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• The UN and Tether Limited are working together to combat rampant crypto crime in Africa, one of the fastest-growing crypto markets.
• The aim is to specifically combat fraud, illegal financial flows and related human trafficking.

The cooperation between the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the company Tether Limited, which was announced on January 9th, is a milestone in the global fight against international organized crime, which is increasingly using cryptocurrencies as tools of crime.

Africa is one of the fastest growing crypto markets, but crypto crime is also growing rapidly. This is where the cooperation between the UNO and Tether comes into play. It plans to introduce crypto-security, fraud prevention and victim assistance programs, with Nigeria, Uganda and Congo at the top of the list.

Why Africa and why Tether?

Africa has the third fastest growing crypto region in the world, while also being a hotspot for scams, fraud networks and exploitation by other types of cybercrime.

The increasing use of USDT, particularly in Nigeria, is the reason for the direct involvement of Tether Limited as a USDT issuer in the fight against stablecoin abuse by criminals.

The cooperation includes four specific projects:

1. Cybersecurity training programs be established at universities in Africa and also in Papua New Guinea. The goals are to recognize fraud patterns, the safe use of digital assets and the teaching of blockchain basics.
2. Protection programs Victim protection initiatives should be financed for victims of human trafficking and digital exploitation. Local authorities and NGOs should be supported in identifying perpetrators and structures.
3. Blockchain‑Analyst is intended to identify illegal financial flows. These money flows should be tracked and connections with fraud, corruption or terrorist financing uncovered so that law enforcement authorities can take action.
4. „Strategic Vision for Africa 2030“ The UNODC initiative aims to promote economic resilience, build secure digital infrastructures and improve cooperation between governments, law enforcement and the tech sector.

The program will specifically start in Senegal, Nigeria, Congo, Malawi, Ethiopia, Uganda and Papua New Guinea, although this state is not in Africa but north of Australia.

Importance of the alliance

The cooperation between UNODC and Tether Limited is the largest security policy partnership to date in which a crypto company is directly involved. It shows that stablecoins are not just financial instruments, but can form a global infrastructure that can be used in the fight against crypto-crime.

• Blockchain security experts at Cyvers Alerts uncovered a suspicious on-chain transaction on the Truebit protocol on Thursday.
• A single address received 8,535 ETH, marked as a “Truebit Protocol Purchase” – estimated damage: around $26 million.

The crypto market is experiencing the first shock of the new year: The Truebit protocol has lost more than 8,500 ETH, the equivalent of around $26 million, due to a serious exploit. Truebit is a blockchain scaling protocol which outsources complex calculations to reduce costs and increase performance by executing tasks offchain.

The first clues came from the Blockchain‑Analysefirma Cyvers Alertswhich noticed an unusual transaction in which a single address received thousands of ETH, marked as “Truebit Protocol: Purchase.”

It quickly became clear that this was not a legitimate operation, but rather a targeted attack on an outdated smart contract that had not been updated in years.

The attackers got the TRU tokens practically for free and then exchanged them for ETH, depleting the project’s reserves in a very short time.

TRU token collapsed after a few hours

The immediate consequences for the TRU token were dramatic. Within a few hours, the token lost almost all of its value. Price data shows a fall of 99.95 percent – ​​effectively a total loss.

Liquidity collapsed on decentralized exchanges while Partially freezing data feeds or displayed incorrect values. For many investors who still view Truebit as an experimental but ambitious project in the area of ​​off-chain computing power, the collapse came as a complete surprise.

The incident joins a series of security issues affecting outdated smart contracts and raises questions about how long unmaintained protocols can “survive” in a blockchain system.

Public prosecutor’s office is investigating

The Truebit team has since confirmed the incident and stated that they had been informed of a hacker attack.

They are working closely with law enforcement to identify those responsible and trace the stolen crypto assets. At the same time, a technical post-mortem is being prepared to reveal the exact cause and sequence of the attack.

For the crypto market, the case is a warning example of how dangerous outdated smart contracts are. The investigation is ongoing, and at this time it is not certain whether Truebit will recover from this blow or whether it has initiated the project’s final demise.

• Ripple has the Electronic Money Institution License (EMI) in the UK and the Cryptoasset Registration from the Financial Conduct Authority FCA – and thus the legal basis for starting business operations.
• The FCA is considered one of the most demanding regulatory authorities in the world. Therefore, these licenses have a signaling effect for possible applications for corresponding approvals in the EU.

The EMI license gives Ripple permission to issue electronic money and offer regulated payment services. This puts the company in the same league as established FinTechs such as Revolut or Wise, but with a focus on blockchain-based infrastructure.

The license commits Ripple to high standards of capital adequacy, risk management and compliance. At the same time, it creates the basis for offering cross-border payment services via Ripple Payments directly in the British market and for acquiring institutional customers. They can rely on a regulated, technologically modern alternative in international payment transactions.

The second approval, Cryptoasset Registration, confirms that Ripple complies with UK anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing requirements. This is a requirement for all companies wanting to offer crypto services in the UK.

Duties and opportunities

The two new FCA licenses give Ripple a significant boost in its reputation with EU supervisory authorities, as the British financial regulator is considered particularly strict and has high requirements for compliance, governance and money laundering prevention.

This puts Ripple in a very good starting position to enter into discussions with EU regulatory authorities and strengthens the starting position for later MiCA licensing, which will become mandatory in the EU in 2026.

Of course, the British licenses do not replace EU approval, but they show that Ripple already meets many of the requirements that the EU requires in its MiCAR. At the same time, Ripple is becoming more attractive to EU banks and payment service providers, who prefer to work with partners who are authorized in regulated markets and can demonstrate robust AML processes.

