24H Web3 News Recap #572

FinCEN cuts MEXC off from US banks over $16B in alleged illicit transactions

The order names MEXC Global a primary money laundering concern under the Combating Russian Money Laundering Act and bars US financial institutions from processing transfers to or from it. FinCEN says the flows ran from May 2021 to May 2026, including nearly $1.5B tied to Russian sanctions evasion, $232M in direct dealings with sanctioned entities and about $200M linked to the A7A5 stablecoin. About $22M benefited Iran's central bank and the IRGC, and transactions with Garantex and its successor Grinex continued until June 2026. FinCEN says MEXC handles over $1B a day and holds about $5B in reserves. The order takes effect 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.

Source: Decrypt

FinCEN and the Fed withdraw a plan cutting the crypto travel rule threshold to $250

The proposal dates back to 2020 and would have made institutions collect and pass on data for transfers of $250 or more, instead of the current $3,000. FinCEN said more than five years had passed, the industry had changed and more public input would help. Coin Center had warned the lower threshold would bring warrantless surveillance of ordinary payments. The withdrawal follows October's removal of separate proposals on self-hosted wallets and crypto mixing.

Source: The Block

Nigeria's central bank bans algorithmic stablecoins, sets ₦15B capital for foreign-currency issuers

• The Central Bank of Nigeria rules took effect on November 5.

• Naira-backed issuers need at least ₦10B in paid-up capital, other virtual asset services ₦1B.

• Tokens must be backed 1:1 with a reserve buffer of at least 2% of supply, checked daily.

• Crypto-backed fiat tokens and coins without a face-value redemption right are also banned.

• Existing operators must register within 30 days and apply for a license within 180 days.

• Unlicensed activity carries a fine of at least ₦100M plus ₦1M a day.

Source: crypto.news

Russia opens BTC, ETH and USDT to retail from November 17, capped at 300,000 rubles

The Bank of Russia finalized the rules, which route purchases through licensed brokers, asset managers and crypto exchange providers. The 300,000 ruble cap, about $3,700, applies per year and per intermediary for non-qualified investors, while qualified investors have no limit. Every investor must pass a mandatory test before trading. Separately, the Moscow Exchange plans pilot trading in the same three assets from December 1.

Source: Cointelegraph

OFAC sanctions 45 more targets tied to Cambodia's Prince Group crypto scam empire

The Treasury's new list covers 4 individuals and 41 entities, including 11 Cambodian companies controlled by Chen Bo, firms in Hong Kong and the British Virgin Islands, and entities in Singapore, Mauritius and Malaysia. A Tokyo mansion moved to Chen Bo's wife was also named. The US first sanctioned Prince Group in October 2025 and is seeking forfeiture of about $14B in Bitcoin tied to it. Founder Chen Zhi was arrested in Cambodia in January 2026 and extradited to China. Prince Group denies the allegations.

Source: Decrypt

Ex-FBI agent pleads guilty to stealing $2.47M in crypto from 35 investigations

Patrick Steven Yaroch, 37, of Ashburn, Virginia, admitted to wire fraud and money laundering on Thursday. Prosecutors put the total at $2,474,380.66 in crypto taken from cases he worked on. Sentencing is set for March 4, 2027, and he faces up to 20 years in prison.

Source: Bitcoin Magazine

Gnosis Pay contains a customer data breach within two hours, funds unaffected

Unauthorized access to the legacy debit card system was detected on November 3 and exposed certain customer information. The company replaced compromised credentials and fixed the flaw, and its white-label enterprise card platform was not affected. The legacy system will be retired on December 20, and until then 3D Secure checks are mandatory for online card payments.

Source: The Block

Zero-click iOS exploits drain at least $4.06M USDT from 365 TRON addresses, Bitquery finds

• Bitquery's investigation covers October 5 to November 4 and links the thefts to 43 collector wallets funded from one fee wallet.

• Of the 365 victim addresses, 89 lost only TRX, which is not counted in the USDT total.

• Security Alliance logged six more iOS wallet compromises worth about $127,000 from October 28 to November 3.

• Trust Wallet urged iPhone users to update iOS in a November 6 advisory.

• The exact exploit behind most thefts is still unidentified.

Source: CryptoSlate

Strive buys 15,124 BTC in October, becoming the fourth-largest public holder with 43,124 BTC

The October buying nearly doubled what Strive held at the end of Q3, when it had 28,000 BTC after adding 8,136 in the quarter. It reported $509M in Q3 net income, driven by over $533.7M of unrealized Bitcoin gains, on revenue of only about $2.7M. Strive now trails Strategy, Metaplanet and Twenty One, and needs 876 more BTC to reach second place. Its holdings are worth about $3.25B.

Source: The Block

Aave Labs acquires fixed-rate lending startup Avon for Aave, which holds over $30B in deposits

The deal covers Avon's fixed- and floating-rate lending protocols, its onchain order book and related assets, with terms not disclosed. Founder Prince Sinha and Ayush Kaul join Aave Labs' engineering team. The team will first work on fixed-rate loans, which Stani Kulechov says will help bring Aave to institutions, fintechs and everyday users. Aave says it also has over $12B in active loans.

Source: The Block

Reth patches a state-root bug in v2.10.0 as Base and Optimism ship emergency fixes

A crafted transaction could make Reth's legacy state-root calculation return a wrong result for certain contract storage layouts. Paradigm CTO Georgios Konstantopoulos announced the patches on November 5, a day after Base found the issue. Fixed versions are OP Reth v2.8.1 and Base v1.5.3, and Tempo also patched. No stolen funds have been confirmed, and Base says withdrawals were not at risk. LayerZero briefly limited some cross-chain routes as a precaution.

Source: CryptoSlate

Ethereum pauses Glamsterdam on the Hoodi testnet over eight smart contract gas risks

The Ethereum Foundation said in a Friday blog post that the Hoodi fork will not go ahead until the issues are fixed. The concern is that EIP-8037 and EIP-8038 change how gas is charged and could break contracts that assume some operations cost a fixed amount. ChainSecurity flagged the problem in an October 13 report. Glamsterdam already went live on the Sepolia testnet on October 6, and no new date for Hoodi or mainnet was given.

Source: Cointelegraph

Anthropic investors float a $1T IPO valuation, down from the expected $1.5T, WSJ reports

The Wall Street Journal reported on November 5 that one investor suggested about $1T after this week's AI stock selloff, while others said the $1.5T figure will likely come down. A leaked draft filing in September had pointed to about $2T. The raise could also shrink from up to $100B to about $80B, one investor said. Anthropic had aimed to list the week before Thanksgiving, and Polymarket now gives 43% odds of a listing by November 20.

Source: Decrypt

Hypercall plans Anthropic pre-IPO options on Hyperliquid, with trading set for November 9

The options are synthetic and cash-settled, so buyers get no Anthropic shares or voting rights. Payouts depend on the strike price and a reference price at expiry. Hypercall says it is the first options market tied to Anthropic before its IPO, which is planned on Nasdaq under the ticker ANT. Trading is expected to start on Monday.

Source: The Block