The Roundup: Do Kwon arrested, Arbitrum airdropped and Bitcoin surged

Happy Saturday!

It’s been an eventful week, to say the least!

Crypto fugitive Do Kwon – behind the failed Terra ecosystem that lost $60 billion – was detained in Montenegro with falsified documents, according to the country’s minister of interior.

DL News has been tracking Kwon during his six months on the run. Follow our coverage from Isabel Hunter and Ana Curic for exclusive updates.

Over in the US, regulators are cracking their knuckles again. The SEC served Coinbase a notice about its staking service – remember Kraken? – which implies that the agency is prepping enforcement action. Coinbase said it’s ready to have its day in court.

Meanwhile the White House piled on to mounting criticism of central bank digital currencies, a sign that CBDCs are a new battleground as global projects soar past the 100 mark.

Do Kwon was nabbed in a private jet on tarmac in Montenegro with false Costa Rican passport

Isabel Hunter and Ana Curic were on location in Podgorica to report about the events that led to former “crypto king” Kwon being arrested and taken into custody after six months on the run.

It’s a riveting report involving fake passports, private jets and $100 million in Bitcoin.

The arrest came just months after Do Kwon was gearing up to stage a comeback, which included working on several new products and bulking up his engineering department with new hires.

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EU regulators just launched a programme that will have massive implications for tokenisation

The EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation has become the envy of US politicians wishing the States had a similar act in the works, fearing that the absence of one will lead to an exodus of talent.

While MiCA has gotten a lot of attention, a smaller development happened this week which could have considerable implications for how the bloc regulates asset tokens – currently considered an exciting growth area for traditional financial firms.

Joanna Wright reported on how the European Securities Markets Authority is running the pilot to create a kind of sandbox in which the companies that provide trading and settlement for the capital markets can experiment with distributed ledger technology.

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Stablecoins and Binance next in SEC crosshairs after Coinbase warning

Coinbase’s pending legal showdown with the US markets regulator has the crypto industry wondering who’s next.

Kollen Post asked that questions to lawyers. The answer? That Binance, Tether and stablecoins better look over their shoulders.

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Hacker poised to pocket 2.8 million tokens in ‘compromised’ Arbitrum airdrop

Before the highly hyped Arbitrum airdrop, Tim Craig reported that it would likely be “spammed to death” as users and bots tried to claim their tokens.

He was proven right when the network slowed to a crawl for almost an hour after claims went live.

Tim also reported that a thief is planning to cash in. It’s a cloud over one of the most important airdrops to hit the market in months.

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Zodia Custody CEO on leaving Bitstamp, expansion plans, and what clients ask during a crypto winter

Eric Johansson interviewed Julian Sawyer, who took over as CEO of Zodia Custody, a TradFi crypto spin off, shortly after FTX’s collapse.

Sawyer talks about his abrupt exit as CEO of Bitstamp, how crypto-friendly bank failures mean the Wild West days of crypto are over, and getting more grey-haired people in the industry.

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Bitcoin becomes haven during bank bloodbath with 28% surge: ‘Extra liquidity, that’s the difference’

I wrote about Bitcoin’s rally, which left some debating if it is acting as a haven.

The answer really depends on whom you ask: Bitcoin backers say yes, while macro gurus are more sceptical.

Difficult! In any case, prices are closely related to the Federal Reserve, which hiked rates again.

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