Crypto World
Interpol arrests 58 in crackdown on crypto investment scams
INTERPOL has reported 58 arrests, 263 identified suspects and $2.67 million seized after a 22-country operation targeted crypto investment scams, romance fraud and money laundering networks.
Summary
- Operation Jackal IV involved 22 countries across six continents between November 2025 and June 2026.
- Police arrested 58 people and identified 263 suspects linked to West African organized crime networks.
- South African authorities seized $2.67 million and blocked 257 bank accounts after raids in Johannesburg.
- Romanian police arrested 11 suspects in an investment scheme linked to an estimated €143 million.
According to an official INTERPOL release published on Aug. 25, Operation Jackal IV ran for eight months from November 2025 through June 2026 and focused on the financial systems used by West African organized crime groups.
Authorities from 22 countries across six continents took part in the operation, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Argentina, Nigeria, Romania, and several European countries.
Investigators focused on groups such as Black Axe and similar criminal organizations accused of running romance scams, fake cryptocurrency investments, business email fraud, and other financial crimes. Police also tracked the shell companies, bank accounts, digital wallets, and outside service providers used to receive or conceal stolen money.
During the operation, INTERPOL helped participating agencies exchange intelligence across borders, analyze financial activity, and coordinate enforcement work. The organization also provided specialist training to investigators handling money laundering cases.
“By following illicit financial flows across borders, we are attacking the very lifeblood of organized crime and making it increasingly difficult for criminal networks to profit from their activities,” said Tomonobu Kaya, director of the INTERPOL Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre.
Interpol crypto scam operation leads to 58 arrests
Operation Jackal IV resulted in 58 arrests and the identification of another 263 people suspected of links to the targeted criminal networks, according to INTERPOL.
In Argentina, federal police uncovered a Crime-as-a-Service network suspected of supplying website domains and money laundering support to West African crime groups. Investigators identified 196 people connected to the operation and arrested 17 suspects.
An INTERPOL Operational Support Team assisted Argentine authorities with the examination of seized information. The team analyzed the material for links among suspects, criminal groups, and overseas partners while helping local investigators develop additional leads.
South African authorities conducted the largest enforcement action reported in the operation, arresting 39 people during raids at seven locations in Johannesburg. Police linked the sites to a group accused of running romance and investment scams against retirees in English-speaking countries.
According to INTERPOL, members of the network handled different stages of the fraud, with some working as “conversion” agents and others serving as “retention” agents. Such roles involved turning initial contacts into paying victims and persuading existing victims to continue sending money.
Police seized $2.67 million, blocked 257 bank accounts, and collected evidence during the Johannesburg raids. An INTERPOL support team also worked in South Africa to help local investigators examine the network’s financial and international links.
The agency’s release lists 17 arrests in Argentina and 39 in South Africa, accounting for 56 of its stated 58 arrests. However, the same release separately reports 11 arrests in Romania, bringing the country-level figures mentioned in the statement to 67. INTERPOL did not explain whether the Romanian arrests were included in its headline total or treated as the result of a connected investigation.
Romanian investment scam allegedly moved €143 million
Romanian police dismantled a call center accused of offering investors large returns from stocks and cryptocurrencies. INTERPOL said the suspects redirected victims’ deposits to electronic wallets under their control rather than placing the money in genuine investments.
Investigators estimated that the group stole and laundered about €143 million worldwide. Police arrested 11 people and seized approximately €330,000 in cash and cryptocurrency, six properties and several luxury watches.
In Italy, investigators identified one person suspected of involvement in a money laundering network operating across Europe. According to INTERPOL, the network used shell companies, remittance services, and cash withdrawals to hide the source of funds.
A single bank account processed €845,000 across 560 transactions involving 20 financial instruments, the agency said. Investigators did not report an arrest in the Italian case, and the inquiry remained tied to the identification of one suspect.
Operation Jackal IV also found that some West African crime groups were buying Crime-as-a-Service tools from outside providers, often through dark web markets. INTERPOL said such arrangements allowed fraud groups to outsource website infrastructure, money laundering, and other technical work instead of managing every part of their operations internally.
