📌 TOPINDIATOURS Hot crypto: Ex-Olympian Turns Himself In Over Accusations of Runni

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced the arrest of Ryan Wedding on charges of cocaine trafficking and murder. Wedding allegedly ran a transnational drug trafficking operation that relied on cryptocurrency to move and launder the proceeds. 

The event marked the continuation of the increasingly relevant role that digital assets, and stablecoin payments, in particular, play in facilitating illicit finance.

FBI Ends Decade-Long Manhunt

According to the FBI, authorities took Wedding, a 44-year-old former Canadian Olympic snowboarder, into custody on Thursday night. The arrest marked a decade-long manhunt of one of the Department of Justice’s most wanted fugitives. 

Wedding reportedly turned himself in at the United States embassy in Mexico City, revealed Mexican authorities.

The arrest stemmed from Wedding’s alleged role in a transnational drug trafficking operation under the wing of one of Mexico’s biggest criminal organizations. Authorities also alleged Wedding operated under several pseudonyms, including “El Jefe” and “Public Enemy.”

“He was allegedly running and participating in a transnational drug trafficking operation that routinely shipped hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia, through Mexico and Southern California to the United States and Canada – as a member of the Sinaloa Cartel,” said FBI Director Kash Patel in a social media post. 

In 2024, the FBI announced a $15 million reward for information leading to his capture. 

Two months ago, leading prosecutor Bill Essayli unveiled in a press conference that Wedding was also responsible for the murder of a witness who was shot five times in the head in a restaurant in Colombia last January. 

Authorities also highlighted that Wedding’s operations relied on cryptocurrencies to launder money and move proceeds across borders.

USDT Wallets Used to Obscure Proceeds

According to the indictment, Wedding’s enterprise would conceal a significant amount of the earnings made through cocaine sales using US and Canadian dollars, as well as cryptocurrencies. 

Authorities argued that the enterprise relied on a sophisticated Tether-based system to do so. 

The scheme involved splitting large sums into smaller transactions. These funds were then routed through multiple intermediary USDT wallets before converging in a central Tether wallet allegedly controlled by Wedding.

The indictment also revealed that in November 2024, another defendant received around 2 million Colombian pesos to advance operations. The pesos had allegedly been converted from cryptocurrency as payment for roughly 300 kilograms of cocaine. 

Wedding’s case is just one of several others that have surfaced recently. Earlier this month, the DOJ charged a Venezuelan national for allegedly using crypto in a $1 billion money laundering scheme.

Meanwhile, cryptocurrency crime reached an all-time high in 2025. 

According to blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis, illicit addresses received at least $154 billion last year, representing a 162% increase from 2024. 

The post Ex-Olympian Turns Himself In Over Accusations of Running a Crypto Drug Network appeared first on BeInCrypto.

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📌 TOPINDIATOURS Hot crypto: Jeff Bezos Denies Polymarket Claim, Rekindling Debate

Polymarket has become embroiled in a scandal regarding a social media post it made about Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. The prediction market claimed he had recently recommended younger entrepreneurs to work regular jobs before starting a business.

Bezos quickly refuted the claims. The exchange resurfaced concerns over prediction markets’ reiterated use of social media to disseminate unverified news and misinformation.

Polymarket Post Draws Bezos Rebuttal

On Thursday, Polymarket published an X post breaking the news that Bezos recently advised “aspiring Gen Z entrepreneurs” to start their careers working at “real-world jobs” like McDonald’s or Palantir before starting a business.

Hours later, the Amazon founder replied to the post, claiming he had never made such a claim, and wondered what prompted Polymarket to make up such a statement. 

Amid the scrutiny the exchange quickly drew, a video surfaced of Bezos delivering a talk at the Italian Tech Week, in which he offered advice to younger entrepreneurs. However, the conversation took place nearly three months ago, and Bezos mentioned neither of the companies referenced by Polymarket. 

“I always advise to young people— go work at a best practices company somewhere, where you can learn a lot of basic fundamental things,” he had said, adding, “I started Amazon when I was 30. Not when I was 20. That extra 10 years of experience actually improved the odds that Amazon would succeed.” 

The events this week stood out because Bezos explicitly took the extra step of denying Polymarket’s claims.

At the same time, the track record of prediction markets spreading misinformation to their social media audiences has been a growing concern.

Platforms such as Polymarket and Kalshi have faced increased scrutiny for publishing breaking news that distorted events or was outright false, spanning topics from sports betting to geopolitical tensions. 

Social media users were quick to point out specific examples.

Do Prediction Markets Amplify Global Misinformation?

In recent weeks, international tensions have risen sharply. Examples included the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, widespread protests in Iran, and clashes between the United States and European countries over the prospect of buying Greenland.

Such events have introduced a flurry of bets across prediction markets. These platforms have also used social media to publish related alerts that did not accurately reflect reality. 

One such example occurred earlier this month, when Polymarket posted a “breaking” news post unveiling that the security forces of the Iranian regime had lost control of some of the country’s largest cities. 

While Iran’s government faces internal challenges, it remains in control through its military and security forces. The post, which contained disputed or inaccurate claims, nonetheless garnered nearly 7 million views, 17,000 likes, and 2,000 reposts.

Most of the comments targeted the betting platform for being a fake news website.

Kalshi published a related post addressing reported tensions between the United States and Denmark over Greenland. The prediction market stated that the two countries had formed a working group to discuss the US interest in purchasing Greenland. The post received 2.8 million views.

Although the White House asserted such a claim, Denmark offered a different account. It stated that it had agreed to “address the American security concerns in relation to Greenland.”

Neither Polymarket nor Kalshi immediately answered BeInCrypto’s request for comment. 

Similar reports have surfaced about Kalshi affiliates posting fake sports news on their social media accounts.

According to Front Office Sports, despite being confronted about these fake posts, both Kalshi and Polymarket will not back down from using affiliate badges.

As prediction markets are expected to grow exponentially in the coming year, their use of social media to share unverified or misleading information has drawn increasing attention.

The post Jeff Bezos Denies Polymarket Claim, Rekindling Debate Over Fake News on Betting Platforms appeared first on BeInCrypto.

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