DeFI News by Thebittimes.Com

Police in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have arrested a 21-year-old crypto founder they say is connected to the $30 million rug pull by crypto betting platform ZKasino.  Crypto sleuth ZachXBT reports that Norwegian Ildar Ilham, who founded WhiteRock, a crypto-based brokerage, is to be extradited to the Netherlands, where his case will continue. UAE police claim Ilham was in contact with another ZKasino suspect, believed to be Elham Nourzai, who was arrested on April 29, 2024, by Dutch authorities. Messages between the pair reportedly revealed that they never intended to return ZKasino funds and that its smart contract was designed to enforce this.  Update: Ildar Ilham aka @XBT_Prometheus (founder of @WhiteRock_Fi) was arrested by UAE law enforcement for his involvement in the $30M Zkasino exit scam. He will be extradited to the Netherlands next for the criminal case. pic.twitter.com/h5FZhUBiDg — ZachXBT (@zachxbt) July 3, 2025 Read more: ZKasino exploiter ...

Join Our Telegram channel to stay up to date on breaking news coverage Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX, was detained by Bahamian authorities on Monday night after the Southern District of New York’s US Attorney shared a sealed indictment with them, paving the way for his extradition and eventual trial in the US. He was the driving force behind the collapse of the crypto exchange. His arrest marks the authorities’ first significant step toward holding people accountable for the multibillion-dollar collapse of FTX last month. Bankman-Fried was scheduled to appear before the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday before his arrest was made public, but his attorneys have announced that he will not be there. His arrest “surprised” Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., who chairs that committee, who expressed disappointment that Congress wouldn’t be able to hear from him on Tuesday. The federal government planned to “unseal the indictment ...