In July, crypto.news reported another INTERPOL operation that produced 5,811 arrests and intercepted $293 million in illicit assets across 97 countries and territories. Operation First Light also identified more than 142,000 victims and blocked over 31,000 bank accounts while targeting romance scams, investment fraud and related money laundering.
Thai police uncovered a crypto laundering network during that earlier operation, with INTERPOL saying one wallet processed more than $122.5 million over 10 months. Investigators alleged that the network moved romance scam proceeds through several digital assets and used cross-chain swaps to make the money harder to trace.
U.S. authorities pursue overseas crypto scam proceeds
The United States was among the 22 countries participating in Operation Jackal IV, although INTERPOL’s release did not describe a specific U.S. arrest or asset seizure from the operation.
American authorities have separately pursued overseas networks accused of targeting U.S. residents with similar romance and crypto investment schemes. In July, the Department of Justice sought the forfeiture of $25 million in cryptocurrency recovered through five investigations involving suspected victims in the United States and Canada.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, the five cases involved fake cryptocurrency platforms and laundering networks with links to China, Malaysia and Cambodia. Prosecutors said the DOJ’s Scam Center Strike Force had seized more than $800 million since its creation in November 2025.
One of the investigations involved more than 270 suspected victim transfers and approximately $10.4 million in cryptocurrency, while another covered over 200 romance scam victims and $12.1 million in assets. Under the civil forfeiture process, eligible victims may seek compensation if courts approve the government’s claims to the recovered funds.
During a separate June enforcement action, Coinbase froze over $3 million in cryptocurrency tied to alleged Southeast Asian scam networks. The exchange worked with the DOJ, Meta, Microsoft, Starlink and overseas law enforcement agencies to identify financial transfers and online infrastructure linked to romance and investment fraud.
Meta disabled more than 1.4 million accounts, pages and groups connected to suspected scams, while Microsoft suspended about 20,000 accounts. Starlink terminated service for thousands of internet kits associated with suspected unlawful activity, and the Royal Thai Police arrested 63 people linked to scam operations.
Reform UK has stripped crypto firms from its conference sponsor list. The move lands days after British police revealed a $1.4 million Bitcoin forfeiture.
Nigel Farage’s party is selling diplomats and manufacturers instead.
Reform UK Cuts Crypto Sponsors Before Birmingham
Reform UK’s annual conference opens in Birmingham next week. Last year the digital payments firm Zebec headlined as a key backer. This year no crypto company appears on the sponsor list.
Perks have gone too, with free tickets and access to senior figures also cut, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the arrangements.
It comes as a parliamentary probe is examining whether Farage should have declared £5 million from Christopher Harborne, a Thailand-based crypto investor. Farage’s crypto lobbying has drawn separate scrutiny this year.
Diplomats and Manufacturers Take the Stage Instead
Farage’s populist party holds just eight of 650 Commons seats, yet polls place it in contention for 2029.
Honorary treasurer Nick Candy is promoting foreign guests. Envoys from India, Italy, Poland, the UAE and the US are expected, alongside French National Rally leader Jordan Bardella.
“The scale and breadth of the diplomatic presence at the conference next week is a clear indication of how seriously Reform is being taken internationally,” Nick Candy, Reform UK honorary treasurer, speaking to Bloomberg.
However, not everyone is convinced. Renewable energy executives remain reluctant to appear, according to a City of London public relations executive. They fear legitimizing the party.
On its first business day, it sold more than 600 tickets, drawing JCB, TikTok and Heathrow.
So is Reform done with crypto? Not on paper. It has announced no policy changes regarding digital assets, and the retreat focuses on sponsors and perks rather than positions.
Birmingham will show a party managing its image while an investigation runs, not one abandoning crypto.
Police Traced 20.21 Bitcoin Back to 2016
Elsewhere but still in the UK, Avon and Somerset Police recovered 20.21 BTC, other crypto and money in a bank account, worth £1,032,487.86.
Investigators tied the funds to darknet marketplaces that ran from 2016 to 2019. These were hidden shopping sites, reachable only through anonymizing software, that sold drugs and facilitated human trafficking.
A blockchain keeps every transaction on a permanent public record, so coins moved in 2016 still leave a trail.
The owner had died before the forfeiture was completed. Under the Proceeds of Crime Act, however, the case runs against the property, not the person.
