North Korean hackers are washing Binance loot through homemade memecoins

North Korean hackers are laundering Binance loot through homemade memecoins. Plus: Robinhood backs OKX–ICE tokenized stocks as most companies opt out, and Trump says he knows ‘nothing’ about World Liberty’s UAE ties. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Monday, November 9, 2026 North Korean hackers are creating memecoins to wash loot from $6.3 billion Binance hack North Korean hackers used six homemade memecoins to launder about 117,000 NEAR, worth roughly $430,000, from the $6.3 billion Binance hack, according to blockchain analytics firm Elliptic. The hackers paired each token with NEAR in its own liquidity pool on a decentralized exchange, then used one set of wallets to buy the memecoins with stolen NEAR and another to sell them back — so the money never moved directly between wallets and looked like trading profit instead of hack proceeds. Almost all trading came from the launderers’ own wallets, with outsiders making up less than 1% of one token’s volume, and trading stopped by Nov. 8. The FBI blames North Korea’s TraderTraitor group for the theft, which has also used THORChain to convert stolen assets into bitcoin. Elliptic says the tactic slows tracing but doesn’t erase the trail. Read more → Finance Robinhood backs tokenization of its stock on OKX–ICE platform even as most companies opt out Robinhood won’t stand in the way of OKX–ICE’s planned tokenized stock venue, a spokesperson confirmed, becoming the third company known not to object, after Securitize and BitGo. About 90% of the companies initially selected — 56 of 62, per a CoinDesk tally of the venue’s Nov. 5 notice — have objected. The six without a disclosed objection all have deep crypto ties: Robinhood, Securitize, BitGo, Circle, Coinbase and Strategy. Circle declined to say whether it objected, and Coinbase and Strategy didn’t respond. The list could still change: OKX–ICE has five business days to disclose an objection, so one filed on Nov. 3 could show up as late as Nov. 10. The venue hasn’t announced a launch date. 3-minute read → Finance Trump says he knows ‘nothing’ about World Liberty’s UAE ties as Justin Sun challenges filings President Trump said in a CBS “60 Minutes” interview aired Sunday that he co-owns World Liberty Financial but knows “nothing” about its dealings with UAE-linked investors. The comments come as Tron founder Justin Sun challenges the Trump family’s crypto venture in federal court. According to Sun, World Liberty is citing its UAE citizenship to contest federal jurisdiction over his lawsuit about frozen WLFI tokens, after first disclosing only Florida citizenship. Sun is seeking sanctions, alleging the company withheld ownership details until they could help it escape federal court, and plans to refile in California state court once that dispute is resolved. World Liberty countersued in May, dismissing Sun’s case as a publicity stunt. 2-minute read → Know someone who should be reading this? Share this newsletter See all of CoinDesk’s newsletters    CoinDesk, Inc., 61 9th Avenue, 5th Floor, New York,NY,10011,USA, Unsubscribe Manage Preferences   Copyright © 2026 CoinDesk, All rights reserved.

