South Korea plans a major AML overhaul, expanding the Travel Rule to all crypto transfers, including those under 1 million KRW, to stop “smurfing” via small transactions. Regulators will also block high-risk overseas platforms, tighten financial requirements for local exchanges, and ban individuals with drug or tax-crime records from becoming major shareholders. The FIU will gain pre-freeze authority to stop illicit funds before they leave the system. https://t.co/BM5wnbAlMO ...

Security Breach & Response - Upbit's CEO apologized for a recent security breach, acknowledging internal security lapses and promising full user compensation [1] - The estimated loss from the breach is approximately 445 亿 KRW (Korean Won), comprising 386 亿 KRW of user funds, 23 亿 KRW frozen, and 59 亿 KRW of company losses [1] Investigation & Potential Threat - The Upbit hack is estimated to be worth around 445 亿 KRW (approximately 32 million USD) [1] - Authorities are investigating the possibility of North Korea's Lazarus Group being responsible for the attack [1] - The Lazarus Group was also linked to a previous Upbit theft in 2019 [1]

Former FTX CEO SBF's Ponzi SchemeTutorialOn April 25, 2022, SBF explained "yield farming" on the Odd Lots podcast but unintentionally described a full-blown Ponzi scheme. He used an example of a "box" (a project) created with nothing more than an internet connection and a token issued out of thin air. With enough hype and influence, it could attract $200 million in investment. Prices rise because money flows in, and money flows in because prices rise. By the end of it, you realize — this isn’t innovation, i ...

Aishwary Gupta, Polygon’s Global Head of Payments and RWA, said stablecoins are entering a “super cycle,” with over 100,000 issuers expected in the next five years. He noted that traditional banks will need to restructure their capital management models to stay competitive, likely by issuing “deposit tokens” to retain liquidity. Future payment systems, he added, will enable seamless conversion between different stablecoins through neutral settlement layers.https://t.co/QMHRkn7PvC ...

According to Reuters, CME Group halted trading in currencies, stock futures, and commodities due to a cooling system failure at its data centers, also affecting the EBS forex platform. The outage impacted all futures and options contracts on the Globex platform. LSEG data showed that after the halt, quotes for S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures, as well as major currency pairs, were no longer updating. https://t.co/cHznC1Gu81 ...

Strategic Focus - Animoca Brands will broaden its focus beyond gaming to include stablecoins, AI, DePIN, and DeFi by 2026 [1] - Animoca Brands anticipates institutional participation will be a key driver for the next phase of crypto growth, shifting from Bitcoin investment to utility-based adoption [1] Financial Strategy - Animoca Brands plans to go public on Nasdaq in 2026 via a reverse merger with AI fintech firm Currenc Group [1]

Security Breach - Upbit, South Korea's largest crypto exchange, experienced a hack valued at approximately 445 亿 KRW (approximately $32 million)[1] - The hack targeted a hot wallet, with hackers employing "hopping" and "mixing" techniques [1] Investigation & Attribution - Authorities are investigating potential involvement of North Korea's Lazarus Group in the attack [1] - Lazarus Group was previously linked to Upbit's 2019 theft of 580 亿 KRW in Ethereum [1]

Industry Concerns Regarding Layer-1 (L1) Tokens - The industry questions the long-term value of holding L1 tokens due to a perceived lack of a strong competitive advantage [1] - The core issue is that L1s lack a significant "moat," making it easy for users to bridge assets and developers to migrate [1] - New chains are easy to launch, resulting in lower switching costs compared to services like AWS [1] Potential Strategies for Chains - Chains should consider vertically integrating the application layer, as exemplified by Solana, Base, and Hyperliquid [1] - Alternatively, chains could focus on the application layer instead of infrastructure to capture exponential value [1]

A major fire recently broke out in Tai Po, Hong Kong, causing significant losses. Binance, HashKey Group and Avenir Group announced a donation of HK$10 million each in emergency relief to support relief and reconstruction efforts. KuCoin also donated HK$2 million. https://t.co/pI09LyJPf7 ...

Multiple high-inflation countries are accelerating the use of crypto assets as an alternative store of value. Chainalysis data shows that from July 2024 to June 2025, Turkey recorded $200 billion in crypto transaction volume (local inflation around 32%), Argentina $93.9 billion (inflation around 31%), Nigeria $92.1 billion (inflation around 16%), Venezuela $44.6 billion (inflation over 170%), and Bolivia $14.8 billion (inflation around 22%). https://t.co/xSblFPz1Xu ...