The DEA’s Digital Sting, South Korea’s Lending Time-Out, Wyoming’s Historic New Stablecoin, and Tether’s Notable New Hire | August 20, 2025
Description
The DEA targets a Colombian cartel with a covert crypto laundering sting (1:29 ), South Korea orders an abrupt halt to crypto lending services (3:08 ), Wyoming launches the first U.S. state-issued stablecoin (4:43 ), and Tether makes a strategic hire as it eyes U.S. expansion (6:12 ).
This is your essential update on the forces shaping what’s next in money.
More on stories and articles discussed or referenced in this episode:
Brewster, Thomas. “The Wiretap: The DEA Laundered $19 Million of Cartel Drug Money into Cash and Crypto.” Forbes, 19 August 2025, https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2025/08/19/the-wiretap-the-dea-laundered-19-million-of-cartel-drug-money-into-cash-and-crypto/.
Hollerith, David. “Former White House Cryptocurrency Adviser Bo Hines Joins Tether.” Yahoo! Finance, 19 August 2025, https://finance.yahoo.com/news/former-white-house-cryptocurrency-adviser-bo-hines-joins-tether-134729416.html.
Park, Danny. “South Korea Orders Exchanges to Halt Crypto Lending Services Until New Guidelines Established.” The Block, 19 August 2025, https://www.theblock.co/post/367368/south-korea-halt-crypto-lending.
Parker, Hannah. “Wyoming Is the First U.S. State to Issue a Stablecoin.” Quartz, 19 August 2025, https://qz.com/wyoming-first-us-state-issue-stablecoin.
The music in this episode was composed by Liborio Conti, and you can find more of his fantastic work at his YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/liborioconti.
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