Irish authorities seize another 500 Bitcoin, bringing 2026 total to 1,500 BTC

Irelands Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) confirmed the seizure of another 500 Bitcoin, currently worth about 27 million euros ($30.9 million), in collaboration with Europols European Cybercrime Centre.  That brings the total Bitcoin seized by CAB in 2026 to 1,500 BTC, worth about $92.4 million, the law enforcement agency said in a social media post on Thursday. CAB said Europol had provided operational coordination, technical expertise and decryption support during the investigation.  The agency did not disclose the identity of the wallet owner or details of the underlying investigation, adding that it had no further comment.  The latest seizure comes months after CAB said it had gained access to and seized a cryptocurrency wallet containing 500 Bitcoin, which Irish media linked to a convicted drug dealer.CAB seized another 500 BTC. Source: Criminal Assets Bureau  Collins-linked Bitcoin wallet becomes active  Following the previous seizure, The Irish Times reported that the wallet authorities accessed in March was one of 12 holding about 6,000 BTC once owned by Clifton Collins, a convicted drug dealer. The paper containing the wallets private keys was reportedly lost.  While authorities havent confirmed whether the latest seizure is linked to Collins, a wallet address associated with him moved 500 Bitcoin to an unknown address on

07-03انڈسٹری

India's central bank revives push to isolate banks from crypto: Report

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reportedly backed a containment strategy for digital assets to shield banks and other financial institutions from exposure to crypto and privately issued stablecoins, as lawmakers prepare a report on the countrys digital asset policy.  According to a report by The Economic Times, RBI Deputy Governor Rohit Jain and Executive Director P. Vasudevan presented the central banks position to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance on Thursday.  In a background note submitted to the panel, the RBI reportedly said prohibition remained a recognized policy option and recommended preventing the use of crypto in payments and settlements while restricting banking-sector exposure.  The central bank reportedly warned that applying traditional regulation to crypto could legitimize speculative assets and create a false perception of safety among users. However, it urged policymakers to distinguish crypto from tokenized government securities, corporate bonds and other regulated financial instruments so that restrictions would not hinder tokenization.  Chainalysis 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index. Source: Chainalysis  India ranked first in Chainalysis 2025 Global Crypto Adoption Index, although the RBI reportedly challenged the methodology behind private-sector adoption rankings.  RBI renews push to isolate crypto from banking  The RBIs latest reported proposal echoes an approach it took in 2018, when the central bank

07-03انڈسٹری

US spot Bitcoin ETFs top $200M in daily inflows for first time since May

US-listed spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recorded their first daily net inflow above $200 million since early May, snapping weeks of sustained withdrawals.  The funds attracted $221.7 million in net inflows on Thursday, according to SoSoValue data, ending a 10-day streak of net outflows that totaled more than $2.7 billion.  The rebound follows one of the weakest stretches for US spot Bitcoin ETFs this year, with the funds posting a record $4.5 billion in net outflows in June.Daily flows in US-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs. Source: SoSoValue  The inflows came as Bitcoin reclaimed the $61,000 level after briefly falling below $59,000, with some investors, including Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan, suggesting the market could be nearing a bottom. Crypto market sentiment on Friday was measured at an “extreme fear” reading by the Fear s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) led Thursdays rebound with $166 million in net inflows, accounting for roughly 75% of the days total, according to Farside Investors data.  ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) followed with $91.8 million in inflows, while the VanEck Bitcoin ETF (HODL) and Valkyrie Bitcoin Fund (BRRR) attracted $4.4 million and $1.7 million, respectively.Source: Farside Investors  Meanwhile, BlackRocks iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), the largest US spot Bitcoin ETF by

