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22 Jan 2026, 08:30
Circle Brings Stablecoins Into the United Nations Aid System
The goal of the grant is to improve how funds move across UN agencies and make aid payments faster, cheaper, and more transparent. UN officials have said digital payments can reduce administrative costs and stretch limited humanitarian budgets. Meanwhile, Elliptic reported that the Central Bank of Iran accumulated approximately $507 million in Tether USDT during a period when Iran’s rial sharply declined in value. The firm said the stablecoins may have been used to support the currency or facilitate trade, with funds moving through domestic exchange Nobitex before being shifted across blockchains. Stablecoins Gain Ground in Global Aid Stablecoin issuer Circle expanded its involvement in global humanitarian finance by issuing a new grant to help support the rollout of digital financial infrastructure across the United Nations system. The initiative was announced during the World Economic Forum in Davos, and it is designed to make humanitarian aid payments faster, more transparent, and more cost-efficient by modernizing how funds move across UN agencies. The grant, delivered through the Circle Foundation, will support the UN’s Digital Hub of Treasury Solutions (DHoTS), a program focused on improving how monetary value is transferred within the UN ecosystem. While Circle did not reveal the size or structure of the grant, it explained that the funding will help streamline payment flows and reduce friction caused by legacy financial systems that still dominate humanitarian finance. According to Circle , tens of billions of dollars in annual humanitarian funding currently rely on slow and costly infrastructure, limiting the overall effectiveness of aid delivery. This latest effort builds on Circle’s earlier collaboration with the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, and DHoTS in 2022. That pilot program facilitated stablecoin-based aid payments using USDC to support displaced Ukrainians. The success of that initiative helped lay the groundwork for experimentation with blockchain-based payment rails inside the UN system. Announcement from Circle Officials in the UN have framed stablecoins as a practical tool for maximizing limited resources. UN Development Programme administrator Alexander De Croo said digital payment infrastructure can help the organization “make every dollar work harder” at a time when humanitarian budgets are under pressure. By reducing settlement delays and administrative overhead, stablecoins could allow more aid to reach recipients directly. Barham Salih said that the use of modern financial technology is not only about efficiency, but also about preserving dignity and choice for people forced to flee their homes. He believes that digital payments can empower recipients by giving them more control over how and when aid is used, while still ensuring accountability for donor funds. Circle’s support for the UN comes shortly after the company formally launched the Circle Foundation in December. Iran’s Central Bank Quietly Accumulates USDT Meanwhile, blockchain analytics firm Elliptic reported that the Central Bank of Iran accumulated more than half a billion dollars’ worth of Tether USDT. Evidence suggests that the stablecoins were used to support Iran’s collapsing national currency and facilitate international trade. According to a report that was released on Wednesday, Elliptic estimates that Iran’s central bank held approximately $507 million in USDT, the US dollar-pegged stablecoin issued by Tether. The analytics firm said the accumulation coincided with a period of severe economic turmoil, during which the Iranian rial lost roughly half its value in just eight months, hitting record lows against the US dollar. Elliptic believes the central bank may have used USDT to conduct de-facto open market operations, purchasing rials through crypto markets in an effort to slow the currency’s decline. This is an approach that would traditionally rely on foreign exchange reserves. (Source: Elliptic) Elliptic explained that much of the central bank’s USDT activity was routed through Nobitex, one of Iran’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges. This was the case until June of 2025, when Nobitex suffered a major security breach. After that incident, the report suggests the central bank adjusted its strategy, moving its USDT through a cross-chain bridge to shift funds from the TRON network to Ethereum, before exchanging the assets and distributing them across other blockchains and platforms. Despite the opaque movement of funds, Elliptic said that Tether has the technical ability to freeze wallets holding USDT. The firm pointed to a June 2025 incident in which several wallets linked to the central bank were blacklisted, which resulted in the freezing of roughly $37 million in stablecoins. The report also shed some light on a surge in crypto usage across Iran. Data from Chainalysis shows that Iran’s cryptocurrency ecosystem exceeded $7.8 billion in activity in 2025, as citizens turned to digital assets like Bitcoin to protect savings amid inflation, sanctions, and economic instability.
