Today in crypto, USDt flipped Ether in terms of market cap, South Korea’s data protection regulator imposed a 210 million won fine on Bithumb for transferring users’ personal information overseas without proper consent. Elsewhere, Japan’s SBI Holdings signed a $289 million deal to acquire cryptocurrency exchange Bitbank and a DeFi platform.

Tether stablecoin flips Ether by market cap as ETH routs to $1.5K

Tether stablecoin USDt became the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization as Ether fell to its lowest price level this year on Friday. 

Ether’s market capitalization dropped below $185 billion following a 5.2% price crash over 24 hours, sending the asset tumbling to $1,510 on Coinbase on Friday, according to TradingView, allowing USDt, with a $186 billion market capitalization, to surpass the cryptocurrency. 

“[The] stablecoin overtake really highlights how the market still favors stability over ETH’s volatility right now,” Andri Fauzan Adziima, research lead at Bitrue Research Institute, told Cointelegraph. 

The development reflects accelerating stablecoin growth, which currently represents almost 15% of the entire crypto market capitalization. Stablecoins retracted more than 30% in the last bear market, but they’re hitting record highs this time, wrote 21Shares on Thursday.

“To us, that is the strongest evidence yet that stablecoins are one of crypto’s defining use cases – demand that no longer depends on the cycle.”

USDt flips ETH in the market cap table. Source: CoinGecko

Bithumb fined over overseas user data transfers

South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) fined cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb 210 million won ($136,000) for transferring users’ personal information to overseas exchanges without obtaining separate consent, violating the country’s data protection laws.

The regulator said Bithumb shared personal information with 13 overseas exchanges during virtual asset transfers and order book-sharing activities. The investigation found that the exchange shared Tether’s USDt order book data with BingX between September and November 2025, despite only having user consent to share data with Stellar.

PIPC acknowledged that sharing certain information may be necessary to comply with anti-money-laundering requirements for crypto transfers. However, it said exchanges must still follow legal procedures governing overseas data transfers and obtain the required user consent.

The fine adds to Bithumb’s growing regulatory challenges. The exchange was previously hit with a six-month business suspension by South Korea’s financial watchdog over alleged violations of the Financial Information Act, though a court later overturned the sanction. Police also raided Bithumb’s offices this month as part of an investigation into alleged nepotism involving lawmaker Kim Byung-gi.

English translation of the PIPC’s announcement imposing a fine on Bithumb. Source: PIPC

SBI to acquire Bitbank in $289 million deal

SBI Holdings has signed agreements to acquire full control of crypto exchange Bitbank through a 46.7 billion Japanese yen ($289 million) transaction, advancing a deal first disclosed in May that would create the country’s biggest crypto exchange.

On Thursday, SBI said that its wholly owned subsidiary SBICAH will acquire shares from Bitbank CEO Noriyuki Hirosue and other shareholders before subscribing to a third-party share allotment. The exchange will then buy back shares held by MIXI and Ceres, leaving SBI with 100% indirect ownership. SBI expects the transaction to close around October, subject to regulatory clearance.

The acquisition would expand SBI’s regulated crypto exchange footprint and customer base, giving it another potential distribution channel for the stablecoins, tokenized assets and onchain financial products.

Bitbank’s daily trading volume has hovered below $50 million for most of the last four months, CoinGecko data showed. Volume is dominated by the BTC/JPY pair (39.5%), followed by XRP/JPY and ETH/JPY (both at 19.7%).

SBI said combining Bitbank with SBI VC Trade would give the group about 1.1 trillion yen in assets under custody and roughly 2.92 million crypto accounts, based on figures from the end of April. The company said the combined business would rank first among Japanese crypto exchanges by assets under custody and among the largest by account numbers.

Bitbank trading volume has hovered below $50 million for most of the last four months. Source: CoinGecko