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Asia's weekly TOP10 crypto news: Japan Eyes Yen Stablecoins & Crypto ETFs, Korea Forms KRW Stablecoin Alliance, Coinbase Launches INR Deposits in India, Hong Kong Plans Legislationto Regulate Crypto Trading & Custody, US Sanctions Iran’s Top crypto exchange Nobitex. For the complete article and weekly curated reports, subscribe to our Substack:

PiggyBank Unwinds LAB Hedge, Reports Up to 15% NAV Drawdown
PiggyBank said it closed a LAB hedge after extreme volatility and negative funding rates made the position unsustainable. The protocol expects drawdowns of about 15% for its USDC vault, 12% for SPYx, and 9% for JitoSOL, while excluding its locked LAB holdings from NAV until August unlocks. ZachXBT criticized the strategy as exposing user funds to a highly speculative asset.

PlanB: ETH/BTC Has Returned to 2016 Levels After a Decade
Bitcoin analyst PlanB noted that ETH is currently trading around 0.026 BTC, roughly the same level as in March 2016, implying Ethereum has underperformed Bitcoin over the past decade. He also argued that ETH failed to deliver a major ETH/BTC bull-market rally during the 2023–2024 cycle, like it did in 2017 and 2021.

1. Hong Kong plans legislation to regulate crypto trading & custody, targets tabling bill within 2026 link
Joseph Chan, Acting Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury of Hong Kong, said on June 1 that following the implementation of licensing regimes for trading platforms and stablecoin regulation, Hong Kong will further roll out comprehensive regulation covering virtual asset trading, custody, advisory and asset management services to realize full-chain supervision of the ecosystem. The proposed regime requires all entities conducting such businesses in Hong Kong to secure a licence or registration from the SFC unless exempted. The scope of trading, advisory and asset management largely aligns with Type 1, Type 4 and Type 9 regulated activities under the existing Securities and Futures Ordinance, whereas custody regulation focuses on risks arising from private key safekeeping. To ensure regulatory certainty, Hong Kong will not adopt a deemed licensed transitional arrangement but allow a grace period for industry adaptation, with a target to submit the relevant legislative amendment bill to the Legislative Council in 2026.
2. Macao completes system integration with mBridge multi-CBDC bridge project link
Macao has completed system integration with the mBridge multi-central bank digital currency bridge project, bringing the initiative’s formal membership count to six following Macao’s official onboarding. Co-led by the People’s Bank of China, Hong Kong Monetary Authority, Bank of Thailand and Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates and coordinated by the BIS Innovation Hub, mBridge is a cross-border CBDC payment and settlement platform built on blockchain and distributed ledger technology.
3. Japan’s ruling party proposes JPY stablecoin promotion and crypto ETF regulatory framework link
The blockchain promotion panel of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party submitted a proposal to the Minister of Finance, recommending the promotion of yen-pegged stablecoins for cross-border settlements across Asia and the formulation of legal frameworks permitting crypto ETF trading. The proposal argues crypto ETFs offer user-friendly investment access and should be designated as formal financial market instruments. Japan intends to promote yen stablecoins and blockchain innovations during the 2027 Annual Meeting of the Asian Development Bank.
4. South Korea’s banks & tech giants race to form KRW stablecoin alliance per Yonhap News link
Per Yonhap News, despite lingering delays in South Korea’s stablecoin legislation, domestic lenders, fintech firms and crypto exchanges are speeding up coalition building for Korean won-pegged stablecoins. KB Financial Group is privately advancing cooperation with Toss under a plan where KB Kookmin Bank leads issuance, Toss oversees circulation, and Bithumb stands as a prospective supporting participant. Hana Bank previously proposed acquiring an equity stake in Dunamu for roughly USD 660 million, a move widely viewed as an effort to integrate Upbit with Naver Pay and Naver’s shopping ecosystem. Industry insiders note Project Hangang, the central bank’s ongoing deposit token initiative run by the Bank of Korea, is poised to shape upcoming stablecoin legislation.
5. Philippine COMELEC removes blockchain funding from 2028 general election budget link
The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) of the Philippines has removed blockchain modules and voter verification systems from the 2028 general election budget proposal, cutting around 6 billion Philippine pesos (approximately 102 million US dollars) from the original budget of roughly 25 billion Philippine pesos. COMELEC Chairman George Garcia stated the relevant features are non-essential for conducting elections, with budget rationalization and data privacy risks as core considerations, while the adoption of such technologies may be revisited later.