22 Jan 2026, 05:33
Layer-1 Protocol Saga Temporarily Shuts SagaEVM Chain After $7M Exploit
Layer-1 network Saga paused its SagaEVM chain after an exploit that moved nearly $7m in tokens to Ethereum , as the team works through an ongoing investigation. Saga said it stopped the chain at block height 6593800 after identifying a security incident on Jan. 21, and it has kept the network paused “out of an abundance of caution” while it validates the full impact and patches the weakness and reinforces the system. “We recognize that a pause is disruptive. We made this decision because the safety of our community comes first,” the team said Wednesday in its blog. “Once remediation is complete, we will publish a more comprehensive technical post-mortem.” SagaEVM remains paused while we finalize the results of our investigation into the Jan 21 exploit. We’re working with partners on remediation and will publish a post-mortem once findings are fully validated. $7M of USDC was bridged out and converted to ETH. Extracted funds were… — Saga ⛋ (@Sagaxyz__) January 22, 2026 Saga Identifies Wallet Linked To $7M Exploit In its investigation update, Saga said nearly $7M in USDC, yUSD, ETH, and tBTC were transferred to the Ethereum Mainnet, and it identified the wallet it was extracted to. The team said it is coordinating with exchanges and bridge operators to blacklist the attacker’s address and support recovery efforts, while it continues forensic analysis using archive data and execution traces. Saga described the attack as a coordinated sequence involving contract deployments and cross-chain activity that ended in rapid liquidity withdrawals. Chainalysis Estimates $3.4B In Crypto Theft In 2025 Reports on the incident also said the attacker bridged assets to Ethereum and converted proceeds into ETH via swaps. Saga said the incident affected the SagaEVM chainlet along with Colt and Mustang, but it did not affect the Saga SSC mainnet, the protocol’s consensus, validator security, or other Saga chainlets. It also said it found no evidence of validator compromise, signer key leakage, or consensus failure. The breach lands as crypto security remains under pressure. C hainalysis estimated the industry saw over $3.4B in theft in 2025 , and pointed to large, concentrated hacks as a key driver of losses. The post Layer-1 Protocol Saga Temporarily Shuts SagaEVM Chain After $7M Exploit appeared first on Cryptonews .
22 Jan 2026, 05:15
Saga Exploit: Devastating $7M Breach Halts Layer 1 Protocol’s SagaEVM Chain
BitcoinWorld Saga Exploit: Devastating $7M Breach Halts Layer 1 Protocol’s SagaEVM Chain In a significant blow to blockchain security, the Layer 1 protocol Saga confirmed a devastating $7 million exploit on its SagaEVM chain this week, forcing an immediate and temporary suspension of all network operations. This breach, first reported by The Block, highlights the persistent vulnerabilities within even specialized blockchain ecosystems designed for scalability and developer needs. Consequently, the project’s team has initiated a comprehensive investigation to assess the full damage and coordinate recovery efforts for affected users. Saga Exploit: Unpacking the $7 Million Breach The Saga protocol, a blockchain network designed to empower developers with dedicated, parallelized “Chainlets,” faced a critical security failure. Specifically, the exploit targeted its SagaEVM chain, an Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible environment. Attackers successfully extracted digital assets worth an estimated $7 million. Following the incident, the core development team made the decisive move to halt the network. This suspension aims to prevent further unauthorized withdrawals and to allow forensic analysis of the breach’s origin. Blockchain security firms, often the first responders to such events, likely began tracing the stolen funds across various addresses. Meanwhile, the team’s public communications emphasized a commitment to transparency during the recovery process. This event follows a concerning trend of exploits targeting cross-chain bridges and new Layer 1 solutions throughout 2024 and into 2025. For context, the total value stolen from crypto protocols exceeded $1.7 billion in 2024 alone, according to industry aggregators. Understanding the Saga Protocol and Its Architecture To grasp the impact, one must understand what the Saga protocol builds. Saga operates as a Layer 1 blockchain in the Cosmos ecosystem, utilizing a delegated Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism. Its primary innovation is the automated deployment of vertically integrated, application-specific blockchains called Chainlets. These Chainlets share security with the main Saga chain while offering developers customizable throughput and fee structures. The exploited