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According to PR Newswire, stablecoin operator Notabene announced a strategic investment from Ripple, with the specific investment amount not disclosed. The two parties will collaborate on enterprise-level stablecoin payments, including the integration of Ripple's USD stablecoin RLUSD into Notabene Flow B2B stablecoin payment platform.They also plan to further expand the application of RLUSD in institutional payment networks, accelerating the adoption of compliant stablecoin infrastructure by banks, payment institutions, and fintech companies.

According to Jinshi reports, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Borrell stated that sanctions have been imposed on over 100 banks and cryptocurrency operators, more than 40 shadow fleet vessels, and several refineries in Russia and Belarus.

According to the Korea Herald, South Korea's financial regulatory agency has issued an investigation report to Upbit's operator Dunamu, initiating sanction procedures. Previously, the company suffered a hacking incident involving 44.5 billion won.Since the incident occurred, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) has been investigating whether there were violations of the "Virtual Asset User Protection Act." However, as there are currently no direct penalties for hacking incidents or computer system failures, it remains uncertain whether this will lead to severe disciplinary actions. The Financial Supervisory Service plans to notify the company in advance of the sanction opinion letter, which includes the level of sanctions, after the company provides an explanation. Subsequently, the final sanction measures will be determined by resolutions from the Sanction Review Committee, the Securities and Futures Commission, and the Financial Services Commission.

According to CNBC, the American prediction market platform Kalshi stated that a teleprompter operator is under investigation by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for allegedly trading prediction contracts related to public speeches by President Trump.

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.

According to a report by the Procuratorial Daily, researchers from the People's Procuratorate of Yuhu District, Xiangtan City, Hunan Province, and the Law School of Xiangtan University have jointly written an article proposing a systematic response plan to the regulatory dilemmas of money laundering crimes using virtual currency. The article points out that current judicial practice faces three major dilemmas: first, Article 191 of the Criminal Law limits money laundering crimes to seven types of upstream crimes, resulting in many cases being treated as "concealment crimes"; second, methods such as mixers, privacy coins, and cross-chain transfers lead to fragmented evidence chains, making traditional investigative methods difficult to penetrate; third, conflicts in the legal attributes of virtual currency, a vacuum in procedural rules, and barriers to cross-border cooperation make it difficult to recover assets.In response, the article suggests promoting "dual investigations for one case," establishing the principle of self-authentication of blockchain data, constructing a tiered standard of proof, and establishing a national-level custody and disposal platform for involved virtual currencies, while actively promoting the signing of special agreements for international criminal justice assistance in virtual currency crimes.

According to Caixin, the case involving 60,000 bitcoins belonging to Qian Zhimin held a three-day hearing from July 7 to 9, 2026. Blue Sky Ge Rui Company officially joined the battle for bitcoin rights through the litigation administrator. The bitcoin dispute has transformed from a "two-party confrontation" into a "three-party competition": 1. The UK prosecution (DPP) claims that the assets should be recovered by the state; 2. The Chinese victims assert that they have property rights to the bitcoins that can be traced and have significantly appreciated in value; 3. The litigation administrator representing Blue Sky Ge Rui Company argues that the bitcoins are substitute assets formed after Qian Zhimin misappropriated company funds.It is reported that the estimated value of the bitcoins involved in the case is about 427,000 yuan each as of July this year, a 152-fold increase from the purchase price when Qian Zhimin acquired them in 2014 (2,815 yuan each). If the applicant can successfully assert their property rights to the relevant bitcoin assets, the amount they can recover will not be limited to the original investment loss but can also extend to the appreciation gains of the bitcoins. The litigation administrator representing Blue Sky Ge Rui Company believes that the bitcoins in question are essentially transformed from misappropriated company property, and the company has the right to trace them and assert property rights.Meanwhile, the Director of the UK Crown Prosecution Service (DPP) continues to insist that Chinese law should apply, while the leading law firm representing individual victims has proposed four complementary legal arguments to avoid the victims' claims being entirely dismissed due to any single legal pathway: 1. Bitcoin in the UK should be governed by UK law; 2. The investment contract is a scam, and upon cancellation, the rights revert to the victims; 3. The tracing mechanisms under POCA Sections 305 and 306 should also apply to the victims; 4. A "mixed structure" should break the binary choice between Chinese and UK law.

According to a report by Bloomberg, documents disclosed by the SEC show that data center operator Csquare plans to go public on the NYSE under the ticker "CSQR," intending to issue 50 million shares at a price range of $23 to $27 per share, with a maximum fundraising scale of $1.35 billion. Based on the upper limit of the issue price, the company's valuation is approximately $4.18 billion.This IPO comes at a time when there is a global expansion cycle for AI computing power and data centers, with continued increasing demand for infrastructure assets in the market.

