News linked to both this project and an event.
According to the Beijing Daily app, the Haidian District Market Regulation Bureau in Beijing has investigated and penalized the city's first illegal case involving the use of blockchain and virtual currency technologies to assist in pyramid selling operations. The involved tech company was fined and had its illegal gains confiscated, totaling over 930,000 RMB. The company served as an outsourced service provider for a public chain, offering operational support, marketing services, promotional campaigns, exchange integration, and maintenance.
Odaily reports: The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah seeking to block Utah from taking action against prediction markets. A week earlier, Utah officials sued prediction market platform Kalshi and its affiliates, seeking to recover up to $60 million in profits allegedly obtained illegally through event contracts.The CFTC stated that Utah is attempting to circumvent congressional intent and restrict the operations of exchanges registered by the agency. The complaint notes that the relevant event contracts qualify as swaps under the federal Commodity Exchange Act, and exchanges offering trading in such contracts are subject to CFTC regulation; Utah's actions infringe on federal regulatory authority over commodity derivatives markets.This lawsuit is yet another dispute between federal and state governments over jurisdiction concerning prediction markets. New Jersey officials in September of last year asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their case against Kalshi, and similar lawsuits have been filed in Michigan, Ohio, and other states; as of Tuesday, the Supreme Court had not announced whether it would accept the case. (Cointelegraph)
According to Bitcoin.com, Colombia’s Attorney General’s Office announced Wednesday that eight individuals suspected of using cryptocurrency to launder money for drug trafficking organizations have been arrested in coordination with U.S. intelligence agencies. Police and military forces carried out synchronized operations across four locations: Cali, Medellín, Barranquilla, and Bogotá. Among those detained were seven members, including the gang’s leader, Guillermo Carpio Cardenas (alias “Gallo”). The U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico alleged that the syndicate obscured the origins of drug proceeds and evaded financial intelligence oversight through deposit networks, encrypted tokens, and smurfing. Another suspect, Nassim Orfale Vasquez, was apprehended in Barranquilla and has been indicted by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. According to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), he processed over $42 million in suspicious cryptocurrency transactions since 2018, and authorities are currently investigating whether a larger money-laundering network operates along Colombia’s coastline.
According to KUTV, Utah Attorney General Derek Brown announced on Tuesday that he has filed a civil lawsuit against prediction market platform Kalshi and several of its affiliates, alleging its online services constitute a public nuisance. The complaint was filed in Utah’s Third Judicial District Court. Brown alleges that Kalshi provided services to more than 32,000 verified Utah residents, violating the state’s anti-gambling laws and causing “significant and continuing harm” to a large number of citizens. The state is seeking a court order to block Kalshi from offering online bets on sports, elections, politics, culture, and “mention”-related events, while permitting the use of geolocation service providers to enforce the injunction. The suit also seeks up to $60 million in damages.
Odaily reports: A survey covering 4,506 adults across the United States shows that most respondents oppose betting on U.S. elections and other government actions through prediction markets. 69% of Democratic respondents and 61% of Republican respondents opposed betting on election results. The survey was conducted from September 30 to October 5.The prediction market industry, driven by platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi, allows users to bet on U.S. elections, changes in government policy, and sporting events. The related business has triggered multiple regulatory lawsuits between state governments and federal agencies.The survey shows that 43% of respondents oppose betting on professional sports events, while 29% expressed support. The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is pushing for the industry to be regulated by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). 39 states and the District of Columbia have submitted amicus briefs, stating that the dispute between federal and state regulators has evolved into a nationwide jurisdictional conflict. (Cointelegraph)
Odaily reports: U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein on October 15, 2026, declined to vacate the $5 million settlement agreement between crypto exchange Gemini and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), leaving the paid fine and permanent injunction in effect. Previously, the CFTC had stated that the original lawsuit should never have been brought.The dispute stemmed from Gemini's involvement in proposed Bitcoin futures contracts. The CFTC filed suit in June 2022, alleging that Gemini misled regulators regarding trading safeguards, customer financing, special fee arrangements, and activities that could potentially affect contract pricing; the two parties settled in January 2025, with Gemini neither admitting nor denying the allegations.In May 2026, following an internal review, the CFTC and Gemini jointly sought to vacate the settlement, citing issues with whistleblower credibility, evidence, and enforcement practices. The judge found that the relevant circumstances had existed prior to the settlement and that a change in enforcement priorities was insufficient to vacate a binding court order; the CFTC retains its enforcement discretion. (Bitcoin.com News)
Odaily News: The Seoul Southern District Court recently issued a first-instance verdict in a fraud case involving approximately $253 million in POD and ATT tokens, acquitting Park, known as Jonber Kim. The court found that the defendant did indeed make misleading claims regarding the project's actual progress, business prospects, and use of funds, but prosecutors failed to prove that any specific investors purchased tokens based on this false information, and therefore the fraud charge did not stand; the related breach of trust charge was also acquitted due to insufficient evidence.In addition, two co-defendants were sentenced to imprisonment with a suspended execution for submitting false materials during the maintenance review process for listing on Coinone. (DigitalassetWorks)