It is the force’s largest crypto recovery since Britain introduced wallet freezing orders in April 2024. Bigger hauls exist, including a £114 million Bitcoin seizure.
Recovered funds go back into community and policing programs.
The post Reform UK Drops Crypto Sponsors: What Does Farage Want Instead? appeared first on BeInCrypto.
The United States has secured majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of Venezuela’s oil reserves, which could reshape global energy markets, but does it actually matter for bitcoin and crypto?
President Trump announced on Friday that the US had secured majority control through an agreement involving Washington, Venezuela, and private businesses. He called it the “biggest oil deal in world history” and said it would substantially increase America’s effective oil reserves and ultimately bring down fuel prices.
65 Billion Barrels, But There’s a Catch
The analysts at the Kobeissi Letter noted that the US currently has around 46 billion barrels of proven domestic crude reserves. Adding control over another 65 billion would bring the combined figure to over 110 billion, roughly 7% of global proven reserves. In other words, the US-controlled total would be around the same as the UAE’s and ahead of Kuwait’s.
According to some leaked details, the deal covers 17 Venezuelan oilfields, including projects in the resource-rich Orinoco Belt and Lake Maracaibo. A new structure would give the US a majority operational position, while American companies are expected to provide much of the capital and expertise needed to increase production.
Venezuela has also projected close to $100 billion in private investment tied to the broader agreement. However, here comes the catch. Those barrels are all reserves, not immediate supply.
Venezuela currently produces around 1.2 million barrels per day, a fraction of what its enormous resource base theoretically allows due to years of underinvestment, deteriorating infrastructure, power problems, and other issues. Reuters reported that even the country’s ports are already struggling with current export volumes, with some tankers waiting weeks to load.
Lower Oil Good for Bitcoin?
Oil has been one of the biggest inflationary pressures this year as the conflict in the Middle East and disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz have pushed crude prices sharply higher. In general, more expensive oil feeds into fuel, transportation, manufacturing, and ultimately consumer prices.
If Venezuelan supply expands significantly over the coming years and helps decrease oil prices, the result could be weaker inflationary pressure, which, in turn, could give the Fed more room to ease monetary policy, unlike the present situation. This would be considered bullish for crypto, since the asset class tends to benefit from such macro conditions.
The deal, which was later confirmed by Venezuela’s President, comes at an interesting time – right after Fed Chair Kevin Warsh delivered a hawkish speech at Jackson Hole. He warned that inflation remains too high and indicated that policymakers could still have “work to do” if price pressures fail to move convincingly toward the central bank’s target of 2%.
If oil remains elevated due to the war in the Middle East, inflation is likely to continue preventing the Fed from pivoting. However, if Venezuela eventually becomes a substantial new source of reliable supply, the landscape can change.
Ultimately, the oil deal between the US and Venezuela is unlikely to translate into an immediate impact on BTC and crypto, as there’s no direct connection between the two. However, the long-term perspective is more bullish than bearish, especially if Venezuela improves its production lines and prices indeed fall, as Trump predicted.
The post US Secures 65 Billion Barrels of Venezuelan Oil: Could This Be Bullish for Bitcoin? appeared first on CryptoPotato.
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Spot XRP ETFs pulled in $110.49 million in net inflows for the week ending August 28, their strongest weekly haul of 2026 by a wide margin.
That surge pushed cumulative net inflows to $1.66 billion, with total net assets climbing to $1.44 billion across all funds.
XRP ETFs Smash Their Weekly Inflow Record This Year
Most of 2026 told a quieter story. Negative weeks hit in late January, mid-March, and briefly in July, followed by a near-dead stretch of inflows through early August, right before this week’s breakout.
The $110.49 million pulled in this week is the year’s best, though it still trails the all-time high of $243.95 million set during the week in late November 2025.
Measured against 2026 alone, this week more than doubled the previous top mark, a $60.5 million week back in mid-May, according to SoSoValue data. Trading activity spiked alongside it, with $363.03 million changing hands, the busiest week since these funds launched.
While XRP ETFs posted a $26.20 million net inflow that day, Bitcoin funds saw $201.81 million in net outflows, and Ethereum funds saw $102.18 million in net outflows, highlighting XRP’s steadier institutional demand even as Bitcoin faced heavy selling pressure.
