Today in crypto, Bybit has confirmed details of the much-awaited Pump.fun token sale, but there’s bad news for users in Europe. The US has sanctioned a North Korea IT worker ring that was targeting US companies, and a Japanese CEO will take his salary in Bitcoin as the firm adopts a BTC treasury strategy.
Pump.fun token sale confirmed, Europe-based users barred: Bybit
Bybit has confirmed details of the much-awaited Pump.fun token sale, revealing that users registered through its European Union-regulated platform, Bybit.eu, will not be able to participate, citing compliance with the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA).
The public sale of PUMP, the native token of the no-code memecoin launchpad Pump.fun, will open on Saturday at 14:00 UTC and run through Tuesday, according to a Wednesday press release shared with Cointelegraph.
A total of 150 billion PUMP tokens, 15% of the 1 trillion total supply, will be offered at a fixed price of $0.004 USDT per token.
Bybit, currently the world’s second-largest crypto exchange by trading volume, is the only major platform participating in the sale, the announcement said. A number of other exchanges will also support the token sale.
Bybit will support subscriptions in USDt (USDT), USDC (USDC), Solana (SOL) and bbSOL, providing access to both stablecoins and Solana-native assets.
Bybit has become the second major crypto exchange to reveal details about the upcoming PUMP token sale, following a slip by Gate.io. On Tuesday, Gate.io briefly published a page outlining a $600 million PUMP token sale, which was quickly taken down.
Pump.fun, launched in January 2024, quickly rose to prominence for enabling users to create and trade memecoins with zero coding skills. The platform’s gamified interface and viral mechanics have driven a wave of onchain experimentation on Solana, transforming casual users into active token creators and traders.
US sanctions North Korean IT worker ring over crypto thefts
The US Treasury on Tuesday sanctioned two people, a North Korean and Russian man, along with four entities involved in what it says was a North Korea-run IT worker ring that infiltrates US crypto companies aiming to exploit them.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) slapped sanctions on the North Korea-based Song Kum Hyok for allegedly stealing US citizens’ information to use as aliases and giving the information to hired foreign IT workers who would seek employment at US companies.
OFAC also sanctioned the Russian national Gayk Asatryan for allegedly using his four Russia-based companies to employ dozens of North Korean IT workers. OFAC said North Korea aims to bankroll its missile programs by deploying a thousands-strong workforce of highly skilled IT workers all over the world.
“Treasury remains committed to using all available tools to disrupt the Kim regime’s efforts to circumvent sanctions through its digital asset theft, attempted impersonation of Americans, and malicious cyber-attacks,” said Treasury Deputy Secretary Michael Faulkender.
North Korea has been notorious for its high-profile hacks such as the $1.5 billion exploit against crypto exchange Bybit exploit in February, but TRM Labs said the nation is starting to shift to “deception-based revenue generation, including IT worker infiltration.”
Japanese company moves to align CEO with Bitcoin strategy, full salary goes to BTC
Takashi Tashiro, the new CEO of Tokyo-based energy company Remixpoint, will be paid in Bitcoin as part of stated efforts to be “in the same boat” as shareholders, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.
Remixpoint said it will calculate Tashiro's salary and taxes, purchase the equivalent amount in Bitcoin (BTC) and transfer it to a wallet the CEO designates. The move is as part of a “shareholder-oriented management,” the company said.
“The remuneration in this case will be paid in Japanese yen in format based on the appropriate organization of the Company Act and taxation,” a translated version of the statement reads.
”On top of that, we plan to acquire Bitcoin (BTC) equivalent to the same amount at the market price with Japanese yen, which is equivalent to the full amount of the payment, and deliver it to the crypto asset wallet designated by the President and CEO.”
Tashiro took over as CEO in June, saying that Remixpoint would place BTC “at the core of [its] financial strategy” as part of a shift to make the company focused on treasury management.