crypto

The criminal trial of Aiden Pleterski, who calls himself the "King of Crypto," regarding allegations of cryptocurrency fraud will begin on October 5 in the Ontario Superior Court of Canada. He is accused of raising funds from investors between 2021 and 2022 by making false promises of "smart investments yielding high weekly profits," with the fraud amounting to approximately $30 million. Canadian authorities have filed charges of fraud and money laundering against him in May 2024.According to CBC News, Pleterski failed to obtain a postponement to hire a lawyer and is expected to represent himself in court. The trial is expected to last about four weeks, and if convicted on the fraud charge alone, he could face up to 14 years in prison.In December 2022, several men (some of whom are reportedly victims of the scam) allegedly kidnapped and tortured Pleterski for three days, threatening his and his family's safety, and forcing him to record a video detailing his role in the alleged fraud. Pleterski is one of many high-profile figures in the cryptocurrency industry facing criminal charges during the market downturn in 2022, with executives from the now-bankrupt FTX and Celsius also facing charges in the United States thereafter.

The political action committee (PAC) Defend American Jobs, allied with the cryptocurrency industry and primarily funded by the industry, disclosed in documents submitted to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) that it has spent $11.4 million on media advertising to support Republican Jon Husted and oppose Democrat Sherrod Brown in the campaign for the Ohio U.S. Senate seat.This PAC is affiliated with Fairshake, which is supported by Coinbase and Ripple Labs. This advertising expenditure is part of Fairshake's commitment to initially invest $30 million to prevent Brown from returning to the Senate. Brown, a former chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, is one of the critical voices in Congress regarding cryptocurrency legislation and policy.In the 2024 Ohio Senate election, the showdown between Brown and Republican Bernie Moreno attracted over $300 million in spending from external groups like Fairshake, with cryptocurrency-related PACs and their affiliates spending about $41 million opposing Brown and supporting Moreno, who ultimately won with 50.2% of the vote. Husted's seat was appointed by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, succeeding JD Vance, who was elected as the Vice President of the United States in 2024.

According to The Block, the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has obtained a court order requiring two individuals involved in a fraudulent cryptocurrency investment scheme to jointly repay £851,402, with plans to return the funds to the victims.At least 65 investors have collectively lost £1.54 million, and the amount being recovered is approximately half of that.

According to a report by Reuters, if the Democrats gain control of the House of Representatives or the Senate after the midterm elections in November, they are expected to launch investigations into business dealings related to Trump and his family, focusing on the cryptocurrency, prediction markets, and investment businesses involving the Trump family, as well as companies that funded projects for the White House.The report states that controlling either chamber of Congress will give the Democrats more resources for committee investigations and subpoena power, with some investigations potentially starting as early as February next year. The subjects of investigation frequently mentioned by Democratic lawmakers include the venture capital firm 1789 Capital, in which Donald Trump Jr. is involved, as well as cryptocurrency companies related to the Trump family, but a final list of investigations has not yet been established.Additionally, Republican Senator John Curtis has previously called for an investigation into some of Donald Trump Jr.'s business relationships, believing that the commercial activities of the presidential family should be subject to consistent congressional oversight.

Belarus High-Tech Park (HTP) has registered the country's first two cryptocurrency banks. The two institutions first obtained HTP resident enterprise status and then need to be certified by the National Bank of Belarus and included in the cryptocurrency bank registry, with the specific names of the institutions not yet disclosed.According to the relevant decrees issued by Belarus this year, cryptocurrency banks can combine digital token operations with banking, payment, and other related financial services.

According to official news, the cryptocurrency enterprise banking platform Limited announced the completion of a $18.5 million seed round financing, led by Third Prime, North Island Ventures (NIV), The House Fund, and Collab+Currency, with participation from ParaFi Capital, Pharsalus Capital, Digital Currency Group (DCG), 1982 Ventures, Onigiri Capital, and others.It is reported that Limited is a global financial platform aimed at multinational enterprises, integrating local business accounts, Visa cards, payment, treasury and expense management, and cryptocurrency infrastructure. Enterprises can make and receive payments through local channels such as ACH, SEPA, Pix, and SWIFT, and it also supports the receipt and payment of cryptocurrency assets such as BTC, ETH, and USDC.

Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research Department's South Korea stock analyst Chris Cha stated in a report on September 23 that KOSPI has the conditions for a short-term tactical breakout, but the continuous flow of liquidity from South Korean retail investors into the cryptocurrency market will make the index's subsequent upward movement more reliant on foreign capital and local institutions reconfiguring. The report noted that concerns about the Federal Reserve's interest rates have been partially digested by the market, and risk appetite has shifted towards proxy AI themes.The report pointed out that South Korean memory chips provide fundamental support, with fourth-quarter DRAM contract prices expected to grow double digits quarter-on-quarter, and the ramp-up of HBM4 capacity will continue to limit the supply of standard server DRAM. Samsung Electronics' large shareholder returns, continuous buying by institutions, and foreign capital turning into net buying may drive KOSPI towards the resistance zone of 7000 to 7200 points.The report also indicated that the capacity of local South Korean retail investors to absorb has weakened. After Bitcoin returned to $85,000, cryptocurrency trading in South Korea has heated up. According to DefiLlama data cited in the report, Upbit's single-day spot trading volume on June 13 was approximately $770 million, which rose to $1.817 billion on September 22, an increase of about 136%. Based on the total trading volume of $3.27 billion on that day across South Korea's five major trading platforms, Upbit alone accounted for over half. Goldman Sachs believes this will make KOSPI more reliant on foreign and institutional buying in the future, and October is a critical window to test whether foreign capital will continue to increase its investment in South Korean semiconductor and AI assets.

According to Coinglass data, the cryptocurrency Fear and Greed Index is currently at 75, up 6 points from yesterday. The average over the past 7 days is 73, and the average over the past 30 days is 67.

The government of Kazakhstan is promoting the use of associated gas to power cryptocurrency mining, in order to restore the mining industry affected by power restrictions. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed a decree in July requiring the establishment of mechanisms for enterprises to conduct digital mining using associated gas.Daniyar Mubarakov, head of the Blockchain and Digital Mining Association, stated that the total amount of associated gas in Kazakhstan can be converted into 1.2 to 1.3 terawatt-hours of electricity, sufficient to support medium or large data centers or Bitcoin mines in some oil fields. The Ministry of Energy of Kazakhstan estimates that there are up to 60 oil fields in the country producing associated gas. Oil companies can sell waste gas to miners, reducing disposal costs by millions of dollars, while miners can lock in electricity prices for years, reducing dependence on grid power.The government of Kazakhstan is developing a relevant legal framework to clarify the operational rules for enterprises and regulate the market. Gizzat Baitursynov, Deputy Minister of AI and Digital Development of Kazakhstan, stated that this mechanism will increase government tax revenue and improve the environment.

The Deputy Minister of Finance of Russia, Ivan Chebeskov, stated that at least 20 million Russians have invested in cryptocurrency products, holding a total of approximately 3.7 trillion rubles, equivalent to about 44 billion dollars. These assets are mainly used for foreign trade settlements, mining, and trading on overseas exchanges and savings.Russia is allowing qualified and non-qualified investors to hold and trade cryptocurrency assets on regulated domestic exchanges through a regulatory framework, while still prohibiting the use of cryptocurrency assets for everyday payments, and promoting the digital ruble as a payment tool directly regulated by the state.

