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The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is preparing to overhaul its voluntary disclosure program, with plans to reduce penalties and accelerate the resolution of tax violations, including those involving cryptocurrencies, according to a Friday report by Forbes.IRS Criminal Investigation Chief Jarod Koopman said the agency aims to introduce the revised program before December, with a target of resolving cases within 120 days of taxpayers completing the required submission process.The overhaul would reportedly not establish a separate disclosure process for digital assets. Koopman told attendees at the UCLA Extension Tax Controversy Conference that the IRS would handle digital assets through the same voluntary disclosure procedures used for other forms of tax noncompliance.The IRS official also indicated that penalties under the revised program would be substantially lower than those currently imposed, although he did not provide specific figures. The agency is considering allowing taxpayers to settle outstanding liabilities through installment plans or offers in compromise.The proposed changes would mark a shift from the existing process, which can take a year or longer to complete, according to Forbes. The IRS’s current voluntary disclosure program is intended for taxpayers whose willful failure to comply with tax laws could expose them to criminal prosecution, rather than those who made unintentional reporting errors.Meanwhile, lawmakers are considering a separate voluntary disclosure program aimed at crypto taxpayers, including those who made unintentional reporting errors. Section 502 of the proposed Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act would establish a process for correcting past violations with defined penalties, unlike the IRS’s existing program, which primarily addresses willful tax noncompliance. The bill cleared the House Ways and Means Committee in September.Magazine: 5 alternatives to Ledger to store your Bitcoin

Initia halted its layer-1 blockchain and rollups after blockchain sleuths reported an exploit that allowed an attacker to mint tokens without authorization and drain more than $2.6 million in crypto assets.The network was halted at 3:41 p.m. UTC on Friday following a security incident, Initia said in a post on X. The team said it was working with security researchers, validators and exchanges to determine the full extent of the impact.Blockchain security researcher Spreek first flagged the exploit on Friday, reporting that an attacker had minted tokens without authorization and converted approximately $2.6 million into other assets, with additional funds still being moved.DeFi platform D2 Finance later reported that the attacker exploited a vulnerability to mint 2 million AUSD tokens without sufficient backing. The attacker then used cross-chain transfers to withdraw approximately 1.4 million AUSD, 105 Ether (ETH) and 1.08 million USDC (USDC) to Ethereum.The stolen assets were subsequently consolidated into an Ethereum wallet holding approximately 1,135.5 ETH, worth $2.73 million, according to D2 Finance. The firm attributed the exploit to a vulnerability in a Move function that allowed the attacker to create unbacked tokens and exchange them for assets on Ethereum.Source: InitiaInitia is a layer-1 blockchain designed to support a network of interconnected rollups, known as Minitias. Its native token, INIT, briefly fell to around $0.115 on Friday before rebounding above $0.15, according to CoinGecko data. The token was trading near $0.1496 at the time of writing, an increase of about 14% over the previous 24 hours.Initia has not publicly confirmed the estimated losses or the precise cause of the exploit, and the extent of the impact on users and the timeline for restoring network operations remain unclear. Cointelegraph was unable to contact Initia for additional comment through its official X account.Magazine: New DeepSeek ban in US, Swiss-Asia crypto ties deepen: Asia Express

