Ukraine’s central bank has banned citizens from buying cryptoassets using its local hryvnia (UAH) in a bid to prevent “unproductive capital outflows.” Citizens can now only buy crypto using foreign currency up to 100,000 UAH, around $3,400 a month.

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has recovered $5.8 million linked to the hack of Axie Infinity’s gaming-focused sidechain, the Ronin Network, which last month saw hackers steal over $600 million in Ethereum’s ETH and USDC.

Grayscale has made a new attempt to win approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to turn its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust into a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). The asset manager focused on a legal detail in its new attempt.

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Ukraine Bans Crypto Purchases With its National Currency
• Binance Recovers $5.8 Million Linked to Ronin Network Hack
• Grayscale Pushesto Get SEC Approval for Spot Bitcoin ETF Conversion
• NFT Trading Volumes Went up 20,000%

Ukraine Bans Crypto Purchases With its National Currency

Ukraine’s central bank has banned citizens from buying cryptoassets using its local hryvnia (UAH) in a bid to prevent “unproductive capital outflows.” Citizens can now only buy crypto using foreign currency up to 100,000 UAH, around $3,400 a month.

According to a statement released by the National Bank of Ukraine, the move will help stop capital flight, which can negatively affect the value of the nation’s currency. The statement reads

"The National Bank of Ukraine clarified restrictions on cross-border operations of citizens in order to prevent unproductive outflow of capital from the country under martial law."

Last month, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky signed a law legalizing cryptoassets in the country as these play a “vital role in Ukraine’s defense process,” according to Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation Alex Bornyakov.

Ukraine has received well over $100 million in cryptocurrency donations since Russia launched its invasion of the country.

Binance Recovers $5.8 Million Linked to Ronin Network Hack

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has recovered $5.8 million linked to the hack of Axie Infinity’s gaming-focused sidechain, the Ronin Network, which last month saw hackers steal over $600 million in Ethereum’s ETH and USDC.

Last week, the U.S. Treasury Department tied the North Korean hacking group Lazarus to the theft, identifying an Ethereum wallet address associated with the group and adding it to its sanctions list.

Binance recovered the $5.8 million after tracing the stolen funds, which were initially moved to Tornado Cash to hide their trace, before making their way to the exchange. BinanceCEO, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao noted the funds were moved to Binance in 86 different accounts, adding:

“We coordinated with industry leading blockchain analytics firms and immediately froze the funds when exposure to our platform was identified,”

In the past week, roughly 56,200 ETH, worth over $170 million, have been moving out of the main address associated with the hacked and into newly create addresses that have then been moving the funds to Tornado Cash.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Treasury Department has said the identification of Lazarus’ address will “make clear” to other actors that “by transacting with the address, they risk exposure to U.S. sanctions.” Tornado Cash has signaled it will take steps to block sanctioned wallets.

Grayscale Pushesto Get SEC Approval for Spot Bitcoin ETF Conversion

Grayscale has made a new attempt to win approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to turn its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust into a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). The asset manager focused on a legal detail in its new attempt.

The asset manager is betting that the SEC’s acceptance of the Teucrium futures crypto product under rules that would govern spot Bitcoin ETFs could bolster its case with the regulator. In a letter submitted to the SEC, Grayscale said:

“We believe the Teucrium order confirms the fundamental point . . . [that] when it comes to approving [exchange traded products], there is no basis for treating spot bitcoin products differently from bitcoin futures products.”

The SEC will likely decide on Grayscale’s ETF application by July. Grayscale’s CEO Michael Sonenshein has stated he would consider suing the SEC if its bid is rejected.

NFT Trading Volumes Went up 20,000%

NFT trading volumes totaled over $25 billion in 2021, a figure that represents a staggering 20,000% increase from the year prior. The space remained resilient in Q1 2022, even amid a wider market downtrend.

Leading NFT marketplace OpenSea saw its trading volumes surpass their record-breaking months of 2021 in the first quarter of this year, trading over $4.49 billion worth of NFTs in January alone.

See how NFT marketplaces volumes compare to OpenSea in CryptoCompare’s latest Outlook Report.

State of the Crypto by Top Tier Exchange Volume

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