illegal

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 DL News, the state-owned power company Irkutskenergosbyt in the Irkutsk region of Russia recently discovered over 8,000 suspected illegal cryptocurrency mining sites, which were disguised as chicken coops, greenhouses, forests, paper mills, and abandoned gas stations.Since 2019, the company has filed 2,170 lawsuits against illegal miners, seeking a total compensation of $18.5 million. The courts have ruled fines amounting to about half of that total, and some cases have been settled out of court. Miners often disguise their activities as electric vehicle charging or agricultural electricity use, leading to power losses. In many regions of Russia, to ensure grid stability, licensed industrial mining sites have been shut down, and there are plans to use artificial intelligence tools to trace illegal mining.

According to China News Weekly, the People's Court of Honggang District in Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province recently announced a first-instance judgment. Two men were sentenced for stealing electricity from high-voltage lines in an oil field for Bitcoin mining. The principal offender, Zhang, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined 50,000 yuan, while the accomplice, Zhao, was sentenced to 4 years and 10 months in prison and fined 20,000 yuan.According to the judgment, in September 2024, Zhang illegally connected to the high-voltage line of an oil field in Daqing and set up 24 Bitcoin mining machines in an abandoned pigsty he rented. In December of the same year, Zhao joined in knowing that Zhang was stealing electricity and purchased an additional 12 mining machines, bringing the total to 36 machines running. In August 2025, the two were arrested by the public security authorities.It was calculated that Zhang stole 565,375.2 kilowatt-hours of electricity, valued at 438,580.52 yuan; Zhao stole 468,060 kilowatt-hours, valued at 363,750.78 yuan. The court determined that both men committed theft, with Zhang as the principal offender and Zhao as the accomplice. The court also ordered Zhang to repay 438,580.52 yuan, and Zhao to bear joint repayment responsibility for 363,750.78 yuan. The mining machines and related equipment involved in the case will be handled by the public security authorities in accordance with the law.

The People's Court of Honggang District, Daqing City, Heilongjiang Province recently announced a first-instance judgment. Two men were sentenced for stealing electricity from high-voltage lines in an oil field to mine Bitcoin. The main offender, Zhang, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and fined 50,000 yuan, while the accomplice, Zhao, was sentenced to 4 years and 10 months in prison and fined 20,000 yuan.According to the judgment, Zhang illegally connected to the high-voltage line of an oil field from a certain oil extraction plant in Daqing and set up 24 Bitcoin mining machines in an abandoned pigsty he rented. In December of the same year, Zhao joined in knowing that Zhang was stealing electricity and purchased an additional 12 mining machines, bringing the total to 36 machines running. In August 2025, the two were arrested by the public security authorities. It was calculated that Zhang stole 565,375.2 kilowatt-hours of electricity, valued at 438,580.52 yuan; Zhao stole 468,060 kilowatt-hours, valued at 363,750.78 yuan. The court found both men guilty of theft, with Zhang being the principal offender and Zhao the accomplice. The court also ordered Zhang to compensate 438,580.52 yuan, while Zhao was jointly liable for 363,750.78 yuan of that amount. The mining machines and related equipment involved in the case will be handled by the public security authorities in accordance with the law.

According to Cryptopolitan, the Russian government has submitted a bill to the State Duma to hold illegal cryptocurrency mining activities criminally liable, with a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine of up to 2.5 million rubles (approximately $25,000). Currently, about 50,000 individuals and entities in Russia are engaged in mining activities, but fewer than 1,500 have completed registration.Meanwhile, Russia has extended the mining ban to the Republic of Buryatia and the Transbaikal Territory, lasting five years until March 15, 2031. The mining ban currently covers 13 regions, including Irkutsk, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, and several republics in the North Caucasus. The Energy Minister of Moscow Oblast has proposed banning mining in Moscow and the region to alleviate the load on the power grid. Russia is one of the top three destinations for Bitcoin mining globally, but the government is prioritizing the use of computing power for artificial intelligence applications.

According to Bloomberg, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that it has reached a settlement with former FTX engineering chief Nishad Singh regarding the FTX collapse. Under the settlement agreement, Singh must return $3.7 million in illegal gains, is banned from trading for five years, and cannot register with the CFTC for eight years. Given Singh's active cooperation in the investigation, the CFTC did not impose any additional monetary fines or compensation requirements.

