Tech

Criminal syndicates operating scam centers in Southeast Asia are adopting inexpensive artificial-intelligence tools to widen their reach and keep operations running even as governments intensify crackdowns, senior Interpol officials told Bloomberg.

Goldman Sachs has been working with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic for the past six months to co-develop autonomous “AI agents” intended to automate trade and transaction accounting and client vetting and onboarding.

Last month, the dollar-pegged stablecoin created by the Trump family’s crypto firm, World Liberty Financial, reached an important milestone: the total circulation of USD1 exceeded $5 billion for the first time, ranking it among the world’s top cryptocurrencies, according to recent reporting by The New York Times. 

A Spanish police corruption investigation has widened into a narcotics and money-laundering scandal that links a senior economic-crimes investigator and a son of the Duke of Seville to an international drug-trafficking ring, The Times reported. 

U.S. investigators are examining whether specific cryptocurrency platforms have helped Iranian officials and state-linked actors evade sanctions as crypto activity in Iran surges, a blockchain researcher with direct knowledge of Treasury’s concerns told Reuters.

An Abu Dhabi royal secretly backed a $500-million deal to buy nearly half of a Trump-linked cryptocurrency venture months before the United Arab Emirates secured expanded access to tightly controlled U.S. artificial-intelligence chips, The Wall Street Journal reported. 

Chinese-language money laundering networks have become a central conduit for illicit cryptocurrency activity, processing an estimated 20% of known on-chain laundering over the past five years and accelerating far faster than illicit financial flows tied to centralized exchanges.

When the digital avatar “Diella” was launched by the Albanian government last year, its purpose was clear: to serve as an incorruptible public servant in a country known for widespread corruption, according to new reporting by The New York Times. 

Revolut has dropped plans to buy a U.S. lender as a means to get a foothold in the American market and will instead apply for a banking license from the Trump administration, the Financial Times reported. 

Australia’s financial intelligence unit has ordered Singapore-based Airwallex to review whether the payments giant has violated the nation’s anti-money laundering (AML) laws.