ChainCatcher news, the modular L2 network Mantle will integrate USDe and mETH on Compound. Currently, both parties are discussing the introduction and integration of cmETH, aiming to deepen the strategic partnership between Mantle and Compound.

ChainCatcher news, according to Phoenix News, the Hong Kong police recently dismantled a scam group that used deepfake technology to lure others into investing in virtual currencies through social media platforms, involving approximately 34 million HKD.The Hong Kong Police Commercial Crime Bureau arrested 31 individuals, aged between 20 and 34, some of whom claimed to be students and unemployed, based on intelligence last week in two industrial buildings in Kowloon Bay, related to the same scam group, and seized their pre-written "scripts." The group would recruit young people looking to "make quick money," training them to create accounts on dating platforms with fake identities, pretending to have good looks and a luxurious lifestyle, and getting to know individuals from overseas, including Taiwan and East Asia, chatting according to the "script." After understanding the other party's background, they would cater to their interests and develop into online lovers, even using deepfake technology for video calls, subsequently luring the other party to invest in virtual currencies, claiming substantial returns, and asking them to deposit into fake platforms. Once the group received the virtual currency, they would immediately transfer it away and cut off contact with the victims.Hong Kong Police Commercial Crime Bureau Acting Chief Superintendent Kong Hing-fun stated: "They rented two scam centers located next to each other in Kowloon Bay to disperse risks and increase confidentiality. Most importantly, we noticed that these two scam centers operated in two shifts, aiming to continuously attract more victims day and night. Never think that participating in some tasks of a criminal group is just a minor issue; even if you are only assigned to meet victims online without direct contact with virtual currency investment work, it is still illegal."The police stated that this scam group has been operating for at least a year, with criminal profits exceeding 34 million HKD. The mastermind of the scam group, the center's head, and key members, a total of five individuals, have been charged with conspiracy to commit fraud and money laundering, and were brought to the Eastern Magistrates' Court on Monday.

ChainCatcher news, recently, the Yangpu police in Shanghai successfully solved a virtual currency contract trading fraud case after meticulous investigation, dismantling a fraud gang of 16 people, with an involved amount of over 300,000 yuan.During the interrogation, the suspects confessed to their criminal activities without hesitation. Based on the preliminary investigation, the special investigation team fully grasped the modus operandi of the criminal gang, which involved three individuals, Yang and Yu, posing as "investment masters" to infiltrate various virtual currency investment group chats, directing those interested in investing to a fabricated trading platform they set up. They exploited the victims' psychology of wanting to "make quick money" by inducing them to conduct multiple transactions to earn high fees. Subsequently, they misled the victims into raising their investment "profit and loss ratio," making them mistakenly believe that their investment failures were due to their own misjudgment of the market, thereby defrauding them of their money.Currently, Yang and Yu, along with 16 other suspects, have been subjected to criminal coercive measures by the Yangpu police for suspected fraud, and the case is under further investigation. (Xinmin Evening News)

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, the Brooklyn District Attorney's office has shut down 40 NFT scam marketplace websites after an 85-year-old artist was scammed out of $135,000.The Brooklyn District Attorney's office stated on December 6 that someone impersonating an art dealer contacted the victim on LinkedIn, convincing him to mint his artwork on a fake NFT marketplace similar to New York's OpenSea. He was later told he had earned a profit of $300,000—but to withdraw the money, he had to pay a "fee" of $135,000. He raised the funds by completely draining his retirement accounts, using credit card payments, and taking out loans.The office also added that this counterfeit OpenSea website "appears to be controlled and funded by Nigerian sources," and some of the now-closed websites prompted visitors to enter their cryptocurrency wallet recovery phrases, "which would allow scammers to completely empty the contents of users' online wallets."

ChainCatcher news, according to EmberCN monitoring, Mantle (formerly BitDAO) may be repurchasing 100 million BIT from FTX/Alameda through Mirana Ventures via OTC.Two days ago, they transferred 38.73 million USDC to FTX/Alameda, and then received 105 million BIT from the FTX/Alameda address, with the OTC price possibly being $0.367. The current price of MNT (formerly BIT) is $1.03.ByBit and FTX exchanged their platform tokens in early November 2021: ByBit exchanged 100 million BIT for 3.36 million FTT from FTX, with both parties committing not to sell for three years. Currently, the 3.362 million FTT (worth $9.18 million) is still in the Mantle address.