On the 26th of this month, the Urumqi Public Security Bureau High-tech Zone (New City District) reported that the Ergong Township Police Station discovered a suspected illegal repair site for electronic "mining machines" during a patrol in its jurisdiction. Police found an abnormal warehouse in a small micro-enterprise park on Yuhang Road in the New City District, where a large number of disassembled and awaiting repair mining machine equipment was piled up, suspected of violating China's relevant prohibitions on the production, sale, repair, leasing, and custody of "mining machines."During the enforcement process, the police also found serious safety hazards at the site, including unauthorized electrical wiring, fire safety facilities not undergoing annual inspections as required, and the absence of a fire management system, posing significant risks of fire and electric shock.After counting, a total of 310 mining machine devices awaiting repair were legally seized on-site, and relevant evidence has been secured. The parties involved have been ordered to immediately cease illegal activities. The case has now been transferred to the relevant departments for further handling.

On the 26th of this month, the Urumqi Public Security Bureau High-tech Zone (New City District) Branch reported that the Ergong Township Police Station discovered a suspected illegal repair site for electronic mining machines during a patrol in its jurisdiction.Police found an unusual warehouse in a small micro-enterprise park on Yuhang Road in the New City District, where a large number of disassembled and awaiting repair mining machine equipment were piled up, suspected of violating China's relevant bans on the production, sale, repair, leasing, and custody of mining machines. During the enforcement process, the police also discovered serious safety hazards at the site, including unauthorized electrical wiring, fire safety facilities not undergoing annual inspections as required, and the absence of a fire management system, posing significant risks of fire and electric shock. After counting, a total of 310 mining machine devices awaiting repair were legally seized on-site, relevant evidence has been secured, and the parties involved have been ordered to immediately cease illegal activities. The case has now been transferred to the relevant departments for further handling.

A man in Singapore was sentenced to two years in prison for assisting a former colleague in illegally transferring and laundering approximately 8.83 million Singapore dollars (about 6.5 million US dollars) in cryptocurrency assets.The case revealed that three former employees, after leaving due to disputes, hacked into the cryptocurrency trading platform SafeX, a subsidiary of their former company DLT Ltd, and transferred funds in three transactions between June and August 2025. The individuals involved received the funds through their wife's account, converted them multiple times into Bitcoin and the stablecoin USDT, and dispersed them into multiple wallets to conceal their flow. Some of the funds have been cashed out for personal expenses. One individual involved is still at large.

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.

A leading polysilicon company in Xinjiang was fined and had illegal gains confiscated by regulatory authorities for supplying power to virtual currency mining activities, with a total amount exceeding 100 million yuan.The background of the relevant rectification shows that local authorities are intensifying regulation of virtual currency mining, requiring comprehensive inspections and strictly prohibiting companies from illegally transferring power in any form. Currently, Xinjiang has clearly classified virtual currency mining as an industry to be eliminated, and related law enforcement actions are ongoing.

According to official disclosure, of the approximately 80 million illegally issued USR in the attack incident, about 46 million (approximately 57%) have been removed from circulation through destruction and blacklisting, and currently, there are no further transferable or redeemable assets in the related addresses.Among them, approximately 9 million USR have been destroyed through two transactions, and another approximately 36 million assets stored in the attack-related addresses in the form of wstUSR have completed blacklisting through contract upgrades.

According to the Economic Observer, Ba Shusong, the chief economist of the China Banking Association and a senior advisor at the HSBC Business School of Peking University, is suspected of being involved in an illegal fundraising case and was taken away by the authorities around March 12, 2026, since then he has been "out of contact" with the outside world.Insiders say that the case may be related to an illegal fundraising project led by his students, and Ba Shusong has been restricted from leaving the country for at least six months. His affiliated institution and he himself have not publicly responded to the relevant situation.

Resolv Labs issued an update regarding a security incident, stating that a malicious attacker illegally accessed Resolv's infrastructure through a stolen private key and minted approximately $80 million worth of uncollateralized USR. The relevant smart contracts have been quickly paused, and approximately 9 million USR held by the attacker have been destroyed to mitigate potential impact.Currently, the protocol holds about $141 million in assets, with the confirmed actual impact being only about $500,000 in redemptions processed before the pause. The current USR supply consists of approximately 102 million tokens before the incident and about 71 million newly minted illegal tokens. As the first step towards recovery, Resolv plans to allow redemptions of pre-incident USR starting from March 23, 2026, for whitelisted users. Affected users should coordinate directly with RDAL through official channels.The announcement stated that the incident stemmed from unauthorized actions by a third party, including targeted infrastructure attacks. Resolv's underlying collateral has not been directly compromised. The team is tracking and attempting to control the illegally minted USR and other affected assets, coordinating with partners and counterparties, and working with law enforcement and on-chain analysis companies to trace the responsible parties. Resolv strongly advises against trading USR or related Resolv tokens during the implementation of recovery measures, as user trading behavior after the incident may affect the recovery process.

