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According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Robert Dunlap, a man from Texas, was sentenced to 23 years in prison by Federal Judge LaShonda A. Hunt for orchestrating a cryptocurrency scam that defrauded nearly 1,000 investors of over $20 million.Between 2018 and 2023, Dunlap claimed to operate a cryptocurrency business and sold a fraudulent digital asset called "Meta-1 Coin" through the "Meta-1 Coin Trust." He spread multiple false statements to potential and actual investors, claiming that the token was backed by artwork valued at up to $1 billion and $44 billion in gold, and falsely stated that an accounting firm had audited the gold and certified its value. The so-called art collection allegedly included works by renowned artists such as Picasso, Dali, and Van Gogh. To cover up the fact that he did not actually hold the aforementioned gold or artwork, Dunlap forged a batch of legal documents.

The People's Bank of China Shaoguan Branch, in conjunction with the Shaoguan Municipal Government Office, issued a virtual currency risk warning on the occasion of "4·15" National Security Education Day, and announced four typical cases: "High Salary for U Part-time" money laundering, "Guaranteed Principal High Interest Cryptocurrency Trading" illegal fundraising, "RWA Digital Cultural Tourism Fund" pyramid scheme fraud, and offline "Coin Exchange" disguised foreign exchange trading.Regulators have made it clear that virtual currency exchange, trading, and RWA tokenization activities are illegal financial behaviors. Projects claiming "high returns, low risk, guaranteed profits" are mostly scams. The public should abandon the fantasy of getting rich quickly, stay away from virtual currency-related investments, choose legal financial channels, and report any abnormalities to the police in a timely manner to reduce losses.

According to CoinDesk, Paul Atkins, the chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), announced the termination of "enforcement-style regulation" and stated that the seven cases related to cryptocurrency registration initiated by the previous administration were a "misallocation of resources" that did not provide direct benefits to investors.

The People's Court of Qinzhou District, Tianshui City, Gansu Province recently tried a criminal case involving virtual currency, where the defendant, through a "high-paying errand" job, knowingly withdrew a total of over 390,000 yuan within 7 days in areas without surveillance, and converted the funds into virtual currency to transfer to their superior, profiting 21,500 yuan in the process.The court determined that the defendant constituted the crime of concealing and disguising criminal proceeds, sentencing them to two years and four months in prison and imposing a fine of 10,000 yuan, as well as ordering the return of illegal gains. The judge reminded that offline cash withdrawals have become a key link in "laundering" telecom fraud proceeds, and that "errand cash withdrawals" and "high-paying daily settlements" are often part of the fraud chain. The public should be vigilant against behaviors such as cash collection, transfers, and assisting in fund transfers to avoid becoming accomplices in crime.

Vibhu Norby, Chief Product Officer of the Solana Foundation, posted on the X platform stating that the Drift Protocol has confirmed it was attacked, with the specific source still under investigation. This incident is not caused by a program or smart contract vulnerability, but is more likely related to operational security or social engineering attacks.It should also be clarified that although this incident occurred on a project based on the Solana ecosystem, theoretically, any protocol relying on a multi-signature mechanism across various chains may face similar risks. Therefore, the Drift security incident is an isolated case and does not indicate a systemic issue with Solana DeFi or related products. Once the complete investigation is concluded, the industry may draw important lessons from it, and the Solana DeFi community will quickly recover and rebuild.

According to Jinshi Data, Elon Musk and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) informed the judge that both sides are heading towards a trial to resolve the regulatory agency's allegations that Musk deceived investors of the social media platform before acquiring Twitter in 2022.As the joint case progress report was submitted to the Washington federal court on Wednesday local time, it was only two weeks since both parties' lawyers indicated they were negotiating a settlement. The lawyers stated in the new document that they and their clients have discussed alternative dispute resolution options.The document states: "Both parties believe that, under the current circumstances, the court's alternative dispute resolution procedures or any other form of alternative dispute resolution would be of no benefit to this case." Musk has recently faced setbacks in other legal cases related to his acquisition of Twitter four years ago.

