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Flash

The EU sanctions "the most active ransomware operator in history" Stern, involved in over 300 million dollars in ransom inflow

The United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom jointly announced sanctions against a group involving state-level hacker organizations, cybercrime gangs, and their infrastructure providers. The targets are accused of causing billions of dollars in losses to global businesses, critical infrastructure, and government agencies. Among the most notable is the EU's sanction against the Russian cybercriminal Vitaly Nikolayevich Kovalev (alias "Stern").The EU has identified Stern as one of the core managers of the notorious Trickbot Group ransomware organization, which includes several high-risk ransomware variants such as Conti ransomware and Ryuk. On-chain analysis shows that wallet addresses associated with Stern have received over $300 million in ransom payments, potentially making him the "largest confirmed ransomware operator" to date. According to analysis, the $300 million only represents the profits obtained by Stern personally, and the overall illegal income of the Trickbot group may be much higher.On-chain fund flows indicate that Stern has had transactional connections with multiple ransomware ecosystems, including Ryuk, Conti, Diavol, Karakurt, Royal, and Quantum. Investigations show that Stern plays a role similar to "CEO" within the Trickbot organization, responsible for budget management, personnel recruitment, infrastructure procurement, and attack planning.

Vietnamese police report on the progress of the ONUS cryptocurrency fraud case: over 350 kilograms of gold and silver have been seized and more than 300 bank accounts frozen

According to Vietnam's Youth Newspaper, the Ministry of Public Security of Vietnam recently held a press conference to report the latest investigation results of the ONUS cryptocurrency platform fraud case. More than 350 kilograms of gold and silver have been seized, transactions involving 8 properties valued at 20 trillion Vietnamese dong have been frozen, and transactions of over 300 involved bank accounts have been suspended.On March 23 of this year, the police filed criminal charges against 8 defendants, accusing them of using computer networks and telecommunications networks to commit property appropriation and money laundering. Since 2018, the individuals involved have taken advantage of the public's lack of understanding of cryptocurrency, creating digital accounts through applications and packaging them as virtual currency. They established trust and attracted investment through circular buying and selling among affiliated companies, thereby committing fund appropriation, with a total sale of cryptocurrency valued at over 70 trillion Vietnamese dong from 2018 to 2021.The case involves numerous individuals and users, with approximately 5 million user accounts opened. The police have received over 2000 reports from citizens. The public security authorities are investigating the possible accomplice responsibilities of KOLs and other internet celebrities and continue to make every effort to recover the embezzled funds.

SharpLink purchased an additional 10,000 ETH at an average price of $1,611 yesterday and was officially included in the Russell 2000 and 3000 indices; Bitmine's holdings increased to 5.67 million ETH. Chairman Tom Lee: We are in the early stages of a crypto spring

According to BBX data, the two largest publicly listed reserve companies for Ethereum issued a counter-cyclical buy signal yesterday, with the core dynamics as follows:SharpLink, Inc. (NASDAQ: $SBET) (one of the largest publicly listed reserve companies for Ethereum, founded by CEO Joe Lubin, formerly known as SharpLink Gaming, transitioning to Ethereum Treasury in May 2025) released an official press release on June 30: the company purchased an additional 10,000 ETH at an average price of $1,611 per coin, raising its total holdings to 886,725 ETH; during the same period, it repurchased 2,132,773 shares of common stock (average price $4.69), bringing the total repurchased since the buyback program started in August 2025 to 4,071,223 shares. This ETH purchase was funded by the company's previously completed $75 million targeted issuance (registered direct offering). CEO Joseph Chalom stated that this fundraising "provides capital support for proactive ETH treasury management strategies." The company's average purchase cost for 886,725 ETH is approximately $3,609 per coin, and with the current price around $1,611, the paper loss is about $1.77 billion; however, the company earned approximately 18,800 ETH in staking rewards in Q1 (equivalent to about $30 million per quarter at current prices), with revenue of $12.1 million during the same period (a 16-fold increase compared to $742,000 in the same period last year). The company has officially been included in the Russell 2000 and Russell 3000 indices, which will trigger passive buying from active and passive funds tracking these two indices, potentially broadening the institutional shareholder base and increasing access to capital markets.Bitmine Immersion Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: $BMNR), as of June 26, according to the latest data cited by CoinDesk, the company's ETH holdings have risen to approximately 5.67 million coins (an increase of about 280,000 coins compared to the 5.39 million disclosed in the SEC 8-K on May 26), with a net increase of about 52,203 coins in the previous week (equivalent to about $82 million); the company's chairman Tom Lee stated on June 26: "We are maintaining a steady accumulation pace throughout 2026, and we believe we are in the early stages of a Crypto Spring." At the current price of about $1,610, the market value of 5.67 million ETH is approximately $9.13 billion; during the same period, Bitmine jointly funded the Ethlabs nonprofit research organization with SharpLink and Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin (founded by former Ethereum Foundation researchers, focusing on Ethereum infrastructure and institutional research), further strengthening the institutional narrative support for the ETH ecosystem through the endorsement of the three organizations.
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