News linked to both this project and an event.
According to BeInCrypto, Chainalysis data shows that over the year ending June 2026, the South African crypto economy expanded by 52% to $39.3 billion, with increases across all tracked activity categories. Commercial payments, including those from South African merchants and P2P traders, reached $8.34 billion, outpacing institutional activity ($1.29 billion in inflows); stablecoin inflows through Sub-Saharan African P2P channels totaled $14.6 billion, on par with Bitcoin. A draft regulatory framework for crypto asset management released by the South African Treasury and Reserve Bank (SARB) on August 3 would stipulate that individuals may only transfer crypto assets abroad through authorized local service providers within existing foreign exchange limits, while businesses are prohibited from cross-border transfers of crypto assets. As of March 31, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) had issued licenses to 310 crypto asset service providers, though these entities must still secure separate authorization from the SARB. On October 21, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana stated that after receiving thousands of public submissions, the Treasury will aim to release a revised second draft, with no timeline currently announced.
According to reports by Korean media outlet Digital Asset, the Second Division of the Seoul Administrative Court held its first hearing on Oct. 22 regarding the administrative lawsuit between Bithumb and Korea's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). The FIU found that Bithumb conducted 45,772 transfers with 18 unregistered crypto asset operators between August 28, 2022, and April 3, 2025, and accordingly issued penalties, which included a partial suspension restricting new customers from transferring crypto assets externally for six months. Bithumb stated during the hearing that transfers of 1 million KRW or above are subject to the "travel rule," and since unregistered operators have been removed from the list of eligible exchanges, there were zero non-compliant outbound transfers in that tier. Transfers under 1 million KRW were not covered by the travel rule at the time; thus, the platform had no legal basis to demand that customers provide recipient exchange details, nor did regulators specify clear blocking protocols. Bithumb also noted that after implementing the Chainalysis API, only about 2% of initially unverifiable addresses were later identified as FIU-designated unregistered operators. Enforcing blanket blocks would disrupt the remaining 98% of legitimate transactions, potentially exposing the platform to customer compensation claims. Bithumb further argued that the six-month penalty is excessively severe and practically amounts to banning the platform from acquiring new customers. The company also challenged the FIU's criteria for classifying overseas operators and the grounds for the...
Odaily report: According to a U.S. Department of Justice announcement, law enforcement authorities in Ghana and Nigeria arrested 28 people in a joint operation targeting West African fraud networks, involving criminal activities such as cryptocurrency investment fraud. The operation was led by the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA), with participation from Binance, Coinbase, and blockchain analytics firms Chainalysis, Elliptic, and TRM Labs. Private-sector partners collectively identified more than $11 million in funds that could potentially be frozen, though the amount has not yet been confirmed as recovered assets.Coinbase stated that it assisted in tracking illicit funds, supporting asset freezes, and providing intelligence to investigators, identifying more than 65 victims still being defrauded and helping prevent over $415,000 in potential losses. During the operation, Ghanaian police arrested 19 people and seized 303 electronic devices, while another 9 people were arrested in Nigeria. Additionally, 117 human trafficking victims in Ghana are awaiting repatriation to Nigeria, and participants also provided law enforcement with leads on more than 30 suspected fraud centers. The U.S. Department of Justice said this was the first joint operation of its kind specifically targeting the West African region. (CoinDesk)
Odaily Report: On October 16, the French National Assembly passed Amendment I-3898 to the 2027 budget bill, which proposes that starting January 1, 2027, transactions converting crypto assets into e-money tokens under the MiCA framework be included in the scope of capital gains taxation, with related gains subject to a flat tax rate of 31.4%, and a tax liability triggered even without conversion into euros. The measure covers stablecoins such as USDC and EURC; Chainalysis analysis shows that USDT is not covered by this measure. The amendment still requires subsequent budget votes and Senate review and has not yet formally become law.
