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According to Hong Kong Radio, the Hong Kong government has decided to stop promoting basketball gambling projects. The Secretary for Home Affairs and Youth Affairs, Mak Mei-juan, stated in an interview with this station that the information collected by the authorities shows that the "prediction market" has developed rapidly in recent years, with monthly trading volume increasing from less than $100 million two years ago to over $13 billion last year, of which nearly 40% of the transactions are related to sports. The authorities are concerned that if new gambling projects are promoted at this time, it will lead to greater public concern and even participation in illegal gambling in the "prediction market." Therefore, it is believed that research should be conducted first before deciding on the next steps, and the promotion of new gambling projects should be halted for now.Mak Mei-juan stated that the existing regulated gambling projects have established a more mature monitoring and management system, which can help control risks. However, due to the uncertainty of the "prediction market," as a responsible government, there is a need to conduct research to understand the impact of the "prediction market" and its prevalence in Hong Kong. She also mentioned that the government has always maintained close contact with the Hong Kong Jockey Club, as the club has a rigorous monitoring system to oversee illegal gambling situations, and there are experts specifically targeting the fight against illegal gambling. The government will cooperate with the Jockey Club to obtain professional advice, allowing the authorities to implement measures specifically aimed at illegal gambling.Mak Mei-juan reiterated that the government's consistent policy is not to encourage gambling, and betting on sports projects in the "prediction market" is considered illegal gambling. The authorities will strengthen public education to help citizens understand the harms of gambling and refrain from participating in illegal gambling.

According to CoinDesk, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Department of Justice jointly filed a motion in federal court on Tuesday evening, seeking to block Arizona from enforcing state gambling laws against the prediction market operator Kalshi. The two departments argue that the contracts offered by Kalshi, which are linked to real-world events such as sports events and elections, essentially fall under financial derivatives (swaps) and should be governed by the Commodity Exchange Act and federal regulatory framework, rather than state gambling regulations.Arizona had previously filed criminal charges against Kalshi, with a court date set for April 13. Currently, there are conflicting rulings from courts across the country—while the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in New Jersey has leaned towards supporting the federal regulatory stance, other regional courts have taken an open attitude towards the state’s claims.

According to Decrypt, the Cambodian National Assembly has unanimously passed a new bill to combat online fraud, targeting operators of large-scale scam operations that utilize cryptocurrency, with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. The bill is still pending review by the Senate and final approval from King Norodom Sihamoni.Under the bill, the core leaders of scam groups will face 15 to 30 years in prison, and if death results, they could be sentenced to life imprisonment; organizers can be sentenced to up to 20 years and fined heavily, while participants may face 2 to 5 years in prison and fines of up to $125,000.Analysis indicates that cryptocurrency scams such as "pig butchering" have rapidly spread in Southeast Asia in recent years, relying on cryptocurrency for cross-border transfers and money laundering, with annual amounts involved reaching hundreds of billions of dollars. Such crackdowns may lead to scams "shifting rather than disappearing," and the key lies in whether there is simultaneous action against corruption protection, money laundering networks, and cross-border capital flow systems.

According to Arkham data, at 16:59, 6449.9985 ETH (worth approximately 13.2 million USD) was transferred from Amber Group to an anonymous address (starting with 0x7746...).

According to the People's Daily, with strong support from relevant departments in Cambodia, a working group from the Ministry of Public Security of China successfully escorted Li Xiong, a core member of the Chen Zhi criminal group, back to China from Phnom Penh, Cambodia.Investigations revealed that Li Xiong previously served as the chairman of Huiwang Group under the Prince Group and is suspected of multiple crimes including operating a casino, fraud, illegal business operations, and concealing criminal proceeds. Currently, Li Xiong has been subjected to compulsory measures in accordance with the law, and the related case is under further investigation. A relevant person in charge from the Ministry of Public Security of China stated that several core members of the Chen Zhi criminal group have been successively brought to justice, and public security agencies will continue to intensify efforts to capture and bring fugitives to justice.Previously, U.S. federal prosecutors accused Chen Zhi of money laundering and telecommunications fraud, and in October 2025 revealed that the U.S. had seized 127,271 bitcoins that he once controlled, valued at $15 billion at the time.

