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Good Morning, Asia. Here's what's making news in the markets:Welcome to Asia Morning Briefing, a daily summary of top stories during U.S. hours and an overview of market moves and analysis. For a detailed overview of U.S. markets, see CoinDesk's Crypto Daybook Americas.As East Asia begins its business day, bitcoin is down 1.8%, trading above $117,800, as traders take some profit after BTC pushed through multiple all-time highs.While there's a belief from some market participants that the rally is just beginning, with calls for BTC to hit 160k, 200k, and further, OKX's Chief Commercial Officer, Lennex Lai warns that risk is building just as fast as market enthusiasm."Across platforms, we're seeing an increase in aggressive long positions and widening funding...

The Senate Agriculture Committee leapt into Congress' negotiation over crypto's market structure legislation with a hearing on Tuesday, and its ranking Democrat, Senator Amy Klobuchar, outlined the significant changes she'd like to see before she'd embrace the effort to set up digital assets regulations.As the House potentially nears passage of its own market structure bill in the Digital Asset Markets Clarity Act (despite a procedural delay on Tuesday), Klobuchar's committee will need to sign off on its own legislation. And any major changes she and other Democrats are willing to pursue as a party could stretch the legislative process much longer than the Sept. 30 deadline that Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott has set."We're not going to be rolled here,"...

NEW YORK — There is at least one fact that both the defense and the prosecution agree in the ongoing criminal money laundering trial of software developer Roman Storm: the product he helped to create and run — a once-popular crypto privacy tool called Tornado Cash — was exploited by hackers and cyber criminals to launder their dirty money.What the parties do not agree on, and the fundamental question at the heart of Storm’s trial, is whether Storm was able to prevent this behavior, whether he knew which criminals were using the Tornado Cash protocol and how and, most importantly, whether he should be held criminally liable for creating a tool that bad actors used to cover their tracks.Storm, 36, has been...

Brandon Lutnick, chairman of Wall Street investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald, is in late-stage talks with early bitcoin proponent and Blockstream CEO Adam Back for a bitcoin treasury deal that could be worth over $3 billion, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.According to the report, Lutnick’s blank cheque company Cantor Equity Partners 1 would acquire 30,000 BTC (nearly $3.5 billion at current prices) from Back. In return, Back would receive equity in the vehicle, which would be renamed BSTR Holdings. The firm also seeks to raise $800 million outside capital, the report said.A final deal could be announced within days, though terms are still being negotiated, per the report.The news follows Cantor Fitzgerald's previous bitcoin investment vehicle Twenty One Capital, which...

As it sped into Crypto Week on Tuesday, the U.S. House's process toward passing digital assets bills ground to a sudden halt over a procedural vote as members of the House Freedom Caucus objected to the way some of the legislation has developed under Senate dominance.The misfire on the procedural vote quickly slammed the crypto markets over uncertainty about the good news expected this week as the House has moved toward passage of two of the industry's top priorities. The legislation still has strong, bipartisan support, suggesting the procedural mishap may be overcome as a further vote was scheduled for later Tuesday afternoon. More than a dozen Republicans joined Democrats in voting against the motion.Two people familiar with the matter...