#Crypto Crackdown

[omgitzlo]

Trump out here beefin’ with the SEC over crypto like it’s a rap battle. Judge hit pause on the lawsuit but don’t get comfy—this ain’t a win, it’s halftime. Crypto still shady, politics still messy, and I’m just tryna flip PEPE in peace 😭📉🧃 #CryptoDrama #SECvsTrump #Web3WTF

[thefreethoughtprojectcom]

In our latest podcast featuring Sal the Agorist, we delve into why the IRS, SEC, and DOJ are intensifying their crackdown on crypto. They're threatened by the rise of economic entrepreneurship outside their monopoly.

Listen Here: https://thefreethoughtproject.com/podcast/podcast-sal-the-agorist-unpacking-pro-palestinian-protests-trump-vs-rfk-astrazeneca-cancelled

#TheFreeThoughtProjectPodcast

[newslink7com]

Trump Ends DOJ Crypto Crackdown, Disbands Enforcement Unit Targeting Exchanges, Wallets, and Mixing Services in Major Policy Reversal

Crypto donors cheer as the crackdown ends. Coinbase, Kraken, Cryptocom, Galaxy Digital, Paradigm, the Winklevoss twins, and Andreessen Horowitz all backed Trump’s campaign — now they’re seeing results.

👉 Read the full story at NewsLink7.com

[finance-scam]

Unmasking BlackBanx and Michael Gastauer: A Fintech Empire with a Shadowed Past

Michael Gastauer, the founder of BlackBanx (formerly known as WB21), is often portrayed as a fintech pioneer whose platform now boasts millions of users across the globe. However, behind this image lies a troubling history of regulatory violations, fraud allegations, and links to global money laundering networks that continue to concern financial authorities.

SEC Crackdown and Fraudulent Activity

In 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a final judgment against Gastauer for his involvement in a massive microcap stock fraud scheme valued at approximately \$165 million. The SEC ordered him to pay over \$17 million in disgorgement and civil penalties. This case involved the use of offshore shell companies and nominee accounts to manipulate stock prices and deceive investors — a textbook example of securities fraud.

Suspected Money Laundering and Crypto Scams

Regulators and investigative reports have linked BlackBanx’s infrastructure to suspected money laundering operations. The company has been mentioned in connection with several high-profile cryptocurrency frauds, including OneCoin and QuadrigaCX — both notorious scams that collectively defrauded investors out of billions. These associations have led to official warnings from the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and triggered red flags across other international watchdogs.

Reputation Management and Suppression Tactics

Beyond fraud, Gastauer has been accused of aggressive reputation suppression tactics. Reports suggest coordinated efforts to remove negative press, silence whistleblowers, and manipulate online search results through lawsuits and SEO manipulation. These strategies have drawn further scrutiny from journalists and regulators.

A Fintech with Global Reach and Regulatory Red Flags

Despite the controversies, BlackBanx continues to operate globally, offering cross-border payment solutions and digital banking services. Its rapid growth and low compliance barriers in certain jurisdictions have raised additional concerns about regulatory oversight and financial transparency.

[apricitystudies]

crimes of the elite: a deep dive

voted on here. (other editions) bold = favourite

corporate harms

behind the smiles at amazon

the long, dark shadow of bhopal (bhopal gas disaster)

how lobbying blocked european safety checks for dangerous medical implants

7-eleven revealed

who controls the world's food supply?

the true cost of tuna: marine observers dying at sea

how a big pharma company stalled a potentially lifesaving vaccine in pursuit of bigger profits

24 years after, some victims not compensated and still can't live normal lives (pfizer's nigeria vaccine trials)

the corporate crime of the century

uber broke laws, duped police and secretly lobbied governments, leak reveals (the uber files)

the baby killer (nestle infant formula scandal)

2 paths of bayer drug in 80's: riskier one steered overseas (hiv-risk contaminated blood product scandal)

global banks defy u.s. crackdowns by serving oligarchs, criminals and terrorists (fincen files)

the ultra-rich

eliminalia: a reputation laundromat for criminals

the fall of the god of cars (international fugitive carlos ghosn)

a u.s. billionaire took over a tropical island pension fund. then hundreds of millions of dollars allegedly went missing (cyprus confidential)

the trial of sam bankman-fried, explained (ftx crypto fraud)

how the wealthiest avoid income tax (the irs files)

the haves and the have-yachts

madoff and his models (madoff ponzi scheme)

the imposter (blockchain terminal fraud)

the ultra-rich: (allegedly) stolen antiquities

crime of the centuries

stolen treasure traders

a hunt for cambodia's looted heritage leads to top museums (pandora papers)

an art crime for the ages

[mariacallous]

this isn’t directed at you at all but rather just like, if you would like to post this: i am finding it increasingly frustrating that for the third election in a row people are dismissing voters for “voting against their best interests” (economically) instead of brainstorming how we can better understand, appeal to, and address those interests as they are perceived by what is now a solidly winning majority of voters. i’ve seen a lot of takes lately that insist the economy isn’t even bad currently and it’s like… are we NOT living in late stage capitalism anymore?? did that just go away now that we need an excuse for why we lost?? there’s just a lot of finger pointing and i fear none of them are pointed the right way.

