South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service announced on Monday an annual policy plan to intensify oversight of cryptocurrency trading and introduce harsher sanctions on financial institutions for IT-related incidents. The measures, which follow a mistaken transfer of 620,000 BTC by Bithumb to hundreds of users, target activities such as price manipulation, rapid price-pumping schemes and the spread of false information. The watchdog is also setting up a task force to prepare rules under the Digital Asset Basic Act, including disclosure standards and licensing guidance for digital asset service providers and stablecoin issuers.

Tether has increased its headcount to about 300 employees and, according to the Financial Times, intends to hire roughly 150 additional staff over the next 18 months, mainly engineers. The stablecoin issuer is channeling growing profits into recruitment, technology initiatives and diversified investments spanning sectors such as sports, agriculture, media and metals.

Kevin Warsh, a former Federal Reserve governor, has become the frontrunner to be Donald Trump's next Fed chair, with Polymarket traders lifting his odds to 93% after reports he is likely to be nominated. His chances also climbed on Kalshi, while other potential candidates reportedly include Kevin Hassett, Christopher Waller and Rick Rieder.

Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated Lithuania-based crypto exchange WhiteBIT as an "undesirable" organization, effectively forcing it to halt activities in the country. Authorities alleged the platform provided financial and technical backing to Ukraine-linked initiatives, citing about $11 million in donations that align with figures WhiteBIT has published on its website.

Ethereum-based perpetuals DEX Lighter has introduced its native Lighter Infrastructure Token, allocating 50% of the total supply to ecosystem incentives and 50% to the team and investors. The LIT token's ecosystem share will fund airdrops, future programs and partnerships, while the team and investor allocations are locked for one year with three-year vesting, and the LIT-USDC market opened trading at about $2.34.

On Tuesday, the Competition Commission of India cleared Coinbase Global Inc.'s planned purchase of a minority stake in local crypto exchange CoinDCX. The deal, whose size remains undisclosed, implies a $2.45 billion valuation for CoinDCX and follows a period marked by a $44 million hack and Coinbase’s renewed push into the Indian market.

U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded net outflows of $194.6 million on Thursday, marking the largest single-day withdrawal in two weeks, data show. BlackRock's IBIT led outflows with $112.9 million, while Fidelity's FBTC saw $54.2 million in withdrawals. Trading volume for these products declined to $3.1 billion from $4.2 billion the previous day.

Grayscale Research forecasts bitcoin will reach new all-time highs in 2026, rejecting the traditional four-year cycle theory that anticipates extended bear markets. The firm points to institutional investment structures and favorable macroeconomic conditions as key differentiators from prior cycles. Bitcoin traded at $86,909 as of 2:20 a.m. ET Tuesday after declining 32% from its peak.

Balancer has outlined a plan to distribute approximately $8 million in recovered assets to liquidity providers affected by a November vulnerability that led to losses exceeding $128 million. Six white hat actors secured roughly $3.86 million during the incident, with bounties capped at $1 million per operation and requiring identity verification. The proposal establishes a 180-day claim window, after which unclaimed assets will be subject to governance decisions.