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The operator of Jaredfromsubway.eth (ae13), a long-running Ethereum MEV bot, has pleaded with a hacker to return stolen funds after losing over $7.5 million in an attack that exploited a vulnerability in its automated execution system. The operator sent a message offering a 50% white-hat bounty if the hacker returns 2,150 ETH within 48 hours, threatening legal action otherwise. MEV bots are automated trading programs that profit from arbitrage by intercepting or reordering transactions on a blockchain network.

South Korean crypto exchanges Upbit and Bithumb have added Taiko (TAIKO) to their delisting watchlists. The exchanges cited the potential for user harm following a security incident, such as a hack with an unresolved cause, on the asset's wallet or distributed ledger.

The Bank of Korea's central bank digital currency (CBDC) experiment is advancing to a new stage that will connect it with commercial banks' actual account systems, the Electronic Times Internet reported. Participating banks are currently building the necessary infrastructure within a test environment designated by the BOK and based on Naver Cloud. This infrastructure includes electronic wallets for customers and merchants, a voucher system for executing treasury fund payments, digital currency management tools, and blockchain integration. The system will ultimately link to the banks' core account ledgers and smart banking services.

The Bank of Korea is pursuing its deposit token project with the clear intention of full-scale commercialization, not just as a pilot program, Maeil Business Newspaper reported. The country's banking sector has expressed concerns, stating that subsequent phases, which include enabling peer-to-peer transfers and expanding use cases, would require procedures on par with launching an entirely new business and have requested a schedule adjustment. According to a document submitted by the Korea Federation of Banks to the office of People Power Party lawmaker Lee Heon-seung, the central bank and commercial banks are planning follow-up tests to build a foundation for the formal introduction and widespread use of the tokens, aiming for continuous operation without service interruption.

With the possibility of resignation growing for UK Prime Minister and Labour Party leader Keir Starmer, Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, is emerging as a potential successor. Burnham is known as a prominent pro-cryptocurrency figure within the party. The most likely scenario is that Starmer will remain in office until the party conference at the end of September before handing over the premiership to a new leader. Burnham is one of the few senior Labour politicians to have publicly supported digital assets, having once declared at a Web3 event his ambition to make Manchester the home of the Web3 revolution, just as it was for the Industrial Revolution.

HashKey Cloud has announced the official launch of the EAG Contribution Pool, a program co-developed with the global non-profit cooperative organization Ethereum Application Guild (EAG). The EAG Contribution Pool is an ETH staking support program for participants in the Ethereum ecosystem and operates as a non-custodial DApp. Users can stake their ETH and voluntarily contribute a portion of the resulting rewards to the pool. These funds will be used to support the development of both EAG and the Ethereum native application ecosystem.

South Korea's top financial and foreign exchange regulators have signaled their opposition to any immediate easing of virtual asset regulations, Edaily reported. The stance comes in response to a review by the country's Ministry of SMEs and Startups into rationalizing the current rules. On June 22, the Financial Services Commission (FSC), Ministry of Economy and Finance, and the Bank of Korea concluded after an internal review that it would be difficult to pursue the deregulation measures requested by the industry. The regulators noted that there has been no confirmed shift in policy toward deregulation and that many of the proposed changes would be impossible without amending existing laws. The review followed a meeting held on June 8 by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups with industry representatives. An FSC official stated that the agency is currently listening to the industry's opinions on sub-regulations rather than planning to ease them, adding that nothing has been confirmed. An official from the Ministry of Economy and Finance also said the ministry is not currently reviewing any deregulation related to virtual assets.

24-hour crypto futures liquidations The following shows estimated liquidation volumes and position ratios for major crypto perpetual futures over the past 24 hours: - BTC: $66.39 million liquidated (65.46% shorts) - ETH: $43.20 million liquidated (52.16% shorts) - SOL: $11.80 million liquidated (53.11% shorts)

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded total net outflows of $227 million last week, marking the sixth consecutive week of net outflows, according to data from SoSoValue. Grayscale's GBTC saw the largest outflow for the week, totaling $156 million.

