Iranians were able to access more than 1,500 Binance accounts last year, and $1.7 billion was transferred from two of them to terrorist proxies, The New York Times reported Monday.
Crypto
The Trump Family Is Going All-In on Crypto Projects, From Bitcoin Mining to Stablecoins
(Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump and his family have taken a interest in just about every corner of the crypto industry.
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There are nonfungible tokens and digital collectibles; a decentralized finance project; a proposed stablecoin; an effort at Bitcoin mining; and a pair of memecoins, one for the president and one for First Lady Melania Trump.
Taken together, the various projects are approaching $1 billion in paper gains even after accounting for the latest round of trade war-induced market gyrations, according to Bloomberg calculations based on publicly available data.
Donald Trump is already the richest person to have ever become US president, and his non-crypto holdings include significant investments in real estate. After his first election in 2016, Trump’s lawyers created a trust to handle his business affairs. That was managed by his two eldest sons and by Allen Weisselberg, the longtime chief financial officer of Trump’s real estate company.
Eric Trump has emphasized that “there are no conflicts” related to the family’s crypto investments.
“I don’t work with the White House,” Eric Trump said during a Bloomberg TV interview in April. “We’ve believed in crypto for a long time.”
The president’s own public conversion to crypto is still relatively new. Trump called Bitcoin a “scam” as recently as 2021, telling Fox Business at the time that he didn’t like the token “because it’s another currency competing against the dollar” and that it should be regulated “very, very high.”
Trump’s relationship with the digital asset industry has evolved significantly since then. As a candidate, he courted and benefited from significant contributions to his reelection campaign from crypto executives and advocates.
In his second term, Trump has signed executive orders in support of his promise to make the US the crypto capital of the planet, installed David Sacks and Bo Hines to represent the interests of the industry, and continued to tout his memecoin with posts on Truth Social.
“Trump and his family seem eager to establish a broad foothold in the sector prior to further regulatory actions that are likely to boost cryptoasset valuations,” said Eswar Prasad, professor of trade policy at Cornell University.
Here’s how the Trump crypto portfolio has evolved.
Crypto
Cryptocurrency Investment Fraud: Bizman loses Rs 2.6 cr to crypto, investment fraud | Hyderabad News – The Times of India
Hyderabad: A 69-year-old businessman from Somajiguda lost 2.65 crore allegedly in a cryptocurrency and stock investment fraud. Based on his complaint, Hyderabad Cyber Crime police have registered a case.The complainant was first contacted by a fraudster posing as Ramya Krishnan on Aug 30, 2025 through Facebook. She persuaded the victim to invest in a cryptocurrency and stock trading platform, Polyus Finance PFP Gold, hosted at the domain pfpgoldfx.vip, promising high returns to finance his proposed resort and apparel ventures.Fraudsters provided the victim a contact number for daily communication and sent screenshots showing notional profits credited in his wallet in USDT cryptocurrency. To build trust, the fraudster even allowed the victim a token withdrawal of 4,300 on Sept 12, 2025.Encouraged, the victim transferred over 2.65 crore in 10 transactions between Sept 10 and Dec 39, 2025 to various current accounts provided by the accused.When he attempted to withdraw his ‘earnings’, the accused demanded an additional 15% conversion commission. After he refused, the website became inaccessible and calls to the fraudsters went unanswered.Realising that he was duped, the victim filed an online report on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP) before approaching the Cyber Crime police on Feb 25.Based on his complaint, a case was registered under Sections 66C and 66D of the Information Technology Act and Sections 111(2)(b) (Organised crime), 318(4) (Cheating), 319(2) (Cheating by personation), 336(3) (Forgery for purpose of cheating), 338 (Forgery of valuable security, will, etc.) and 340(2) (Using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita on Wednesday. Police were analysing financial transactions to identify and arrest the accused.
That was a potential violation of global sanctions, the report said, citing company records and documents collected by internal investigators.
The cryptocurrency exchange site reportedly fired or suspended at least four employees cited in the internal investigation. The company blamed “violations of company protocol” relating to its clients’ data, the Times reported.
The report came days after The Jerusalem Post spoke with experts from blockchain intelligence platform NOMINIS.io about how the Iranian regime was evading Western sanctions through cryptocurrencies.
The regime maintains a steady income using cryptocurrency through oil sales to Russia and China, NOMINIS CEO Snir Levi said at the time.
Regarding the latest scandal, he told the Post this week: “The latest allegations about Binance come months after the lawsuit by the victims’ families of October 7 – the ongoing Balva [versus] Binance case.
The majority of the allegations can be easily confirmed by on-chain data. There are thousands of cases where money has been sent and received to and from wallets that have clear connections to Iran.”
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao is being sued by the families of American victims and hostages of the October 7 massacre. He has been accused of knowingly enabling Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to transfer more than $1b. through its platform, including more than $50 million after the October 7 massacre.
Zhao pleaded guilty to anti-money-laundering violations in connection with Binance in 2023. US President Donald Trump pardoned him last October.
