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  • 2/25/25: OKX Pleads Guilty šŸšØšŸ‘€šŸ‡ŗšŸ‡ø

2/25/25: OKX Pleads Guilty šŸšØšŸ‘€šŸ‡ŗšŸ‡ø

Top News

  1. OKX pleads guilty, pays $500M fine after violating US laws

  2. SBF tweets for the first time in 2 years, FTT briefly pumps

  3. US seizes $31M linked to 2021 Uranium Finance hack

Specsā€™ Insights

1. OKX pleads guilty, pays $500M fine after violating US laws

āŒā—Ŗ-ā—Ŗ ā†’ OKX is in the hot seat!

OKX, one of the worldā€™s largest crypto exchanges, just pleaded guilty to running an unlicensed money-transmitting business in violation of U.S. anti-money laundering laws.

From 2018 to 2024, they facilitated over $5 billion in suspicious transactions, directly contradicting their own policy against U.S. customers.

FBI Assistant Director James E. Dennehy didnā€™t hold back, saying:

"For years, OKX flagrantly violated U.S. law, actively seeking customers in the United Statesā€”including here in New Yorkā€”and even going so far as to advise individuals to provide false information to circumvent requisite procedures."

As punishment, theyā€™re paying over $500M in penaltiesā€”$420M in forfeited fees and $85M in fines.

Regulatory heat is back in full force, and OKX just got burned.

2. SBF tweets for the first time in 2 years, FTT briefly pumps

āŒā—Ŗ-ā—Ŗ ā†’ SBF has spoken!

Sam Bankman-Fried, the infamous former FTX CEO serving 25 years in prison, just made his first social media post in two years.

What did he post about? Crypto? His trial? A public apology? Nopeā€”he decided to virtue signal about unemployment and how hard it is to fire employees.

Naturally, the FTX Token ($FTT) pumped 30% off the back of his post because of course it did.

The real question is who gave SBF a phone in prison?

How could this EVER possibly go wrong? Surely, he would NEVER launch a memecoin from jail... right?

3. US seizes $31M linked to 2021 Uranium Finance hack

āŒā—Ŗ-ā—Ŗ ā†’ Uncle Sam just seized $31M

Nearly four years later, U.S. authorities have seized $31M from the 2021 Uranium Finance hackā€”one of the largest DeFi recovery operations ever.

For context, Uranium Finance was exploited for $50M after a smart contract vulnerability. Only 61% has been recovered, but no arrests have been made, and the feds havenā€™t disclosed who they seized the funds from.

On-chain sleuths like ZachXBT linked the hacker to Tornado Cash and even laundering funds through Magic: The Gathering cards, but itā€™s unclear if the funds were taken from their personal wallet, a laundering service, or a middleman.

Thereā€™s also lingering suspicion of an inside job. The attack happened days after Uraniumā€™s V2 upgrade, the contract was wiped from GitHub, and then the project shut downā€”leaving investors wrecked.

One thing is clear: the feds are getting much better at tracking stolen crypto. If youā€™re out there moving funny money, be carefulā€”big brother is watching.

Everything Else

ā›“ļø Crypto & DeFi

  • Bitcoin falls below $89K amid risk-off sentiment

  • Crypto momentum sees ETH nearing a "death cross" pattern

  • XRP, DOGE drop amid broader crypto sell-off

  • Ethereum devs activate Pectra upgrade on Holesky testnet

  • Ethereum Pectra upgrade stalls on testnet

  • Bybit hack drives ETH traders to hedge against further downside

  • Bybit repays Bitgetā€™s 40,000 ETH loan after $1.4B hack

  • Pump.Fun's AMM pivot called a "strategic miscalculation" by Raydium

  • Ethena Labs integrates Chaos Labs' proof-of-reserves oracles

  • Chainflip upgrades to block Bybit hackers from using its DEX

  • CZ reveals private portfolio, holds mostly BNB and some BTC

  • Infini neobank issues ultimatum after $49M exploit

  • Chintai tokenizes $570M in real estate cash flow

  • OX.FUN counters extortion allegations amid liquidity concerns

  • KIP Protocol denies involvement in Libra launch

šŸ¦ Wall Street

  • Bitcoin ETFs see over $500M in net outflows

  • Riot Platforms reports 34% revenue surge in 2024

  • DekaBank debuts crypto trading and custody services for institutions

  • Citadel Securities makes a move into crypto trading

  • Apple plans $500B US investment as Trump tariffs loom

  • BlackRock exec remains silent on potential Solana ETF

  • Bernstein expects liquidity to shift from memecoins to DeFi, gaming, and NFTs

  • Jamie Dimon calls US government "inefficient," praises Muskā€™s DOGE efforts

šŸš€ Venture

  • Byzantine Finance raises $3M in pre-seed funding for restaking

  • Memes Lab raises $2.3M in seed round led by Lemniscap

  • YZi Labs invests in crypto-AI startup Vana, CZ joins as advisor

šŸ›ļø Legal & Regulatory

šŸŒŽ Rest Of The World

šŸ–¼ļø NFTs & Metaverse

  • Yuga Labs decides to sunset Dookey Dash game

  • OMB surge from 0.06 to 0.12 BTC ahead of black-eyes OMB mint

  • Time.fun tokenized time platform goes live on Solana

  • Dogecoin nears 2025 lows as Bitcoin drops below $95K

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