ChainCatcher news, according to Protos, Russia is using Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan in exchange for some Russians held by the U.S. and its allies, including Alexander Vinnik, the founder of the BTC-e cryptocurrency exchange.Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan were taken to a location outside of Russia yesterday. According to Business Insider citing TASS, Vinnik and others will be sent in another direction, and their names have been removed from the FBI's electronic database.It is reported that in May of this year, Vinnik pleaded guilty during his time at BTC-e, admitting to conspiracy to commit money laundering. He is responsible for approximately $121 million in losses and encouraged criminals to use the platform to launder and store illegal proceeds. Gershkovich and Whelan were arrested in March 2023 and December 2020, respectively, on espionage charges, but the U.S. denies these allegations.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bitcoin.com, the Philippine Department of Justice (DOJ) announced last week that it has filed criminal charges against two Russian citizens, accusing them of stealing cryptocurrency XRP worth 340 million Philippine pesos (approximately 6.2 million USD) from local dealers.According to the charges filed with the Taguig Regional Trial Court, the defendants Vladimir Evgenevich Avdeev and Sergey Yaschuck are facing charges under Republic Act No. 10175, the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.Avdeev and Yaschuck served as consultants for Coins.ph, a Philippine cryptocurrency exchange under Betur Inc., and are alleged to have hacked into the company's system, resulting in the theft of 12.2 million XRP.

According to ChainCatcher, citing informed sources from CoinDesk, over 30 validators were kicked out of the Solana Foundation's delegation program last weekend. Although they remain validators on the network, they are no longer eligible to receive rewards for validating transactions on the Solana blockchain. Another source stated that many of the operators are Russian. In total, 32 operators were removed, who collectively held 1.5 million SOL, accounting for about 0.5% of the staked amount in the program.ChainCatcher previously reported that, according to The Block, the Solana Foundation announced that it had removed a group of validator operators from the delegation program due to their involvement in "sandwich" attacks on Solana users.

Chain Catcher news, the EU has confirmed a comprehensive ban on providing cryptocurrency services to Russians. The European Commission stated in a declaration that by prohibiting all cryptocurrency wallets, accounts, or custodial services, the existing ban on cryptocurrency assets has been strengthened, which may mean that Russians will not be able to hold any assets in EU cryptocurrency wallets.Previously reported, the EU will tighten restrictions on Russian cryptocurrency investments within the EU to respond to the referendums held in the regions of Ukraine occupied by Russia. (Source link)