“They say what he did was not even a crime,” Trump told reporters last October. “It wasn’t a crime. That he was persecuted by the Biden administration, and so I gave him a pardon at the request of a lot of very good people.”
Binance representative Rachel Conlan said the accounts linked to the $1.7b. in Iranian transactions have been removed and the relevant authorities were informed.
“Any suggestion that Binance knowingly allowed sanctionable activity to continue unchecked is incorrect and defamatory,” she said, despite Zhao’s earlier admission of anti-money-laundering violations.
More than half a dozen compliance officials have left Binance, including a sanctions manager and the leader of the enterprise compliance team, over the past few months, the Times reported.
“No investigator was dismissed for raising compliance concerns or for reporting potential sanctions issues,” Conlan said in a statement to The Guardian.
Democrat senator opens inquiry into cryptocurrency company
While Conlan insisted there was no wrongdoing, US Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) opened an inquiry into Binance on Tuesday, seeking records of the company’s dealings in Hong Kong , where funds have previously been transferred in a network against sanctions.
“Binance appears to have ignored warnings and recommendations to prevent Iranian money-laundering schemes on its cryptocurrency exchange,” Blumenthal wrote in a letter to Binance co-chief executive Richard Teng.
“According to documents obtained by the Times and the Journal, Binance was even warned that Hexa Whale was financing terrorist organizations such as the Yemeni Houthis, and internal investigators found cryptocurrency transfers to wallets associated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and payments to crew members of Russia’s sanctions-evading shadow fleet of oil tankers,” he wrote.
“Instead of actually preventing illicit use, Binance has sought to evade accountability and influence the White House through lobbying and a financial partnership with World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the cryptocurrency firm owned by the sons of President Trump and his special envoy Steve Witkoff… This influence campaign has worked: In May 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it was dismissing a lawsuit against Binance for lying to regulators and mishandling funds, followed in October by the stunning Presidential pardon of founder Changpeng Zhao.”
“The scale of the newly revealed illicit transfers – uncaught until nearly $2 billion flowed to sanctioned entities – and the unexplained firing of internal investigators call into question Binance’s compliance with American sanctions and banking laws, and its 2023 agreement to resolve the previous federal investigation,” Blumenthal wrote.
Crypto
1 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stock With More Potential Than Any Cryptocurrency | The Motley Fool
Crypto is stumbling while AI is advancing.
We’re in one of those times when market players are shunning crypto investments. Factors such as persistent inflation, a declining likelihood of interest rate cuts (typically a major catalyst for crypto price pops), and outflows from once-hotly popular crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have put the hurt on even the most prominent digital coins and tokens.
Given that, it’s worthwhile to consider another high-potential technology — artificial intelligence (AI). Despite huge growth opportunities ahead, AI has also taken it on the chin lately as well. It still has a bright future, and I believe investors can still hop on this train with a company that’s not a pure play, but one deeply — albeit not exclusively — involved in the technology.
Read on to see what AI giant I believe can outpace even the most popular cryptocurrencies.
Image source: Alphabet.
Alphabet is advancing AI
That company is none other than Google owner Alphabet (GOOG +0.68%)(GOOGL +0.68%). Although it’s still known, with some justification, as a search engine operator, the company has been neck-deep in AI for years. It’s developed both hardware and the large language models (LLMs) powered by it, and it clearly aims to be a top name in this technology.
I have no doubt it can succeed. Google’s AI component Gemini is now fused into the company’s search and many other features (like Google Mail). This makes it a convenient option for web searchers querying for more than basic information on a subject. Its functionalities are also integrated into offerings like Google Docs, where users can harness AI to help with their writing. The Gemini platform itself is a hot item, with a monthly active user count now topping 750 million.
On the hardware front, Alphabet is not only actively developing and deploying Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) — chips designed to power AI functionality — it invented them. Originally designed to bolster the company’s AI capabilities, the processors are now being sold to external customers, opening another revenue stream.
Today’s Change
(0.68%) $2.11
Current Price $313.03
Market Cap
$3.8T
Day’s Range
$309.36 – $313.66 52wk Range
$142.66 – $350.15
Volume
20M
Avg Vol 23M
Gross Margin
59.68%
Dividend Yield
0.27%
Key Data Points
AI is a growth catalyst for Alphabet
Alphabet doesn’t break out the revenue it derives from AI hardware and services, so we can’t put a precise number on how much the technology is bringing in for the company.
Still, it’s clearly foundational these days — the phrase “AI” was mentioned 94 times during management’s fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 earnings conference call. And the tech giant stated in the accompanying earnings release that “We’re seeing our AI investments and infrastructure drive revenue and growth across the board.”
Alphabet’s two main revenue buckets, Google Services and Google Cloud — both of which feature AI-enhanced products — have seen robust increases. The former’s revenue grew 14% year over year during the quarter to almost $96 billion, while the latter’s skyrocketed 48% to just under $18 billion.
The numbers don’t lie. Even if the economy slows or inflation remains stubborn, demand for Alphabet’s impressively large suite of AI products and services will remain strong. I’d feel much more confident parking my money in this AI stock than gambling it on a wobbly cryptocurrency.
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