From the weekly newsletter #8. Sept. 5, 2025:
// Headlines
– Donald Trump-backed World Liberty Financial rolled out its WLFI token this week. The Trump family’s on-paper crypto fortune is now estimated at more than $5 billion. The launch has brought renewed scrutiny to Trump and his family’s crypto ventures (see SW#1 on Trump’s projects) but the White House insisted there was no conflict of interest between Trump and his family’s projects and his pro-crypto agenda. Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren dismissed it as “corruption, plain and simple.”
– FYRE Festival fraudster Billy McFarland is back. After a botched attempt to organise a FYRE Festival 2 and then subsequently selling the brand on eBay for $245,000, he is now a crypto bro. This week he announced the launch of PHNX. “I want to power every view on the internet,” he said. “$PHNX allows users to exchange the views they generate for IRL moments.” Whatever that means. He joins the swelling ranks of other unsavoury folk attempting to use their Netflix fame to launch shitcoins (see SW#2 on the Tinder Swindler).
– OpenAI will introduce new parental controls for ChatGPT after it was sued for the role of its chatbot in the death of a 16-year-old boy. The company says it is working to better detect and respond to signs of emotional distress, but the boy’s parents argue the safeguards come too late. The debate reflects wider tensions about child safety online, with platforms like Roblox tightening age checks and UK regulators sparking backlash over heavy-handed regulations.
– Singapore has ordered Meta to crack down on Facebook scams impersonating government officials, the first such directive under its new Online Criminal Harms Act. Police say Facebook is the platform most exploited by scammers, and the company now faces fines of up to S$1 million ($776,000) if it fails to comply.
// Read more for free in the full newsletter, including:
– The U.S. Department of State is offering a $10 million reward for information on three FSB-linked Russian hackers.
– Disgraced actor Kevin Spacey has unveiled his first directorial project in nearly 20 years, financed and conceptualised by wanted Russian tech entrepreneur Vladimir “Lado” Okhotnikov.
– Disney will pay $10 million to settle Federal Trade Commission allegations that the company allowed personal data to be collected from children.
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