Julian Assange, the former Wikileaks editor-in-chief, has secured a plea deal, with his sentence commuted to time served. He is now set to travel to Saipan before returning to Australia. Despite his release, the financial burden remains, with his fiancée, Stella Assange, disclosing that the cost of his journey to freedom is estimated at $520,000. The family is urgently appealing for funds to cover travel and recovery expenses.
To help raise these funds, a BTCPay Server has been set up, enabling donations through Bitcoin or the Lightning Network. Assange’s brother, Gabriel, confirmed the platform, allowing secure, decentralised contributions. Julian’s connection to Bitcoin is long-standing, having been part of the cryptocurrency’s history, including discussions with its creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, regarding its use for Wikileaks when PayPal froze their accounts.
As Assange embarks on the next chapter of his life, the Bitcoin community continues to rally behind him, with a recent donation of 8 Bitcoins (around $500,000) further showcasing the role of cryptocurrency in supporting his cause.
Truflation, a blockchain-based inflation data platform, has confirmed falling victim to a malware attack. The project reported detecting abnormal activity on 25 September, which led to an estimated loss of up to $5.2 million. Blockchain analysts have tracked the losses from Truflation’s treasury and personal wallets on Ethereum, with additional losses spread across seven other blockchains.
The team is now working with law enforcement and industry partners to resolve the issue. They have also reached out to the hacker, seeking negotiation, while offering rewards to white-hat hackers who can assist. Despite the breach, Truflation has reassured its customers that their funds and staking operations remain secure.
Truflation’s token, TRUF, fell by 15.6% following the incident, though it has since partly recovered. Truflation provides real-time economic data and recently launched a marketplace that tracks commodity indexes such as sugar, petroleum, and wheat.
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has delayed its decision on approving options trading for spot Ethereum ETFs. The regulator stated the need for more time to assess the proposed rule changes for Nasdaq ISE LLC and NYSE American LLC to list Ethereum ETF options. BlackRock, Bitwise, and Grayscale are among those awaiting approval for their respective Ethereum funds, with a new decision deadline set for November 2024.
The SEC’s cautious approach towards crypto-related Exchange-Traded Products (ETPs) is clear, as it has extended the review process for Ethereum ETFs. This move comes as interest in Ethereum ETFs has declined, with significant outflows exceeding $620 million in recent weeks. By contrast, Bitcoin ETFs have enjoyed strong inflows, with over $17 billion invested since their launch.
Meanwhile, the SEC recently approved options trading for BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF after a lengthy review process. This approval, along with BlackRock’s updates on Bitcoin ETF withdrawals, underscores the ongoing regulatory scrutiny in the crypto sector, as the SEC addresses concerns over market manipulation and protection for investors.
PayPal is enhancing its cryptocurrency offerings to include business account holders, enabling them to use digital assets in everyday transactions. The new service, however, will not be available for businesses in New York at the launch. Since 2020, PayPal and its subsidiary Venmo have allowed consumers to buy, sell, and hold cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Now, with the demand from merchants for similar access, PayPal is facilitating transfers of cryptocurrencies to external wallets, allowing businesses to send and receive digital tokens on blockchain networks.
This significant development means that US merchants can now handle digital currencies much like traditional money, with PayPal acting as a bridge between conventional finance and the expanding world of cryptocurrency. In August 2023, PayPal took a further step by launching its stablecoin, PayPal USD, which debuted on the Ethereum blockchain. Backed by US dollar deposits and short-term Treasuries, PayPal USD has already seen substantial usage, particularly after its expansion to the Solana blockchain.
Since May, the weekly transaction volume of PayPal USD has surged to over $500 million, compared to $150 million previously. Currently, the total supply of PayPal USD across Solana and Ethereum has reached $534 million, with a distribution of 74% on Ethereum and 25% on Solana. With these advancements, PayPal is poised to significantly influence how businesses integrate cryptocurrency into their operations.
Binance has unveiled a pre-market trading service, allowing users to trade new tokens before they officially list on the spot market. The pre-market option will include select tokens from Binance’s Launchpool, where participants can farm new coins by locking BNB and First Digital USD.
The new feature allows users to trade tokens early, meeting user demand and extending the lifecycle of token projects on Binance. Vishal Sacheendran, head of regional markets at Binance, emphasised that this launch aims to enhance the platform’s ecosystem by offering more utility to its global user base.
The service will come with standard spot trading fees and will conclude four hours before the tokens are officially listed. While available in most regions where Binance operates, some jurisdictions may face restrictions due to regulatory requirements.
TrueCoin and TrustToken have settled charges with the SEC over an unregistered offering of investment contracts between November 2020 and April 2023. The companies promoted their TrueUSD stablecoin and decentralized finance platform TrueFi as safe investments, which the SEC later deemed misleading.
