Assemble AI

IREN produced 402 BTC in the third quarter, compared with 2,039 BTC a year earlier, according to Bitcoin.com News. Third-quarter bitcoin mining revenue dropped 88% year over year to $28 million. IREN expects to have largely finished converting to an AI cloud business by December 31, 2026, while retaining limited mining activity in 2027. IREN shares closed at $18.03 on November 5 after falling 17%.

Fundstrat's Tom Lee advocated buying AI stocks after the selloff and predicted a 15% Nasdaq rebound in a Friday video update. The Nasdaq-100 had lost 6.36% and $2.3 trillion in market value on Thursday. JPMorgan Asset Management equity portfolio manager Jack Caffrey described the decline as normal and cited company order backlogs lasting 12 to 24 months. However, Friday's stronger-than-expected October payroll growth increased expectations of a December Federal Reserve rate hike, challenging Lee's argument that pressure to tighten had eased.

Tether's plan for continuous liquidity in tokenized assets depends on approved buyers paying cash before the underlying investments complete redemption. Tether's November 5 agreement with RedStone gives eligible assets on Hadron access to pricing data and auction-based settlement. RedStone places near-instant voluntary redemptions on the roadmap, but the announcements disclose neither committed liquidity amounts nor guaranteed auction coverage. Faster exits depend on buyers offering discounts that lenders and eligible holders can accept.

The US Treasury ordered MEXC Global excluded from the American financial system over allegations involving $16.7 billion in illicit transactions. The November 6 announcement says FinCEN will bar US financial institutions from transferring funds to or from MEXC, including cryptocurrency. The prohibition becomes effective 30 days after Federal Register publication. The order reaches transactions involving customers outside the United States but does not automatically freeze customer assets or close MEXC worldwide. Foreign exchanges and banks may reconsider relationships with MEXC, potentially disrupting deposits, withdrawals and global liquidity.

FinCEN issued a final order Friday to exclude MEXC Global from the US banking system over Treasury allegations involving at least $16 billion in illicit transfers. The ban will take effect 30 days after publication in the Federal Register, which remained pending Friday evening eastern time. Covered US financial institutions will be prohibited from transferring funds, including convertible virtual currency, to or from MEXC. Treasury alleges that MEXC facilitated sanctions evasion involving Iran, North Korea and Russia. The action is a FinCEN transfer prohibition, not an OFAC sanctions designation. MEXC had not publicly responded to the order.

US authorities charged three foreign nationals over an alleged AI impersonation scheme that stole more than $129 million from companies worldwide, according to the Justice Department. Prosecutors allege that Jacob Soall, Sharon Hazan and Guy Sheetrit manipulated executives' and attorneys' voices and images to persuade employees to transfer money. Soall and Hazan were arrested in Spain over the summer, while Sheetrit was arrested in the United Kingdom in September. The alleged scheme operated between 2024 and 2026. The charges include conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money-laundering conspiracy and aggravated identity theft.

The U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued an order Friday excluding crypto exchange MEXC Global from the U.S. financial system. Treasury accused MEXC of facilitating at least $16 billion in illicit transactions connected to Iran, North Korea and Russia. The order prohibits U.S. financial institutions from handling any transfers to or from MEXC, starting 30 days after Federal Register publication. FinCEN said MEXC had serious anti-money-laundering shortcomings despite publicly claiming compliance controls.

The US Treasury on Friday ordered MEXC Global's exclusion from the US financial system over allegations involving at least $16 billion in illicit transactions. The order prohibits US financial institutions from handling transfers involving MEXC and takes effect 30 days after Federal Register publication. FinCEN alleged that MEXC processed transactions involving sanctioned groups in Iran, Russia and North Korea between May 2021 and May 2026. MEXC had not answered a request for comment by publication.

The U.S. Treasury Department said it cut MEXC Global off from the United States over allegations involving $16 billion in transactions connected to Iran, North Korea and Russia. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network issued an order against the crypto exchange on Friday and identified MEXC Global as a money laundering concern. Treasury alleged serious weaknesses in MEXC Global's anti-money laundering controls despite the exchange's stated safeguards and commitments to block users in countries including Iran and North Korea.

METR's November 5 assessment found that Anthropic's models were probably progressing roughly twice as fast on clearly defined tasks in October 2026 as during March 2024 to October 2025. METR judged that AI assistance probably explains most of the recent acceleration, but Anthropic withheld much of the supporting evidence. Six months at the measured pace could produce about a year of benchmark progress. Superintelligence within that period would require those gains to extend to open-ended research and help successive models accelerate further development. The Associated Press reported that Anthropic co-founder Sam McCandlish defended the redactions on commercial and safety grounds.