component, SagaEVM , provides developers with a familiar Ethereum-like environment. This compatibility seeks to attract projects from the vast Ethereum developer community. The architecture theoretically isolates applications in their own Chainlets, which should contain security incidents. However, the breach on the main SagaEVM chain suggests a vulnerability in a shared resource or bridge mechanism. The table below outlines key aspects of Saga’s design: Feature Description Chainlets Dedicated, parallel blockchains for individual applications. Consensus Delegated Proof-of-Stake (dPoS) via Cosmos SDK. Virtual Machine SagaEVM (EVM-compatible) and CosmWasm support. Key Value Proposition Horizontal scalability and predictable fees for developers. Expert Analysis on Layer 1 Security Posture Security researchers consistently note that new Layer 1 protocols face immense pressure to launch features rapidly. This pace can sometimes lead to compromises in rigorous security auditing cycles. “The complexity of interoperable environments like SagaEVM introduces unique attack vectors,” explains a veteran smart contract auditor who wished to remain anonymous due to client agreements. “While Chainlet isolation is sound in theory, the bridges and shared precompiles between them become high-value targets. Every new virtual machine implementation must undergo exhaustive, battle-tested review.” Historically, many major exploits stem not from core cryptography failures but from logic errors in smart contract code or centralization points in bridge designs. The immediate network suspension, while disruptive, is a standard crisis response. It allows developers to patch the vulnerability without the attacker continuing to drain funds. The true test, however, will be the thoroughness of the post-mortem and the robustness of the proposed fix. Immediate Impact and Broader Market Consequences The direct impact of the $7 million Saga exploit is multi-faceted. Firstly, all transactions and applications on the Saga mainnet and SagaEVM chain are paused. This freeze disrupts developers and end-users relying on the network. Secondly, the financial loss shakes investor and user confidence in the protocol’s security maturity. Market data typically shows a sharp decline in the native token’s value following such announcements, alongside increased social media scrutiny. Furthermore, this incident contributes to the broader narrative of DeFi and blockchain security risks. Regulatory bodies often cite such exploits when advocating for stricter oversight of the cryptocurrency sector. For competing Layer 1 and Layer 2 solutions, this event serves as a cautionary tale. It underscores the non-negotiable priority of security over speed to market. Key immediate consequences include: Network Downtime: All operations are suspended indefinitely during the investigation. Financial Loss: $7 million in user and protocol funds are compromised. Reputational Damage: Trust in Saga’s security model requires rebuilding. Developer Uncertainty: Projects building on Saga may reconsider or pause their work. The Road to Recovery and Security Enhancements The Saga team’s recovery process will follow established protocols within the blockchain industry. Initially, the team must identify the exact vulnerability, whether it was in a smart contract, a bridge, or the chain’s core client software. Subsequently, developers will write and test a patch or upgrade to permanently fix the issue. This upgrade will then be proposed to the network’s validators for governance approval and implementation. Simultaneously, the team will likely collaborate with security firms and law enforcement to trace the stolen funds. While recovering crypto assets post-theft is notoriously difficult, some funds may be frozen if they move to centralized exchanges. A critical component will be the publication of a detailed post-mortem report. Transparent documentation of the root cause and corrective actions is essential for regaining community trust. Finally, the team may consider establishing a restitution fund or insurance program for affected users, though such measures are complex and not guaranteed. Conclusion The $7 million Saga exploit on its SagaEVM chain represents a significant security setback for this innovative Layer 1 protocol. This event forcefully reminds the entire blockchain industry that sophisticated architecture must be matched by equally robust, audited security practices. The temporary network suspension, while a necessary response, highlights the disruptive fallout of such breaches. Ultimately, the long-term viability of the Saga protocol will depend on its transparent response, the effectiveness of its technical remediation, and its ability to reinforce its security framework against future attacks. The broader ecosystem