BTC $84,786.06 -1.86%
ETH $2,679.02 -1.97%
BNB $774.45 -0.66%
XRP $1.48 -2.83%
SOL $119.23 -2.17%
TRX $0.3360 +0.35%
DOGE $0.0927 -3.77%
ADA $0.2445 -3.91%
BCH $311.80 -0.90%
LINK $13.84 -3.21%
HYPE $88.42 -2.17%
AAVE $179.95 -1.72%
SUI $1.17 -0.99%
XLM $0.2148 -4.01%
ZEC $1,294.03 -5.86%
AAPL $333.18 -0.26%
AMZN $251.80 -0.36%
GOOGL $343.06 -0.47%
MSFT $517.96 +0.10%
META $727.68 -1.17%
NVDA $234.42 -1.00%
TSLA $370.95 -0.34%
SNDK $1,716.00 -2.20%
INTC $117.99 -5.16%
SPCX $159.03 +1.30%
MU $1,069.33 -2.16%
AMD $632.00 -1.02%
BTC $84,786.06 -1.86%
ETH $2,679.02 -1.97%
BNB $774.45 -0.66%
XRP $1.48 -2.83%
SOL $119.23 -2.17%
TRX $0.3360 +0.35%
DOGE $0.0927 -3.77%
ADA $0.2445 -3.91%
BCH $311.80 -0.90%
LINK $13.84 -3.21%
HYPE $88.42 -2.17%
AAVE $179.95 -1.72%
SUI $1.17 -0.99%
XLM $0.2148 -4.01%
ZEC $1,294.03 -5.86%
AAPL $333.18 -0.26%
AMZN $251.80 -0.36%
GOOGL $343.06 -0.47%
MSFT $517.96 +0.10%
META $727.68 -1.17%
NVDA $234.42 -1.00%
TSLA $370.95 -0.34%
SNDK $1,716.00 -2.20%
INTC $117.99 -5.16%
SPCX $159.03 +1.30%
MU $1,069.33 -2.16%
AMD $632.00 -1.02%

money

All
Article
Flash

The Inner Mongolia police in China are investigating a virtual currency money laundering case that used "free credit card repayment" as bait, involving nearly a thousand accounts

Recently, the police in Baotou, Inner Mongolia, China, investigated a virtual currency money laundering case. The criminal gang used "free credit card repayment" as bait to attract ordinary users to provide accounts. They received illicit funds from overseas gambling and fraud through false consumption, then contacted currency dealers to exchange for virtual currency and transferred it to designated addresses abroad. Through financial and on-chain data analysis, the police identified nearly a thousand involved accounts, with suspects distributed across Inner Mongolia, Shandong, Jiangsu, Hebei, Chongqing, and other regions.The Digital Currency Research Institute of the People's Bank of China stated that it is currently using large model technology to analyze the flow of funds in virtual currency transactions, restore the gang's trading patterns, and uncover clues related to illegal industries. Upon investigation, it was confirmed that seven members of the gang were illegally engaged in payment settlement business without approval from relevant national authorities, constituting the crime of illegal operation, and were sentenced to imprisonment ranging from one year and two months to two years and six months, along with fines.Using virtual currency for money laundering is a new type of money laundering crime that has emerged in recent years. Lv Wei, the president of the Inner Mongolia branch of the People's Bank of China, stated that enhancing the monitoring and identification capabilities for abnormal fund transactions related to virtual currency trading has helped successfully crack down on a major money laundering case involving virtual currency pyramid schemes, dismantling more than ten money laundering and points-running dens, and confiscating illegal gains of approximately 130 million yuan. In recent years, there have been coordinated efforts to promote the conviction and sentencing of four cases involving money laundering using virtual currency, forming a strong deterrent against illegal activities such as money laundering with virtual currency.

Arthur Hayes: AI "Safety First" is essentially a destruction of computing power demand; the U.S. government's ultimate choice in all scenarios is to print money, which ultimately benefits Bitcoin

