Broker Pleads Guilty to Crypto Laundering as Vitalik Buterin Disagrees with AI Prediction

The US government's crackdown on cryptocurrency-related crimes continues to intensify. A broker has pleaded guilty to laundering four million dollars for drug trafficking using cryptocurrency, as part of the Department of Justice's cartel crackdown.

Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, is taking a contrarian view on the impact of AI on Bitcoin's price. He claims he is 'taking the opposite side' of Liron Shapira's call that AI cuts Bitcoin's price 50% in two years, with 90% of his net worth.

Zcash (ZEC) has reached an eight-year high above $1,200, driven by ETF inflows, record mining power, and macro demand for AI-resistant privacy primitives. Hyperliquid's largest short, Garrett Jin, is estimated to be $25.7M underwater on 32,760 ZEC.