South Korea's Financial Services Commission (FSC) plans to expand its regulatory sandbox to include the Virtual Asset User Protection Act, Digital Asset reported. The move is part of a broader plan to prepare for the future of finance by expanding services to reflect changes in the financial environment and market demand. At a recent event chaired by FSC Chairman Lee Eog-weon, the commission stated it would continuously identify and include laws related to new sectors and services, such as the Internet Banking Act and the Virtual Asset User Protection Act, within the sandbox's scope.

Prediction market platform Polymarket paid dozens of content creators to film videos of themselves placing bets on a fake version of its site, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported. One creator posted a video claiming to have won $100,000 by betting that President Trump would say "McDonald's" during an official appearance in a specific month. In reality, around 50 accounts that made the same bet on the actual site all lost money. According to a WSJ analysis, the promotional videos featured a total of about $1.9 million in bets, none of which were real trades. The roughly $900,000 in "profits" portrayed by the creators would have actually resulted in a loss of over $166,000 if the bets had been placed for real. Polymarket has been banned from operating in the U.S. since 2022, but the creators were paid to encourage viewers to access the platform using a virtual private network (VPN). Meanwhile, Polymarket announced it would conduct an audit of all its promotional content.

South Korean crypto exchange Upbit announced it has suspended deposits and withdrawals for Taiko (TAIKO), citing a potential security incident.

The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) has urged the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City to reconsider the Fed account held by crypto exchange Kraken, Cryptoslate reported. The ICBA stated that Kraken Financial's one-year special purpose account, which is approaching its renewal date, should be re-evaluated for risks related to fraud, anti-money laundering (AML), legal issues, and the precedent it sets. The association has called for a review that could lead to additional restrictions, non-renewal, or termination of the account. Kraken had previously been approved for the one-year limited-purpose account following a three-stage review by the Fed.

Ranveer Arora, CEO of the hyperEVM-based yield protocol Altura, has announced that the Altura Vault will be phased out. He stated on X that the decision was made after an unprecedented volume of withdrawal requests over the past 24 hours, during which the protocol immediately processed redemptions of more than 8.5 million USDT. Arora added that while some positions can be redeemed immediately, others will require more time. He explained that funds are being returned as the underlying positions are redeemed.

Long-term Bitcoin holders are remaining calm amid the market correction that has heightened anxiety among short-term investors, according to on-chain analyst Darkfost. On X, he noted that a 2020 Glassnode study found that BTC held for over 155 days is significantly less likely to be moved. Darkfost pointed to the Cumulative Value Days Destroyed (CVDD) indicator, a key metric for tracking selling by long-term holders, which has fallen to around 0.3—a level historically seen during bear markets or major corrections. In contrast, when the CVDD surged past two and even four in March 2024, it was widely interpreted as a market top signal accompanied by active selling from this cohort. He assessed that long-term holders are currently maintaining their composure and are likely to wait for higher prices before taking profits, suggesting this may be the most prudent course of action at present.

The Ethereum Foundation (EF) is facing growing industry criticism over its financial and organizational management. Marc Zeller, founder of the Aave governance group Aave Chan Initiative (ACI), said on X that the EF could have been operated easily with common-sense budgeting. He argued the foundation should have used its reserves as collateral and funded valuable projects instead of things like "52 clients that nobody uses or meetups in Lesotho." Zeller added that after the delayed transition to Proof-of-Stake (PoS), the EF could have staked its vast ETH holdings to operate indefinitely on the returns. "If the EF hits a wall, it doesn't deserve help. Ethereum will be fine though," he concluded. Similarly, Keyring Network founder Alex McPharlane stressed that financial management and DeFi were "taboo subjects" at the EF, where those concerned about finances were seen as not focusing on the big picture. "Now the funding shortage is a reality," he said. McPharlane noted that the EF holds between $500 million and $900 million in liquid assets, which should be sufficient to support a $20 million to $30 million annual budget, calling an inability to manage this "incompetent." This follows a previous warning from Trent Van Epps, who formerly handled core development funding at the Ethereum Foundation. He had pointed out that the Ethereum core development sector could face a funding crisis within three to nine months.

