CFA Report Pegs US Crypto Fraud Losses at $80.7B

A former LA County sheriff's deputy, Michael David Coberg, was sentenced to 63 months in federal prison for aiding a crypto entrepreneur in extortion and staging a false arrest. Coberg admitted to conspiring with Adam Iza to pressure individuals in business conflicts.

Bitcoin surged above $75,000, reaching its highest level in over a month, as investors await macroeconomic data and the Federal Reserve's interest-rate decision. Analysts believe the cryptocurrency's role as a geopolitical hedge is being tested amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East.

Court documents reveal that Ping Fai Yuen's wife allegedly stole $172 million in Bitcoin from his Trezor wallet in 2023. The wife, Fun Yung Li, is accused of secretly recording him and stealing his seed phrase to access the Bitcoin holdings.

Millions have been donated by crypto super PACs in the Illinois Senate race, with candidate Juliana Stratton receiving support from Elizabeth Warren and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker. Her primary opponent, Raja Krishnamoorthi, distances himself from crypto interests.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin advocates for simplifying the process for network validators by combining separate software components into a single, user-friendly program. This initiative aims to enhance the user experience of running an Ethereum node, eliminating unnecessary complexity in the setup.

The XRP community retaliated after Chainlink's Zach Rynes criticized the XRP Ledger, sparking a social media war. Ripple's CTO Emeritus defended XRP, while another commentator called out Ripple for buying back equity instead of XRP tokens.

The SEC has dropped its case against BitClout founder Nader Al-Naji and relief defendants after a reassessment of the evidentiary record. The civil enforcement action, originally filed in July 2024, has been dismissed, as stated in the filing.

World Liberty Financial approved a measure allowing big investors to access its team based on financial alignment. Investors can attain super node status by locking up 50 million WLFI tokens for 180 days, gaining facetime with the team for partnership discussions.

Law enforcement agencies from the U.S., U.K., and Canada are collaborating on "Operation Atlantic" to combat approval phishing scams, where victims are deceived into giving access to their funds. The initiative aims to disrupt these scams to prevent further financial losses.

Circle's stock has surged over 100% in the past month, driven by bullish analyst calls and its central role in the digital asset industry. The company's USDC stablecoin is benefiting from growing demand for tokenized financial assets and AI-driven payments.