Bitcoin bulls can’t rely on ETF flows

Spot bitcoin ETFs just had their biggest weekly outflow since June, and the Nvidia-led tech selloff is weighing on crypto. Plus: Coinbase’s full trust charter, and Trump on World Liberty’s UAE ties. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Monday, November 9, 2026   Spot bitcoin ETFs, the source of demand many crypto bulls were counting on to keep powering prices higher into year-end, have faltered badly. These U.S.-listed funds, seen as a proxy for institutional demand, registered a net outflow of $1.282 billion last week, the largest weekly outflow since the week of June 22–28, according to SoSoValue. Four of the five trading days were red, and the funds are now down $914 million year to date in flows, after turning positive for the year on Sept. 22 following more than $6 billion of inflows since early August. The renewed exodus comes amid jitters in AI and tech stocks, where the Nasdaq has notched a five-week losing streak, and it adds to doubts about the argument that bitcoin is digital gold and a safe haven, as well as the popular bullish narrative that money would rotate into BTC once the AI trade fizzled out. Over the weekend, TradFi-linked instruments on crypto platforms gave investors a way to trade while traditional markets were closed: after reports that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang acknowledged an affair with a woman U.S. officials believe was working for China, and that the company’s board opened an investigation, the tokenized NVDA on XStocks fell 4%, and NVDA-linked perpetual futures on Binance and Hyperliquid saw a similar drop, in line with the shares, which fell about 4% in premarket trading on Monday. Traders will be closely watching Tuesday’s U.S. consumer price index, since a softer-than-expected reading could pull bond yields lower and give risk assets a tailwind, though analysts at Marex say lower yields are supportive only at the margin and not enough to offset persistent ETF outflows and fresh positive leverage. Stay alert. Read today’s full report → Market snapshot As of 9am ET Asset Price 24h BTC $74,576 −1.82% ETH $2,119 −5.33% SOL $86.85 −2.96% XRP $1.09 −5.58% Prices approximate. Visit coindesk.com/price for live data. What matters today Markets   Story 1 of 3 Bitcoin drops as Nvidia cheating scandal and failed Iran talks trigger volatility Bitcoin made sharp two-way moves overnight, falling to about $73,761 late Sunday, its lowest level since August, before recovering to trade above $75,000, while ether dropped below $2,100 before bouncing to around $2,144. The volatility set off forced selling in leveraged futures: more than $1 billion of crypto positions were liquidated in 24 hours, according to CoinGlass, including $913 million of bets that prices would rise, with ether taking the bigger hit at $448 million of liquidations versus $272 million for bitcoin. The market was digesting two headlines: reports that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang acknowledged an affair with a woman U.S. officials believe was spying for China, which led Nvidia’s board to open an independent investigation, with the company saying it had no reason to believe national security or company secrets were compromised, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying negotiations with Iran had stalled. The tokenized version of Nvidia stock traded at a 3.55% discount to Friday’s Nasdaq close, a sign crypto traders expected a sharper drop when stocks opened, and the Nasdaq fell nearly 5% last week. CoinDesk notes that bitcoin has more often than not declined during oil rallies, and that on the chart it is now stuck between 200-day average support near $73,150 and 100-day average resistance near $77,430. Read more → Finance   Story 2 of 3 Trump says he knows ‘nothing’ about World Liberty’s UAE ties as Justin Sun challenges filings President Donald Trump said he knows nothing about World Liberty Financial’s dealings with UAE-linked investors, as Tron founder Justin Sun challenges the Trump family’s crypto venture over its foreign ownership disclosures in a federal lawsuit. Trump acknowledged co-owning World Liberty in a CBS “60 Minutes” interview that aired Sunday and, asked how its ties to investors linked to the UAE government differ from a hypothetical case involving the Biden family, said he knows nothing about it. World Liberty is challenging federal jurisdiction over Sun’s lawsuit concerning roughly 4 billion frozen WLFI tokens by citing its UAE citizenship, according to Sun, who alleges the company first disclosed only Florida citizenship before amending its filing after an August hearing to list 22 entities in its ownership chain and citizenship in Florida, Delaware, Puerto Rico and the UAE. Sun is seeking sanctions against World Liberty and its lawyers, alleging they withheld ownership details until those details could help defeat federal jurisdiction. The dispute follows a reported $500 million deal for a 49% stake in World Liberty by an entity backed by UAE national security adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Sun alleged fraud and the unlawful freezing of his tokens in an April lawsuit, World Liberty countersued in May, calling his case a “meritless PR stunt,” and Sun plans to refile in California state court once the sanctions dispute is resolved. Read more → Policy   Story 3 of 3 Coinbase gets full U.S. trust charter from federal banking regulator Coinbase, the biggest U.S. crypto exchange, will now operate a fully chartered trust bank after the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency elevated its previously conditional status, the company said. Coinbase National Trust received provisional approval in April, which allowed it to offer federally regulated custodial and payments services, though not to act as a full-service bank that takes deposits and extends loans, and after several months of building out compliance systems, hiring personnel and undergoing regulatory scrutiny, Coinbase said the agency signed off on the full charter. It follows Ripple’s full trust charter last month and a wave of crypto firms seeking national trust status, a trend that accelerated after the GENIUS Act cleared a path for federal trusts to issue compliant stablecoins. CoinDesk notes that the OCC has embraced crypto firms and stablecoins under the Trump administration, including granting conditional trust status to World Liberty Financial. Coinbase Vice Chairman Ryan VanGrack said in a statement that the approval puts more of the business behind its commitment to clear rules and rigorous oversight. Meanwhile, the Independent Community Bankers of America has sued the OCC, claiming it overreached its authority in granting trust charters to crypto firms. Read more → CoinDesk Disclosure: The information contained in this newsletter, and any information linked through the items contained herein, is not intended to provide sufficient information to form the basis for an investment decision. You should seek additional information regarding the merits and risks of investing in any cryptocurrency or digital assets. L1.co Disclosure: This material is for informational purposes only, and the content contained herein should not be considered investment advice or a solicitation, offer, or recommendation to sell or buy any asset, strategy, or product. Investing in digital assets involves a high degree of risk, including the loss of principal. Crypto Daybook Americas: A newsletter from CoinDesk Were you forwarded this newsletter? Sign up here.  Copyright © 2026 CoinDesk, All rights reserved.  CoinDesk, Inc., 61 9th Avenue, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10011, USA Unsubscribe Manage preferences

