ChainCatcher news, according to Decrypt, the UK government has proposed a new bill that expands its powers to seize and destroy cryptocurrencies related to criminal activities. The new legislation aims to enhance law enforcement's ability to confiscate illegal crypto assets and return them to victims, while also strengthening the country's overall means to combat economic crime.In addition to expanding seizure powers, the bill also includes provisions to simplify asset recovery procedures, allowing law enforcement to recover stolen funds and return them to victims. The bill seeks to ensure that those responsible for crimes involving digital assets do not retain the benefits of their illegal activities.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that Gotbit founder, 26-year-old Russian citizen Aleksei Andriunin, has been extradited from Portugal to the United States, facing charges of market manipulation and telecommunications fraud, with a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.Andriunin was arrested in Portugal in October 2024 and was indicted by a Boston grand jury. The charges allege that from 2018 to 2024, Gotbit provided "market manipulation services" for cryptocurrency companies, helping clients inflate token trading volumes to raise prices, including for U.S. companies.Department of Justice documents indicate that Gotbit profited tens of millions of dollars from this business, and Andriunin personally transferred millions of dollars into his Binance account. He made his initial court appearance in Boston on Tuesday, with subsequent hearing dates yet to be determined.

ChainCatcher message, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin stated, "I strongly encourage researchers to participate in the Poseidon cryptanalysis program. We are seriously considering migrating Ethereum to the Poseidon hash to optimize zk-prover friendliness, so having more information about its security properties is of great value."The application deadline for the Poseidon funding program has been extended to March 15, 2025.

ChainCatcher news, according to the announcement from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), SDNY, in collaboration with the Homeland Security Investigations San Diego (HSI San Diego), has successfully seized cryptocurrency assets related to the April 2021 Uranium Finance hacking incident, with a total value of approximately $31 million.Uranium Finance is a DeFi protocol deployed on the BNB Chain that suffered a hacking attack in 2021, resulting in a loss of about $50 million. SDNY stated that if any users believe they are victims of this hacking incident, they can contact the relevant department via email.

ChainCatcher message, on-chain data shows that Trump's crypto project World Liberty Finance spent 125,000 USDC to purchase 548,000 SEI.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, the U.S. federal court detailed the scale of assets owned by SBF before being tried and imprisoned for fraud, as well as how the U.S. government swiftly intervened to seize approximately $1 billion in financial assets and two aircraft.The final forfeiture order issued by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Tuesday formally stripped SBF of ownership of all assets listed in a lengthy property list. Alameda's assets on Binance include: $56 million in XRP, $3.6 million in TRX, $3.4 million in ADA, $2.3 million in BTC, and dozens of other tokens.The most significant asset is the proceeds from the sale of Robinhood stock—$606 million held by SBF's Emergent Fidelity Technologies.Other financial assets include:119 million USDT held by Alameda Research on Binance;$21 million held by Emergent Fidelity Technologies at Marex;$50 million held by FTX Digital Markets at Moonstone Bank;$101 million held by FTX Digital Markets at Silvergate;$7 million held by SBF and another individual at Flagstar Bank.The list of seized assets also includes two private jets: a 2009 Bombardier Global 5000 and a 2006 Embraer Legacy.Court documents also detailed over 250 political donations that have been withdrawn from the campaigns and organizations of the recipients, including amounts donated by FTX executives at SBF's direction.

ChainCatcher news, Indian authorities have seized nearly $190 million in cryptocurrency related to Bitconnect during an ongoing investigation into a crypto Ponzi scheme that was uncovered in 2018, resulting in losses of approximately $2.4 billion for 4,000 investors across 95 countries. Bitconnect was launched in 2016 and collapsed in 2018.It is reported that Bitconnect founder Satish Kumbhani (who was charged by the U.S. Department of Justice in February 2022) established a global network of promoters, paying them commissions to promote the Ponzi scheme.

ChainCatcher message, XO official announced yesterday that it will collaborate with Virtuals Protocol to launch the latest AI Agent, achieving the first cross-platform social interaction. The AI agent Seiko will be launched after $XOXO goes live on Kucoin. Currently, the AI Agent call volume within the XO App is one hundred thousand per day, and it is expected that the integration with Virtuals will create more demand.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bitcoin.com News, Thai police, in collaboration with Chinese police, arrested two Chinese suspects involved in fraud at a luxury mansion. During the operation, they seized $2.5 million worth of USDT stablecoins, as well as over $114,000 in other assets.

ChainCatcher news, according to Thai media Khaosod English, Thai investigators stated that Thai and Chinese police collaborated to arrest two fraudsters and seized USDT worth 2.5 million dollars.The arrest operation took place on February 5, when the two suspects resisted arrest and attempted to delete data from their phones. The suspects, 29-year-old Ye Wanyou and 30-year-old Li Weijie, were apprehended in a mansion. Investigators also seized assets worth 44,550 dollars at the location.

ChainCatcher news, according to the official announcement, due to SEI's network upgrade plan, Upbit will suspend SEI deposit and withdrawal support on February 5, 2025, at 18:00 (Korean time) until the network upgrade is completed and stabilized.

ChainCatcher news, according to Theblock, the Sei Foundation has announced the launch of a $65 million venture capital fund named "Sapien Capital --- Open Science Fund I," which focuses on supporting decentralized science (DeSci) startups built on the Sei blockchain.The fund is fully funded by the Sei Foundation and plans to complete capital deployment over the next 3 to 4 years, with investment amounts ranging from $100,000 to $2 million, covering both token and equity forms. DeSci aims to improve the funding model for scientific research, data sharing, and the distribution of scientists' rights through blockchain technology, and has attracted the attention of mainstream institutions such as Binance Labs and a16z.