CFA Report Pegs US Crypto Fraud Losses at $80.7B

Coinbase has expanded its lending service to U.K. customers, allowing them to borrow USDC stablecoins using Bitcoin or Ethereum as collateral through the Morpho protocol on Base. Borrowing limits vary by collateral type, with Bitcoin holders able to access up to $5 million in USDC.

Kelp DAO plans to dispute LayerZero's blame for a $290 million exploit, arguing that the compromised infrastructure was LayerZero's, not a third-party verifier. The exploit targeted LayerZero's servers, not Kelp's core restaking contracts, and Kelp's emergency pause prevented further losses.

BitMine Immersion Technologies recently acquired 101,627 ETH, nearing the 5 million ETH milestone, with total holdings valued at over $11.5 billion. Despite reporting significant losses, the firm remains optimistic about the end of the crypto winter.

KAIO, a tokenization firm regulated by Abu Dhabi, raised $8 million in funding from Tether and other investors to develop infrastructure for traditional funds on blockchain. The company plans to expand into credit, structured investments, and exchange-traded funds, aiming to lower investor barriers to entry.

Strategy made its largest Bitcoin purchase in over 16 months, acquiring $2.54 billion worth of BTC last week. The firm now holds around 815,000 Bitcoin, valued at approximately $61.4 billion at Bitcoin's price of $75,400.

The exploit that drained $292 million from KelpDAO's cross-chain bridge was likely orchestrated by North Korea's Lazarus Group, specifically its TraderTraitor subunit, according to LayerZero's analysis. The attackers targeted the bridge, causing significant withdrawals across the decentralized finance sector.

Prediction market Polymarket is reportedly in talks to raise $400 million at a valuation of around $15 billion, according to The Information. The firm previously reached a $9 billion valuation in October 2025 as Intercontinental Exchange completed a $2 billion investment. Rival prediction market Kalshi saw its valuation double to $22 billion following a $1 billion raise last month.

Vercel's CEO suspects a highly sophisticated hacking group, potentially AI-assisted, was behind a recent security breach that exposed customer credentials. The breach originated from a compromised third-party AI tool, allowing attackers to access internal systems and non-sensitive environment variables.

Coinbase is testing AI agents modeled after co-founder Fred Ehrsam and former CTO Balaji Srinivasan to provide employee feedback and assist with refining documents and sparking innovation. These agents integrate into workplace communications like human teammates, with plans to expand the program in the future.

Bitcoin options worth $7.9 billion are expiring on Deribit, with $62,000 and $75,000 as key levels. The $75,000 level has the most call options trading, leading to heightened volatility.