‘We Know Where It Is’: Treasury Secretary Threatens To Freeze $1B of Iran’s Crypto

The U.S. will seize $1 billion of Iran’s crypto this week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said. It isn’t clear which asset though.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said the American authorities will soon seize $1 billion in crypto from Iran. 

Speaking on Newsmax’s NPolicy Summit in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, Bessent added that economic sanctions on the Middle Eastern country were working. 

Iran has been using bitcoin — and other cryptocurrencies — to skirt around U.S. sanctions. The U.S. in April started targeting crypto wallets linked to the Iranian regime, Bessent said at the time. 

“What we have done has never been seen before,” Bessent said Thursday on Iranian sanctions. 

“We’re probably going to seize $1 billion of crypto this week,” he continued. “We know where it is. We are isolating them. We did have a maximum pressure campaign, now we have an absolute isolation campaign and it’s working.”

Bessent didn’t reveal what cryptocurrencies the U.S. will seize or how. 

It would be very hard — if not impossible — for the U.S. to freeze Iran’s bitcoin unless it keeps it on a centralized exchange. 

Bitcoin, being censorship resistant, cannot be frozen. But many other cryptocurrencies, including Tether’s USDT, can. Bessent previously said the feds had seized Iran’s crypto in the form of the popular stablecoin. 

Iran started a bitcoin-backed insurance service for its counties shipping companies earlier this year.

The Financial Times last month reported that the Middle Eastern country was using bitcoin to settle cross-border transactions through Iranian crypto exchanges after the central bank advised its countrymen to do anything necessary to help the economy.    

U.S. President Donald Trump revived his “maximum pressure” campaign weeks after returning to office. A national security memorandum signed in February 2025 put the Treasury on a sustained campaign against Iran’s shadow banking, money laundering and sanctions-evasion networks.

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Belarus Approves the Country’s First Crypto Banks: Report

Belarus earlier this year signed a legal framework for crypto banks in the country.

The first crypto banks have opened in Belarus, according to reports, after the European country earlier this year created a legal framework for Bitcoin banks. 

While not yet named, the crypto banks will start operations after obtaining accreditation from the National Bank of Belarus, Russian news agency Interfax reported Monday. 

Back in January, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko signed Decree No. 19 “On Cryptobanks and Certain Issues of Control in the Field of Digital Tokens,” officially creating a legal framework for bitcoin and crypto banks in the country. 

“The practical outcome of today’s discussion is the launch and registration of the first crypto banks in the country’s history,” Interfax reported the press service of High-Tech Park saying in a statement.

High-Tech Park is a tax and legal regime in Belarus. Digital asset transactions are permitted in the zone. 

The statement added that banks would be regulated by Hi-Tech Park and the National Bank. 

Dmitry Kalechits, first deputy director of the High-Tech Park supervisory board secretariat, was quoted saying that the move would “improve the flow of the financial ecosystem” and drive foreign investment to Belarus. 

President Lukashenko last September backed the National Bank’s initiative to establish crypto banks in the country. 

The country has long pushed pro-crypto regulations. A 2017 decree legalised crypto mining and trading and temporarily exempted individuals’ crypto income from tax and declaration. That exemption was extended to 2025 and has since been narrowed, with income from foreign platforms now taxed at 13%.

Lukashenko has repeatedly promoted Bitcoin mining as a use for surplus electricity, and in 2025 the Mogilev region began preparing sites for mining farms with his backing.

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Strategy and Strive Scoop Up More Than 2,700 Bitcoin in a Week

The two top bitcoin treasuries last week spent a combined $232.5 million on BTC.

Bitcoin treasuries are loading up again. 

Strategy, the largest corporate holder of bitcoin, announced Monday that it had bought 1,665 coins last week for $142.7 million — its second buy in a row after a brief hiatus. 

The Nasdaq-listed company added that it had also bought back $152 million in its preferred stock, STRC. Strategy now holds 847,666 bitcoins worth $70.5 billion, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

Elsewhere, the fifth biggest bitcoin treasury, Strive, said it had last week snapped up 1,107 BTC for a total cost of  $94.5 million — bringing its holdings to 27,462 coins. 

