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SafeMoon CEO Gets 8 Years, Victims Tell Heartbreaking Stories

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$3 Million Reportedly Lost in CrossCurve Bridge Exploit

A US federal judge sentenced Braden John Karony, the former CEO of SafeMoon, to 100 months in prison, following his conviction for fraud tied to the collapse of the once-hyped Solana token.

US District Judge Eric Komitee delivered the sentence after hearing emotional victim testimony and forceful arguments from prosecutors, who accused Karony of exploiting investor trust while secretly diverting funds.

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The court also scheduled a separate hearing on restitution and financial penalties for April 23.

“This Was a Massive Fraud”: Judge Rejects Defense Pleas

During sentencing, Judge Komitee dismissed defense arguments that Karony’s age and background should mitigate his punishment.

“This was a massive fraud,” the judge said, adding that Karony and his co-conspirators “went to great pains to earn the trust” of investors by repeatedly assuring them that a rug pull was impossible.

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Victims described losing life savings, selling personal assets, and delaying home ownership and education plans. 

Several said they invested because Karony made himself highly visible and trustworthy, contrasting him with Bitcoin’s anonymous creator.

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Prosecutors sought a 12-year sentence, arguing Karony showed no remorse and understood the consequences of lying to investors. 

The judge ultimately imposed a shorter but still substantial sentence of 8 years and 4 months.

How SafeMoon Collapsed

SafeMoon launched in 2021 with promises of long-term rewards and a “locked” liquidity pool that executives claimed could not be accessed.

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Federal prosecutors later alleged that those claims were false. 

According to the case, insiders retained control over the liquidity and misappropriated millions of dollars, while publicly assuring investors their funds were safe.

Authorities said Karony personally benefited from diverted assets while continuing to promote the token and deny any risk of a rug pull.

The prosecution framed the scheme as deliberate deception, not mismanagement or market failure. A jury agreed, convicting Karony on fraud-related counts earlier this year.

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With today’s sentence, the SafeMoon case joins a growing list of crypto prosecutions where courts have treated broken trust and liquidity abuse as criminal theft, not innovation gone wrong.

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Crypto World

U.S. BTC ETFs post first monthly inflows since October

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ETF AUM (CheckonChain)

U.S.listed spot bitcoin ETFs ended March with $1.32 billion in net inflows to record their first monthly inflows since October, SoSoValue data shows.

This follows four consecutive months of net outflows, which coincided with bitcoin declining by as much as 50% from its October all time high of $126,000.
November saw $3.5 billion in outflows, followed by $1.1 billion in December, $1.6 billion in January, and $206 million in February.

March also marked bitcoin’s first positive monthly candle in six months, suggesting a potential shift in momentum.

ETF assets under management have remained relatively resilient, however. Holdings declined from 1.38 million BTC in October to a low of 1.28 million BTC, a drop of roughly 7%, and have since recovered to around 1.31 million BTC, according to CheckonChain.

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ETF investors remain underwater on average, with an estimated cost basis near $84,000 compared to a current spot price of about $68,000.

ETF AUM (CheckonChain)
ETF AUM (CheckonChain)

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Galaxy Digital’s (GLXY) testnet suffers hack but no client funds or information were compromised

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Galaxy Digital's (GLXY) testnet suffers hack but no client funds or information were compromised

Galaxy Digital (GLXY), the digital asset financial services firm founded by Mike Novogratz, said it recently contained a cybersecurity incident involving unauthorized access to an isolated development workspace, according to a statement from a company spokesperson.

“An immaterial amount of company funds used for testing within the isolated development workspace was impacted,” the spokesperson said in emailed comments. The loss was less than $10,000, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

The firm emphasized that the affected environment was used solely for research and development and was not connected to its core infrastructure, production systems, trading platforms or client accounts.

Galaxy said it detected the intrusion and moved quickly to contain it, secure the compromised workspace and implement additional precautionary measures across its on-chain infrastructure.