U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal wrote to SEC Chairman Paul Atkins, questioning the brief tenure of former enforcement head Margaret Ryan and the reasons for her departure, and expressing concern over the SEC's dismissal of charges against Tron founder Justin Sun.Blumenthal stated in his letter that her sudden departure raises questions, especially amid reports that SEC leadership intervened in the enforcement division, limiting the progress of certain cases involving cryptocurrency companies. According to media reports, Ryan had attempted to strengthen investigations into fraud-related cases, including those involving individuals connected to President Trump, but faced opposition from some Republican leaders on the committee.In the Justin Sun case, the divisions are particularly evident. Previously, during the Biden administration, the SEC charged Sun and his affiliated companies with unregistered securities offerings through TRX and BTT tokens, and alleged market manipulation through wash trading, while also paying celebrities for undisclosed promotions. However, under the current administration, the SEC has dismissed several enforcement cases against cryptocurrency companies, including Coinbase, Kraken, and Binance, raising concerns in the market about changes in regulatory direction.

The U.S. prosecution has charged a Maryland man, Jonathan Spalletta, with multiple attacks on the decentralized exchange Uranium Finance since 2021, involving approximately $54 million, and he has now been formally indicted.According to the indictment released by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, Spalletta faces two charges of computer fraud and money laundering, each carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years and 20 years in prison, respectively, with a total maximum sentence of 30 years. The prosecution claims that Spalletta manipulated smart contract trading processes to create false profits, thereby illegally withdrawing more funds than he was entitled to, ultimately causing severe damage to the exchange and even leading to its collapse. Furthermore, the investigation indicated that he used part of the illegal proceeds to purchase collectibles, including a piece of fabric from the Wright brothers' airplane that was taken to the moon by astronaut Neil Armstrong during the Apollo 11 mission. The prosecution emphasized that crypto assets are also protected by law, stating that "the so-called 'cryptocurrency is just virtual assets' cannot be an excuse for theft."

According to reports from the Ping An Tianjin Binhai public account, the police in Chenzhou, Hunan have cracked a new type of investment fraud case involving virtual currency, intercepting 7 packages of gold related to the fraud and seizing 310 grams of gold.The police traced the leads and found that these intercepted express deliveries were all part of a scheme where criminals, under the guise of investment and financial management, lured victims to purchase gold offline and then send it to a designated address. The illicit funds were then circulated multiple times through virtual currency exchanges and transfers to overseas accounts. The police remind that this new type of investment fraud has become a new trap, and the gold involved in the case is currently being gradually returned to the victims, with the investigation ongoing.

Cointelegraph Research's latest report shows that the United Nations Development Programme is applying blockchain technology to the construction of public digital infrastructure, focusing on addressing issues of transparency, collaborative efficiency, and trustworthy data sharing in government systems.The report "New Tech, New Partners" outlines 42 practical cases covering areas such as digital payments, financial inclusion, climate funding, data governance, and community investment, among which 7 focus on digital identity and data systems, primarily distributed in developing economies in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and Eastern Europe. The research points out that UNDP adopts a "pilot---validate---scale" approach, collaborating with governments, developers, and local businesses to first implement small-scale projects and then gradually promote them based on actual results. It also emphasizes a "platform-agnostic" architecture to maintain system openness and interoperability. Furthermore, the report highlights the importance of governance and risk control, stating that the application of blockchain in public systems requires accompanying privacy protection, regulatory frameworks, and audit mechanisms to prevent data misuse and smart contract risks. Overall, blockchain is extending from financial scenarios to public governance infrastructure, becoming one of the important technological options for digital transformation in various countries.

On-chain detective ZachXBT stated on platform X that Circle has unfrozen two previously frozen hot wallets, marked as "500 Casino" and "Whale." Previously, due to the address being frozen, users were unable to withdraw from a certain centralized exchange to the affected business hot wallets.ZachXBT pointed out that, currently, the basic details of the case, such as the plaintiff, expert witnesses, and why Circle did not raise any objections, have not been disclosed. Earlier reports indicated that ZachXBT stated Circle, under public pressure, had unfrozen one of the 16 USDC wallets that were blacklisted.

