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Judge Declines to Order DOJ to Review Records in Roman Storm Case

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The federal judge overseeing Roman Storm’s prosecution declined to order the Department of Justice to review its records for any materials it might have missed that would help the Tornado Cash developer at the end of a 30-minute hearing Friday morning, though she told the government it should not have any disclosure issues.

Judge Katherine Polk Failla also ruled that there were no Brady violation concerns with the Department of Justice’s conversations with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) about whether mixers needed to register as money transmitters — the conversation that prosecutors pursuing Samourai Wallet developers had with FinCEN officials, but not the prosecutors on Storm’s case — one of the DOJ representatives said in the phone conference on Friday.

If the judge had found that prosecutors had withheld information, it could affect the case moving forward.

«I’m not going to require a further review based on the representations made that there’s no additional material of this type, and based on my views that I don’t believe the material was exculpatory,» she said.

«There’s a difference between ‘this is something I’d like to know’ and ‘this is a Brady violation,'» the judge said, referring to a Supreme Court precedent that requires prosecutors to share any and all information that might help a defendant with the defendant’s team.

Storm’s defense attorneys argued during the hearing that they needed to know when the prosecutors in their case learned about the FinCEN conversation.

«They do plan to say they’re charging a conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitter,» said defense attorney Brian Klein. «My question is who are they supposed to be licensed with? … this is all in the same issue. They’ve only dropped one subpart … but they’re still going to say they’re charging an unlicensed money business.»

Thane Rehn, a prosecutor who worked on the DOJ case against Sam Bankman-Fried, said that his team wouldn’t argue that Tornado Cash needed to secure a license.

«The word ‘license’ doesn’t apply here and the jury won’t be instructed on licensing issues … what we intend to prove at trial is the defendant knew they were transmitting funds derived from criminals,» he said.

The judge did at multiple points ask the prosecutors if they planned to change any other theories or charges in the weeks leading up to the trial, saying doing so might be unfair to the defense. The trial is supposed to kick off in less than two months.

Read more: DOJ Will Still Pursue Roman Storm Case Despite Blanche Memo, Prosecutors Say

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ARK Invest Sold $95M of Coinbase Shares After COIN’s Surge to Record Highs

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ARK Invest offloaded nearly $43.8 million worth of shares of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase (COIN) on Monday.

The sale follows similar moves last week for a total of 270,984 COIN shares offloaded in the last three trading days, worth just under $95 million based on Monday’s closing price of $350.49.

Coinbase shares surged to a record high of over $380 on June 26, which necessitated the sales from ARK. Cathie Wood’s investment managing firm has a target weighing of its exchange-traded funds (ETFs), whereby no individual holding exceeds 10% of its total value.

This leads to a trend of ARK selling large numbers of particular shares when their prices rally and acquiring them when they dip.

ARK holds COIN in three of its ETFs: Innovation (ARKK), Next Generation Internet (ARKW) and Fintech Innovation (ARKF).

Read More: ARK Invest Continues to Dump Circle Shares, Buys Robinhood and Coinbase

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Germany’s Public Savings Bank Network Sparkassen to Offer Bitcoin Trading to Clients: Report

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Sparkassen, a group of savings banks operating across Germany since the first established in Hamburg in 1778, has decided to introduce cryptocurrency trading services for their customers, according to a report by Bloomberg.

The group will enable private clients to trade cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH), directly through their mobile banking apps via the group’s securities platform, DekaBank, with the facility expected to go live by summer 2026.

The news comes months after DekaBank introduced crypto trading and custody services for institutional clients and represents the growing acceptance of digital assets within traditional banking systems.

The German Savings Bank Association (DSGV) reportedly backed the decision to enable crypto trading, citing growing demand and the prevalence of legal framework under the so-called European MiCAR Regulation.

Earlier this year, Matthias Diessl, president of the Savings Banks in Bavaria, said in a Bloomberg interview that savings banks should offer customers the opportunity to trade cryptocurrencies, deviating from a three-year-old committee recommendation cautioning against enabling crypto trading.

That said, despite warming up to the idea, DGSV still considers digital assets as highly speculative investments, according to Bloomberg.

Read more: Boerse Stuttgart Partners With DekaBank to Offer Crypto Trading for Institutional Clients

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Bitcoin ETP With DeFi Yield Goes Live in Europe

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A bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded product (ETP) that generates yield from decentralized finance (DeFi) markets has debuted on Tuesday, in what issuer Fineqia calls a first of its kind.

The Fineqia Bitcoin Yield ETP (YBTC), listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange, targets a 6% annual yield by deploying investor capital into DeFi strategies. It is issued by Fineqia’s Liechtenstein-based subsidiary and advised by Psalion Yield, a digital asset investment firm focused on blockchain-based yield.

Unlike existing crypto yield ETPs that rely on derivatives or structured notes, YBTC maintains one-to-one exposure to bitcoin while generating returns directly from DeFi protocols.

“It allows investors to earn more BTC while they hold it, combining long-term conviction with compounding returns, all inside a regulated wrapper,” said Fineqia CEO, Bundeep Singh Rangar.

The ETP also supports in-kind transfers, meaning that digital asset holders can contribute BTC directly to the product without the need to first convert into cash incurring a taxable event.

YBTC arrives at a time when investor interest in crypto-focused investments is growing. These investment products has brought digital assets closer to traditional investors, allowing them to invest in digital assets in a familiar way through brokerage accounts without the need of crypto wallets and blockchain transactions.

Bitcoin exchange-traded products enjoyed rapid growth over the past year and have gobbled up $150 billion of assets, Fineqia said.

Read more: BlackRock to List Bitcoin ETP in Europe in First Crypto Foray Outside U.S.

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