According to CoinDesk, the French National Assembly is deliberating on the 2027 budget, which features an amendment proposing to subject stablecoins regulated under the EU’s MiCA framework (e-money tokens) to capital gains tax at a rate of 31.4%, effective January 1, 2027. Currently, France only levies taxes when cryptocurrencies are exchanged for fiat currency or used for purchases, whereas swapping between crypto assets does not trigger tax obligations. François Volpoet, CEO of Chainalysis France, cautioned that this policy could incentivize traders to migrate to regulatory blind spots like DeFi platforms or self-custody wallets, ultimately eroding the tax base. Furthermore, the parliamentary finance committee has adopted two additional proposals: one requiring the disclosure of self-custody wallets holding more than €100,000, with fines capped at approximately $11,600 for violations; and another extending the outbound transfer tax to crypto holdings exceeding roughly $900,000. These measures remain unenacted, with parliament scheduled to vote on the revenue articles on October 20.
Odaily News: An armed robbery occurred at a luxury residence near Pattaya, Thailand, where three armed individuals broke into a gated community and took control of a Chinese national holding Turkish citizenship, forcing him to open a safe and hand over cash and 3 luxury watches.The attackers also forced the victim at gunpoint to transfer $820,000 worth of cryptocurrency to one of their wallets, which was immediately sold afterward. After escaping, the victim reported the incident to the police, who have not yet confirmed the nationalities of the three suspects.Police Region 2 has launched an investigation and identified the getaway vehicle through surveillance footage; the vehicle was later abandoned in a remote area. Police are tracking the sold digital assets to identify the relevant accounts and recover the funds. Chainalysis estimates that over $30 million in cryptocurrency has been stolen in such violent robberies in the first half of 2026. (Bitcoin.com News)
Odaily News: A 2021 firmware vulnerability in the hardware wallet Coldcard resulted in insufficient randomness in some recovered seeds. Since July 30, attackers have transferred approximately 1,600 to 1,800 BTC from affected wallets, involving thousands of addresses, with an estimated value exceeding $100 million.Coldcard manufacturer Coinkite stated that it must be assumed that someone used AI to review its public firmware. The vulnerability has existed for about five years, and whether AI was involved in the related attacks has not yet been confirmed.Shielded Labs researcher Taylor Hornby used a Claude Opus 4.8 audit agent and discovered a vulnerability in the Zcash Orchard shielded pool circuit dating back to 2022, which in testing could generate unlimited counterfeit ZEC without a trace. Developers completed the fix within days, and no theft of coins has been confirmed.Statistics from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis show that on-chain writes carrying malware instructions and command-and-control information rose from about 2.06 per day to 11.1 per day, an increase of 440%. (Bitcoin.com News)
According to Reuters, Mexican police discovered a clandestine cryptocurrency mining operation in the mountainous regions of Puebla state, seizing 300 GPUs, 80 medium-voltage power terminals, and eight satellite dishes. Four similar operations have been uncovered in the area since early last year. Authorities are investigating whether the site illicitly siphoned electricity from a nearby hydroelectric plant. Security analysts noted that the technical expertise and funding required for the facility point to the involvement of well-capitalized criminal syndicates. A Chainalysis Latin America expert stated that regional drug trafficking organizations are increasingly utilizing cryptocurrency transfers and mining operations for money laundering. Data shows that globally, crypto addresses associated with criminal activity received approximately $154 billion in 2025, more than double the $59 billion recorded in the previous year.