Senator Richard Blumenthal has requested information from Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino after a Wall Street Journal report said that the stablecoin issuer had inked a $6.3 million deal with a marketing company co-founded by former White House crypto adviser Bo Hines.In a Thursday letter to Ardoino, the Connecticut lawmaker said that the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations demanded “records and information related to contracts, payments, communications, and lobbying” between Tether and Nxum, Hines’ company. The probe into Nxum, Tether and Hines, according to Blumental, was part of what the senator called the Trump administration’s “self-enrichment and self-dealings with cryptocurrency firms.”“While Hines failed to divest his one-third stake in Nxum […] he worked closely over encrypted messaging applications with Nxum to coordinate lobbying, advocacy, and browbeating of members of Congress that were opposed to, or had sought changes to, pending stablecoin legislation,” said Blumenthal. “Those messages also reportedly demonstrate that Tether was directly coordinating Nxum’s lobbying efforts on the GENIUS Act which would regulate stablecoins, with CEO Paolo Ardoino demanding that Nxum ‘obliterate’ the legislation’s opponents.”The lawmaker added:“The highly unusual terms and nature of Tether’s business relationship with both Nxum and Bo Hines raise alarming ethical and legal concerns, indicating that Tether was likely well aware of the illegality and impropriety of issuing payments to a current White House official with such a direct role in shaping cryptocurrency legislation that was instrumental to its business.”Hines worked as executive director as President’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets from January to August 2025, when he left the White House to join Tether as a “strategic adviser.” He later became CEO of Tether US. Harry Jung, another crypto adviser in the Trump administration, left his position in July 2026 and joined Nxum as a managing director in August.Related: Trump didn‘t mention ‘crypto’ once in White House cybercrime roundtableTrump, his family and members of his administration continue to face scrutiny over accusations that they are reaping financial windfalls from crypto policies on laws over which they have control or influence. The president disclosed earning $1.4 billion from investments related to crypto in 2025.Cointelegraph reached out to Tether for comment on the investigation and report but did not receive an immediate response.Crypto ties could be a factor in midterm electionsWhile Blumenthal has limited authority as the Democratic ranking member of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, the results of the 2026 midterm elections could potentially change party control in the House of Representatives and Senate. This could give the Connecticut lawmaker and other Democratic additional authority to conduct investigations into Trump and his administration’s ties to the crypto industry, including those which could present conflicts of interest.As of Friday, event contracts on prediction market platforms Kalshi and Polymarket favored Democrats retaking majority control of both chambers of Congress in 2027, with 92% and 68% chances on Kalshi for the House and Senate, respectively. US Election Day is on Nov. 3.Magazine: New DeepSeek ban in US, Swiss-Asia crypto ties deepen: Asia Express

Cointelegraph is committed to providing independent, high-quality journalism across the crypto, blockchain, AI, and fintech industries.All news, reviews, and analyses are produced with full journalistic independence and integrity. For more details on our standards and processes, please read our Editorial Policy.

Cointelegraph is committed to providing independent, high-quality journalism across the crypto, blockchain, AI, and fintech industries.All news, reviews, and analyses are produced with full journalistic independence and integrity. For more details on our standards and processes, please read our Editorial Policy.

New York Attorney General Letitia James has asked a court to order defunct crypto and forex trading platform NovaTech’s founders, Cynthia and Eddy Petion, and related companies to pay $1.37 billion over its Ponzi scheme.The AG is seeking the return of about $1.13 billion in investor funds, plus $232.5 million in interest, according to a Thursday court filing.The court found the Petions and the companies liable by default in August 2025 after they failed to respond to the lawsuit.Four people who recruited investors into NovaTech have separately agreed to pay nearly $6 million in settlements intended to benefit victims, according to the AG’s office.More than 11,000 New Yorkers lost tens of millions of dollars through NovaTech and an earlier crypto mining scheme, AWS Mining, the AG’s office said. The complaint alleged that promoters targeted Haitian and other immigrant communities through prayer groups, social media and WhatsApp, promising high returns and recruitment bonuses.The filing says that investors deposited about $1.16 billion into NovaTech’s crypto wallets between August 2019 and May 2023. Of that, only about $26 million was deposited with the platform’s trading provider, B2Broker, for trading, according to the attorney general.The motion separately seeks about $6.15 million, including interest, over AWS Mining.AWS Mining collapsed in 2019. NovaTech collapsed in 2023, leaving tens of thousands of investors unable to withdraw their funds. James sued NovaTech, AWS Mining and other associated companies in June 2024.Cointelegraph sought comment from the New York Attorney General’s Office on how any recovered funds would be distributed to victims and what steps could be taken to enforce the judgment, but had not received a response by publication.Related: Cysic dangles a 10% bounty, hacker pours loot into Tornado Cash

