Crypto crime syndicate allegedly behind BTS’s Jung-kook HYBE hack
A hacking syndicate accused of stealing 39 billion gained ($28 million) by concentrating on rich company executives and celebrities — together with BTS member Jeon Jung-kook — has been arrested by South Korean police.
A Seoul police unit mentioned Thursday it had apprehended 18 suspects who allegedly hacked authorities companies, public establishments and IT platforms to acquire private and monetary knowledge from 258 victims, based on native media studies. The stolen info was then used to interrupt into financial institution, securities and cryptocurrency trade accounts.
Police mentioned the group efficiently stole 39 billion gained from 16 victims and tried to defraud one other 25 billion gained from 10 others, bringing whole damages to 64 billion gained. Among the many victims have been three celebrities and two company leaders from South Korea’s high 100 firms. The biggest confirmed theft amounted to 21.3 billion gained in crypto.
Jeon, a member of BTS — the boy band usually cited as essentially the most profitable Okay-pop group in historical past — was named among the many victims. Hackers allegedly tried to liquidate 8.4 billion gained value of Jeon’s HYBE inventory, the corporate behind BTS. The suspicious transactions have been frozen earlier than any precise losses occurred.
In line with police, the syndicate prioritized rich people and targeted on targets unlikely to note unauthorized cellular activations, resembling conglomerate chairmen in jail, celebrities or athletes serving obligatory army service and abroad cryptocurrency buyers. Jeon himself had solely not too long ago accomplished his army service.
The alleged ringleaders, each Chinese language nationals, have been arrested in Thailand in Might and extradited to South Korea final week to face fraud prices.
Ripple and Circle put money into Singapore cross-border funds agency
Singapore-based fintech agency Tazapay has closed its Sequence B funding spherical led by Peak XV Companions, with backing from Circle Ventures, Ripple and others.
The corporate didn’t disclose the scale of the spherical and didn’t reply to Journal’s request for remark.
Tazapay mentioned in a press launch that its annualized fee quantity now exceeds $10 billion, rising at a tempo of 300% year-over-year. Its infrastructure helps each digital financial institution accounts and stablecoin funds.
Ripple and Circle every function stablecoins — RLUSD and USDC, respectively — with USDC rating because the world’s second-largest stablecoin by market capitalization.
Their funding in Tazapay comes amid intensifying competitors within the world stablecoin market. Hong Kong not too long ago carried out its personal stablecoin regulatory framework, whereas US President Donald Trump signed the GENIUS Act in mid-July.
Each Ripple and Circle already maintain a Digital Fee Token (DPT) license in Singapore, based on the Financial Authority of Singapore’s monetary establishments listing. Tazapay mentioned it additionally intends to broaden its licensing footprint within the city-state and apply for a DPT license.
Learn additionally
Options
Influencers shilling memecoin scams face extreme authorized penalties
Options
Slumdog billionaire: Unbelievable rags-to-riches story of Polygon’s Sandeep Nailwal
RWAs, not stablecoins, ex-Financial institution of China VP says
China shouldn’t prioritize launching a renminbi stablecoin however as a substitute speed up laws, financial institution participation and the tokenization of real-world belongings (RWAs), former Financial institution of China vp Wang Yongli wrote in a Thursday commentary for the China Financial Occasions. He argued this method offers China the very best likelihood to leapfrog rivals just like the US within the digital monetary race.
Wang claimed that after banks are allowed to attach straight with public blockchains, clients might transfer deposits into onchain tokens and redeem them with out counting on non-public stablecoin issuers. He framed this financial institution and blockchain hyperlink as a extra handy and lower-cost channel than stablecoins.
His feedback observe the passage of the US GENIUS Act simply earlier than Hong Kong’s Stablecoin Ordinance took impact. The US framework is extensively seen as the beginning of how stablecoins will reshape worldwide finance.
In line with Wang, the regulation’s actual significance is that it permits banks to attach straight with public blockchains, doubtlessly sidelining issuers resembling Tether and Circle. Wang added that the shift might speed up tokenized RWA issuance, weaken SWIFT’s function in cross-border funds and even problem CBDCs if industrial banks change into the dominant fiat-to-crypto gateway.
His remarks additionally come amid rumors that China is contemplating greenlighting yuan-backed stablecoins. Specialists instructed Cointelegraph such a transfer would most probably contain the offshore yuan (CNH) quite than the tightly managed onshore yuan (CNY).
In the meantime, Zhou Xiaochuan, former governor of the Folks’s Financial institution of China, cautioned in a July closed-door assembly that stablecoins pose dangers to monetary stability, Bloomberg reported. Zhou argued they provide little price benefit over China’s already extremely environment friendly retail fee system, echoing Wang’s view that banks are higher positioned to handle digital finance than stablecoin issuers.
Learn additionally
Artwork Week
Defying Obsolescence: How Blockchain Tech Might Redefine Creative Expression
Options
Solana Seeker assessment: Is the $500 crypto cellphone value it?
Excessive tax pushes indian crypto merchants to the futures market
India’s steep crypto taxes are reportedly driving buyers away from the spot market and into futures buying and selling.
Futures volumes on main native exchanges have climbed to greater than thrice spot exercise in current months, as merchants look to keep away from the 1% tax deducted at supply (TDS) on each sale and the flat 30% levy on features from spot transactions, based on three trade sources cited by the Financial Occasions.
Futures contracts, which let merchants make leveraged bets, have change into a well-liked different. Not like spot trades, futures don’t contain the precise switch of digital belongings, permitting buyers to sidestep the TDS requirement.
India’s tax authorities despatched questionnaires to crypto platforms final week to evaluate whether or not the nation’s stringent guidelines are prompting buying and selling exercise and companies to maneuver offshore.
Subscribe
Essentially the most partaking reads in blockchain. Delivered as soon as a
week.
Yohan Yun
Yohan Yun is a multimedia journalist protecting blockchain since 2017. He has contributed to crypto media outlet Forkast as an editor and has lined Asian tech tales as an assistant reporter for Bloomberg BNA and Forbes. He spends his free time cooking, and experimenting with new recipes.