Gemini IPO, Do Kwon Pleads Guilty, OKX Burns $26b Worth Of Tokens | Weekly Recap

From Gemini’s bid to go public and Do Kwon’s guilty plea, to OKX erasing $26 billion worth of tokens and Hong Kong tightening custody standards, the crypto industry is seeing both bold moves and sobering reminders of risk.

Add in suspicious transfers in Turkey, new rules from Google, and major shifts in crypto policy and corporate treasuries, and the digital asset world proved last week once again that it never stays still for long.

Gemini IPO

• The cryptocurrency exchange announced on Friday that it has filed a public S-1 registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its planned initial public offering.

Do Kwon admits guilt

• Terraform Labs founder pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges involving fraud and wire fraud.
• Kwon stated that he “knowingly engaged in a scheme to defraud and did in fact defraud” buyers of the TerraUSD stablecoin.

OKX destroys $26 billion worth of tokens

• The cryptocurrency exchange burned 278,999,999 OKB (OKB) tokens valued at more than $26 billion according to current market pricing.
• This massive token destruction followed an announcement that approximately 65.26 million tokens accumulated through buyback programs and company reserves would be eliminated.

Hong Kong strengthens crypto custody requirements

• The SEC issued new guidance requiring licensed virtual asset trading platforms to strengthen client asset custody practices.
• The guidance responds to multiple overseas incidents that exposed vulnerabilities in digital asset custodial arrangements.

BtcTurk experiences suspicious transfers

• Approximately $48 million worth of cryptocurrency was transferred from wallets associated with Turkish exchange BtcTurk.
• The incident involved large transfers of multiple tokens, including ETH, AVAX, ARB, BASE, OP, MANTLE, and MATIC.

Google updates crypto wallet policies

• The technology giant announced policy changes for software wallets on the Play Store beginning this fall.
• Google now requires custodial digital wallet apps to obtain jurisdiction-specific licenses: MiCA authorization in the EU, FCA registration in the UK, and FinCEN registration in the U.S. before market distribution.

Crypto advisor Bo Hines resigns

• Bo Hines, a former college football athlete and crypto investor leading the Presidential Council of Advisers for Digital Assets, will step down to return to private sector activities.

Strategy adds more Bitcoin

• The Bitcoin treasury company acquired 155 Bitcoin (BTC) for approximately $18 million between August 4-10, paying an average price of $116,401 per Bitcoin.
• This acquisition brings Strategy’s total holdings to 628,946 BTC.

DeFi Development Corp expands Solana treasury

• The company purchased an additional 110,000 Solana (SOL) tokens, worth approximately $22 million.