The SEC complaint, filed on 24 September, stressed the importance of proper company registration for investor protection. Despite this, some within the crypto industry, including former SEC staff, have criticised the agency’s approach, calling its regulatory tactics unclear and excessive. This case adds to the ongoing tension between the SEC and the crypto sector.
Without admitting wrongdoing, both companies agreed to pay a combined fine of $163,766, with TrueCoin facing an additional $340,930 in penalties. The crypto industry has spent over $7 billion in SEC fines since 2013, with penalties rising sharply in recent years.
Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz has confirmed that Turkey will not impose a tax on crypto or stock trading profits this year. The government had considered introducing such a tax but is now focusing on reducing existing tax exemptions instead, giving investors a clearer picture of the country’s financial policies.
The idea of a tax on crypto and stock profits was initially postponed in June after a decline in Turkey’s stock market. The government’s new strategy aims to refine its current tax regulations, concentrating on narrowing tax exemptions rather than implementing new taxes.
The decision offers temporary relief to investors in Turkey’s financial markets, especially those using crypto and stocks to safeguard against inflation. While other nations, including the UK and Japan, evaluate how to tax digital assets, Turkey’s approach leaves room for potential policy shifts in the future.
MoneyGram has acknowledged that its recent multiday outage is due to a cybersecurity issue, and the firm is progressing in restoring its services. The company revealed on X that it had identified the problem affecting certain systems and launched an investigation after users reported disruptions beginning on 20 September.
The Dallas-based financial services company stated that it took immediate protective measures, including taking some systems offline to address the connectivity issues. MoneyGram is collaborating with law enforcement and external cybersecurity experts to mitigate the impact of the breach. In a follow-up post on 24th September, the firm announced that it is successfully restoring some key transactional systems.
Although MoneyGram has assured users that pending transactions will be processed once systems are back online, it has not disclosed details about the nature of the cybersecurity issue, including whether any sensitive data may have been compromised. Additionally, there is no timeline yet for when full service will be resumed.
This incident occurs amid a notable increase in crypto-related ransomware attacks, with reports indicating a significant rise in ransom payments this year. MoneyGram, a major player in money transmission, recently ventured into the crypto space, launching fiat exchange services and partnering with CEX.io to offer fiat-to-stablecoin options.
OpenAI’s official press account on X was hacked by cryptocurrency scammers, promoting a fraudulent blockchain token, ‘$OPENAI.’ The scammers posted a message claiming the fake token would grant users access to future OpenAI beta programs. The post linked to a phishing website designed to steal cryptocurrency wallet credentials from unsuspecting users. Despite the scam being evident, the post and the associated site remained active, with comments disabled to make the hack less noticeable.
This incident is part of a larger pattern, with OpenAI leadership accounts also targeted in similar phishing campaigns earlier this year. In June 2023, OpenAI CTO Mira Murati’s account was hacked, posting a nearly identical message about the non-existent “$OPENAI” token. Other key OpenAI staff, such as chief scientist Jakub Pachocki and researcher Jason Wei, were also hacked recently, further exposing vulnerabilities.
Cryptocurrency scams targeting high-profile X accounts have become increasingly common. In previous years, accounts belonging to Apple, Elon Musk, and Joe Biden were compromised to promote scams. These fraudulent campaigns often use fake offers or phishing schemes to steal funds from victims by tricking them into sending cryptocurrency to scam wallets.
Cryptocurrency scams have cost United States citizens $5.6 billion in 2023 alone, a significant increase from the previous year. With over 50,000 cases reported in the first half of 2024, losses have already reached $2.5 billion, according to the Federal Trade Commission, marking an alarming rise in the threat posed by such scams.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) faced sharp bipartisan criticism during a House Financial Services Committee hearing, with lawmakers from both parties accusing the agency of hindering the growth of the cryptocurrency industry. SEC Chair Gary Gensler defended the agency’s stance, stating that existing securities laws are sufficient to regulate digital assets. However, critics, including Republican Commissioner Hester Peirce, argued that the SEC’s approach has created regulatory uncertainty, making it unclear which assets fall under the agency’s jurisdiction.
Gensler, who has described the crypto industry as plagued by criminality and non-compliance, stressed that regulation is based on the economic nature of assets, referencing Supreme Court rulings. The hearing, attended by all five SEC members, allowed both Republican and Democratic commissioners to voice differing views. Peirce, in particular, claimed that the SEC’s imprecise regulatory approach was negatively affecting crypto sales and innovation.
SEC Chair Gary Gensler also defended a 2022 SEC bulletin that requires public companies holding crypto assets to record them as liabilities, stating that a series of bankruptcies had justified this policy. As political pressure mounts ahead of the elections, Gensler hinted that the SEC may revisit corporate disclosure regulations on share buybacks, despite a recent court ruling against the agency’s previous efforts.