6. CBR: Domestic investor appetite for crypto investment flatlines link
Russia’s central bank stated in its latest report that Russian residents currently hold crypto-linked financial instruments worth around 3.8 billion rubles (approximately 52.62 million US dollars), nearly unchanged from the 3.7 billion rubles recorded last October, indicating no uptick in retail appetite for crypto-focused investments. Retail investors put 1.7 billion rubles into corporate bonds indexed to cryptocurrencies. The overall market size of crypto-linked bonds stands at 4.1 billion rubles across retail and institutional participants, with retail holdings accounting for 42 percent, and such bonds are predominantly issued by major domestic banks.
7. Russian Finance Ministry opposes regulated access for USD stablecoins; USDT/USDC face freeze risks link
Ivan Chebeskov, Deputy Finance Minister of Russia, said that if foreign stablecoins are allowed into Russia’s regulated trading venues, relevant assets held in user wallets risk being frozen, particularly USDT and USDC and other US dollar stablecoins. He noted Russian legal entities have already faced frozen dollar stablecoins while BTC and ETH have avoided comparable freezes largely due to technical barriers to direct asset seizure. Chebeskov added Russia is debating dedicated stablecoin legislation; regulated markets will prioritize stablecoins pegged to the ruble and currencies of friendly nations, with Russia’s central bank retaining authority to revise the eligible access roster.
8. Coinbase launches direct INR deposit & withdrawal services in India link
Coinbase announced the launch of a direct INR payment channel in India, enabling Indian users to deposit and withdraw Indian rupees via IMPS and trade spot assets and perpetual contracts of major cryptocurrencies. Coinbase stated it has registered with FIU-IND and complied with India’s tax regulations, built a local INR order book and connected it to its global exchange network.
Coinbase Markets confirmed Coinbase has rolled out ETH-INR and SOL-INR trading pairs for Indian users. The two pairs will debut on Coinbase Exchange before sequential rollout across Coinbase.com, Coinbase App and Coinbase Advanced.
9. South Korean police open first-ever illegal gambling probe into domestic Polymarket users link
South Korean police are probing domestic users of prediction marketplace Polymarket on suspicion of illegal gambling. The Gangwon Provincial Police Agency has taken up the probe on commission from the National Police Agency headquarters, marking South Korea’s first-ever law enforcement investigation targeting local Polymarket participants.
Under prevailing South Korean legislation, all wagers placed on third-party betting platforms are unlawful except for Sports Toto run by the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation; implicated users may incur fines of up to 10 million South Korean won pursuant to Article 246 of the country’s Criminal Code. Reports note Polymarket is directly accessible in South Korea without IP circumvention tools, enabling local users to place bets via US dollar stablecoins. The platform rolled out prediction contracts tied to South Korea’s June 3 local elections earlier, with total betting volume hitting hundreds of billions of won nationwide.
10. US imposes sanctions on Iran’s top crypto exchange Nobitex and its senior executives link
The U.S. Department of the Treasury has blacklisted Nobitex, Iran’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, alongside three other Iranian digital asset platforms, and imposed sanctions on Nobitex’s chairman and multiple senior executives. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent claimed the Iranian government leverages digital asset technologies to bypass international sanctions and cross-border fund transfers.
According to the Treasury Department, Nobitex handled roughly half of Iran’s total crypto transaction volume throughout 2025. This round of sanctions forms part of the Trump administration’s *Economic Fury* initiative, designed to ratchet up sustained economic pressure on Iran and compel the country to return to negotiating talks.
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Bybit Launches IPO Express, Opens Tokenized SpaceX IPO Subscription via xStocks
Bybit has launched IPO Express, an on-chain equity offering product, and introduced a tokenized SpaceX IPO subscription in partnership with xStocks. Spot trading expected to begin on June 12. Bybit said the tokenized SpaceX shares are fully backed by xStocks issuers and maintain a 1:1 linkage to underlying equity exposure.

ZachXBT Flags JuCoin Over Withdrawal Issues and Reserve Concerns
ZachXBT said multiple users have reported withdrawal issues on JuCoin over the past week. He also questioned the exchange’s reported $511 million reserves, alleging most consist of USDC and USDT issued on its own JuChain without clear backing. ZachXBT further noted JuDAO suffered a $20 million incident in 2025 and a $225,000 exploit in April 2026, while JuCoin attributed the delays to platform upgrades and restructuring.

