Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced Operation Economic Outcast and said the United States would expand secondary sanctions against countries and entities dealing with Iran, potentially removing supporters from the dollar-based financial system. The five targeted lifelines are digital assets, technology, gold, aviation and shipping, although an Iranian economic think tank leader said they also protect ordinary people’s savings, connections and access to essential goods. Iran faces inflation above 80%, a 30% decline in its currency this year and an International Monetary Fund forecast of a 6.1% economic contraction, while protests and labor unrest spread. Bitcoin briefly rose above $81,000 and gold above $4,600 as investors focused on the Debasement Trade after Bessent said the United States would at least double longer-dated bond buybacks; Brent crude settled above $90. The Treasury could use its $935 billion cash account to help fund the buybacks. Bitcoin rose more than 23% and Ethereum more than 30% the previous week, while crypto exchange volume doubled to around $37 billion. Additional industry developments included proposed stablecoin customer-identification rules, institutional purchases of ETH and BTC, expanded tokenized-fund distribution, calls for consistent perpetual-contract rules, a crypto prediction-market partnership and an expected U.S. spot ZEC ETF launch.