🚨Justin Sun Blacklisted

Plus: 😰 Ethereum Under Attack

September 10, 2025

Deep Dive Into Crypto Biggest News

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Hey folks, welcome to the 23rd edition of the WhaleTales! 🤠 

Breaking: Why did World Liberty Financial blacklist Tron founder Justin Sun, one of $WLFI’s first investors? Details inside. 👇

🔍 Spotlight on Ethereum: This time for all the wrong reasons. The world’s second-largest crypto faces scrutiny as hackers target ETH smart contracts to deliver malicious payloads.  

Headlines:

  • WLFI Blacklists Justin Sun’s Wallet After $9M Transfer

  • Hackers Target Ethereum Smart Contracts to Hide Malware

  • Pokémon Trading Cards Go Onchain

  • Linea Airdrop Lands on September 10

  • HashKey to Unravel $500M Treasury Fund

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Deep Dive

🚨 WLFI Blacklists Justin Sun’s Wallet After $9M Transfer

📊 News flash: Crypto billionaire Justin Sun pleads with the Trump family-backed World Liberty Financial (WLFI) to unfreeze his token allocation, following a blacklisting of his wallet addresses on Thursday that sparked controversy.

In-depth:

On Thursday, Sep 4, on-chain blockchain data from Arkham on X revealed that Tron founder Justin Sun’s wallet addresses have been blacklisted after transferring $9 million worth of $WLFI tokens.

Token Drama: Sun Retaliates ⚔️

Justin Sun was one of the original backers investing $75 million in the World Liberty Financial tokens in November 2024. The token was listed on Monday and plunged immediately within a day, losing 40% of its market value.

On Thursday, WLFI blacklisted Sun shortly after he allegedly moved $9M worth of $WLFI tokens to the HTX crypto exchange. 

Justin Sun responded on X, saying his tokens were “unreasonably frozen.” He further said, “As one of the early investors, I joined together with everyone—we bought in the same way, and we all deserve the same rights. I believe that a truly great financial brand must be built on fairness, transparency, and trust—not on unilateral actions that freeze investor assets.”

Adding fuel to the controversy, crypto analyst Quinten François remarked on an X post, “If Justin sun really lured in WLFI tokens from HTX users with a 20% APY to lock them, and then sell them to get out of ‘his’ own position while they’re still unvested, then he deserves to get his account frozen.”

Amid the mounting criticism, Sun reiterated on his X handle, “No buying or selling was involved, so it could not possibly have any impact on the market.” 

Later on September 6, World Liberty Financial issued a statement on X saying, “We do not blacklist for normal market participation.” WLFI acknowledged concerns regarding the recent blacklist of 272 wallets and reaffirmed that their intention is “never to silence normal activity,” but to protect rightful owners and their assets.

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Exclusive

🪲 Hackers Target Ethereum Smart Contracts to Hide Malware

🔔 Crypto Alert: Ethereum’s safe haven is under threat. Hackers are exploiting Ethereum smart contracts to embed malware to hide malicious commands.

Details:

On September 3, ReversingLabs researchers reported that two compromised NPM coding libraries, “colortoolsv2” and “mimelib2,” abused Ethereum smart contracts to mask malicious commands to install second-stage malware that breached security and compromised systems.

ReversingLabs software threat researcher Lucija Valentić reported in her blog, “That’s something we haven’t seen previously.”

The attack was hard to detect as the perpetrators bypassed the traditional method of embedding malware directly in software. The URL was instead loaded for a command-and-control (C2) server and disguised the activity as conventional network traffic.

The verdict: This is not an isolated attack. Previously, attackers have used Google Drive and GitHub repositories to execute fabricated code and malicious links. This time, they have used Ethereum Smart Contracts, highlighting a more sophisticated and larger invasion tactic that could easily merge into blockchain systems, undetected.

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📌 At A Glance

Pokémon Trading Cards Go Onchain 🔥

According to Danny Nelson, Research Analyst at Bitwise Asset Management, Pokémon trading cards can be the next big real-world asset (RWA) that can move on-chain, bringing a million-dollar industry to blockchain. In his X post, Nelson indicated that Pokémon cards have an established market and bringing them on-chain will reduce the barriers of physical shipment, making them more tradable and accessible to users. 📎Read More at BitDegree. 

Linea Airdrop Lands on September 10 🪂

Big news for crypto enthusiasts. The much-awaited Linea airdrop is all set to go LIVE on September 10, 2025. The airdrop campaign will reward over 749,000 eligible wallets with $9.36 billion of Linea tokens. Interested users can check their eligibility status at Linea Build ahead of September 10. Powered by ConsenSys, the Linea Airdrop is a major milestone of the Ethereum layer-2 ecosystem and promises to scale up operations, making them faster and cheaper for developers. 📎Read More at CoinGape. 

HashKey to Unravel $500M Treasury Fund 🔓

Hong Kong’s HashKey Group, a leading digital asset financial services organization, will soon inaugurate its Digital Asset Treasury (DAT) for an initial funding of $500 million during its first phase. The firm announced on Monday that DAT will be a perpetual vehicle that will provide regular subscriptions and redemptions to streamline institutional liquidity and various crypto projects, starting with Bitcoin and Ethereum ecosystems. 📎Read More at Yahoo Finance.

🎲 Play the Quiz

Hey folks, this week, we are introducing a new segment. A fun quiz poll where you can test your knowledge of blockchain, tokens, and everything else about crypto. Join the fun and participate in the poll.

Today’s Quiz:

Which programming language is primarily used in the Ethereum blockchain?

Options:

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The answer will be declared in the next edition. Until then, stay sharp, and keep reading. 📚

🌐 Market Map

Top 5 Crypto according to CoinMarketCap, September 10, 2025.

🍿 Quick Bytes

🤡 This Week’s Meme Drop

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Disclaimer: The information provided in this newsletter is educational and not intended for any investment or financial advice.