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“No client funds or client account information were accessed or at risk at any point based on our review to date,” Galaxy said, adding that all platforms and services remain fully operational and secure for clients.

Hacks and exploits remain a persistent risk in the crypto industry, where the combination of open-source code, large pools of onchain liquidity and uneven security practices creates an attractive target for attackers.

Billions of dollars are lost to smart contract exploits, phishing schemes and infrastructure breaches, with industry estimates often exceeding $1–2 billion annually in recent years.

Even when incidents are contained, and client assets are not impacted, breaches can erode trust, trigger heightened regulatory scrutiny and underscore the operational risks facing firms operating in largely irreversible, always-on financial systems.

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Galaxy is a diversified financial services and investment firm focused on the digital asset and blockchain sector, providing institutional clients with trading, asset management, lending, advisory and custody services.

The firm operates across several core business lines, including global markets, asset management and digital infrastructure, while also running businesses in areas like crypto mining, staking and data center operations.

Positioned as a bridge between traditional finance and crypto, Galaxy offers institutional-grade access to digital assets and related technologies, alongside investments in blockchain ventures and emerging areas such as AI-powered infrastructure.

The company said it is continuing to review the incident and will provide updates as appropriate.

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Read more: Bitcoin’s quantum threat is real, but far from an existential crisis, Galaxy says

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What Does it Mean for Bitcoin?

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What Does it Mean for Bitcoin?

Warren Buffett, the legendary investor and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, revealed on CNBC this week that his firm purchased approximately $17 billion in US Treasury bills at the latest auction. Is a stock market crash coming and what does it mean for Bitcoin (BTC)?

Key takeaways:

  • Berkshire held $373 billion in cash or cash equivalents as of 2025’s close, more than double the levels in 2023.

  • The firm’s rising cash reserves typically precede major stock market crashes, a bad sign for Bitcoin.

Buffett still sees better value in cash than in stocks

Buffett’s message is straightforward: Berkshire does not see the recent equity pullback as a sufficiently attractive buying opportunity.

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For context, the S&P 500 has fallen about 5.75% since reaching a record high in January.

S&P 500 weekly performance chart. Source: TradingView

Buffett said stocks are not “substantially” cheaper after the decline and described the sell-off as “nothing” compared with earlier downturns in which markets fell more than 50%.

That helps explain Berkshire’s latest Treasury-bill purchase. The company ended 2025 with about $373 billion in cash and equivalents, up from a record $334.2 billion a year earlier and more than double its level at the end of 2023.

Buffett, who famously called Bitcoin “rat poison,” typically gets into cash before major stock crashes, historical data shows.

In 1998, for instance, Buffett began trimming Berkshire’s stock exposure and raising cash, pushing the company’s cash and cash-equivalents holdings to $13.1 billion, or about 23% of total assets.

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Berkshire’s cash and cash-equivalents holdings chart. Source: GuruFocus.COM

By mid-2000, that figure had climbed to nearly $15 billion, or roughly 25% of assets, before Berkshire started deploying capital into bargains as the Dot-com bubble burst.

Bitcoin’s positive correlation with stocks may hurt prices

Bitcoin has traded more like a stock than a traditional safe haven for much of the post-2020 period, often moving in the same direction as US equities, especially the tech-heavy Nasdaq.

As of Wednesday, the 20-week rolling correlation coefficient between the two markets was positive at 0.47.

Nasdaq Composite and BTC/USD’s 20-week correlation coefficient chart. Source: TradingView

If Buffett’s risk-off strategy is correct, then Bitcoin should see another crash alongside stocks. Fresh quantum-security concerns, war-driven inflation risks, and nearly 50% US recession odds are putting pressure on the BTC price.

Berkshire’s portfolio decisions have also leaned away from crypto-adjacent finance.

In the first quarter of 2025, the firm fully exited Nu Holdings, a crypto-friendly fintech company, after building its position in 2021 and 2022. It secured about $250 million in profits from these investments.

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Multiple analysts predict BTC’s price to drop to as low as $30,000 in 2026.