Odaily News According to blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis, France's potential taxable cryptocurrency activity in 2025 is estimated at $9.4 billion, comprising $5.2 billion in payments, $2.5 billion in capital gains, and $1.7 billion in mining and staking income.French taxpayers declared only €368 million in net gains for the 2024 tax year, involving approximately 24,000 individuals—up from about 7,700 people and €150.8 million the previous year. Chainalysis noted that in some countries, the rate of non-compliance with crypto tax obligations may exceed 90%.The EU's Eighth Administrative Cooperation Directive (DAC8) took effect on January 1, 2026, requiring crypto service providers to collect user identity and transaction data. Member state tax authorities will begin cross-border exchanges of relevant records from September 30, 2027. The CARF currently covers approximately 14% of potentially taxable on-chain activity globally. (Bitcoin.com News)
Odaily News Crypto enterprises, asset managers, market makers, and consumer advocacy groups have submitted comments to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in response to its request for input on the regulatory framework for "novel ETFs," covering exchange-traded products such as crypto assets, private assets, event contracts, and leveraged strategies.Crypto industry organization Crypto Council for Innovation (CCI) recommended extending certain regulatory accommodations applicable to ETFs to non-ETF exchange-traded products. Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (A16z) stated that the SEC should assess products based on their underlying assets and risk profiles, rather than treating all novel ETFs as a single category.Grayscale opposed adding new portfolio restrictions for mature digital asset products, while Chainalysis suggested leveraging public blockchains to enable real-time monitoring and verifiable disclosures. Kalshi expressed support for including event contracts in registered funds, whereas consumer advocacy group Public Citizen opposed offering event contract ETFs to retail investors. The SEC will evaluate whether to adopt a unified regulatory framework or craft separate rules based on product structure and risk. (Decrypt)
According to Bitcoin.com, blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis announced the results of Operation Lighthouse on August 25. This transnational operation targeted criminal networks associated with child sexual abuse material (CSAM), investigating 29,120 cryptocurrency addresses and digital identifiers across more than 100 clearnet and darknet platforms, forums, and distribution networks. The effort generated 14,300 investigation leads and uncovered over 7,700 suspicious accounts and linked suspects spanning 125 countries. Coordinated in New York by the National Cyber Forensics & Training Alliance (NCFTA), the initiative involved at least nine law enforcement agencies, along with more than 13 private organizations and non-profits, including Europol, the Australian Federal Police, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the UK’s National Crime Agency. Chainalysis stated that the discovered leads could subsequently result in account restrictions, arrests, and prosecutions. Law enforcement outcomes are expected to continue through 2027, and the company plans to extend this collaborative model to other types of crypto-related crime.
According to CoinDesk, blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis stated that it organized the multi-day joint operation "Operation Beacon" in collaboration with crypto firms such as Binance and Coinbase, as well as law enforcement agencies from multiple countries, to investigate networks spreading child sexual abuse material using cryptocurrency. The operation is headquartered at the National Cyber-Forensics and Training Alliance in New York, with participating agencies including Europol, the Australian Federal Police, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the UK's National Crime Agency.
According to The Defiant, Arbitrum officially activated the ArbOS 61 Elara upgrade on August 20, which was approved for deployment via an ArbitrumDAO governance vote. The core features of this upgrade include: introducing an optional protocol-level transaction filtering mechanism for Dedicated Chains, allowing chain owners to independently select external compliance service providers such as TRM Labs and Chainalysis to configure restricted address rules; the filter is disabled by default and does not affect existing Arbitrum One users; adding Priority Fee support, also disabled by default, with its activation on Arbitrum One still requiring a separate DAO constitutional vote; introducing the BaseFeeManager contract, which authorizes Offchain Labs to adjust the L2 minimum Gas fee within a DAO-approved range of 0.01 to 0.10 gwei over a two-year authorization period; additionally, the maximum code size limit for Stylus contracts has been increased from 24 KB to 96 KB, though this does not apply to Solidity contracts.
Blockchain analytics company Chainalysis Government Solutions filed a bid protest with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims on July 27, challenging the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) award of an approximately $94.6 million blockchain forensics software and support services contract to competitor TRM Labs on a sole-source basis. The contract term is from July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027, for investigations related to the Homeland Security Special Operations Group.
blockchain forensics firm Chainalysis Government Solutions filed a bid protest with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims on July 27, opposing the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) decision to award a contract worth approximately $94.6 million to competitor TRM Labs on a sole-source basis. The contract, covering the period from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027, involves blockchain forensics software and support services for Homeland Security task forces investigating fraud, cybercrime, and sextortion cases. Chainalysis argues that ICE's decision was arbitrary and unreasonable. TRM Labs joined the case as an intervenor-defendant on July 28, defending the contract alongside the U.S. government. The court has allowed Chainalysis to temporarily seal its complaint, with oral arguments scheduled for September 2. ICE stated that after approximately six days of market research, it determined that none of the eight responding companies could meet the requirements. (Decrypt)
Odaily News – French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot submitted Bill No. 921 to the Senate on July 17, proposing to incorporate the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) into French law, and to automatically exchange crypto data with 48 countries that have signed related agreements. The exchanged information includes specific transactions, user names, addresses, tax identification numbers, place of residence, and cumulative transaction value during the reporting period. EU member states are already preparing for relevant data exchanges under the DAC-8 directive, which will take effect on September 30, 2027. Once the bill is approved, the French government will accelerate crypto data collection. A Chainalysis report shows that as of 2026, France has recorded 30 publicly known violent robberies of crypto assets; the report also states that a tax official in the Paris region is suspected of selling data on high-net-worth crypto holders.
