ChainCatcher news, according to Fortune, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has announced the appointment of billionaire Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the newly established "Department of Government Efficiency" (D.O.G.E). The department's name is a nod to Dogecoin and will work with the White House Office of Management and Budget to promote structural reforms in government.Ann Skeet, Director of Leadership Ethics at Santa Clara University's Markkula Center, pointed out that Musk's business interests are in direct conflict with government interests. Musk's companies have close ties to the government: SpaceX holds over $4 billion in NASA lunar program contracts; Tesla benefits from government tax incentives and is also subject to automotive safety regulations; the social platform X is facing investigations by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); other businesses like the artificial intelligence company xAI, brain-machine interface company Neuralink, and tunneling company Boring all intersect with federal regulation.Richard Painter, a former White House ethics lawyer during the Bush administration, stated that if DOGE operates as a government agency, Musk would need to divest his business interests or recuse himself from related matters, unless Trump grants a rare exemption. Automotive safety advocates are concerned that efficiency reforms led by Musk could undermine the functions of regulatory agencies like the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

ChainCatcher news, according to the "Maoming City" WeChat public account, Maoming City (a prefecture-level city in Guangdong Province) is continuously promoting the pilot work of digital RMB. Recently, I learned from the Maoming branch of the People's Bank of China that the party and government agencies and public institutions in Maoming City have fully implemented the distribution of subsidies in digital RMB.In July this year, the Maoming Municipal Finance Bureau and the Maoming branch of the People's Bank of China jointly issued the "Notice on the Pilot Work of Distributing Subsidies in Digital RMB." According to the requirements of the "Notice," the party and government agencies and public institutions in Maoming City began to fully implement the distribution of subsidies in digital RMB starting in September. By the end of October, a total of 359 budget units in the city had implemented the distribution of subsidies in digital RMB, with a cumulative total of 75,883 instances of subsidies distributed to administrative agencies and public institutions, amounting to 81.738 million yuan.At the same time, Maoming is also promoting the quality, expansion, and efficiency of the digital RMB pilot work, expanding multi-channel payment methods. In the next step, Maoming City will continue to promote the distribution of salaries in digital RMB for all budget units in the city. Additionally, it will actively promote the construction of a digital RMB application demonstration area in the eastern section of the Maonan River in Maoming City.

ChainCatcher News, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Cybersecurity Coordination Center (HC3) recently released an overview of the Trinity ransomware targeting sensitive data. Attackers use phishing emails, malicious websites, and software vulnerabilities to trick victims into installing the ransomware on their computers. It then searches for and collects sensitive information on the computer and sends it to the hackers. The ransomware also encrypts the victim's files using algorithms, rendering them unusable.After encrypting the files, the ransomware generates a notification informing the victim that it has extracted and encrypted their data and demands a ransom in exchange for the decryption key. The notification also tells the victim that they have 24 hours to pay in cryptocurrency, or their data will be leaked.HC3 stated that the Trinity ransomware targets critical infrastructure, such as healthcare providers. The government agency reported that seven organizations have already fallen victim to this ransomware. "According to HC3, at least one healthcare facility in the U.S. has recently become a victim of the Trinity ransomware," HC3 reported.

ChainCatcher news, the co-founder of the Web3 game platform Gala Games posted on X: "The platform was hacked, resulting in the unauthorized sale of 600 million GALA tokens (worth $21 million) and the destruction of $4.4 billion in tokens. We identified the vulnerability and removed unauthorized access to the GALA contract within 45 minutes. Our GALA Ethereum contract is secure and protected by a multi-signature wallet. We messed up internal controls, and the team is taking steps to ensure it doesn't happen again. We believe we have identified the attacker, and we are currently working with the FBI, the U.S. Department of Justice, and some international agencies."Previous news, according to The Block, the Web3 game platform Gala Games was reportedly hacked, with hackers minting tokens worth $200 million.

ChainCatcher news, according to Blockworks, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) responded to Coinbase's previous complaint, stating that Coinbase has no right to compel government agencies to fulfill certain duties. "Perhaps realizing this, Coinbase instead claims that the court should force the SEC to act on the rulemaking petition recently submitted by Coinbase, but there are no laws or regulations requiring the SEC to take such action within a specific timeframe."Previously reported, Coinbase sued the SEC, demanding a response regarding specific rules for digital assets; on May 4, the court ordered the SEC to respond to the cryptocurrency rule petition submitted by Coinbase within 10 days. (source link)

ChainCatcher news, Binance has partnered with the government agency responsible for financial technology, education, digital development, and innovation in Kazakhstan, aiming to provide blockchain education to 40,000 people by 2026. In addition to the blockchain education program, Binance also hopes to offer crypto services and resources to Kazakhstan and the world.It is reported that in October 2022, Binance obtained a permanent license from the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) Financial Services Authority (AFSA) to operate a digital asset platform and provide custody services in the Astana International Financial Centre. The permanent license grants Binance the status of a regulated platform in Kazakhstan and demonstrates its strong compliance and security controls. (source link)