Joint operation by police, crypto exchanges stops scam victims from losing almost $9 million. Published Sep 03, 2026, 11:15 PM Updated Sep 03, 2026, 11:35 PM SINGAPORE - More than 355 victims avoided losing over $8.94 million to cryptocurrency scams in July and August thanks to a joint operation by the police and digital payment token (DPT) service providers. In a statement on Sept 3, the police said the fourth anti-cryptocurrency scam operation took place from July 1 to Aug 31. The Singapore Police Force's Cyber Command partnered DPT service providers, including Coinbase, Coinhako, DTCPay, Gemini, Independent Reserve, OKX, StraitsX and Upbit. The police said officers conducted advanced blockchain analysis using tools from industry leaders Chainalysis and TRM Labs to identify victims of different types of scams, including government officials impersonation, investment and job scams. Participating DPT service providers supplied customer information that helped to identify victims, allowing officers to intervene over the phone and in-person, preventing millions of dollars in losses. The police said they also shared blockchain intelligence derived from the operation with foreign law enforcement counterparts, including the United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Cybercrime Squad New South Wales Police Force. This led to the identification of 50 overseas victims.

OKX lists 24/7 usdt-margined Shein perpetual after HK debut. * 3 September 2026 * | * 00:38 OKX has launched a USDT-margined Shein perpetual that trades around the clock, extending leveraged price speculation beyond Hong Kong's cash-market hours without delivering share ownership to traders. Key takeaways. * SHEIN/USDT began trading at 07:00 UTC. * The contract remains open through weekends. * Off-hours prices use a guarded reference. * A perpetual is not a share. * Funding and gaps can magnify losses. OKX opened trading in the SHEIN/USDT perpetual futures contract at 07:00 UTC on September 2. The product is USDT-margined, runs 24/7 and normally settles funding every eight hours. OKX says the funding rate is capped at plus or minus 1%, though it can move to hourly settlement if that cap or floor is reached. Shein's Hong Kong shares had made their market debut only a day earlier. The contract now lets eligible OKX users go long or short after the cash market closes, when holders of the actual shares must wait for the next HKEX session. The perpetual opened while Shein shares still traded. The timing matters. Hong Kong is eight hours ahead of UTC, which means the launch began at 15:00 local time. HKEX's regular afternoon session runs until 16:00, followed by a closing auction that can finish between 16:08 and 16:10. So the perpetual did not begin as a completely detached overnight market. It had roughly an hour of live cash-market pricing before Shein's shares closed. The first real test comes after that point, when the underlying stock stops updating but the contract continues to trade. It also extends a direction OKX started earlier this year, when it rolled out stock perpetuals tied mainly to major U.S. companies. As its team previously reported, those products gave crypto-account holders stock-price exposure without a traditional brokerage account. Shein adds a newly listed Hong Kong equity to that model. Buying SHEIN/USDT is not buying Shein stock. The distinction is more than a disclaimer. A trader in the perpetual has a leveraged derivative position whose profit or loss is settled in USDT. They do not hold a Shein share, cannot vote in shareholder matters and do not receive dividends. Shein shares on HKEX A conventional equity purchase. The buyer owns a share in the company. Trading window Hong Kong market hours What comes with it Shareholder rights and any declared dividends Changes in the underlying share price SHEIN/USDT on OKX A USDT-margined derivative. The trader takes a position on the stock's price movement. Trading window 24 hours a day, seven days a week What comes with it No ownership, voting rights or dividends Funding, leverage and liquidation That is why the contract should not be described as tokenized stock or fractional stock ownership. It is a market for price exposure, not a route to owning the company. How the price works after Hong Kong closes. OKX stock perpetuals use an independent order book, so their last-traded price can move when the Hong Kong market is shut. But the exchange does not allow the reference index to drift without limits. Its stock-perpetual rules say the index price is protected within