Trump threatens to launch fresh military operations against Iran, while Iran plans to expand its countermeasures to target undersea cables.

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".

Beating AI News: Meta’s Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang said that its personal AI agent Muse will be free for general users, with no current plans to include ads. Meta plans to offer paid services to power users and enterprises, and will collect commissions on shopping transactions facilitated by Muse, though it has not yet announced specific pricing or launch timelines. According to Nikkei News, Muse launched in Japan on October 23. After its North American debut on September 8, the app reached 10 million downloads within six weeks. Wang noted that Meta’s in-house infrastructure, security framework, and data centers are key competitive advantages for Muse. Meanwhile, Meta is ramping up its AI investments, and has raised its 2026 capital expenditure guidance to $135 billion to $145 billion. For Meta, where ad revenue accounts for over 95% of total revenue, converting AI user growth into revenue from subscriptions, enterprise services, and transaction commissions will be critical to the commercialization of its AI business.