Taiwan, China has blocked the websites of Coinbase and prediction market platform Kalshi. It is reported that the New Taipei District Court has authorized Taiwan's communications regulator and internet registration authorities to restrict local users' access to the relevant platforms. Taiwan had previously blocked Polymarket, Kalshi's main competitor. (Bloomberg)
According to disclosures on the official website of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the SEC formally filed suit on October 9, 2026, against former Linqto executives William Sarris and Joseph Endoso, alleging they committed fraud while selling equity in Pre-IPO unicorn companies to retail investors through their online platform. Between 2021 and 2024, a Linqto subsidiary sold more than $430 million in special purpose vehicles (SPVs) to retail investors. The SEC alleges that the two individuals misrepresented pricing as being below market value (when in reality almost all transactions were priced above fair value), falsely claimed shares were "sold out," falsely stated that prices were dynamically set by algorithms (when they were actually manually determined), and publicly asserted compliance while knowingly violating regulations. Additionally, the two are charged with illegally operating an unregistered investment company and selling unregistered securities to non-accredited investors. The SEC is seeking injunctions, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains plus interest, civil penalties, and an order barring them from serving as officers or directors of public companies in the future. The investigation was led by the SEC’s San Francisco Regional Office, with assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the FBI.
According to CoinDesk, Raheim Hamilton, co-founder of the dark web marketplace Empire Market, was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison and fined $5 million for operating the platform. According to information disclosed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois, Hamilton agreed to forfeit 1,230 BTC (approximately $101 million), 24.4 ETH (approximately $60,000), and three properties.
Odaily News: First Digital is a Hong Kong-based digital asset company and the issuer of FDUSD. The company has entered into a definitive merger agreement with Nasdaq-listed CSLM Digital Asset Acquisition Corp III, with a pre-transaction valuation of $250 million. Upon completion of the transaction, the two parties are expected to form a new holding company and list on Nasdaq, with completion anticipated in the first half of 2027, subject to regulatory approvals and other closing conditions. As of June 30, 2026, FDUSD's cumulative trading volume has exceeded $4.7 trillion. For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2025, First Digital generated approximately $87 million in revenue. First Digital stated that FDUSD's reserve assets consist of cash and cash equivalents held in segregated accounts, with monthly attestations conducted by independent firms. The company's Finance District platform has launched 4 products to date but has not yet generated significant revenue.
Odaily News: Prediction market platform Kalshi has won a partial preliminary injunction against the state of Illinois. On October 2, Judge Martha M. Pacold of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois ruled that the state's sports betting licensing regime and related criminal provisions may be preempted by federal law and cannot currently be enforced against Kalshi.The ruling temporarily blocks Illinois from requiring Kalshi to hold a state license, which was originally intended to restrict traders to those aged 21 or older and physically located within the state, as well as to limit the sporting events that contracts could track. The court also declined to rule on Illinois's newly established prediction market fees.Pacold stated that contracts on championship winners may constitute swaps under the Commodity Exchange Act and should be traded on designated contract markets and subject to federal regulation. This determination differs from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals' August conclusion that such contracts constitute gambling rather than swaps.This is Kalshi's first victory in federal court since July. Illinois's new budget law imposes a 1.75% fee on the first 5 million relevant transactions on exchanges, then 3.5% thereafter, plus a 15% gross revenue fee and a per-transaction fee of 25 or 50 cents; the court has asked the parties to submit supplemental briefs on the fee issue. (Bitcoin.com News)
According to Crowdfund Insider, the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) filed a lawsuit on October 2 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, accusing the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) of relaxing national bank charter rules, thereby allowing cryptocurrency companies to enter the banking system without assuming the same regulatory obligations as traditional banks. The ICBA is seeking a court order to vacate the OCC's National Bank Charter Rules issued in March 2026 and related prior interpretive documents, and to invalidate the conditional national trust bank charter granted to digital asset custody firm Protego Holdings. The complaint states that the current U.S. administration has approved or conditionally approved 21 national trust banks, with at least 13 being cryptocurrency enterprises. ICBA argues that these institutions do not need to comply with certain regulatory requirements applicable to traditional banks, such as capital, liquidity, and deposit insurance mandates, yet are permitted to operate nationwide using a federal charter, creating unfair competition. The ICBA also warned that some crypto trust banks lack adequate risk management and independent oversight mechanisms, potentially posing risks to the financial system. The OCC has currently declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Odaily News: Roman Storm posted on X platform stating that the U.S. Treasury Department recently acknowledged in a document that there were problems with previous rules targeting mixers, and noted that the policy may have a "chilling effect" on legitimate activities. Storm stated that although the relevant department of the U.S. Treasury Department now believes the policy has issues, the U.S. Department of Justice in his case still insists that even legitimate transactions conducted through Tornado Cash constitute illegal acts because they could be used for money laundering, sanctions evasion, and other criminal purposes. Storm said that the non-criminal division of the U.S. government believes the policy is improper, while the criminal justice division believes all related transactions constitute crimes; he has been detained and prosecuted for over 1,139 days, and claims his case stems from developing open-source code. Storm also stated that the Southern District of New York (SDNY) federal court submitted a new document today, and the U.S. Department of Justice is still pushing for his conviction.