In addition, Ripple can already gain indirect access to EU customers through British financial institutions that themselves have EU licenses, which enables preparatory operational expansion even without an EU license.

• A week after it came into force, DAC8 is causing a heated data protection debate, especially in the crypto community.
• Large crypto service providers and tax authorities see the new rules as a necessary step towards tax transparency.

Since the DAC8 Directive came into force, there has been noticeable unrest in the European crypto industry. Private users and smaller providers in particular express concerns about the expanded reporting requirements. The automatic and mandatory recording of tax IDs and detailed transaction data is often perceived as an invasion of financial privacy.

Forums and social media are dominated by discussions about possible risks from data leaks and the question of whether the new requirements could lead to increased migration to less regulated markets. The uncertainty is further increased by the fact that many technical and organizational details of the implementation have not yet been fully clarified.

Regulators and large providers focus on stability

While criticism from the community remains loud, regulatory authorities and larger crypto providers appear much more relaxed. For them, the harmonization of European tax transparency is a priority. The directive is seen as a necessary step to curb tax evasion and create a level playing field.

Large service providers who had already set up extensive KYC and reporting structures see DAC8 as a confirmation of their previous practice rather than a burden. Some of them even use the opportunity to position themselves as particularly compliant and to increase trust among institutional customers.

Uncertainty among other affected people

Between these two poles there is a broad group of private investors and smaller companies who are primarily confronted with practical questions.

Many people do not yet know exactly what data will be reported in the future, to what extent, and what transition periods will apply. The directive is formally in force, but operational implementation will take months. This phase of uncertainty leads to noticeable reluctance in the market.

Many customers are reducing their activities, others are waiting until they have their first experience with the new rules. The mood is one of caution, but also of hope that a clear picture will emerge over time.

• The EU directive DAC8 has only been in force since January 1st, but it is already changing the European crypto scene – for some investors, however, in a completely different way than they had imagined.
• Crypto service providers are now obliged to report detailed customer data to the tax authorities, and fraudsters promptly take advantage of the ignorance of many private investors and send phishing emails – with success.

With DAC8 The anonymous use of cryptocurrencies on EU-regulated platforms ends. The directive requires exchanges, brokers and wallet providers to automatically transmit the names, tax data and transaction histories of their customers to the authorities without their intervention.

Non-EU service providers must also adhere to this rule if they serve customers in the EU. The measure is part of a comprehensive strategy to curb tax evasion. It is intended to standardize the exchange of information between national tax authorities.

Fraudsters take advantage of investors’ ignorance

The new reporting requirement is causing uncertainty – and this is currently being exploited by criminals. Emails are circulating across the EU that purport to come from tax authorities and request “DAC8 verification” or “wallet registration.”

The emails seem credible because they refer to real legal changes and use the usual official jargon with the corresponding bureaucratic phrases. There are also terms such as “automated information exchange” and “tax transparency”. But all of that is nonsense.

In fact, the new EU DAC8 directive is aimed exclusively at commercial crypto service providers, not investors. An authority will never request – and certainly not via email – to transmit wallet data, tax IDs or seed phrases (!). The wave of phishing shows how quickly new regulations that are still unknown in detail can be exploited if the information available to those affected is still incomplete.

Alleged authority emails are fake

As companies begin to adapt their processes to the new requirements, experts warn of significant risks in the transition phase of DAC8. The directive provides for fines of up to 50,000 euros for violations, which puts pressure on providers to quickly adapt their systems.

At the same time, the risk that criminals will take advantage of the situation increases before the public is fully informed about the new rules. The current wave of phishing is an example of how much cybercrime depends on the ignorance of those being deceived.

For investors this means: All DAC8-related emails that request the disclosure of any personal information or information about investments made are the beginning of an attempted fraud – ignore them.

DAC8 does not affect investors at all and does not create any reporting requirements for investors. The coming months will show how well Europe masters this balancing act between transparency, security and consumer protection.

• The industry’s leading analysis experts published assessments on the future of Bitcoin at the beginning of the year. They paint a picture between supercycle and low-level consolidation.
• Bernstein expects a strong upturn, VanEck warns of a slowdown. Most voices from the DACH region are optimistic, not least because of the new EU regulations that will take effect this year.

Bernstein: Supercycle as a basic assumption

Bernstein is currently one of the loudest snorting Bitcoin bulls. In its analysis, the company expects a multi-year super cycle, which will be driven primarily by RWA tokenization.

According to Bernstein, setbacks such as the weak 2025 annual results are not a structural danger, but rather “buy the dip” opportunities. The Bernstein experts see Bitcoin at around $200,000 in 2026 and justify this with increasing institutional penetration of the market and a generally growing importance of digital assets in the global financial system.

VanEck: Between current reality and optimism

Asset manager VanEck is much more cautious. No new ATH is expected for 2026, but rather a consolidation phase. According to VanEck analyst Matthew Sigel, the price could fall to a cycle low of around $75,000. The market structure should be characterized by decreasing volatility and a reduction in leverage, which would indicate a bottoming out, not a strong increase. VanEck is more optimistic for 2027. Sigel forecasts around $180,000, driven by ETF inflows and institutional support.

DACH region

In German-speaking countries, optimistic voices predominate. Swiss media reports from experts who consider price targets between $150,000 and $250,000 to be realistic. The main argument cited is the increasing institutional interest in sustainably stabilizing and professionalizing the market.

German analysts, in turn, emphasize that Bitcoin is showing remarkable stability despite setbacks above the $100,000 mark. Business Insider points out that many forecasts expect prices to continue rising and seasonal patterns could generate additional momentum in the fourth quarter.