07-03انڈسٹری

US bitcoin ETFs break 10-day negative streak with $222 million worth of inflows

Quick TakeU.S. spot bitcoin ETFs generated $221.7 million worth of net inflows on Thursday, after a 10-day outflow streak.BlackRocks IBIT was the only fund that saw net outflows on Thursday, shedding $40.4 million.  U.S. spot bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds reported net inflows on Thursday, breaking a 10-day negative streak.  The spot bitcoin ETFs logged a total net inflow of $221.7 million on July 2, led by $166 million moving into Fidelitys FBTC, according to data from SoSoValue. Ark Invest and 21Shares ARKB reported $91.8 million worth of inflows, while VanEcks HODL saw a smaller inflow of $4.4 million on the day.  This is the first time the bitcoin ETFs have reported net inflows since June 16, after which the funds entered a losing streak totaling more than $2.7 billion. In June, bitcoin funds saw $4.5 billion in net outflows, marking the worst month since their launch in 2024.  Meanwhile, BlackRocks IBIT was the only fund that saw net outflows on Thursday, shedding $40.4 million. This marks the 11th straight day of net outflows for IBIT, during which roughly $2.2 billion has left the fund. On a weekly basis, IBIT has now been reporting outflows for eight straight weeks.  “The recent net inflows into spot bitcoin

07-03انڈسٹری

AI agent development hasnt accelerated as expected, Zuckerberg says

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said AI agent development at the firm is progressing more slowly than expected, even as technology and crypto firms continue pouring resources into the nascent technology.  In a company meeting on Thursday, Zuckerberg said the “trajectory of the agentic development over at least the last four months hasnt really accelerated in the way that we expected,” according to Reuters, which reviewed a recording of the call.  The bet on agent adoption hasn‘t “come to fruition yet,” Zuckerberg said, adding that executives made an aggressive push into agentic infrastructure in January in part because of fears they weren’t moving “fast enough.”  Despite the slower progress, Zuckerberg said he expects the firms AI investments to start paying off within the next three to six months.  Zuckerbergs comments offer a reality check for technology and crypto firms betting that autonomous agents will soon become major users of blockchain payments. Meta, along with several crypto firms, has bet big on agentic AI, with many pivoting their business models to cater to autonomous AI agents.  In May, Meta cut roughly 10% of its workforce and reassigned about 7,000 employees to AI-focused teams — a restructuring Zuckerberg acknowledged was not as clean as it could have been,

07-03انڈسٹری

Teen ‘Scattered Spider’ suspect extradited to US over $8M crypto ransom

A teenager suspected of involvement with the “Scattered Spider” hacking group has been extradited to the US over his alleged role in an $8 million crypto ransom.  The US Justice Department said on Wednesday that Peter Stokes, a 19-year-old dual US-Estonian national, was arrested in Finland in April on an Interpol Red Notice and extradited to the US last week to appear in a Chicago federal court on Tuesday.  A criminal complaint unsealed in court accused Stokes and others of breaching a luxury jewelry retailers computer system in May 2025 to steal data and demand a ransom payment of $8 million in crypto. The retailer managed to evict them from the network and did not pay the ransom, but suffered $2 million in disruption damages, according to the complaint.  Stokes is one of the few arrests that authorities have tied to Scattered Spider, which often uses crypto ransoms. Ransomware actors received more than $820 million in payments last year, an 8% decline from 2024, even as attacks rose by 50%.  An image the FBI took from Stokes Snapchat account shows him wearing a necklace that says “Hack the Planet,” a quote from the 1995 cult film “Hackers.” Source: US Department of Justice  Alleged hack started

07-03انڈسٹری

eToro leads $12.5 million funding round for on-chain perpetual futures platform Extended

Trading platform eToro has led a $12.5 million strategic investment in Extended, an on-chain perpetual futures exchange founded by former Revolut employees, tying the deal to its recent acquisition of self-custody wallet Zengo.  eToro invests in Extended to link perps with Zengo  eToro announced the funding on July 2, with Jump Crypto also taking part in the funding round, according to The Block. The investment is related to eToro‘s acquisition of Zengo in April, a self-custodial wallet that uses multi-party computation (MPC) cryptography to eliminate the need for seed phrases to access a user’s funds. When the deal was made, Zengos valuation is estimated at $70 million.  Extended is founded by former Revolut executives and launched public trading in late 2024. It runs on StarkWares StarkEx scaling infrastructure, a validity-rollup technology that allows for high-throughput, low-cost trading while settling transactions on the Ethereum blockchain, according to The Block.  Though Extended has not disclosed metrics publicly (e.g., trading volume; open interest; total value locked; active users; post-funding valuation), the backing of eToro and Jump Crypto indicates that investors are confident in the companys infrastructure and long-term growth potential — rather than any size measures that may be publicly reported.  Extendeds perpetual futures engine will be integrated