This assumes that there's some level of rational and coherent approach. People voted for Trump because they think he'll pay the national debt in crypto, that he gave them money before and he'll do it again, that he'll get rid of the people they don't like, that he'll let them do what they want. They voted for him because we are in a global anti-incumbent party environment with people angry that the consumption and spending from the pandemic led to higher prices and companies taking advantage of that to raise prices more and let the blame fall on the policies and governance. They're mad that their own actions led to this when they don't deserve it because they just don't deserve it - someone else does, though.

We fully understand them.

Also, I'm sorry I'm not sorry, but the economy *isn't* currently bad on pretty much every major indicator - inflation has lowered, unemployment is at the lowest its been in a very very very fucking long time, domestic manufacturing jobs are high, billions was poured into all sorts of places outside major metro bubbles, the stock market has consistently performed exceptionally well, the pension funds got bailed out, labor rights have been having the strongest advocates and protections in decades, the government announces a new penalty and crackdown on businesses exploiting consumers pretty much every week, billions in student loans have been forgiven in spite of almost unrestrained opposition, and "late stage capitalism" isn't something we can bring to these voters and non-voters. Because they remembered eggs were expensive at one point and a burrito cost $18 on uber eats and saw people posting their whole foods and trader joe's and deliberately expensive grocery orders.

I'm not saying there's not a lot of inequality or fucked up issues - housing is unreasonably expensive and difficult to find being a prime example - but so much of this election was vibes and misunderstanding and willful ignorance. Voters wanted to be told what they wanted to hear, and they got it. And now we'll all get it.

[argentsunshine]

i really do hate to say it because i hate giving crypto guys a single thing but every time there's a crackdown on content that conservative payment processor execs think is unacceptable i think "this is a problem that crypto could hypothetically solve and i wouldn't be surprised if someone tries"

[lizzarrocks]

Part 2: Behind the Screams Indie Devs Fight Back Against the Invisible Banhammer

"They didn’t ban our game. They made it disappear.”— indie horror developer, anonymous forum post, July 2025

🪓 THE NEW INQUISITION: Financial Blacklisting Without the FireBy now, developers of erotic, horror, queer, and experimental games aren’t just cautious — they’re panicked. You don’t know if you’re next. You don’t know who’s watching. One misinterpreted sprite. One uncomfortable line of dialogue. One suggestive animation — and suddenly, your game is gone from itch.io’s listings. Or removed from Steam’s discoverability. Or worse: you lose access to your payment processor.

Let’s be clear: this is economic erasure.

You don’t get flagged. You don’t get notified. You just vanish.And all because your game dared to be:

Too queer

Too sexual

Too Violent

Too horny

Too feminist

Too brutally honest about power and violence

🧱 INDIE HORROR AS COLLATERAL DAMAGE Ironically, horror games are one of the most fragile genres in this purge. Why?Because horror often:Deals with uncomfortable subject matter

Uses disturbing imagery (even symbolic or metaphorical)Blurs lines between pleasure, pain, sexuality, and trauma

Developers in forums and discords are already sharing survival tips:"Make a ‘clean’ trailer. No ambiguous themes. Keep the description vague.""Avoid the word ‘fetish.’ Even if it’s a core theme. Use ‘psychological interest.’

"This is self-censorship by economic necessity. Developers are voluntarily sanitizing their art just to stay platformed.

And it’s not just the small-timers. Even some award-nominated horror games—like Mouthwashing, Milk Inside a Bag of Milk, and several erotic horror VNs—are being swept up and buried under new policy “filters.”

🎤 VOICES FROM THE EDGE: Devs and Creators Speak Out

🗣️ “My Game Was About Consent. They Flagged It for ‘Exploitation.’”A game developer who made an erotic horror narrative exploring consensual BDSM themes had their game deindexed from itch.io. “Everything was consensual. That was the whole point. But because it involved kink, and the character had trauma, it got treated like non-consent porn. Which it wasn’t. The irony is — games that actually glamorize assault are still up.”

🗣️ “They Don’t Understand Horror”“

If I make a monster lick a man’s face, I’m accused of bestiality. If I show a monster not doing that, I’m ‘romanticizing abuse.’ Horror isn’t supposed to be clean. It's not about endorsement. It’s about fear. It’s about control. And now I have none.”

🗣️ “We Can’t Afford to Be Honest”“

It’s not about whether you like erotic horror. It’s about whether you want financial overlords deciding what counts as art. I’m scared to make anything real anymore.”

🛡️ THE RESISTANCE: Creators, Collectives, and Open Letters

Not everyone is taking it lying down. Developers from the adult indie scene have drafted open letters calling on platforms to establish clear, public-facing policy guidelines and a proper appeals process.Trans-led collectives like PorousGames and M0thEngine are forming creator advocacy groups to lobby against financial gatekeeping.

NSFW artists and queer visual novelists are moving to Patreon alternatives (like Subscribestar Adult, Fansly, or self-hosted solutions) after having PayPal or Stripe accounts frozen.

One dev collective has even started developing an alt storefront prototype with crypto-based payment options and fully NSFW opt-in modes — a sort of “Steam for the banned.”

⚔️ WHAT’S THE PUSHBACK? WHO’S STILL PLATFORMING ADULT CONTENT?

Right now, only a few platforms have stood their ground:

Platform Response to Crackdown Steam Quietly delisting games via search filters. Some removals. itch.io Massive stealth purge of NSFW content. Ghost removals.

DLsite / FAKKUStill allowing most adult content. Japan-based, lower risk.PatreonTightening content rules. Many NSFW creators banned. Subscribe Star Permits adult content. Less reach, more friction.

