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On February 5, Thai and Chinese authorities conducted a coordinated raid in Thailand, resulting in the arrest of two Chinese nationals. The operation led to the confiscation of $2.5 million in USDT stablecoins, equivalent to 84 million baht, as well as additional assets valued at over $100,000. The suspects, identified as Ye Wanyou, 29, and Li Weijia, 30, initially attempted to evade capture but were ultimately detained at their luxury residence. Authorities from the Huamark Police Station and the Police Cyber Taskforce (PCT) carried out the operation, seizing not only the digital assets but also approximately $114,285 worth of valuables and $11,430 in cash. Prior to the arrests, Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra reportedly instructed top police officials, including national police chief Kitt-rath Phanphetch, to coordinate efforts with their Chinese counterparts. Two days after their capture, investigators uncovered evidence connecting the suspects to a human trafficking network operating near the Mae Sot district in Tak province along the Thai-Myanmar border. Further investigations revealed that the pair had extended their illicit activities to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where they were involved in marketing fraudulent products in addition to their operations in Thailand. According to reports from the Bangkok Post, Ye and Li were suspected to be senior members of a call center fraud ring running an “insult to injury” scam. This elaborate scheme involved the creation of fake Facebook profiles impersonating the Royal Thai Police . The scammers used these accounts to deceive victims into believing their money had been stolen by fraudsters and redirected to gambling sites. Under the pretense of helping them recover their funds, the criminals would then exploit and steal from the victims further. Following their arrest, both Ye and Li were charged with illegally facilitating bank accounts and selling phone numbers, though they have denied any wrongdoing. The investigation into their activities continues as authorities work to uncover additional details about their criminal network. Meme Index is a decentralized investment platform designed to provide structured exposure to the rapidly evolving meme coin market. By offering a tiered index system, it allows investors to diversify their portfolios while managing risk levels effectively. The platform’s four indexes—Titan, Moonshot, MidCap, and Frenzy—cater to varying market capitalizations, from established meme coins like Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB) to emerging projects with high growth potential. This structured approach enables investors to strategically engage with the volatile yet lucrative meme coin space. At the core of Meme Index is its native token , $MEMEX, which serves both as a utility and governance token. Holders of $MEMEX can stake their tokens to earn passive income through competitive annual percentage yields (APY), while also participating in on-chain governance. This decentralized governance model ensures that key decisions regarding platform upgrades, index compositions, and future developments are driven by the community. Additionally, smart contracts automate transactions and index rebalancing, enhancing security and transparency. Beyond investment opportunities, Meme Index incorporates a revenue-generating model through the sale of naming rights for virtual spaces within its ecosystem. The project’s tokenomics are structured for long-term sustainability, with allocations for presale, staking rewards, marketing, governance, and community incentives. Following a phased roadmap, Meme Index is set to launch its indexes, secure exchange listings, and expand its ecosystem through community-driven initiatives. By combining decentralized finance (DeFi) principles with structured investment strategies, Meme Index presents an innovative and strategic way for investors to navigate the meme coin market while mitigating risks associated with individual tokens.

Author: Weilin, PANews On February 13, the U.S. Government Efficiency Department (DOGE) officially launched its website to disclose details and evidence of government cost reductions, marking the latest progress of the department in cutting costs for the U.S. government. As of the afternoon of February 13, according to data from doge-tracker (compiled from DOGE's Twitter), Musk's Government Efficiency Department has saved American taxpayers $37.89 billion, which accounts for only 1.9% of Musk's goal to reduce U.S. government spending by $2 trillion. On February 9, Coinbase CEO called for increased transparency in government spending through blockchain technology. "Great progress, DOGE," Brian Armstrong wrote in a post on the X platform on February 9. "Imagine if every government expenditure could be transparently recorded on the chain; it would make auditing much easier." On February 10, Cathie Wood, founder of asset management firm Ark Invest, also supported Musk's idea of putting all U.S. government spending on the blockchain, commenting, "Transparent, efficient, secure: win-win-win." According to a report by Bloomberg in late January, DOGE is considering using blockchain technology to reduce government costs, with informed sources revealing that internal discussions are underway. If DOGE launches the plan, it could be large-scale and potentially adopted across multiple government departments. Bloomberg cited sources stating that during the discussions, there were mentions of using blockchain to track federal spending, protect data, make payments, and even manage buildings. One insider indicated that individuals associated with DOGE have met with representatives from several public blockchain networks to assess the technology. A person who visited Palm Beach, Florida, last December proposed several blockchain applications to officials from the Trump transition team, focusing on the technology's potential in protecting critical government data and tracking the flow of funds. On February 3, Musk shared his views on putting U.S. Treasury transactions on the blockchain. In a post on the X platform, Musk emphatically responded, "Yes!" The U.S. Government