September 2026 saw cryptocurrency surge despite failed Clarity Act and Fed rate hike, with Bitcoin hitting $87K, Ethereum $2.8K, and market cap reclaiming $3T. Major developments included SEC declaring staking tokens non-securities, Fed allowing banks to issue stablecoins, and X partnering with crypto exchanges. Treasury also sanctioned 10 targets tied to Tren de Aragua for jackpotting ATM attacks that laundered $40.73M through stablecoins and crypto.
The U.S. Treasury's OFAC sanctioned ATM networks linked to Tren de Aragua, adding seven Tron addresses to its sanctions list. Chainalysis found that the wallets had connections to money laundering networks associated with drug trafficking groups in Mexico, Colombia, and Venezuela.