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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.

Patrick Witte, the Executive Director of the White House Digital Assets Presidential Advisory Committee, stated on Monday that substantive progress is being made in Senate negotiations surrounding the Clarity Act, with a compromise reached on the issue of stablecoin yields expected to hold, and the focus of negotiations has shifted to other unresolved topics.The issue of stablecoin yields was previously the biggest obstacle to advancing the bill. Banking lobbyists successfully persuaded some senators that providing yields similar to bank interest to stablecoin holders would threaten the traditional banking deposit base, causing the bill to reach an impasse. Witte stated, "We hope that the compromise reached will be durable and stable. Resolving this issue is a prerequisite for advancing other pending matters." Last week, the White House economic advisors released a report downplaying the risk concerns raised by the banking industry; in response, the American Bankers Association rebutted on Monday, claiming the White House's arguments were flawed.In addition to stablecoin yields, the bill also faces several disagreements, including illegal financial protection mechanisms in the DeFi space and a demand from Democrats to prohibit senior government officials (specifically targeting President Trump) from profiting from the crypto industry. Witte did not disclose which topics have reached consensus but indicated that negotiations have "made considerable progress behind the scenes," stating, "We are very close to comprehensively resolving these issues." The Clarity Act still needs to go through the Senate Banking Committee's markup review process before being submitted for a full Senate vote. Witte expressed optimism about reaching a final agreement, noting that many issues that previously seemed stuck have gradually been resolved.

According to market news, former President Obama's campaign manager Stephanie Cutter has joined Kalshi as a policy advisor.

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 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 Money Today, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) of South Korea issued a corrective order to Dunamu, the operator of Upbit, on April 3 regarding the "comprehensive stock exchange and transfer decision" main matters report. The FSS pointed out that there were significant omissions or false records in the report submitted by Dunamu on March 30, concerning the "future company restructuring plan" and "other important matters related to investment judgment."Dunamu clearly stated in the report that due to the need to obtain approval from the Fair Trade Commission, as well as the need to complete the major shareholder change declaration in accordance with the Credit Information Act and the Specific Financial Information Act, this stock exchange may face risks of delay or cancellation. In addition, the legislative process of the "Basic Law on Digital Assets," which is currently under review in South Korea, may also have a significant impact on the transaction.

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 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 BBX data, yesterday, as the last day of the first quarter, multiple companies executed the quarter-end "automatic treasury conversion" and hard asset settlement. The core data is as follows:$120 million swept in at quarter-end: Block Inc. (NYSE: $XYZ) strictly implemented its algorithm-driven treasury strategy yesterday, automatically sweeping approximately $120 million of idle fiat profits into its Bitcoin pool at the end of the first quarter. This "no human intervention" investment mechanism ensures it is insulated from emotional disturbances caused by short-term price fluctuations."Physical isolation" of computing power: Riot Platforms (NASDAQ: $RIOT) announced yesterday that the first batch of 2 EH/s computing power from its new factory on Corsica has successfully connected to the grid. Notably, this portion of computing power is designated as a "treasury dedicated line," with all BTC produced being physically cold-stored, 100% retained, completely independent of the funds pool used for daily operational sales.150 mining machines settled in cryptocurrency: Canaan Inc. (NASDAQ: $CAN) disclosed its financial update for the first quarter yesterday, confirming that it has settled part of the sales balance for mining machines from major clients directly in Bitcoin, totaling 150 BTC, officially closing the loop from "selling shovels" to "hoarding gold."$40 million regional hedge: MercadoLibre (NASDAQ: $MELI) disclosed yesterday in its quarter-end asset revaluation that it added a mixed position of $40 million in BTC/ETH in late March. This move aims to hedge against the sharp depreciation of several Latin American currencies against the US dollar in the first quarter.$85 million staking snowball: DeFi Technologies (CBOE: $DEFTF) announced yesterday that its treasury size has surpassed $85 million. In addition to asset appreciation, the SOL it holds has generated staking interest in the first quarter, which has all been reinvested, achieving absolute quantity compound growth of its crypto assets.

The RWA tokenization platform OpenEden announced on platform X that all team and advisor tokens will continue to be locked for 9 months, and the overall unlocking period will also be extended by the same duration. Therefore, the unlocking period for all team and advisor tokens will be postponed to January 2027.

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."

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 Forbes, Plume's legal advisor B. Salman Banaei testified before Congress, strongly urging the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to expedite the development of tokenization rules while advancing the full ATS (Alternative Trading System) registration for DeFi protocols, rather than relying solely on "innovation exemptions."Banaei criticized the SEC for "putting all its eggs in one basket with innovation exemptions," calling this approach "foolish," and warned that setting volume and product limitations would fail to attract large institutions, "because they will not invest resources in an infrastructure that may not exist in two or three years." He also suggested that the SEC seek feedback on the current incompatibilities in the rules and develop permanent solutions.Plume was approved by the SEC in October 2025 to become a registered transfer agent, capable of handling shareholder records, transfers, and dividends for on-chain tokenized securities, and is currently awaiting a FINRA broker-dealer license. Banaei pointed out that there are only 10 months left in the current SEC leadership window, and action must be taken quickly to promote the development of real-world asset (RWA) tokenization.

Mohsen Rezaei, the new military advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader, emphasized in an interview released by Iranian state television on March 23 that Iran will not stop the war until it receives all compensations, all economic sanctions are lifted, and it obtains international legal guarantees against U.S. interference in Iranian affairs.Rezaei also stressed that the dispute between Iran and the U.S. is not only about the current conflict or last year's attacks by the U.S. and Israel on Iran, but has been ongoing for 47 years since the victory of the Iranian Islamic Revolution in 1979, and it must be "brought to an end."

After Slow Mist founder Yu Xian disclosed that the Coinbase Commerce asset recovery page directly requires users to enter plaintext mnemonic phrases, Slow Mist's Chief Information Security Officer 23pds added that the sitemap of that page also has flaws, allowing malicious attackers to easily use tools like ResourcesSaver to download the frontend code and deploy similar websites.If combined with similar domain names like Coinbase for phishing attacks, users can easily fall victim.

OnGreen, the Web3-enabled platform bridging green technology with MENA's transformation needs, today announced the appointment of Abbie Tsang as an Advisor. Abbie brings over 15 years of business development leadership, most notably as Head of SME Business Development at American Express Hong Kong, where she delivered 190% portfolio growth and consistently exceeded sales targets by 275%. A Certified ESG Planner, Abbie merges growth strategy with sustainability metrics, helping organizations unlock new market opportunities while mitigating risk. Her expertise spans go-to-market strategy, strategic partnerships, and purpose-led client solutions. At OnGreen, Abbie will lead partnership expansion, connecting ESG experts, industry associations, investors, and enterprises. She will advise on B2B client acquisition and spearhead commercialization of OnGreen platform's cutting-edge suite of services. "I have spent my career helping businesses grow by aligning commercial strategy with market needs," said Abbie. "What excites me about OnGreen is applying this experience to something truly transformative. By bringing together ESG expertise, strategic partners, and enterprise clients, we can accelerate OnGreen's technology adoption across MENA—creating synergy that delivers both environmental impact and tangible business value."