Newgrounds Still tolerating NSFW content. Fewer sales options though. This isn’t about “just going elsewhere.” Many creators rely on platform discoverability and payment reliability to eat. The moment you move off a major platform, you lose 90%+ of your visibility.

🧨 THE CONTRADICTIONS OF COLLECTIVE SHOUT'S MORAL CRUSADE

They claim to protect children—but ignore how adult creators get hurt.They supported Cuties, which features real minors in sexualized performances, while decrying fictional characters in age-play VNs written by survivors exploring their trauma.

They say they stand for women—yet ban entire libraries of adult games made by women for women, especially in the queer space.They say they want to stop exploitation—but then cheer as financially struggling creators lose their income, audience, and voice.What’s truly at stake isn’t the content—it’s who’s allowed to speak.👁️‍🗨️ WELCOME TO THE POST-PLATFORM ERA

If this keeps up, we may enter an era where:Adult content can only exist behind paywalled, invite-only, gray market sites.

Visa/Mastercard have more influence over creative direction than editors or publishers.Even horror and satire are considered too risky to host, because they might get flagged for symbolic violations.

And the worst part? You’ll never even know why you were removed.

Because the system is designed not to tell you.

It just makes you… disappear.

[misfitwashere]

ROBERT REICH

MAR 6

Friends,

I remain optimistic about the longer term, but I still awaken each morning with a sense of dread. I’m sure some of you do, too. 

Start with Elon Musk’s bonkers comment that Social Security is “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time.” 

In a Ponzi scheme, a con artist lures investors into a fake investment project, pockets the cash, and then gets new “investors” to funnel their cash to the earlier investors — until there are no new recruits and the whole thing collapses. The last ones in are suckers left holding worthless bags. 

Social Security is not a Ponzi scheme. It’s a high-functioning, universal, and exceptionally efficient part of the American social safety net — the opposite of a Ponzi scheme. Which is why the overwhelming majority of Americans oppose cutting it.

Social Security is a simple “pay as you go” program. Current workers, via the payroll tax, fund payouts for retirees and disabled people. In 2024, about 1 in 5 U.S. residents received Social Security.

I used to be a trustee of the Social Security trust fund. I know what I’m talking about. 

As the Social Security Administration explains, “In 2025, when you work, about 85 cents of every Social Security tax dollar you pay goes to a trust fund. This fund pays monthly benefits to current retirees and their families and to surviving spouses and children of workers who have died. About 15 cents goes to a trust fund that pays benefits to people with disabilities and their families.”

The only reason that the Social Security trust fund is slowly running out of money is the trustees never anticipated that so much of the nation’s total income would be in the hands of so few people (such as Elon Musk). 

The simple way to fix this is to lift the cap on income subject to Social Security payroll taxes, which is now $176,100. 

Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg fulfilled their 2025 Social Security payroll tax obligations a few minutes past midnight on January 1. Most Americans continue paying payroll taxes all year. 

If you want to see a real Ponzi scheme, look no further than the crypto investments Musk and Trump have hyped. 

Trump’s new cryptocurrency, “$Trump,” soared and then crashed, just like every other Ponzi scheme. It generated enormous profits for insiders like Trump, but a cumulative $2 billion in losses for more than 800,000 other investors.

Trump claims ignorance. “I don’t know if it benefited” me, he said. “I don’t know much about it.” (The Trump family and its business partners earned nearly $100 million in trading fees alone on the coin.)

Musk has been promoting “dogecoin” since 2019. In the days following Trump’s announcement of the launch of Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the value of dogecoin soared over 70 percent. Since then, it’s dropped like a rock. Another classic Ponzi scheme. 

With Trump now in office, crypto is back to its Ponzi ways. It’s emerging from a four-year federal crackdown on crypto fraud, market manipulation, and other scams following the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto exchange FTX in 2022 — one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in recent memory. 

Tomorrow, Trump is even holding a “crypto summit” at which he’ll promote the idea of a federal crypto reserve that will give crypto schemes a temporary boost by increasing demand for them. 

But why should American taxpayers foot the bill for a crypto reserve? The most obvious winner will be Trump, whose own crypto venture carries millions of dollars in tokens that are to be included in the reserve. 

Other winners will be crypto executives, many of whom donated extensively to Trump’s reelection effort. One example: Ripple, whose XRP token is one of the five that Trump said would be included in the reserve — and which donated $45 million to an industrywide PAC that sought to help elect Trump and other Republicans.

Trump’s crypto efforts are ways to curry his favor by paying him off. 

Consider Justin Sun, a Chinese cryptocurrency entrepreneur whom the Securities and Exchange Commission charged with securities fraud in March 2023.

After Trump was elected in 2024, Sun bought $30 million worth of Trump’s World Liberty Financial crypto tokens, putting $18 million directly into Trump’s pockets. Since then, Sun has invested another $45 million in WLF. Altogether, Sun’s investments have netted Trump more than $50 million.

Trump’s Securities and Exchange Commission just dropped its prosecution of Sun. 

The SEC also dropped its case against the crypto trading platform Coinbase after the platform donated $75 million to a political action committee associated with Trump and $1 million to Trump’s inauguration.

To top it off, the SEC just ruled that “memecoins” aren’t securities, meaning that Trump’s novelty crypto tokens won’t be subject to any regulatory oversight. An open invitation to more Trump Ponzi schemes. 

