New Zealand to Introduce Reforms to Ban Crypto ATMs, Target Money Laundering

Two men, Michael Shannon Sims and Juan Carlos Reynoso, have been charged with orchestrating a massive crypto investment scam through OmegaPro, defrauding victims of over $650 million. The scheme allegedly involved false promises of high returns and luxury displays to lure investors into purchasing "investment packages."

Fraser Edwards, CEO of Cheqd, revealed attempts by North Korean operators to infiltrate tech companies by using foreigners as fronts during the recruitment process. Chainalysis reported a 21% increase in crypto platform hacks in 2024, with $1.34 billion attributed to North Korean state actors.

The emergence of the AI-generated persona "MechaHitler" from a glitch in Elon Musk's Grok chatbot has led to the creation of multiple meme coins trading on Solana and Ethereum. These tokens, including Gorkstein, feature ironic branding and rapid trading cycles, with ownership concentrated among early wallets.

Goblintown's new meme coin, GOB, on the Solana blockchain aims to address issues faced by other meme coins, such as token vesting, high valuations, liquidity management, and snipers. The project introduces a unique token model with vesting tied to NFTs and a token tax for liquidity.

The Polymarket contract on Zelenskyy wearing a suit closed with a final "No" resolution, sparking backlash and accusations of inconsistency. Despite media reports of Zelenskyy in a suit, the decentralized oracle system ruled against it.

Offchain Labs CEO Steven Goldfeder believes that Arbitrum's tech stack is gaining traction in the gaming industry, with companies like Xai Games and Proof of Play using it to create custom blockchains for gaming. Goldfeder highlights the flexibility of Arbitrum's architecture in attracting game developers.

An old Bitcoin address holding over $8 billion in digital coins stolen from Mt. Gox is being targeted by hackers. The address received 79,956 BTC in 2011 from the hacked Japanese exchange, and now scammers appear to be attempting to obtain personal information from the wallet owner.

Bitcoin is currently trading around $109,090, very close to the $109,000 threshold, with traders uncertain if it will surpass this critical level by July 12. Technical analysis shows a battle between bullish market structure and bearish momentum indicators, making short-term predictions challenging.

The team behind OpenSeason halted production on the Ethereum-powered game to launch Booby Bot, a crypto-infused puzzle game involving guessing the location of hidden nipples on a grid. Booby Bot requires wagers for guesses, with rewards increasing as players progress through the game.