The two companies have continued to stack coins despite the bitcoin treasury model taking a hit. Major treasuries like Strategy, Satsuma, Smarter Web Company, Sequans, Nakamoto, and Empery Digital have all sold bitcoin this year to repay debt, fund operations or finance buybacks, while others have folded or pivoted to AI infrastructure as their share prices collapsed. 

Strategy stock (MSTR) has lost over 50% of its value over the past year. Strive (ASST) is down by more than 30% over the same period. 

Still, both Strategy and Strive have reassured investors that it’s just business as usual and bitcoin will bounce back. 

Strive CEO Matt Cole has repeatedly said that the company is debt-free, with zero margin requirements, and zero encumbered bitcoin, calling it a balance sheet built to thrive through volatility. 

Strategy has defended having to sell bitcoin this year, with CEO Phong Le boasting that the company now has a “bullet-proof balance sheet” because of the sales, and that it was the “right trade at the time” to sell when it did.  

The software company last week announced it plans to pay investors daily dividends on four of its preferred stocks — STRF, STRC, STRK, and STRD.

Bitcoin’s price recently stood at close to $83,409, down 3% over the past week. 

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Russian Crypto Industry Could Be Operating Legally by Year-End: Central Bank

Russia has been moving ahead with crypto regulation this year.

Russia’s crypto industry may have all it needs to start legally functioning by year-end, according to reports. 

The deputy governor of the country’s central bank, Vladimir Chistyukhin, said that regulations were moving ahead as scheduled, Interfax reported on Monday. 

Russia this year has pressed ahead with crypto legislation. President Vladimir Putin in August signed a law to set in stone the regulation of digital currencies and digital rights in the country — although using bitcoin for payments is still banned.

“Right now we are talking about creating subordinate regulation; it is very large and significant,” Chistyukhin was quoted saying, adding that the “fine-tuning” of internal rules could be carried out before the end of 2026. 

Russia’s central bank has approved Bitcoin trading for the public on the country’s crypto exchanges. Law currency states that unqualified investors can buy 300,000 rubles ($3,582) worth of bitcoin and other assets through one intermediary; qualified investors have no limits. 

Sberbank, the biggest bank in Russia, plans to debut a Bitcoin and crypto wallet as well as digital asset custody by December. The bank in August said it expected trading volume with its new crypto rollout to hit 4 trillion rubles ($47 bln) in the first year. 

Using digital assets as a means of payment or legal tender within Russia has been prohibited in Russia since 2022. 

Despite Putin appearing to praise Bitcoin in the past, its use as a medium of exchange and currency has been banned for years. 

Russian lawmakers have made an exception for international payments — but most likely as a way to dodge Western sanctions.  

The U.S. and European governments cut Russia off from the SWIFT payments system after it invaded Ukraine in 2022 and Russian companies have been using Bitcoin to skirt around the penalties, according to the country’s finance minister. 

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DOJ Seeks $61M in Iranian Oil Proceeds Laundered Through Binance Accounts

The U.S. Department of Justice has filed to forfeit $61 million in crypto it says was generated from Iranian black-market oil sales.

The U.S. Department of Justice said Monday it is seizing and seeking to forfeit $61 million in cryptocurrency that it alleges came from black-market sales of sanctioned Iranian oil.

That sum is a fraction of the operation prosecutors describe in the civil forfeiture complaint. A cluster of self-custodied wallets received and distributed more than $1.5 billion in oil proceeds, routing funds to Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-linked businesses, other crypto addresses and an Iranian exchange, according to the filing. Two China-based firms, Blessed Trust and Hexa Whale, allegedly used trading accounts at Binance to launder proceeds and funnel them to the Iranian government and its proxies.

It comes after the U.S. tries to crack down on Iran’s use of the leading cryptocurrency: the U.S. in July said that it had frozen crypto linked to the Iranian regime, mostly in the form of Tether’s stablecoin; Iran started a bitcoin-backed insurance service for its counties shipping companies earlier this year.