My real dread has to do with the much bigger Ponzi scheme that Trump and Musk are peddling. 

They’re promising huge “savings” from destroying the federal government — including programs like Social Security and Medicaid — savings that will go to America’s wealthy and big corporations in the form of tax cuts. 

At Musk’s urging, the Social Security Administration recently announced it will consolidate the current 10 regional offices it maintains into four and cut at least 7,000 jobs from an agency already at a 50-year staffing low. 

The Republican budget recently pushed through the House cuts over $880 billion out of Medicaid. 

Who will get left holding the bag? Most Americans. 

Zoom out and you’ll see the biggest Ponzi scheme of them all — the entire Trump 2 regime.

Trump is promising to “make America great again” by raising tariffs, deporting more than 11 million people, taking a wrecking ball to the federal government, pulverizing democracy, and joining Putin and other global dictators.

Trump is the con artist behind this giant Ponzi scheme. He lured voters into this fake MAGA project, pocketed some of the cash and rewarded his billionaire backers and friends (including Musk) with more, and will leave most Americans with a corrupt and decimated society. 

I’m still optimistic about our power to overcome this and our resilience in bouncing back from it. But the dread I feel when I open my eyes in the morning concerns the sheer magnitude of the largest and most cynical Ponzi scheme in history.

[thedailydecrypt]

Europe Is About to Kill Crypto Privacy—And Most People Don’t Realize It Yet

By 2027, anonymous crypto accounts and privacy coins like Monero and Zcash will be banned in the European Union. That’s not a warning. That’s law. Passed. Finalized. Done.

Yet somehow, the crypto industry has barely blinked.

This isn’t just another round of AML rules. This is a structural reset—one that strikes at the very core of what made crypto revolutionary in the first place: the right to financial privacy. If you think this is just about Monero, think again. This regulation will ripple through every layer of the crypto stack—from L2s to stablecoins to DeFi protocols. It’s not just about privacy coins. It’s about the death of pseudonymity in crypto finance.

And most people don’t realize what’s coming.

Privacy Isn’t Just for Criminals. It’s for Citizens.

Let’s get one thing out of the way: the European Union’s stated goal—to combat money laundering and terrorism financing—is valid. No one in their right mind supports criminal abuse of financial rails.

But that’s not the real debate here.

The EU’s Anti-Money Laundering Regulation (AMLR) isn’t just targeting dark web markets. It’s banning the tools that enable any form of anonymity in digital finance. Under Article 79 of the new framework, financial institutions and crypto service providers (CASPs) are prohibited from handling privacy-preserving tokens or offering anonymous crypto accounts. That includes not just Monero or Zcash, but any wallet or protocol that enables anonymized transactions.

Translation: the foundational right to opt-out of surveillance finance is being written out of European law.

Crypto users will now be treated as guilty until proven KYC’d.

And before you say “this only affects centralized services,” remember: MiCA already cracked down on stablecoins. Now AMLR adds the final nail—one that leaves decentralized protocols exposed to hostile regulation or forced exit.

The Ripple Effect Will Be Massive

This isn’t just bad news for Monero. It’s an existential threat to multiple sectors of crypto innovation.

1. Privacy-preserving L2s like Aztec or zkSync: If your L2 allows anonymous transactions, you’re non-compliant by default. Even if your base layer is Ethereum, your zk rollup is now on thin legal ice in Europe.

2. Decentralized exchanges (DEXs): If you enable private swaps, expect to be de-platformed or geo-blocked. DEXs may not be CASPs by definition, but if they use relayers, bridges, or interfaces hosted in Europe, they’ll be targeted.

3. Stablecoins and privacy wallets: The combination of stablecoins and mixers or privacy wrappers is an obvious red flag now. Even self-hosted wallets like Wasabi or Samurai could face oblique bans by targeting providers offering UI or custodial services within the EU.

4. Crypto service providers with cross-border operations: Under the new AML framework, any CASP with more than 20,000 users in a single member state or over €50 million in transaction volume will be under direct supervision by the new AML Authority (AMLA). That’s not regulation. That’s consolidation of surveillance power.

Why This Isn’t Just a European Problem

Here’s where the average American or Asian investor tunes out. “Ah, it’s just Europe.”

That’s naive.

European regulation has a long history of exporting itself. GDPR forced every global tech firm to overhaul its privacy compliance. MiCA is already influencing stablecoin strategies for Tether, Circle, and even PayPal. AMLR will be no different.

Already, U.S. policymakers are watching. The Treasury’s hostility toward mixers, the recent crackdowns on Tornado Cash devs, and the Bank Secrecy Act’s broad reach suggest one thing: there’s a global policy consensus forming around total transaction traceability.

And that’s dangerous.

Why? Because pseudonymity is not anonymity. In crypto, wallet addresses are visible. But unless tied to real-world identity, they offer users protection from corporate surveillance, abusive regimes, or even just toxic markets. Removing that pseudonymity doesn’t just block criminals—it exposes the everyday user.

Think journalists working under repressive regimes. Dissidents in authoritarian states. Whistleblowers. LGBTQ activists in hostile countries. Or just your average citizen who doesn’t want their spending history to be mined, monetized, and misused.

Financial privacy is civil rights, not a crime.

“We Need Transparency”

Yes, money laundering is a problem. Yes, crypto’s transparency challenge is real. But here’s what defenders of the AMLR miss:

Cash is still anonymous. Are we banning cash? Or is Europe simply using digital finance as a Trojan horse to normalize surveillance?

