Chris Campbell:

Chinese Cybersecurity Watchdog Alleges U.S. Stole $13.2B in Bitcoin Five Years Ago

A Chinese state cybersecurity watchdog has accused the U.S. government of unlawfully seizing billions of dollars worth of Bitcoin, alleging the assets originated from a 2020 mining pool hack instead of being sourced from criminal proceeds tied to Cambodian businessman Chen Zhi.

A technical report issued Sunday by the China National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center (CVERC), a national cybersecurity agency, challenges the U.S. Department of Justice’s account of the seizure.

CVERC claims LuBian, a mining pool, was hacked on December 29, 2020, losing 127,272.06 BTC — then worth about $3.5 billion, and since having risen in value to $13.2 billion — allegedly held by Chen’s Prince Group.

Chen, who chairs the group, is accused by U.S. prosecutors of running a large-scale “pig-butchering” scam operation involving forced labor and crypto fraud. After the theft, Chen’s team reportedly sent blockchain messages in 2021 and 2022 offering a ransom for the return of the funds, which stayed untouched for four years before being moved in mid-2024 to wallets tagged as U.S.-controlled. 

The CVERC, however, alleges that the U.S. government “may have already stolen the 127,000 bitcoins held by Chen Zhi through hacking techniques back in 2020."

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Greg Guenthner:

SoftBank Sells Nvidia Stake for $5.8 Billion to Fund AI Bets

SoftBank Group Corp. sold its entire stake in Nvidia Corp. for $5.83 billion to help bankroll AI investments, even as investors question the amount of capital pouring into a technology with uncertain returns.

Founder Masayoshi Son has been unwinding positions to pay for a plethora of AI projects, from Stargate data centers with OpenAI and Oracle Corp. to robot manufacturing sites in the U.S. The Nvidia exit coincides with a growing debate about whether spending by big tech firms like Meta Platforms Inc. and Alphabet Inc. — expected to surpass $1 trillion in coming years — will produce commensurate returns.

SoftBank’s U.S. depositary receipts rose as much as 7.2%. Nvidia’s stock slid as much as 3.3% in U.S. trading.

SoftBank is keen to become a leading player in that growing ecosystem, with plans to leverage stakes in sector linchpins from OpenAI to U.S. chip designer Ampere Computing LLC. 

On Tuesday, SoftBank executives sidestepped questions about whether the industry is fomenting an AI investment bubble, and said the sale had nothing to do with Nvidia itself but was a necessary financing measure.

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Enrique Abeyta:

Anduril's Unmanned Jet "Fury" Makes First Flight

"Fury," a pilotless jet built by the defense-tech startup Anduril, has taken a very real step forward — its first test flight. The prototype, built for the U.S. military and designated YFQ-44A, made its maiden flight at the end of October.

Anduril calls Fury's first flight semi-autonomous and says it isn't piloted remotely. Instead, it operates by itself, carrying out mission plans and adjusting its flight without human input. It returns to land when commanded. And the whole time, a person monitors its actions rather than directly flying it.

Fury is a Collaborative Combat Aircraft, or CCA. It's powered by artificial intelligence to operate together with fighter jets that have pilots. It's a milestone that Anduril reached in just over 18 months, from concept to flight.

The Pentagon selected Anduril as one of two companies to create a CCA prototype, choosing it over a number of prime defense contractors. Whether or not the Air Force chooses to go with Anduril or its rival Genera Atomics, the company says it plans to mass produce the aircraft in the United States, possibly for a lot less money than a traditional fighter jet.

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