Efficiency Department was officially created by an executive order signed by President Trump on January 20, tasked with modernizing federal technology and software to maximize government efficiency and productivity. Trump stated that the department would work with the Office of Management and Budget to identify spending cuts and provide recommendations by July 4, 2026. Its leader is entrepreneur Musk, who was originally set to co-lead with Vivek Ramaswamy, but Vivek withdrew for personal reasons before the official appointment. DOGE has an office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building and employs about 20 staff members. An insider revealed that Musk recruited around 100 volunteers to code for his project before Trump's inauguration. Musk is pushing for the use of blockchain technology to force government transparency, but he is not the first to propose this idea. In April 2024, former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. expressed his desire to put the entire federal budget on the blockchain. At a rally in Michigan, the politician told the audience, "Every American can see every item in the entire budget at any time, 24/7. We will have 300 million eyes on our budget. If someone spends $16,000 on a toilet seat, everyone will know." Kennedy's proposal has received widespread support from advocates of small government and sound money, who believe that U.S. government spending has gone out of control. Jean Rausis, co-founder of the decentralized finance platform Smardex, stated that Musk's proposal to move the U.S. Treasury to the blockchain could make the U.S. "the de facto global leader in blockchain innovation." "While it's hard to say which blockchain could handle this task, it's important that it must be permissionless. Otherwise, the promised transparency would just be talk. However, if the U.S. Treasury adopts decentralized infrastructure, it could become a catalyst for the convergence of the Web2 and Web3 worlds." Following Bloomberg's report, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson immediately stated on X, "I think this task should be a collaboration between Cardano, Bitcoin, and Midnight. Hey, DOGE master Musk, reach out to us, we’ll help for free." On January 26, Dragonfly managing partner Haseeb Qureshi predicted that the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) might launch an AVAX sub-chain in 2025 for reporting public spending, with all expenditures traceable on-chain via stablecoins. Government agencies and contractors' wallets would be publicly disclosed and analyzed by public data detectives daily. Currently, there are use cases on Avalanche; on July 30 last year, the California Department of Motor Vehicles digitized 42 million vehicle titles on the Avalanche blockchain to detect fraud and streamline the ownership transfer process. Additionally, Ava Labs (the company behind the Avalanche blockchain) has collaborated with Deloitte and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to launch a new disaster relief platform to help the U.S. government streamline disaster compensation applications submitted to FEMA. The idea of applying blockchain to large-scale projects is not new, although applying it to large entities like the U.S. government remains an unproven concept. As early as 2022, the General Services Administration (GSA) was studying the introduction of ledger systems (like blockchain) into the daily operations of the federal government under its IT program. The agency hosted the U.S. Federal Blockchain Forum in 2017 and is exploring the use of smart contracts in patents, trademarks, IT applications, and foreign aid delivery. According to public reports from 2022, the Delaware Blockchain Initiative has also explored blockchain technology in public records organization and private sector data security. In addition to the aforementioned Cardano and Avalanche, on January 28, the price of MOVE tokens from Movement Labs surged significantly amid rumors that the company is consulting for Musk's DOGE. Reports indicate that this modular network has reached out to the organization, although the news has not been confirmed. Shortly after, Movement Labs founder Rushi Manche responded on X to the news of World Liberty Financial's large purchase of MOVE, stating, "Strategic Move reserve. We are proud to be the first altcoin, the first modern blockchain platform, and the first alternative virtual machine under the new government leadership. MOVE is made in America." Furthermore, the Trump family project World Liberty Financial recently announced a partnership with Ondo Finance, which launched the institutional Layer 1 blockchain Ondo Chain, although this collaboration mainly focuses on the RWA track. As of the afternoon of February 13, based on World Liberty Financial's holdings on Arkham Intelligence, the project holds not only ONDO and MOVE but also a significant amount of ETH, with Ethereum serving as the deployment network for the presidential family project, potentially giving it a first-mover advantage in government collaboration. What challenges will the U.S. government face in further utilizing blockchain technology? Chainlink community contributor Zach Rynes stated on X, "It is highly unlikely that the U.S. government will use a single blockchain to cover all departments and agencies. Do you think the ledger requirements of the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and FDA (Food and Drug Administration) are exactly the same as those of the DoD (Department of Defense) and DHS (Department of Homeland Security)? Probably not." He indicated that the U.S. government will ultimately use multiple private and public ledgers for various purposes, such as increasing spending transparency or automating manual processes. What is certain is that: As Musk pushes for the U.S. Treasury to put transactions on-chain, blockchain technology may be moving toward a whole new application domain. The support from Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and ARK Invest founder Cathie Wood adds more attention to this topic. In the future, which blockchain platform will stand out as a pillar of government digital transformation may have a profound impact on the entire cryptocurrency industry.

