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In brief A Manhattan jury convicted Jonathan Spalletta of computer fraud and money laundering over two 2021 hacks of decentralized exchange Uranium Finance. Spalletta stole more than $50 million, laundered it through Tornado Cash, and spent it on rare Magic: The Gathering and Pokémon cards. Authorities seized cryptocurrency from the hacks worth about $31 million at the time of seizure in February 2025. A Manhattan jury has convicted Jonathan Spalletta of computer fraud and money laundering over two 2021 hacks of decentralized crypto exchange Uranium Finance, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.Spalletta, 36, of Rockville, Maryland, was charged over the exploits in…

In brief Decrypt Money Accounts are now live on Solana, with balances in USDT and sponsoring gas for a seamless user experience. One balance funds Earn, Swaps, Predictions and Perps, with no bridging or per-product deposits, and users can deposit funds using virtually any payment method. The platform is self-custodial: Decrypt does not hold private keys and cannot transact on a user’s behalf. Decrypt Money Accounts are now live on Solana, giving readers a single self-custodial balance that works across everything Decrypt builds, as it continues to roll out the infrastructure underpinning its financial and intelligence market The Information Exchange.“Our…

In brief Bitcoin fell as low as $81,749.83 today, undercutting the $82,776.30 floor flagged yesterday, and trades near $82,486. Bitcoin ETFs lost $484.9 million on Oct. 7, their worst day since June, while 87.5% of the $429 million liquidated over 24 hours were long positions. Uptober is turning out red so far, but the charts suggest Bitcoin has a ways to go before things get scary. October, known as Uptober in crypto circles, is supposed to be the month Bitcoin gives investors their biggest gains—but the crypto market looks poised to flip the script once again.Bitcoin today is sliding again,…

In brief U.S. government-linked wallets moved 12,267 BTC, worth about $1.01 billion, from the Bitfinex hack seizure to a new, unlabeled address on Thursday, per Arkham. The transfer followed Wednesday flows of about $119 million in USDT and roughly 2,574 BTC to Coinbase Prime, which also offers custody, so a sale isn’t confirmed. A March 2025 executive order directs forfeited Bitcoin into a reserve that won’t be sold. The government still holds about $24.85 billion in Bitcoin. The U.S. government just shuffled more than $1 billion worth of Bitcoin tied to one of crypto’s most notorious hacks.A wallet that blockchain…

In brief Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum’s co-founder, thinks it is “plausible” that AI-driven advancements in math might break encryption, specifically lattice-based cryptography, within the next two years. Lattice-based cryptography is one of several options to quantum-proof a blockchain, but Buterin is warning that it might expose the network to a closer AI risk. It comes a day after Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake also said that AI-accelerated math may break encryption before quantum computing can. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin says it is “plausible” for artificial intelligence to break encryption within the next two years. As a result, he believes the industry…

In brief George Washington University physicists Neil Johnson and Frank Yingjie Huo published a formula that estimates how many good tokens an AI model produces before its first bad one. In the preprint, the formula correctly predicted whether a model would tip immediately or after a delay in 15 of 16 clear-cut cases. The authors propose a parallel monitor that flags when models below a safety threshold. Physicists at George Washington University have published a formula that estimates how many good answers an AI chatbot will give before it slips into a bad one, and early tests suggest it works.The…

In brief Meanwhile, which calls itself the first life insurer licensed to operate entirely in Bitcoin, raised $37.5 million from existing investors led by Bain Capital Crypto, bringing its total raised to over $180 million. The round follows a record year fueled by its BTC Life 1-Pay single-premium policy for high-net-worth clients abroad. The company is backed by Sam Altman and licensed in Bermuda since 2024. Meanwhile, a life insurance company that operates entirely in Bitcoin, has raised $37.5 million as demand for its unusual policies climbs among wealthy families overseas.The Bermuda-based insurer said Thursday the funding came from existing…

In brief The CFTC issued two measures Friday: a proposed rule expanding the “swap” definition to include event contracts , and an interim final rule excluding casino-style gambling like sportsbooks and casino games. Chairman Michael Selig said event contracts are “commodity derivatives squarely within the CFTC’s regulatory remit” and under its “exclusive jurisdiction,” while “casino-style gambling products are not derivatives.” The rules formalize proposals sent to the White House last month, as the agency asserts authority amid state lawsuits and a Supreme Court fight. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is pressing its claim over prediction markets, issuing a pair of…

In brief France’s Finance Committee adopted an amendment treating swaps of crypto into MiCA-regulated stablecoins as taxable sales from Jan. 1, 2027, and another extending the exit tax to crypto held by households worth more than €800,000. The committee then rejected the budget’s revenue section on Oct. 9 by 31 votes to 3, so the floor debate starts from the government’s original text. A third adopted amendment would let investors carry crypto losses forward for 10 years; the Assembly debates the revenue section from Oct. 13 and votes Oct. 20. France’s National Assembly Finance Committee voted this week to tax…

North Korean hackers stole around $1.5 billion from Bybit in February 2025. While the hack itself has been widely covered and analyzed, few have focused on what happened afterward and what became of the stolen funds.To move all that money, hackers needed to rely on an entire network of people willing to handle stolen assets, creating a chain of relationships that someone prepared to spend enough money could infiltrate.That’s what ZachXBT, a pseudonymous blockchain investigator, did. He committed 349,700 USDC and accepted a 5% loss on each completed order while posing as a client of a Chinese laundering network.He eventually…