Morning Minute: Soldier Arrested for $400K Polymarket Insider Bet on Maduro Raid

Morning Minute is a daily newsletter written by Tyler Warner. The analysis and opinions expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Decrypt. And check out our new daily news show covering all of the top stories in 5 minutes or less, downloadable on Apple Pod or Spotify.

GM!

Today’s top news:

• Crypto majors are slightly green despite oil grinding higher; BTC at $78.3k
• BTC ETFs continue green streak with another $223M in net inflows
• Soldier arrested for making $400k on Polymarket inside trading Maduro raid
• Tether executes its biggest freeze ever impacting $344M USDT on Tron
• MegaETH confirms TGE for April 30th; MEGA -15%

🚩Soldier Arrested for $400K Polymarket Insider Bet on Maduro Raid

The Department of Justice announced Thursday that Army Master Sergeant Gannon Ken Van Dyke, 38, has been arrested and charged with using classified military information to profit on Polymarket.

Van Dyke participated in Operation Absolute Resolve, the January 3 raid that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, and placed 13 bets on the platform between December 26 and January 2 using a VPN to mask his location.

He wagered approximately $33,000 across contracts tied to whether Maduro would be removed, whether US forces would invade Venezuela, and related outcomes. When the operation succeeded, he walked away with over $409,000 in winnings and immediately moved most of the proceeds to a foreign crypto wallet before depositing the remainder into a newly created brokerage account.

The DOJ charged Van Dyke with unlawful use of confidential government information, theft of government information, commodities fraud, wire fraud, and making an unlawful monetary transaction. The CFTC filed a parallel civil complaint the same day. Polymarket said it identified the account independently, referred the matter to the DOJ, and cooperated fully with the investigation.

Trump, asked about the arrest Thursday, said: “The whole world, unfortunately, has become somewhat of a casino… I was never much in favor of it. I don’t like it conceptually.”

Unfortunately, Trump is probably right…

🥶 Tether Freezes $344M in USDT – Its Largest Enforcement Action Ever

Tether announced Thursday that it froze $344 million in USDT across two wallets on the Tron blockchain following requests from US law enforcement. One wallet held $212.9 million, the other $131.3 million.

The freeze was coordinated with OFAC and multiple US agencies after the addresses were flagged for suspected sanctions evasion and criminal network activity. Tether moved to restrict the assets before the funds could be transferred further. The company did not identify the wallet owners or specify the nature of the underlying criminal activity.

The action is the largest single enforcement freeze in Tether’s history. To date, Tether has worked with more than 340 law enforcement agencies across 65 countries and has frozen a total of $4.4 billion in assets, including $2.1 billion tied to US agencies. CEO Paolo Ardoino: “USDT is not a safe haven for illicit activity. When credible links to sanctioned entities or criminal networks are identified, we act immediately and decisively. Recent events have shown what happens when platforms fail to move quickly.”

That last line is a direct reference to Circle. During the $285 million Drift Protocol exploit earlier this month, $230 million in USDC moved through Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol during US business hours. Circle declined to freeze the funds, citing the absence of a formal law enforcement request or OFAC designation at the time. Tether, by contrast, contributed $127.5 million toward Drift’s recovery plan. Tether is certainly doing its part to separate itself from Circle…

⚖️ SBF Drops New Trial Bid, Says He Won’t Get a Fair Hearing

Sam Bankman-Fried filed a letter withdrawing his Rule 33 motion for a new trial.

The withdrawal was without prejudice, meaning he can refile once his pending Second Circuit appeal is resolved.

His reason, stated directly to Judge Lewis Kaplan: “I do not believe I will get a fair hearing on this topic in front of you.”

The motion itself had been filed in February by his mother, attorney Barbara Fried, on his behalf, which prompted Judge Kaplan to order clarification on who actually wrote it. SBF confirmed in Thursday’s letter that he conceived the arguments, drafted multiple versions, and did most of the legal research himself while incarcerated, with his parents making editorial suggestions and a New York attorney providing limited input.

His Second Circuit appeal arguing the trial was “fundamentally unfair” remains active, as does his request for reassignment away from Kaplan, whom he has accused of “extreme bias.” He is currently serving a 25-year sentence for seven counts of fraud and conspiracy tied to FTX’s 2022 collapse.

🤖 Meta Is Cutting 8,000 Jobs to Pay for Its AI Spending Spree

Meta announced Thursday it will lay off approximately 8,000 employees, about 10% of its total workforce, effective May 20.

An internal memo stated the reason: “We’re doing this as part of our continued effort to run the company more efficiently and to allow us to offset the other investments we’re making.”

Those other investments are AI. Meta spent $72 billion on capital expenditures in 2025 and projects that number to climb to between $115 and $135 billion in 2026, driven primarily by its Meta Superintelligence Labs and data center buildout.

Middle management and non-engineering roles are expected to take the biggest hit. Meta also closed 6,000 open positions that will no longer be filled.

This follows Zuckerberg’s comment on the January earnings call that 2026 would be “the year that AI starts to dramatically change the way that we work,” and it’s clearly starting to have its impact.

🌎 Macro Crypto and Markets

• Crypto majors are slightly green; BTC +1% at $78.3k; ETH +1 at $2,330; SOL +1% at $86; HYPE even at $41.10
• Stable (+14%), ZEC (+12%) and ALGO (+6%) led top movers
• Oil +3% at $97; Gold -0.4% at $4,680
• Stock futures are mixed with the Dow red but Nasdaq +1% premarket despite oil jumping all week
• Wisconsin sued 5 prediction markets (Kalshi, Coinbase, Polymarket, Robinhood and Cryptocom) alleging that they operate as unlicensed gambling vs financial platforms
• Pavel Durov (Telegram founder) announced that TON will cut its transaction fees by 6x, and soon most transactions will have no fees at all

Corporate Treasuries & ETFs

Meme Coin Tracker

• Meme leaders were green on the day; DOGE +3%, SHIB +2%, PEPE +3%, TRUMP +1%, BONK +2%, PENGU +4%, SPX +5%, FARTCOIN +3%
• CR7 (+38x to $15M), Eloncoin (+105x), Zerebro (+30%) and Buttcoin (+20%) led notable movers
• AIB (America Is Back) soared 70,000% to $5M on ETH

💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker

🚚 What is happening in NFTs?

• NFT leaders were mostly flat; Punks +1% at 29ETH, BAYC +1% at 8.74 ETH, Pudgy -1.5% at 4.62 ETH; Hypurr’s -3% at 375 HYPE
• Good Vibes Club (+9%) and Azuki (+16%) led notable movers
• A Skulls of Luci sold for $375k along with the accompanying Mask (2nd major sale this week)