Today in crypto, crypto and stocks fell on escalating threats by the US and Iran, Fidelity told the SEC that it supports trading tokenized securities on alternative trading systems and Resolv Labs’ stablecoin depegged after an attacker minted 80 million tokens
Crypto falls as Iran vows response to Trump threat
Crypto and the wider markets tumbled on Monday as the US and Iran escalated threats toward each other, as the Iran war entered its fourth week, sending oil prices seesawing.
US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the US would “hit and obliterate” Iranian power plants if the country didn’t open the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours. Iran responded by saying it will answer any US strikes with similar attacks on US and Israeli infrastructure in the Gulf and threatened to completely close the Strait, a vital oil shipping lane.
Rachael Lucas, an analyst at BTC Markets, said that crypto “is trading in lockstep with equities right now, not as a haven,” as Bitcoin (BTC) dropped to a low of below $67,600 in late trading on Sunday, which caused a surge in liquidations.
Crude oil also surged, which Lucas said would increase inflation expectations and the probability of a rate hike in the US.
She added that if the Iran war de-escalates, “crypto would be among the fastest risk assets to recover. However, this conflict has no clear negotiating counterpart and no defined exit timeline, which makes that outcome difficult to call in the near term.”
Fidelity urges SEC to move further on crypto activity by broker-dealers
Fidelity Investments told the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday that it should continue to develop the regulatory framework for broker-dealers to offer, custody and trade crypto assets on alternative trading systems (ATS).
The letter from the US’ third-largest asset manager was in reply to a call for comments earlier this month by the regulator’s Crypto Task Force.
Fidelity said it is “critical” for the SEC to develop a comprehensive regulatory framework and clear rules of the road for tokenized securities trading, including rules for trading tokenized securities issued by third parties.
Fidelity also urged the SEC to bridge the regulatory gap between centralized and decentralized trading systems to “consider how intermediated and disintermediated trading venues can evolve and coexist,” the company’s general counsel, Roberto Braceras, wrote.
Resolv says no assets lost as DeFi protocols respond to USR depeg
Resolv Labs moved Sunday to reassure users after an exploit hit the issuance mechanics of its USR stablecoin, knocking the token off its dollar peg and prompting decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols with exposure to move quickly to contain any fallout.
Cointelegraph reported earlier Sunday that an attacker exploited USR’s minting mechanics, creating tens of millions of unbacked tokens and dumping them through DeFi pools, which broke the stablecoin’s peg and prompted Resolv to pause protocol functions as it assessed the damage.
The token dropped as low as $0.14 (86% below its intended $1 price) after the exploit before rebounding to $0.42 at the time of writing, according to data from CoinGecko.
In a recent statement on X, the Resolv team said that the collateral pool “remains fully intact,” and that the problem appears “isolated to USR issuance mechanics.” Containment and impact assessment remain ongoing.
Onchain data from Arkham, corroborated by Web3 security firm Cyvers, showed that the attacker had converted most of the minted USR into Ether (ETH), selling part of the haul for about 11,400 ETH (around $24 million). Independent analysts also noted that the remaining 36.74 million USR was “still being continuously dumped.”