According to Greekwire, Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown has filed a civil lawsuit against the prediction market platform Kalshi, accusing it of violating state betting and consumer protection laws by offering betting services on events such as sports, elections, and wars. The lawsuit has been submitted to the King County Superior Court, seeking to prohibit Kalshi from operating locally, recover lost funds for residents, and impose civil fines. Kalshi's advertisements have suggested that users could bypass local laws to participate in NFL betting, indicating that they "knowingly violated the law."However, Kalshi responded by stating that it is a compliant trading platform regulated by federal authorities, denying the provision of war-related markets, and expressing confidence in winning the case legally. This is reportedly another regulatory action the company is facing recently, as it is currently involved in over 20 civil lawsuits. Previously, prosecutors in Arizona had filed criminal charges against it, which is considered the first criminal case against a prediction market.

According to Caixin, after being detained for more than two months, the UK has further imposed sanctions on a Southeast Asian fraud network, which includes Hu Xiaowei, who is closely associated with Chen Zhi, the founder of the Prince Group. The UK government refers to Hu Xiaowei as "Chen Zhi's long-term collaborator" in the Prince Group, with their association originating from the "Legend" private server, and later jointly establishing companies both domestically and internationally.The UK government website announced this sanction information on March 26, targeting multiple individuals and entities related to the Prince Group. Chen Zhi, 38, is the founder of the Prince Group, hailing from a fishing village in Fujian. He previously operated an internet café and worked as a network administrator, starting out by hacking and "robbing" the "Legend" private server. He moved to Southeast Asia over a decade ago and changed his nationality to Cambodian, quickly controlling a global telecom fraud network, earning millions daily in his duke position, with a net worth of several billion dollars. The Bitcoin seized by the US alone is valued at $15 billion. At the height of his power, Chen Zhi also expanded his operations in Singapore, the UK, and Taiwan, China. In early January 2026, he was stripped of his Cambodian nationality and extradited back to China for multiple crimes, including fraud, illegal business operations, and concealing criminal proceeds.

According to CoinDesk, the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance has released a longitudinal study on the resilience of Bitcoin's network physical infrastructure, covering 11 years of peer-to-peer network data and 68 verified submarine cable failure events.The study shows that 72% to 92% of global multinational submarine cables need to fail simultaneously for significant node disconnections to occur in the Bitcoin network. Based on 1,000 Monte Carlo simulations for each scenario, over 87% of real failure events had less than a 5% impact on nodes, and the correlation coefficient between cable failures and Bitcoin prices is close to zero (-0.02). The study also reveals a significant asymmetry between random failures and directed attacks: if an attacker targets key hub cables, the destruction threshold will drop sharply to 20%; if directed attacks target the five largest hosting service providers—Hetzner, OVH, Comcast, Amazon, and Google Cloud—removing just 5% of routing capacity could cause a similar impact.

The Iranian ambassador to the United Nations stated that Iran "will not close the Strait of Hormuz," and Iran has an inherent right to "self-defense retaliation."

According to official news, the yield-bearing stablecoin protocol Unitas has completed a $13.33 million seed round financing, with participation from Awaken Finance, Amber Group, Blockchain Builders Fund, Taisu Ventures, Bixin Ventures, and SevenX Ventures.It is reported that the new funds will be used to expand strategic development, strengthen infrastructure and risk systems, support compliant institutional access, and promote the integration of the DeFi ecosystem.

The Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Sarah D. Morrison, ruled that there is no historical evidence indicating that Congress intended for federal law to take precedence over state regulation of sports gambling, and thus denied the preliminary injunction request filed by the prediction market platform Kalshi.Kalshi had previously sued the Ohio Casino Control Commission in an attempt to prevent it from taking enforcement action against the platform's event contracts under state gambling laws. Last year, the regulatory agency accused Kalshi of operating illegal sports gambling in Ohio.Kalshi argued that the event contracts it offers are derivatives regulated under the Commodity Exchange Act and should fall under the jurisdiction of the CFTC, thereby asserting that federal regulation should take precedence over state gambling laws.However, the judge stated that there is no evidence from historical and legislative context to suggest that Congress intended for the law to supersede state sports gambling regulations, noting that when the Dodd-Frank Act amended relevant laws in 2010, sports gambling was still widely restricted in the U.S.Kalshi announced that it would appeal the ruling. The case is seen as an important test of the legal status of prediction markets, and its outcome could affect the future compliance prospects of other prediction platforms in the U.S., including Polymarket.