a 10% band around the last available stock price during off-hours, weekends and holidays. OKX notes that the band may be adjusted as market conditions change. In practice, this creates two prices worth watching. The last price shows where traders most recently dealt. The mark price, which is used for liquidation, combines the index price with an average basis from OKX's order book. A sharp move in the perpetual may therefore affect a leveraged position even if the cash share price cannot move until Hong Kong reopens. Read more: Can the perpetual lead Shein's next HKEX opening? It can offer a clue, but it is too early to call it a leading market. A higher overnight perpetual price could reflect fresh information or bullish demand. It could also be a temporary premium created by a thin order book, aggressive longs or traders paying funding to keep positions open. The next cash-market open is where that distinction becomes visible. If Hong Kong investors agree with the overnight move, the share price may open in the same direction. If they do not, the perpetual can quickly narrow its gap or reverse. Perpetual trades above the cash close It may show Bullish positioning or new information. It does not prove That HKEX must open higher. Perpetual trades below the cash close It may show Bearish positioning or hedging demand. It does not prove That selling will persist at the open. Funding turns strongly positive It may show Long positions are paying shorts. It does not prove That the rally can continue. Funding turns negative It may show Short positions are paying longs. It does not prove That a squeeze is inevitable. Why the cash-market reopen creates the biggest risk. A perpetual position can be open throughout the night or a weekend, but the underlying share cannot react until HKEX resumes trading. News about tariffs, consumer demand, regulation or the broader Chinese market can change sentiment during that gap. When the cash market opens, its price may validate the perpetual move, ignore it or move sharply the other way. That makes leverage the central risk. A trader may be correct about the longer-term direction yet still be forced out before the cash market reopens. Funding payments add another cost for anyone holding the position through several settlement windows. What to watch before the next Hong Kong open. * Percentage move from the last HKEX close: Compare direction, not just the two displayed prices. * Last price versus mark price: A large gap can matter more than the headline trade. * Funding-rate direction: It shows which side is paying to maintain exposure. * Order-book depth: A sizeable move on little liquidity deserves less confidence. * The first HKEX trades: This is the only direct test of whether the overnight move held. SHEIN/USDT gives crypto traders a continuous way to speculate on a company whose real shares still keep Hong Kong hours. Whether that new market becomes a useful preview of the next cash open, or simply a more volatile place to position between sessions, will take several trading days to answer. Availability of the contract varies by jurisdiction. This article is for informational purposes and is not investment advice. Reporter at Coindoo Kosta has reported on cryptocurrency markets and blockchain infrastructure since 2020, bringing over six years of hands-on experience in the crypto industry built through daily tracking of markets, trends, and emerging blockchain developments. Specializing in Bitcoin on-chain analysis, institutional ETF flows, and digital asset price action, his work at Coindoo has been cited by other news agencies and consistently covers market developments with a focus on data-driven reporting across Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP. Over the years, Kosta has contributed to multiple crypto media outlets in different regions, authoring over 6,000 articles across the sector. His reporting spans cryptocurrency markets and the broader fintech industry, tracking not only price action but also the technological and regulatory forces shaping the ecosystem. To support his analysis, Kosta actively leverages on-chain data and metrics from leading platforms such as Santiment, Glassnode, and CryptoQuant, enabling deeper, evidence-based market insights. He believes in the power of transparency and the data that underpins the blockchain ecosystem. His academic background in Marketing Management from Denmark further complements his analytical approach, adding a strong understanding of communication strategy and content positioning to his work.

