News linked to both this project and an event.
According to The Defiant, Arbitrum officially activated the ArbOS 61 Elara upgrade on August 20, which was approved for deployment via an ArbitrumDAO governance vote. The core features of this upgrade include: introducing an optional protocol-level transaction filtering mechanism for Dedicated Chains, allowing chain owners to independently select external compliance service providers such as TRM Labs and Chainalysis to configure restricted address rules; the filter is disabled by default and does not affect existing Arbitrum One users; adding Priority Fee support, also disabled by default, with its activation on Arbitrum One still requiring a separate DAO constitutional vote; introducing the BaseFeeManager contract, which authorizes Offchain Labs to adjust the L2 minimum Gas fee within a DAO-approved range of 0.01 to 0.10 gwei over a two-year authorization period; additionally, the maximum code size limit for Stylus contracts has been increased from 24 KB to 96 KB, though this does not apply to Solidity contracts.
Blockchain analytics company Chainalysis Government Solutions filed a bid protest with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims on July 27, challenging the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) award of an approximately $94.6 million blockchain forensics software and support services contract to competitor TRM Labs on a sole-source basis. The contract term is from July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027, for investigations related to the Homeland Security Special Operations Group.
blockchain forensics firm Chainalysis Government Solutions filed a bid protest with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims on July 27, opposing the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) decision to award a contract worth approximately $94.6 million to competitor TRM Labs on a sole-source basis. The contract, covering the period from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027, involves blockchain forensics software and support services for Homeland Security task forces investigating fraud, cybercrime, and sextortion cases. Chainalysis argues that ICE's decision was arbitrary and unreasonable. TRM Labs joined the case as an intervenor-defendant on July 28, defending the contract alongside the U.S. government. The court has allowed Chainalysis to temporarily seal its complaint, with oral arguments scheduled for September 2. ICE stated that after approximately six days of market research, it determined that none of the eight responding companies could meet the requirements. (Decrypt)
Odaily News According to a report by blockchain compliance analysis firm TRM Labs, following the full implementation of the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), only 281 of the original 1,343 crypto asset service providers applied for and received operating authorization, accounting for roughly one-fifth. Among the more than 1,800 crypto organizations previously registered in Poland, none obtained MiCA authorization; in Lithuania, only 8 of more than 400 received approval. Germany's regulator BaFin authorized 55 entities, while French and Dutch regulators each licensed 29. TRM Labs' assessments show that among firms that failed to obtain authorization and exited the market, 12% were rated as high-risk or severe-risk, compared to 2% among authorized firms. The former sent $5 billion to sanctioned counterparties, while the latter sent $1.7 billion. The report notes that unauthorized firms' sanctions exposure is approximately four times that of authorized firms. MiCA has also raised concerns about restricted access to stablecoins in Europe, and the EU is planning a comprehensive framework revision to address stablecoin issues and bring tokenized assets under regulatory scope. (Bitcoin.com News)
The Singapore Police Force's Anti-Scam Centre and Cybercrime Department, in a six-week joint anti-scam operation from April 16 to May 31, 2026, collaborated with Coinbase, Coinhako, Gemini, Independent Reserve, OKX, StraitsX, and Upbit. Using blockchain analysis tools from Chainalysis and TRM Labs, they identified potential scam victims and conducted over 145 targeted interventions via phone and in-person visits, preventing potential losses exceeding $4.2 million. Coinbase Singapore stated in a post on X on July 10 that it worked with the Singapore police to prevent over 145 individuals from losing a combined total of more than $4.2 million due to scams. The Singapore Police Force stated that it will continue to work with cryptocurrency exchanges and other private sector entities to combat cybercrime. (Bitcoin.com News).