will watch closely, as each exploit provides hard-learned lessons for building a more resilient decentralized future. FAQs Q1: What is the Saga protocol? The Saga protocol is a Layer 1 blockchain that allows developers to launch dedicated, parallel blockchains called “Chainlets.” It aims to provide scalable and customizable environments for decentralized applications. Q2: What was exploited in the Saga breach? The exploit targeted the SagaEVM chain, which is an Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible environment within the Saga ecosystem. Attackers stole an estimated $7 million in digital assets from this chain. Q3: What is the current status of the Saga network? Following the exploit, the Saga core team has temporarily suspended all network operations. This suspension allows them to investigate the breach, develop a fix, and prevent further fund drainage. Q4: How common are these types of exploits in crypto? Unfortunately, smart contract and bridge exploits are a recurring issue. In 2024, over $1.7 billion was stolen from various crypto protocols, with cross-chain bridges and new blockchain infrastructures being particularly vulnerable targets. Q5: What happens to the stolen funds and affected users? The team is investigating the breach and will likely attempt to trace the funds. Recovery is difficult but sometimes possible if assets move to regulated exchanges. The protocol may explore compensation plans, but affected users should await official communication from the Saga team regarding any restitution process. This post Saga Exploit: Devastating $7M Breach Halts Layer 1 Protocol’s SagaEVM Chain first appeared on BitcoinWorld .
21 Jan 2026, 20:55
NeurIPS Hallucinated Citations: The Startling Reality of AI’s Creep into Academic Integrity
BitcoinWorld NeurIPS Hallucinated Citations: The Startling Reality of AI’s Creep into Academic Integrity In a striking revelation from San Diego, December 2025, an AI detection startup’s audit of one of the world’s most prestigious AI conferences has uncovered a subtle but significant crack in the foundation of modern academic publishing. GPTZero, a company specializing in identifying AI-generated content, analyzed all 4,841 papers accepted by the Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) and confirmed 100 hallucinated citations across 51 different publications. This discovery, first reported by Fortune and detailed to Bitcoin World, presents a profound irony: the leading minds advancing artificial intelligence are inadvertently showcasing its flaws within their own rigorous scholarly work. NeurIPS Hallucinated Citations Reveal Systemic Pressure The identification of fabricated references within NeurIPS papers is not merely a statistical anomaly. It signals a deeper, systemic strain on the academic review process. Each NeurIPS paper typically contains dozens of citations, meaning the 100 confirmed hallucinations represent a tiny fraction of the tens of thousands of references submitted. However, as GPTZero emphasizes in its report, the finding highlights how “AI slop” infiltrates academia through a “submission tsunami” that has critically strained conference review pipelines. The peer-review system, a cornerstone of academic validation, instructs reviewers to flag hallucinations, yet the sheer volume of material makes catching every AI-generated inaccuracy a Herculean task. Researchers submit to NeurIPS for the prestige and career advancement it confers. Citations act as academic currency, quantifying a researcher’s influence. When AI language models fabricate these references, it dilutes this currency’s value. The core research in the affected papers may remain valid, as NeurIPS itself noted, but the presence of fake citations undermines the meticulous scholarly standard the conference vows to uphold. This incident directly connects to a broader discussion highlighted in a May 2025 paper titled “The AI Conference Peer Review Crisis,” which warned of these mounting pressures. The AI Research Integrity Paradox This situation creates a significant paradox for the AI research community. The very tools designed to accelerate knowledge creation are introducing errors into the record of that knowledge. The central, ironic question becomes: if the world’s foremost AI experts, with their reputations and careers at stake, cannot guarantee the accuracy of LLM-generated details in their own work, what does this imply for broader, less scrutinized applications? The issue extends beyond simple negligence. It points to a normalization of AI assistance for tedious tasks like citation formatting, where human oversight may lapse precisely because the task is perceived as minor or administrative. Expert Angle: A Crisis of Scale, Not Malice Industry analysts and publishing ethics experts frame this not as an act of academic dishonesty but as a crisis of scale and workflow. The pressure to publish rapidly, combined with the exponential growth in submissions, pushes researchers to utilize productivity tools wherever possible. Large language models excel at generating text that looks correct—mimicking citation formats, author names, and plausible titles—making fabricated references difficult to spot without line-by-line verification against source material. This problem is exacerbated by the “black box” nature of some LLM outputs, where the model cannot explain its source or justify a generated citation. The peer review process, already burdened, is ill-equipped to fact-check every reference in thousands of lengthy, complex papers, creating a vulnerability that AI can exploit unintentionally. Impact on the Future of Academic Publishing The discovery by GPTZero will likely catalyze changes in how conferences and journals handle submissions. We can anticipate several potential developments: Enhanced Submission Guidelines: Conferences may implement stricter rules mandating human verification of all references or requiring authors to declare the use of AI-assisted writing tools. Tool Development: A growing market for AI-powered audit and verification tools, like GPTZero, designed specifically for academic integrity checks. Review Process Evolution: Peer review may incorporate automated pre-screening for hallucinated content, adding a new layer to the editorial workflow. Cultural Shift: A renewed emphasis within research communities on the importance of meticulous citation as a non-negotiable component of research integrity, not a peripheral task. The timeline of this issue is telling. The problem was identified in late 2025, building on warnings published earlier that same year. Its effects will ripple into 2026 and beyond, influencing submission policies for major events like Bitcoin World Disrupt 2026, where discussions on AI ethics and practical implementation are sure to be informed by this NeurIPS case study. Conclusion The finding of NeurIPS hallucinated citations serves as a critical reality check for the AI and academic communities. It demonstrates that the integration of large language models into knowledge work carries subtle risks that can compromise integrity at the highest levels. While the immediate statistical impact is small, the symbolic importance is vast. It underscores an urgent need to develop new safeguards, workflows, and ethical standards to ensure that the tools created to expand human understanding do not inadvertently pollute the well of knowledge itself. The path forward requires a balanced partnership between human expertise and artificial intelligence, with clear checks and unwavering accountability. FAQs Q1: What exactly are “hallucinated citations” in the context of the NeurIPS papers? A1: Hallucinated citations are references generated by an AI language model that appear legitimate—with plausible author names, titles, and publication details—but which do not correspond to any real, published academic work. They are complete fabrications created by the AI. Q2: Does finding fake citations mean the research in those NeurIPS papers is invalid? A2: Not necessarily. As NeurIPS stated, the core research content is not automatically invalidated by an incorrect reference. However, it undermines the scholarly rigor and completeness of the work, as citations are meant to provide verifiable credit and context for the research presented. Q3: How did GPTZero identify the hallucinated citations? A3: While GPTZero’s proprietary methodology is not fully public, AI detection tools typically analyze text for patterns, inconsistencies, and statistical artifacts characteristic of LLM generation. They likely cross-referenced generated citation strings against massive academic databases to confirm non-existence. Q4: Why wouldn’t the researchers themselves catch these AI mistakes? A4: Researchers may use LLMs to assist with the tedious formatting and compilation of citation lists. Under tight deadlines and assuming the tool’s reliability for a seemingly straightforward task, they might perform only a cursory check, especially if the generated output looks superficially correct among dozens of legitimate references. Q5: What does this mean for the average person using AI writing tools? A5: This incident is a powerful reminder that all AI-generated content, from academic papers to business emails, requires careful human fact-checking and verification. It highlights that AI is a productivity assistant, not an authoritative source, and ultimate responsibility for accuracy always rests with the human user. This post NeurIPS Hallucinated Citations: The Startling Reality of AI’s Creep into Academic Integrity first appeared on BitcoinWorld .
21 Jan 2026, 20:00
Saga EVM has been hacked for a total of $6.8M
Saga was the latest project to be targeted in a DeFi hack for January. The platform lost several tokens, with $6M in ETH. Saga EVM was exploited, resulting in a loss of at least 2,000 ETH valued at around $6M and the halting of the network. The exploit is among the emerging significant attacks against DeFi, which accelerated in 2025 and continued into the new year. The exploit originated in Saga’s own infrastructure, and did not come from the Oku or Uniswap exchanges, which carry some of Saga’s assets, per reports. We’re aware of the incident on Saga and are monitoring closely. Initial findings indicate the issue originated at Saga’s core infrastructure, not Oku or the Uniswap contracts. The Saga EVM is currently halted, and there’s no action required from users until the chain resumes.… https://t.co/VEmq6WmEC7 — Oku 🐼 (@okutrade) January 21, 2026 The Saga attack involved the unauthorized minting of Saga Dollar (D) tokens. The attacker bridged the tokens to Ethereum, managed to buy over 2,000 ETH, while trading the remaining stablecoins through Uniswap V4. The total losses are estimated at $6.8M, as new D stablecoins were minted without any real collateral. Saga pauses protocol for investigation Saga suffered more than the direct loss, as the protocol’s TVL crashed from over $36M to $21M. Immediately after the exploit, Saga paused all activities to investigate the vulnerability. SagaEVM has been paused at block height 6593800 in response to a confirmed exploit on the SagaEVM chainlet. Mitigation is underway, and the team is fully focused on a solution. Further updates will follow once details are confirmed. — Saga ⛋ (@Sagaxyz__) January 21, 2026 Unauthorized token minting is one of the common exploits, which may be due to a smart contract bug. The contract was intended to bridge assets between Saga and Ethereum, allowing the hacker to withdraw more than the available balance of stablecoins. The ETH from the exploit is still held in a single address and has not been moved or mixed. The exploiter still holds a remaining D stablecoin balance of over $12M, in addition to smaller amounts of tokens . Saga lost over 42% of its total value locked, due to the direct hack and the de-pegging of Saga Dollar (D) stablecoins down to $0.75 from a usual range of $1. | Source: DeFi Llama The stalled Saga protocol means the attacker cannot trade any more D stablecoins on the native chain. However, the protocol and the chain are now frozen and may take a while to recover their value locked in apps and the platform’s DeFi market share. Saga Dollar de-pegs after the exploit Following the exploit, the relatively illiquid D stablecoin de-pegged and fell to all-time lows. The asset crashed to $0.75, further damaging the project’s stability and reputation. D was launched in early December 2025, expanding its supply to over 6M tokens. The asset was only traded on Saga’s internal Oku Trade market. Saga also has a native version of Uniswap, which allowed the hacker to cash out some of the stablecoins. Following the exploit, the Saga version of Uniswap lost most of its value locked. D is the only stablecoin on Saga, with no other bridged assets. The network is yet another relatively new launch, which suffered an exploit while still growing its DeFi sector. SAGA tokens were already trading near an all-time low, and sank further to $0.053 after the announcement of the exploit. The tokens have been sliding since their launch in May 2024. Want your project in front of crypto’s top minds? Feature it in our next industry report, where data meets impact.
21 Jan 2026, 17:05
Makina exploit adds to growing list of DeFi attacks in early 2026
Makina’s recent $4.2 million exploit has added to a growing list of DeFi security incidents recorded in early 2026, with over $34 million already recorded.