There was no mention of bitcoin in Monday’s claim — but the Iranian government is also using bitcoin to skirt around sanctions. Bitcoin has no issuer, so no blacklist function and bitcoin held without intermediaries can’t be frozen

“The Government of Iran relies on black-market sales of sanctioned crude oil to fund its military and foster terrorism in the Middle East and around the world, along with other malign efforts to develop a nuclear program and ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear payloads,” Deputy U.S. Attorney Sean S. Buckley said in a statement. 

“As alleged in the complaint filed today, the Government of Iran used a network of cryptocurrency actors in China and elsewhere to launder more than $1.5 billion in illicit oil money intended to benefit the Iranian military and the terror-designated IRGC.”

The filing alleges that the illicit oil money was laundered via Chinese companies Blessed Trust Limited and Hexa Whale Trading Limited.

Once the money was laundered, it was funneled back to Iran’s government, its agents, and its proxies, feds said. 

The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control in July said Iran had been dodging sanctions by accepting pay in bitcoin from ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz. 

OFAC said at the time that Hormuz Safe, developed by Iran’s Ministry of Economy, “accepts payment in bitcoin and other digital assets” so it can bypass sanctions. 

The Financial Times last week reported that the Middle Eastern country was using bitcoin to settle cross-border transactions through Iranian crypto exchanges after the central bank advised its countrymen to do anything necessary to help the economy.

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Strategy Resumes Bitcoin Buying After 10-Week Hiatus

The bitcoin treasury last week spent nearly $370 million on the big orange coin after taking a break to rebalance its cash reserves.

Bitcoin treasury Strategy resumed its bitcoin buys last week, snapping up nearly $370 million in the leading cryptocurrency, according to a Monday announcement from the company. 

A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission shows that Strategy bought 4,603 bitcoins for $369.7 million between August 24 to August 30. Each coin was bought at an average price of $80,318, according to the filing. 

The buy comes after Strategy paused its bitcoin buys in June, instead focusing on building a cash buffer, buying back its stock and even sometimes selling some of its holdings. 

“Strategy is evolving from one-way capital issuance to active capital management,” Strategy CEO Phong Le said in June.

“We intend to move between issuing securities when capital is attractive and repurchasing securities when our instruments trade at levels that make buybacks accretive. This flexibility is designed to create shareholder value, improve corporate performance, and strengthen the quality and market standing of Strategy’s securities in the eyes of investors.”

Strategy now has $5.1 billion in its USD Reserve and $1.61 billion its new USD Cash reserve — which was announced last week. 

The company holds 845,050 bitcoins worth $65.8 billion at today’s prices. 

Software company Strategy — formerly MicroStrategy — began buying bitcoin in August 2020 as a treasury strategy to boost shareholder returns during the pandemic. 

It has since spent more than $63.7 billion on buying bitcoin and remains by far the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin in the world. Its approach spawned a wave of copycat companies that have since adopted similar crypto-treasury strategies of their own.

Chairman and Strategy founder Michael Saylor has said that the company is now focusing on creating digital credit: high-yield products, such as its preferred equity, STRC, which are backed by its bitcoin holdings. 

Strategy’s stock (NASDAQ: MSTR) was trading slightly higher on Monday morning in New York. Year-to-date, its price has dipped nearly 20%. 

Bitcoin was trading for $77,821 on Monday morning in New York after hitting a high last week of $81,281. Over a 24-hour period, the coin now sits unmoved, but over a 30-day period, it has jumped by more than 24%. 

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Coinbase and Better Mortgage Announce General Availability of Bitcoin-Backed Mortgages

The announcement comes after Better and Coinbase debuted the first Bitcoin-backed loan in June.

Coinbase and Nasdaq-listed Better Mortgage have announced the availability of Bitcoin-backed mortgages for Americans. 

The crypto exchange and lender said Wednesday that the service was designed in accordance with the Federal National Mortgage Association, or Fannie Mae. 

