"The U.S. Marshals Service is investigating allegations that the son of a federal contractor helping safeguard seized crypto stole more than $40 million in digital assets from government wallets"

"The case has raised fresh concerns about oversight of U.S. government–held cryptocurrency, after earlier reporting indicated the U.S. Marshals Service may not know precisely how many digital assets it controls." Via.

"Hacker Returns $19.3 Million to Drained US Government Crypto Wallet"

"A government-controlled wallet that had been drained of $20 million on Thursday received most of its funds back Friday, adding another layer of mystery to transactions flagged by blockchain analysts as likely being connected to a high-profile theft."

Apparent arsonist threatens to keep burning houses if not paid blackmail in crypto

Edmonton:

A central Edmonton community is on edge after a home was destroyed in an apparent arson — with notes left on neighbouring properties demanding money.

The fire is one of two in central Edmonton in the past month that police have deemed suspicious.

Related, last night in Los Angeles:

Several vehicles and a business in the San Fernando Valley were severely damaged by flames in what investigators believe may be arson. 

The fires occurred between 10 p.m. Sunday and 2 a.m. Monday along Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks. 

...

Last year around this time, an arsonist was arrested in the same area. Investigators do not believe the same person is responsible for these fires. 

Kidnapping of middle-aged couple apparently connected to their son stealing $243 million in crypto

The first few paragraphs in a long article about the world of crypto heists and counter-heists:

The parents of a 19-year-old Connecticut honors student accused of taking part in a $243 million cryptocurrency heist in August were carjacked a week later — while out house-hunting in a brand new Lamborghini. Prosecutors say the couple was beaten and briefly kidnapped by six young men who traveled from Florida as part of a botched plan to hold the parents for ransom.

Late in the afternoon of Aug. 25, 2024 in Danbury, Ct., a married couple in their 50s pulled up to a gated community in a new Lamborghini Urus (investigators say the sports car still had temporary tags) when they were intentionally rear-ended by a Honda Civic.

A witness told police they saw three men exit a van that was following the Honda, and said the men began assaulting the couple and forcing them into the van. Local police officers spotted the van speeding from the scene and pursued it, only to find the vehicle crashed and abandoned a short distance away.

Inside the disabled van the police found the couple with their hands and feet bound in duct tape, the man visibly bruised after being assaulted with a baseball bat. Danbury police soon reported arresting six suspects in the kidnapping, all men aged 18-26 from Florida. They also recovered the abandoned Lamborghini from a wooded area.

Man who contolled the crypto platform Zort allegedly paid several L.A. County sheriff’s deputies to perform unlawful searches and arrests as part of an extortion scheme

LA Times (federal charges have been filed against the crypto mogul):

The U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment on whether the deputies — who are not named in the complaint — will be charged.

Several deputies, including a detective on the department’s notorious anti-gang unit, were recently relieved of duty in connection with a federal investigation, authorities said earlier this week. 

I believe this is the second time in a week Darren Rovell's 1.9 million-follower Twitter account has been hacked

Posting crypto, of course (he's consistently said he doesn't believe in crypto as an investment). (I've also been picking up bot followers again over the last few days after a long break.)

I watched these Tweets live since I follow the marketing accounts and genuinely thought McDonald's was dabbling in crypto

McDonald’s gets hacked and $GRIMACE proves to be a pump and dump pic.twitter.com/hCbLGaNKhr

— BoysClubWorld (@BoysClubWorld) August 21, 2024

Popular Twitch streamer signed for a reported $100 million non-exclusive deal with a "a streaming platform backed by online gaming and gambling sites"

NYT:

[He] chats with fans, hosts reality shows and broadcasts himself playing video games. He has become a star in the livestreaming world, with nearly 12 million followers and the ability to attract tens of thousands of viewers at a given time. By some metrics, he is the most popular Twitch streamer.

...

Kick is averaging 110,000 livestreams a day, still dwarfed by Twitch’s seven million monthly streamers and 31 million daily viewers. But it has grown quickly and attracted other stars.

Forbes:

The CEO of Kick is ... the co-founder of gambling site Stake, though Stake itself reportedly is not a partner/investor in Kick itself, according to their PR. [The Kick CEO] says that Kick will operate as a loss, which is normal for a “startup,” but the site has attracted controversy for attracting streamers kicked off YouTube or Google for hate speech or toxicity

PC Gamer:

Kick may look a little sketchy—in December 2022, former Twitch director of creative development ... called Kick "a sham"—but at the very least it seems serious about building a bigger, more mainstream audience. It may not work out: Mixer paid a reported $50 million to pry Ninja away from Twitch, only to announce a shutdown less than a year later, and it was backed by Microsoft money. 

