The Ministry of Public Security Introduces the Issue of Telecom Fraud Involving China in Northern Myanmar: Criminal Tools Keep Upgrading with the Use of Virtual Currency, AI Intelligence, etc.

 

According to a report by the Beijing Business Today, on January 10, the Ministry of Public Security held a press conference. Zhang Ming, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Public Security, introduced the issue of telecom and network fraud involving China in Northern Myanmar that has drawn wide attention. Since the special work to combat telecom and network fraud crimes involving China in Northern Myanmar was launched in July 2023, relying on the China-Myanmar law enforcement and security cooperation mechanism, the Ministry of Public Security has directed the joint operations of public security organs in multiple places such as Yunnan and Zhejiang to fully carry out case investigations. By the end of 2024, more than 53,000 Chinese suspects involved in fraud had been arrested cumulatively. The notorious "Four Big Families" criminal groups in Kokang, Northern Myanmar, were completely destroyed, and all the large-scale telecom fraud parks near China's border in Northern Myanmar were eradicated. The special work has achieved major phased results, driving down the number of telecom and network fraud cases filed and the losses across the country significantly. Currently, the cases of the "Four Big Families" criminal groups have successively entered the litigation stage. Although remarkable achievements have been made in the fight against and governance of such crimes, the current crime situation remains severe and complex. Among them, the confrontation between offense and defense is constantly intensifying and escalating. Fraud groups are constantly updating and upgrading criminal tools by using new technologies such as blockchain, virtual currency, and AI intelligence.

 

The ScaleBit security team under BitsLab published an article stating that in October 2024, the ScaleBit security team under BitsLab discovered a vulnerability in the Uniswap iOS wallet, named "Unauthorized Access to Mnemonic Phrases". This vulnerability allows attackers with physical access to the device to bypass the wallet's authentication mechanism and directly access the mnemonic phrases stored in the device. The root cause of this vulnerability lies in the flaws in the storage and access mechanism design of the mnemonic phrases. The mnemonic phrases are not effectively encrypted at the application layer, and the trigger conditions for the recovery page are unreasonable, enabling attackers to easily bypass the wallet's authentication mechanism and directly obtain the mnemonic phrases in the wallet when they have physical access to the device. Currently, this vulnerability still exists in the latest version (Version 1.42) of the Uniswap Wallet, posing a potential risk to all users of this wallet. Therefore, users need to pay special attention to the physical security of their devices during use and avoid disclosing the unlock password or lending their devices to others.

 

According to a report by Cointelegraph, former British Prime Minister Liz Truss said, "I'm a supporter of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. I think they're quite good." It is reported that Truss is the British prime minister with the shortest tenure. She was forced to resign just 49 days after taking office due to the soaring borrowing costs caused by the government's mini-budget.

 

According to a report by Cryptonews, Russia has started selling the bitcoins it confiscated during the investigation into the Infraud hacker group in 2023. This move indicates that Moscow hopes to exchange more than 1,000 bitcoins for fiat currency. Russia's official news agency TASS confirmed this progress and stated that Moscow will first sell the bitcoins worth nearly $10 million confiscated from Marat Tambiev, a former investigator of the Russian Investigative Committee. Last year, Tambiev was convicted of accepting bribes from the hacker group. Prosecutors found hundreds of bitcoins in his computer and storage devices. The former investigator was sentenced to 16 years in prison for accepting 1,032.1 bitcoins from the group. However, the efforts of the bailiffs to liquidate all 1,032.1 bitcoins have been complicated by legal obstacles. Tambiev seems to have divided these bitcoins into several smaller amounts. This means that the bailiffs must submit separate court rulings to allow Moscow to obtain these bitcoins. However, the bailiffs have successfully persuaded the court to allow them to sell the first batch of bitcoins. They said that Tambiev stored these bitcoins in a Ledger Nano X hardware encrypted wallet. TASS quoted sources as saying that prosecutors also hope to sell another batch of bitcoins "worth millions of rubles", as well as "several properties in the Moscow region" and a "Honda motorcycle".

 

According to a report by CryptoSlate, the UK Treasury has revised the Financial Services and Markets Act (FSMA), which will come into effect on January 31. The revision excludes cryptocurrency staking from the classification of collective investment schemes. According to this change, staking with ETH and SOL will only be regarded as a blockchain verification process and will no longer be subject to the regulatory requirements applicable to collective investment schemes. Previously, due to the ambiguity of regulatory definitions, there was a risk that staking would be classified as a traditional collective investment vehicle, which is required to comply with the more stringent FSMA regulations. The amendment clarifies that staking involves participants locking up cryptocurrencies to verify blockchain transactions and ensure network security, which is essentially different from collective investment schemes and requires a tailored regulatory framework. Bill Hughes, a lawyer at ConsenSys, welcomed this move, believing it is an important step for the industry, and emphasized that the UK has traditionally taken a tough regulatory approach to collective investment schemes, which might have hindered the development of the industry. It is worth noting that this move is in line with the UK's broader strategy of promoting innovation in the cryptocurrency field while maintaining appropriate regulation to protect market participants.