Coinbase and Better announced the funding of the first Bitcoin-backed mortgage in June. The service now hopes to cater to younger wannabe homeowners who have Bitcoin holdings. 

“In 2025, high interest rates, record home prices, and limited inventory pushed the median age of a first-time homebuyer to 40,” Chief Technology Officer at Better Mortgage, Ziggy Jonsson, said. 

“Coinbase counts millions of monthly users worldwide, and by allowing Coinbase One members to pledge crypto as collateral without selling their holdings, we’re opening a new path toward homeownership for a generation of borrowers whose wealth increasingly lives onchain.”

Ben Shen, head of financial services and loyalty products at Coinbase, added: “By enabling borrowers to pledge their digital assets in the mortgage underwriting process, we are allowing crypto to be more useful and powerful in the real-world — expanding the pathways to homeownership while preserving long-term investment positions.”

The announcement added that Coinbase One members will be eligible for a rebate equal to 1% of the mortgage value, up to a maximum of $10,000.

The debut loan by Coinbase and Better was closed by a married Michigan couple, Joe and Amy, in June. The couple used their Bitcoin holdings as collateral to fund their down payment rather than liquidating their position, the companies said at the time. 

Crypto-backed lender Milo said earlier this year that it had surpassed $100 million in digital asset mortgages, including a record $12 million loan, as more high-net-worth and institutional clients were using Bitcoin as collateral for home financing.

Bitcoin-backed loans are still a niche product but one of the biggest lenders in the space, Ledn, has released research claiming that the space could grow from its current size of $3 billion to $1 trillion in the next 10 years.

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Bitcoin Unfazed by Trump’s Iran Threats

Bitcoin’s price used to be sensitive to geopolitical developments. Not anymore.

Bitcoin on Monday shrugged off tensions in the Middle East, barely moving despite U.S. President Donald Trump vowing to hit Iran hard. 

The price of the biggest cryptocurrency recently stood at $79,076, unmoved over a 24-hour period. The coin also hasn’t budged from where it stood seven days ago. 

Geopolitical strife has this year hurt Bitcoin’s price, with the cryptocurrency typically facing downward pressure on news of war and rallied in hopes of a ceasefire. 

When the U.S. and Israel first attacked Iran in February, the coin nosedived, and had been shaky on news of war in March and April. 

But in recent months, Bitcoin’s volatility has been muted, according to analysts, and Monday was no different: President Trump promised to hit Iran again but the asset didn’t flinch. 

“We’re going to hit them hard,” President Trump was quoted telling a Fox News reporter on Monday. The U.S. and Iran started strikes again on Sunday — the first in over one month. 

Bitcoin started a phenomenal run two weeks ago — its best in three years — and is up nearly 30% over the past month. 

Its price started surging after the U.S. Treasury would at least double the size of its liquidity-support buyback operations. The announcement hurt the dollar but non-yielding assets like bitcoin and gold have benefited. 

Positive regulatory news has also helped bitcoin this month: President Donald Trump this month said that the long-awaited crypto Clarity Act was a “very, very powerful” piece of legislation, and urged lawmakers to get it over the line. 

The Clarity Act aims to establish a framework for distinguishing between digital assets that are securities, commodities or payment stablecoins — legislation that the crypto industry has long called for. 

Investors have piled back into exchange-traded funds this month, too, which has also helped bitcoin’s price. From August 17 to 27, investors threw over $2.8 billion at the vehicles — the most since October. 

Bitcoin reached as high as $81,281 last week before sliding again on Friday. 

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Russia’s Sberbank Estimates $46.4B Trading Volume in First Year of Crypto Buildout

Bitcoin trading is expected to be popular in Russia, which is moving fast with regulating the space.

Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, has said it expects trading volume with its new crypto rollout to hit 4 trillion rubles ($46.43 bln) in the first year, according to reports. 

Volumes are also expected to hit 7.5 trillion rubles ($87.06 bln) by 2029, Sberbank Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board Anatoly Popov was quoted saying, as reported by Tass on Saturday. 