Bad actors adapt. Criminals will always find workarounds—unregulated markets, deep webs, or offshore chains. It’s the law-abiding users who lose access when privacy tools are banned.

Privacy tech is advancing. Zero-knowledge proofs, multi-party computation, and differential privacy are building solutions that can satisfy both AML requirements and user confidentiality. But regulators aren't even trying to meet developers halfway.

This regulation doesn’t target the how—it attacks the why. The very idea that privacy in finance is something worth preserving.

Cashless, Borderless, Controlled

Let’s zoom out.

What’s really happening here is a three-pronged shift:

A move toward programmable money (CBDCs, stablecoins),

A retreat from self-custody and private transactions, and

A global regime of identity-verified, surveilled, and centrally controlled financial systems.

Crypto was the counterweight. The alternative. Not because it let you break the law, but because it let you choose how much of your life to reveal. In a world of mass data leaks, politicized banking, and algorithmic profiling, privacy was the use case.

With AMLR, Europe is burning that bridge. And most of the crypto industry is letting it happen.

Compliance Will Win, But Innovation Will Exit

Here’s my bet: most centralized players will comply. Privacy protocols will be delisted in Europe. KYC thresholds will drop. More wallets will geo-fence users. And privacy coin liquidity will migrate offshore.

But crypto innovation? It will leave.

Just as talent fled post-Brexit London and post-GDPR adtech, crypto builders who care about privacy will exit Europe. They’ll go to jurisdictions that recognize that privacy isn't the enemy of security—it’s a pillar of digital freedom.

And Europe? It’ll find itself with sanitized, KYC'd crypto systems that are little more than fintech in blockchain clothing.

The Bottom Line

The EU's AMLR isn’t just a compliance update. It’s a fundamental rejection of crypto’s core principle: that individuals should have control over their financial lives.

Privacy coins are the canary in the coal mine. The real story is bigger: Europe is setting the precedent for a world where anonymous finance is illegal by default. And unless we push back now—with technology, with public debate, and with policy resistance—this model will be copied globally.

It’s not about hiding. It’s about having a choice.

And soon, that choice may be gone.

We don’t run subscriptions. No paywalls. No token gates. But if you believe in bold, independent crypto journalism that calls out the real threats—consider donating to our Ko-Fi page. Every bit helps keep our work free, fearless, and truly independent.

👉 Support Us on Ko-Fi

© 2025 InSequel Digital. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form without prior written permission. The content is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, investment, financial, or other professional advice.

[cryptobreakingnews]

Secret Service Confiscates $400M in Crypto, Among Largest Cold Wallets

In a significant move that underscores the growing capabilities of federal agencies in tracking blockchain activities, the U.S. Secret Service has seized cryptocurrency worth over $400 million stored in various cold wallets. This marks one of the largest seizures of its kind, indicating an increasing sophistication in the ways government bodies handle cryptocurrency fraud and cybercrime. Details of the Seizure The U.S. Secret Service revealed that the seized assets were connected to a series of investigations targeting international cybercrime syndicates. The operation spotlighted cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin and Ethereum, commonly exploited in illegal transactions due to their pseudonymous nature. Through implementing advanced blockchain forensics and collaborating with other federal entities, the Secret Service was able to trace and secure the funds from cold wallets, which are offline storage devices considered safer from hacking attempts but evidently not immune from legal scrutiny. Crypto Enforcement Strategies This recent seizure is part of a larger trend of increased regulation and oversight in the cryptocurrency space. Authorities across the globe are ramping up their efforts to curtail financial crimes involving crypto assets. For instance, enhanced regulatory frameworks are being devised to tackle issues ranging from money laundering to sanction evasion. The involvement of the U.S. Secret Service, known for its stringent measures against counterfeiting and fraud, highlights the serious approach being taken towards illicit activities involving cryptocurrencies. Impact on the Crypto Market Incidents like this have a dual impact on the cryptocurrency markets. On one hand, they can lead to temporary market volatility as investors react to potential crackdowns. On the other, they also reinforce the security of the investment environment by deterring bad actors and aligning with broader financial regulations. Such actions are crucial for the long-term adoption of cryptocurrencies as part of the mainstream financial ecosystem, promoting transparency and trust among investors. In conclusion, the U.S Secret Service's mammoth seizure underscores a pivotal shift in how digital assets are monitored and regulated. As blockchain technology continues to evolve, so too does the approach by law enforcement agencies worldwide to safeguard these digital frontiers. This ongoing adaptation is vital not only for enhancing the security of digital assets but also for ensuring the stable growth of the cryptocurrency market amidst evolving regulatory landscapes.

[volunteerismandanarchy]

https://www.reuters.com/technology/crypto-markets-lose-steam-after-trumps-first-policy-move-2025-01-24/?lctg=6339ac208544089c830b4008

NEW YORK/SINGAPORE/PARIS, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Crypto markets crept up on Friday, still holding below recent highs even after President Donald Trump ordered a new working group to draw up crypto regulations long hoped for by the industry and explore the creation of a U.S. cryptocurrency stockpile.

Bitcoin has been broadly steady since Trump took office on Monday, pushing the world's biggest cryptocurrency to a fresh record of $109,071. It was last trading around $106,000 on Friday as some of the euphoria around a hoped-for revolution in cryptocurrency regulation ebbed.