 

According to a report by The Block, the U.S. Senate Banking Committee plans to appoint Senator Cynthia Lummis, who is friendly to cryptocurrencies, to lead the newly established Digital Assets Subcommittee to fulfill the promise of the new chairman. Some Republican members of the Senate Banking Committee have initially selected the leaders and members of the subcommittee, but the selection still needs to be confirmed by a committee vote. A Senate aide revealed that Lummis will lead a digital assets subcommittee, whose members include Senator Bill Hagerty, who supports cryptocurrencies, and newly elected Senator Bernie Moreno. Tim Scott, the incoming chairman of the committee, said earlier that if elected, he would establish a subcommittee focusing on digital assets. The current chairman, Sherrod Brown, is critical of the cryptocurrency industry and has called for cracking down on related illegal activities. The leadership of the Senate Banking Committee is also crucial because the chairman holds the financial power over legislation, including cryptocurrency bills. Previously, the U.S. House Financial Services Committee appointed Bryan Steil as the chairman of the Digital Assets Subcommittee.

Artela Network, an L1 network for fully on-chain artificial intelligence agents, has released its token economic model, aiming to support the large-scale application of on-chain AI agents. The ART token, as the native asset of Artela, undertakes core functions such as staking, paying Gas fees, governance rights, and ecological liquidity, and has become the key to network security, governance, and economic operation. The ART token adopts an inflation model, with an initial annual inflation rate of 8% and a decrease of 1% each year until it reaches a long-term issuance rate of 0%, ensuring controllable supply growth and supporting long-term value stability. The total supply of ART is 1 billion, and the allocation includes 62% for the community (4.5% for airdrops, 28.5% for network staking, 23% for ecological development, etc.), 15% for the team, 18% for investors, and 5% for early contributors. The tokens will be gradually released according to a clear unlocking plan to support the sustainable development of the ecosystem. Previously, the blockchain infrastructure startup Artela completed a $600,000 seed round of financing, led by Shima Capital.

 

The decentralized streaming platform Theta has released its 2025 roadmap. In the first half of 2025, it will focus on launching the EdgeCloud hybrid cloud edge architecture in June and expanding the rapidly growing edge network. This version will fully support distributed edge architectures across devices, regions, and configurations, be able to prioritize and opt out of specific job types, and analyze completed jobs. It will also release a developer API interface to provide developers with the tools needed for efficient development on EdgeCloud. Other main features will be launched according to the current needs of EdgeCloud customers, such as persistent storage, GPU node upgrades, and on-demand API access to AI models. These features, together with the beta version of the AI Agents platform, will automatically use AI models through on-chain autonomous interactions to achieve a large number of use cases and encourage customers to continue adopting them in key target areas such as academia, private enterprises, professional sports, and e-sports. In the second half of the year, Theta Hackathon will be expanded into an offline event, and continuous support will be provided for Theta ecological projects. Discussions are underway with several well-known professional sports and e-sports teams, hoping that EdgeCloud can help them formulate AI strategies and have the opportunity to launch sub-chains to support their business use cases. Third-party platforms are also considering integrating TDROP as a user participation token. Starting from OpenTheta, more platforms will be launched in 2025. In addition, Theta is evaluating and may rebrand TDROP to expand its utility to AI agents, RAG chatbots, and other consumer-oriented AI and video AI applications built on EdgeCloud. Finally, in 2025, the EdgeCloud hybrid edge cloud architecture will be fully released, including intelligent job orchestration and optimization, as well as full support for Linux, Windows, and Mac.

 

Paolo Ardoino, the CEO of Tether, said on the X platform, "I will give a speech at the Italy AI Week in May and introduce the latest progress of Tether's AI strategy, which is fully focused on personal freedom of speech and financial freedom, open-source, peer-to-peer technology, and privacy protection. I will reveal the truth, including future scenarios that are often covered up due to 'political correctness', involving the future development of artificial intelligence, robotics, brain-computer interfaces, and other disruptive technologies."

 

Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, posted on the X platform that misusing AI could create new, independent, self-replicating intelligent life. Using AI correctly, however, is like building mechanical armor for the human mind. If we only achieve the former and not the latter, humanity will face the risk of permanently losing power. If we achieve the latter, we will usher in a prosperous super-intelligent human civilization. In addition, in response to the question "As a design choice, should we build AI agents or enhance human agency?", Vitalik said, " 'Agents' is an interesting word. Sometimes it refers to 'AI that can operate autonomously without human intervention and formulate complex plans that last for days', but more often it simply means 'chatbots replacing the graphical user interface (GUI) to become the interface for everything'. The latter is great!"