zkLend, a decentralized finance lending protocol on Starknet, has suffered a major security breach. As a result, it lost approximately 3,700 ETH, worth around $4.9 million. The exploit has forced the platform to pause withdrawals while investigations continue. Response to the Exploit zkLend confirmed the incident in a series of X posts on February 11, stating that millions worth of cryptocurrency had been drained from its smart contracts. “We are aware of the ongoing security incident on zkLend. The team is now investigating and will provide an update when possible,” the protocol stated. Hours later, they advised users to refrain from depositing or repaying funds while they worked to determine the root cause. They also halted all withdrawals to prevent further losses. Following the attack, zkLend sought the services of several organizations, including StarkWare, ZeroShadow, Binance Security, and Hypernative Labs, to help track the hacker and recover the stolen funds. It also promised to share a more detailed analysis as soon as a post-mortem was completed. The exploit affected several DeFi strategies linked to zkLend, including STRKFarm’s STRK, USDC, and ETH Sensei strategies, putting withdrawals on ice until the situation gets resolved. According to blockchain security firm QuillAudits, the perpetrator, identified by the address 0x64…9109, first targeted a specific contract, 0x04…3b26, before siphoning the funds. They then moved the stolen assets to Ethereum, funneling it through the Railgun crypto mixer, a privacy-focused tool often used to obscure transaction trails. On-chain data shared by the security platform showed several transactions leading to laundering activity, with 706 ETH, valued at about $1.8 million, already sent through the mixer. Whitehat Bounty Offer In a last-ditch effort to recover the funds, zkLend issued a direct message to the hacker, offering a 10% whitehat bounty. This would mean that the attacker would keep nearly 400 ETH worth more than one million dollars if the remaining 3,300 ETH were returned by 00:00 UTC on Valentine’s Day. The team also stressed that the offer is legally binding and releases the exploiter “from any and all liability” regarding the heist. It isn’t the first time protocols on the wrong end of exploits have tried negotiating with bad actors to have funds returned. In March last year, WOOFI lost $8.5 million in a flash loan attack, and subsequently offered a percentage of the loot as a whitehat bounty. Similarly, almost half a year before that, North Korean hackers stole more than $70 million from the CoinEx crypto exchange’s hot wallets, leading the platform to offer them what it termed a “generous bug bounty.” Sadly, in both cases, no funds were ever returned despite the bounty pleas. The post zkLend Exploited for $4.9M in ETH, Team Appeals to Hacker with 10% Offer appeared first on CryptoPotato.

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The XRP Ledger (XRPL) has officially integrated with the Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol, finally giving XRP holders real access to decentralized finance (DeFi). This new connection hooks up XRPL to Cosmos and Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) networks, greatly boosting liquidity and interoperability. According to the IBC protocol on X, for the first time, XRP users can engage with DeFi applications directly through XRPL, a move that takes the token’s functionality way beyond just payments. The integration, put together by Peersyst , establishes XRP as a major player in cross-chain transactions, making it easy to work with other blockchain systems. According to an article from Peersyst Technology, interest in the XRPL EVM continues to grow, with over 1 million transactions, 60,000+ addresses, 1,000+ tokens, and tens of thousands of smart contracts deployed during the Devnet stage. Additionally, more than 50 amendments have been implemented. Related: Cosmos Reveals IBC-Solidity Aims To Connect Ethereum To Cosmos To build on this momentum, teams from RippleXDev, Axelar, and Peersyst are preparing for the launch of the XRPL EVM Testnet. This phase serves as the final testing ground before the system goes live on the Mainnet, a critical step in expanding XRPL’s ecosystem. By joining IBC, XRPL is positioning itself as a multi-chain asset, enabling cross-chain transactions and growing its use cases in DeFi, staking, and liquidity pools. The Cosmos ecosystem, known for its ability to connect blockchains, is welcoming XRP as it moves past its old job as just a payment token. Related: XRP Ledger DEX Volume Hits $400M in January, Ripple CEO Bullish on Growth The successful rollout of the XRPL EVM on Mainnet could further solidify XRP’s role in the blockchain industry, ensuring its long-term relevance as a versatile and widely adopted digital asset. Disclaimer: The information presented in this article is for informational and educational purposes only. The article does not constitute financial advice or advice of any kind. Coin Edition is not responsible for any losses incurred as a result of the utilization of content, products, or services mentioned. Readers are advised to exercise caution before taking any action related to the company.