Today in crypto: Spain busts AI scam ring

Spain busts AI-powered crypto scam that stole €19M

Spanish police have arrested six suspects in a cryptocurrency scam that used AI deepfakes to defraud over 200 victims out of €19 million.

The group allegedly created fake celebrity endorsement videos and ran a pyramid scheme promising high returns through crypto investments. Authorities began investigating after a man from Granada reported losing €624,000.

Police said the ringleader was apprehended attempting to flee to Dubai. The arrests highlight how scammers are increasingly leveraging AI to boost the credibility of fraudulent crypto projects.

Bitcoin drops on tariff confusion, Metaplanet buys more BTC

Bitcoin dipped 2% on Sunday as markets reacted to conflicting trade signals from Washington. The price slipped to $83,482 during Asia trading hours, underperforming equities as President Trump clarified that Chinese electronics would still be subject to 20% national security tariffs.

Ethereum fell below $1,600 and altcoins showed mixed performance. Analysts are now watching the $81,000 level as key support, warning of potential liquidations if that floor breaks.

Meanwhile, Tokyo-listed Metaplanet – often called "Asia’s MicroStrategy" – boosted its Bitcoin holdings with a $26.3 million purchase. The company now holds 4,525 BTC and plans to more than double that by year-end. The move follows its appointment of Eric Trump to its advisory board and comes amid the Trump administration’s launch of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and broader Digital Asset Stockpile.

CryptoPunks seller pleads guilty to $13M tax fraud

A Pennsylvania man has pleaded guilty to filing false tax returns that concealed more than $13 million in NFT profits.

Waylon Wilcox sold 97 CryptoPunks NFTs across 2021 and 2022 but failed to report the income. Prosecutors say he dodged over $3.2 million in taxes and could face up to six years in prison.

The IRS warned that NFT sales must be reported, including gains or losses. At the peak of the NFT boom, CryptoPunks sold for as much as $479,000 each. The floor price has since fallen to around $69,000, with one holder recently realizing a $10 million loss on a single sale.

Robinhood and MARA end volatile week on a high

Despite the market’s rollercoaster ride, two familiar names closed the week stronger than they started.

Robinhood (HOOD) gained 5.8% to trade at $42.75, despite a downgrade from Morgan Stanley, which lowered its price target to $40. The bank cited concerns over HOOD’s reliance on transaction-based revenue.

Bitcoin miner MARA also climbed 4.5% to $12.47. The firm produced 6% more Bitcoin in March and expects to complete its new 40-megawatt data center in Ohio within weeks.

Meanwhile, BlackRock added Anchorage Digital as a custodian for its iShares Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs, which now hold $45 billion in BTC and $1.7 billion in ETH. Coinbase, which also serves as a custodian, doubled its custodial fee revenue last quarter to $142 million.

Feds and states clash over Bitcoin privacy tools

A deepening split has emerged between U.S. federal and state officials over Bitcoin privacy technologies like mixers.

On Monday, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a memo ending the DOJ’s prosecution of mixer and wallet developers, stating that the government will no longer criminalize neutral tools for their potential misuse.

But just a day later, New York Attorney General Letitia James co-authored a letter urging Congress to ban the conversion of untraceable crypto into U.S. dollars. Her language – referring to mixers as "money laundering tools" – was criticized by privacy advocates as unfairly equating privacy with criminality.

The disagreement reflects a broader tension over financial privacy in the digital age. Critics of James’ stance argue that privacy tools have legitimate uses, from protecting donors in authoritarian regimes to shielding human rights activists.

The debate carries heightened stakes amid ongoing lawsuits involving Tornado Cash and Samourai Wallet. These cases may define the future legal boundaries of privacy-focused crypto tech.