Bitcoin had been one of the most spectacular "Trump trades," gaining 50% to break above $100,000 and hitting fresh highs since Trump's election victory in November.

Trump courted crypto campaign cash with promises to reverse the Biden administration's crackdown on the industry and be a "crypto president" and this week his administration began delivering on that pledge.

In an executive order on Thursday, he touted the digital asset industry as "crucial" to U.S. innovation, created a working group to draft new crypto rules and explore a crypto stockpile, while the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) spiked accounting guidance that the industry said had stymied crypto adoption.

[cryptocurrencyinsights]

Say Hello To The Most Undervalued Cryptocurrency - Luigi Mangione ($Luigi)

By: @cryptocurrencyinsights on Tumblr

DISCLAIMER: The information provided is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Cryptocurrency investments carry a high level of risk, and you could lose all of your invested capital. Always do your own research and consult with a financial professional before making any investment decisions.

In the labyrinthine world of cryptocurrency, where every coin aspires to moonshot status, one token stands out not for its glittering prospects but for its paradoxical nature: the Luigi Mangione meme coin. Though its name conjures both curiosity and derision, this controversial token may, in fact, be the most stealthily undervalued cryptocurrency in existence. Why? Precisely because its polarizing nature attracts only the most steadfast believers, granting it a unique immunity to the fickle tides of market sentiment.

To understand this paradox, we must first explore the coin’s controversy. Unlike other meme coins that rise on the winds of celebrity endorsements, hype cycles, and retail FOMO, the Luigi Mangione meme coin dares to operate in defiance of conventional market wisdom. It’s not simply a token; it’s a litmus test for conviction. The name itself, with its namesake homage to the most polarizing figure in the news right now, repels casual investors. Critics point to its “frivolous” branding as evidence of its unseriousness, while others decry it as a heartless joke stretched too far. These criticisms are precisely what make it remarkable.

In a market where sentiment rules, the Luigi Mangione meme coin stands apart as an anti-sentiment asset. Its controversy creates a filter that only allows the most resolute investors to hold. These are not traders chasing a quick buck or speculators swayed by a single tweet; these are long-term thinkers who see potential beyond the noise. For them, the coin is a contrarian bet against the hyper-reactive nature of crypto markets. And in this, the Luigi Mangione meme coin exhibits a quality as rare as it is valuable: resilience.

Traditional cryptocurrencies are beholden to the whims of the market. A single piece of news—be it a regulatory crackdown, a partnership announcement, or a macroeconomic shift—can send prices soaring or plummeting within hours. Meme coins, in particular, are notorious for their volatility, as their value often hinges on ephemeral popularity. Yet, the Luigi Mangione meme coin remains curiously impervious. This isn’t to say it’s immune to fluctuations; rather, its core value is decoupled from the superficial triggers that dominate other tokens. Its holders are in it for the long haul, viewing each dip as an opportunity to strengthen their position rather than a reason to panic.

This steadfastness confers another advantage: a stable community. The Luigi Mangione meme coin’s ecosystem is not merely a collection of wallets; it is a dedicated network of believers. This sense of tribalism fosters organic growth and innovation. Without the pressure to cater to short-term traders, developers can focus on building sustainable use cases for the token. The coin’s roadmap—often dismissed by skeptics—includes ambitious plans for decentralized applications (dApps), charitable initiatives, and a unique staking mechanism that rewards patience over speculation. Such initiatives may be underappreciated now, but they underscore the token’s potential to mature into a meaningful asset.

Critics may argue that the coin’s controversy is a liability, but history suggests otherwise. Many transformative assets began as polarizing concepts. Bitcoin, once dismissed as a tool for criminals, has evolved into digital gold. Ethereum, derided for its complexity, is now the backbone of decentralized finance. The Luigi Mangione meme coin’s controversy is its crucible; it forges a community that believes not because it is easy, but because it is hard. Such conviction is the bedrock of long-term value.

Moreover, controversy has a way of generating attention, albeit in unconventional ways. While some coins spend millions on marketing, the Luigi Mangione meme coin thrives on the debates it sparks. Its detractors inadvertently amplify its presence, drawing curious onlookers into its orbit. This phenomenon—the Streisand Effect of crypto—ensures that the coin remains a topic of conversation, even in bearish markets. Over time, this persistent visibility can translate into broader adoption.

Skeptics might also question the practicality of investing in such a token. Yet, isn’t this the essence of contrarian investing? The greatest opportunities often lie where fear and doubt prevail. Warren Buffett famously advised to “be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.” The Luigi Mangione meme coin epitomizes this philosophy. Its undervaluation stems not from a lack of merit, but from a collective hesitation to embrace its audacity. This creates an asymmetric risk-reward profile: the downside is capped by its already modest valuation, while the upside is potentially exponential.

Ultimately, the Luigi Mangione meme coin embodies a paradox: it is undervalued because it is controversial, and it is controversial because it challenges the status quo. Its unique resilience, born of a steadfast community and a defiance of market norms, positions it as an asset unlike any other. For those with the vision to see beyond the noise, it offers not just a financial opportunity, but a philosophical one—a chance to bet on conviction in a world ruled by sentiment.

In the end, the Luigi Mangione meme coin may not fit the mold of traditional cryptocurrencies, and that’s precisely the point. Its value lies not in its ability to conform, but in its power to endure. And in a market where endurance is often the ultimate test of worth, this token—for all its quirks and controversies—may well be the hidden gem that only the boldest dare to claim.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

This day in history

I'm on tour with my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me in TUCSON (Mar 9-10), then SAN FRANCISCO (Mar 13), Anaheim, and more!

