A divorced investor’s tragic loss reveals how emotional manipulation, combined 
with AI technology, has weaponized crypto scams into a billion-dollar crime.

How an AI-fueled romance scam drained a Bitcoin retirement fund

The 2024 US election saw more money and support from the crypto and blockchain 
industry than ever before, with some experts predicting a repeat in the 
midterms.

If history repeats itself, will the US Congress become more pro-crypto in 2026?

The industry is realizing that Bitcoin was deliberately designed to prioritize 
simple, deterministic validation over complex on-chain execution. This design 
choice minimizes resource requirements, preserves decentralization, and 
reduces systemic risk even if it means pushing complex logic, programmability, 
and heavy computation to higher layers or external systems. How Bitcoin Avoids 
Complex State Transitions The fundamental limitation of Bitcoin is its 
inability to run heavy verification logic at a low cost, a core constraint 
that every BitVM-based bridge must navigate. According to the GOAT Network 
post on X, to address these issues, they are introducing a BitVM2 design that 
will ensure disputes are affordable enough to be executed under real fee 
conditions. The security mechanism is addressed through optimistic 
verification using garbled circuits (GC). Related Reading: Bitcoin Sees 
Unusual Short-Term Supply Spike, Raising Bearish Flags This operator, which is 
set to launch soon, publishes the garbled-circuit artifacts off-chain, while 
committing only the relevant labels on-chain. If the computation is correct, 
no on-chain action will be required. Meanwhile, if something is wrong, a 
challenger does not need to replay an expensive computation on-chain. Instead, 
they produce a minimal fraud-proof to reveal the output &#8220;0&#8221; label that 
contradicts the operator&#8217;s claimed result. At that point, the on-chain step is 
about demonstrating a contradiction, which will reduce the cost of disputes 
and change the economics of security. A practical detail in BitVM designs is 
that the garbled circuit size matters, and pairing heavy verification can 
cause bloated circuits. To avoid this, BitVM2 integrates a designated-verifier 
SNARK, which reduces verifier complexity so that the garbled circuits remain 
within realistic size limits. For end users, the implication is that the 
cheaper, more reliable depute paths make it harder for the bridge to stall 
when the fees spike. Public Companies Are Becoming Bitcoin’s Strongest Buyers 
While several projects are being introduced to improve the efficiency of 
Bitcoin, seasoned crypto expert and the founder of the Wealth Mastery 
Newspaper, Lark Davis, has revealed that many public companies are 
aggressively accumulating BTC. Currently, public companies collectively hold 
1.09 million BTC, representing 5.1% of the total BTC supply, which is a new 
all-time high. Related Reading: Bitcoin Supply In Profit Sets The Stage For 
Bullish Cross In Q1 2026 However, the latest major aggressive purchases have 
come from MicroStrategy and Metaplanet. Strategy just announced another 1,200 
BTC purchase, pushing its total holdings to 672,000 BTC. Asia-based firm 
Metaplanet also bought an additional 4,200 BTC in December, bringing its total 
holdings to 35,000 BTC. Davis pointed out that other recent purchases have 
come from Cango Inc., Bitdeer Technologies, and Anap Holdings. While retail 
investors are demonstrating weakening sentiment, public companies or 
institutional investors continue to stack regardless of the ongoing market. 
Featured image from Pixabay, chart from Tradingview.com

Why Bitcoin Prioritizes Simple Validation Over Complex Execution

Dave Hendricks is a serial entrepreneur currently leading Vertalo’s push to 
tokenize RWAs at scale. In this Q&amp;A, he cuts through the noise around crypto 
policy, explains why stablecoins became the on-ramp in 2025, and outlines what 
it will take for tokenized securities and private assets to reach their next 
phase.

Vertalo CEO Dave Hendricks on stablecoins, RWAs, and how the crypto industry ‘loses its collective mind’

KuCoin&#8217;s AI assistant KIA could democratize crypto trading by enhancing user 
decision-making and market accessibility through tailored insights.
The post KuCoin unveils AI assistant KIA to streamline access to crypto market 
insights appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Cryptocurrency price in IDR