Crypto executives are divided over whether self-custody was ever designed for beginners, while approaches such as multisignature wallets and seedless backups come with their own security and usability trade-offs.“We don’t expect every driver to be a mechanic, and we shouldn’t expect everyone who wants to own their assets to become a security expert,” Safe Labs CEO Rahul Rumalla told Cointelegraph. Making self-custody easier to use could be critical to Bitcoin’s broader adoption, as the ability to “be your own bank” remains one of its defining features.Recent incidents involving Ledger and Coldcard have exposed weaknesses in hardware wallets, widely recommended as one of the safest ways to hold crypto because they keep private keys offline. Implants in some Ledger devices stole recovery phrases, while a Coldcard firmware bug allowed attackers to recreate private keys and steal funds.Related: Ledger’s early implant warnings deserved more action, Karpelès saysMichael Tanguma, CEO of Bitcoin custody provider Onramp, compared Bitcoin custody to personal computers in the 1970s, when users needed technical skills to assemble and operate them.“Self-custody was never designed with newcomers in mind,” he told Cointelegraph. He said simpler designs helped computers reach a wider audience and that Bitcoin custody now faces a similar challenge.Trezor Model One, the world’s first hardware wallet, was released in 2014. Source: TrezorRumalla disagreed, saying self-custody was “always meant for everyone” and that “being able to own and control your assets is the whole point of crypto.”He added that self-custody “does not mean doing everything yourself.”Multisig improves security, but not without a costMultisignature, or multisig, wallets require multiple keys to authorize transactions, but managing them can be difficult for beginners.“Traditional multisig implementations can introduce additional complexity involving signer coordination, key backups, recovery procedures, and transaction approvals,” Justin Hutzler, chief technology officer of Synergy Network, said.Single signature versus multisig. Source: BitGoMultiple approvals also cannot prevent every attack. Safe Labs’ Rumalla said several signers could still authorize a malicious transaction if they were all deceived by the same compromised interface.Related: Can crypto users trust the supply chain behind hardware wallets?Seedless wallets remove one risk, introduce othersTangem says its seedless design simplifies self-custody by removing the need to manage a recovery phrase. Users must instead safeguard the physical devices that provide access to their funds.A private key is generated on one card, with backup copies stored on up to two additional devices. Tangem confirmed to Cointelegraph that losing every device would permanently lock users out of their funds.The company said it had received no reports of users losing all their cards.Keeping the cards safe also does not protect users from approving a malicious transaction. Zach Herbert, CEO of rival hardware wallet maker Foundation, said seedless backups can preserve self-custody, but criticized Tangem’s lack of a built-in screen, which leaves users relying on their smartphones to verify transaction details.“An attacker does not need to extract your private key if they can trick you into authorizing a transaction that empties your wallet,” he said.Magazine: 5 alternatives to Ledger to store your Bitcoin

Cointelegraph is committed to providing independent, high-quality journalism across the crypto, blockchain, AI, and fintech industries.All news, reviews, and analyses are produced with full journalistic independence and integrity. For more details on our standards and processes, please read our Editorial Policy.

Cointelegraph is committed to providing independent, high-quality journalism across the crypto, blockchain, AI, and fintech industries.All news, reviews, and analyses are produced with full journalistic independence and integrity. For more details on our standards and processes, please read our Editorial Policy.

Cointelegraph is committed to providing independent, high-quality journalism across the crypto, blockchain, AI, and fintech industries.All news, reviews, and analyses are produced with full journalistic independence and integrity. For more details on our standards and processes, please read our Editorial Policy.

Cointelegraph is committed to providing independent, high-quality journalism across the crypto, blockchain, AI, and fintech industries.All news, reviews, and analyses are produced with full journalistic independence and integrity. For more details on our standards and processes, please read our Editorial Policy.