US Soldier Gets Busted in Betting Mission as Fake Iranian Authorities Get to Work
Welcome to another edition of your favorite weekly news round, guys
So we’ve been told that a Green Beret just got busted mixing military ops with market bets, a classic way to turn classified intel into a Polymarket payday for his very own missions. It gets crazier than this in crypto, because elsewhere, SBF is writing letters from his California prison cell, trying to convince everyone he's totally not asking Mommy and Daddy to help him escape his 25-year sentence. Sure, Sam…we believe you.
And for the wildest tale of the week, fake Iranian authorities are sliding into shipping companies' DMs demanding Bitcoin ransoms for safe passage. Because apparently scammers watched the original authorities do their thing and thought, "we can do this too."
Here are the highlights:
- U.S. arrests Army green beret for $400,000 Polymarket bets on Venezuela raid he was in
- Sam Bankman-Fried Withdraws Motion for New Trial, Denies Ghostwriting Allegations
- Scammers demand crypto from stranded ships in Strait of Hormuz
- Hong Kong eyes 10,000 BTC investment for Asia’s first regulated Bitcoin capital pool
U.S. Arrests Army Green Beret for $400,000 Polymarket Bets on Venezuela Raid He was in
The U.S. Department of Justice arrested a master sergeant with the Army on allegations he placed wagers on the raid of Nicolas Maduro ahead of participating in the operation to detain the former Venezuelan leader. The DOJ unsealed an indictment Thursday charging Gannon Ken Van Dyke with the unlawful use of confidential government information for personal gain, theft of nonpublic government information and fraud charges, alleging he used his knowledge of the forthcoming raid on Venezuela to place $33,000 in bets, winning about $400,000 after the raid.
Sam Bankman-Fried Withdraws Motion for New Trial, Denies Ghostwriting Allegations
Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder of collapsed crypto exchange FTX, has withdrawn his request for a new trial while trying to distance his parents from recent legal efforts, according to a letter received by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan’s chambers on Tuesday. Filed in the Southern District of New York, the letter was written by the former crypto mogul from a low-security correctional facility in Lompoc, California—roughly 3,000 miles away from the courtroom where he was sentenced in 2024 to 25 years in prison.
Scammers Demand Crypto From Stranded Ships in Strait of Hormuz
Fraudulent actors posing as Iranian authorities have reportedly sent messages to shipping companies whose vessels remain stranded west of the Strait of Hormuz, demanding payment in cryptocurrency for safe passage. On Monday, maritime risk company Marisks issued a warning saying unknown groups had contacted shipowners claiming to represent Iranian security services and requesting transit “fees” in Bitcoin (BTC) or USDt (USDT) in exchange for clearance through the strait, according to Reuters. “These specific messages are a scam,” Marisks reportedly said, adding that they do not originate from Iranian authorities.
Hong Kong Eyes 10,000 BTC Investment for Asia’s First Regulated Bitcoin Capital Pool
A Hong Kong-listed company wants to attract more than 10,000 BTC into a regulated asset management strategy, a target worth roughly $760 million at current prices. While the number itself is jaw-dropping, it's the strategy's structure that reveals the true scope of this plan. Hong Kong is trying to become a place where large pools of Bitcoin capital can sit under local rules, inside a familiar financial system, without forcing Asian investors to rely on US ETFs or offshore exchanges for every serious allocation.
Other Highlights Worth Mentioning
Europe’s banks are going all in on crypto - Coindesk
Brazil Issues Sweeping Ban Against Prediction Market Platforms - Decrypt
California Man Gets 70 Months in Prison for $260 Million Crypto Scam - BeinCrypto
US armed forces are running a Bitcoin node to “project power” for America’s security - Cryptoslate
COINIGY FACT OF THE DAY
On this day in 2021, Ethereum reached $2,328 for the first time, marking a crucial milestone during one of crypto's most explosive bull runs.
April 27, 2021, came just two weeks after Ethereum's Berlin upgrade went live on April 14, a network improvement that optimized gas costs and paved the way for future scalability solutions. The timing was perfect: Ethereum was riding an unprecedented wave of adoption driven by the explosive growth of decentralized finance (DeFi) and the NFT boom that was captivating mainstream attention.
COINIGY MEME OF THE WEEK