Centralized Crypto Exchange Spot Volume Fell to $679B in April, the Lowest Since October 2023
CryptoSlate, citing a CryptoQuant report, said centralized crypto exchange spot trading volume fell to $679 billion in April, the lowest level since October 2023. The figure was down 46% year-on-year and 67% from its October 2025 peak, while perpetual futures volume also declined 53% from its peak.
As retail trading activity weakens, exchanges including Binance and Gate are expanding into TradFi-style perpetual products tied to gold, silver, oil, stocks and indices. The report said monthly TradFi perpetual volume on crypto exchanges reached about $450 billion in March 2026, with gold and silver contracts accounting for more than 90% of peak-month volume.

Glassnode Co-Founder: Bitcoin's Higher-Probability Bottom Zone Lies Between $46K and $54K
Glassnode co-founder Rafael said Bitcoin has entered a historical cycle valuation zone typically associated with market bottoms. Based on on-chain valuation models, the higher-probability bottom range lies between $46,000 and $54,000, spanning the CVDD and Realized Price levels. In an extreme capitulation scenario, a deeper support zone could sit between $35,000 and $40,000.
Rafael noted that Bitcoin drawdowns have become progressively shallower across market cycles, reducing the likelihood of a deeper decline. On the upside, the first key recovery zone sits between $75,000 and $79,000. He stressed that this is not a prediction, as Bitcoin bottoms cannot be identified with certainty in advance.

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CZ: What Would It Take for Aster to Beat Hyperliquid? (ARCHIVE FOOTAGE )
In an October 11, 2025 interview on the Threadguy channel, when asked what Aster needs to do to surpass Hyperliquid, Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) stated that the two are not simply competitors, but serve different use cases.
Hyperliquid is suited for "open, fully visible trading," while Aster is more open in privacy and native asset deposits, going beyond a BNB Chain-only Perp DEX.He noted both are relatively new, so the future remains uncertain and could shift to new entrants. "

Zooko Wilcox: Users Cannot Independently Verify Whether ZEC Supply Was Affected by Potential Exploitation of Orchard Vulnerability
Shielded Labs and other Zcash ecosystem participants have proposed the Ironwood network upgrade, acknowledging that users currently cannot independently verify whether ZEC’s circulating supply was affected by potential exploitation of the recently disclosed Orchard counterfeiting vulnerability. The team said it believes exploitation of the vulnerability is unlikely, but cannot conclusively rule it out.
The proposed upgrade would restore users’ ability to verify Zcash’s circulating supply through consensus rules by creating a new shielded pool and preventing the existing Orchard pool from creating new outputs. A timeline for deployment has not yet been determined.

ZachXBT Questions Arthur Hayes of Touting Tokens Before Selling
Following a post by Arthur Hayes stating that he had sold his WLD holdings and exited the position, on-chain investigator ZachXBT publicly questioned how much exit liquidity Hayes had generated from his followers over the past few days, adding that his trades in NEAR, HYPE, and ZEC followed a similar pattern.
In response, Hayes said he had simply made the right decision based on his trading objectives. ZachXBT then criticized the apparent inconsistency, arguing that Hayes had repeatedly expressed bullish views on WLD before quickly liquidating his position, making his actions difficult to reconcile.

