Tether Ex-CIO Shops Stake Sale

BonkDAO Drained $20 Million Governance Attack | Privy Launches Global Fiat Onramps

Marco Manoppo & Karon Pangestu
July 08, 2026

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Good Morning.

Tether's former CIO quietly shopping part of his stake through PJT Partners is a small transaction with an outsized signal, arriving just as the stablecoin giant has paused its own $500B raise to await a first ever Big Four audit, a moment where insider selling and unresolved transparency questions sit uncomfortably close together.

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In Today's Email:

What Matters: Tether Ex-CIO Shops Stake Sale 👀
Case Study: BonkDAO Drained $20 Million Governance Attack ☢️
Governance & Features: Privy Launches Global Fiat Onramps 🚀

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Narratives: DAO Governance Risk

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WHAT MATTERS

Tether Ex-CIO Shops Stake Sale

State of play: Richard Heathcote is offloading part of his 1.26% Tether stake through PJT Partners just months after stepping back from day to day investment duties, a move that lands while the Tether is still working to prove its books can withstand real scrutiny.

Heathcote joined Tether in 2023 from Cantor Fitzgerald's BGC Group and stepped down as CIO in March, shifting to an advisory role.
Deputy Zachary Lyons has taken over daily investment management responsibilities at the firm.
The stake sale size and target valuation were not disclosed in the report.
Tether paused a planned raise at up to a $500B valuation as it awaits its first Big Four audit.
USDT holds roughly 63% of the $291B dollar-pegged stablecoin market, per The Block's data.

Why it matters: An insider selling down his stake while Tether stalls its own capital raise sends a mixed signal right as the company tries to court institutional money ahead of its audit.

Our take: A CIO cashing out personal equity isn't itself alarming, but the timing next to a paused $500B raise and lingering audit questions gives skeptics an easy narrative to seize on.

For builders and investors: Watch for audit results and any disclosed valuation on this secondary sale, both will shape how much leverage Tether has when it eventually returns to fundraising.

CASE STUDY

BonkDAO Drained $20M Governance Attack

An attacker spent $4.4M buying enough BONK to pass a disguised proposal and drain $20M from BonkDAO's treasury, exposing how little scrutiny most token holders actually give governance votes.

An anonymous wallet proposed "Sowellian BonkDAO" reforms that concealed instructions to transfer 4.426 trillion BONK to the attacker.
The attacker accumulated 882 billion BONK from exchanges like Bybit and Binance to secure voting power.
The proposal passed with 99.9% approval but only 2.9% turnout from over 18,000 DAO members.
Funds moved out of the treasury on July 6, and BONK's price dipped 8-10% before stabilizing.
BonkDAO is working with exchanges, the Solana Foundation, and law enforcement to trace and freeze the stolen assets.

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INSIGHTS

Ondo Perps Adds Tokenized Stock Collateral

State of play: Ondo Finance now lets pre-alpha users post tokenized stocks as collateral for perpetual futures, pushing RWAs beyond passive onchain assets into active trading infrastructure.

Traders can use tokenized stocks as collateral for perps tied to commodities like oil and gold, plus stocks like Apple and Tesla.
The platform offers 24/7 permissionless access with up to 20x leverage, excluding the US, Panama, and other restricted jurisdictions.
Ondo is offering $150,000 in USDC as rewards for first-week trading activity.
The launch follows Ondo's recent tokenization of BlackRock's IVV ETF and Micron shares under an SEC custodial framework.
Ondo Perps now competes more directly with rivals like Ostium and Hyperliquid in the RWA derivatives space.

FEATURES & GOVERNANCE UPDATE

Privy Launches Global Fiat Onramps

Privy's new fiat onramp feature bundles authentication, wallet creation, and funding into one flow, targeting the drop-off that happens between signup and a funded wallet.

Stripe Crypto Onramp handles payment processing, KYC, and compliance across the US and EU.
Privy's global aggregator routes users through the best available provider in over 100 additional countries.
Supported payment methods include cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and ACH in supported regions.
Developers integrate through a single useFiatOnramp hook that delivers funds to one destination wallet.
The feature is live now for all Privy accounts, with docs available for integration.

Other notable feature updates:

Wisp opens Waitlist for Private AI Assistant.
DeFi Saver disables Summer Vault Deposits.
Aave V4 Expansion proposed on Avalanche.
Velocity opens Insurance Fund Claims Portal.
Berachain replaces BGT With Revenue-Based PoL.

QUICK BITES

Kraken wins $22m arbitration against auditor Mazars.
Tom Lee's Bitmine adds $70M worth of ETH to treasury.
Tether's former CIO seeks buyers for part of his stake in the firm.
SEC plans crypto rule changes for exchanges and broker dealers in 2026.
Ondo says tokenized stocks can now be used as collateral for perp trading.
ZEC jumps 12% as Zcash nears mathematical proof against counterfeit bugs.

NOTEWORTHY READS & MEME

Ethan’s read on Mapping ETH Yield Risk-Return.
Nic Carter’s read on The stablecoin duopoly is ending.
Tiger Research’s read on H1 2026 Global Crypto Hiring Market Analysis.

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Disclaimer: All the information presented in this publication and its affiliates is strictly for educational purposes only. It should not be construed or taken as financial, legal, investment, or any other form of advice.