Odaily News: The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) filed a lawsuit on Friday against the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, challenging its authority to grant national trust bank charters to crypto firms and asking the court to vacate the final rule dated March 2, 2026, and Interpretive Letter No. 1176.ICBA President and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey said the charters give crypto firms the credibility of a federal bank charter without requiring compliance with federal deposit insurance, capital and liquidity standards, and the Community Reinvestment Act. The ICBA also seeks to revoke Protego Holdings' conditional charter, citing deficiencies in its governance and risk controls.The lawsuit involves digital asset firms that have applied for or obtained OCC charters, including Circle, Ripple, Paxos, Fidelity, BitGo, Kraken parent company Payward, Block, and World Liberty Financial. Senator Elizabeth Warren separately accused the approvals of being unlawful, drawing pushback from the industry; the OCC plans to complete stablecoin rules under the GENIUS Act by November. (Decrypt)
Odaily News: A 60-year-old woman in Hong Kong reported that she had earlier met a fraudster claiming to be an investment expert on an online platform, and was subsequently induced to invest in cryptocurrency on a fraudulent website.Between April 14 and September 22, the woman made multiple transfers totaling approximately HK$21.5 million to designated investment accounts. The platform later demanded that she pay a deposit to prove that the investment account was not being used for money laundering.Police initially classified the case as obtaining property by deception, and it is being followed up by the Fourth Team of the Criminal Investigation Unit of the Sau Mau Ping Police District. No arrests have been made so far. (HK01 NFT)
According to Ariel Givner, Judge Pacold of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois issued a ruling supporting a partial preliminary injunction in a lawsuit involving Coinbase, Kalshi, and the U.S. federal government/U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) against Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, thwarting Illinois' attempt to classify sports event contracts on the prediction market platform Kalshi under the state's gambling regulations in its initial legal push.
Odaily News: The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts filed a civil forfeiture lawsuit on September 28, seeking the forfeiture of 110,300 USDT seized from a Binance account. The case involves phishing text messages impersonating Coinbase, which led to the theft of 33.7 bitcoins, worth approximately $900,000 at the time, from a beneficiary and their family trust held in the same Coinbase account.Investigators said that between June 5 and June 15, 2023, 11.2 of the stolen bitcoins were traced to the Binance account and were quickly converted into Monero. When the FBI requested the account be frozen, it held approximately 758.55 Monero; Binance transferred 110,300 USDT to a government-controlled wallet on August 3, 2026. (Bitcoin.com News)
According to the official website of the New York State Attorney General’s Office, New York Attorney General Letitia James, joining attorneys general from 17 states including Arizona and California as well as the District of Columbia, formally opposed the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (Clarity Act) in a September 14 letter to Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott and Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren. The coalition warned that the bill would undermine states’ law enforcement authority to combat cryptocurrency fraud, grant the SEC unilateral power superseding state registration authorities, and potentially destabilize the existing state securities regulatory framework. FBI data shows that losses from cryptocurrency-related complaints reached $11.4 billion in 2025, a 22% year-over-year increase; New York reported nearly $500 million in crypto fraud losses over the past five years. The attorneys general urged Congress to amend the legislation to explicitly preserve states’ law enforcement and registration regulatory authority over digital assets, and to strengthen law enforcement cooperation mechanisms between federal and state governments.
Odaily News: The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has previously secretly approved 3 insider trading investigations into Polymarket trading, involving Biden pardon, Iran war, and Google-related event contracts. CFTC Chairman Michael Selig approved an investigation in May into contracts related to the Biden pardon, after a trader had profited over $300,000 from the related market; in the same month, the CFTC also approved an investigation into Iran war contracts, after a group of suspicious accounts was exposed for profiting $2.4 million with a win rate of approximately 98%. In July, the CFTC further launched an investigation into Google-related Polymarket contracts, focusing on individuals who may have used non-public information about Google's 2025 search rankings to trade. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York is also conducting a parallel investigation, and Polymarket stated that it has referred the relevant matters to law enforcement and is cooperating with the investigation.