Scammers weaponize news for Bitcoin

July 30, 2026

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OFAC targets Iran’s Hormuz crypto toll

Key points:

  • OFAC sanctioned two Iranian firms over an alleged IRGC-backed insurance scheme requiring vessels to buy coverage before crossing the Strait of Hormuz.

  • HormuzSafe accepted Bitcoin and other digital assets, while a separate mid-July action saw Tether freeze about $131 million in USDT linked to sanctioned wallets.

News - The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Persian Gulf Marine Insurance Company and HormuzSafe Marine Services Authority on July 29, accusing them of helping Iran turn access to the Strait of Hormuz into revenue for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Treasury said commercial vessels had to purchase approved maritime insurance before transiting the waterway, which carries roughly one-fifth of global oil trade. Both firms were designated under Executive Order 13902 for operating in Iran’s financial sector.

The policy covered Iran’s own threat - The insurance allegedly covered risks that Iran itself created, including vessel seizures, harassment, and security incidents involving IRGC forces.

Treasury said the IRGC began collecting transit fees from tankers in April, with charges starting at approximately $1 per barrel. PGMIC issued the policies, while HormuzSafe handled maritime services and payments.

Bitcoin changed the payment route - HormuzSafe accepted Bitcoin and other digital assets, allowing Iran to collect payments outside traditional banking channels exposed to Western sanctions controls. However, earlier on-chain reviews had not independently verified Bitcoin payments at scale.

That enforcement divide surfaced separately in mid-July, when Tether froze $131 million in USDT held in four wallets linked to Iran’s central bank.

OFAC also sanctioned eight shipping companies and blocked eight tankers tied to Iranian oil transport, widening the crackdown beyond crypto and into Iran’s shadow fleet.

Bitcoin scammers hijack a Chinese newspaper’s credibility

Key points:

  • China Business Journal warned that impersonators threatened companies with damaging coverage unless they paid Bitcoin.

  • The publication disclosed no wallet address, payment amount, confirmed transfer, or identified victim, leaving the scheme’s financial success unverified.

News - China Business Journal warned on July 30 that unidentified individuals had impersonated the publication in emails sent to companies, claiming undercover investigations had uncovered damaging information about them.

The senders allegedly threatened to publish the material unless the targeted businesses transferred Bitcoin. The newspaper said the messages came from outside its official systems, were unauthorized, and appeared to constitute fraud.

The publication’s name supplied the pressure - The scheme paired institutional impersonation with the threat of reputational harm. By presenting themselves as representatives of an established, state-affiliated business newspaper, the senders could make the purported investigations appear credible to executives unfamiliar with its official contact procedures.

China Business Journal stressed that legitimate reporting and source communication follow legal requirements and authorized channels. A demand for cryptocurrency in exchange for suppressing coverage was therefore a warning sign, not a genuine journalistic request.

The Bitcoin trail remains unproven - The newspaper did not release a wallet address, transaction hash, requested amount, payment deadline, or the names of affected companies. It also did not confirm that any recipient transferred funds.

Without those details, the public record verifies the impersonation warning, but not whether the scheme successfully collected Bitcoin.

China Business Journal said it was gathering evidence and reserved the right to pursue civil and criminal liability. Companies receiving similar messages were advised not to pay, to preserve the emails and supporting evidence, and to report the incident to local police.

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South Korea’s crypto rush meets a policy squeeze

Key points:

  • Upbit’s KRW/USDT volume jumped 600% as the KOSPI suffered its worst monthly decline on record.

  • At the same time, South Korea is advancing a 2027 crypto tax while lawmakers remain divided over stablecoin rules.

News - Crypto trading activity surged in South Korea as the country’s stock market unraveled. Upbit’s Korean won-to-USDT volume approached 200 billion won, or about 140 million USDT, on July 29, up from 20 million USDT on July 25.

The spike came as the KOSPI fell nearly 18% this week and more than 33% in July, surpassing its declines during the 1997 IMF crisis and the 2008 global financial crisis. A reversal in leveraged bets on Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and the broader AI trade helped drive the sell-off.

Volatility pulled traders toward crypto - Local analysis suggested some investors may have moved funds out of stocks or toward overseas exchanges, personal wallets, and stock-linked perpetual futures. However, the available data does not confirm how much capital directly rotated from equities into crypto.

Bitcoin also remained broadly flat from the semiconductor market’s late-June peak, according to Bitwise, limiting signs of direct contagion from the Korean equity rout.

Tax pressure is moving closer - South Korea still plans to tax annual crypto gains above 2.5 million won at a combined rate of up to 22% from January 1, 2027. A repeal bill remains under parliamentary review, while critics warn the lack of loss carry-forwards could push activity offshore.

Separately, a policy report urged interim licensing guidance and phased stablecoin rules before the broader Digital Asset Basic Act is completed. Lawmakers have yet to reconcile competing bills, while questions remain over issuer ownership, financial-institution participation, and foreign stablecoins.

BitRiver contract dispute turns into criminal fraud case

Key points:

  • A Moscow court moved BitRiver founder Igor Runets from house arrest to pretrial detention for two months over an alleged mining-equipment fraud.