According to New Daily, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) of South Korea, the Customs Service, the Credit Finance Association, and nine credit card companies in the country signed the "Public-Private Cooperation Agreement to Block Transnational Criminal Funding" on the same day. The plan aims to cut off the funding chain for telephone fraud and virtual asset crimes at the source by analyzing overseas credit card usage details and entry and exit records.In the past, due to information gaps between agencies, the Customs Service had entry and exit data but could not monitor abnormal overseas consumption in real-time, while credit card companies had payment data but did not have access to cardholders' customs clearance dynamics. Under the new mechanism, the Customs Service will provide credit card companies with information on high-risk transaction trends, while the Financial Supervisory Service will establish guidelines authorizing credit card companies to take effective measures such as interrupting transactions when abnormalities are detected.Lee Chan-jin, the head of the Financial Supervisory Service of South Korea, stated that this move signifies that South Korea has established a normalized monitoring system to block the outflow of criminal proceeds at the source. The system will focus on precisely targeting currency exchange behaviors that involve cash withdrawals at overseas ATMs using overseas credit cards and laundering through cryptocurrencies.

According to CCTV News, the second plenary session of the Fourth Session of the 14th National People's Congress was held today at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, where Zhang Jun, President of the Supreme People's Court, delivered the work report of the Supreme People's Court.The report shows that in the past five years, 9,326 cases of crimes endangering cybersecurity were concluded, involving 22,000 people, an increase of 158.5% (in terms of case numbers) compared to the previous five years. The law has been used to punish crimes such as online rumors, online pyramid schemes, and online violence, promoting comprehensive governance of cybersecurity. Two young individuals maliciously "doxxed" others, illegally obtaining and disseminating personal privacy information, and were convicted and sentenced according to the law. Strict penalties have been imposed for crimes involving money laundering and illegal foreign exchange using virtual currencies, working together to prevent illegal cross-border capital transfers. It is clarified that drivers who activate assisted driving functions after drinking should still bear criminal responsibility, and technological applications must adhere to legal boundaries.

According to TVB News, a 25-year-old businessman from the mainland reported that he was illegally confined and extorted by four mainland men at a hotel in Hung Hom, Hong Kong. The suspects beat the victim and forced him to provide his electronic currency password, subsequently transferring approximately $680,000 worth of cryptocurrency. The suspects then went to the victim's company to take away about 42 kilograms of silver goods, with the total loss exceeding 6 million Hong Kong dollars. After being released in the early morning, the victim reported to the police, suffering injuries to his face, arms, and calves. The case is currently classified as illegal confinement and extortion, and is being investigated by the Kowloon City Police District's Serious Crimes Unit.

The Governor of the People's Bank of China, Pan Gongsheng, stated at the press conference on the economic theme of the Fourth Session of the 14th National People's Congress that, overall, in the past year, financial risks in key areas of our country have been resolved in an orderly manner, the financial system and financial market have operated smoothly, and risks in key areas have continued to converge. The People's Bank of China, together with relevant departments, has maintained a high-pressure crackdown on illegal financial activities such as illegal fundraising, speculative trading of virtual currencies, and underground banks.In the next step, the People's Bank of China will orderly resolve risks in key areas to prevent financial risks and maintain financial stability, continue to carry out a high-pressure crackdown on illegal financial activities in collaboration with industry regulators and law enforcement departments such as the police, closely monitor and assess the impact of external shocks, and utilize macro-prudential and financial stability policy tools to timely weaken or block risk contagion.

According to market news, the Catalonia police in Spain recently dismantled an illegal Bitcoin mining operation in the Sant Vicenç de Castellet industrial area of Barcelona. According to estimates by the national electricity company Endesa, the operation illegally obtained electricity by directly connecting to the high-voltage power grid, with a value of up to €860,643, marking the largest electricity theft case in the industrial sector in the region in nearly a year.During the raid, police seized 88 Bitcoin mining devices. Investigations revealed that the operation had been running illegally since October 2025, lacking both a power meter and protective systems. Its dangerous three-phase connection method also posed serious fire hazards, threatening the stability of electricity supply to nearby businesses. A 34-year-old Asian man, identified as the main suspect in the case, appeared in court in Manresa on March 3 and is currently facing charges of electricity theft.