Polymarket's rapid rise as one of crypto's most closely watched prediction markets is facing fresh scrutiny after a Wall Street Journal investigation alleged that much of the betting activity showcased across social media was never real.

Many crypto users believe wallet security begins with protecting seed phrases, enabling two-factor authentication, and storing assets in hardware wallets. But an increasing number of attacks are showing that the first step toward losing funds may happen much earlier — with a simple Google search.

MoneyGram has joined the Solana network as a validator, allowing the payments giant to help process transactions and secure the blockchain.

Taiko’s bridge system had a security flaw that let attackers trick Ethereum into accepting fake messages as real. This allowed unauthorised withdrawals from token vaults, leading to around $1.7 million in losses and a full pause of the network’s bridge and block production.

What appears to be harmless anime-themed desktop customization content on Steam Workshop has reportedly been turned into a delivery system for crypto-stealing malware targeting gamers, according to cybersecurity researchers.

A Singaporean man discovered that a former schoolmate had used AI-generated images to falsely portray them as a couple with a child and even involved photos of his young relatives. The family reported the matter to the police after learning she had allegedly impersonated him online for years.

The Philippines is drawing growing interest from international crypto companies seeking expansion opportunities in emerging markets, though industry participants say navigating the country's regulatory framework remains a significant challenge despite government efforts to simplify business registration.

Brands are using AI-generated influencers in social media ads that mimic real customer reviews without clearly disclosing they are artificial. The Guardian found the practice is growing in the UK, with no mandatory labelling rules despite rising concerns over misleading content and fake detection.

Polymarket reportedly paid creators to post fake betting videos using copycat websites, with around $1.9 million in shown wagers not being real. The Wall Street Journal said the campaign reached over 140 million views as the company pushes to expand in the US.

Tether co-founder Reeve Collins said the stablecoin industry is entering a “2.0 era,” arguing that current stablecoin infrastructure still has structural problems and that next-generation models need to address users’ inability to access returns from reserve assets. According to Odaily, Collins described the core logic of the “stablecoin 1.0” model as users providing $1 and issuers minting one token, while users mainly receive payment and transfer convenience without sharing reserve yields. Collins said financial services are expected to increasingly become infrastructure, adding that users may not care which bank sends funds. He said AI agents could choose among different financial ecosystems based on users’ interests, and that the next stage of stablecoin competition will center on financial infrastructure and yield distribution models. On regulation, Collins said he continues to hold Bitcoin for the long term. He also said U.S. dollar stablecoins are essentially an extension of the U.S. financial system and face regulatory reach risks, and that they differ from central bank digital currency (CBDC) models, which he said could bring stronger programmability and financial monitoring capabilities.

Goldman Sachs said it has found the first clear evidence that college students are steering away from majors exposed to AI, with enrollment in computer science and programming each down more than 10% in the 2025-2026 academic year. According to BeInCrypto, Goldman economist Pierfrancesco Mei mapped more than 180 majors to jobs using 2022-2024 Census survey data and scored occupations for automation risk, finding computer science, statistics and quantitative business among the highest-risk fields. Campus data showed bachelor-level computer science enrollment fell about 14% at Arizona State University between fall 2024 and fall 2025, while Washington University in St. Louis saw the share of computer science majors drop 16% over two years.

Iraq asked operators of five major oil fields to boost production to prewar levels, targeting output of more than 3 million barrels a day. According to Bloomberg, the move follows a US-Iran deal aimed at fully reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

Gold is expected to remain volatile next week as investors await the release of the US core personal consumption expenditures price index — the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge — for clues about the central bank's rate path following this week's hawkish dot plot, according to market analysts cited by Jinshi on June 20. Why core PCE is the key event "With the Fed now appearing more adaptable to changing circumstances and increasingly sensitive to upcoming inflation data, every important economic data release will have an impact, but the core PCE will be a key event for both the gold and interest rate markets, and next week will be highly data-dependent," said Stephen Innes, Managing Partner at SPI Asset Management. The core PCE reading takes on outsized importance given the context established by Wednesday's FOMC meeting. With 9 of 18 Fed officials now projecting rate hikes in 2026 and the committee's policy statement completely rewritten with reduced forward guidance, markets have fewer pre-committed signals to rely on — meaning each incoming data point, starting with core PCE, will carry disproportionate weight in shaping rate expectations until the Fed's communication framework stabilizes under Warsh. The downside risk: a test of $4,000 Innes warned that stronger-than-expected inflation readings could boost the dollar, push up Treasury yields, and increase the risk of gold testing the $4,000 per ounce level. Gold closed the week near $4,100 — already just over $100 above that psychologically and technically significant threshold, following Goldman Sachs' decision to cut its year-end gold target by $500 to $4,900 on the assumption that the Fed's first rate cut is now pushed to March 2027. A core PCE print above expectations would reinforce exactly the dynamic Goldman flagged: with the Fed's easy-money thesis already being repriced following the hawkish dot plot, additional confirmation of persistent inflation would extend the pressure on gold's no-yield holding cost relative to bonds and cash, pushing the metal further into territory not seen since November. What investors should expect Innes advised gold investors to prepare for increased volatility and remain wary of potential further selloffs heading into the data release. The framing is consistent with the broader "tactically cautious, structurally constructive" view that Goldman's commodity analysts articulated — near-term risk skews to the downside while the metal's longer-term thesis around central bank buying and currency debasement remains intact for those with a multi-year horizon. The read-through for Bitcoin Core PCE's significance extends beyond gold. Given Bitcoin's established pattern of moving in tandem with gold during this macro-dominated phase — both assets falling together when rate hike fears intensify, both rising together on the Iran deal's disinflationary signal — a hot core PCE print carries similar downside risk implications for Bitcoin as it does for gold. With Bitcoin closing the week at $63,671 after a volatile stretch that included the STRC selloff and the hawkish FOMC dot plot, a core PCE surprise to the upside would test the accumulation-driven resilience that has kept Bitcoin above its $59,375 cycle low, while a softer reading could provide the disinflationary confirmation that Mike McCluskey of tx identified as one of the three conditions needed for a genuine, sustained crypto market shift.

The primary challenge facing Warsh upon assuming the chairmanship of the Federal Reserve was not whether interest rates should rise or fall, but a more fundamental question: what kind of boom is the current AI boom? This judgment will determine the Fed's policy direction and define Warsh's historical standing.