Pavel Durov rejects EU pressure to censor Romanian election content

Telegram founder Pavel Durov said he rejected pressure from a European Union (EU) country to censor political content on the social media platform ahead of the May 18 presidential elections in Romania. According to Durov, a Western European government, which he hinted at with a baguette emoji, approached the platform and requested it censor conservative …

Crypto execs beef up security following string of kidnappings: Report

Crypto industry executives are beefing up personal security and demanding more bodyguard services in response to a recent string of kidnapping and ransom attempts worldwide — particularly in France — targeting investors and professionals in the sector. According to a Bloomberg report, Infinite Risks International, a private security firm based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, is seeing …

Don’t believe the noise: There can never be too many L2s

Opinion by: Igor Mandrigin, co-founder and CTPO of Gateway.fm Every couple of weeks, it seems another layer 2 rolls out, much to the chagrin of some Web3 industry commentators who are concerned about fragmentation. A recent Gemini Institutional Insights report actually noted how a new Ethereum L2 solution is launched approximately every 19 days. In …

BTC price to $116K next? Bitcoin trader sees 'early week' all-time high

Key points: Bitcoin is convincing traders that an upside breakout is around the corner, with all-time highs in sight. One target demands $116,000 next week, moving BTC/USD firmly out of its narrow range. A quick dip before continuing higher is among the options for BTC price action into the new week. Bitcoin (BTC) reduced volatility …

‘Bitcoin Standard’ author backs funding dev to make spamming Bitcoin costly

Economist and author of The Bitcoin Standard, Saifedean Ammous, has weighed in on the ongoing debate over spam inscriptions on the Bitcoin network, suggesting he would “throw in a few sats” to fund a full-time developer focused on making Bitcoin spamming more difficult and expensive. Ammous made the remarks in response to a thread initiated by …

Retired artist loses $2M in crypto to Coinbase impersonator

Retired artist Ed Suman lost over $2 million in cryptocurrency earlier this year after falling victim to a scam involving someone posing as a Coinbase support representative. Suman, 67, spent nearly two decades as a fabricator in the art world, helping build high-profile works such as Jeff Koons’ Balloon Dog sculptures, according to a May …

UK to require crypto firms to report every customer transaction

United Kingdom crypto companies will need to collect and report data from every customer trade and transfer beginning Jan. 1, 2026 as part of a broader effort to improve crypto tax reporting, the UK government said. Everything from the user’s full name, home address and tax identification number will need to be collected and reported …

Hong Kong police busts $15M laundering ring that used crypto, 500 bank accounts

Hong Kong police arrested 12 people involved in a cross-border money laundering scheme that relied on crypto and over 500 stooge bank accounts to launder HK$118 million ($15 million), local news outlets reported. The syndicate was dismantled on May 15, resulting in the arrest of nine men and three women in mainland China and Hong …

The Public internet is a bottleneck for blockchain — DoubleZero CEO

Public internet infrastructure is the critical speed and performance constraint on high-throughput blockchain networks, according to Austin Federa, co-founder and CEO of DoubleZero, a project developing high-speed fiber optic communication rails for blockchains. “The downside of the public internet is it was never built for high-performance systems. It was always built for this sort of …

Moody's downgrades US credit rating due to rising debt

Moody’s credit rating agency downgraded the credit rating of the United States government from Aaa to Aa1, citing the rising national debt as the primary driver behind the reduction in creditworthiness. According to the May 16 announcement from the rating agency, US lawmakers have failed to stem annual deficits or reduce spending over the years, …