Arthur Hayes published a new long article titled "Safety First," with the core argument that the claims of "safety first" by Anthropic, OpenAI, and SpaceX, which lead to a slowdown in AGI development, are not out of concern for human welfare but rather due to economic realities. The market does not want AI; it wants AI at "Chinese prices," meaning it needs intelligence that is 100 times cheaper than what is currently available. Hayes points out that "safety first" essentially destroys the demand for computing power. If the spending on training new models decreases and laboratories shift towards efficiency optimization, customers will spend less on computing power. The three major AI laboratories do not generate any profits, and their demand for computing power supports over $10 trillion in investment-grade debt and hundreds of billions in low-quality debt, which rely on profitable tech companies like Nvidia, Broadcom, Google, and Microsoft for off-balance-sheet endorsements. The real backstop is the holders of insurance policies in the United States.Hayes cites an analysis by Nick Nameth that reveals a "self-insurance scam": private equity giants (such as Apollo, KKR, Brookfield, etc.) acquire insurance companies, stuffing AI data center debt and SaaS private credit impacted by AI into insurance assets, and then provide false endorsements with minimal capital through affiliated self-insurance reinsurance companies. Nameth estimates that the total amount of these false reinsurance assets reaches $1.54 trillion. Once the AI data center debt is downgraded by rating agencies due to insufficient demand for computing power, insurance companies will be forced to add capital, while the affiliated reinsurance companies will be unable to pay, leading to insolvency for the insurance companies. In most states in the U.S., the insurance protection limit is only $250,000 to $300,000, and existing insurance companies only pay into the protection fund afterward, which encourages all parties involved to maximize risk-taking. When AIG was bailed out in 2008, TARP funds ultimately flowed to Goldman Sachs and led to record bonuses, while the general public only received foreclosure notices; Hayes believes this scenario will repeat itself.For cryptocurrency investors, the conclusion is a win-win situation. If the U.S. government chooses to become the "last buyer of computing power," it will print money in the name of national security to fund unproductive economic goods, driving up financial speculation and Bitcoin prices; if the government chooses to bail out insolvent insurance companies, it will also need to print money to cover bad AI debts, increasing the money supply and pushing up Bitcoin. Hayes specifically points out that the Federal Reserve voted unanimously last week to raise interest rates by 25 basis points, and RMP bond purchases have stopped since August 14, but commercial banks have taken over to create over $100 billion in currency, and the interest rate hike allows banks to earn an additional $7.5 billion in excess reserve interest each year. This money will be used to expand loans and market speculation, and the net effect remains stimulative. The fluctuations in the cryptocurrency market, which saw a slight increase at the end of August, are about to end, the supply of dollars will continue to grow, and Bitcoin and some selected altcoins will rise. Hayes also described this situation as "incredibly wonderful," stating that the government will not allow the free market to stop building AI data centers, there will be an oversupply of spot computing power, the usage of AI agents will increase, and the surge in money printing will drive investors to chase cryptocurrency assets.

first_img The United Arab Emirates and Sweden arrested 7 people involved in a $7.1 million cryptocurrency money laundering case

The police of the United Arab Emirates and Sweden arrested 7 suspects involved in an international money laundering network. Investigators stated that tracking the cryptocurrency transactions of this network revealed its connections to organized crime and contract killings. According to the UAE News Agency citing the Ministry of Interior, the leader of the network is a Swedish citizen who had previously fled Sweden and was wanted by Interpol with a red notice, ultimately being captured in the UAE. Additionally, 6 other suspects were arrested simultaneously in Sweden, and all 7 have been charged.The Ministry of Interior stated that the network processed approximately 70 million Swedish kronor (about 7.1 million USD) in criminal cash proceeds over 10 months and transferred it to other criminal entities while using cryptocurrency to "transfer and move the value of these funds." Tracking cryptocurrency transactions and analyzing digital evidence helped investigators uncover the financial links between this network and other criminal activities, including organized crime and contract killings.Abdulaziz Al Ahmad, the Director of the Federal Criminal Police of the UAE Ministry of Interior, stated that the country will continue to track criminal networks and cut off their sources of funding. Anders Wiberg, head of the International Department of the Swedish Police, said that cooperation with the UAE was a key factor in the successful resolution of this case. Both countries launched simultaneous arrest operations after intelligence sharing and direct security coordination. Previously, Sweden had requested the police to increase efforts to seize illegal digital assets, as the issue of gangs using social media and encrypted applications to recruit paid killers has become increasingly serious.

first_img The UK has invested £500 million to add 500 officials to combat money laundering crimes

The UK Home Office announced on Tuesday that it will invest £500 million over three years to recruit 500 officials to track and seize criminal funds as part of a new anti-money laundering and asset recovery strategy. The funding comes from an economic crime tax levied on regulated businesses, and the new officials will be distributed across various police forces, the National Crime Agency (NCA), and the Crown Prosecution Service.The NCA estimates that over £100 billion is laundered through the UK or UK corporate structures each year, and the Home Office stated that this threat has "intensified in recent years due to the rise of fintech, cryptocurrency, and artificial intelligence." The new officials will work based on "Operation Destabilise," which targets Russian-speaking cybercriminal groups that convert street cash into cryptocurrency. The NCA plans to launch a new round of arrests and cash seizures against networks supporting ransomware gangs, hostile nations, and Class A drug trafficking, having already arrested 119 suspected money launderers and seized over £25 million in cash and cryptocurrency in less than a year.The NCA's Economic Crime Centre stated in its annual report last week that criminals are "innovatively using crypto asset products to evade detection and transfer illicit value at scale," hoping to expand this model to other networks and build "more proactive and intelligence-led crypto capabilities." Crypto assets rank third among the nine economic crime priorities agreed upon with the Treasury and the Financial Conduct Authority. The government stated that nearly £350 million has been recovered from criminals over the past year, over £1 billion has been refused, £26 million has been returned to victims, and nearly 4,000 money laundering convictions have been facilitated.
app_icon
ChainCatcher Building the Web3 world with innovations.