ChainCatcher news, according to the Financial Times, the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) has announced the successful dismantling of a large-scale cryptocurrency money laundering network spanning London, Moscow, and Dubai. The case primarily involves two companies: Smart and TGR, which acted as financial intermediaries, providing cross-border money transfer services for cash-rich criminals and sanctioned individuals worldwide through cryptocurrency.The investigation revealed that this network provided services to criminal organizations, ransomware gangs, and Russian espionage activities, including the Kinahan drug trafficking group, from the end of 2022 to the summer of 2023. Its operation involved couriers collecting cash in the UK and elsewhere, exchanging it for cryptocurrency primarily in USDT, and then laundering the money through a network of companies, providing equivalent funds in other countries.Ekaterina Zhdanova, the 38-year-old owner of Smart, a resident of Moscow, has been accused of transferring over $100 million to an unnamed sanctioned oligarch in the UAE, and is currently under U.S. sanctions and detained in France. The money laundering network collected cash at 55 different locations across England, Scotland, Wales, and the Channel Islands in just four months, serving at least 22 criminal groups.NCA's action director Rob Jones stated that this is the agency's most significant anti-money laundering operation to date. Law enforcement has arrested 84 individuals and seized a total of £20 million in cash and cryptocurrency. The U.S. Treasury has imposed economic sanctions on five individuals and several companies involved. The operation was assisted by the U.S. FBI, DEA, as well as police forces from France and Ireland.

ChainCatcher news, the full-chain game infrastructure service provider and ecosystem Blade Games has launched the public beta of its tower defense game Dune Factory on the Mantle mainnet today, along with a $100,000 $MNT and xBlade airdrop incentive program.In addition, Blade Games completed a seed round financing led by PTC Crypto and IOSG at the beginning of 2024, with a roadmap indicating plans to launch its token this year.

ChainCatcher news, the Mantle APAC Hackathon, jointly initiated by Mantle, Hackquest, and OpenBuild, will officially launch on November 15, open for registration to developers and blockchain enthusiasts in the Asia-Pacific region.This hackathon features five major themes: Decentralized Finance (DeFi), Infrastructure (Infra), Game Development (Gaming), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Meme, with a prize pool of up to $30,000. Each participating project can apply for project funding of up to 20,000 MNT. Additionally, outstanding projects will have the opportunity to receive support from the $200 million fund from Mantle Eco Found and AWS Activate Credits. The winning teams will also gain direct interview opportunities with the HackQuest X Mantle Global Accelerator. During the event, participants will receive technical support from the Mantle expert team, as well as professional feedback from the judging teams of Hackquest and OpenBuild. Shortlisted projects will be showcased online during the Demo Day from December 19 to 22.

ChainCatcher news, according to LookonChain monitoring, the governance token COOK of the Mantle ecosystem project mETH Protocol has increased by 113% in price over the past week; the price of MNT has also risen by 50% in the past week.A certain whale spent 30 mETH (worth $98,000) today to purchase 2.46 million COOK.

ChainCatcher news, according to a report by Poster News, on November 6, the police in Leshan, Sichuan disclosed a case of illegal operation, dismantling a major cross-regional underground bank crime network involving 13 provinces across the country, with an amount involved exceeding 38 billion yuan. Recently, the Leshan Intermediate People's Court made a ruling, sentencing three defendants to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from two years and six months to thirteen years and six months for the crimes of illegal operation and issuing false value-added tax invoices.It is reported that the case involved virtual currency transactions and cross-border fund transfers, with the operational information being complex and mixed, amounting to over 20 million pieces of data. According to the police officers in the special case team, a total of 37 cases have been filed by public security organs nationwide, and 176 criminal suspects have been arrested, successfully dismantling this major cross-regional underground bank crime network involving 13 provinces and an amount exceeding 38 billion yuan. Currently, relevant cases are being further investigated and tried in various places. Among them, the principal offender in this case has been sentenced to thirteen years and six months of fixed-term imprisonment by the Leshan Intermediate People's Court.