Circle expands USDC trading reach across OKX markets. Circle and OKX have expanded their USDC partnership to increase the stablecoin's liquidity and use across spot, margin and futures markets on the crypto exchange. * Circle and OKX are expanding USDC liquidity and trading access across spot, margin and futures markets. * Eligible OKX users will have more ways to trade in USDC denominated markets under the expanded partnership. * OKX has launched a USDC Margin Growth Program offering qualifying users a monthly 100 USDC reward funded by Circle. * The latest move extends an existing partnership that has covered USD to USDC conversions and native USDC support on OKX's X Layer. Circle said on Sept. 2 that the companies are working together to give eligible OKX users more access to USDC-denominated trading markets, extending an existing relationship between the stablecoin issuer and the exchange. The latest collaboration covers spot trading as well as leveraged products through margin and futures markets. Circle described trusted dollar stablecoin liquidity as part of the trading infrastructure needed as digital asset markets scale. Specific USDC trading pairs covered by the latest announcement were not disclosed. Circle did not provide a timetable for further market additions or identify the regions where every product would be available, with access subject to user eligibility. The announcement comes alongside a new OKX and Circle incentive program designed to encourage traders to hold and use USDC on the exchange. Circle and OKX expand USDC trading access. OKX launched its USDC Margin Growth Program with Circle on Sept. 1, offering qualifying users a monthly 100 USDC cash reward funded by Circle. Under the program, users must opt in, hold at least 20,000 USDC in their OKX Trading Account for 17 consecutive days during a calendar month and record more than 1,000 USDC in single-side trading volume across eligible spot, futures or margin USDC pairs. Up to 4,000 users can qualify each month on a first-come, first-served basis. OKX said qualifying rewards are settled within seven days after the end of each month. The trading push extends a relationship between the two companies that previously focused on moving funds between traditional dollars, USDC and blockchain networks. In July 2025, Circle and OKX introduced zero-fee USDC conversions between USDC and the U.S. dollar. The arrangement allowed users to convert USD into USDC and back at a 1:1 rate through OKX. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said at the time that demand for USDC was coming from businesses and individuals adopting dollar-denominated digital money. OKX President Hong Fang described the integration as part of the exchange's work to make access to digital assets easier. USDC infrastructure has expanded across OKX. The companies moved their cooperation further onchain in August when Circle brought native USDC and its Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol to X Layer, the Ethereum-compatible layer 2 network developed by OKX. As crypto.news previously reported, the Aug. 7 integration gave developers and businesses access to USDC issued natively by Circle instead of relying only on tokens bridged from another blockchain. Circle's CCTP lets users move USDC between supported blockchains through a burn-and-mint process instead of locking tokens into conventional bridges and issuing wrapped representations on destination networks. At the time of the X Layer launch, native USDC was supported across 36 networks, while CCTP connected 26 blockchains. Qualified businesses could access USDC issuance and redemption on X Layer through Circle Mint. The infrastructure can be used for transfers, settlements, lending and decentralized applications, extending the companies' cooperation beyond OKX's centralized exchange. USDC access has been developing differently across OKX's regional operations as exchanges adjust their stablecoin offerings to local rules. In Europe, OKX opened a USDT-to-USDC conversion route in July for customers across 30 EU and European Economic Area countries. Eligible customers can deposit USDT and convert it into USDC, which is supported under the European Union's Markets in Crypto-Assets framework. OKX Europe operates under a MiCA license and restricts trading in USDT for European customers. USDC and Paxos-issued USDG remain supported stablecoin options on the platform. The exchange temporarily paused USDC deposits and withdrawals through Solana in July for scheduled wallet maintenance while keeping related trading services operational. The Solana USDC suspension applied only to transfers through that network and did not amount to a platform-wide pause in USDC trading. Circle has pushed USDC deeper into trading platforms. Circle has pursued similar arrangements with other trading and financial platforms as it expands the places where USDC can be used for collateral, settlement and trading. In May, Circle deepened its relationship with Hyperliquid by becoming the technical deployment partner for USDC on the decentralized trading platform. USDC continued serving as a primary collateral and quote asset across Hyperliquid's trading ecosystem, while Circle provided infrastructure for minting, redemption and cross-chain transfers. Circle later moved approximately 4.397 billion USDC through HyperEVM to a Coinbase-linked address. Blockchain analytics firm Arkham described the USDC transfer to Coinbase as the largest USDC transaction recorded at the time. Coinbase had become Hyperliquid's USDC treasury deployer under its Aligned Quote Asset framework, while Circle handled technical infrastructure supporting USDC movement across networks. Circle's relationship with Coinbase remains another major distribution channel for the stablecoin. During its second-quarter earnings call in August, the company said its USDC collaboration agreement with Coinbase had renewed on existing terms for another three years, extending the arrangement into 2029. USDC circulation stood at $73.3 billion at the end of the second quarter, up 19% from a year earlier. Circle reported $701 million in quarterly revenue and reserve income, while roughly 30% of circulating USDC was held on Coinbase's platform at the end of June. Circle said at the time that it worked with more than 150 partners that had economic incentives to integrate, distribute or support USDC across exchanges, wallets, payment applications and other financial platforms.