 

 

Binance announced that it will launch spot trading pairs for aixbt by Virtuals (AIXBT), ChainGPT (CGPT), and Cookie DAO (COOKIE) at 21:00 on January 10, Beijing Time, including AIXBT/USDC, AIXBT/USDT, CGPT/USDC, CGPT/USDT, COOKIE/USDC, and COOKIE/USDT. Users can now recharge AIXBT, CGPT, and COOKIE to prepare for trading, and the withdrawal service will be available at 21:00 on January 11. No listing fees will be charged for this launch, and the relevant smart contract addresses have been published. It should be noted that these tokens had previously been listed on Binance Alpha Market.

 

Grayscale's official website updated its "Asset Watchlist" this morning, listing a variety of digital assets that may have investment products launched in the future, including $KAS, $APT, $ARB, $TIA, $HBAR, $MNT, $SEI, $S, $STRK, $TON, $TRX, $AERO, $BNB, $ENA, $INJ, $JUP, $ONDO, $PENDLE, $RUNE, $DOGE, $IMX, $AKT, $FET, $AR, $EIGEN, $HNT, $JTO, $PYTH, and $WLD, etc. Grayscale also encourages the community to provide feedback on whether there are any potential assets that have been overlooked to further improve the layout of its investment products.

 

The Sui Foundation announced on January 8 that a total of 12 teams had completed an eight-week project development in the first Hydropower Accelerator Program. These projects cover areas such as DeFi, DePIN, and RWA, including advertising networks, digital gift platforms, and new tools for liquid staking. The participating teams include: 7k: The second-largest trading aggregator on Sui, providing an intelligent trading ecosystem. AdToken: A peer-to-peer advertising network that pays based on advertising effectiveness. CryptoMate: A stablecoin fintech operating system that supports low-code and AI functions. Gifted: A digital gift platform that focuses on interactive experiences. InsiDeX: A DeFi analysis and trading platform on the Sui chain. Lotus Finance: A decentralized market maker and high-frequency trading infrastructure. Nativerse: A non-custodial liquid staking tool that helps boost the liquidity of Bitcoin. Nemo Protocol: A native yield trading platform on Sui. Pomerene: An international trade DePIN network. Printr: A cross-chain tokenization and fundraising platform. Protocol Media Labs: An innovative news platform that supports independent media. The twelfth team is in a confidential mode and its information has not been disclosed.

 

Synthetix announced that its perpetual contract market on Arbitrum has entered a closing-only mode, and users can no longer open new positions or increase existing positions. This move is part of Synthetix's strategic adjustment, aiming to integrate operations and focus on Coinbase's Base network. As USDx on Arbitrum is gradually being phased out, the Synthetix Treasury has started to repurchase USDx from the market and provide stability and liquidity support. Synthetix has asked liquidity providers on the Arbitrum platform to migrate to the Base network and will provide additional incentives on the Base network to facilitate the migration. Existing positions can still be closed or reduced during the decommissioning period of Arbitrum. In addition, Synthetix also plans to integrate ecological projects such as Kwenta and TLX into a unified native trading platform.

 

Pump Science announced on the X platform that it has started airdropping 2.5 million BIO tokens to RIF and URO holders. The airdrop allocation is based on snapshots taken at three nodes in November, December, and January. Addresses that held tokens at all snapshot nodes can receive a 2.5-times airdrop bonus. In addition, each wallet can receive a maximum of 8,000 BIO tokens.

 

According to the official announcement of Binance, BNSOL Super Staking will launch the fifth phase project - Renzo (REZ), a restaking protocol on the Ethereum and Solana chains. From 08:00 on January 13, 2025, to 07:59 on February 1, 2025 (Beijing Time), users who hold BNSOL in their Binance accounts or Binance wallets or stake SOL to BNSOL will receive REZ APR Boost airdrop rewards. The REZ APR Boost airdrop reward is an additional token airdrop provided on top of the basic annualized interest rate of Binance SOL staking, offering users a higher yield. The REZ APR Boost airdrop rewards can be claimed around 13:30 (Beijing Time) daily starting from January 14, 2025.

 

According to the official announcement, the South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb will list SONIC, SAFE, and AHT on the South Korean Won market.

According to a report by The Defiant, the crypto game InfiniGods is currently preparing to launch its native token GOD. The GOD token will be distributed among the NFT holders in the ecosystem, with 4.25% allocated to InfiniPass holders, 3.25% allocated to Elder Gods NFT holders, and 9.5% allocated to God Vault NFT holders. The Token Generation Event (TGE) date has not been determined yet. However, Bry DiSanto, the chief marketing officer of InfiniGods, hinted that an airdrop is coming soon and posted on X, "It's January, and the time is almost here." InfiniGods is a mobile game studio founded in 2022. Previously, the company completed a $900,000 seed round of financing led by Pantera Capital, with Framework Ventures and Animoca Brands also participating. It raised another $800,000 in April 2024 and completed a $130,000 strategic round of financing led by Arete Capital in December.