Data center operator Switch announced the official launch of a $2 billion private financing round, led by a16z. According to insiders, Switch's post-financing enterprise valuation (including debt) may approach $50 billion, with an equity value of approximately $19 billion (excluding new investments). a16z is set to invest about $400 million. Additionally, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase are also assisting in advancing this financing round, which may prepare Switch for an initial public offering (IPO) as early as next year. Currently, related negotiations are still ongoing, and the scale, valuation, and timing of the financing may still be adjusted.Switch is headquartered in Las Vegas and was founded in 2000. It currently operates data centers in Nevada, Michigan, Georgia, and Texas, with a majority stake held by DigitalBridge. DigitalBridge previously privatized Switch in 2022 in a deal valued at approximately $11 billion (including debt) with investors such as IFM Investors.

According to the disclosure from the People's Procuratorate of Jing'an District, Shanghai, recently, the court prosecuted a certain Li for suspected illegal business operations in a criminal gang that used virtual currency for cross-border money laundering and illegal foreign exchange. On June 10, the case was heard in court and a verdict was announced on the spot, marking a conclusion to a series of illegal business operations spanning three years and involving over 200 million yuan. In July 2024, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange discovered abnormal clues regarding Company Z using virtual currency to transfer assets for domestic clients during routine monitoring, and subsequently referred the case to the public security authorities for handling.Investigations revealed that Company Z was registered overseas in 2019, promoting itself under the guise of a "private bank" and developing a virtual banking app to create a facade of legitimacy, but it had not obtained the necessary foreign exchange business operation license in China and was essentially engaged in illegal foreign exchange activities. The gang targeted high-net-worth individuals with funding needs for overseas property purchases, immigration, and studying abroad, using intermediaries to attract clients, with customer managers, traders, and customer service personnel facilitating the currency exchange process. Clients purchased virtual currency from virtual currency exchangers with renminbi and transferred it to Company Z's overseas virtual wallet, after which the gang exchanged the virtual currency for foreign currency abroad and transferred it to the clients' designated overseas accounts. There was no actual cross-border flow of funds; instead, settlements were made through domestic and foreign capital pools, with Company Z charging a 3% currency exchange service fee and paying intermediaries a 0.5% commission.A total of nine individuals have been brought to justice in this case, while one main suspect is still under investigation. After review, the relevant personnel collectively violated national laws by illegally buying and selling foreign exchange, disrupting financial order, and the circumstances were serious or particularly serious, warranting criminal liability for illegal business operations. The court sentenced five individuals, including Gao and Li, to prison terms ranging from six years to two years and six months, and imposed fines ranging from 1.5 million yuan to 300,000 yuan; for Chen, Huang, and four others, due to lighter criminal circumstances, relatively smaller amounts involved, and voluntary confession, the procuratorial authority made a decision of relative non-prosecution according to the law.

According to Xinhua News Agency, the Supreme People's Procuratorate held a press conference today. Deputy Chief Procurator Miao Shengming introduced that the procuratorial organs are deeply investigating and thoroughly examining "self-money laundering" and "third-party money laundering" crimes, vigorously promoting the recovery of drug-related assets, and ensuring comprehensive coverage in the investigation and prosecution of drug-related money laundering crimes. From January last year to May this year, more than 1,200 people have been prosecuted for drug-related money laundering crimes. The Supreme People's Procuratorate has taken over the supervision of a major cross-border smuggling, trafficking, transporting drugs, and money laundering case involving Li Moubo and others, handled by the Chongqing procuratorial organs. Li Moubo laundered more than 48 million yuan through virtual currency and was sentenced to death after being punished for multiple crimes according to the law.

Binance Co-CEO He Yi posted on X stating, "Zhu Pan once impersonated others to scam me unsuccessfully, and also impersonated me to scam Brother Sun." Tron founder Justin Sun immediately retweeted in response, saying, "This is absolutely true, the industry should collectively resist such fraudulent behavior and bring it to justice."Meanwhile, CoinUp's official statement regarding recent market discussions about the platform and CPX stated that Zhu Pan is not the operator of the CoinUp platform and does not participate in the core operations of the platform; his identity is merely that of a project party for a project launched on the CoinUp platform. Regarding the recent significant short-term price fluctuations of CPX/USDT, CoinUp stated that it is mainly due to concentrated selling pressure from the market, and the specific reasons are currently being investigated and verified. The platform emphasized that after a comprehensive security check, it has not suffered from hacker attacks or system vulnerabilities, and user asset security and account data integrity are intact, with functions such as deposits, withdrawals, and trading operating normally.

According to official news from CoinUp, regarding recent market discussions about CoinUp and CPX, CoinUp stated that Zhu Pan is not the operator of the CoinUp platform and does not participate in the core operations of the platform; his role is solely as a project party for a project launched on the CoinUp platform.CoinUp also expressed gratitude to users, the community, and the media for their attention and supervision of CPX. In response to the recent significant short-term price fluctuations of the CPX/USDT trading pair, the platform previously announced that this fluctuation was mainly due to concentrated selling pressure from the market, and the specific reasons are currently under further investigation and verification, with updates to be provided in a timely manner based on the progress of the investigation.CoinUp emphasized that after a comprehensive security check of the platform, it has not suffered from hacker attacks, data breaches, or system vulnerabilities; the wallet system, account system, and asset custody are all in a secure and controllable state. The platform's recharge, withdrawal, and trading functions are operating normally, user assets are secure, and account data is complete, with no reported losses of user assets.CoinUp stated that it will continue to improve its risk control monitoring mechanisms, maintain market trading order, and advise users to rely on official channel information, view market fluctuations rationally, and pay attention to controlling trading risks.

