Russia Charges Telegram Founder with Aiding Terrorism Amid $89M Crypto Heist

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) charged Pavel Durov, founder of Telegram and VKontakte, with aiding terrorism. The charge is related to his alleged refusal to remove channels and bots used by Ukrainian special services to prepare attacks in Russia.

Durov left Russia in 2014 and holds passports from four countries: Russia, France, the UAE, and Saint Kitts and Nevis. If convicted, he faces a penalty of 8-15 years in prison with a fine or life imprisonment.

Meanwhile, users of Coldcard hardware wallets lost at least $89 million worth of Bitcoin due to a vulnerability in wallet firmware. The issue affects all Mk3 firmware versions starting from 4.0.1 and seed phrases generated on Mk4 and Mk5 prior to version 5.6.0.

The Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged, but the move had little impact on Bitcoin's price. The cryptocurrency retraced to around $63,000 after trading above $65,000 earlier in the week.