The Iranian Ambassador to China, Fazli, pointed out that the Iranian constitution clearly stipulates the procedures and processes for selecting a new national leader. Fazli stated that during the period from the death of the incumbent leader to the election of the new leader, Iranian affairs are managed by a temporary leadership committee. This committee consists of the Iranian president, the head of the Iranian judiciary, and a representative from the Assembly of Experts.He said, "In the past 9 days, Iran has organized a temporary leadership committee, and the Assembly of Experts is also fulfilling its duties to select a new leader. Yesterday, they reached a consensus to choose Mojtaba Khamenei as the new leader among several candidates, who now meets all the conditions required by the Iranian constitution for leaders."

Lamborghini, the top sports car manufacturer with a market value of $20 billion, has announced that it will accept Bitcoin as payment.

According to The Block, the Indiana state legislature has advanced a bill that provides cryptocurrency investment options for key public retirement and savings plans, and protects individuals' access to digital assets. The bill is currently awaiting final approval from the governor.The HB 1042 bill was approved by both chambers after the House agreed to the Senate amendments on Wednesday. With the approval from both chambers, HB 1042 is now awaiting the signature of Indiana Governor Mike Braun. If signed, the provisions of the bill will take effect on July 1, 2026.

According to Decrypt, a 24-year-old man from Connecticut, Elmin Redzepagic, faces up to 375 years in prison for allegedly embezzling nearly $1 million in cryptocurrency investor funds to gamble on the Stake platform.Prosecutors accuse him of posing as a cryptocurrency investment expert working for a market master named "The Chef," promising clients high returns while actually using the funds for gambling. Last month, a federal grand jury indicted him on 21 counts, including 7 counts of wire fraud, 11 counts of international money laundering, and 3 counts of making false statements to IRS criminal investigators.On Thursday, Redzepagic pleaded not guilty to all charges and was released on a $500,000 bail.

According to CoinDesk, the U.S. Senate's cryptocurrency market structure bill has stalled over issues related to stablecoin yields.Bankers insist on a complete ban on stablecoin yields, arguing that it threatens bank deposit operations; the Digital Chamber of Commerce released a principles document today in response, willing to forgo interest on static holdings of stablecoins but insisting on retaining reward mechanisms related to liquidity provision and ecosystem participation, especially in the DeFi space. The White House has urged both sides to reach a compromise by the end of the month and may schedule a new round of meetings next week. Digital Chamber of Commerce CEO Cody Carbone stated that if bankers refuse to negotiate, the status quo will be the continued existence of reward mechanisms.

According to official social media news, HTX DAO will appear as a gold sponsor at the 2026 Global Web3 Developer Conference (GWDC) at booth A1. Huobi HTX Global Advisor and core builder of HTX DAO, Sun Yuchen, will be present to deliver a keynote speech. HTX DAO ambassador Molly will also present an in-depth sharing titled "The Path of DAO: Decentralization without Dogma."This Global Web3 Developer Conference is hosted by Web3Labs and will be held from February 8 to 9, 2026, at Cyberport in Hong Kong. The conference will gather industry representatives from public chains, trading platforms, AI × Web3, RWA, infrastructure, investment institutions, and developer communities, aiming to create a Web3 developer event with diverse perspectives.

Huobi HTX "New Year's First Lesson" series course fifth lecture (advanced course) will officially start tonight at 7 PM, featuring special guest Chloe Zheng, Senior Researcher at HTX Research, with the course theme "Surge! Seizing the Hundredfold Track in Advance".The core focus of the course revolves around three major highlights:Understanding new regulatory rules: clarifying compliance boundaries and seizing the bonus window brought by institutional entry;Identifying potential tracks: breaking down the logic of stablecoins and RWA explosions to pinpoint hundredfold targets;Mastering practical paths: teaching you to use ETF/ETP + RWA tokenization tools to low-risk ambush high-certainty opportunities.This advanced course requires completing one public class's study and answering questions to earn credits; after completing the questions, you can secure your course seat.