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The Ethereum Foundation recently released a summary report on the ETH Rangers security project, revealing that during a 6-month security funding program, researchers identified approximately 100 suspected state-sponsored cyber operatives, including infiltrators from North Korea, who have been active in multiple Web3 projects.The report indicates that relevant investigations were advanced through projects like the "Ketman Project," where researchers issued warnings to about 53 blockchain projects, revealing that these individuals infiltrated development teams under false identities and participated in fund flows and technical positions. Meanwhile, some related funds have been frozen, amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars. The security team also incorporated relevant intelligence into the threat analysis system for the Lazarus Group and disclosed it at security conferences such as DEF CON, showing that state-level cyber attacks are continuously infiltrating the infrastructure of the cryptocurrency industry.In terms of overall results, the program has frozen or recovered over $5.8 million in funds, reported or documented over 785 vulnerabilities, and handled 36 security incidents, indicating that the security threats currently faced by the Ethereum ecosystem have escalated from simple vulnerability attacks to systemic risks involving state-level actors. Additionally, the report points out that North Korean hackers have also infiltrated projects through methods such as "remote IT workers," involving various attack paths such as account takeovers, freelancing platform infiltrations, and fund transfers, making them a key target for industry prevention.The Ethereum Foundation emphasizes that the security of decentralized networks requires "decentralized defense" and will continue to support security research, threat intelligence, and talent development to address the escalating state-level cyber threats.

According to FinanceFeeds, the Central Bureau of Investigation of India has arrested suspect Sunil Nellathu Ramakrishnan (also known as Krish), who is suspected of being involved in a transnational human trafficking network related to Southeast Asian online fraud activities, and is identified as a key coordinator of the cross-border fraud network.This network lured Indian citizens to Thailand through fake recruitment and then transported them to scam hubs in Myanmar, Cambodia, and other places, forcing them to engage in activities such as cryptocurrency investment fraud and romance scams. Law enforcement agencies stated that such crimes utilize cryptocurrency assets for cross-border fund transfers, increasing the difficulty of tracking, and related investigations are still ongoing.

According to Decrypt, the Central Bureau of Investigation in India has arrested Mumbai resident Sunil Nellathu Ramakrishnan, accusing him of being a key figure in a transnational trafficking network that lured multiple Indians to cryptocurrency scam parks in the Myawaddy region of Myanmar.The victims were transported from Delhi to Bangkok under the guise of legitimate work and then transferred to scam parks such as KK Park, where they were forced to engage in pig butchering scams and cryptocurrency investment fraud, and suffered illegal detention and physical abuse. The agency stated that intelligence provided by Indian victims who escaped from the parks and were repatriated last year led to the successful identification and arrest of Ramakrishnan. Interpol has classified the scam park network as a transnational criminal threat, affecting victims in over 60 countries. The United States has previously frozen over $580 million in related cryptocurrency assets, and one "pig butchering" organizer has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

According to on-chain analysis platform Lookonchain, in the past 2 hours, wallets associated with Cumberland have withdrawn a total of 23,000 ETH from Binance and Coinbase, worth approximately $50.1 million.

According to market news, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman currently holds $6.1 million worth of Ethereum at his known address, and also owns a Cryptopunk NFT purchased for 150 ETH last year.

According to FinanceFeeds, two Democratic senators have written to Treasury Secretary Scott Bancenet, requesting an assessment of whether the UAE government's affiliated entity's $500 million investment in the cryptocurrency company World Liberty Financial should undergo a national security review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).The committee, led by the Treasury Department, is responsible for reviewing foreign investment transactions that may involve sensitive technologies or data. According to a previous report by The Wall Street Journal, G42, supported by Abu Dhabi royal family member Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, acquired a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial through an entity named Aryam Investment 1. The report indicated that some of the funds flowed to the Trump family and its affiliates. The Trump camp denied any knowledge of this. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Angus King questioned in their letter whether the deal could allow a foreign government access to user data and mentioned G42's past collaborations with Chinese companies. They requested the Treasury Department to clarify by March 5 whether a review process has been initiated or if a recommendation has been made to the president.World Liberty Financial is the issuer of the stablecoin USD1, which has circulated over $5 billion since its launch in March 2025. The company lists Trump and his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff as honorary co-founders. A company spokesperson previously stated that the two were not involved in the UAE-related transactions.