1. Solana Foundation rolls out dedicated grant program to boost fully on-chain perpetual futures ecosystem link
The Solana Foundation announced support for developing fully on-chain perpetual contracts and other derivative applications on Solana with traffic, technical and financial resources. It stated hybrid architectures using off-chain matching are only transitional and full on-chain operation is the ultimate target. Six supporting principles are released: full on-chain execution of order placement, matching and settlement; genuine price discovery via two-way liquidity of order book or RFQ instead of pool pricing; Solana-first rule with structured revenue feedback to the public chain; incentives for architectural and network optimization innovation; priority for mature teams shifting to full on-chain frameworks; preferential funding for open-source teams with verifiable core logic.
2. Hyperliquid emerges as core weekend perps hub for Wall Street traders, hitting all-time-high perp trading share in May link
According to The Wall Street Journal, Hyperliquid has become a key venue for some Wall Street traders to trade perpetual contracts of crypto and traditional assets on weekends and off-market hours, with products covering BTC, S&P 500, crude oil and contracts linked to unlisted assets such as SpaceX, generating around $800 million in total revenue last year. The WSJ notes Hyperliquid blocks access for US residents, yet traders from restricted jurisdictions circumvent restrictions via VPN, while its robust community ecosystem and diversified asset lineup fuel expansion into prediction markets and options trading.
Data from The Block shows Hyperliquid’s May perpetual trading volume accounted for a record-high 6.63% of global centralized exchange aggregate volume and hit an all-time peak of 14.4% relative to Binance. Its HIP-3 framework underpinned the expansion, driving over $62 billion in monthly trading volume and roughly $3 billion in open interest in May. Even so, the report highlights Hyperliquid’s standalone crypto perpetual trading volume posted a notable year-on-year decline amid broad crypto market downturn.
3. Radiant Capital initiates phased orderly wind-down of all protocol operations link
Radiant Capital announced its DAO has no viable path for sustainable operations and will commence phased shutdown after failing to recover stolen funds, secure fresh financing or resume growth following an October 2024 exploit. Front-end interfaces and on-chain smart contracts remain functional for users to withdraw funds, settle loans and manage positions, yet all development, upgrades and expansion initiatives are halted alongside zeroed lending caps and terminated RDNT reward distributions. The team will focus on safeguarding user assets, pursuing fund recovery and facilitating orderly wind-down. The protocol suffered losses exceeding $50 million in the prior hack.
4. TON’s native token rebrands to Gram; underlying TON blockchain name stays unchanged link
Pavel Durov, founder of Telegram, announced the launch of a rebranding initiative across the TON ecosystem, renaming its native token from TON to Gram. The team noted Gram was the original native token name outlined in TON’s initial whitepaper, with the rename intended to return to the project’s founding vision and mark a new development phase for the ecosystem. The brand transition is set to roll out incrementally over roughly three weeks, with wallets, infrastructure and ecosystem applications updating the token designation sequentially. TON clarified the change only applies to the native token’s brand name, and the underlying blockchain will retain the official title The Open Network (TON) with no alterations.
5. Hacker launders nearly all $220M unfrozen funds from Kelp DAO bridge exploit, asset tracing window effectively closed link
On-chain tracking data confirms the Kelp DAO cross-chain bridge hacker, identified as North Korean hacking syndicate TraderTraitor, has laundered approximately $220 million in unfrozen stolen assets via privacy protocols including THORChain, Wasabi, Tornado Cash and Umbra. Merely around $1.7 million of funds remains parked in the hacker’s original wallet, practically shutting down the window for itemized tracing and direct recovery of unfrozen capital.
6. Sui confirms three consecutive mainnet outages stem from v1.72 upgrade code bugs link
Sui Foundation revealed three outages hitting the Sui mainnet last Thursday and Friday stemmed from two distinct bugs introduced in the v1.72 upgrade. The first two shutdowns originated from a gas calculation flaw within the address balances function. The emergency patch rolled out on Thursday carried a documented low-probability crash risk, which the team accepted to restore service promptly and triggered another outage on Friday. The third downtime emerged after validators rebooted to apply fixes, tied to a hidden bug governing the network’s stored randomness configuration. Sui confirmed all defects have been patched with no user funds compromised or finalized transactions reversed, alongside a newly built mechanism to forcibly terminate stuck epochs.
7. Polymarket suspects industrial espionage from Kalshi, citing excessive coincidences on parallel product launches link
Polymarket suspects rival Kalshi of corporate espionage and has compiled internal documentation dubbed “copycat” detailing roughly a dozen alleged instances of replicated or pre-emptively launched products, marketing campaigns and UI layouts. Matthew Modabber, Polymarket’s head of market operations, states the occurrences exceed coincidences, citing examples such as a free grocery pop-up event in New York and perpetual contract offerings. Kalshi refutes the accusations as delusional and commits to ongoing product development. Paradigm, an investor in Kalshi, also denies conducting surveillance on Polymarket’s premises.
8. Spark’s total deposits near $4.5B, notching successive all-time highs link
Per Blockworks statistics, total deposits on lending protocol Spark have neared $4.5 billion, hitting successive all-time highs, with over $1 billion in fresh inflows registered since late April’s rsETH incident. USDS now accounts for more than half of all funds parked on the platform.
9. Ondo Perps slated to launch equity perpetual contracts on June 9, 2026 link
Ondo Perps posted on X stating, “Perpetual contracts transformed global trading, and now they are set to enter the stock market,” previewing its official launch slated for June 9, 2026. Early access applications are currently open to a limited pool of eligible traders. The platform facilitates peer-to-peer perpetual contract trading and restricts service to end-users based in jurisdictions including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, the European Union and Panama.
10. Symbiotic launches Liquid Lane network enabling instant stablecoin redemptions for tokenized RWAs link
Backed by Paradigm, Pantera Capital and Coinbase Ventures, crypto infrastructure firm Symbiotic has rolled out Liquid Lane to resolve the lengthy redemption cycles plaguing real-world asset products including tokenized funds and private credit.
Symbiotic notes that while many tokenized holdings can be transferred on-chain instantaneously, investors may wait weeks or even up to 180 days to receive fiat cash from issuers via formal redemption channels. Powered by a request-for-quote mechanism, Liquid Lane routes investor exit orders to vetted market makers; the winning bidder pays out USDC to investors upfront and takes possession of the corresponding tokenized assets, with issuers wrapping up underlying settlement off-chain in the background.
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HTX Suspends WLFI and USD1 Trading, Converting All User USD1 to USDT After Freeze
HTX representatives stated that the team behind WLFI, the Trump family-backed crypto project, recently froze HTX-related on-chain addresses citing U.K. sanctions screening, without sufficient prior communication or providing a clear legal basis. As a result, certain WLFI tokens lawfully held by HTX users became restricted from circulation.
HTX announced emergency protective measures, formally suspending WLFI-related trading services as well as USD1 deposit and withdrawal services. The platform also forcibly converted all USD1 holdings into USDT and credited the converted funds to users' accounts. HTX emphasized that the affected addresses belong to platform users rather than sanctioned entities or the exchange itself, and called on the WLFI team to immediately unfreeze the addresses.