The Altcoin Season Index from crypto data platform CoinMarketCap is currently at 49. The index is calculated by comparing the price performance of the top 100 coins by market capitalization, excluding stablecoins and wrapped coins, against that of Bitcoin over the last 90 days. An "altcoin season" is declared when 75% of these top coins outperform Bitcoin during that period, while the opposite is considered a "Bitcoin season." A score closer to 100 indicates a stronger altcoin season.

Qatar and Pakistan announced in a joint statement today that the first high-level talks between the U.S. and Iran, held under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), have concluded in Switzerland. According to the statement, both sides have agreed to establish a high-level committee to provide political oversight for the mediation process, with chief negotiators reporting to it regularly. The committee has also agreed on a 60-day timetable to reach a final agreement, laying the groundwork for the immediate start of further technical negotiations. Additionally, the parties will establish a conflict resolution coordination group between relevant nations and Lebanon, supported by mediating countries, to end military operations in Lebanon as stipulated in the MOU. Technical negotiations on all agenda items will continue for the rest of this week at the Bürgenstock Resort in Switzerland.

Hunter Horsley, CEO of Bitcoin spot ETF issuer Bitwise, has predicted that the market capitalization of some cryptocurrencies will significantly exceed market expectations over the next two years. In a post on X, he drew a parallel to the early days of the internet in the 1990s, when hundreds of companies were valued between $500 million and $1 billion on potential alone. When the optimism faded in the early 2000s, buying interest for most of these companies disappeared, he explained. "Instead, a few companies that proved their competence thrived, and grew for longer and larger than in the previous cycle," Horsley noted, emphasizing that "the same transition is underway in crypto."

Following a $1 million exploit on a Taiko (TAIKO) vault, the project announced on X that it has confirmed its chain state verification mechanism was compromised. As a result, Taiko stated that the security of all bridges operating on its network can no longer be trusted. The team is actively working with its security committee and key ecosystem partners to contain the incident and has urged users to immediately withdraw their funds from all bridges deployed on Taiko.

South Korean internet bank Toss Bank is partnering with the Solana Foundation to build a global digital financial infrastructure, ZDNet Korea reported. The bank will conduct a phased proof-of-concept (PoC) for a global remittance and settlement system on the Solana network. The initial phase will focus on verifying the feasibility of stablecoin-based remittances. The project will later expand to include integration with overseas partners and the implementation of integrated Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) verification processes.

According to data from Tokenomist, the major token unlocks scheduled for this week (June 22–28) are as follows: - MBG: 27.15 million tokens ($5.96 million), representing 7.49% of circulating supply, at 12:00 p.m. UTC on June 22 - SOON: 20.24 million tokens ($3.45 million), representing 4.07% of circulating supply, at 8:30 a.m. UTC on June 23 - MEGA: 250 million tokens ($13.54 million), representing 32.83% of circulating supply, at 10:00 a.m. UTC on June 23 - NEWT: 139 million tokens ($7.55 million), representing 37.22% of circulating supply, at 12:00 a.m. UTC on June 24 - H: 266 million tokens ($54.77 million), representing 9.41% of circulating supply, at 12:00 a.m. UTC on June 25 - XPL: 88.89 million tokens ($10.42 million), representing 3.56% of circulating supply, at 12:00 p.m. UTC on June 25

Lee Hyung-joo, head of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) under South Korea's Financial Services Commission, has called for the timely establishment of a consistent and effective global regulatory framework for virtual assets. Speaking at a plenary meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) at the OECD headquarters, Lee warned that differing approaches to licensing, supervision, and handling of offshore virtual asset service providers (VASPs) across jurisdictions create regulatory arbitrage. He argued that this arbitrage weakens the effectiveness of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing measures, Newsis reported.

An exploit has been detected in the Taiko (TAIKO) ERC20 vault, according to blockchain security firm Blockaid. The estimated losses from the attack currently stand at $1 million.

The key global macroeconomic events for the fourth week of June are as follows (all times are UTC): - June 22, 1:00 p.m.: Speech by Fed Governor Christopher Waller - June 24: Micron Technology earnings report - June 25, 12:30 p.m.: U.S. May Core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE), first-quarter GDP (final estimate), and initial jobless claims - June 25, 7:40 p.m.: Speech by FOMC member Williams