Sportskeeda:

Popular online sleuth Coffeezilla was quick to point out tweets and posts about Kick that suggested that the platform's creation was motivated to drive traffic towards the Crypto-Casino Stake, and saw gambling streamer Trainwreckstv's association with the platform as a confirmation of his theory. Here's a full breakdown of the Stake connection.

Bonus: 

Many speculate that Kick primarily serves as a promotional tool for Stake and other offshore casinos, financially supporting the platform. Evidence of the relationship between Kick and Stake.com showed when Kick’s logo appeared on the Alfa Romeo cars during an F1 race in Australia instead of Stake’s. Due to Australia’s strict gambling advertising regulations, Stake was likely prohibited from being displayed on the vehicles.

Investigation into the bitcoin side business of a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power executive hints at revolving door corruption

LATimes (the story focuses on whether the executive is impermissibly running a side business mining bitcoin in Colorado, but):

[He] secured an economic development deal with Colorado Springs Utilities, a publicly owned electricity, natural gas, water and wastewater services utility, in 2018, to get a reduced rate for electricity.

[He] said he chose to invest in Colorado Springs because he was able to get “a one-of-a-kind building.” He secured a “very low” rate in Colorado Springs for electricity, he said.

In 2018, the general manager of energy supplies at Colorado Springs Utilities was [a man who worked with the DWP executive] at the DWP before [the man] was hired by Colorado Springs Utilities in 2015.

[That man then] rejoined the DWP last year as its chief operating officer, the No. 2 position at the utility.

"Congressmembers Tried to Stop the SEC’s Inquiry Into FTX"

"The March letter from eight House members—four Democrats and four Republicans—questioned the SEC’s authority to make informal inquiries to crypto and blockchain companies, and intimated that the requests violated federal law."

"Up to $1.5 million worth of Coachella NFTs appear to be 'disabled' after disgraced crypto exchange FTX filed for bankruptcy"

Billboard:

The collection included 10 NFT “Coachella Keys,” which granted lifetime access to the festival and VIP perks such as luxury experiences and exclusive merchandise. Many of those NFTs now appear to be stuck and inaccessible on the defunct exchange.

Today's funny posts

SF Board of Supervisors rejecting new housing units.pic.twitter.com/0gzl6ZVD25

— Lee Edwards (@terronk) November 5, 2022

your grandparents destroying the climate and LGBTQ rights on Tuesday pic.twitter.com/i1Gq0t0Mvw

— Zach-O-Lantern Zimmerman (@zzdoublezz) November 6, 2022

Minecraft says no to NFTs, Tesla sells its Bitcoin

Minecraft:

to ensure that Minecraft players have a safe and inclusive experience, blockchain technologies are not permitted to be integrated inside our Minecraft client and server applications nor may they be utilized to create NFTs associated with any in-game content, including worlds, skins, persona items, or other mods. 

...

Each of these uses of NFTs and other blockchain technologies creates digital ownership based on scarcity and exclusion, which does not align with Minecraft values of creative inclusion and playing together. NFTs are not inclusive of all our community and create a scenario of the haves and the have-nots. The speculative pricing and investment mentality around NFTs takes the focus away from playing the game and encourages profiteering, which we think is inconsistent with the long-term joy and success of our players.

The Verge:

Last year, Tesla made a $1.5 billion investment in Bitcoin and announced that it would accept Bitcoin as payment. Tesla started accepting Bitcoin in late March, then abruptly reversed itself in May, just 49 days later.

In the latest report, Tesla says the value of its remaining “digital assets” is $218 million, which it had reported at around $1.2 billion in previous quarters. 

...

During an investor call, Musk addressed the crypto selloff, saying that it “should not be taken as some verdict on Bitcoin.” Instead, he said, Tesla sold its Bitcoin because it was “concerned about overall liquidity of the company given COVID shutdowns in China.” Basically, Tesla needed the cash. 

"Binance Denies Allegations It Shared Russian Users' Data With Law Enforcement"

Reuters:

In April 2021, Russia's financial intelligence unit met in Moscow with the regional head of Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange. The Russians wanted Binance to agree to hand over client data, including names and addresses, to help them fight crime, according to text messages the company official sent to a business associate.

