US SEC Acknowledges Filing For Grayscale’s Spot Cardano ETF

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved NYSE Arca’s proposal to list Grayscale Cardano Trust, marking the first regulatory step for its listing. This is not an approval per se, but signals the start of the review process for the exchange-traded fund (ETF). Once approved, the ETF would track Cardano’s (ADA) daily price based on data from Coinbase, Crypto.com, Bitfinex, and Kraken on the basis of these platforms’ regulatory compliance.

The development follows a series of crypto ETF filings, including Cboe’s XRP ETF, Grayscale’s XRP, and Dogecoin ETFs. Nasdaq has also filed proposals for BlackRock’s Bitcoin Trust. If approved, the Grayscale Cardano ETF will give investors exposure to ADA without owning it directly. Coinbase Custody Trust will serve as custodian, and BNY Mellon Asset Servicing will service it. This could have implications for broader adoption of crypto ETFs in US markets.

OKX Pleads Guilty, Forfeits $505M To Settle DOJ Charges

OKX operator Aux Cayes FinTech has pleaded guilty to operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business, which is in violation of US anti-money laundering laws. OKX settled to pay over $500 million in aggregate penalties, including paying $84 million in penalties and forfeiting $421 million in revenue that it derived from institutional clients.

The US Department of Justice had found OKX to have facilitated US users to trade on its platform despite a prohibition dating back to 2017.

The regulators accused OKX of facilitating $5 billion in suspicious activity and supposedly instructing users to misrepresent their data in order to circumvent regulations. OKX has, however, said that the affected users were a small minority.

The case signals a sign of growing regulatory scrutiny and enforcement action against uncompliant crypto exchanges and platforms. OKK CEO Star Xu has said that OKX wants to enhance compliance and stick to international finance regulations, according to Cointelegraph.

US Freezes $31M In Crypto Linked to 2021 Uranium Finance Heist

US authorities have seized $31 million in cryptocurrency stolen in the 2021 Uranium Finance hack, a decentralised finance (DeFi) protocol on the BNB Chain.

The seizure was coordinated by the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and Homeland Security Investigations in San Diego. The hackers’ identities have not been disclosed by authorities yet.

The April 2021 Uranium Finance hack resulted from a vulnerability in a smart contract that allowed hackers to steal $50 million worth of crypto. The stolen cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB, Polkadot, and USDT, was laundered through Tornado Cash before reaching centralised exchanges. The hack illustrates available security loopholes in DeFi protocols and the growing need for regulatory intervention for the entire industry to protect investors.