According to The Information, sources revealed that Tencent has invested in a new AI laboratory founded by Lin Junyang, the former core leader of Alibaba's Tongyi Qwen large model. In Lin Junyang's first round of financing, Tencent invested $20 million, with the total amount raised in the first round reaching several hundred million dollars, and a post-investment valuation of approximately $2 billion. The first round of financing was led by Sequoia China and Gaorong Capital, with both parties investing $100 million each. After completing the first round of transactions, Lin Junyang is already seeking the next round of financing.Before this transaction, Tencent had already invested in several local large model developers in China, including Dark Side of the Moon, MiniMax, and Zhiyu AI, and is currently participating in the latest round of financing for DeepSeek. Lin Junyang left Alibaba in early March this year. Due to disagreements with Alibaba regarding team restructuring, he chose to publicly announce his resignation on the social platform X.

Zelle operator Early Warning Services announced that India will be the first country for U.S. users to remit money to overseas friends and family through Zelle, with the service expected to launch by the end of this year. The company also introduced its own dollar-backed stablecoin ZelleUSD (ZLUSD) to support future international payment capabilities in other markets, with more details to be announced in the coming months. Early Warning Services is jointly owned by seven U.S. financial institutions, including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo.

According to The Block, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Saif Faiq, one of the organizers of a kidnapping case related to Bitcoin in 2024, pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges on Monday in federal court in Connecticut, facing a maximum of 20 years in prison, with sentencing scheduled for August 28.Faiq and his brother Adam Iza planned to kidnap the parents of a crypto millionaire for extortion. Faiq recruited six individuals from Florida, organized them to travel to Connecticut, and helped plan a home invasion after surveilling the victim. The six individuals hijacked a Lamborghini Urus in Danbury during the day, assaulted the owner, and briefly held him captive.The victim is the parent of Veer Chetal, who previously stole approximately 4,100 Bitcoins through a social engineering scam and encountered Faiq's accomplices while flaunting his ill-gotten gains at a nightclub in Miami. Chetal pleaded guilty to theft charges last November and is awaiting sentencing. Both Faiq and his brother Iza have pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges.

According to Shandong Legal News, a Bitcoin theft case prosecuted by the Li Cang District Prosecutor's Office in Qingdao has been sentenced. The defendant, Zhang, was sentenced to 10 years and 9 months in prison for theft and fined 100,000 yuan.In the early hours of a certain day in 2024, the virtual currency wallet of the victim, Feng, was quietly accessed, and 107 Bitcoins were transferred, equivalent to over 22.54 million yuan at the market price on that day. It was found that Feng had entrusted an acquaintance, Zhang, to assist with the operation. During the process of registering the wallet on behalf of Feng, Zhang obtained the mnemonic phrase, and after multiple attempts in the early morning, he cracked the wallet and transferred the Bitcoins. After being apprehended, Zhang claimed that his actions were a "protective takeover" to prevent the Bitcoins from being stolen by others. The prosecution traced the funds and found that the stolen Bitcoins were transferred multiple times and exchanged for over 660,000 yuan, exposing his lies.The prosecution determined that Bitcoin has economic value and exclusive control, meeting the core characteristics of "property" in criminal law, and can be the object of theft. The actual proceeds from the sale of the stolen Bitcoins, amounting to over 660,000 yuan, were used as the basis for the theft amount. After the defendant appealed, in November 2025, the Qingdao Intermediate People's Court ruled to dismiss the appeal and upheld the original sentence. This case is a typical example of Qingdao's legal punishment of crimes in the virtual currency field, clearly conveying the judicial stance: activities related to virtual currency must be conducted within the legal framework, and stealing others' virtual property also constitutes a crime.

THORChain has released its fourth update regarding the attack incident on May 15, and the proposal ADR028 has been announced, with voting for node operators now open.According to the recovery plan, the protocol will first absorb losses through its own liquidity, with the remaining portion to be shared by synthetic asset holders; the specific distribution ratio of the two is still under evaluation. The protocol's own liquidity will be reduced to zero, and will be gradually replenished through system revenue. This plan will not issue or sell RUNE, nor will it dilute any holders.On the technical side, GG20 will be temporarily retained and has completed patch upgrades. Trading will resume after the vulnerabilities are fixed and node rotation is successfully conducted, with a future release pace that is slower and more security-conscious. Innocent nodes located in the same vault as the attacker will be protected, while the attacker nodes will be fully confiscated. The recovered RUNE will be paired with the recovered assets, and any excess will be destroyed.The protocol also offers a white hat bounty to the attacker to recover funds; if some are returned, the recovery plan will be adjusted proportionally. THORChain remains neutral and permissionless, and there will be no review of the attacker's Swap transactions after trading resumes. Node operators are currently voting on the proposal direction, and the numbers in the ADR are only indicative, with adjustments to be made through Mimir later.