The Daily: ‘The DAO is back!’ Tether rebuffs stablecoin yield claims, Senate Agriculture Committee advances crypto bill, and more

The following article is adapted from The Block’s newsletter, The Daily, which comes out on weekday afternoons.

Happy Thursday! Bitcoin BTC has slumped to its lowest level in two months amid a broader crypto downturn that’s seen more than $1 billion in 24-hour liquidations, with gold and equities also giving up gains.

In today’s newsletter, the Ethereum ETH Foundation brings back The DAO, Tether USDT CEO Paolo Ardoino denies taking a position in the stablecoin yield debate, the Senate Agriculture Committee advances its crypto bill, and more.

Meanwhile, OP token holders approve a buyback plan redirecting 50% of Optimism protocol revenue to OTC swaps.

P.S. Don’t forget to check out The Funding, a biweekly rundown of crypto VC trends. It’s a great read — and just like The Daily, it’s free to subscribe!

‘The DAO is back!’: Ethereum dev Griff Green to use unclaimed hack funds for new security effort

Ethereum developer Griff Green, who helped found The DAO, said unclaimed funds from its infamous 2016 hack will be redeployed to launch a new Ethereum security initiative.

• “The DAO is back … and that may scare some people, but this time it shouldn’t be so scary,” Green said in an interview with journalist Laura Shin, who wrote a book uncovering secrets about the exploit.
• Around 20% of the original DAO recovery funds, once worth $6 million and now estimated at around $200 million, were never claimed by affected users, he explained.
• The new effort, called the TheDAO Security Fund, plans to stake roughly 75,000 ETH and use the yield to finance ongoing security operations.
• Green said the fund will operate in coordination with the Ethereum Foundation as part of its broader “Trillion Dollar Security” initiative.
• Funding allocations will rely on bottom-up mechanisms such as quadratic funding, retroactive grants, and ranked-choice RFPs, he noted.
• TheDAO Security Fund named prominent Ethereum security experts, including Vitalik Buterin, MetaMask’s Taylor Monahan, and ZisK’s Jordi Baylina, as curators.

Tether pushes back on reports it sides with banks on stablecoin yield

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said the company does not have a stake in proposed restrictions on stablecoin yield being debated as part of ongoing crypto market structure legislation because USDT does not distribute rewards to users.

• He pushed back on reports suggesting Tether is aligned with banks after its new U.S. operation met with members of the Senate Banking Committee.
• “We don’t take a position on the matter,” Ardoino told The Block. “Tether doesn’t share yield. So we don’t have much beef in this fight.”
• The treatment of stablecoin rewards has emerged as a major sticking point in crypto legislation, pitting banks against parts of the crypto industry.

Senate Agriculture Committee advances digital asset bill as Trump’s crypto ties block bipartisan support

Meanwhile, the Senate Agriculture Committee advanced its version of the crypto market structure bill in a 12–11 party-line vote on Thursday, with Democrats citing President Donald Trump’s crypto ties as a barrier to bipartisan support.

• The bill would expand the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s oversight of digital assets and include protections for decentralized finance and noncustodial software developers.
• Democratic lawmakers pushed amendments addressing what they described as Trump’s conflicts of interest, but the committee rejected those proposals during the markup.
• The legislation now heads toward a contentious path through the Senate Banking Committee, where earlier divisions and Coinbase’s withdrawal of support have already stalled progress.

SEC clarifies rules for tokenized securities, placing asset class under federal securities laws

The Securities and Exchange Commission said tokenized securities remain subject to federal securities laws, including registration, disclosure, and compliance obligations, regardless of their onchain format.

• The agency defined tokenized securities as traditional financial instruments represented as crypto assets with ownership records maintained on blockchain networks.
• SEC guidance outlined multiple tokenization models, including issuer-sponsored, third-party custodial, and synthetic “linked securities,” all of which fall under existing regulatory frameworks.
• The clarification comes as exchanges look to launch securities trading services, like Kraken’s xStocks and Robinhood’s Arbitrum-based tokenized stocks.

OpenAI social network could tap World’s eyeball-scanning Orbs

• OpenAI is exploring the use of World’s eyeball-scanning Orb technology to verify real humans on its proposed social network, according to a report from Forbes.
• The effort could bring together two Sam Altman-founded projects as OpenAI looks to build a bot-free platform powered by its ChatGPT and Sora ecosystem.
• World, formerly Worldcoin, claims to have signed up more than 17 million users by offering its WLD token to people who complete in-person biometric scans, despite ongoing privacy concerns.

In the next 24 hours

• U.S. PPI data are released at 8:30 a.m. ET on Friday.
• U.S. FOMC member Michelle Bowman will speak at 3 p.m.
• Celo and Zora are among the crypto projects set for token unlocks.
• WallStreetBets Live 2026 concludes in Miami. Adopting Bitcoin Cape Town and Plan ₿ Forum El Salvador both get underway.

Never miss a beat with The Block’s daily digest of the most influential events happening across the digital asset ecosystem.

© 2026 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.