🔐 North Korea's 2026 crypto theft crosses $1 billion after Bitget hack
Chainalysis has attributed the September 24 Bitget exchange breach — worth $387 million — to North Korea-linked actors, and says the attack pushed the regime's total 2026 crypto haul past $1 billion.
The blockchain analytics firm used in-house AI tools to trace the stolen funds across four separate blockchains, racing to follow the attackers as they moved assets in an attempt to obscure the trail.
The finding highlights the growing scale and sophistication of state-sponsored crypto theft, and the increasingly central role AI-assisted on-chain forensics plays in attribution efforts.
🔐 Armed Robbers Force UK Man to Hand Over Crypto at Home
A British businessman was attacked in his home by masked intruders who beat him with hammers and threatened to kill his heavily pregnant wife unless he transferred cryptocurrency worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.
The couple, who spoke to the BBC anonymously, described the attack as "horrific." The incident is part of a broader pattern of physical crypto robberies targeting individuals believed to hold significant digital assets.
As crypto wealth becomes more visible, holders face growing physical security risks — particularly those whose holdings or identities may be known in their communities.
📊 Andrew Tate moves $1.87M in HYPE to Binance after 1,317% gain
Andrew Tate deposited 20,950 HYPE tokens, worth approximately $1.87 million, into Binance — a position originally purchased for $550,000.
The move comes roughly two years after his initial entry into the token, representing a 1,317% return on that original stake based on figures in the source.
On-chain moves by high-profile holders are often watched as signals of potential selling intent, making large exchange deposits a point of attention for HYPE market participants.
🟣 Solana ETFs Surpass XRP Funds With $1.91B in Assets
Solana ETF products have overtaken XRP funds in total net assets, reaching $1.91 billion after an eight-day inflow streak that brought in nearly $254 million.
The shift is notable given that SOL carries a smaller market cap than XRP, yet its ETF complex now represents a proportionally larger share of the underlying token's value.
This development signals growing institutional appetite for Solana exposure through structured products, positioning SOL ETFs as a significant force in the altcoin fund space.
U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs returned to positive territory Thursday with $102.67 million in net inflows, ending a brief pause after a nine-session streak.
BlackRock's IBIT was the primary driver of the recovery, offsetting outflows recorded by Fidelity's fund. Bitcoin traded above $86,000 during the session.
ETF flow data remains a closely watched indicator of institutional demand for Bitcoin exposure.
Blockchain security firm BlockSec has traced the $387.5M stolen from Bitget through a layered laundering chain involving Bitcoin, THORChain, and CoinJoin — a privacy tool commonly used to obscure transaction trails.
Despite the scale of the theft, only approximately $840,000 has been publicly frozen so far, leaving the vast majority of funds still unaccounted for in terms of recovery.
The use of cross-chain bridges and mixing services highlights an ongoing challenge for the industry: once stolen funds move through privacy-preserving infrastructure, tracing and freezing them becomes significantly harder — even when the on-chain trail is partially visible.