Kazakhstan court orders curbs on Coinbase, BingX and four others

[Update 9:00 UTC, Oct. 20 - Updates with ESMA’s explanation of a technical issue that temporarily affected Penning Financial Services’ listing in the seventh paragraph.][Update 11:30 UTC, Oct. 19 - Updates with comment from Penning Financial Services in the sixth paragraph.]The European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) register added nine crypto-asset service providers (CASPs), including BingX, bringing the total to 375 unique providers. The European Securities and Markets Authority’s (ESMA) Friday register update included crypto exchange BingX’s Austrian entity, MEGE zweite. It also listed the Italian subsidiary of YouHodler, a crypto lending platform offering yield products, with authorization for custody, crypto exchanges, order execution and transfers. Both BingX and YouHodler announced their authorizations last week. BingX EU CEO Daniel Lai said the approval would allow the company to operate under a clear regulatory framework as it prepares to launch regulated services across the European Economic Area. Other additions included Spain’s Prakma Markets, associated with the Goin crypto app, which operates a savings and investment platform.

SummaryAuthorities arrested 28 people in Ghana and Nigeria in a crackdown on scam networks linked to cryptocurrency investment fraud. Private-sector partners flagged $11 million in funds that could be frozen, while officials reported cryptocurrency seizures without disclosing their value. Meta removed more than 3.7 million Facebook and Instagram accounts, pages and groups, while investigators received leads on over 30 suspected scam centers. Authorities in Ghana and Nigeria arrested 28 people in a crackdown on West African scam networks that included cryptocurrency investment fraud, the U. S. Department of Justice said in a statement. The operation also identified 117 trafficking victims in Ghana who were awaiting repatriation to Nigeria, according to the U. K.'s National Crime Agency (NCA), and saw private companies identify more than $11 million in funds that could be frozen. Partners also reported cryptocurrency seizures but did not disclose their value or the assets involved. The $11 million represents funds flagged for a possible freeze, not confirmed recoveries.

Oct 16, 2026, 7:15 a.m. EDT3 min readU. S. investors will soon have access to binary options on some publicly traded companies. (geralt/Pixabay)SummaryThis is an excerpt from CoinDesk newsletter 'Daybook.' Sign up here, if you haven't already. While traders spent this week watching bitcoin BTC$81,781.42 gyrate above $80,000 amid key U. S. inflation data, a decision from the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission got far less attention. The (SEC) approved the listing of binary options tied to key performance indicators (KPIs) of 23 U. S. publicly traded companies. The metrics include trading volume at crypto exchange Coinbase Global (COIN), customer count and revenue at Robinhood Markets (HOOD), and bitcoin production at mining firm MARA Holdings (MARA). “For crypto, this creates a new way to trade crypto-linked company performance beyond betting directly on BTC’s price,” Eleanor Terrett, the host of Crypto America, said on X.

Skip to main contentCrypto NewsOct 20, 2026, 8:40 a.m. EDT1 min readWall Street signs (Lo Lo/Unsplash)SummaryMicrosoft, Alphabet and Goldman Sachs are among seven additional companies objecting to tokenized versions of their shares trading on OKXICE, bringing the disclosed total to 16 issuers. The objections underscore a challenge for the Securities and Exchange Commission’s tokenized-stock framework, which allows issuers to block venues from offering blockchain-based versions of their shares. OKXICE plans to offer round-the-clock, stablecoin-settled trading of tokens backed one-for-one by shares and carrying equivalent dividend and voting rights. Microsoft MSFT, Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) and Goldman Sachs (GS) have objected to having tokenized versions of their shares traded on OKXICE, adding to issuer resistance against the planned stock-trading venue from crypto exchange OKX and New York Stock Exchange parent Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). The companies appear among seven additional objecting issuers in the joint venture’s updated public notice dated Oct. 19. Qualcomm (QCOM), Caterpillar (CAT), McDonald’s (MCD) and Western Digital (WDC) also joined the list.

The April 1 hack caused about $295 million in losses and was later attributed to a North Korean threat group in a Mandiant investigation. A wallet linked to the Drift Protocol hack sent about $61 million in Ether (ETH) to Tornado Cash, a service that obscures transaction trails. The wallet deposited 25,700 ETH to the cryptocurrency mixer over two hours on Tuesday after two months of inactivity, blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain said in an X post. The exploiter’s addresses held about 81,454 Ether, worth roughly $194 million, according to Arkham. Crypto mixers pool funds from multiple addresses and obscure fund trails, making tracing harder. Drift, a Solana-based decentralized exchange, reported about $295 million in losses from the April 1 hack. Drift said in June that a forensic investigation by cybersecurity firm Mandiant attributed the attack to UNC6862, a North Korean threat group. Drift opened claims and redemptions for DFX recovery tokens on Oct. 1. The tokens give affected users a claim on a recovery pool, which held about $3.1 million at launch and receives exchange revenue and any recovered funds.

Braze Class A shareholders to receive $47.50 in cash per share