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Elon Musk’s support for Dogecoin grows stronger following $258B lawsuit

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Musk was seemingly unshaken about the allegation as he doubled down on his love for the Dogecoin ecosystem with a tweet saying, “I will keep supporting Dogecoin.”

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Chainalysis CEO offers a clue into the recent spate of Paris crypto attacks

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Some criminal organizations are yet to receive the memo — crypto is traceable — and could explain the recent string of crypto-related kidnappings, says Chainalysis CEO Jonathan Levin. 

Law enforcement has been increasingly successful at tracing stolen funds and crypto ransom payments, resulting in a “lot of arrests,” Levin said during the 2025 Consensus crypto conference, covered by Cointelegraph.

“For whatever reason, there is a perception that’s out there that crypto is an asset that is untraceable, and that really lends itself to criminals acting in a certain way,” he said. 

“Apparently, the know that crypto is not untraceable hasn’t been received by some of the organized crime groups that are actually perpetrating these attacks, and some of them are concentrated in, you know, France, but not exclusively.” 

Jonathan Levin (left) says criminals targeting the crypto industry should know that the funds are traceable and law enforcement can track them. Source: Cointelegraph

There have been two serious crypto-related attacks in Paris so far this month. On May 13, three assailants attempted to kidnap the daughter and grandson of Pierre Noizat, the co-founder and CEO of French crypto exchange Paymium. 

Earlier in the month, on May 3, Paris police freed the father of a crypto entrepreneur who was held for several days as part of a 7 million euro ($7.8 million) kidnapping plot. The attacks have prompted France’s interior minister to meet with crypto professionals and address rising security concerns. 

Last year, blockchain investigator ZachXBT sounded the alarm in October that he’d been receiving messages from multiple victims of crypto home invasion thefts in Western Europe at a much higher rate than other regions.

“The message needs to get out there that these payments are traceable and that these units within the law enforcement agencies have actually been very successful at holding some of those people to account in those kidnapping cases,” Levin said.

“And even if it’s not the people that are kidnapping those people, but actually going upstream to the organized crime groups that are orchestrating these,” he added.

Online streamer Amouranth was the victim of a home invasion in March 2025 when several armed assailants held her at gunpoint and demanded the keys to her crypto wallet, four suspects were charged in connection with the incident and arrested by law enforcement.

Crypto kidnapping “not such a profitable business”

Levin says he hopes organized crime takes a message from crypto robbers being arrested, specifically, that it’s “not such a profitable business to be in,” and in some instances, the ransom payments might even be recoverable.

“There is the ability to potentially recover some of those payments as well. I think that in general, the goal here is not necessarily the recovery of the money, but it’s holding those people to account,” he said.

However, despite law enforcement having some success in tracking down criminals targeting the crypto industry, Levin says the spate of offline robberies is still a “bleak” situation, and the industry should be taking extra steps to stifle theft as well. 

“People need to be very careful about what information is shared about them online,” he said.

Related: Teens kidnap Las Vegas man at gunpoint, stealing $4M in crypto

This year, there have been 22 recorded incidents of in-person crypto-related theft compared to 28 in 2024, according to a GitHub list created by cypherpunk and co-founder of self-custodial firm Casa, Jameson Lopp.

However, the number could be higher. A University of Cambridge study released in September last year found these so-called “wrench attacks” are often underreported due to revictimization fears. 

Additional reporting by Vince Quill.

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Coinbase CEO looking at more acquisitions after $2.9B Deribit buy

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Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong says his firm will continue to look for merger and acquisition opportunities after acquiring crypto derivatives platform Deribit.

“We are always looking at M&A opportunities,” said Armstrong on Bloomberg Television on May 14.

He added that the firm has a large balance sheet that can be put to use.

The firm revealed in its latest revenue report that its balance sheet has strengthened, ending the first quarter with $9.9 billion in US dollar resources.

“Part of the benefit of being a public company is, you have a liquid currency to do that,” he said, adding: “We are looking at acquisition opportunities; doesn’t mean we swing at every pitch. We want it to be the right opportunity.”

On May 8, the firm announced that it agreed to acquire crypto options trading platform Deribit in a transaction worth $2.9 billion that consisted of $700 million in cash and 11 million shares of Coinbase stock

The acquisition, the largest in the crypto industry so far, will allow Coinbase to expand into the profitable crypto derivatives market and continue scaling the platform’s global growth.

Armstrong told the outlet that he is looking particularly at international opportunities, “companies that think similar,” and can accelerate Coinbase’s product development and growth. 

Related: Coinbase’s Deribit buy shows growing derivatives market

However, the crypto executive said he had nothing to announce when asked about a potential acquisition of stablecoin issuer and Coinbase partner, Circle, which has filed to go public

In late April, US fintech firm Ripple bid up to $5 billion in an effort to acquire the stablecoin issuer, but the offer was rejected, reported Bloomberg. 

Coinbase stock surges

Coinbase will become the first crypto firm to join the coveted S&P 500 index on May 19.  

The S&P 500 is a stock market index that tracks the performance of 500 of the largest publicly traded companies in the US, and potentially opens up their stock to a broader investor base and exposure to passive funds that track the benchmark.

Coinbase shares ended the day up 2.5% to reach $263 in after-hours trading, according to Google Finance. Company stock (COIN) has skyrocketed more than 30% since the beginning of May, and the two big announcements, and almost 50% over the past month. 

Coinbase shares 1 month. Source: Google Finance

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Europol helps dismantle $23M ‘mafia crypto bank’

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European law enforcement in January arrested 17 suspects of a “mafia crypto bank” who are said to have laundered over 21 million euros ($23.5 million) in crypto for criminal entities in China and the Middle East.

The money laundering services were allegedly carried out on behalf of other criminal networks engaged in migrant smuggling and drug trafficking, Europol said in a May 14 statement.

Spanish authorities said the criminal organization ran a secret informal money transfer system called hawala and was often compensated in crypto.

A total of 17 individuals were arrested — 15 in Spain, one in Austria and one in Belgium — while 4.5 million euros ($5 million) worth of items were seized, including cash, crypto, 18 vehicles, four shotguns and several electronic devices.

Of the 4.5 million euros, 183,000 euros ($205,000) came as crypto. Another 421,000 euros ($471,000) in cash was seized from 77 bank accounts tied to the criminal organization, which one Spanish news outlet described as a “mafia crypto bank.”

Luxury bags, watches and even cigars worth 876,000 euros ($980,000) were also seized, Spanish officials said.

Scenes of European law enforcement efforts and assets seized from the criminal organization. Source: Europol

The arrests and asset seizures took place in January 2025, across Spain, Austria and Belgium, Europol said. More than 250 officers were involved, Spanish authorities added.

Most of those arrested have already been detained

Of the 17 arrested, 15 have already been imprisoned as alleged perpetrators of the crimes linked to the organization. 

Most of those arrested were of Chinese and Syrian nationality, targeting clients in China and the Arabic-speaking criminal world.

Related: Crypto exchange CEO’s daughter fights off brazen kidnappers in Paris

The criminal organization tried to cover up its money laundering activities by operating a remittance business, and even advertised those services on social media.

The investigation was led by a court in Almería, Spain, which supported Europol’s efforts to coordinate Spanish and Belgian officials to dismantle the criminal organization.

Blockchain forensics firm Chainalysis estimates that illicit crypto transactions totaled $51.3 billion in 2024, marking an 11.3% year-on-year increase.

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