According to CoinDesk, the Clarity Act, aimed at establishing a clear regulatory framework for cryptocurrency in the United States, has been declared a failure after months of intense negotiations. The bill was originally intended to address the definition of digital assets at the federal level, but it failed to reach the final voting process due to fierce interest group conflicts.Multiple sources indicate that the core reason for the legislative collapse lies in complex jurisdictional conflicts and disputes over terms. The CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) and SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) are in disagreement over the management rights of certain digital assets, while lawmakers also struggle to reach a consensus on how to define the legal attributes of NFTs, DeFi protocols, and stablecoins. Despite calls from organizations to eliminate market uncertainty through legislation, a key compromise proposal ultimately could not be reached.The Fintech Association and other industry organizations had previously lobbied actively in support of the bill, hoping to establish clear industry standards. With the failure of this legislation, traditional financial institutions on Wall Street and cryptocurrency projects will continue to face legal gray areas, and the industry's compliance process will thus be forced to delay.

Vitalik posted on the X platform, stating that he attempted to briefly explain the true meaning of the plans for Ethereum that forked after Hegota. Ethereum is no longer just a blockchain; it is a hybrid architecture that combines blockchain with modern cryptography, enabling more powerful features.Related plans include FOCIL, EIP-8288, streamlined consensus, state management, formal verification, memory pool improvements with privacy features, and long-term obfuscation techniques.

According to Coinglass data, the cryptocurrency Fear and Greed Index is currently at 69, down 6 points from yesterday. The average over the past 7 days is 72, and the average over the past 30 days is 66.

The West Midlands Police in the UK reported that a young couple was attacked by masked individuals at their residence in Solihull in December 2025 and were forced to transfer a large amount of assets to the criminals' cryptocurrency wallet. The male victim was seriously injured, while the pregnant female victim was threatened with a knife, and the suspects also stole several high-value watches.The police believe this was a premeditated targeted attack, and the UK independent charity "Crimestoppers" is currently offering a reward of up to £10,000 for any information that could lead to the arrest and conviction of the suspects.

Binance founder Zhao Changpeng stated during the podcast "When Shift Happens" that he remains bullish on Bitcoin but denies having the ability to influence the price of the entire crypto market. Previously, on August 19, when Bitcoin was around the $60,000 range, Zhao Changpeng posted that if one wants their future self to thank today's decisions in two years, immediate action is needed. This post was interpreted by the market as a hint to buy Bitcoin, and in the following days, the crypto market rose by about 20%.Zhao Changpeng responded that he does not have the ability to drive the entire market price. He stated that he has always been bullish on the crypto industry, and almost all of his posts have a bullish tendency, posting 5 to 10 times a day, so it is not surprising that one of his posts coincidentally appeared before positive news.Zhao Changpeng mentioned that about 5 hours after the post was published, Trump gave a relatively positive speech about the crypto industry, mentioning the push for Hyperliquid to enter the U.S. market, but he did not know the content of the speech in advance. He emphasized that if he had any information that could affect the market, he would not post about it. Therefore, the post and the subsequent market rise were merely a coincidence in timing.Regarding the Bitcoin cycle, Zhao Changpeng stated that the crypto market has roughly followed a four-year cycle to date. At that time, some speculated that Bitcoin might bottom out in October, but he believes there is no need to wait until October to express a bullish view.

According to Euronews, Kazakhstan is promoting cryptocurrency mining companies to utilize the remaining associated gas from oil fields to build their own power stations, in order to reduce natural gas flaring, alleviate pressure on the national power grid, and increase oil production.Data shows that the country will flare about 300 to 340 million cubic meters of associated gas in 2024, which, if used for power generation, is expected to produce 1.2 to 1.3 terawatt-hours of electricity. Currently, the Ministry of Energy of Kazakhstan and other departments are formulating the relevant legal framework.

CryptoQuant's Research Director Julio Moreno stated that with the recent rise in Bitcoin, the unrealized profit rate has increased to 33%, reaching the highest level since December 2024.Meanwhile, the scale of Bitcoin profit-taking has risen to 25,700 BTC, marking the highest level since 2026. Moreno believes that the simultaneous rise in unrealized profit rate and profit-taking scale typically indicates that the momentum of this rally is weakening, and the market faces the risk of a correction.