The centralized crypto trading platform Backpack Exchange, created by former FTX and Alameda executives, announced the issuance of a token with a total supply of 1 billion, with the distribution mechanism directly linked to its goal of going public in the U.S. The first batch of token issuance will release 25% (250 million), and an additional 37.5% (375 million) will be unlocked upon reaching key milestones, including entering new markets or launching new products. The remaining 375 million will be locked for one year after the company goes public and will be deposited into the treasury.Backpack co-founder and CEO Armani Ferrante emphasized that the core principle of the token unlocking mechanism is to prevent insiders from cashing out before retail investors. To this end, the company's founders, executives, team members, and venture capitalists have not received any direct token allocations, and the team currently holds only equity in the company rather than tokens. This means that team members cannot gain any wealth returns through tokens until the company completes its IPO or undergoes other equity exit events.Previously, Axios reported that Backpack is in talks to raise $50 million at a $1 billion valuation, potentially becoming the latest unicorn in the crypto industry.

Cyber Hornet has submitted an application for the S&P Crypto 10 ETF (CTX), which may become the first spot-based ETF linked to the S&P Crypto Index. The proposed holdings for the ETF include: Bitcoin 69%, Ethereum 14%, XRP 5%, BNB 4%, Solana 2%, TRON 1%, Cardano 0.5%, Bitcoin Cash 0.4%, Chainlink 0.3%, and Stellar 0.2%.

Ark Invest Tracker stated that ARK has submitted applications for two cryptocurrency ETFs linked to the CoinDesk 20 Index: ARK CoinDesk 20 Crypto ETF (the version that includes Bitcoin) and ARK CoinDesk 20 ex-Bitcoin Crypto ETF (the version that excludes Bitcoin).

According to The Block, Architect Financial Technologies, founded by former FTX US president Brett Harrison, plans to launch perpetual futures contracts linked to GPU and memory pricing.The announcement states that the company's trading platform AX, aimed at institutional users, is set to introduce perpetual futures designed to track the daily rental prices of GPUs used for training and inference of artificial intelligence models, as well as dynamic random-access memory (RAM) pricing, and is currently awaiting regulatory approval. It is reported that these contracts are being developed in collaboration with computing index provider Ornn Data, which provides benchmarks based on real-time GPU trading data.In December last year, Architect Financial Technologies completed a $35 million funding round, with a valuation of approximately $187 million.

Cointelegraph posted on the X platform that Nigeria now requires cryptocurrency transactions to be linked with Tax IDs and National IDs.

Uber and Lyft former executive Travis VanderZanden announced the launch of a Bitcoin-linked savings token called BUCK, which aims to provide users with an approximate target annual return of 7%.

According to Cryptonews citing the Financial Times, the cryptocurrency company ALT5 Sigma, linked to Trump, is facing scrutiny due to its unlicensed auditor. State government documents show that the company's license expired in August and has not been renewed as of the end of December, making it unable to conduct audit work under Texas regulations.The company stated that its auditor is undergoing a mandatory peer review supervised by the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy, which is expected to be completed by the end of January.The report also noted that since the beginning of 2025, the company's stock price has dropped over 77%, reflecting growing investor unease as the company struggles to meet disclosure requirements. The company is currently at risk of being delisted from Nasdaq due to its failure to timely submit its quarterly report for the period ending in September.

According to Bloomberg, Bitcoin was once considered too volatile, insufficiently regulated, and too marginalized to be packaged into financial instruments by Wall Street firms and sold to wealthy clients. Now, the situation is completely different. In July, Jefferies Financial Group issued the first structured notes in the U.S. linked to BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF.Since then, at least three other banks, including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan Chase, have followed suit. According to data from WSD's structured products intelligence agency, these banks have sold notes worth over $530 million linked to BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT). In fact, banks are integrating cryptocurrency exposure into new products that can offer customized returns based on different risk appetites, along with some downside protection.