The forecast was deemed “conservative” according to the news report. Sberbank in July revealed plans to debut a Bitcoin and crypto wallet as well as digital asset custody by December. The Bank of Russia in July published draft regulations for crypto trading, and the State Duma is preparing the comprehensive regulation of digital assets. 

And in a Friday report, Tass quoted Sberbank Deputy Chairman Anatoly Popov saying that the bank was planning to accept Bitcoin — and other cryptocurrencies — as collateral for loans. 

Russia is fast moving ahead with regulating digital assets in the country. Russian President Vladimir Putin this month signed a law to set in stone the regulation of digital currencies and digital rights in the country. 

The new law reportedly allows only registered entities to operate as exchanges, and puts limits on the amount of crypto retail investors can use. 

Still, despite the rollout, using digital assets as a means of payment or legal tender within Russia is still banned. Using crypto as a form of payment has been prohibited in Russia since 2022. 

President Putin has appeared to praise Bitcoin in the past, once saying that the leading cryptocurrency can’t be stopped. 

Since the U.S. and European governments cut Russia off from the SWIFT payments system after it invaded Ukraine in 2022, Russian companies have been using Bitcoin to skirt around the penalties. 

But the Russian state keeps a tight grip on what its citizens can do with crypto: authorities have been cracking down and arresting people operating unregistered crypto exchanges. 

And the amounts involved barely matter — a nuclear engineer in Sarov was sentenced to 18 years for sending about $13 from his crypto wallet to groups the state designates as terrorist organizations.

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US Opens a New Front Against Iran’s Crypto Economy

Iran has been using Bitcoin to dodge sanctions. The Department of the Treasury wants to shut it off from the crypto economy.

The U.S. this week closed in on Iran, further targeting its crypto-related methods of dodging sanctions in a new economic campaign against the country. 

In a Monday announcement, the U.S. Department of the Treasury said it had placed Iran’s digital asset sector under the same sanctions authority it has long used against the country’s oil, banking and metals industries. 

The move, as part of Operation Economic Outcast, a campaign against the Islamic Republic dubbed “economic D-Day,” is a first, and a significant escalation in exposure for crypto businesses worldwide.

With the new action, the Office of Foreign Assets Control can sanction any person, regardless of where they are located. 

“The Iranian regime increasingly turns to cryptocurrency as a tool of choice for sanctions evasion, supporting transactions linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iranian regime insiders,” OFAC said in a statement. 

Foreign exchanges, OTC desks, payment processors and infrastructure providers that knowingly facilitate transactions supporting Iran’s digital asset sector are now exposed to designation themselves, along with the loss of access to the U.S. financial system that typically follows.

OFAC also designated members of a group within the Ministry of Intelligence and Security accused of hacking U.S. critical infrastructure on the regime’s behalf and published their wallets.

Group co-leader Behzad Mesri and members Keyvan Fayyaz Ghareh Blagh and Arman Kahzadian each had bitcoin, and other crypto addresses added to the Treasury’s sanctioned list. The three belong to a larger MOIS contingent that has pursued U.S. targets through data theft and intrusions against corporations and government offices.

Bloomberg first reported in May that Iran had started a bitcoin-backed insurance service for Iranian shipping companies.

The U.S. in July said that it had frozen crypto linked to the Iranian regime, mostly in the form of the Tether stablecoin. 

Stablecoins like Tether’s USDT can be frozen by the company that issues the asset but bitcoin, being decentralized and having no single issuer, cannot.

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FBI Agent Accused of $1 Million Crypto Theft From ‘Adversarial Nation’

Court documents allege that Patrick Steven Yaroch was planning on going abroad with the stolen crypto.

A Federal Bureau of Investigation agent allegedly took $1 million in seized cryptocurrencies before turning himself in, according to court records. 

Documents unsealed this week allege Patrick Steven Yaroch, who was a FBI Supervisory Special Agent working at the FBI Headquarters Counterintelligence and Espionage Division, claimed he “was frustrated that the FBI could not or would not act against adversarial cryptocurrency accounts.”

