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Three Russians Face Money Laundering Charges Over Mixing Services: DOJ

Three Russian nationals tied to operating sanctioned crypto mixing services Blender.io and Sinbad.io have been charged with money laundering by a federal grand jury in Georgia, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement on Friday.
Roman Vitalyevich Ostapenko and Alexander Evgenievich Oleynik had been arrested last month, and they face money laundering charges. A third person tied to the services’ operations, Anton Vyachlavovich Tarasov, is at-large, the DOJ said.
Authorities from multiple jurisdictions had already seized and dismantled the computer equipment behind the services. Blender.io had previously been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department for aiding in the concealment of the crypto proceeds of cyber thefts conducted by North Korean hackers. That move marked the Treasury’s first sanctions against a crypto mixer, which is a service that aims to anonymize transactions and erase the public trail of digital assets.
«According to the indictment, the defendants operated cryptocurrency ‘mixers’ that served as safe havens for laundering criminally derived funds, including the proceeds of ransomware and wire fraud,» said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brent S. Wible, the DOJ’s criminal division chief, in a statement. «By allegedly operating these mixers, the defendants made it easier for state-sponsored hacking groups and other cybercriminals to profit from offenses that jeopardized both public safety and national security.»
The prosecution of crypto mixing services – the controversial businesses that represent both the sector’s vulnerability to criminal use and its championing of financial privacy – has been a point of contention for U.S. policymakers and members of Congress.
In the most famous case, the pursuit of Tornado Cash, the Treasury’s sanctions were overturned in November by a federal appeals court, ruling that the technology underpinning such services can’t be targeted this way. However, the government is still pursuing criminal prosecutions of Tornado Cash’s founders.
Blender.io operated from 2018 to 2022 before it was taken down by authorities, to be quickly replaced by Sinbad.io, which drew similar sanctions from the Treasury Department.
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Chart of the Week: ’10x Money Multiplier’ for Bitcoin Could Take Wall Street by Storm

Adopting Michael Saylor’s strategy of buying for the balance sheet has clearly taken off among many publicly traded firms, substantially enriching their stock prices and shareholders.
But what does it mean for the future of the bitcoin price? NYDIG Research crunched the numbers, and the results are striking.
«If we apply a 10x «money multiplier»—a rule of thumb reflecting the historical impact of new capital on bitcoin’s market cap—and divide by the total supply of bitcoin, we arrive at a rough estimate of the potential price impact: a nearly $42,000 increase per bitcoin,» NYDIG said in a research report.
To reach this conclusion, the analysts at NYDIG reviewed Strategy (MSTR), Metaplanet (3350), Twenty One (CEP), and Semler Scientific’s (SMLR) cumulative equity valuation since they adopted the bitcoin buying strategy. This gave the analysts an outline of how much money they could theoretically raise by issuing shares at current stock prices to buy more bitcoin.
If this analysis comes true, the projected price is nearly a 44% increase from the current spot price of $96,000 per bitcoin. If capitalized, Wall Street money managers perhaps wouldn’t mind showing this PnL chart to their clients, especially given the current volatility and uncertainty in the market.
«The implication is clear: this ‘dry powder’ in the form of issuance capacity could have a significant upward effect on bitcoin’s price,» NYDIG Research said.
Bitcoin’s limited supply also bodes well for the analysis. Publicly-traded companies already hold 3.63% of bitcoin’s total supply, with the lion’s share of those coins being held by Strategy. Adding private company and government holdings, the total is at 7.48% according to BitcoinTreasuries data.
Demand could also grow further in the near future if the U.S. government finds “budget-neutral strategies for acquiring additional bitcoin” for its strategic bitcoin reserve.
Read more: Cantor Skyrockets 130% as Traders FOMO Into the Stock on Bitcoin SPAC Frenzy
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Gold-Backed Crypto Minting Volume Hits 3-Year High as Central Bank Buying Drops