  • Investigators say an En+ subsidiary prepaid nearly $7.9 million under an $8 million contract, while alleged damages exceed 1 billion rubles, or about $12.5 million.

News - BitRiver founder Igor Runets has been charged with large-scale fraud as Russian authorities expand a case tied to a disputed cryptocurrency-mining equipment contract.

The Zamoskvoretsky District Court approved his transfer to pretrial detention on July 22, while the new charge became public on July 29. Runets faces allegations under Part 4 of Article 159 of Russia’s Criminal Code, which covers fraud on an especially large scale.

A commercial dispute became a criminal case - Investigators allege that Fox Group, a company controlled by Runets, signed a 2023 contract to supply mining equipment to Infrastructure of Siberia, an En+ subsidiary.

The buyer reportedly transferred more than $7.9 million upfront, with delivery expected within 32 days. Prosecutors claim the equipment was not delivered and the payment was not returned. Runets previously disputed that account in the related civil case, saying the machines had been delivered and that Fox Group intended to appeal.

BitRiver was already under financial strain - Runets had been under house arrest since early 2026 over separate tax-evasion allegations. Meanwhile, Fox Group entered bankruptcy proceedings after failing to cover debts linked to the equipment dispute.

BitRiver’s operating pressure has also intensified as a six-year mining ban across 10 Russian regions disrupted parts of its Siberian data-center network. Investigators are now awaiting equipment examinations and testimony from En+ representatives.

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Interesting facts

  • Your final seed word is doing two jobs: A standard 12-word BIP-39 recovery phrase contains 128 bits of wallet entropy plus a four-bit checksum derived from SHA-256, with both encoded partly inside the final word. That is why choosing any 12 words from the official list will usually produce an invalid phrase.

  • DeFi’s unicorn nearly launched with wings: Hayden Adams originally planned to call his protocol “Unipeg,” a unicorn and Pegasus mashup, before Vitalik Buterin suggested “Uniswap.” Adams had begun building it after a 2017 layoff led him to spend two months learning Ethereum, Solidity, and JavaScript.

  • Monero can open the books without opening the vault: A view-only wallet can monitor incoming transactions without holding the private spend key, preventing it from signing or spending funds. The setup can support auditing, donation tracking, and cold-storage monitoring, although outgoing activity requires additional key-image data for an accurate balance.

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Top 3 coins of the day

Uniswap (UNI)

Key points:

  • Uniswap’s fee-switch activation added a buyback-and-burn narrative as UNI cleared $4 and printed a fresh higher high.

  • EWO and volume strengthened with the breakout, leaving $4.24-$4.30 as the next test.

What you should know:

UNI’s breakout carried more weight after Uniswap activated protocol fees across selected v4 deployments, routing part of trading revenue into TokenJar contracts for UNI buybacks and burns. That tokenomics shift gave buyers a reason to press above $4, and price answered with a fresh higher high near $4.24. The Higher High Lower Low indicator preserved the bullish swing structure, while EWO expanded to 5.338 and volume rose to 881.71K, confirming stronger participation. The immediate test sits at $4.24-$4.30. Holding $4.10-$4.12 keeps the breakout intact, while losing $4 risks a return to the prior range. Robinhood Chain integration and Permissioned Pools on v4 added ecosystem depth, but sustained fee-driven demand now decides whether $4.24 becomes support or a profit-taking trigger.

Shiba Inu (SHIB)

Key points:

  • SHIB surrendered most of its explosive surge before stalling near $0.00000464 as EWO sank deeper below zero.

  • Price is trying to form a base at $0.00000455-$0.00000460, but leverage exits and weak Shibarium activity keep it fragile.

What you should know:

SHIB’s weekend surge left behind a harsh comedown after speculative trading tied to South Korean activity on Upbit failed to hold. Profit-taking erased most of the move, while a reported 20%-25% drop in futures open interest showed leveraged buyers retreating. Price then flattened near $0.00000464, but the EWO fell to -3.633 and continued printing deeper red bars, keeping momentum firmly with sellers. Bollinger Bars contracted around the latest range, suggesting volatility had cooled rather than reversed. The first support sits at $0.00000455-$0.00000460, while $0.00000465-$0.00000470 is the immediate recovery hurdle. Shibarium’s reported 95% collapse in DeFi volume added a weaker utility backdrop, so any rebound needs stronger green volume to prove this base is more than a pause.

BNB (BNB)

Key points:

  • BNB cleared its late-July range on heavy volume before profit-taking appeared near $590.

  • +DI dominated the DMI setup, but ADX below 20 showed that trend strength still needed confirmation.

What you should know:

BNB’s first pullback after the breakout became the real test of whether the move had staying power. Price slipped to $586 after reaching $589, but it remained above the former $576-$580 ceiling that had capped late-July recoveries. The Higher High Lower Low indicator marked a fresh swing high, while +DI at 33.10 stayed well above -DI at 11.26. ADX, however, held at 18.84, showing that buyer control had not yet matured into a strong trend. The rally also drew support from BNB Chain processing $19 billion in weekly DEX volume and generating $8.08 million in daily user fees. Holding $584-$586 keeps pressure on $590-$594, while losing it exposes $576-$580.

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