hodler

25 Mar 2026, 08:24

Seized wallet springs to life as 500 BTC moves

Back in 2011, Clifton Collins acquired 6,000 BTC. After his arrest in 2017, the coins were considered lost. Now, one of the addresses moved 500 BTC, raising questions about who managed to find or crack the private keys. The known BTC wallets of Clifton Collins were idle for years, and the keys were considered lost or beyond reach. In the past day, Arkham Intelligence intercepted a single transaction that moved 500 BTC to a new address, which is now sitting idle. The funds are now valued at $35.5M, with over $426M held on all 12 addresses linked to Collins. 500 BTC moved from the wallets of Clifton Collins after a decade of no transactions. Reportedly, law enforcement managed to gain access to the private key in an undisclosed cyber team operation. | Source: Arkham Intelligence . When Collins was arrested, his belongings were cleared out and thrown away, including the hidden private keys. Reportedly, the keys were written on paper and hidden in a fishing rod case. It appears some of the keys may have been found, or maybe there was an alternative storage of the seed phrase. How were the BTC keys discovered? Any move of BTC from an old wallet raises multiple speculations. In the past months, BTC that was presumably lost started moving on multiple occasions, as even older whales decided to take profit. In this case, there were multiple speculations on the discovery of one of the wallets linked to Collins. Since not all BTC were stored on the same address, most of the coins may remain idle. The coins were moved to a Coinbase Custody address, a move that has been used by law enforcement to safeguard seized assets. Europol claimed they used advanced decryption to move the BTC The movement of 500 BTC was not based on luck, but was a part of a law enforcement operation. Europol reported that the wallets were, in fact, not lost but seized by the Irish police force. What was unusual is that the wallet was unlocked without access to the lost private keys. While in general, BTC encryption is unfeasible to break, there are some exceptions. The wallet from 2011 may have been protected by a file, which was also accessible to law enforcement. The wallet may have been brute-forced to uncover another access point, such as a wallet.dat file. “ The Criminal Assets Bureau in collaboration with Europol gained access to and seized a cryptocurrency wallet containing 500 bitcoins, which are the proceeds of crime,” said the Irish Garda in a statement, without giving further details on the techniques used to access the wallet. Another possibility is that Collins used a flawed key generation service with weaker randomization, allowing law enforcement to uncover the private keys. There was also the possibility that others were in possession of the private keys. It is possible that the same methods may work on the remaining 11 wallets, where the keys were also derived in a similar fashion. A weaker key generation may produce more predictable outcomes, allowing reverse analysis to derive the private keys. Europol is also in possession of additional BTC, some of it fully accessible and kept in storage. Some of the BTC came from the raid against Cryptomixer in December 2025. The smartest crypto minds already read our newsletter. Want in? Join them .

25 Mar 2026, 08:21

Ripple’s RLUSD Tapped for Real-World Trade Finance in Singapore Pilot Program

Ripple Puts Stablecoins to the Test in Singapore’s Trade Finance Sandbox Ripple is pushing closer to real-world blockchain use, testing its RLUSD stablecoin inside a regulatory sandbox by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. The pilot targets a longstanding pain point in global finance, slow, manual cross-border trade payments, by exploring faster, automated alternatives. At the core of the initiative is BLOOM, short for Borderless, Liquid, Open, Online, Multi-currency, a Monetary Authority of Singapore–backed program built to test how tokenized money, including regulated stablecoins, can modernize settlement systems. Rather than staying theoretical, Ripple is hitting the ground running with the real-world application experiment meant to streamline trade finance. Partnering with Unloq, Ripple is embedding RLUSD into a smart payment system that executes transactions automatically when preset conditions are met. Once a shipment is verified, funds are released instantly, cutting out manual approvals, endless paperwork, and the costly delays that have long slowed global trade. Ripple Pushes Programmable Payments Into the Real World with RLUSD Trade Finance Pilot This model transforms payments from reactive to programmable. By embedding settlement rules directly into transactions, Ripple collapses processes that once took days into near-instant execution. In this pilot, the XRP Ledger isn’t being used for speculation, it’s operating as core infrastructure, synchronizing trade obligations, financing, and settlement in a single, seamless flow. The timing is strategic. As stablecoin issuers face growing pressure to demonstrate real-world utility, trade finance with its complexity and reliance on manual processes, offers the perfect test case. RLUSD’s role here signals a shift from being just a source of liquidity to becoming a foundational layer of financial infrastructure. Momentum on the network reinforces that narrative. Over 50% of activity on the XRP Ledger is now payments-focused, with RLUSD contributing a meaningful share of that volume. The trend signals a shift from experimentation toward real-world financial infrastructure. This direction is echoed by industry perspectives. Evernorth CEO Asheesh Birla has addressed concerns that RLUSD might constrain XRP’s growth, arguing instead that stablecoins broaden access and ultimately strengthen the ecosystem as a whole. Singapore’s role further validates the approach. With its reputation for combining regulatory rigor and innovation, the Monetary Authority of Singapore offers a credible testing ground for assessing how stablecoins can function within compliant financial systems. If successful, the outcomes could shape how banks and institutions adopt blockchain-based settlement on a global scale. At a time when traditional systems like SWIFT are modernizing their payment frameworks, Ripple’s sandbox participation points to a parallel shift, one where programmable money begins to replace the delays and friction embedded in legacy cross-border trade. Conclusion Ripple’s RLUSD pilot in Singapore is not just a proof of concept but a test of real-world viability within a tightly regulated environment. By integrating stablecoins into trade finance workflows, the initiative highlights how programmable settlement can reduce friction, enhance transparency, and close the gap between verification and payment. Backed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore and supported by the structured BLOOM framework, the experiment carries a level of institutional credibility that many blockchain projects still lack. If it succeeds, it could help reposition stablecoins as foundational infrastructure for global trade rather than tools confined to crypto markets. For Ripple, it marks a strategic move toward embedding RLUSD into regulated financial systems, with the potential to shape how banks, fintechs, and enterprises handle cross-border settlement in the years ahead.

25 Mar 2026, 08:19

Bhutan Dumps $37M Of Bitcoin as Selling Momentum Builds While BTC Stabilizes Above $71,000

The Kingdom of Bhutan moved $37 million worth of Bitcoin over the past 24 hours, as it continues to offload portions of its holdings. Originally published on ZyCrypto - blockchain news, expert analysis, and Web3 coverage. Full article at ZyCrypto.com

25 Mar 2026, 08:18

Shiba Inu Price on the Edge of a Triangle Breakout—Here’s the Target

Shiba Inu accumulation days are nearing their end if the current momentum sustains and it breaks out of a descending triangle. Notably, this triangle has suppressed Shiba Inu (SHIB) since mid-February, with its price shuffling between the upper resistance and lower support. Visit Website

25 Mar 2026, 08:17

Maine Victims Lost $800,000 to Crypto Scammers. The FBI Got Some of It Back.

The US Department of Justice will return $470,735 to two Maine residents defrauded in a crypto investment scheme. The FBI seized 470,773 USDT from criminal wallets in 2022, with Tether assisting the transfer.

25 Mar 2026, 08:14

XRP Could Drop to $0.87-$1.09 Before It Can Flip the Bearish Trend

Market analysis suggests it is becoming increasingly likely that XRP needs to drop below the $1 area before it can gather strength to flip the bearish trend. XRP has faced bearish pressure alongside the rest of the crypto market over the past few months. Visit Website