The gold market is seeing a shift in activity, with central bank buying slowing and demand from exchange-traded funds and gold-backed cryptocurrencies growing. The latter recently moved to a three-year high, as measured by the net minting volume for tokens backed by the precious metal.
Over $80 million worth of these tokens were minted over the past month, according to data from rwa.xyz. That boost helped push the sector’s market cap up 6% to $1.43 billion. Meanwhile, monthly transfer volume rose 77% to $1.27 billion, marking a sharp resurgence of interest in digital representations of the precious metal.
The rise in token activity mirrors a broader trend in the gold market.
The World Gold Council’s latest report shows that total gold demand in the first quarter of the year reached 1,206 tonnes—a 1% year-over-year increase and the strongest first quarter since 2016. The surge came despite a slowdown in central bank purchases, which fell to 244 tonnes, down from 365 tonnes in the fourth quarter.
Gold ETFs played a central role in the shift. Investment demand has more than doubled to 552 tonnes, suggesting investors are moving into the precious metal, a move central banks are known for historically.
Those inflows helped push the average quarterly price of gold to a record $2,860 per ounce, up 38% from the previous year. Yet the price dipped 2.35% last week, after rising 23.5% year-to-date, while risk assets, including cryptocurrencies, rose. Spot gold is currently trading at $3,240.
While traditional gold demand, such as jewelry, saw a downturn—dropping to pandemic-era lows—bar and coin demand stayed elevated, especially in China.
Read more: Tokenized Gold Surges Above $2B Market Cap as Tariff Fears Spark Safe Haven Trade
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A Tiny Company Wants to Buy $20M TRUMP Token to Change U.S.-Mexico Trade Deals

Freight Technologies (FRGT), a $4.8 million market cap logistics tech firm focused on cross-border trade between the U.S. and Mexico, has entered an agreement to buy up to $20 million in the Official Trump Token (TRUMP) to build out its crypto treasury.
The company said it secured the funding through a convertible note facility with an institutional investor, with an initial $1 million tranche already committed. The capital will be used solely to acquire TRUMP tokens, making it one of the first publicly listed companies to do so.
The decision follows a separate investment in AI-linked FET tokens currently valued at $8 million, which the company says supports AI tools used across its logistics platforms.
Buying digital assets for publicly traded companies isn’t a new strategy.
Michael Saylor championed it with a bitcoin strategy, and others, such as Semler Scientific (SMLR), followed through. Most recently, Cantor (CEP) is making a splash with huge dry powder to do the same. Meanwhile, companies such as Sol Strategies (HODL) and Janover (JNVR) are buying up SOL tokens to give investors exposure to the cryptocurrency.
The trend is also picking up in Japan, where hotel firm Metaplanet has recently hit 5,000 BTC on its balance sheet and issued $25 million in bonds to fund additional purchases. Smaller firms, including Value Creation, Remixpoint, NEXON, Anap Holdings, and WEMADE are also accumulating the cryptocurrency.
However, Freight’s mandate is slightly different: to influence the U.S.-Mexico trade deal amid President Trump’s all-out trade war.
«We believe that the addition of the Official Trump tokens are an excellent way to diversify our crypto treasury, and also an effective way to advocate for fair, balanced, and free trade between Mexico and the US,» Javier Selgas, the company’s CEO, said in a press release on April 30.
While such a strategy could help a company such as Freight, influencing presidential decisions by buying a memecoin could bring up the question of conflict of interest. Just recently, Trump said he will hold a private dinner with top token holders, drawing outcry from Democratic lawmakers, who cited the president’s involvement with the token as potential grounds for impeachment.
On April 25, Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) pointed to the crypto project offering its top holders an invitation to a dinner event with President Trump, calling it a clear case of selling access to the presidency.
For Freight, whose stock price plunged nearly 90% in the last 12 months and is heavily tied to cross-border trading, it seems this might be the best way to keep share prices afloat.
“At the heart of Fr8Tech’s mission is the promotion of productive and active commerce between the United States and Mexico. Mexico is the United States’ top goods trading partner, with Mexico being the leading destination for US exports and the top source for US imports,» Selgas added.
After announcing the move, Freight Technologies’ shares jumped over 111% before the closing bell on Friday. However, in after-hours trading, the stock plunged 21.6%.
Freight Technologies’ product lineup includes a suite of applications, ranging from cross-border freight booking to transportation management, all aimed at modernizing the flow of goods in North America.
Other companies have made investments in the crypto space linked to the U.S. President. Last month, DWF Labs invested $25 million in the decentralized finance protocol backed by Trump and his family, World Liberty Financial (WLFI), as it moved to establish a physical presence in the U.S.
The investment gives DWF Labs a governance stake in the project, which has been accumulating various cryptocurrencies and is set to soon launch a stablecoin backed by short-term U.S. Treasury bills and other cash equivalents, called USD1.
TRUMP tokens are trading at $12.7, up just 0.1% for the day and 42% in the last 30 days.
Read more: Why Trump’s Tariffs Could Actually be Good for Bitcoin
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