Gate Daily Report (April 24): US Treasury sanctions Cambodian crypto “pig butchering” scams; Tether mints an additional 1 billion USDT

Bitcoin’s (BTC) rebound momentum is weakening, and as of April 24 it is temporarily around $78,030. The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Cambodian politicians tied to crypto “pig-butchering” scam hubs. Tether again minted an additional 1 billion USDT on the Ethereum network; over the past 5 days, it has cumulatively minted 3 billion USDT on the Ethereum network.

Macro Events & Crypto Highlights

1. On Thursday, the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions against Cambodian Senator Guo Anhe and 28 other individuals because they operate scam hubs in Cambodia, a Southeast Asian country. According to the Treasury’s announcement, these hubs carried out “pig-butchering” scams that have stolen “tens of billions of dollars” from U.S. citizens.

The U.S. Department of Justice Anti-Scam Center Strike Force also announced the seizure of a social media platform related to human trafficking and 503 “fraudulent website domain names” related to crypto scams. In the Treasury’s announcement, it said: “The Anti-Fraud Center Special Action Team has instructed agents and lawyers of U.S. law enforcement agencies to investigate, dismantle, and prosecute the most egregious fraud hubs and their leaders, focusing on Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos.”

2. According to Onchain Lens monitoring on Friday, Tether again minted 1 billion USDT on the Ethereum network; over the past 5 days, it has cumulatively minted 3 billion USDT on the Ethereum network. Amid the war between Iran and the U.S., on-chain fund flows have drawn intense attention, becoming an indicator for both long and short traders.

News Updates

1. Meta plans to lay off about 10% of staff on May 20, affecting 8,000 jobs

2. Cardano ecosystem NFT marketplace JPG Store announced it will close on May 23

3. Telegram founder: TON network transaction fees will drop 6-fold within a week

4. Belarus will allow “crypto banks” to support 26 types of cryptocurrencies and 11 categories of business

5. MegaETH announced MEGA token TGE is scheduled for April 30

6. Mantle plans to provide Aave with 30,000 ETH loans to help it manage bad-debt risk

7. The rsETH event formed an ETH shortfall of about 68,900 ETH; “DeFi United” rescue efforts have received 13,500 ETH in donations

8. Ethena: is participating in the DeFi rescue effort initiated by Aave and will contribute funds to support rsETH’s restoration

9. EtherFi: has completed security hardening for the weETH cross-chain bridge, limiting LayerZero multi-sign permissions and raising the DVN threshold

10. Bitmine re-staked more than 98,000 ETH again, about $229 million

Market Trend

1. Latest Bitcoin update: $BTC rebound momentum is weakening, temporarily around $78,030; over the past 24 hours, $60.46 million has been liquidated, with the main liquidation concentrated on long positions;

2. U.S. stocks on April 24 fell in choppy trading, while oil prices rose as hopes that the Iran conflict would end quickly gradually faded; at the same time, investors are trying to digest earnings reports with mixed signals of both good and bad, and concerns about the disruptive impact of artificial intelligence on the software industry have resurfaced. The Dow Jones Industrial Index fell 179.71 points, down 0.36%, closing at 49,310.32; the S&P 500 fell 29.50 points, down 0.41%, closing at 7,108.40; the Nasdaq index fell 219.06 points, down 0.89%, closing at 24,438.50.

(Source: Gate)

3. In the Gate BTC/USDT liquidation map, using the current 78,357.50 USDT as the reference: if it drops to around 77,061, the cumulative liquidation amount for long positions will exceed $243 million; if it rises to around 78,954, the cumulative liquidation amount for short positions will exceed $240 million. The short-side liquidation amount is slightly lower than the long side’s; it is recommended to reasonably control leverage ratios to avoid triggering large-scale liquidations amid market fluctuations.

(Source: Coinglass)

4. Over the past 24 hours, BTC spot inflows were $2.36 billion, outflows were $2.40 billion, for net outflows of $0.4 billion.

(Source: Coinglass)

5. Over the past 24 hours, net outflows led for contract trading in $ZEC, $CL, $RAVE, $KAT, $HYPE , and others, presenting trading opportunities.

Selected Views from X KOLs

Phyrex Ni (@Phyrex_Ni): “Lately every day’s homework has been a headache. I’ve been shorting WTI and picking up some funding rates along the way. Today I added more to my position again, bringing up my cost and position a bit. My view all along is that even though things are getting heated right now, neither the U.S. nor Iran plans to keep taking action. What Trump’s TACO and the not-so-hardline stance from Iran have already made clear the situation: during the peak period of the U.S.-Iran war, oil prices only barely approached $120.”

“This shows that as long as the price that triggers liquidations hasn’t exceeded $120—or even higher—and as long as the U.S. and Iran aren’t really starting to fight again, the opportunity to short WTI at high levels will be greater. Of course, if the U.S. and Iran take action again, or even upgrade the weapons being used, then that’s another story. My position size isn’t big right now; I’ll keep a small position and short while waiting to see.”

“Right now it seems that although Trump keeps guaranteeing that the war can be resolved in the short term, I think it will be very hard to achieve before May. The longer it gets dragged out, the worse it will be for Trump, in my opinion.”

“Looking back at the Bitcoin data, yesterday it nearly pushed through $80,000 mainly because the U.S. and Iran extended the ceasefire. Yesterday I also said that once there’s no follow-up positive catalyst, it’s hard to keep the upward move going. Today not only has there been no new positive catalyst, but the U.S. has dispatched its third aircraft carrier, and Iran has begun ‘exercises.’ Israel is also acting cautiously and making moves. So it’s normal that $BTC ’s price shows a small drop.”

Look Ahead for Today

1. UK March retail sales (month-over-month, seasonally adjusted), prior value was -0.4%

2. Germany April IFO Business Climate Index, prior value was 86.4

3. Canada February retail sales (month-over-month), prior value was 1.1%

4. U.S. April University of Michigan consumer sentiment index final reading, prior value was 47.6