A New York man was jailed for 15 months after using fake Telegram accounts to steal more than $1.4 million in a crypto scam. He promised staking rewards, never invested the funds, and authorities recovered most of the money.

According to the announcement from Binance, Binance Wallet will run the Binance Wallet Football Trading Cup - Trading Volume Competition Season 2, offering a total prize pool of 100,000 USDT for eligible participants who trade events under the “World Cup” category in Binance Wallet’s “eMeme.” The Register Period is scheduled for 2026-06-24 08:00 – 2026-07-09 08:00 (UTC), and the Competition Period runs for the same window. Binance also listed a Public Review Period of 2026-07-09 08:00 – 2026-07-12 08:00 (UTC) and an Internal Review Period of 2026-07-12 08:00 – 2026-07-15 08:00 (UTC). Under the competition’s ranking method, participants are ranked by Total Buy Volume for eligible “World Cup” category events during the Competition Period, with sell volume not counted. Binance stated that only buy volume using supported payment tokens—BNB, USDT, USD1, USDC, or U—counts toward leaderboard volume, and that there is no upper limit on individual trading volume. Reward Structure: Binance said the top 200 eligible participants on the leaderboard will receive rewards based on final rankings after the Competition Period ends. The payout schedule is: 1st place 10,000 USDT; 2nd 6,000; 3rd 4,000; 4th 3,000; 5th 2,000; 6th–10th 1,500 each; 11th–20th 1,000 each; 21st–50th 500 each; 51st–100th 350 each; 101st–150th 300 each; 151st–200th 200 each, totaling 100,000 USDT. Eligibility and Calculation: Binance said eligible trading volume equals total buy amount, with leaderboard updates every hour and final rankings locked after the Competition Period. To qualify for leaderboard rewards, participants must trade at least three events during the competition period and have an actual eligible volume exceeding 1,000 USD.

A measure of calm returned to stock markets after a selloff in top-performing technology names, with Micron Technology Inc.’s earnings taking on added significance as a test for this year’s artificial intelligence-driven rally, according to Bloomberg.

Pakistan said technical talks between the United States and Iran will resume next week. According to Odaily, the statement was reported by Saudi Arabia’s Al Arabiya TV.

Hong Kong has issued stablecoin issuer licenses to two institutions with banking backgrounds, and the regulated stablecoins they issue are expected to be launched gradually from mid-year to the second half of the year. According to Foresight News, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Christopher Hui said in a written reply to the Legislative Council that the Hong Kong Monetary Authority granted the licenses in April this year. Hui said licensed issuers must place reserve assets in Hong Kong banks and invest them in eligible assets such as bank deposits and high-quality, highly liquid bonds. He added that the Hong Kong government and the Securities and Futures Commission plan to submit a bill to the Legislative Council within the year to establish a more comprehensive regulatory framework covering virtual asset trading, custody, advisory, and management services.

Scammers are using fake GTA 6 websites to trick gamers into sending cryptocurrency for non-existent early access downloads. The sites imitate official stores, charge around $250, and leave victims with no way to recover their money.

Prediction market platform Kalshi has added India to its list of restricted jurisdictions, expanding its blocked regions to a total of 55, according to an updated members’ agreement released on Wednesday.

A warning from Binance co-founder Yi He about an alleged impersonator has escalated into a broader controversy involving crypto derivatives exchange CoinUp, highlighting how quickly reputation battles can spread across the industry.

Google is supporting AI startups, including those founded by former employees, with up to $350,000 in cloud credits, technical guidance and access to its infrastructure without taking equity.

A New York attorney is pressing a state judge to force an anonymous plaintiff to reveal their identity in an extraordinary case seeking legal ownership of roughly 3.8 million Bitcoin, including coins associated with Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto.

South Korea is moving its Project Hangang digital currency from testing into real banking and payment systems, including government use. Banks support the idea but warn it will be costly and require major system upgrades.

El Salvador appears to be quietly expanding its Bitcoin reserves despite an agreement with the International Monetary Fund that was meant to halt further accumulation, setting up an increasingly awkward standoff between President Nayib Bukele's Bitcoin strategy and the country's international lenders.

A Chinese-linked network tied to fentanyl precursor exports was found to be running a crypto scam using a fake “zksync.jp” token and Japanese domains to trick investors.

Japanese police arrested Hu Xiaowei, an alleged senior executive linked to Cambodia-based Prince Group, over claims he submitted false residency information while seeking permanent residency. Authorities are now investigating his activities and possible ties to the group’s wider operations in Japan.

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.