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Good Morning Crypto Enthusiasts!

Glad to have you back for another edition of the UseTheBitcoin.com newsletter.

1. Kalshi Voids Khamenei Bets: Prediction platform Kalshi canceled trades placed after Ali Khamenei’s confirmed death, citing rules against mortality-based markets.

2. Polymarket Insider Trading Claims: Six wallets reportedly made $1M betting on a U.S. strike against Iran shortly before it happened.

3. Alchemy Launches AI Payments: Alchemy introduced agentic payments, enabling AI systems to autonomously pay for blockchain data using USDC on Base.

4. 💡Feature of the Day - Foom Cash Recovers Funds: Foom Cash lost $2.26M due to a verifier misconfiguration but recovered $1.84M with help from a white hat hacker and security firm Decurity.

   
   All this and more in today’s headlines!

When it all clicks.

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📰 News Highlights:

Khamenei Market Void [Source][Source][Source]

Prediction platform Kalshi voided positions entered after the confirmed death of Ali Khamenei, citing a policy against allowing users to profit directly from mortality. Co-founder Tarek Mansour said the platform does not host markets tied to death outcomes and reimbursed traders who entered after the news broke.

Positions opened before confirmation will be settled at the last traded price. The move has sparked backlash from traders who argue the contracts were valid and that voiding them undermines trust in high-stakes geopolitical markets.

The controversy adds to broader scrutiny facing prediction platforms like Polymarket, where suspiciously timed bets on military events have raised insider trading concerns.

As geopolitical conflicts increasingly intersect with blockchain-based betting, regulators and users alike are questioning whether these markets can balance transparency, ethics, and the risk of trading on sensitive or classified information.

Polymarket Insider Bets [Source][Source][Source]

Six newly created wallets reportedly earned around $1 million by betting on a U.S. strike against Iran shortly before it occurred on Polymarket. Strike-related contracts drew more than $529 million in trading volume, with some shares purchased just hours before explosions were reported.

While some argue public signals made the attack predictable, analysts say the precision of the trades suggests possible access to non-public information.

Lawmakers are now pushing regulatory action, including efforts like the proposed Public Integrity Act to prevent political insiders from trading on policy outcomes.

As countries in Europe tighten restrictions and U.S. regulators increase scrutiny, prediction markets face mounting pressure to improve transparency or risk being treated more like unlicensed gambling platforms than financial innovation.

Alchemy Agentic Payments [Source][Source]

Blockchain infrastructure firm Alchemy launched a new payment system enabling AI agents to autonomously pay for blockchain data and compute using USDC on Base. Built on Coinbase’s x402 standard, the system converts HTTP “402 Payment Required” responses into automatic on-chain payments.

This allows AI agents to operate independently—querying data, verifying NFTs, or monitoring token prices—without human approval.

The infrastructure is already used by major platforms such as Robinhood, Uniswap, and Aave. The launch signals a broader shift toward an “agentic economy,” where autonomous systems manage wallets, rebalance DeFi positions, and execute financial decisions, requiring seamless machine-to-machine payment rails to function at scale.

💡 Feature of the Day: 

Foom Cash Recovery [Source][Source][Source]

Decentralized lottery protocol Foom Cash suffered a $2.26 million exploit due to a Groth16 verifier misconfiguration during deployment. The vulnerability allowed attackers to submit forged proofs and drain funds.

However, white hat hacker Duha quickly identified the flaw and secured a significant portion of assets before further damage could occur.

With assistance from security firm Decurity, the protocol recovered $1.84 million—about 81% of the stolen funds—and awarded $420,000 in bounties and fees.

The case highlights the growing importance of ethical hackers and coordinated response teams in DeFi, as initiatives like the Security Alliance (SEAL) work alongside major ecosystem players to combat increasingly sophisticated exploits.

😂 Crypto Meme of the Day: 

Meme of the day provided by @cryptoamanclub

And that’s it for this today.

See you all tomorrow’s edition!

Jonathan Gibson
UseTheBitcoin.com