Gnosis Pay disclosed on Friday that a security breach exposed customers' card information, home addresses and cryptocurrency wallet addresses. Gnosis Pay said unauthorized access to the legacy consumer card system was detected on Nov. 3, and containment began within two hours. Gnosis Pay said customer funds and the separate enterprise platform were unaffected. Breach notifications identified exposed data including full card numbers, expiration dates, CVV codes and personal information. Gnosis Pay did not disclose the number of affected customers.

The Treasury Department has withdrawn a proposal to expand reporting requirements for cryptocurrency transactions by lowering the information-collection threshold from $3,000 to $250. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and the Federal Reserve Board of Governors withdrew the 2020 proposal on Friday. FinCEN cited the passage of more than five years, changes in the convertible virtual currency industry and the value of further public input. Coin Center welcomed the withdrawal, while Crypto Council for Innovation CEO Ji Hun Kim said the lower threshold would have imposed an undue burden on institutions handling cross-border transfers.

TRM Labs executive Ari Redbord urged governments to conduct offensive cyber operations against North Korean hackers after the record $6.3 billion theft from Binance. TRM attributed the attack to North Korea's TraitorTrader hacking group. TRM said stablecoin issuers froze about $2.67 billion in tokens following the theft. Redbord warned that unprecedented coordination across the industry would not prevent more attacks while North Korea continues to benefit. Redbord also called for action against the laundering networks and banks that hackers use to convert stolen funds into cash.

Bitcoin.com News reported that Zcash completed Network Upgrade 7 (NU7), reducing the target interval between blocks from 75 seconds to 25 seconds. The upgrade set the reward per block at 0.52083333 ZEC to preserve the established daily issuance. ZEC gained about 8% over the 24 hours after the upgrade, trading around $1,345 at reporting time. The next halving is expected in late 2028.

Apple and Meta Platforms have objected to plans for tokenized stock trading by OKX and Intercontinental Exchange, the parent of the NYSE. Objections cover 56 of the 62 companies initially selected by OKXICE, about 90%. Strategy, Coinbase, Circle, Robinhood, Securitize and BitGo do not appear on the disclosed objection list, potentially concentrating the initial selection in crypto-related businesses. OKXICE plans continuous trading in tokenized U.S. stocks with stablecoin settlement. The objection deadline for issuers in the October 4 notice passed this week, but OKXICE may still have objections to disclose.

A proposed Labor Department rule could allow smaller cryptocurrencies in US 401(k) retirement plans, although experts expect greater obstacles than for Bitcoin and Ether. The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs said the rule entered final White House review on Thursday. The proposal names no eligible digital assets and imposes no minimum market capitalization, but inclusion would not be guaranteed. Bellementis PLLC managing partner Teresa Goody Guillén expects ETFs and managed funds to precede direct crypto holdings. Trace Finance co-founder and CEO Bernardo Brites expects some crypto options in 2027, but warned that lawsuits and possible policy reversals could delay adoption.

Greece has approved a 10% tax on cryptocurrency capital gains and a separate 15% tax on staking and decentralized finance income. Parliament passed the legislation on November 5, with implementation scheduled for January 1, 2027. Reuters reported that annual cryptocurrency gains of up to €500 will be exempt. Investors can carry qualifying losses forward for five years to reduce future taxable gains. The treatment of crypto-to-crypto swaps remains unresolved despite a finance ministry proposal to exempt those transactions from immediate taxation.

A Hyperliquid Strategies subsidiary has applied to become a futures commission merchant to serve U.S. clients trading on permissioned Hyperliquid markets. Regulators must approve both the broker registration and the markets, and Hyperliquid Strategies has provided no timeline. The Nasdaq-listed treasury firm held about 38.5 million HYPE, worth roughly $3.5 billion, at September's end. More U.S. trading would likely increase protocol fees that support HYPE buybacks, while a brokerage would give Hyperliquid Strategies a business beyond token holdings. Payward and Intercontinental Exchange are also pursuing plans to bring Hyperliquid-based perpetual futures to the United States.

A Fox Business crypto reporter said Maxine Waters is seeking legislation to stop Trump's conflicts of interest involving cryptocurrency. The reporter said Waters also wants strict but fair regulation for legitimate crypto businesses and protections for consumers and the financial system. Democrats saw Waters' statement as an opening to collaborate with the industry on a regulatory framework for legitimate participants.