Upbit Launches “Experimental Lab” for Users to View Investment Performance

Do Kwon Out On Bail Following AppealDo Kwon, the South Korean Co-Founder of Singapore-headquartered Terraform Labs, has been granted bail in Montenegro following a court appearance last week.Photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm on UnsplashAppeal dismissalThe appeal brought by state prosecutors was dismissed by a Montenegrin court according to a statement released by the courts on Friday. The Basic Court in Podgorica confirmed that the State Prosecutor’s Office’s appeal against an earlier bail agreement was rejected, allowing Kwon and Terraform Labs’ chief financial officer Han Chang-joon to await further legal proceedings under house arrest in Montenegro.The court reinstated the original bail terms set during a hearing on May 12, requiring both individuals to pay 400,000 euros ($436,000) each to secure their release from custody. Kwon and Han are now under strict bail conditions and are not permitted to leave Han’s legal residence in Montenegro.According to the court statement: “The court appreciated the fact that they are persons who are not Montenegrin citizens, which is why it accepted their statements about the value of the property they own, which were supported by concrete evidence.”The Montenegrin court found, following the first appeal, that the original decision to permit bail was not based on a sound assessment of “concrete evidence.” That allowed prosecutors to overturn that original decision, which has itself been overturned to permit bail once again.Local police will closely monitor both individuals, and any violation of the supervision measures or departure from the residence will result in the forfeiture of the bail amount. To ensure compliance and discourage flight attempts, Kwon and Han provided personal and financial information to the local authorities, including evidence of property ownership and a sales contract for an apartment, parking space, and basement owned by Han. Kwon also submitted an invoice for a vehicle and bank account statements.Alleged fake passportsKwon and Han were arrested in Montenegro in March 2023 for allegedly using false travel documents while attempting to leave the country. Their original passports had been confiscated in South Korea in October 2022.The court acknowledged that verifying the authenticity of the Belgian passports and identity cards held by the defendants would require additional time. However, it deemed the agreed-upon bail amount sufficient to ensure their presence during legal proceedings.International interestDespite being granted bail in Montenegro, Kwon remains wanted in multiple jurisdictions. South Korean authorities seek to extradite him for investigation into the collapse of the Terra ecosystem, which caused an estimated $40 billion loss in the cryptocurrency market in June 2022. Interpol has also issued a Red Notice for Kwon in connection with the charges in South Korea, and he faces several fraud charges in the United States.The recent decision in Montenegro allows Kwon and Han temporary freedom while they await further legal proceedings. However, their legal troubles extend beyond Montenegro, with ongoing investigations and charges in South Korea and the United States casting a shadow over their future.The pair are due back to appear before a Montenegrin court once again on June 16. Prosecutors have three days in which to file another appeal of the latest bail decision.