He then proceeded to “take matters into his own hands,” according to the affidavit filed with a district court in Virginia, and transfer $925,426.07 in crypto to his personal wallets over numerous transactions. 

Yaroch then allegedly toyed with the idea of retiring in Portugal with his wife, court documents claim, citing his ChatGPT history, but later confessed to a Department of Justice employee what he had done. 

“Yaroch told DOJ employee 1 that he made some very poor decisions related to cryptocurrency wallets,” court documents read. “Yaroch said that he went into FBI systems and found keys needed to transfer money from wallets to himself.”

A motion for a detention order, made public on Tuesday, added: “The weight of the evidence against the defendant is strong. He confessed to stealing the cryptocurrency from the adverse nations’ wallets.” 

Court filings further allege that Yaroch “previously had access to some of the nation’s most secret and important information. He then chose to misuse this information to steal money, for his own financial gain.”

It adds that the defendant has been charged with two felonies that carry a maximum penalty of 10 years of incarceration each. 

The nation in question has not been named in the documents. 

The court documents made public this week only briefly mention that Yaroch had a tiny amount of Bitcoin in his Kraken account; the vast majority of his funds were held in stablecoins. 

Yaroch, from Ashburn, Virginia was fired from the FBI on July 31, and investigations are ongoing, according to the court documents. 

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Trump Media Pulls Back From Crypto Deals: Report

Trump Media wants to focus on other business ventures, according to an Axios report.

The President Donald Trump-backed media company, Trump Media and Technology Group, is pulling back from two of its crypto deals, according to a report by Axios. 

The publication reported Friday that the two deals with Crypto.com — a prediction market and treasury — would not go ahead. 

Citing comments from fusion energy company TAE’s interim CEO, Kevin McGurn, the publication said that Trump Media had pulled the deals as the market for digital asset treasury companies had become saturated over the past year.

Trump Media last year said it was working with crypto exchange Crypto.com to build a Cronos treasury with $6.4 billion in backing. Cronos is the native coin of Crypto.com’s platform. 

It later in 2025 said it was working with Crypto.com on Truth Predict, a betting platform to allow users to put money on sports games, elections and other events.

Digital asset treasuries exploded in popularity last year, with companies following in the footsteps of Nasdaq-listed software company Strategy to build balance sheets with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. 

But a slump in prices since October has hurt the stock of a number of companies who adopted the business idea. 

McGurn was quoted saying that the decision to scale back was driven more by “competitive dynamics” rather than regulatory concerns surrounding a crypto company backed by the president.

President Trump campaigned on a ticket to help the crypto space and received backing from major players in the space. 

The president since taking office has launched a meme coin and he and his family backed a crypto project, World Liberty Financial. 

Axios added that the exchange-traded funds debuted last year by Trump Media, special purpose acquisition company Yorkville Acquisition Corp., and Crypto.com would continue. 

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NYSE-Listed AI Company Taps Lightning Network to Pay Employees In Bitcoin

Some of the company’s laser-eyed employees wanted their salaries in Bitcoin. It was easier than expected.

Publicly traded AI operating system Vida Global (NYSE American: VIDA) has said it has started paying employees in Bitcoin using the Lightning network — but in a way where the company does not have the leading crypto on its balance sheet. 

The Austin, Texas-based company said Thursday that after a worker in Argentina asked to be paid in Bitcoin, the firm tapped Bitcoin infrastructure company Voltage to make the transaction. 

But the company is not keeping Bitcoin on its books: it simply sends the cash amount via Voltage’s platform, the employees receive payment in Bitcoin, and Vida’s balance sheet remains in dollars. 

“Vida has a global team, including team members in Argentina who prefer to be paid in Bitcoin because of challenges with their local currency,” Vida CEO Lyle Pratt said. 

“Voltage facilitates the Bitcoin payments, and we settle the balance in U.S. dollars at the end of the month, just like a standard vendor invoice. It has made offering Bitcoin payments remarkably simple for both our team and our finance operations.”