At the time, the agency, known as Rosfinmonitoring or Rosfin, was seeking to trace millions of dollars in bitcoin raised by jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, a person familiar with the matter said. Navalny, whose network Rosfinmonitoring added that month to a list of terrorist organisations, said the donations were used to finance efforts to expose corruption inside President Vladimir Putin's government.

Binance's head of Eastern Europe and Russia ... consented to Rosfin's request to agree to share client data, the messages showed. 

...

Binance's willingness to engage with Rosfin through 2021 contrasted with its approach elsewhere. Some national regulators have accused the company of withholding information. 

Coindesk:

Binance "will be writing a formal complaint to Reuters under their own editorial code," the statement reads.

The baseball union's executive subcommittee voted 8-0 against the deal

The breakdown of the votes makes it clear: The players wanted to play. Player reps, who represent the rank-and-file, voted 26-4 in favor of the agreement. The executive subcommittee, made of elected leaders, voted 8-0 against it. In the end, all of the players' voices were heard.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 10, 2022

These are the players on the subcomittee.

also:

A Sacramento Kings player abruptly ended an NFT project "with no plans to return any of the money"

ASN:

the mint sales alone likely generated over $1.5 million.

...

[The] swift timing to end the project ... didn’t sit well with fans. After the project shut down, he promised consumers who purchased more than five NFT’s (roughly $1,300) a signed ... jersey — priced around the online market at about $100.

Speaking of NFTs: 

Not sure even the most money-hungry and cynical DAO full of Web3 maniacs would think of minting an NFT of something this inhumane. Impressive really! https://t.co/t6aI3dkIP6

— Ryan Broderick (@broderick) February 24, 2022

Strong contender for the most sociopathic tweet of all time pic.twitter.com/7Gkhef0cGX

— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) February 24, 2022

(1 of 1)
We deleted an earlier tweet promoting an upcoming NFT auction. This was a poor choice of imagery for an NFT. It has not and will not be put up for auction.

— The Associated Press (@AssociatedPress) February 25, 2022

Today's funny posts

I knew I should have practiced on my cat https://t.co/YMdZZR3uO8 pic.twitter.com/vs6jKzP0B0

— El Arroyo (@ElArroyo_ATX) February 17, 2022

Fun story about finding a hacker that believed he could crack a hardware wallet containing valuable crypto

The Verge:

Grand designed his program so that if and when the glitch worked, his computer would call out: “Hack the planet!” — a nod to the 1995 film Hackers. When the time came to do the hack for real last May, Reich flew to Portland for two days. They spent the first day getting everything set up — they filmed the hack with a professional crew — and the next day, Grand launched his script.

Then they waited. And waited some more. Then they ate pizza and waited some more.

After nearly three and a half hours, the computer finally called out

(27:00)

The Brazilian town known as “New Egypt” because of the popularity of crypto pyramid schemes

AP:

With so many alleged pyramid schemes, Cabo Frio came to be known as the “New Egypt.” And as the town’s top dog [he] was dubbed the “Bitcoin Pharaoh.”

Police say [he] began trading in Bitcoin after leaving his job as a waiter in 2014. A one-time evangelical preacher in training, he enlisted clients from the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, Brazil’s largest neo-Pentecostal group, who earned a referral fee for bringing in fresh recruits and kicking back money to G.A.S., police documents say.

...

Rio state police have also linked two attempted killings to [him] and what they called his “extermination team.”

...

Prosecutors have identified at least 27,000 G.A.S. victims

"Ozzy Osbourne’s NFT project shared a scam link, and followers lost thousands of dollars"

Verge:

The launch ... received coverage in outlets like Billboard, Rolling Stone, NME, Hypebeast, and Business Insider, among others.

But just two days after the tokens were minted

...

“Although we feel very sorry for the people that have fallen prey to these scams, we cannot take responsibility for the actions of scammers exploiting Discord

Meanwhile:

the total market cap of the cryptocurrency industry fell 11% to $1.9 trillion as of Friday afternoon during U.S. trading hours, down from an all-time high of $3.1 trillion in November.

Most major cryptocurrencies suffered double-digit losses 

...

Dogecoin (DOGE) is now nearly 80% down from its all-time high last May, despite a recent tweet from Tesla CEO Elon Musk that temporarily sent DOGE up as much as 33%.