Cambodia’s National Assembly unanimously passed a new law to crack down on cyber scams that use crypto assets, with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. The bill will be reviewed by the Senate and approved by the King. The core leaders of scam syndicates face severe penalties; analysis suggests this may only shift the crimes, and that coordinated efforts are needed to target corruption and money-laundering networks as well.

At the Fourth Session of the National People's Congress, Chief Justice Zhang Jun reported that over the past five years, there has been a significant increase in the number of cyber security crime cases, including online rumors and money laundering. He emphasized strict punishment for related crimes and also pointed out that drivers who use assisted driving after drinking alcohol still bear criminal responsibility.

The White House released "President Trump's Cyber Strategy," emphasizing cyber offense, defense, and deterrence, and for the first time mentioning the protection of cryptocurrencies and blockchain. The strategy will target transnational cybercrime, expand cyber operation authorities, mobilize the private sector, and promote AI-driven defense systems.

February 25 News, the debate over whether XRP Ledger (XRPL) is a centralized blockchain has quickly heated up in the crypto community. Justin Bons, founder and CIO of Cyber Capital, publicly questioned the decentralization of XRPL, arguing that its reliance on the Unique Node List (UNL) mechanism essentially makes it a "permissioned blockchain," deviating from the true permissionless crypto network concept. Justin Bons pointed out that XRPL validators typically refer to recommended node lists published by a central authority. Deviating from this list could lead to network forks, thereby structurally creating potential governance centralization risks. He also categorized XRPL alongside networks like Stellar, Hedera, and Algorand as "permissioned architectures," emphasizing that blockchains not based on PoW or PoS consensus might be closer to an authority proof model (PoA), making it difficult to achieve full trust minimization.

On February 11, news reports revealed that Mandiant, Google's security team, disclosed that a hacker group linked to North Korea is using deepfake videos and fake Zoom calls to carry out highly customized social engineering attacks against the cryptocurrency industry. They are also deploying various malicious programs to steal assets and data. The investigation shows that this operation was launched by the cyber threat group UNC1069. The group has been active since at least 2018 and shifted its focus from traditional finance to the Web3 space after 2023, targeting executives of crypto fintech companies, software developers, and venture capital professionals. The incident began when an industry executive's Telegram account was hijacked. The attackers impersonated the individual to contact targets, build trust, and then sent fake Calendly video meeting invitations.

PANews February 3 News, according to China News Service, Hong Kong held its first International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) Cyber Crime Expert Group Annual Meeting. The conference covered topics such as online extortion, artificial intelligence, and virtual asset tracking. Hong Kong Police Force Commissioner Chris Tang stated that they have noticed emerging trends in crimes related to virtual assets. Last year, they established a Virtual Asset Intelligence Task Force as a public-private partnership platform to jointly address technological challenges. Hong Kong police also developed a virtual asset tracking system that visualizes the virtual asset investigation process and provides comprehensive support to investigators.

Cyber Hornet has submitted an application for the S&P Crypto 10 ETF (CTX), which may become the first spot index ETF linked to the S&P Crypto Index, with holdings including major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Odaily Planet Daily reports that Justin Bons, founder and CIO of Cyber Capital, stated on X that Bitcoin could crash within 7 to 11 years. He mentioned that as block rewards decrease, miner incentives will continue to diminish, and transaction fees are unlikely to stay high, thereby reducing Bitcoin's security budget.

The National Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau of Pakistan recently dismantled an international investment scam network, arresting 34 individuals and uncovering approximately $60 million in fraud cases. The gang conducted long-term scams through social media,诱导 victims to participate in fake transactions. The police seized a large number of devices, and the case is still under further investigation.