Phemex, a Singapore-headquartered crypto derivatives trading platform, has halted withdrawals following a multi-million dollar hack.Photo by GuerrillaBuzz on UnsplashHot wallet compromisedIn a message to platform users published to social media, the project stated: “To ensure security, withdrawals have been temporarily suspended while we conduct an emergency inspection and strengthen wallet services. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. Withdrawals will be restored soon.” In further commentary, the project apologized for the disruption, assuring service users that its mission remains to provide a trusted trading environment, while outlining that it is working on putting together a compensation plan. It added that “Our ongoing business operations are fine,” and that “trading services continue as usual.” The digital assets were removed from the platform over multiple blockchains including Polygon, Arbitrum, the Base network and BNB. Blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain itemized some of the assets that are believed to have been stolen. They include 3.48 million USDC stablecoin, 3.42 million USDT stablecoin, 841 ETH valued at $2.7 million, 110,701 LINK valued at $2.69 million, 142 billion PEPE tokens valued at $2.12 million, 1.19 million FET tokens valued at $1.45 million and 29,509 AVAX tokens valued at $1.04 million. Initial reports put the loss at $31 million. However, Web3 security firm Cyvers later claimed that $37  million covers the full extent of the loss. Following deeper analysis, it found that both Bitcoin and TRON blockchains had also been impacted, resulting in the overall loss being increased by a further $6 million. Cold wallet assets are safeThe company’s CEO Federico Variola, published a post on X advising service users that all of the assets held within the company’s cold wallets remain safe. He included a link to the Phemex proof of reserves, encouraging customers to check it. In a follow-up post, he wrote: “We are currently carefully testing our system to reprise withdrawals as soon as possible. Due to the sophistication of the threat actor we cannot rush this stage. The estimated timeline to reprise full operations is within 24h, thank you for your support.” The XNET Foundation, a non-profit entity that develops decentralized wireless networks, said that it is actively working with the Phemex team on the production of an exploit report following the incident. It added that “It has been confirmed that tokens sent to the exchange for a launchpad pool were compromised as part of this exploit.” Ongoing problemCrypto hacking remains a major concern within the digital assets sector. Blockchain security firm PackShield reported recently that $1.3 billion had been laundered from crypto hacks in 2024. That statistic demonstrates that the problem is worsening as it accounts for a $342 million or 280% increase when compared with 2023. In December a Chainalysis report found that 61% of the hacking losses suffered in 2024 implicated the involvement of North Korean hackers. It estimated crypto hacking losses of $2.2 billion for 2024, based on losses associated with 303 hacking incidents.

Hong Kong to Issue Digital Asset Licensing Guidelines in MayAccording to Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), the Commission will issue new guidelines for virtual asset exchanges within the Chinese autonomous special administrative region (SAR).© Pexels/Jimmy ChanSFC CEO Julia Leung made that announcement while speaking at an event in the city on Thursday, indicating that the guidelines are due to be released next month. Additionally the autonomous region intends to introduce a new licensing system from June 1 onwards, enabling the retail investors among Hong Kong’s populace to trade leading cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum.Hong Kong authorities had provided an insight into this approach back in February, when plans to provide retail access to digital assets were first set out. At the time, they outlined the need for retail customers to pass a knowledge test relative to digital assets or otherwise only being allowed to trade such assets once the customer had completed a certain level of training relative to digital assets, provided by a regulated crypto service provider.This latest announcement has arrived amid a backdrop of a series of recent indications that signify the intent of authorities in Hong Kong to make the autonomous region a major financial hub centered around digital assets.Leung articulated that the further development of this digital assets framework follows a consultation process that attracted more than 150 responses. Although virtual asset service providers (VASPs) will need to await the complete rollout of the licensing system, a handful of crypto businesses such as OSL and Hashkey, under the supervision of the Hong Kong regulator, have already started to offer their services.Crypto as propertyA Hong Kong court recently recognized cryptocurrency as property. The ruling emerged in a bankruptcy hearing pertaining to failed cryptocurrency exchange Gatecoin. In presiding over the case, Justice Linda Chan outlined that the autonomous region takes a broad view of what constitutes property. In finding crypto to meet the definition of property, she went on to clarify that it therefore has the capability of being held in trust.The finding has particular relevance in the crypto world right now given the consequences of an “in trust” custodianship of customer’s digital assets relative to numerous ongoing bankruptcy processes involving failed crypto businesses, and the pecking order of creditors in those instances, in their efforts to recover their digital assets.Positive approachWhile mainland China remains an adverse territory relative to digital assets, Hong Kong has taken to welcoming the sector and with that, enticing crypto firms to relocate to the autonomous region from the mainland. Leadership in the city has been making all the right soundings to demonstrate that it is actively trying to nurture the nascent sector.While recent months have seen the Biden administration in the United States attempt to close off banking from the crypto sector, in contrast, Hong Kong’s largest virtual bank, ZA Bank, was recently given permission to act as a settlement bank for regulated Web3 businesses located within Hong Kong.