Regulation & Policy
Payward filed a second amended complaint in Colorado federal court alleging Etana Custody and CEO Dion Russell ran a Ponzi-like scheme, misappropriating $25M+ in Kraken reserve funds through falsified account statements and risky credit bets. Etana entered liquidation in November 2025.
DeFi
A US district court froze 30,766 ETH (~$71M) held by Arbitrum DAO after terrorism creditors invoked the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act to attach recovery funds from the Lazarus Group's $292M Kelp DAO hack. Aave filed an emergency motion to unfreeze the assets.
Tokenization
Securitize Markets received expanded FINRA permissions enabling it to custody tokenized securities inside a regulated broker-dealer, underwrite on-chain IPOs, and facilitate atomic settlement between tokenized stocks and stablecoins — the first approval of its kind.
Funding
Payward, Kraken's parent company, closed its $550M acquisition of Bitnomial, giving it all three CFTC licenses needed to operate a full-stack US crypto derivatives business: Futures Commission Merchant, Designated Contract Market, and Derivatives Clearing Organisation.
Regulation & Policy
Reuters found Nobitex — Iran's largest exchange handling ~70% of national crypto volume — was founded by the politically connected Kharrazi family, with ties to Iran's supreme leaders since 1979. Blockchain forensics linked it to tens of millions tied to the IRGC and sanctioned Bank Markazi.
Regulation & Policy
Brazil's Banco Central do Brasil published Resolution BCB No. 561 on April 30, barring fintechs and payment firms from using stablecoins or crypto assets as settlement within the country's regulated eFX cross-border payment corridors, effective October 1, 2026. Individual holdings remain legal.
Stablecoins
Senators Tillis and Alsobrooks struck a bipartisan yield compromise, clearing the CLARITY Act for a Senate Banking Committee markup the week of May 11. Coinbase CEO Armstrong endorsed within hours. Passive interest prohibited; activity-based rewards explicitly protected.
RWA
BlackRock filed a formal comment letter with the OCC opposing a proposed 20% ceiling on tokenized assets as stablecoin reserves under the GENIUS Act's draft rulemaking. The cap would constrain BlackRock's BUIDL fund. BlackRock is asking the OCC to remove the limit and expand eligible asset types.
AI
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on May 2 that AI-generated performances and AI-written screenplays are ineligible for Academy Award consideration, effective for the 99th Awards. Human performers must be 'demonstrably' credited and consenting; scripts must be human-authored.
Prediction Markets
Polymarket integrated Chainalysis market-integrity tools — real-time onchain surveillance plus a prediction-market detection model. The deal lands after DOJ indicted Army soldier Gannon Van Dyke for $33K in bets that returned $409,881 on classified intelligence.
Prediction Markets
Gemini secured a CFTC Derivatives Clearing Organization license on April 29 — Gemini Olympus, LLC is now an approved DCO. Combined with its existing DCM authorization, the Winklevoss exchange now has a full-stack U.S. trading license to clear and settle derivatives and prediction markets.
Funding
Sweden's Legora closed a $50 million Series D extension, bringing the round to $600 million at a $5.6 billion post-money valuation. Nvidia's NVentures, Atlassian, Adams Street and Insight all participated, and ARR has crossed $100 million.