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XRP Price Pulled Back From $1.70 Resistance
The inflow surge did not track XRP’s own price this week. The token traded near $1.38 as of August 29, according to CoinGecko data, down 2.3% over 24 hours and 7.8% over the past week, after briefly testing resistance near $1.70 earlier in the period before pulling back sharply.
That divergence stands out. Institutional inflows accelerated even as the token itself corrected lower, suggesting funds may be accumulating into weakness rather than simply chasing price strength.
Total net assets across the ETF group nearly tripled in a single week, jumping from roughly $933 million to $1.44 billion, reflecting the surge in fresh capital despite the price pullback.
Whether this pace of inflows continues remains an open question. The ETFs already showed this year that strong weeks can be followed by long stretches of muted demand, and XRP itself remains in a clear corrective phase after its sharp run toward $1.66, now trading roughly 8% below that level.
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The post XRP ETFs Hit a New 2026 Record at $1.6 Billion appeared first on BeInCrypto.
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Ethereum’s explosive rally has stalled around a major resistance area, with price action now turning increasingly choppy near $2.5K. The broader recovery remains intact, but weakening short-term structure and a more hawkish macro backdrop raise the probability of consolidation or a corrective pullback before another sustained advance.
Ethereum Price Analysis: The Daily Chart
Ethereum is consolidating after its powerful breakout from the $1.85K-$1.92K base. The price has now reached the major $2.4K-$2.52K supply zone, where buyers have so far struggled to generate another impulsive continuation. The repeated rejection around this region suggests that supply is becoming increasingly relevant following the near-vertical advance.
As a result, choppy consolidation appears likely in the short term, while a corrective move should not be ruled out. The first notable support sits around the $2.21K-$2.31K zone. Below it, the $2.06K-$2.14K area represents the next important support region and could become relevant if selling pressure accelerates.
The macro environment is also adding pressure. Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh’s latest Jackson Hole remarks emphasized that inflation remains too elevated and suggested that rates may need to remain restrictive or potentially move higher if inflation fails to make sufficient progress toward the Fed’s 2% objective.
Markets interpreted the comments as hawkish, with expectations for another rate increase rising after the speech. This backdrop appears to be weighing on risk sentiment and could make an immediate Ethereum breakout more difficult.
ETH/USDT 4-Hour Chart
The short-term picture is showing clearer signs of exhaustion. Ethereum has repeatedly tested the upper portion of the $2.4K-$2.52K resistance zone, producing three successive peaks around the same broad area.
This price action creates the potential for a three-drive pattern. Such a structure typically signals that the preceding directional move is losing momentum and can precede either a sideways range or a temporary reversal. More importantly, Ethereum has now slipped below the ascending trendline connecting the recent higher lows, adding weight to the possibility that the immediate bullish impulse is weakening.
The first downside area to monitor remains the $2.21K-$2.31K pullback zone. A correction into this region would still be compatible with the broader bullish structure and could allow the market to establish a healthier base. If that support fails, the second pullback zone around $2.07K-$2.11K becomes the next significant target.
Alternatively, holding the current $2.4K area and reclaiming the rising trendline would reduce the immediate bearish pressure. A convincing breakout through the $2.52K region would also invalidate the developing reversal setup and favor continuation of the broader bullish trend.
Sentiment Analysis
Ethereum’s Spot Average Order Size chart provides additional context for the current indecision. The metric distinguishes periods dominated by larger whale-sized spot orders from more ordinary market activity.
Most recent observations appear to be classified as normal orders, with no notable concentration of large whale transactions at the latest readings. This suggests that neither exceptionally strong whale demand nor aggressive whale supply is currently dominating the spot market.
The absence of substantial large-player participation fits the technical consolidation scenario. With limited evidence of strong directional conviction and relatively subdued participation, Ethereum may remain vulnerable to volatile swings within a range rather than immediately establishing another sustained trend. A meaningful return of large whale orders could therefore provide a more useful signal that stronger demand or supply is entering the market.
The post Where Will ETH Find Support After the $2.5K Rejection? (Ethereum Price Analysis) appeared first on CryptoPotato.
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