In a recent court ruling, Judge Analisa Torres ordered Ripple Labs Inc. to pay a $125 million civil penalty as part of its ongoing legal battle with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fine is related to the sale of XRP tokens to institutional investors. This penalty is significantly lower than the $2 billion the SEC had sought for violations of federal securities laws.

The Democratic branch of the crypto industry has also begun vying for the votes of crypto enthusiasts, leading to the creation of a new Kamala Harris-supporting advocacy group called “Crypto for Harris.” Among its members are left-leaning billionaire entrepreneur and crypto advocate Mark Cuban, SkyBridge Capital founder and Trump critic Anthony Scaramucci, as well as a handful of Democratic members of the House of Representatives.

The NEAR Foundation, the nonprofit organization behind the NEAR blockchain, has announced the activation of Chain Signatures on its mainnet. This feature, which has been in testing since March, allows users with NEAR accounts to sign transactions across supported blockchains without the need for cross-chain bridges. This innovation makes applications faster and easier to use.

A U.S. judge has approved a $12.7 billion settlement agreement between FTX, Alameda Research, and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). As a result, the defunct FTX crypto broker and its affiliated trading firm Alameda Research must pay a total of $12.7 billion in compensation to those who suffered losses due to violations of commodity trading laws.

Franklin Templeton, in collaboration with the Arbitrum Foundation, has launched its OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (FOBXX) on the Arbitrum network. Investors can gain exposure to the fund through the asset manager’s Benji Investments platform using BENJI tokens. Initially launched on the Stellar blockchain, the fund expanded to Polygon in April, with plans to integrate more networks in the future.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has officially signed into law a bill legalizing cryptomining in Russia. The new legislation introduces several concepts aimed at strengthening the industry. Under the law, the right to mine cryptocurrencies is reserved exclusively for registered Russian legal entities and individual entrepreneurs, though private individuals will also be allowed to mine without a permit, provided they stay within a specified energy limit. However, the Russian Central Bank retains the authority to block assets that may pose a potential threat to the country’s financial stability.