The Thai government has officially issued an arrest warrant for Chinese businessman Wang Yicheng, accusing him of colluding with transnational criminal syndicates to launder billions of dollars through illegal cryptocurrency "mining" activities on behalf of cross-border internet fraud and online gambling syndicates. Reuters, citing an investigation by blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs, reported that Wang Yicheng's cryptocurrency wallet received at least $9.1 million (approximately HKD 71.35 million) between 2021 and 2022, with funds linked to "pig butchering" scams.Thailand's Special Investigation Department stated in a statement that U.S. law enforcement agencies have confirmed Wang Yicheng's involvement in a digital asset fraud case. The U.S. side had previously traced the flow of stolen funds from a victim in Massachusetts to an account registered under Wang Yicheng's name and seized approximately $500,000 worth of cryptocurrency. (Lianhe Zaobao)
According to CoinTelegraph, blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs released a report forecasting that the on-chain prediction market’s transaction volume for Q1 2026 will reach $3.66 billion—surpassing on-chain gambling’s $1.4 billion for the first time. On-chain gambling achieved a total annual transaction volume of $5.1 billion in 2025, setting a new quarterly record of $1.5 billion in Q4 2025. TRM Labs noted that despite the broader crypto market correction, transaction volumes in both sectors showed no significant decline—largely sustained by the continued activity of loyal user bases. Regarding user composition, “high rollers” accounted for only 6.3% of individual wallets yet generated 91.8% of total transaction volume. Meanwhile, the monthly transaction volume of average bettors grew from $17 million in January 2022 to $188 million in March 2026; the transaction volume of daily gamblers increased twelvefold over the same period, indicating substantial expansion of incremental user groups. From a risk perspective, TRM Labs highlighted differing financial crime risks across the two platform types: gambling platforms face higher money laundering risks, whereas prediction markets are more likely to draw scrutiny over insider trading.
in April 2026, two major DeFi attacks on Drift Protocol and Kelp DAO resulted in losses of nearly $600 million, triggering approximately $9 billion in capital outflows from protocols like Aave. TRM Labs investigator Nick Carlsen stated that a hacker group suspected to be linked to North Korea has allegedly used AI to assist in target selection and attack path design. Failsafe CEO Aneirin Flynn said that AI has compressed the time for discovering blockchain vulnerabilities from months to days or even hours. The report noted that Anthropic has not fully opened its AI model Mythos due to cybersecurity risks, claiming the model has the capability to discover large-scale zero-day vulnerabilities. Its research indicates that over half of blockchain attacks in 2025 could theoretically be completed autonomously by AI. (Bloomberg)
According to The Block, the T3 Financial Crime Unit (T3 FCU), jointly established by Tether, TRON, and TRM Labs, announced that since its founding in 2024, it has frozen over $450 million worth of illicit crypto assets globally. In 2025, the unit’s interception of illicit proceeds increased by 43.9% year-on-year, covering 23 jurisdictions including the United States, Spain, and Germany, and has been recognized by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) as “a critical resource for global law enforcement agencies.” The T3 FCU has participated in investigations across multiple crime categories, including exchange hacks, North Korea–related activities, terrorist financing, and violent crimes, and assisted Brazil’s Federal Police in freezing over $5.989 billion in assets—including 4.3 million USDT.
According to the Lianhe Zaobao, Singapore’s Police Anti-Scam Centre and the Cybercrime Investigation Division collaborated with cryptocurrency platforms including Coinbase, Coinhako, StraitsX, and Upbit in a month-long targeted enforcement operation from March 16 to April 15 this year, successfully intercepting over S$2.86 million in scam proceeds. During the operation, authorities used analytical tools from blockchain intelligence firms TRM Labs and Chainalysis to identify victims involved in multiple scam categories—including impersonation of government officials, investment scams, job scams, and online romance scams—and carried out more than 90 direct interventions via telephone and in-person contact. The police stated that the operation’s success stemmed from a rapid information-sharing mechanism between law enforcement agencies and private-sector platforms, and emphasized their continued commitment to deepening public-private collaboration to counter increasingly sophisticated cryptocurrency scams.