A former BJP legislator and 11 police officials have been convicted for the 2018 abduction of a Surat businessman in a plot to seize over 750 Bitcoin. An Indian anti-corruption court has sentenced 14 individuals, including 11 police officials and a former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA), to life imprisonment in a case involving the kidnapping and extortion of crypto from a Surat-based businessman in 2018. The judgment, delivered by Special Judge B.B. Jadav in Ahmedabad on Friday, found the group guilty of criminal conspiracy, kidnapping for ransom, illegal detention, and assault, according to a report by The Times of India. Among those convicted are former Amreli district superintendent of police Jagdish Patel and ex-MLA Nalin Kotadiya. All 11 police officers, including former IPS officer Patel, were also found guilty under the Prevention of Corruption Act for misconduct by public servants. Read more
Bitcoin and Ether ETFs saw outflows on Friday after the Fed reported rising core inflation, driven in part by Trump’s tariff policies. Spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs recorded outflows on Friday as the Federal Reserve released key inflation data showing price pressures are creeping higher under President Donald Trump’s trade policies. According to SoSoValue data, Ether (ETH) ETFs saw a net outflow of $164.64 million, reversing five straight days of inflows that had added more than $1.5 billion to the asset class. Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs also turned negative with $126.64 million in net outflows, their first daily loss since Aug. 22. Total assets under management dropped to $28.58 billion for Ethereum and $139.95 billion for Bitcoin. Read more
El Salvador has transferred its 6,274 Bitcoin into 14 new wallet addresses as part of a security measure to protect against the threat of quantum attacks. El Salvador has redistributed its Bitcoin reserve holdings into 14 new wallet addresses as a precaution against potential quantum computing threats. “By splitting funds into smaller amounts, the impact of a potential quantum attack is minimized,” El Salvador’s Bitcoin Office said in an X post Friday, adding that each Bitcoin (BTC) address holds up to 500 BTC. The Bitcoin Office explained that once funds are spent from a Bitcoin address, its public keys are revealed and vulnerable — making it a target for quantum computers to crack — should the technology evolve into a significant threat in the future. Read more
Tether has scrapped plans to end USDT on Omni, Bitcoin Cash SLP, Kusama, EOS and Algorand, allowing it to continue in a limited capacity. Stablecoin issuer Tether has abandoned its plan to freeze USDT smart contracts on five chains, saying the tokens will remain transferable but no longer be issued or redeemed. The revised plan impacts users on Omni Layer, Bitcoin Cash SLP, Kusama, EOS, and Algorand, Tether said on Friday after receiving feedback from members of these ecosystems. “Following the feedback from the communities of these discontinued blockchains, Tether has revised this approach and will not freeze the smart contracts on these networks.” While users will still be able to transfer tokens on these blockchains, Tether is discontinuing direct issuance and redemption on these chains. “This means the tokens will no longer be officially supported as other Tether tokens.” The initial plan was to end support on Sept. 1. Read more
Elon Musk’s lawyer Alex Spiro is set to chair a planned $200 million Dogecoin treasury company backed by House of Doge, as memecoin treasury vehicles begin to emerge. Elon Musk’s attorney Alex Spiro is set to chair a new public company that aims to raise $200 million to invest in Dogecoin, according to a Fortune report citing six people familiar with the deal. The initiative is being pitched to investors as a Dogecoin (DOGE) treasury vehicle with the endorsement of House of Doge, the corporate entity launched in early 2025 by the Dogecoin Foundation and headquartered in Miami, Fortune reported Friday. The company seeks to raise at least $200 million as a public vehicle to hold Dogecoin on its balance sheet, giving investors stock-market exposure to the token without direct ownership. Read more
The official crypto token of Pudgy Penguins had a tough month, consistent with a broader decline in NFT markets and digital collectibles. Pudgy Penguins’ native token slipped on Friday despite the project’s new title ranking among Apple’s top downloads. The PENGU (PENGU) token fell by nearly 4% on Friday, following the launch of Pudgy Party, a battle royale game released on Android and iOS, regardless the game recording over 50,000 downloads on the Google Play store and landing in the top 10 most downloaded games on Apple’s App Store. Pudgy Penguins is a popular non-fungible token (NFT) project in the crypto space. The project supplements its onchain digital presence with trading cards, plushy penguin-themed toys, video games and other physical merchandise. According to CoinMarketCap, the token declined by over 20% over the past 30 days. Read more