U.S. Treasury targets MEXC over $16B in alleged illicit flows

Treasury moves to cut MEXC off from the U.S. financial system. Plus: the Gnosis Pay data breach, and why crypto’s new businesses haven’t shielded Coinbase, Robinhood and Circle. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ SPONSORED BY Saturday, November 7, 2026 U.S. Treasury moves to cut off crypto exchange MEXC over $16 billion in alleged illicit flows The U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is moving to cut crypto exchange MEXC off from the U.S. financial system, alleging it handled at least $16 billion tied to Iranian, North Korean and Russian sanctions evasion, cybercrime and other illicit activity over five years. Issued Friday under a Russia-focused anti-money-laundering law, the order would bar U.S. financial institutions from sending funds to or receiving funds from MEXC, including crypto transfers, 30 days after it’s published in the Federal Register. MEXC is the largest exchange targeted under the law, which has previously been used against much smaller crypto firms. FinCEN alleges nearly $1.5 billion in Russian sanctions-evasion flows, about $1 billion in transfers to more than 40 Iranian exchanges and $22 million linked to Iran’s central bank and the Revolutionary Guard. MEXC says it’s operating normally and has launched an independent review of its anti-money-laundering and sanctions controls. Read more → Finance Gnosis Pay breach exposes card numbers, home addresses and linked crypto wallets Crypto debit card provider Gnosis Pay disclosed a data breach that exposed customers’ names, home addresses, card numbers and linked crypto wallet addresses — information that could let attackers tie real-world identities to crypto holdings and target users with scams. The company says it detected the intrusion Nov. 3, began containing it within two hours, and fixed the flaw. It says customer funds and its separate enterprise platform weren’t affected, but didn’t say how many users were hit; it emailed each affected customer. Rotki founder Lefteris Karapetsas shared the notice he received. The breach comes weeks before Gnosis Pay shuts down its legacy consumer cards on Dec. 20, and after a roughly $1.5 million exploit in June that the company covered. 2-minute read → A message from Grayscale Your digital asset holdings could be working harder for you. With in-kind transfers available across 10 Grayscale products, eligible investors can exchange their crypto tokens for shares of the corresponding product — without first selling for cash. Three core features of in-kind investing: Put holdings to work. Shares may be eligible for use as margin or collateral. Where listed options are available, they may also help hedge exposure or generate income. Bring investments together. Incorporate crypto exposure into portfolio management and estate planning, including beneficiary designations. Simplify safekeeping. Underlying assets are held by institutional cusodians, reducing the burden of storing crypto and managing private keys. LEARN MORE Grayscale Exchange Traded Products (the “ETPs”) are not registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (40 Act) and therefore are not subject to the same regulations and protections as 40 Act registered ETFs and mutual funds. The ETPs are subject to significant risk, heightened volatility, and are not suitable for all investors. An investment in the ETPs is not a direct investment in any cryptocurrency. Extreme volatility of trading prices that many digital assets have experienced in recent periods, and may continue to experience, could have a material adverse effect on the value of the Fund and the shares could lose all or substantially all of their value. Digital assets represent a new and rapidly evolving industry. The value of the ETPs depends on the acceptance of digital assets, the capabilities and development of blockchain technologies and the fundamental investment characteristics of the digital asset. Digital asset networks are developed by a diverse set of contributors and the perception that certain high-profile contributors will no longer contribute to the network could have an adverse effect on the market price of the related digital asset. Digital assets may have concentrated ownership and large sales or distributions by holders of such digital assets could have an adverse effect on the market price of such digital assets. Converting tokens in kind into Grayscale’s spot crypto ETPs may require selling or swapping tokens into the underlying asset, creating exposure to market impact, slippage, and timing risk. The ETP shares received may trade at a premium or discount to NAV. Tax treatment is uncertain and may trigger taxable events, particularly when contributing assets other than the ETP’s underlying crypto. Foreside Fund Services, LLC is the Marketing Agent and Grayscale Investments Sponsors, LLC is the sponsor of the ETPs. Markets The crypto industry has found new ways to grow. Making money from them is another story Coinbase, Robinhood and Circle have expanded into stablecoins, payments and prediction markets, but their latest earnings show how hard it is to escape crypto’s boom-and-bust cycles. Coinbase’s third-quarter transaction revenue fell 23% from a year earlier to $590 million, though lower costs and newer products helped it hold total revenue near $1.22 billion; prediction markets now generate more than $200 million in annualized revenue. Circle’s reserve income dropped 8% to $658 million as interest rates fell, and its 17% revenue gain relied on $182 million of token presales for its Arc blockchain. USDC supply was little changed from a year earlier at $73.9 billion. Analysts are split: Barclays cut its Coinbase price target to $120 from $149, while Oppenheimer raised its to $207. 4-minute read → Know someone who should be reading this? Share this newsletter See all of CoinDesk’s newsletters    CoinDesk, Inc., 61 9th Avenue, 5th Floor, New York,NY,10011,USA, Unsubscribe Manage Preferences   Copyright © 2026 CoinDesk, All rights reserved.