07-03

Strategy will be ‘less important’ in Bitcoin after STRC incident: Bitwise

Strategy‘s era as the dominant Bitcoin buyer may have come to an end following last week’s STRC turmoil, which cast doubt on the companys Bitcoin-buying strategy and sent the cryptocurrency to a nearly two-year low, according to Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan.  “For years, Strategy has been the most dominant Bitcoin buyer in the world and a one-way source of Bitcoin demand. Those days are likely over,” Hougan said Thursday.  “I just expect it to be a less important figure in Bitcoin in the next cycle than it was in the last,” Hougan said, adding that investment banks, asset managers, pensions, endowments and sovereign wealth funds will likely replace Strategy as Bitcoins primary demand driver.  Confidence in Strategys Bitcoin-buying model weakened late last month when its main perpetual preferred stock offering — Stretch (STRC) — broke sharply from its $100 par value to below $75, raising fears that its dividend model was unsustainable.  The STRC incident coincided with Bitcoin (BTC) falling to a 21-month low of $58,190 on June 25, further rattling confidence across the crypto market.  Strategy responded by committing to sell Bitcoin where necessary to fund dividends and by expanding its US dollar reserve to $2.55 billion — easing immediate concerns but

07-03انڈسٹری

Securitize gains on NYSE debut with tokenized stocks live on Solana, Avalanche

Tokenization platform Securitize rallied on its New York Stock Exchange debut on Thursday, as it brought tokenized versions of its shares to two blockchains.  The company, which is backed by BlackRock and Morgan Stanley, began trading on the NYSE under the ticker SECZ on Thursday after merging with a Cantor Fitzgerald-backed special-purpose acquisition company to take it public.  Securitize said Thursday that it simultaneously launched tokenized versions of its shares on the Avalanche and Solana blockchains, which will be available to eligible US investors on its platform.  It marks the first time a newly public company has also offered tokenized stocks, an area of crypto technology that has quickly gained attention among major institutions drawn to the idea that it can bring deeper liquidity and longer trading hours.  Securitize has carved out a lead in the tokenization space for institutions. It partnered with the NYSE in March to create tokenized assets for the exchanges upcoming tokenized securities platform.  US laws allow for tokenized stocks, Securitize says  Securitize said that tokenizing its stock demonstrates that tokenized securities “can be issued and accessed in the US under existing securities laws and market structure,” adding that access will be subject to onboarding, eligibility, and customer ID and money-laundering checks.  “We

07-03انڈسٹری

US dominates Polymarket political bets despite geoblock: Report

US-based users are the biggest political bettors on Polymarket, despite the crypto-based prediction markets efforts to restrict US citizens from using the decentralized platform, according to new research.  Blockchain research firm Allium estimated in a report published on Thursday that US-based users are the single biggest political market of any country by contracts traded and wallet count on Polymarket — not to be confused with Polymarket US, which is a US-regulated platform that launched in December with a narrower set of markets.  “Blocking access did not end US participation; it made the US the largest single political market on Polymarket by volume,” the report said. “The demand is still there, now offshore and beyond US oversight.”  The data suggests that Polymarkets efforts to restrict US users from its global platform have not entirely worked, adding to an expanding list of headaches for the company in the fast-growing predictions market sector, which is under legal and political scrutiny.  Polymarket was forced to cut off US users access to its global platform as part of a $1.4 million settlement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in 2022.  Allium based its figures on the 6% of wallets it tagged with a country, meaning the data should be seen

07-03انڈسٹری
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