ChainCatcher news, Mantle announces that the governance token COOK for the mETH protocol is now open for claiming.The total supply of COOK is 5 billion, with an initial circulating supply of 916 million. The COOK token will be listed on multiple exchanges today at 18:00 Beijing time.

According to ChainCatcher news and L2BEAT data, the current total locked value of the Ethereum Layer 2 network is $36.33 billion, down 4.84% over the past 7 days. The top five in locked value are: Arbitrum One ($13.36 billion, down 2.87% over the past 7 days); Base ($7.53 billion, down 4.75% over the past 7 days); OP Mainnet ($5.9 billion, down 7.68% over the past 7 days); Mantle ($1.35 billion, down 5.84% over the past 7 days); Blast ($1.32 billion, down 8.6% over the past 7 days).

ChainCatcher message, according to official news, OKX Web3 has teamed up with Mantle and several Telegram mini-game project parties to jointly launch an ecological event. Users can connect to multiple Mantle-based mini-games deployed on Telegram through OKX Connect and participate to win rewards totaling approximately $100,000 worth of MNT.Mantle Network is a modular Layer-2 solution designed to enhance the scalability of the Ethereum network. By utilizing Optimistic Rollup technology, Mantle Network efficiently processes more transactions, operates faster, effectively reduces gas fees, and accelerates transaction speed. The OKX Web3 wallet is an industry-leading one-stop Web3 entry point, now supporting over 100 popular public chains, unified across App, plugin, web, and Telegram Mini wallet.

ChainCatcher news, according to the "Hunan Internet Police" WeChat official account, recently, Fuzhou police discovered a case clue during their work that provided fund transfer and payment settlement for online fraud and other gray industry platforms, involving a huge amount of money. The police quickly established a special investigation team to carry out case investigations. After analysis, the police successfully clarified the criminal context and found that the criminal gang operated a fourth-party payment platform, using virtual currency stablecoins to provide fund transfer payments for illegal futures platforms in the gray industry, earning commissions from it. In July 2024, Fuzhou police organized elite forces to carry out a unified net collection operation across various locations, capturing 11 criminal suspects led by a person named Pan. Currently, Pan and the other 11 individuals have been subjected to criminal coercive measures by the public security organs, and the case is under further investigation.

ChainCatcher news, the Hong Kong police have launched an operation called "Code Words" to make arrests, assisted by personnel from the Cyber Security and Technology Crime Bureau in gathering evidence related to online and cryptocurrency transactions. They have dismantled a local scam group involved in cryptocurrency, arresting 27 individuals and defrauding a total of up to 360 million Hong Kong dollars. Superintendent Yiu Wing-kin from the New Territories South Criminal Headquarters stated that the scam group primarily used online romantic relationships to lure victims into investing in cryptocurrency. To facilitate their fraudulent activities, the group employed technology specialists, including graduates from local universities majoring in digital media, for technical support, and collaborated with overseas scammers to set up a fake cryptocurrency platform.

According to ChainCatcher news from the Yixiang Min'an public account, the Xiamen police Xiang'an branch, in conjunction with relevant police units, dismantled an underground money laundering gang that used Sifang payment for cash withdrawal. This gang operated in multiple locations across the country, advertising through chat software to find groups in need of "money laundering." They provided illegal fund payment and settlement services to overseas criminal groups through methods such as cashing out virtual currencies and matched betting, involving a huge amount of money.Currently, 9 criminal suspects have been subjected to criminal coercive measures for suspected illegal business operations and assisting information network criminal activities, and the case is under further investigation.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, the police in Nghe An Province, Vietnam, which borders Laos and the Gulf of Tonkin, have dismantled a Lao scam gang related to fraudulent wire transfers. These scammers specialize in pig butchering and cryptocurrency investment scams. One of the scammers visited Laos in September 2023 and joined the scam gang. In February of this year, they began creating Facebook accounts to lure victims into emotional deception and investment fraud.One of the scammers posed as a woman and gained the trust of a man in Ho Chi Minh City. The victim was ultimately tricked into investing in "Biconomynft," a fake application that promised high returns. Over the course of several months, the scammers stole more than 17.6 billion Vietnamese dong (700,000 USD) from the victim. Initially, the scammers would win the victim's trust by releasing a portion of the investment funds as profits, but once the victim invested more money, the scammers would lock the account and freeze the funds.