Pratt added the setup meets employee needs without adding crypto complexity to accounting.

Voltage CEO Graham Krizek said it was solving a mismatch between “global by default” AI companies and payment rails that haven’t kept up.

“Their team members get paid in seconds in the money they actually want, and their finance team never touches crypto,” he said. “When a public company runs part of its team compensation on Bitcoin rails and the books stay boring, that’s the point.”

Lightning is another network that skirts transactions around the main chain, cutting costs and increasing speed — originally designed so people could use Bitcoin for daily purchases.

Bitcoin maxis like Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey have since integrated the network into their businesses, payments platform, Cash App and his PoS terminals, Square.

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Dubai-Based Emirates Airline Adds Bitcoin and Crypto Payments

The airline first teased Bitcoin payments back in 2022.

People can now pay with Bitcoin to buy flights from Dubai-based airline Emirates. 

Working with Crypto.com, Emirates said Tuesday the customers now have the option to book flights using the crypto exchange’s payment feature.

Crypto.com and Emirates last year announced they would work together. 

Emirates’ Deputy President and Chief Commercial Officer Adnan Kazim said the move “reflects the rapidly evolving preferences of a younger, digitally fluent generation who manage their money and plan their journeys primarily from their phones and they expect the airlines they fly with to keep pace.”

Emirates first teased plans back in 2022 to implement Bitcoin payments; the latest move allows Crypto.com customers to use any digital assets to make payments. 

Under the new setup, travelers with a Crypto.com account can select Crypto.com Pay at checkout when booking on emirates.com or through the Emirates App. 

The option is limited for now to eligible UAE residents making bookings priced and settled in Emirati Dirham.

The integration runs through Crypto.com’s Dubai-licensed entity, which the company says was the first virtual asset service provider to receive a Stored Value Facilities license from the Central Bank of the UAE. 

The launch also feeds into wider government targets. It supports Dubai’s Cashless Strategy, part of the D33 Economic Agenda, which is aiming to make 90% of transactions across the emirate’s government and private sectors digital by the end of 2026. 

It follows on from an earlier Emirates partnership with Dubai Finance to advance digital payments, and comes after Crypto.com struck its own deal with Dubai Finance to accept digital payments for government services.

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Russia’s Sberbank Sets December Deadline for Crypto Buildout: Report

Russian bank Sberbank revealed plans for a crypto wallet earlier in July.

Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, will build crypto infrastructure by December, according to a report by Russian news agency Interfax. 

A key piece will be a digital depository that tracks clients’ crypto rights and records off-blockchain transactions, while also handling wallet transfers to execute client orders, Interfax reported Monday. 

Sberbank this month revealed plans to debut a Bitcoin and crypto wallet plus digital asset custody by December. 

The news comes as the State Duma mulls over a new law “On Digital Currencies and Digital Rights,” which sets up comprehensive Russian regulation of crypto. The proposed law covers retail purchases through licensed intermediaries, exchange trading, clearing, and digital depositories.

First Deputy Chairman Alexander Vedyakhin was quoted as saying in the article that regulators and the market still need to draft numerous implementing regulations covering depository accounting, bookkeeping, and licensing for new types of intermediaries. 

He added that Sberbank is ready to keep sharing its expertise and participating actively in that process.

Russia’s crypto journey 

Using crypto has been illegal in Russia as a form of payment since 2022 but lawmakers in the country have been open about using them for international settlements.

President Vladimir Putin signed a law allowing cryptocurrency mining in the country last year, allowing legal entities to mine if they have been approved by the digital ministry. Foreign operations are currently banned from doing business in the country.

Back in 2023, the Russian legislature passed a bill legalizing the use of digital currency as a way to make international payments. 

The bill likely has helped the country skirt international sanctions since the U.S. and European governments cut Russia off from the SWIFT payments system after it invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Top Russian banks are planning to launch crypto trading services when new regulations take hold in the country. 

Lawmakers have said that investors will have to pass a test to start crypto investing and will be limited on the amount they can buy.

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