Odaily News, according to Bitcoin News monitoring, Chainalysis analysis of the Coldcard exploit involving over $38 million shows that the attacker deliberately targeted the highest-value wallets first, including one holding $1.8 million, indicating that victims had already been profiled before asset transfers began. Approximately $30 million was stolen in the initial 10 minutes, followed by around 500 wallets being drained within 25 minutes. Block's Clay Garrett stated that investigators also confirmed the attacker used a paid account with a well-known blockchain service provider to query victim addresses during the operation. The provider's internal logs match the request timestamps and sequence, but Block stated that no evidence was found suggesting the company knowingly assisted in the theft. Relevant information has been shared with authorities.
the United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom have jointly announced sanctions against a group of individuals involved in state-sponsored hacking organizations, cybercriminal groups, and their infrastructure providers. The targets are accused of causing billions of dollars in losses to global enterprises, critical infrastructure, and government agencies. Among them, the most notable is the EU's sanction against Russian cybercriminal Vitaly Nikolayevich Kovalev, also known as "Stern." The EU identified Stern as one of the core managers of the notorious Trickbot Group ransomware syndicate, which is behind high-risk ransomware variants such as Conti ransomware and Ryuk.On-chain analysis shows that wallet addresses linked to Stern have collectively received over $300 million in ransom payments, potentially making him the most prolific ransomware operator ever identified.According to the analysis, the $300 million figure represents only Stern's personal gains, while the total illicit income of the Trickbot Group could be significantly higher. On-chain fund flows indicate that Stern had transactional ties with multiple ransomware ecosystems, including Ryuk, Conti, Diavol, Karakurt, Royal, and Quantum.The investigation reveals that Stern played a role similar to a "CEO" within the Trickbot organization, responsible for budget management, personnel recruitment, infrastructure procurement, and attack planning. (Chainalysis)
The Singapore Police Force's Anti-Scam Centre and Cybercrime Department, in a six-week joint anti-scam operation from April 16 to May 31, 2026, collaborated with Coinbase, Coinhako, Gemini, Independent Reserve, OKX, StraitsX, and Upbit. Using blockchain analysis tools from Chainalysis and TRM Labs, they identified potential scam victims and conducted over 145 targeted interventions via phone and in-person visits, preventing potential losses exceeding $4.2 million. Coinbase Singapore stated in a post on X on July 10 that it worked with the Singapore police to prevent over 145 individuals from losing a combined total of more than $4.2 million due to scams. The Singapore Police Force stated that it will continue to work with cryptocurrency exchanges and other private sector entities to combat cybercrime. (Bitcoin.com News).
amid growing insider trading concerns surrounding prediction markets, Goldman Sachs has prohibited its employees from trading prediction market contracts related to the bank's own events, elections, financial markets, macroeconomic data, and geopolitics. Financial institutions such as Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, and Bank of America are also formulating or updating relevant policies. Bank of America, in particular, has begun clarifying prohibited practices in prediction market trading to its employees.Previously, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Department of Justice accused a Google employee of using non-public information to trade "Search of the Year" related contracts on Polymarket, profiting approximately $1.2 million. Legal experts note that the CFTC still lacks well-established case law in enforcing insider trading rules for prediction markets, and the wide variety of prediction market contracts further complicates regulatory oversight.Currently, Kalshi and Polymarket have respectively launched employment verification tools and collaborated with Chainalysis and Palantir to monitor suspicious trading activities. (CNBC)