According to CoinDesk, federal law enforcement has seized $54 million worth of cryptocurrencies from Christopher Castelluzzo, the leader of a notorious New Jersey drug ring. U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced the seizure on Thursday, stating that the funds were discovered in crypto wallets belonging to Castelluzzo, a convicted drug trafficker, and his co-conspirators. The wallets held the laundered proceeds of the crew's mail-order cocaine and designer drug operations, which were active between 2010 and 2015.

FBI Newark Special Agent in Charge James E. Dennehy said in a statement that the forfeiture action should serve as a lesson to those who mistakenly believe that their illicit behavior or ill-gotten proceeds cannot be traced. The drug proceeds, initially invested as $9,000 in ETH, grew to about $53 million, plus a wide assortment of other tokens, including solana (SOL), cardano (ADA), and bitcoin. The U.S. seized the funds as a forfeiture due to their connection to the original drug trafficking.

Castelluzzo and others were originally busted in a drug ring that operated through darknet sites, including Silk Road and Blue Sky, receiving payment in bitcoin. The operation distributed a range of drugs, including cocaine and methylone from China. While serving a 20-year prison sentence, authorities caught Castelluzzo discussing his crypto strategy, including plans to evade taxes and liquidate his holdings outside the country. In prison conversations, he and others debated the merits of various offshore destinations for the crypto fortune, including Malta, Ireland, and Latin America.

According to Foresight News, Twitter user Milkyway announced the upcoming launch of the Celestia liquidity staking derivatives protocol, MilkyWay, on the Cosmos ecosystem's decentralized exchange (DEX) Osmosis. The V1 version is set to be released in the fourth quarter of 2023. stTIA can be used for DEX liquidity, lending, staking derivatives, perpetual trading, and more. Additionally, a 10% protocol fee will be charged on staking rewards generated for stTIA holders.

The MilkyWay DAO will be fully managed by the native token MILK and will oversee the protocol. Team members of MilkyWay come from Tendermint, Osmosis, Cosmostation, Crescent, Oak Security, Composable Finance, and Crypto.com. Furthermore, Milkyway will introduce nine trusted validator nodes, including Stake.fish, Everstake, Chorus One, Allnodes, 01node, DSRV, Cosmostation, Hex Trust, and Keplr.

According to Foresight News, Linen Wallet, a multi-signature wallet built on Safe, announced that it will shut down its application and cease operations on November 30th, returning the remaining funds to investors. Assets in Linen Wallet are secure, as Linen only serves as an interface for users to manage their Safe multi-ID wallets. Users can still manage their assets using other interfaces.

Linen's infrastructure will be completely shut down after November 30th, and the application, email, and Intercom chat support channels will be disabled. The reasons for Linen Wallet's closure include a decrease in demand for advanced self-custody solutions among retail investors and regulatory uncertainty.