Researcher Who Found Zcash Bug with Opus 4.8 Adds Monero to His Audit Queue
Security engineer Taylor Hornby, who recently used Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.8 AI model to uncover a critical vulnerability in Zcash, stated that he intends to add Monero (XMR) and other privacy-focused cryptocurrencies to his upcoming audit queue. On May 29, Hornby, commissioned by the non-profit developer Shielded Labs, discovered a severe soundness flaw hidden in Zcash's Orchard privacy pool since May 2022.

Haseeb Qureshi: Dragonfly Still Holds ZEC, and I'm Personally Invested in ZODL Amid Zcash Bug Concerns
Dragonfly partner Haseeb Qureshi said the recently patched Zcash bug would mainly have affected shielded ZEC holders, not transparent ZEC holders, if it had been exploited before the fix. He said nearly all ZEC market liquidity is in transparent ZEC, making newly minted counterfeit shielded ZEC difficult to sell on exchanges.
Qureshi added that the Zcash team plans to introduce a new turnstile and fresh shielded pool to confirm the old pool was not inflated, and noted that the shielded pool's share of supply fell only from 31% to 30% over the past 48 hours, suggesting no mass exit. He also disclosed that Dragonfly continues to hold ZEC, while he is personally an investor in ZODL.

Russian Central Bank: Non-Qualified Investors May Be Limited to Trading BTC, ETH and USDT
Russian Central Bank First Deputy Governor Vladimir Chistyukhin said the central bank plans to limit crypto assets available to non-professional and non-qualified investors to BTC, ETH and USDT, with no plans to expand the list for now. He said cryptocurrencies are high-risk and highly volatile instruments, while USDT wallets also carry the risk of being frozen by the issuer. Russia also plans to set an annual limit of about $4,100 for ordinary investors buying crypto assets through a single broker or exchange provider.

Cardano Founder: Cardano May See More DeFi Shutdowns in 2026
Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson said that more DeFi applications on Cardano may shut down in the second half of 2026, following TapTools' decision to wind down operations. Hoskinson said Cardano's challenges stem from commercialization, ecosystem funding and governance issues, adding that he does not control the treasury, governance keys or protocol parameters and cannot unilaterally force changes.
He also floated an "extreme option": launching a new Cardano through proof of burn if the existing ecosystem cannot change, in order to reset tokenomics and institutional funding mechanisms.

Alex Thorn: CLARITY Act's 2026 Passage Odds Fall to 60% as Senate Calendar Tightens
Galaxy Research head Alex Thorn said he has lowered his estimated odds of the U.S. CLARITY Act passing in 2026 from 75% to 60%, citing a tighter Senate calendar.
Thorn said the schedule remains one of the biggest hurdles for the crypto market structure bill, with next week likely dominated by FISA-related issues after a failed reauthorization vote. He also noted limited progress on unresolved issues such as lawmaker ethics rules and illicit finance provisions.

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Adam Back: Is Satoshi's Electronic Cash Vision Dead？
On June 2, 2026, at the Proof of Talk conference, Bitcoin OG Adam Back believes that the evolutionary paths of retail adoption and asset investment coexist.
He states that in emerging markets with high inflation, Bitcoin is still widely used for retail payments and remittances, whereas in the developed world, it is more commonly treated as an investment asset. Enabling the public to gain financial benefits through structured products like ETFs is an inevitable part of the adoption process.