin Bureau, believes the US Senate’s passage of Trump’s $3.3 trillion Big Beautiful Bill has set the stage for long-term Bitcoin gains despite markets not reacting immediately.
“Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ has passed in the US Senate, but has failed to immediately ignite a significant crypto rally…But while markets are still digesting its implications, the long-term impact is clearly nothing but positive for Bitcoin,” Puckrin told BeInCrypto.
According to Puckrin, the bill will add trillions to the US debt load, which, as BeInCrypto reported in a recent US Crypto News publication, positions Bitcoin as a life raft. Puckrin says this could accelerate the decline of the US dollar.
“A depreciating dollar creates the perfect environment for Bitcoin,” he added.
In a recent US Crypto News publication, BeInCrypto reported that the dollar index (DXY) posted a multi-year low. This came amid its worst start to a year since 1973, with interest rate cuts back on the table.
Puckrin sees the environment shifting decisively in Bitcoin’s favor, acknowledging that once the liquidity floodgates open, even $107,000 per BTC would feel like a deep discount.
Bitcoin Price Resistance Holds, But Market Eyes $110,500 Break
Despite the growing bullish sentiment, Bitcoin remains locked in a tight trading range between $107,000 and $110,000. The pioneer crypto faces immediate resistance at $109,500.
However, that move quickly lost steam as the market’s momentum remained muted. While Bitcoin’s long-term bullish setup is intact, spot demand continues to lag.
The pioneer crypto’s price action reflects this tension between strong fundamentals and macroeconomic uncertainty.
“Spot demand has been waning in recent times… weighing heavily on market sentiment…Bitcoin’s broader technical and bullish market position has remained structurally intact,” said Shawn Young, Chief Analyst at MEXC Research, in a statement to BeInCrypto.
The upcoming US tariff deadline and the colloquial “Crypto Week” in Congress, where digital asset bills are set for debate, could inject volatility and act as breakout triggers.
According to MEXC, a clean move above $110,500, backed by volume, would “validate the bullish setup and pave the way for a potential push to make new highs.
If macro conditions align, the analyst predicts a play to $125,000 in Q3 for Bitcoin and even $140,000 by year-end. This is modest compared to what Standard Chartered predicted in a previous US Crypto News publication.
“These developments [Bitcoin ETF flows, corporate treasury buying, a potential announcement by President Trump of Fed Chair Powell’s early replacement, and passage of the US stablecoin bill] along with further evidence of broader sovereign interest, should push Bitcoin to a new all-time high of around $135,000 in and $200,000 in Q4,” Standard Chartered Head of Digital Assets Research Geoff Kendrick said in a statement to BeInCrypto.
Chart of the Day
The chart below shows the BTC/USDT trading pair in the one-day timeframe. With Bitcoin between the middle and upper Bollinger band ($111,019), this indicates a potential continuation of an uptrend.
A break above the upper band could see Bitcoin test the $111,800 all-time high (ATH), potentially establishing a new peak.
Technical indicators align with the 50-day Simple Moving Average (SMA), providing initial support at $106,584 (yellow strand).
Meanwhile, the volume profile (yellow bars on the side) suggests significant bullish momentum, with traders waiting to interact with the BTC price upon any drop, potentially as low as $100,000.
The Relative Strength Index (RSI) at 54.34 adds credence to the bullish thesis, showing more room for the upside before BTC is considered overbought.
Conversely, if Bitcoin drops below the midline of the Bollinger band ($106,456), it would signal a trend reversal, with a breakdown below the lower band ($101,893) likely exacerbating the downtrend.
However, BTC must drop below the 100-day SMA at $99,026 to confirm a trend reversal from the prevailing uptrend.
Byte-Sized Alpha
Here’s a summary of more US crypto news to follow today:
