Head of Meta AI: Muse remains ad-free, plans to monetize via subscriptions, enterprise services, and shopping commissions

U.S. Department of Justice official announcement: The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said on October 23 that 44-year-old Chinese national Zheng Zhao was extradited to the U.S. from the Netherlands on suspicion of involvement in a transnational cryptocurrency investment fraud targeting U.S. citizens, and made his first court appearance the same day. Zhao has been ordered detained and is scheduled to appear again on November 30. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in federal prison. According to court documents, the fraud network was based at scam hubs in Cambodia, contacted U.S. victims via social media, phone calls, text messages and dating apps, lured victims into investing using websites mimicking legitimate cryptocurrency trading platforms, and falsely claimed the investments would keep growing in value. The illicit funds were then laundered through U.S. shell companies, international bank accounts and digital asset wallets. Investigations revealed that more than $36.9 million in victim funds were transferred from U.S. bank accounts controlled by the network to a single account at Deltec Bank in the Bahamas. Zhao and other co-conspirators arranged to convert the funds into USDT, then transferred them to digital asset wallets controlled by Cambodia, and ultimately distributed the money to leaders of scam hubs in the country and neighboring regions. The scam involved at least 174 confirmed U.S. victims, and eight co-conspirators have pleaded guilty so far. The U.S. Department of Justice emphasized that criminal charges do not constitute evidence of guilt, and Zhao is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview broadcast Friday that he has ordered the development of a blockchain-related plan to help Israel prepare for potential future economic sanctions, including banking restrictions. When asked if blockchain could act as an alternative to counter sanctions, Netanyahu replied that blockchain is one of the viable options, and has tasked relevant parties with drafting the plan. However, he did not disclose specific responsible bodies, the type of blockchain or cryptocurrency involved, or the timeline for the plan’s implementation. Netanyahu also warned that U.S. military aid to Israel cannot continue indefinitely, noting that Israel needs to reduce its reliance on external support. He added that an additional 400 billion shekels (equivalent to roughly $129 billion) will be allocated to national defense over the next several years, to strengthen the domestic production capacity of ammunition and weapons, while preparing for potential changes in the U.S. political environment.

Bitcoin has been trading in a tight range recently, with investors closely watching the U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision on October 28, Strategy’s earnings report on October 29, and the U.S. midterm elections on November 3 to gauge its future trajectory. Analysts note that factors such as U.S. inflation, tariffs, and U.S.-Iran tensions continue to weigh on risk assets, while capital flows into spot Bitcoin ETFs remain mixed. The long-short battle in Binance’s perpetual contract market remains intense, with liquidation heatmaps showing around $8 billion in short positions above the spot price and approximately $7.6 billion in long positions below it. Bitcoin’s recent rebound near $84,890 has drained some short-side liquidity, but profit-taking around $85,000 has capped its upside. The $80,000 level is viewed as a key support, with roughly $3.57 billion in long positions near this mark and an additional $3.6 billion around $79,000. Analysts argue that until Bitcoin breaks decisively out of its current trading range, short-term trading is likely to stay choppy and range-bound.

According to EmberCN's monitoring, trader "Salem1299534" liquidated his entire position of 20.06 million AI tokens approximately two hours ago, converting them into 461 ETH valued at around $1.09 million. The sell-off triggered an immediate 15% plunge in AI's price. The trader had previously spent roughly $980,000 to acquire the AI tokens, and his sale yielded approximately $3.12 million, resulting in a total profit of about $2.14 million.

Beating AI News (Dongcha) reports: After Moonshot AI launched its Kimi K3.1 Pro model, a suspected internal promotional document was exposed. X (formerly Twitter) user Elshayib shared screenshots showing that creators participating in the promotion were required to submit their promotional copy in advance for approval before posting. However, the document explicitly ordered "do not add paid partnership tags", nor include links to Kimi’s official website or tag official accounts. Per X’s platform rules, brand collaborations involving compensation or other material benefits must disclose the paid relationship. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also mandates that creators disclose commercial partnerships to their audiences. The document included multiple sets of promotional copy, such as "Kimi is an open-source version of Opus 5.5 that is 5 times cheaper", "China allows everyone to use Opus 5.5 for free", and "the gap between Chinese open-source models and U.S. cutting-edge models has narrowed to just one month". Elshayib stated he refused to promote according to the templates, and criticized a creator who used the promotional copy. Subsequently, someone sent him a private message requesting he delete the relevant comments, claiming "this could ruin the launch".

US President Trump said the U.S. could launch another small-scale "Operation Epic Fury" against Iran, adding that the country could end the conflict quickly, with the key being choosing to resolve it completely or allowing hostilities to fade gradually. Earlier, The New York Times reported that U.S. and Israeli militaries had drawn up plans to strike Iran again after the U.S. midterm elections, though it remained uncertain whether Trump would approve the move. Meanwhile, the Navy of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed two supertankers attempting to cross the southern Strait of Hormuz struck mines on Friday, carrying a total of over 4.5 million barrels of crude oil, with their crews abandoning the ships to escape. The claims have yet to be independently verified. According to Reuters, two senior Iranian security officials revealed that if the U.S. and Israel launch another attack on Iran, Tehran has drawn up plans to target undersea communication cables in the Gulf region, and may expand its countermeasures to include hidden military bases. No reports have yet emerged that such strikes have been carried out. The military standoff between the U.S. and Iran continues to escalate, further raising risks to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and energy and communications infrastructure in the Gulf region.