According to CoinDesk, U.S. Senator Warren has called for a national security investigation into a segment of the cryptocurrency space, specifically expressing concerns about the decentralized exchange PancakeSwap. She stated that the exchange is attempting to inflate the token issued by World Liberty Financial (WLFI), which is associated with President Trump.In a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Attorney General Pam Bondi on Monday, Warren indicated that the exchange operates on multiple blockchains and is a major protocol on the Binance Smart Chain. She requested an examination of whether it is linked to "any improper political influence exerted by the Trump administration on law enforcement decisions," asking the two to investigate this, which echoes her similar request regarding WLFI from last month.Warren is a senior Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, which must revise and approve legislation before it can be voted on by the broader Senate. Since a significant portion of her Democratic colleagues on the Senate Banking Committee have agreed to negotiate with Republicans on a cryptocurrency market structure bill, Warren has largely been excluded from the committee's negotiations on crypto legislation.

According to Yahoo News, the Financial Services Agency of Japan has revised its Q&A to clarify that offering CFDs (Contracts for Difference) and other derivatives based on overseas crypto asset ETFs as underlying assets is not ideal domestically, as Japan has not yet approved crypto ETFs and the investor protection environment is insufficient.The Financial Services Agency pointed out that such products are essentially linked to the prices of spot crypto assets and fall under the category of crypto derivatives, with inadequate risk disclosure and institutional development. As a result, IG Securities has announced that it will stop offering CFD trading based on U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs (such as IBIT, etc.). The regulatory direction indicates that it will be difficult for overseas ETF-linked crypto derivatives to be relaxed in Japan in the short term.

Goldman Sachs has agreed to acquire Innovator Capital Management for approximately $2 billion, incorporating this firm that issues "defined outcome" exchange-traded funds (ETFs) into its asset management portfolio, which includes a structured fund for Bitcoin. The transaction is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2026, at which point it will add approximately $28 billion in regulated assets to Goldman Sachs' asset management division.

JPMorgan has launched a structured note linked to BlackRock's spot Bitcoin ETF (IBIT), which aligns with the four-year halving cycle of BTC.If IBIT reaches or exceeds the set price by the end of 2026, investors will receive a guaranteed minimum return of 16%; if the price is below the set value, the note will extend to 2028, providing potential amplified return opportunities. The note offers some downside protection; if IBIT's decline does not exceed 30% in 2028, investors can recover their principal; if the decline exceeds 30%, losses will be proportional to the decline. This product is suitable for investors optimistic about BTC's cyclical trends, but related risks should be noted.

According to CNBC, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Jack Reed have written to the Department of Justice and the Department of the Treasury, requesting an investigation into the cryptocurrency company World Liberty Financial, which is closely associated with President Trump's family. The reason for the investigation is that the company is suspected of selling its $WLFI tokens to entities linked to illegal actors such as North Korea and Russia, raising concerns about national security.The senators cited a report from the nonprofit organization Accountable.US, which stated that WLF sold $WLFI tokens to "highly suspicious entities." These entities have been found on the blockchain to have transactional links with the sanctioned North Korean hacking group Lazarus Group, Russia's "ruble-backed sanctions evasion tools," Iranian cryptocurrency exchanges, and Tornado Cash.WLF's website shows that Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Barron Trump are co-founders, and the entity DT Marks DEFI LLC (associated with the president and his family members) holds a majority stake in WLF and is entitled to 75% of the proceeds from $WLFI token sales.The senators believe that selling governance tokens to these entities not only directly profits the Trump family but may also allow illegal actors to gain influence over WLF's governance, indicating that WLF "lacks strong sanctions and anti-money laundering controls," and warns that this "poses a significant risk of facilitating illegal financial activities."