The Hong Kong police announced the progress of the investigation into the JPEX virtual asset trading platform fraud case, revealing that since the investigation began, a total of 80 people have been arrested, and assets totaling approximately HKD 228 million have been frozen. Another round of prosecution actions has been taken, charging 10 individuals with "money laundering" and "conspiracy to commit money laundering."Chief Inspector Han Chenghao of the Hong Kong Police Commercial Crime Bureau stated that the JPEX case is the largest in terms of the number of victims and the amount of money defrauded in recent years in Hong Kong, with over 2,700 victims reporting losses exceeding HKD 1.6 billion. Since the incident, no company or individual has admitted to being the actual operator, and the police need to conduct extensive investigations to clarify who the masterminds, core members, or accomplices behind JPEX are.

According to Cointelegraph, the Thane District Court in India ruled on March 23 that there was no preliminary evidence of a crime involving CoinDCX co-founder Sumit Gupta and Niraj Khandelwal in a fraud case involving 7.1 million rupees (approximately $75,000), and granted bail to the two.The court investigation revealed that the fraudulent activity actually occurred on the counterfeit website coindcx.pro, which has no connection to the official CoinDCX platform. The main suspect, Rana, has fully refunded the victims, who also confirmed in court that the two founders were not the parties they met at the café.CoinDCX subsequently issued a statement characterizing the incident as "third-party impersonation" and reminded users to verify domain names and interact only through official channels to guard against the increasingly rampant impersonation and phishing scams in India's cryptocurrency industry.

Renowned on-chain investigator ZachXBT released a report today stating that a Russian over-the-counter (OTC) broker named Aleksandr (Aleks) Khinkis is suspected of assisting ransomware groups in laundering over $4.7 million since 2025 through a single cryptocurrency trading platform account.The related funds involve three suspicious ransom payments, totaling approximately 796 bitcoins (BTC). The investigation shows that these funds were transferred in batches to his trading platform's deposit address (0xa756) after being bridged between Bitcoin and Avalanche, completing a total of 75 transactions from 2025 to 2026. Additionally, approximately $16.6 million is currently still held in Aave and is being gradually liquidated.ZachXBT pointed out multiple ransom transactions: a ransom payment of about 72 BTC in September 2025 was bridged to the related address; a ransom of about 164 BTC was also discovered in October 2025 and converted to approximately $3.8 million. Some related addresses were blacklisted by Tether in November 2025, and the subsequently frozen USDT was destroyed three weeks ago, indicating that law enforcement and compliance agencies have intervened.Earlier in 2023, this account was also involved in a ransom transaction of about 560 BTC, which was circulated through multiple intermediary addresses and trading platforms before being bridged back to the Avalanche network in 2024. Furthermore, the investigation pointed out that the source addresses of the related bitcoins have a high correlation with multiple ransomware addresses, suspected of serving as payment transit nodes. Although some funds remain dormant, ZachXBT warned that they may still be laundered in the future and urged victims to report related addresses promptly to freeze the funds.

Judge Lewis Kaplan of the Federal Court for the Southern District of New York ruled to deny the motion to dismiss filed by the defendants in the TradeAI/Stakx case, allowing the case to proceed.The case was brought by the cryptocurrency law firm Burwick Law, accusing multiple defendants of operating a fraudulent scheme resembling a Ponzi scheme using NFTs and cryptocurrency investment pools, promising high returns to investors. The estimated losses have exceeded $20 million, with a total scale of approximately $440 million involved. The court rejected all defense arguments from the defendants regarding jurisdiction, venue, and service of process.Regarding defendant Cyrus Abraham's refusal to respond to the lawsuit on the grounds of technical defects in the service of process, the judge clearly stated that litigation is not a game of hide and seek, requiring Abraham to disclose his current residential address to the plaintiff's law firm by March 31, or he would face a default judgment and further sanctions. The court also officially extended the deadline for service to April 22 and has allowed alternative methods of serving legal documents through Ethereum wallets, email, and social media.