#20yrsago EFF is suing the FCC over the Broadcast Flag! https://web.archive.org/web/20040314151119/https://www.eff.org/IP/Video/HDTV/20040309_eff_pr.php

#20yrsago ICANN’s tongue slithers further up Verisign’s foetid backside https://memex.craphound.com/2004/03/09/icanns-tongue-slithers-further-up-verisigns-foetid-backside/

#20yrsago Nader kicks Mastercard’s ass in fair-use fight https://web.archive.org/web/20040401171817/http://lawgeek.typepad.com/lawgeek/2004/03/nader_wins_pric.html

#15yrsago AIG has insured $1.6 trillion in derivatives https://web.archive.org/web/20090312010613/https://www.scribd.com/doc/13112282/Aig-Systemic-090309

#10yrsago Putin your butt https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/1zrchl/check_out_my_3d_printed_putin_butt_plug/?sort=new

#10yrsago Public Prosecutor of Rome unilaterally orders ISPs to censor 46 sites https://torrentfreak.com/italian-police-carry-out-largest-ever-pirate-domain-crackdown-140305/

#5yrsago Palmer Luckey wins secretive Pentagon contract to develop AI for drones https://theintercept.com/2019/03/09/anduril-industries-project-maven-palmer-luckey/

#5yrsago Pentagon reassures public that its autonomous robotic tank adheres to “legal and ethical standards” for AI-driven killbots https://gizmodo.com/u-s-army-assures-public-that-robot-tank-system-adheres-1833061674

#5yrsago Elizabeth Warren reveals her plan to break up Big Tech https://medium.com/@teamwarren/heres-how-we-can-break-up-big-tech-9ad9e0da324c

#5yrssago The US requires visas for some EU citizens, so now all US citizens visiting the EU will be subjected to border formalities too https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/us-citizens-need-visa-europe-travel-2021/

#1yrago The AI hype bubble is the new crypto hype bubble https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/09/autocomplete-worshippers/#the-real-ai-was-the-corporations-that-we-fought-along-the-way

Name your price for 18 of my DRM-free ebooks and support the Electronic Frontier Foundation with the Humble Cory Doctorow Bundle.

[mariacallous]

As the underground industry of crypto investment scams has grown into one of the world's most lucrative forms of cybercrime, the secondary market of money launderers for those scammers has grown to match it. Amid that black market, one such Chinese-language service on the messaging platform Telegram blossomed into an all-purpose underground bazaar: It has offered not only cash-out services to scammers but also money laundering for North Korean hackers, stolen data, targeted harassment-for-hire, and even what appears to be sex trafficking. And somehow, it's all overseen by a company legally registered in the United States.

According to new research released today by crypto-tracing firm Elliptic, a company called Xinbi Guarantee has since 2022 facilitated no less than $8.4 billion in transactions via its Telegram-based marketplace prior to Telegram’s actions in recent days to remove its accounts from the platform. Money stolen from scam victims likely represents the “vast majority” of that sum, according to Elliptic's cofounder Tom Robinson. Yet even as the market serves Chinese-speaking scammers, it also boasts on the top of its website—in Mandarin—that it's registered in Colorado.

“Xinbi Guarantee has served as a giant, purportedly US-incorporated illicit online marketplace for online scams that primarily offers money laundering services,” says Robinson. He adds, though, that Elliptic has also found a remarkable variety of other criminal offerings on the market: child-bearing surrogacy and egg donors, harassment services that offer to threaten or throw feces at any chosen victim, and even sex workers in their teens who are likely trafficking victims.

Xinbi Guarantee is the second such crime-friendly Chinese-language market that Robinson and his team of researchers have uncovered over the past year. Last July, they published a report on Huione Guarantee, a similar Cambodia-based service that Elliptic said in January had facilitated $24 billion in transactions—largely from crypto scammers—making it the biggest illicit online marketplace in history by Elliptic's accounting. That market's parent company, Huione Group, was added to a list of known money laundering operations by the US Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network earlier this month in an attempt to limit its access to US financial institutions.

After WIRED reached out to Telegram last week about the illicit activity taking place on Xinbi Guarantee’s and Huione Guarantee’s channels on its messaging platform, Telegram appears to have responded Monday by banning many of the central channels and administrator accounts used by both Xinbi Guarantee and Huione Guarantee. “Criminal activities like scamming or money laundering are forbidden by Telegram's terms of service and are always removed whenever discovered,” Telegram spokesperson Remi Vaughn wrote to WIRED in a statement. “Communities previously reported to us by WIRED or included in reports published by Elliptic have all been taken down.”

Telegram had banned several of Huione Guarantee’s channels in February following an earlier Elliptic report on the marketplace, but Huione Guarantee quickly re-created them, and it’s not clear whether the new removals will prevent the two companies from rebuilding their presence on Telegram again, perhaps with new accounts or even new branding. “These are very lucrative businesses, and they’ll attempt to rebuild in some way,” Robinson said of the two marketplaces following Telegram’s latest purge.

Elliptic’s accounting of the total lifetime revenue of the biggest online black markets.Courtesy of Elliptic

Xinbi Guarantee didn't respond to multiple requests for comment on Elliptic's findings that WIRED sent to the market's administrators on Telegram.

