doj

The "Money Printer" is officially under fire. In a move that has sent shockwaves through both Wall Street and the digital asset space, U.S. federal prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
​This isn't just a headline—it's a fundamental challenge to the independence of the world's reserve currency.

​THE ALPHA ON THE INVESTIGATION:
​The Charge: U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro (D.C.) is investigating whether Powell misled Congress regarding the $2.5 billion renovation of the Fed’s headquarters.​The Subpoenas: Grand jury subpoenas were served on Friday, Jan 9, 2026.​The Defense: In a defiant video statement released Sunday (Jan 11), Powell called the probe a "pretext" and "intimidation" for the Fed's refusal to slash interest rates at the President's demand.

​MARKET REACTIONS IN REAL-TIME:

​Gold & BTC: Hard assets are catching a massive bid as trust in the Fed’s autonomy erodes. Gold has already hit new ATHs this week.​Prediction Markets: * Kalshi: Exit probability for Powell has spiked to 19%.
​Polymarket: Massive volume on "Will Powell be charged before his term ends in May 2026?"​Volatility: The VIX is "loading," and bond markets are showing signs of deep uncertainty.

​THE BOTTOM LINE FOR CRYPTO:
If the Fed Chair can be targeted with criminal charges over policy-adjacent decisions, the "Independence" of the USD is effectively over. This is the exact "institutional instability" narrative that fuels the bull case for decentralized assets.

​"This is about whether monetary policy will be directed by evidence... or by political pressure." — Jerome Powell, Jan 11, 2026.

​⚠️ Stay Hedged. The road to May 2026 just got a lot more volatile.

#powell #Fed #DOJ #CryptoNews #BTC
$BTC
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🔔 MARKET MOVING NEWS! (09/04/25)

1️⃣ Argentine Congress Approves Probe into Officials Over Libra Scandal ‼️

Argentina's Chamber of Deputies voted Tuesday to advance three draft resolutions that would establish a special commission to investigate government officials connected to the Libra memecoin scandal. For context, the scandal has plagued President Javier Milei's administration since February. Milei faced calls for impeachment and fraud charges after he publicly endorsed the Libra token, which collapsed in value and caused damages to investors. The list of officials to be summoned as part of the investigation includes the country's chief of staff, minister of economy, minister of justice and head of the National Securities Commission (CNV).

2️⃣ Aavegotchi NFT Gaming Community Votes To Migrate To Base, Sunset Polygon Deployment ⚡️

The community behind Aavegotchi, an NFT protocol focused on Web3 gaming, has reportedly voted to migrate from its existing deployment on Polygon to Base, the Etheruem Layer 2 supported by Coinbase. As part of the move, Pixelcraft Studios, the development firm behind Aavegotchi, will sunset its “Geist” Layer 3. All Aavegotchi assets will be minted “1:1” on Base. The migration is expected to take four to six weeks, including an audit period.

In a proposal in February, Aavegotchi founder coderdan wrote,

Given the broader market downturn on alts, especially in NFT and gaming, Pixelcraft Studios recently made significant team cuts to reduce our burn and extend runway. The L2 market is becoming increasingly competitive, and the L3 market is not gaining significant traction. Although in theory it should not be important where you deploy your game, in practice eyeballs go where liquidity flows, and TVL on Polygon PoS has been sideways or decreasing ever since 2022. Thus, it is the right move for Aavegotchi to leave Polygon and either create our own chain, or join a growing chain with strong ecosystem support.

3️⃣ Ripple Acquires Crypto-Friendly Prime Broker Hidden Road For $1.25B 💰
#Ripple
Blockchain-based payments network Ripple has reportedly acquired crypto-friendly prime broker Hidden Road in a $1.25 billion deal, marking one of the largest mergers in the crypto industry's history. Notably, the deal will make Ripple the first crypto firm to own and operate a global, multi-asset prime broker. For context, Hidden Road currently clears more than $3 trillion across more than 300 institutions. Commenting on the acquisition, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse noted that the firm has been a customer of Hidden Road for years and “knows their breadth of expertise firsthand.” He also mentioned that Hidden Road’s $3 trillion in annual clearing will tap into Ripple-backed XRP and its underlying decentralised, public blockchain, the XRP Ledger (XRPL).

4️⃣ DOJ Will Shutter Crypto Unit, Back Off Services Like Tornado Cash ▶️
#DOJ
The U.S. Department of Justice is reportedly disbanding the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET). According to an agency memo circulated Monday evening, the crypto-dedicated enforcement team will no longer pursue criminal cases in several key crypto-related areas. This includes criminal charges against crypto exchanges, crypto mixing services, or holders of cold wallets for “acts of their end users or unwitting violations of regulations” unless those violations include crimes like embezzlement, scams, rug pulls, and hacks. Notably, in cases where a criminal enterprise like the Lazarus Group uses a crypto service to launder funds, prosecutors will only pursue the criminal enterprise itself, and “will not pursue actions against the platforms that these enterprises utilise to conduct their illegal activities.”

5️⃣ Melania Solana Meme Coin Team Quietly Dumps $30 Million in Tokens: Bubblemaps 🔍
#solana According to blockchain analytics firm Bubblemaps, the team behind MELANIA (a meme coin linked to U.S. First Lady Melania Trump) has moved and “quietly sold” $30 million worth of the token out of the project’s community funds. Onchain data shows that the tokens were moved to a single wallet before being “split across multiple addresses.” Neither the project team nor “launch strategist” Hayden Davis has offered any explanation for the movement of the assets yet.