According to DL News, David Balland, co-founder of the French company Ledger, was kidnapped by a criminal gang in January 2025. The assailants cut off his fingers and demanded a ransom of $11.5 million in Bitcoin. After the incident, the police acted quickly, rescuing Balland and his partner, and arrested 10 suspects at the scene, but one suspect escaped to Spain amid the chaos. After weeks of joint pursuit by the police of both countries, the suspect was eventually captured in Benalmádena, Spain.Currently, the Fuengirola court is advancing the extradition process based on the European Arrest Warrant agreement, and French authorities have confirmed that they have identified and arrested all individuals involved.

According to the Hong Kong Wen Wei Po, the Hong Kong police's Cyber Crime Unit "Guardians of the Net" disclosed a virtual currency fraud case, where a 66-year-old retiree fell victim to a "virtual currency investment expert" scam three times since September 2025.After being defrauded of 1.4 million Hong Kong dollars for the first time, the victim paid another "expert" a deposit of 600,000 Hong Kong dollars to recover the losses, and was then induced to purchase virtual currency worth 4.6 million Hong Kong dollars to be transferred to a designated account. The scammers went offline after receiving the payments, and the victim's total losses reached 6.6 million Hong Kong dollars within six months, leading to a report to the police for help.The police remind the public not to easily trust "guaranteed profit" investments and so-called "loss recovery" services to prevent being victims of successive scams.

According to the Hong Kong Commercial Daily, the Hong Kong police launched an operation codenamed "Thunder Drum," targeting a fraud group that claims to offer low-interest loans and collects deposits in cryptocurrency. Within two days, they arrested 3 men and 3 women (aged between 29 and 63) across various districts in Hong Kong on suspicion of conspiracy to commit fraud. Some suspects have connections to organized crime, and the operation is still ongoing.Since November 2025, this fraud group has been randomly calling victims, posing as bank employees to promote low-interest loans. They lure victims to a fake office rented under a shell company in Central to sign contracts and require them to pay deposits as proof of assets. The methods of payment include cash, bank transfers to dummy accounts, and cryptocurrency payments, with the latter primarily targeting older individuals or those unfamiliar with technology.A total of 13 victims are involved, with diverse backgrounds, some holding associate or master's degrees, including businessmen and company owners, with total losses amounting to approximately 5 million Hong Kong dollars. The police seized various documents and computers as evidence at the scene.

A typical case was recently disclosed by the Zhangqiao District Court in Jinan City, Shandong Province, China: Liu entrusted his friend Zhang to invest in "Alpha Coin," with the platform showing daily earnings of hundreds of yuan. After the investment, the platform became inaccessible, and Zhang informed Liu that the platform's person in charge had been filed for criminal charges. Liu sued Zhang for the return of the investment.After hearing the case, the court concluded: investing in virtual currency disrupts financial order and endangers financial security; therefore, the entrusted contract in this case is invalid. Zhang did not profit from the entrusted action, and the investment loss is a risk associated with engaging in illegal financial activities, which should be borne by Liu. The judge reminded that the announcement by seven departments in 2017 and the notice by ten departments in 2021 clearly state that activities related to virtual currency are illegal financial activities, and investment losses are not protected by law. Even if operated by others on behalf of someone, as long as the essence is participating in virtual currency trading, it is also not protected by law.

According to DL News, the Ertzaintza police in Spain's Basque Country stated that cryptocurrency-related crimes in the region are on the rise, with a total of 541 related cases investigated in 2025, which are still under investigation.The police have been equipped with specialized tools to monitor cryptocurrency transactions across multiple blockchain networks and have formed a cybercrime department consisting of 26 detectives dedicated to combating crimes such as crypto fraud and hacking. The cases under investigation include 13 suspected cases of crypto fraud, 2 suspected cases of crypto money laundering, as well as tax evasion and illegal purchases of goods and services.The police warned that scammers impersonate friends and family on social media platforms like Instagram to provide investment advice, tricking victims into installing applications that allow remote control, thereby stealing cryptocurrency wallets and bank accounts.