Federal law enforcement officials have raided the home of Shayne Coplan, CEO of popular decentralized prediction market Polymarket, where traders accurately predicted Republican candidate Donald Trump would win the US presidential elections.

Major Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck, a subsidiary of Monex Group, is set to debut on the Nasdaq Global Market as early as December 10 after securing approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, is expanding its tokenized money market fund, the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), to several additional blockchain networks.

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Federal Authorities Raid Home of Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan
• Coincheck to Become First Japanese Crypto Exchange Listed on Nasdaq
• BlackRock Expands Tokenized Money Fund to Multiple Blockchains
• Spread is Significantly Varied Across Benchmarked Exchanges

Federal Authorities Raid Home of Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan

Federal law enforcement officials have raided the home of Shayne Coplan, CEO of popular decentralized prediction market Polymarket, where traders accurately predicted Republican candidate Donald Trump would win the US presidential elections.

The raid was verified by a Polymarket spokesperson, who disclosed that officers seized Coplan’s phone and other electronic devices. As of now, there have been no charges filed against Coplan, nor has he been taken into custody.

The Department of Justice is reportedly investigating whether Polymarket allowed U.S. users to access its platform, a potential violation of a prior settlement agreement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). That agreement was reached in 2022, with Polymarket agreeing to block access to U.S. users in compliance with federal regulations.

In a statement, a Polymarket spokesperson framed the raid as politically motivated, calling it “obvious political retribution by the outgoing administration” against the platform for “providing a market that correctly called the 2024 presidential election.”

The statement adds that Polymarket is a “fully transparent prediction market that helps everyday people better understand the events that matter most to them, including elections."

Despite its legal obligations, there are indications that U.S. users continue to access Polymarket using virtual private networks (VPNs), effectively bypassing geographic restrictions.

Coincheck to Become First Japanese Crypto Exchange Listed on Nasdaq

Major Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck, a subsidiary of Monex Group, is set to debut on the Nasdaq Global Market as early as December 10 after securing approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Coincheck is set to list on the Nasdaq through a merger with Thunder Bridge Capital Partners (TBCP), a special purpose acquisition company, to become the first Japanese cryptocurrency trading platform to be listed on a US stock exchange. It would trade under the ticker CNCK.

The merger will allow Coincheck to maintain its status as a consolidated subsidiary of Monex Group, a Japanese financial services firm. After the SEC approved the firm’s Form F-4 registration statement, TBCP can now hold a shareholder vote in early December to approve and finalize the move.

BlackRock Expands Tokenized Money Fund to Multiple Blockchains

The world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, is expanding its tokenized money market fund, the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), to several additional blockchain networks.

According to a recently released announcement, in addition to Ethereum, BUIDL will be available on Aptos, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Optimism, and Polygon. Tokenized by Securitize, BUIDL primarily invests in short-term U.S. Treasury bills and other low-risk, interest-bearing securities.

The move comes as demand for tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) keeps growing, with most offerings centering around US Treasury bills and other money market instruments, as well as tokenized real estate.

BlackRock’s BUIDL is the largest tokenized treasury fund by assets under management, with approximately $4510 million in assets. It’s followed by the Franklin OnChain US Government Money Fund (FOBXX), which has around $450 million in assets.

Spread is Significantly Varied Across Benchmarked Exchanges

Spread, critical in assessing market quality and ensuring fair trading conditions, significantly varies among exchanges benchmarked by CCData. Based on granular order book data, among the analyzed exchanges CEX.IO and HTX displayed the highest spreads on their BTC spot trading pairs.

These spreads averaged 0.047% for CEX.IO and 0.018% for HTX during the analysis period. Binance and OKX saw average spreads of 0.00002% and 0.00017%, respectively.

Dig deeper via CCData’s latest Exchange Benchmark report.

State of the Crypto by Top Tier Exchange Volume

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