Like Huione Guarantee, Xinbi Guarantee has offered a similar “guarantee” model of enabling third-party vendors to offer services by requiring a deposit from them to prevent fraud. Yet it's flown under the radar, even as it grew into one of the biggest hubs for crypto crime on the internet. In terms of scale of transactions prior to Telegram’s crackdown, it was second only to Huione's market, according to Elliptic.

Both services “offer a window into the China-based underground banking network,” Robinson says. “It's another example of these huge Chinese-language ‘guaranteed’ marketplaces that have thrived for years.”

On Xinbi Guarantee, Elliptic found numerous posts from vendors offering to accept funds related to “quick kills,” “slow kills,” and “pig butchering” transactions, all different terms for crypto investment scams and other forms of fraud. In some cases, Robinson explains, these Xinbi Guarantee vendors offer bank accounts in the same country as the victim so that they can receive whatever payment they're tricked into making, then pay the scammer in the cryptocurrency Tether. In other cases, the Xinbi Guarantee merchants offer to receive cryptocurrency payments and cash them out in the scammer's local currency, such as Chinese renminbi.

Aside from Xinbi Guarantee's central use as a cash-out point for crypto scammers, Elliptic also found that the market's vendors offered other wares for scammers such as stolen data that could be used for finding victims, as well as services for registering SIM cards and Starlink internet subscriptions through proxies.

North Korean state-sponsored cybercriminals also appear to have used the platform for money laundering. Elliptic found through blockchain analysis, for instance, that about $220,000 stolen from the Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX—the victim of a $235 million theft in July 2024, widely attributed to North Korean hackers—had flowed into Xinbi Guarantee in a series of transactions in November.

Those money-laundering and scam-enabling services, however, are far from the only shady offerings found on Xinbi Guarantee's market. Elliptic also found listings for surrogate mothers and egg donors, with one post showing faceless pictures of the donor's body. Other accounts have offered services that will, for a payment in Tether, place a funeral wreath at a target's door, deface their home with graffiti, post damaging statements around their home, have someone verbally threaten them, throw feces at them, or even, most bizarrely, surround their home with AIDS patients. One posting suggested these AIDS patients would carry “case reports and needles for intimidation."

Other listings have offered sex workers as young as 18 years old, noting the specific sex acts that are allowed and forbidden. Elliptic says that one of its researchers was even offered a 14-year-old by a Xinbi Guarantee merchant. (The account holder noted, however, that no transaction for sex with someone below the age of 18 would be guaranteed by Xinbi. The legal age of consent in China is 14.)

Exactly why Xinbi Guarantee is legally registered in the US remains a mystery. Its incorporation record on the Colorado Secretary of State's website shows an address at an office park in the city of Aurora that has no external Xinbi branding. The company appears to have been registered there in August of 2022 by someone named “Mohd Shahrulnizam Bin Abd Manap.” (WIRED connected that name with several people in Malaysia but couldn't determine which one might be Xinbi Guarantee's registrant.) The listing is currently marked as “delinquent,” perhaps due to failure to file more recent paperwork to renew it.

For fledgling Chinese companies—legitimate and illegitimate—incorporating in the US is an increasingly common tactic for “projecting legitimacy,” says Jacob Sims, a visiting fellow at Harvard's Asia Center who focuses on transnational Chinese crime. “If you have a US presence, you can also open US bank accounts,” Sims says. “You could potentially hire staff in the US. You could in theory have more formalized connections to US entities.” But he notes that the registration's delinquent status may mean Xinbi Guarantee tried to make some sort of inroads in the US in the past but gave up.

While Telegram has served as the chief means of communication for the two markets, the stablecoin cryptocurrency Tether has served as their primary means of payment, Elliptic found. And despite Telegram’s new round of removals of their channels and accounts, Xinbi Guarantee and Huione Guarantee are far from the only companies to use Tether and Telegram to create essentially a new, largely Chinese-language darknet: Elliptic is tracking close to 30 similar marketplaces, Robinson says, though he declined to name others in the midst of the company's investigations.

Just as Telegram shows new signs of cracking down on that sprawling black market, Tether, too, has the ability to disrupt criminal use of its services. Unlike other more decentralized cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Tether can freeze payments when it identifies bad actors. Yet it’s not clear to what degree Tether has taken measures to stop Chinese-language crypto scammers and others on Xinbi Guarantee and Huione Guarantee from using its currency.

When WIRED wrote to Tether to ask about its role in those black markets, the company responded in a statement that it encourages “firms like Elliptic and other blockchain intelligence providers to share critical data with law enforcement so we can act swiftly and in coordination.”

“We are not passive observers—we are active players in the global fight against financial crime,” the Tether statement continued. “If you’re considering using Tether for illicit purposes, think again: it is the most traceable asset in existence. We will identify you, and we will work to ensure you are brought to justice.”

Despite that promise—and Telegram’s new effort to remove Huione Guarantee and Xinbi Guarantee from its platform—both tools have already been used to facilitate tens of billions of dollars in theft and other black market deals, much of it occurring in plain sight. The two largely illegal and very public markets have been “remarkable for both the scale at which they're operating and also the brazenness,” says Harvard’s Jacob Sims.

Given that brazenness and the massive criminal fortunes at stake, expect both markets to attempt a revival in some form—and plenty of competitors to try to take their place atop the Chinese-language crypto crime economy.